1. The end...

Throne room. The room of the ruler, the king. Now a planing room for a group of Marongian survivors. What was once a palace now was a hideout. What was once beautiful, colorful, rich and clean was now represented by damaged walls, frames without door or windows, floors with holes as big as a horse and the smell of death. All covered with dust and spider web.

In this sort of place a man walked in circles, waiting impatiently. He sent four people out and none of them were back. He had two hundred mouths to feed, he needed supplies. They were also out of any reasonable light source and had to use ancient methods like candles or oil lamps, which smoked terribly and pushed tears out of eyes. They had no heaters so they lit fire to warm up the sleeping people. They were divided in two groups. One living during the day, one during the night. They trusted each other completely. The password system also let them all know each other really well. They were one big family. And he was the mastermind and the head. He had to take care of them all. Men and women, children and adults. He was forty-nine, so he wasn't hoping for many more years, if the war won't end quickly. His daughter however seemed capable to lead the people once he will no longer be able to. He trained her after all. What worried him was her age. She was only nineteen, too young for this much responsibility. A wise thing to do would be finding her a husband, but he forbid her to get married. Why? Because once you name things you'll get attached. Once you call someone "husband" it'll be hard to get over his death. And nobody knew when they would die.

Suddenly the door burst open when two people entered, chatting happily. He instantly recognized his daughter.

"Saehon!" he called and hugged the girl. "How did it go?"

She freed herself from his embrace and looked over at her boyfriend before answering.

"Good enough. I got food for a few days. It should drop today around sunset."

The older man nod and turned to the younger male.

"How about you?"

"I found a big can magazine, so I guess pretty good. It will take longer to drop, but it should be enough for a month."

His girlfriend looked at him really surprised.

"And you didn't even tell me!?"

"Heheh... Surprise!"

She pouted and he laughed at her.

"Saehon, get some sleep. Sengo, you too." The old man decided to interrupt them. They worked hard, they deserved a rest. Both teenagers bowed slightly to him and went off. The boy said something that got the girl to laugh and hit him lightly. The father looked behind them with a little smile dancing on his lips. They were truly cheerful despite the times they got to live in.

A sudden noise whipped away this little smile. Old man ran out to see his people alerted and waking up. The fires were out already. Everyone looked up at him with silent questions in their eyes. What is that? What should they do? Will they move once again? Where to? Will they survive this day? He saw all the hope and trust placed in him and suddenly felt a great weight on his shoulders. Responsibility. That's what it's called. It was so heavy that he nearly fell on his knees. But he got himself together just in time to see a night watch commander run to him with news.

"They found us! They came!"

Everybody froze and time slowed down when mindless fear fell upon them, washed right through them like a giant wave and just like that... it was gone. They survived because they were brave. They survived because their waves didn't carry them. Didn't control them. In no time everyone knew what to do. Pack. Count if no one is missing. Wake up the ones who still sleep. Stay quiet. Calm the children. Take all the food they can. In a matter of minutes they were ready and waiting for further instructions.

Saehon ran to her father.

"They are all at the front gate and surrounding the building. They don't seem to know about the king's secret exit."

"Lead the people out. I'll be right behind the last of them."

She nod her head and went to inform others of the plan. They all followed her when she led them to the throne room and through the secret passage behind the throne. What she didn't think of was the size of the tunnel. It was only for the king and most important of his men, it let a few people run quickly unnoticed. And although they will not be seen, two hundred people can't travel fast this way.

"Children first. For every four kids one adult capable of fighting to protect them" she decided. People didn't complain. They went in after her.

The underground tunnel was cold and wet. It was unsecured, ready to collapse at any moment. She moved carefully, but still tried to be quick. Her father and the few warriors who he took with him couldn't hold the enemy too long. The escape should be quick and smooth. After about ten minutes she could see the light on the other side and she sped up. And she was out. She looked around to spot any enemies, but there seemed to be none. They were in a forest. The sun was still low, it has just risen. Long shadows seemed scary, as if they hid weapons ready to exterminate them. A river of people constantly flowed out of the hole in the ground, Saehon counted every single one of them. And suddenly she heard a loud explosion and saw a flash of light. She turned around to see enormous fire eating up the palace. Her heart stopped. And resumed slowly. Each heartbeat like a hammer hit her with grief. Her father. Her boyfriend. All people still in the tunnel run as fast as they could to escape the heat, but she didn't see them. She could only see the fire and a dark shape of a bombardier flying away. She could not hear elders telling her that they need to keep moving, as she fell on her knees. Tears started flowing on her face. She didn't even try to stop them. She lost it all. She kept to the absolute minimum the people she cared about. And the minimum turned out to be too much. She felt someone shake her shoulder and finally she woke up. She got herself together and up. No longer feeling anger or sadness. No longer feeling.

