Louder than Bombs

Chapter 8

They did exactly what they had planned. They huddled together in the old building for the next few days. They had enough food and water to stay alive. Every so often though, there would be explosions and the house would shake. Jimin would take a deep breath and force himself to remain calm. Panicking would only waste energy and time.

If he panicked, Jin would panic. If Jin panicked, he would panic. They had to depend on each other to stay cool and collected.

When everything was quiet, they could be like normal people again. They talked about things that were important to them.

It continued on like this for a while. To be completely honest, it became comfortable. Jimin felt that nothing bad was going to happen.

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Then one morning, the two of them were woken up early with explosions. They sounded close.

"They're getting closer," Jimin mouthed. Jin only nodded.

There was no bomb shelter, no source of protection for them. The furniture rattled. And for the first time, the explosions didn't stop. They got louder and louder. Jimin's ears started to ring. He did up his mask and goggles. He readied his rifle. It wasn't like he could fight against the huge explosions, but at least he was prepared.

They stayed together.

There was a quiet moment of peace and then everything seemed to worsen. There was another loud boom and the house shook. The window shattered. Jimin reached out and grabbed Jin's arm.

For the next few hours, this pattern continued. Every time there was an explosion, the house shook violently. Pieces of the ceiling rained down. It wasn't bad enough to seriously hurt either of them, but Jin get a bad scratch on his leg. After a while of tolerating this, they knew what they had to do.

"We have to leave," Jin said. "The house will come down soon."

"I think they're trying to down every house in this area," Jimin said.

Jin nodded.

Down they went. They grabbed all of their important things and carefully went to the first floor. There were large cracks in the tiles. They could also see new gunshot holes in the windows. If they had stayed down here, they might've gotten killed.

"Let's go."

As quietly as they could, they stepped out into the dusty air. It stung Jimin's nose even though he had a mask on. His eyes watered. Why couldn't he just stay safe for once?

Loud crashes continued. They turned and started heading further towards the city. There were plenty more places to hide and there weren't as much enemy soldiers there. If they just soldiered through a few more days, hopefully they would encounter help.

The road to the city wasn't intact anymore. There were large holes it. In some parts, they were forced to step down and walk on the grass. Power lines had gone down in some parts. It was terrifying. Jimin was supposed to be stronger than this.

There were kilometers to go. That night, they weren't anywhere near the city. They had to camp out in a thicket of trees.

"I'll stay up," Jimin said.

Jin nodded. Usually, he would've argued, but not anymore. He was exhausted after walking all day. They didn't even stop to eat. He wasn't okay.

Jin eventually dropped off to sleep, leaving Jimin the only one awake. He sat up on his knees at first. But after a while, he got tired and sat down criss-cross applesauce. He would've gotten yelled at if this was a regular time. He teared up at the thought. So many days had passed, there was surely no hope of seeing the others anytime soon.

He kept watch though. Every sound made him jump. He was at the ready. Jin was tucked in and hidden as best as possible, only his helmet poked out a little bit. In the dark though, it wasn't all too noticeable.

He ducked into the shadows when he saw two soldiers pass. They weren't from his side. But if they didn't shoot, he wouldn't either. They had two alert and awake soldiers and Jimin just had himself. He would get killed quickly.

Despite not eating and not sleeping, he wasn't tired. There was a desperate feeling inside of him. If he didn't survive this, everyone around him would fall apart. Everyone was depending on him.

He glanced back at Jin. He could only see a small sliver of his face. But for once, he looked peaceful.

Jimin leaned against a tree and tried to channel the same energy - but also stay awake at the same time.

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"My turn."

Jimin nodded. He shuffled over to Jin's spot and laid down. The grass wasn't very comfortable. Sharp portions of it dug into the softer parts of his uniform. He huffed, but didn't complain. He tried to sleep.

His mind, however, was alive with so many thoughts. For a moment, Jimin opened his eyes and gazed up at the sky. With the amount of dust here, it was impossible to see stars. But he did catch a few twinkling lights and it brought a smile to his face. He had never been big on nature or anything, but its simple joys were meaningful. He had to admit that.

During the night, everyone slept. Nobody fought. It was peaceful. He wished it was always like this.

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Jin admitted it, he had dozed off. But when the first explosion of the day went off, he was thrown awake. Jimin rustled nearby. There was a sudden rush of footsteps and he hurried into the trees. His heart was beating a mile a minute.

A good five or six soldiers hurried down the path next to them. One of them saw him. There was a loud crack of gunfire. Jin panicked. He pulled Jimin down. He himself curled up, trying to make himself as small as possible. No matter what, he would try his absolute best.

Some of the bullets pinged off the nearby trees, but nothing hit them. Jin heard the soldier swear. A couple of them laughed, but then they thankfully moved on.

He couldn't move on. His heart felt frozen in its ability to beat.

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obligatory filler chapter

1037 words