134340 |JJK FF|

Chapter 12

CRUNCH!

This is the sound those flat-looking things went when Yumi stepped on them. Jeongguk had called them 'leaves', in what Yumi considered an unbelievably nonchalant way. Had these things been found innocently on the ground of Earth, it would have been what the robot news reporters would be yelling about for years to come.

Leaves would shed from plants and trees, something that symbolised life and hope of life.

Something that had been lost on Earth for the last decades.

Namjoon had got the group waiting when he first found the flat things ("I can feel the moisture in it!"). The other humans had promptly joined him, crouching over the soil as they each chose a leaf to examine ("There are so many of them!", "They are the ones who act like oxygen dispensers, right?", "Amazing!") with Jeongguk standing over them, confused.

"What...? Hey, we've got to move on,"

"Can we take some with us?" Yumi asked excitedly, already collecting some fallen leaves from the ground, "WOAH! What are those? Fower? Flouah? Flower?! AMAZING!"

Jeongguk sighed, easily plucking a red one out from what Yumi knew to be a 'Shrub', handing it to her while looking exasperated and slightly entertained at the same time, "Keep that. Will you come now? I need to call on my vehicle already–"

"Pluck one for me too!" Jimin protested.

"And me!"

"No, Hara, wait! You are the only one here with an implanted nanorobot! Can you, like, zoom in on the leaves and see the holes? You know, the ones that dispense oxygen! Can you? What do they look like?!"

Jeongguk's pale fingers were already fiddling with a physical-looking key, "Seriously? I'm calling the vehicle, get ready,"

"What?" Yumi asked from the spot on the ground she had settled on, turning the blood-coloured flower over her fingers, quite oblivious to the noise.

"I said, we've got to move on. Stop it already! Hey, you! Short head! I'm only giving this flower if you stand up already! No, that leaf is not edible. At least, not to you. Put it down."

There was a distant humming that seemed to vibrate in the air before two balls of lights starred the sky. Wrapping her fingers carefully around the flower, Yumi heaved herself up. A vehicle similar yet bigger than the one Yumi owned stood before her. Its large wings folded itself beneath the metal the vehicle was made of as it steadied itself an inch over the ground, as if eager to carry its new passengers already.

"We need to get to the other side of the forest," Jeongguk said, hopping in, "We will have to keep ourselves out of sight as much as possible. You never know, a Nocturnal might see us and snitch. Get in. When we are deep enough, we can collect some food for ourselves,"

A strong stench of herbs and hay was the first thing Yumi noticed when she squeezed herself in. The last thought on her mind before she took off was 'This better work.'

__________

Yumi remembered how, in ancient days, people used to believe that the winds were caused by Mother Earth's breathing.

So, by that logic, Pluto must be blowing raspberries right onto her face to slap her with the wind.

It had been years (although it sure didn't feel like it) since she had last sat in a vehicle like this. Naturally, it had also been years since she last drove at the speed Jeongguk was driving right now. She almost missed the days in the spaceship when she couldn't feel the pressuring wind.