Wooyoung didn't let San out of his sight. They found a crook at a few boulders to tuck away into, protected from the wind carrying their scent over the plains. San was wise enough not to make a fire, and he even offered Wooyoung his crackers when he noticed the lack of food on him.

"No rations?" He asked to make conversation. In the hours they spent together, he hadn't refreshed his bandages that now also peeked from his right leg where his pants had ridden up over his boots. Though wary of him, Wooyoung didn't want to pry. They would part in the morning at the latest.

"They are with my partner," was all Wooyoung said. He stunk of fouling blood, but he didn't want to expose himself to San to wash up. Smelling like them would rob the fouls of their interest.

"You're part of a team?" Disinterested eyes focused on the chocolate bar he crunched down on. Wooyoung was curious to see his full face, but his hair stubbornly stayed in place before his right eye. He only tugged his bandages as far over his lips as he needed to, protecting the rest of himself from the biting sand.

"It's just me and him. He's my boyfriend," Wooyoung muttered, distracted by his concern about Yunho. Perhaps he shoveled himself free by now and was waiting for Wooyoung to return. He wouldn't be so foolish to leave far since they could miss each other. Unless he thought Wooyoung discarded him?

A chill crept down Wooyoung's spine and he shook the thought off. No, he would return. Yunho needed him and they would continue together.

"Where is he?" San noted, ever so sharp in his deduction that they weren't supposed to be apart. Though Wooyoung scowled at him, he conceded. Not as if San could do anything with this information, and he might have some valuable advice.

"The building we camped in collapsed and sunk into the sand. I got out but he..." He left it at that, not needing to provide further details.

San scrutinized Wooyoung in the dim twilight. His gaze made Wooyoung feel even smaller, not used to being alone. Together, he and Yunho made an intimidating pair.

"And you believe he is still alive?"

"I know he is," Wooyoung snapped. His eyes blazed, uncaring of San's bulging muscles that crushed fouls with such ease. He hated how pity and ridicule filled San's stare.

"He always survives; I know exactly what he can live through. As soon as I found some resources, I will get back to him and nurse his wounds."

San looked as if he wanted to berate Wooyoung on mortality, but he gave it up. It wasn't his place to meddle with their matters.

"Got it. So you need shelter, resources, something to dig him out with, and something to drag him to your new shelter with. All that, while the fouls are on your heels?"

Wooyoung didn't like being questioned that way. He was a survivor; he knew how to handle himself. Just because San had an easier time by himself, he wasn't the better of the two.

But Wooyoung gritted his jaw and swallowed his pride. They agreed to camp together tonight, and they bested those fouls. No need to lose his cool.

"I'll do it, no matter what it takes. Once my partner is back, he can help me figure out a plan. I'm not leaving him."

San finished his bar and leaned back against the rock. His arms crossed behind his head and cushioned his fathomless expression. Camping with him would have been a nice change of scenery if Wooyoung didn't keep fretting about Yunho. He might still be buried, trapped in the sand for days as he prayed for Wooyoung to save him.

"You must be very attached to him. Your savior?"

"Countless times. Our settlement got infested, and we made it out together. We have been traveling for enough years that I lost count. We made it through thick and thin," Wooyoung stressed, clarifying once more that Yunho and he couldn't be parted and made it out alive, always. They even did when they were trapped in a basement once, surrounded by fouls and the stench of death as they tried to rip into their flesh to peel it from their bones.

San just nodded, leaving Wooyoung to his faith. It wasn't his business. Once Wooyoung parted from him in the morning, he would catch up to Yunho. They would continue their paths and never run into San again.

"You're a good partner to him. He can consider himself lucky," San muttered instead of mocking Wooyoung as he expected. Wooyoung's huff deflated, shoulders sinking into himself. He cleared his throat, glancing away from San's face that evened out in concentration. His features around the bandages he tugged back into place were youthful, not yet worn by many years of struggle. Wooyoung felt odd staring at him for too long.

"What about you? You're a lone wolf?"

"It's safer that way," San replied and Wooyoung nodded. For anyone else but Yunho, he wouldn't hesitate to go on his own way. Even sitting with San in civil conversation, Wooyoung kept his bag close and was ready to defend himself against an incoming knife.

"Then what are you doing out here? Few buildings left that make a decent shelter."

Understanding the matching struggle, San nodded his chin towards the cliffs lining the basin.

"I was passing through on my way over there. Those caves are told to hold some forgotten treasures and even if they don't, they make an excellent base. But the desert isn't for me. I might move on soon. When I picked up on your struggle earlier, I thought I might as well. You're the first human I saw in weeks."

"Aside from the water gatherers," Wooyoung hummed. He peered past the rock shielding him. The grey orb of water floating in the area was massive, even from a distance. Precarious ladders swayed in the breeze as men in trench coats and buckets tried to retrieve the water from ridiculous heights. Though it sold for good money, countless died when the ladders collapsed or they lost balance. They argued it was worth the risk since everyone else just died some other way and the business was lucrative, but Wooyoung held his distance.

"Aye, but I don't get close to them. Not my crowd."

