At the seventh day after returning to the barracks, silence ruled. No one talked about the ambush or the butchering they saw. Everyone kept on doing their daily tasks: training, training, training, and training.
All the doors remained in the opening and closing loop, but one ash door remained locked, not even after several people knocked on it repeatedly on different occasions.
'Won't he at least come out for food or fresh air?'
That was the thought that rang through all the soldiers who were part of the group that joined in the operation against the bandits, and the ones that stayed behind, protecting the barracks and the entire city.
Few of them brushed the thought off their minds, replacing it with a regret that seemed harder and heavier than steel, remembering all the things they did before joining the military and still got placed at the gates as security guards.
…
Inside the closed door, a bouncing ball moved through the thick darkness, hitting the wall and falling back with a soft thud sound. Cozy air spiraled upward, flowing countless times from the nostrils and the mouth of the boy lying on the bed with crossed legs.
Soft wind tore in the room, raising the blue curtain and moving it slightly upward from the three feet opened window. Rays of sun shone brightly, penetrating through the curtain and throwing a light-blue glow, showing the pentagon patterns of the curtain on the floor.
The ball got thrown, landed on all four sides of the room, and landed in Kai's palm with a loud blasting sound as his fingers pierced through the ball and made water seep out of it.
'What will brother Gray's reaction be when he comes and finds out what I caused to some of the soldiers?' he thought, raising himself and sitting straight on the bed, clutching the bedsheet tightly in his palm and hissing.
He cracked his eyes open, tilting his gaze from the floor and stopping at the sun's glow on the flopping curtain. He rose up, inhaling deeply, then walked to the window, placing his palms on the stool of the window and began watching the view outside.
Birds hovered in the sky in groups, flapping their wings and stopping when they reached other groups. Tree branches shook, jolting leaves and letting them fall, spiraling in the air before landing softly on the dried ground.
He stopped his gaze when he noticed someone looking similar to one of the men who went with Lieutenant Gray coming. Kai's heart skipped, noticing other people in the bus and not seeing the man he wished to see there.
…
A soft car horn echoed before the bus landed after a short turn and stopped at a parallel white line drawn on the floor of the building filled with a different variety of vehicles.
The driver kept his hand fixed on the black leather handle, still remembering the lieutenant's words so vividly it seemed as if he was there with him.
'Tell them it will take some days or months before I return.'
Kinji closed his eyes and gasped heavily for a short while before cracking his eyes open and pressing on the blue door button, enabling the civilians in the car to descend and see the beauty of the city, especially the barracks.
After the last person exited, he tilted the key, pulled it up, and slammed his forehead on the steering wheel, followed by a loud cry…
"NO!" he said, pushing the door at his right side open and descending from the bus, helping those who still stayed behind, having no place to spend the night.
He helped all of those standing there without moving, finding a room for them to rest, but got no place to put the poor six-year-old boy and his mother.
"Please, can you find a place for my son? I can manage with my little child, but my child is different. He isn't like the normal children," the woman said, slightly hopping the baby clutched to her chest, before she began walking toward the exit of the barracks, leaving her son behind and placing him in the care of the military guy.
The boy's eyes welled up and began running as his mother, who now stood at the door, opened it. She turned, hugged the boy, and pushed him back.
"Ryo, don't follow me! You're safer here rather than coming with me and your little sister," she said, tightening the grip on the boy clutched tightly to her thighs.
"Here, they will treat you with the love I couldn't give you, the shelter I couldn't provide, and feed you with food you only saw some when sent to the chief's palace."
"Mom, no. I want to go with you. I can't live with these people. They will kill me like how the monsters killed all my friends and went on…" the boy said, tears falling from his eyes like water as he struggled when his mother began to push him away.
After what felt like a long struggle, Ryo's mother finally separated herself from her son's grip, dashed into the street behind the barracks walls, and cursed the heavens for destroying her life.
At that same time, Ryo tried chasing after his mother but got blocked by Kinji, who grabbed him, placed him on his shoulder, and began moving toward one of the buildings of the barracks.
'Why will a mother leave her son at the barracks and not want to spend even a day there?' Kinji thought, opening the door to the hallway leading to several doors, including the one that had been given to the first six-year-old boy who entered the barracks first and shocked everyone.
He stopped by a door with the inscription Test Subjects, placing the boy down and exhaling deeply.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Kinji's clenched fist slammed the surface of the door as he stood there watching the boy's face and tilting his gaze sideways, checking for movements before entering the now opened door and dragging the boy along.
After a short while, he exited, walking out of the door alone and stopping at Kai's door. Kinji knocked on the door twice but did not get any answer, but on the fourth knock, he heard a voice.
…
"Who is that disturbing me always? If I don't eat, am I hurting them or my body?" Kai said, chuckling and moving from the window to the door's angle.
His eyes widened the moment he saw Kinji, the very person he'd known throughout the days of the recruitment training and knew he was the first person Lieutenant Gray had chosen before choosing the remaining number and adding them to it…