𝐑𝐔𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐄 ▪︎ [𝘋𝘜𝘛𝘠 𝘈𝘍𝘛𝘌𝘙 𝘚𝘊𝘏𝘖𝘖𝘓]

ᴛᴇɴ

"We're almost there," he told the person on the other line.
"Hurry up, we have news." She recognized Seong-Jin's voice from the other end. What news did they have? News from Seoul, news from the camp or something else entirely. Chae-Yeong shut down the voices in her head as she heard another noise. This time, it was not from the transmitter. She stopped in her tracks, the others turning back to her to see what happened. She raised a hand, motioning them to keep quiet as she concentrated on the noise. There was a second of silence before she heard it again, this time closer. She knew that noise.

"A sphere is coming," she said as she took out her gun, looking around. 

She heard the soft click of the others' guns too, keeping quiet as they waited for it to show up. Chae-Yeong closed her eyes as she tried picking out another screech, but she could hear nothing before a gunshot was heard from behind her. She looked around, seeing Ji-Eun pointing her gun at the remains of a sphere. Only a second passed before dozens of other screeches were heard from the same direction and the spheres appeared. They opened fire and started shooting the creatures, stopping when there was nothing left. Chae-Yeong let out a relieved breath just a few moments before her eyes widened. A boss sphere was standing in front of them. She cursed, knowing that the bullets wouldn't work on it. She looked at the others, who didn't look as panicked as she did. 

"Ha-Yun, your turn," Ji-Eun said as the girl got something out of her bag.
"On it." She started backing down, Han and Ji-Eun doing the same, pulling Chae-Yeong with them. She looked at Ha-Yun, confused as of what she was doing, before she threw something on the ground in the direction of the sphere. It took only a few minutes before light came from the thing that she threw and a thud was heard. When the light disappeared, the sphere was gone.

"What was that?" she asked the others, confused.
"Nitrogen bomb, it stops the larger ones. I'll explain as we move, other spheres might come," Ji-Eun told her and the others nodded as they started moving again. She took the motorcycle, steering it along her as Ji-Eun continued. "We discovered that the larger spheres do have a weakness. Uranium bullets only work on the smaller ones, but the larger ones don't like the cold. So we made these nitrogen bombs. Think of them as small grenades that emanate cold when they explode."
"How did you discover this?"
"Seong-Jin came with the idea. He saw that the cold was slowing them down, and then put two and two together and boom, nitrogen grenades. I was the one that created them, I was a chemistry student before."
"This is crazy," Chae-Yeong said as she tried processing everything. This information could end this war, or at least make it easier for people to eliminate the spheres. She didn't continue the conversation and neither did Ji-Eun. This must have been the secret strategy they were talking about the day before. And she could understand why they waited until they could show how it worked instead of explaining it to them. If she wouldn't have seen it with her own two eyes, she would have thought they were delusional, discovering something that even the government couldn't do. And it all made sense, why the spheres only appeared in the warmer zones. 

They soon reached the house, opening the garage door to move the motorcycle inside, right next to the car that wasn't working. Chae-Yeong heard the door open and Chun-Ho, Da-Mi and Seong-Jin entered the garage, looking at the vehicle they just brought in. Chun-Ho made his way to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulder, kissing her on the top of her head. He didn't need to say the words out loud, that hug told her everything. I'm glad that you're back.

"How did it go?" Seong-Jin asked them.
"No car, only this motorcycle. We encountered a big sphere on our way back, but we took care of it quickly." Chun-Ho looked at her, curious when he heard about the sphere, but she only whispered that she would tell him all about it later. "What were the news you were talking about on the transmitter?" Chun-Ho's face fell.
"Let's go in the living room first," Seong-Jin told them and they looked at each other, confused. It couldn't have been good, he didn't look happy and Chun-Ho looked like he was sick. She asked him what happened, but he only motioned her to get inside. "I don't think we should go to Seoul anymore," Seong-Jin continued as they sat on the sofa.
"What? Why?" Ji-Eun asked him, confused.
"We just heard some news on the radio and they are not good. It's no better there than it is here, refuges are constantly attacked and they are running out of food as more and more people go that way. It would be the best to remain here, at least until things calm down a little bit."
"Calm down? Seong-Jin, things will not calm down like this for a few weeks at least!"
"I know, but this is the best option that we have at this moment. We'll wait for other news, but as of now, we stay where we are." Ji-Eun crossed her arms and pouted, even though she didn't argue back, probably knowing that it was of no help. "And we have other news too," Seong-Jin continued and looked at Chae-Yeong. "This one is for you."
"What is it?" she asked and her eyes shifted from him to Chun-Ho.
"We managed to get in touch with the camp," Chun-Ho said.
"And?" Her heart was beating fast.
"Won-Bin returned to the camp, but the kids stayed behind." A frown appeared on her face. "They are still in the city, saying that they won't return until they complete the mission."
"What the hell," she said and looked away, thinking about what she just heard. "Do they know you're still alive?"
"We lost the connection just as I was about to tell them who I was, so I don't think they do."
"So what do we do now? There is no point in going back, since the kids aren't there."
"We'll find them, don't worry."