Perhaps they were more similar than Wooyoung thought. If this were another life, he would have offered San to join their group, if just temporarily. But the more people, the easier of a target they made.

For a while, the two sat in silence. Wooyoung rustled through the sand to use his bag as his pillow. San offered his jacket for a blanket, but Wooyoung declined. The night was mild.

San sat propped against the rocks and addressed Wooyoung again after staring at his boots for a bleak moment.

"I know a merchant in the area who trades whatever you carry. He might have some bullets and bandages for you. Though I'd argue you are in more dire need of food."

"He made it," Wooyoung gritted, but he nodded. "I might need that. Can you bring me there in the morning?"

The hint of a smile tugged on San's lips, glad that Wooyoung wasn't thick-headed about this kind of help.

"Of course."

They settled in, and San accepted the first watch. Though it took Wooyoung a while, he soon fell asleep to get some rest, even when his fear for Yunho haunted him in his dreams to replay the moment he fell with the building; the fear in his eyes. Wooyoung was almost glad when San woke him for the second watch. His head spun with dread, but when he stared at San, his curiosity distracted him. Even in his sleep, his hair covered his face and his bandages his skin. Wooyoung studied the muscular shoulders and arms, the shapes bulging through the dirtied white rags.

Then his gaze trailed into the desert to come up with a good way to find Yunho and get to safety.

-

The night passed and San didn't steal Wooyoung's wipes. In the morning, both of them were refreshed and shared another meal. Wooyoung hated to admit it, but he might have got more rest than on nights when he fretted for Yunho's safety along with his own.

After eating some crackers, Wooyoung washed up under his shirt. He cleaned his wounds, scrubbing them clean of any residue dirt, before he dabbed more disinfectant on them. They were coming along fine.

Once they packed their bags, San took the lead to bring them to the trader. Apparently, he roamed the desert and provided its lost souls with the goods they needed for a fast life. Whichever losses he made got sold back to him.

He sounded like an avaricious criminal with morals that chased shudders down the spine even of the one called 'Death', but Wooyoung took it. If he found material for a shovel anywhere, it would be there.

Eased of dangers during the daytime, the two trailed through the sand. Wooyoung hung in his thoughts about Yunho, missing his kisses. He disliked how well he got along with San and how much attractiveness lay in the agility of his movements and the way his eyes scanned the horizon. Though he was a welcome distraction to Wooyoung's nosy brain and the heart cramped with worry, Wooyoung distrusted him. Out here, a Fata Morgana was one way to trick an enemy. Wooyoung played that card countless times.

What would Yunho do if the roles were reversed? Would he have stayed and dug until his hands bled or would he have found another way? Wooyoung knew he would cry and holler all day if he were buried in the sand, getting himself eaten by fouls in the progress. Perhaps this was better, though Wooyoung couldn't help but think that he was the more disorganized choice to send out there.

Nervous fingers stayed near his gun holster. San and he observed some water gatherers in the distance and watched a bunch of lizards scramble through the sand, but nothing else disturbed their trek. Few animals made it through the nuclear holocaust and the shortage of food that followed. Some species disappeared altogether, while others went extinct with the years of starvation. The animals able to bury in the sand should be largely the same. San mentioned those lizards could be grilled over a flame and eaten.

It was better than nothing.

"What's his name?" San asked after two hours of idle walking during which Wooyoung drove himself mad thinking. He imagined a thousand scenarios of Yunho pulverized against the rock and digging up the bloody pulp. San's voice pulled him from the horror and when Wooyoung glanced up with haunted eyes, he found the other raider looking back at him. After a moment of swallowing the sudden anxiety he hadn't noticed bubbling over, Wooyoung moved his dry lips to words.

"Who?"

"Your boyfriend." San slowed his step so they could roam side by side. Though it was easy to trail behind the span of his broad shoulders, it was less stifling to meet him as an equal. Wooyoung flicked his hair back, putting on his mask of confidence.

"His name is Yunho," Wooyoung gave away. The two would never meet, so it was irrelevant information.

San contemplated the name but came up empty. When his sly eyes dashed back to Wooyoung, he braced himself for a comment.

"You still say it with such adoration. Hope is adequate, but what if he's gone? Won't you crash too hard?"

Wooyoung gathered his breath for the lecture of his lifetime.

"Listen, you don't know him or me. Before I have no confirmation, I will not leave him behind. You don't need to question me. Even if he is gone, I fare well by myself. And it is not your business how I will moan his name into his skin once we are back together." Huffing, Wooyoung crossed his arms. He said the last part only for his own triumph, only because he had seen San's eyes linger longer than they were supposed to. Though his heart raced, fired up, he didn't like San's smirk.

"I'd be elated to hear more," he teased back, dropping his jab at Wooyoung's insecurities. Before Wooyoung could berate him, he continued.

"But it has to wait. We are almost there and while I am dying to learn how well he does you, it's not for everyone's ears."

Wooyoung flushed three shades of red when San effortlessly determined Wooyoung's position in their relationship. He stomped after San, resolved to dig Yunho back out just to show his bully that he had been right.