Area One

4

"Hey, Kris!"

Yifan turned around and was met with the smiling face of his best friend, signalling for him to come over. He shrugged and walked towards the other boy, who was impatiently waiting for him.

"I found something, follow me!" Jinho whispered breathlessly, blushing in anticipation. Yifan rolled his eyes.

"If it's another 'abandoned' bear cave, I decline, thank you."

Jinho violently shook his head and tugged at Yifan's arm. "Just trust me, it's worth it!"

He dashed off without another word, leaving a dumbfounded Yifan behind. However, his curiosity won and he followed Jinho through half of their village to an abandoned house. Yifan hesitated.

He knew this house. Only from the outside, as, until a few months ago, a father with his daughter had lived here. They had done nothing wrong, still, the last Red Force Patrol had arrested both of them, claiming they were conspiring against the authorities. No one had ever heard of them again.

Yifan scoffed. The Red Force had always been the thing that came closest to a 'government'... If you could call abducting and torturing people to make sure the rest of the population behaved governing. The Red Force had weapons, the people didn't. The Red Force had the right to do anything they wanted; the people didn't have any at all. As easy as that. However, this had been the first time they had called themselves the 'authorities' and arrested innocent people openly.

They were becoming bolder and crueler with every single day and no one was able to stop them. It was only legends and myths the people trusted to be able to save them now. But Yifan didn't believe in the stories everyone told each other at the fireplace. He was searching for a way to stop them... and was failing ridiculously.

"You coming now, or what?" Jinho asked impatiently. He was standing in the door and looked at him, cocking an eyebrow and tapping his foot.

Wordlessly, Yifan nodded and made his way into the house, staying closely behind Jinho. He knew his older friend loved to sneak away and try to frighten him. It had never worked, but he was still trying nonetheless.

Jinho led him through the dusty house, up to the attic. He pushed up the lid of the trap door and vanished. Yifan struggled to fit his broad shoulders through the small door, but with the help of his friend, he made it and laid down on the floor, exhaling with relief.

"So," Yifan mused, eyes wandering around the attic, "what are we here fo-" He stocked. At the far back of the attic, there was a window. It wasn't just a small window, though. The house was built right at the end of the village, making it possible to see what happened miles away from the window that was taking over most of the backside of the roof.

Yifan walked towards the back, resisting the urge to rub his eyes, and laid his hands on the glass. It was dirty to the point where you could only see through a few tiny openings, but it was the most beautiful thing Yifan had ever seen. They would be able to see the Red Force advancing far earlier than before, giving them the time to prepare themselves.

"And have a look at this!" Jinho requested, pointing at a box right next to him. Every sign of boredom gone, Yifan opened the box. Inside was a pair of binoculars, together with a long gun, a stack of paper and a knife. He could only stare at the things he saw before him, not quite able to understand. Binoculars were really rare; he hadn't seen many and not many people possessed them. He had seen kitchen knives, of course, but this one had undoubtedly been made for another purpose. And the gun. The Red Force obviously hadn't searched the whole house when they had arrested its owner. Possessing weapons like those was strictly forbidden and they made sure everyone obeyed this rule.