"Let's go."

"Where to?" she didn't even look who asked.

"Anywhere. Here is no longer safe. We can figure out on the road where we will prepare for attack."

An old man gasped.

"Attack?"

"We can't keep on hiding forever. We need to win this war. We need more people. We need to train the children and find weapons. We need food and we need a base. And transport. Whe'll focus on the last one now."

People nod their heads and begun their journey once again. This was their life. Going from one semi-safe place to another.

***

Thirty four. That many of them were still alive a month later. When they got out they had around eighty people, but many died on the road. Wild animals, lack of food and sleep, encounters with Tanshi soldiers, fighting among themselves, those were the reasons for their death. Thirty four people remained, counting Saehon. They didn't find any place to stay for longer. Saehon was still glad that nine children remained. It was a lot. They didn't play, they only trained. They were exhausted, but they learned as much as they could. They no longer had any other choice. But there was one person who still had energy and strength. It was a little, seven years old girl. She was still running after a whole day of walking. Singing and talking, laughing and smiling. As if she was unmoved by the war and death. Her name was Juni. She was the strongest one there. She ordered everyone around and got angry when they didn't listen to her. But she was also caring and charismatic. Even though she was the youngest, all children followed her. Saehon knew she'll make an excellent leader so she talked with her a lot. She explained why she made that decision not a different one, taught her history and geography, reading, writing and math. The girl was extraordinary. A natural leader, she was Marong's hope. She could win this war if she lived long enough. So Saehon protected her any way she could.

But the day had to come when she could no longer do so.

It was around noon when they got attacked by a group of Tanshi scouts. They came out of nowhere as Marongians camped on the plains, training. What alerted them was Juni's scream. Saehon run to her.

"What happened!?" she asked quickly.

"Look! A hat! It's a Tans! Tans are here! TANS!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs so that everybody would know, but she also told the scouts that they were spotted. Saehon could see them rise and ready weapons.

"Ground!" she commanded and fell herself, taking Juni with her. Less than a second later bullets flew over their heads and a dull thud of a falling body could be heard. Someone was shot. She quickly got her weapon out. She only had five bullets. She carefully raised her head and glanced to see how many enemies were there. Seven. It was about five times less than them, but Saehon's group didn't have too many weapons. Like that they would be slaughtered like chicken in no time. She fell again to dodge next series of shots.

"Go. Go as low as you can, hide in the grass. I'll make a diversion so that you can escape. Tell the others to go too" she said to the Juni. "One day you'll be a great leader. So remember this. A leader is nothing without those who follow him."

The girl didn't quite understand, but there was no time to explain more. Hopefully one day she will.

Saehon rose to her feet and run two meters before falling again. Bullets pierced the air above her and swished. She rose again and ran a short distance remembering the enemies positions. When she rose again she didn't run, she shot and fell down again. She didn't stop to look if she hit him, but his scream told her she did. Four bullets left. Six and one wounded. She moved away really low, trying not to move the grass too much. She rose again, shot and jumped forward, hitting ground with her face she stayed like that listening for a moment.

Three bullets. Six healthy enemies. Then she heard a thud. Five healthy enemies.

She rose again to shoot, but this time she wasn't fast enough. The Tanshian scout hit her arm. She was lucky it was a left one, but she was bleeding. She checked the damage and decided that it wasn't so bad. She's not gonna die. At least not from that. Two bullets and four and one wounded enemies left. It was like in school. Math, math, math. Nobody likes math. She stood up once again to run in zigzags to the nearby lake. She hid in the grass again. She carefully looked to see where they were. They all followed her which was good. Their weapons were fast, but didn't have a big range. It seemed she was too far. And they left everyone else alone. She ran again, not caring about zigzags. She reached a lone tree and hid behind it to steady her breath. She looked from behind it and shot the closest enemy. She hit him in the head and hid again. But she couldn't use this tree as a shield anymore. Suddenly it started burning. She had no choice but to get away from it. But as soon as she did she felt pain in her head. She was shot. She'll die. Her consciousness was slipping away. She shot her last bullet blindly and heard a scream of pain. Did she manage to shoot one of them? Or was it her own voice? She didn't know. She wasn't surprised it ended like that. She always knew she would die in battle. The gun fell from her hand to the ground and she followed. Her head rested on the dusted grass.

The last thing she heard brought her more pain than the two bullets that hit her.

"Thank your boyfriend for last month. It's incredible how pain lets the tongues lose."

She opened her eyes, wanting to ask more, wanting to understand, but she didn't have enough strength. Life was flowing out of her in a red river.

"I... Don't..."

She didn't manage to finish the sentence.

She died.