San's scowling was silent unless prompted. For the first time, Wooyoung was glad he had the additional skill of driving. While their rotten friend concentrated on the dusty plains and gauged which sandy patches better not to drive across, he didn't have much time or patience to glance between Wooyoung and Yunho. He didn't demand answers, but neither did he allow Wooyoung to approach him for a discussion. He blocked off all responsibility although he could tell that things remained tense between them.

Wooyoung knew a talk was due, but he was exhausted from fighting with Yunho. Though he got to sleep in the car, he appreciated the rest during the day.

San shifted the gearsticks smoothly, chasing them at a careful distance past a water orb and its crowd. When Seonghwa begged Jongho to see, he was lifted until his screen faced out of the window. Curious stares followed the vehicle.

"Pumps. Have humans rediscovered pumps yet?" Seonghwa muttered like one of Jongho's mad inventions and Yunho cocked his head at him.

"What?"

"Apparently not," the laptop mourned, then he fell silent. Wooyoung peered over Mingi's shoulder. The trader had picked up a map of the area drawn by modern people and compared it with Seonghwa's route north. His long legs were crossed on the dashboard of the jeep and his clothes swathed him in a permanent hue of mysteries. Though he always looked occupied with something, he knew how to gather information without anyone else noticing he listened in. Wooyoung had a sharp eye, even when he was in emotional distress. He learned to stay wary around the tall man.

"What's our route?"

They needed a break soon. One of those utopian resting areas Seonghwa described, or even just a ruin to spend some time on solid ground. Jongho didn't take well to the swaying of the car and he looked positively sick most of their ride, biting back all comments that might end in him throwing up all over the seats. Seonghwa told him tricks to soothe it, but the rest also looked forward to steady ground and a meal.

"We have a few more hours to go today but there is a settlement nearby we might want to check," Mingi said, eyes flicking up to study the gloom of the skies.

"A settlement?" San repeated and Yunho perked up in his seat. Mingi grunted as he jostled the map so all of them could see.

"I estimate it another twenty minutes from here, relatively on our path. We could stop and trade some items, and we could check out what other survivors are up to these days."

"Perhaps someone can warn us of possible dangers on the route to Canada," Seonghwa chirped. His opinion was the wisest of them all, but Wooyoung still glanced at Jongho.

"Us raiders all have experiences with settlements and know how to navigate them. Do you think it's safe?"

Jongho nodded his green face.

"It's vital information," he heaved. "And we might find equipment there we couldn't get at the shelter."

With that, it was settled. San followed Mingi's instructions while Seonghwa couldn't help his curiosity about their settlements. They must be different from the cities he knew, or even his memories of Europe.

"You two come from the same place, right?" He addressed Yunho and Wooyoung. Since Wooyoung readied his gun in case the inhabitants didn't want strangers nearby and opened fire, Yunho replied.

"We do. We grew up near each other but only formed a team once we left in our early teens. Our community consisted of a handful of ramshackle huts. We were nomads, moving whenever too many fouls nested nearby and otherwise tended to each other. Naturally, with a lot of mouths to feed but few raiders finding meager loot, it didn't suffice. By the time we moved on, everything already crumbled apart. Our parents dedicated their every breath to our survival but the community couldn't uphold itself," Yunho reminisced the past. Wooyoung remembered learning how to fight with a knife behind the shacks and the few trips he made with his sickly father to hunt animals. When they teamed up, Yunho became a shining light, a steady support where all others fell to dust. They maintained the memories of a dead village.

"What about you, San?" Seonghwa continued, curious to hear everything. The other raider hesitated but he didn't refuse an answer.

"My father is the head of our community. He led them successfully for many years and we built a proper settlement around some ruins of the old civilization. Some of us tend to the village's protection, others uncover resources. Our main means for survival is our trade of medication with the traders that visit us. They supply everything we can't find otherwise. The medical center in the area is an unending source of treasure."

So that was how they saved him with the rare antidote they found somewhere in the belongings of a dead scientist. San played such a relevant role in their community. Medication was never far so they tried whatever they could. How infuriating that the cure had been at hand yet was lost the moment it worked on him. Wooyoung hoped Seonghwa could replicate it once the light was back.

"That must be a hospital. They stubbornly resisted all bombings to tend to those in need," Seonghwa added. Caught up in memories of their past, the group fell silent. Mingi knew various communities through his lifestyle and wherever he picked up Jongho, he had come from somewhere. After so much time alone, meeting other humans sounded unbelievable. There were villages out there, whole cities from what Seonghwa said, of people re-establishing order and society as the old ones lived it. Yet, survival marred them, and crowds of people in limited spaces attracted the fouls. Once inside, the fungus spread most instantaneous where masses gathered.

Still interested in this fort and its sights, Wooyoung fought the stubborn knot in his gut that told him being by himself was safer. He wasn't alone anymore. If someone attacked them, their group was a force to reckon with.

They just needed to protect the car. It was their greatest good and easily stolen.

