heeseung gently pushed the boy's hood back, exposing his cold bitten nose and cheeks. brown eyes searched his face anxiously.
"it's okay. we're safe." heeseung murmured, holding his smaller hands in his own to warm them.
"w-what do we do now?"
"we'r...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Ever since he was young, Heeseung had been a scout. He had been raised learning how to plot a trail, sleep in trees, and most importantly, keep the boundaries safe. There were dangers of the outside world that could destroy their way of life inside the capital city of their small sectioned nation.
That was why there was a large wall around the perimeter of the capital, plus an army of scouts which ventured into the wilderness to ensure nothing slipped past. That was Heeseung's job. As hard as they tried to protect the capital, there were always chinks in the armor and attacks were bound to happen.
Heeseung was coming back from a scouting run with his partner Jake when they caught sight of the capital from beyond the trees. They were still far enough away to only faintly see smoke rising from inside the walls.
The capital was burning.
"We're under attack..." Jake breathed.
Then he started running. It took a moment for Heeseung to snap out of his daze and race after him.
Jake and him raced through one of the gates and headed towards their quarters. Heeseung wasn't prepared for anything of this scale. He didn't know how to react.
"W-What do we do?" Heeseung gasped as he skidded into their quarters.
Jake grabbed his knife from under his bunk and strapped it to his thigh quickly.
"We have to protect the capital." he responded. "The boundary wall is broken. We have to protect the people in the exposed sectors."
Heeseung put the pieces together. Holes had been shot into the capital's defenses which meant...
"I'll go to where the labs are. It looks like the hovercrafts are there." Heeseung said.
"I'll head towards the agriculture sector. We have to protect the border and the labs."
Jake nodded and ran back out into the chaos.
Heeseung stood still for a moment, his mind spinning out of control. How was he supposed to act without being prepared?
He grabbed his pack from beside his bunk, grabbing his own knife and pulled on his sturdiest boots. He pulled on his coat and scarf. Anything to keep him warm. He stole Jake's mittens, they were warmer, and pulled a beanie over his head.
He took a deep breath and then headed out into the cold. The sounds of the hovercrafts and gunfire was all consuming. Heeseung kept his head down, running towards the labs. He knew the boundary closest to them had been blasted apart. It was the weakest link.
A spike of guilt ran through him realizing that Jake expected him to help fortify to boundary.
Heeseung wanted to slip out.
In all of the chaos, he would be able to slip past the guards and hopefully disappear into the woods outside. His boots raced down the street, ash falling around him as he pushed himself towards the smoking blast area.
