NCT imagines (NCT 127)

6. Mark (Powder)

The cloud on the horizon grows fast, the wind blows into my face, it's filled with little painful sand seeds. I feel like a fugitive, like on a run when it's actually me, who hunts the bad guys. Still I'm out there with the local boy, he said he's seventeen his name is Mark. He said he will show me the best hideout out here, but the village is miles from us and the huge sand storm rolls on us with the crushing sound.

The rough rocks behind us start to get blurry in the vibrating seeds.

"There's no other way! We must hide into the caves!" says Mark, he is shouting to get through the wind.

"Let's go!" I turn and run.

The wind is in my back and it's getting heavier, we struggle against the forces of nature, I cover my face with each piece of fabric I can get that far. The air around us becomes painful when sand hits our bodies with a wild fury, but finally the rocks get nearer. Few more meters, I fall and get up. Mark is barely walking, still we reach the crack in the wall and he presses inside so I follow. The wind lays down here, the sound gets quieter and I support myself on a wall breathing in heavily. We would have been smashed into pieces out there, I still see furious sand falling inside with a speed.

Mark gets his torch to work, I look for mine, the long corridor leads inside. I've heard some dangerous criminals who were looking for shelter on the Rim dived into the infamous caves, some had never returned. My heart hammers and I get the gun out quickly, the one I'm looking for must be here as well according to the latest news. I glance at Mark, he tries to get the sand off his blonde hair, he's just a boy I should have never agreed to get him into such a risky thing, but my dear friends Yuta and Sicheng failed again, they should be here by now to help me with the mission.

"Let's go," mutters Mark.

He had told me his grandma, a healer, famous in the village, used to walk this caves up and down to find the rarest powder, that not only had the ability to cause hallucinations, but could heal each wound, each sickness. She used to take Mark with her, so he could help her carry the sacks and so he was the only one other, who knew the complicated dark world inside the mountain.

We start to walk, our steps echo, the lights make the space a little less intimidating, but still each curve could bring a new danger. From time to time we stop and listen, but the silence is perfect. The hours get long I guess we're miles inside the darkness, if Mark will happen to forget the way back we're lost forever, all my trust lies in the hands of a boy. He plays concentrated, he plays more mature then he actually is, he walks straight with his head high, he leads and I guess he's very afraid, still he wants to show he's a man.

The next corridor ends in a bigger cave, we decide to make a break, to my surprise there's wood for a fire inside it, maybe someone lives here, and I walk around the place checking for fresh traces, but there aren't any.

Mark collects the wood, he's able to make a fire with almost nothing, two sticks and a stone, but he had grew up here, in the lost depths of the Rim where either you defend yourself or are killed before the infamous age of ten years.

"I guess it's safe to make a break here," I say.

He nods. Soon the fire crackles and the orange glow makes the place a little nicer. I give my torch a rest. Sicheng had build a self-recharging system inside so I don't need to worry about that. Mark is quiet, we share the hard bread and some water from what we had taken with us last morning, there's still enough food and drinks to survive three more days in our backpacks.

The storm mixed all our plans, even if they're here Sicheng and Yuta will never be able to land as long as the sand won't stop to become a sea of dust.