Far from the mountain, a soldier camp.
Large green and brown tents stood in rows against the dust. Inside them, paper lay scattered across the ground, and more of it was in the air, lifted by the fans and the footsteps and the voices. Men in white shirts and black pants, soaked through with sweat, moved between desks. Computers glowed with different angles of the mountain. Voices bounced from wall to wall and never settled.
"Sir. There was some kind of jet. It appeared to drop something, or fire something."
The fat, lumpy man looked up at the scared man standing in front of him. His voice came out loud.
"What? What jet? What are you talking about? Just what I needed. More problems." His hand slammed the table. "Who sent it? Why?"
The scared man's hands wouldn't stay still.
"We don't know, sir. We suspect China."
He held his breath after he said it.
"China?!"
The short man's scream shook the canvas of the tent. Papers jumped. Somewhere behind him a chair fell over, and no one picked it up.
---
Far away, Chi-Long stood still.
Her eyes were on the place where the jet had dropped its cargo. Below the cave, the black sea moved across the slope, far from them but growing closer, a little each breath.
Ha Joon stood behind her with Eun Byol on his back. Kim Tae-soo stood beside them. Blood had dried on his armor in layers, one on top of the other. His voice broke the silence.
"A lot of them are gone. But they'll be here soon. They come in waves."
He turned his head toward her.
"Look, you're strong. I can feel it. But even you have limits, and that's what they're counting on. We have to get out of here as fast as we can."
Chi-Long's eyes stayed where they were.
"And how are you going to move?" Her voice was low. Sharp. "You've already reached your limit."
A pause.
"Don't worry about us. Worry about yourself."
She drew her jian. Deep red fire swam along the blade, slow and patient.
"We can't move. Not until our leader comes out of the mountain."
She smiled.
It was a small smile, and all three of them felt it land. Ha Joon's grip on Eun Byol tightened without his deciding it. On his back, she went still.
Kim Tae-soo stared at her.
"The thing that jet dropped," he said slowly. "It was a person. I thought it was a bomb. I thought I was crazy."
His eyes went to the black sea rushing closer. Then to the two children standing next to him, one carrying the other, both of them covered in blood and dirt, both of them looking at the mountain like they'd already been inside it.
Sorrow moved over him, quiet and heavy.
*I hope my soldiers made it out.*