Jongho shared the thought as he leaned to study Mingi's map. The trader rolled down his window to have a smoke and his unoccupied hand hung limply outside so the scent wouldn't bother Jongho's sensitive lungs.

"Two of us can stay with the car and Seonghwa while the rest go in with Mingi. How about we stay here so you can drive us off in an emergency?" Jongho addressed San. A bandaged shoulder shrugged.

"Whichever is more convenient to you. I can help find a way through camps safely, or I can cruise us around to shake off enemies."

"Perhaps you can use the time to learn how to drive," Mingi breathed along with his smoke. "Better two drivers than one. In case anyone makes trouble, we'll duck until you can pick us back up."

Everyone was happy with that plan. San didn't try to make it into the same team as Wooyoung, always dodging him. Though Wooyoung knew he would fume by himself if he saw Wooyoung do a mission with Yunho.

They discussed what else they might need from the fort and by the time its tall walls came into view, a solid strategy was set in stone. Wooyoung slung his rifle over his shoulder while Seonghwa studied the new methods humans invented to protect themselves from the fouls. Tall walls made from wood and leftover plastics and metals from the old world formed a towering fortress. To transgress, one had to use a lift that was operated by two workers. Guards kept a narrow eye on any approaching lifeform and the best firearms of the old world assembled in these places to keep the fouls at bay.

Yunho's and Wooyoung's settlement didn't have such elaborate defense mechanisms. San's home definitely did.

"Let's park the car near that cliff. We don't need more people than necessary taking notice of her," San suggested as he curved them under the overhang. One by one, they climbed out of the car to sort themselves. The ground wasn't as sandy here, rather dried and cracked earth. Pitiful plant remains indicated this was a field once that shriveled away under the lack of water.

They packed all items Mingi wanted to trade into their bags to make them look like mere travelers. Seonghwa attended them, worried about sending them off alone. He was curious to come along and look at the people, but he also understood the risk of showing up with a talking laptop.

"Yunho and Wooyoung know this best but run if you get attacked. Not everyone can be dealt with through genial sales," Jongho muttered as he watched Yunho tie his boots. Where San picked confrontation, Wooyoung knew to sprint. He and Yunho were quicker than anyone else.

"I will show them how to blend in so we don't get noticed in the first place," Mingi grumbled. He adjusted his hat and beckoned the two raiders to follow him. As Wooyoung complied, his gaze stuck to San. Unbothered, the raider leaned against the side of the car and fixed his bandages. He didn't glance their way or wished them luck as Seonghwa and Jongho did.

Snappish, Wooyoung glanced away from him.

Yunho was right. He wasn't worth it. He shouldn't be worth it. Whatever needless emotion made Wooyoung's heart stumble his way, it was irrational and not nearly as interested in survival as he would hope.

Unassuming, the three wandered across the sandy fields towards the tall walls. Wooyoung felt as if thrown back in time as he walked with Yunho by his side. They moved like two halves of a whole, fully aware of each other's movements and reacting accordingly so both flanks were consistently accounted for. The tug of Mingi's lips might be his acknowledgment of their unconscious pattern. He didn't ask about their relationship dilemma, however.

As they drew closer, they purposefully kept their weapons down to show the guards on the wall that they came in peace. Thoroughly scrutinized, Wooyoung wanted to turn back and flee and his fingers itched to tug his mask over his mouth, but they needed to strip themselves bare to be granted entrance.

Mingi blinked up the towering wall from below his hat.

"I have heard of this place, not that my travels ever took me this far," he opened as movement came into the little figures on top. They readied a lift and Wooyoung exhaled though they weren't in the clear yet. Usually, they would need to state their purpose, and perhaps be rid of weapons depending on the rules of the settlement. Not that this one looked so pretentious.

"Are they strict?" Yunho asked, on the same line of thought. But Mingi shook his head.

"Lawless, more like. They have their walls but everyone checks their own shoulder. Within a settlement, if there are no tight rules, it's kill and get killed. Some have more food, a better shelter. Robberies are the norm. Keep your hands on your bags at all times," he advised them and Wooyoung believed anything that gruff voice told him. He tightened the strap of his gun around his chest, well aware of what his greatest good was. Yunho slung his bag around his front instead of his back, keeping long arms in a tight lockdown.

Mingi stomped out his cigarette as the lift arrived before their feet. When it hit the ground, dust whirled up into the hot air. Even from the outside, Wooyoung could pick up on the stench and the heat of many people in one spot, caged in by the walls.

Coat swishing, Mingi made his way onto the elevator. Wooyoung and Yunho followed suit with their hands tense but their weapons vacant. Their eyes searched the far desert as they got pulled up, but the car remained out of view. Only travelers might see it and San could deal with those.

"Stick to me and do what I say. If things get prickly, we will make a quick departure," Mingi guided them, on terms with flight over a battle.

Wooyoung nodded though his fingers never left the strap of his rifle. If they needed to escape, he could at least take some followers off their backs.

Nervous to enter the first fort he got to know aside from their home, Wooyoung blinked against the nearing grey skies and readied his words to appeal to the operator so they wouldn't get shot before they knew what was going on.