Hana Song moved from Wando to Hanam city after Wando was nearly destroyed by the Taitan. She didn't remember much of the trip, only that it lasted for days. The Rebuilding Process created massive congestion within South Korea, it was perhaps the worst Taitan attack in years. So much so, the United States needed to lend a hand in rebuilding.

On the car drive there, Hana remembered seeing hundreds of American soldiers in the shelters, unloading rations, clothes, and weaponry to the South Korean officials. Hana was crammed into a bus from a fleet of about 200 all filled to the brim with people from all over South Korea. She looked around the bus and found she didn't see anyone from her neighborhood with her. It was just her.

She was the only child on the bus, there were many adults, even more teenagers, and some soldiers accompanying them. But as far as Hana knew, she was the youngest one there. So young, in fact, she had been assigned a handler. It took her a while to recognize him, but it was the soldier that rescued her in Wando.

He was tall, with dark brown skin, darker facial hair, and near black eyes. He sat by the window, looking uncomfortable as he crossed his arms and stared out into the devastated cities that zoomed past. He opted to change out of his uniform and settled into a black shirt that showed off his muscular, yet scarred, biceps, black pants, boots and a black beanie.

The two didn't speak for most of the journey, which was fine since Hana wasn't very sure she was capable of speech. She felt hollow on the inside, like someone opened up her chest, took out her heart and left her there. She wasn't sure she would recognize her own voice if she spoke.

The Soldier's phone buzzed. He muttered something in a different language and answered it. Hana recognized that he was speaking English into the phone, but couldn't translate what he was saying. He only caught a few words.

Omnic. Seoul. Kid.

He hung up the phone, apparently in a worse mood, and stared at Hana. Hana stared back, her eyes lifeless. The Soldier frowned and pulled out a little book written in Korean.

"You… are… hungry?" he asked in haltingly, awkward Korean.

Hana nodded.

"Ah… My Korean is… not good. Not much… practice…" He frowned and put away his book. Reaching into his back he brandished a small black box and opened it to retrieve its contents. Two pairs of tiny earphones, he moved to put them in Hana's ears then paused.

The Soldier showed her the earphones then pointed at his own ears then at her. Hana nodded and took the earphones, putting them on. The Soldier placed his own earphones in and fiddled with a device.

As he was tweaking with the settings, Hana felt a strange sense of vertigo. It felt like someone tipped Hana upside down then rapidly placed her right-side up. The nauseating sensation blurred Hana's vision.

"Shit!" The Soldier reached in and pulled Hana's hair back, gently holding it up and handed her a plastic bag. Hana got sick in the bag. "Sorry, I really didn't want to use the translators because of that. Come on, you're okay, let it out."

It took Hana a moment to realize he was now speaking perfect Korean, or at least that what she was hearing. It was like watching two videos at the same time, the voices overlapped each other. On top of his perfect Korean she could hear his sentences in English and another strange language.

Hana finished getting sick and groaned, gripping her stomach. The Soldier rummaged through his bag and handed Hana a crushed up sandwich and a bottle of water. Hana immediately refused.

"You have to eat," the Soldier said. "You haven't eaten in two days, I don't want you keeling over, kid."

"But… I'll get sick," Hana complained.

"Just try okay, you need your strength."

Hana reluctantly complied, taking the sandwich and eating it in small bites. It tasted like cardboard but she managed to keep it down. Hana instantly downed the bottle of water. The Soldier chuckled under his breath but shook his head. "I know you're thirsty, kid. But you need to ration your water more carefully. There are millions thirsty and hungry now, finish your food or water too quickly and you'll end up like them."

Hana apologized and stared up at the man's face. White lines scarred his face, running down his cheeks. He looked brutal. Like a shark manifested into human form, his dark eyes darting back and forth as if searching for his next prey. But when he smiled he looked different, like a bright sun after a thunderstorm.

"Who are you?" Hana asked.

The Soldier frowned and considered his answer. "Gabriel Reyes, you can call me Gabe."

Hana considered her next question. "Why did you save me?"

Gabriel looked puzzled by that question, as if he were floored by such a heavy question coming from such a young and innocent child. "Because you needed help. I'm sorry I couldn't save anyone else."

Like your parents, his eyes wanted to say but his mouth never formed the words. Hana nodded mutely and continued to nibble on her sandwich.

Gabriel's phone buzzed again. Sighing, he muttered, "Goddamnit," before brandishing the damnable device and answering. "Jack, I told you, I can't leave."

Hana continued to eat her sandwich as she ate, half-curious about who this Jack was, even more curious about why he needed to go. "Listen, Ange and I are still in South Korea… I know, but there's this kid…"

Gabriel looked at Hana, she wondered if he realized everything he said was translated for her. As if answering her silent question, Gabriel patted Hana's head tentatively. "I can't leave her, Jack. I'll link up with the group after I know she's safe."

Gabriel hung up and Hana stared at him. "Who was that?"

"An annoyance," Gabriel frowned. "Come on kid, do you need to use the bathroom?"

The bus stopped by an abandoned dilapidated petrol station, Hana wasn't even sure there were cars that ran on petrol anymore. The bus driver informed them that they would be taking a break, explaining that they had been driving for thirty hours straight. Hana wasn't sure that was accurate but Gabriel nodded sagely.

He escorted Hana outside and the sun instantly shined down on them. The brightness of the sun epitomized the word "heat" as Hana immediately began to miss the cool interior of the bus, but Gabriel insisted. He seemed to be okay in the heat, but Hana felt as if she were tossed into an oven.

Walking over to the petrol station, they found it was perfectly destroyed. The petrol canisters were ripped from their casing within the concrete underground and stolen, everything was looted, including the hoses and ATMs. The windows were broken completely and upon entering the entire place was ransacked.

Gabriel grunted, reaching for his hip but scowling as his fingers gripped for empty air. "Stay close," Gabriel warned. "Don't know what kinda people may be lurking around."

Hana didn't know what he meant, the place was empty, but she complied almost robotically. She noted the rest of the occupants of the bus lingered around the petrol station but they were the only two to actually enter.

"Gas and water won't work," Gabriel explained as they approached the bathroom. "Try to do the best you can."

Hana was about to enter but he stopped her. "Hold on."

Gabriel entered the bathroom first, five seconds later he came out. "Alright, clear."

Hana nodded and entered.

The bathroom was a tiny hovel, smaller than a broom closet. A broken stall surrounded a tiny toilet accompanied by a toilet paper dispenser which, oddly enough, was filled to the brim. The sink may have been white sometime ago but was now rust red. The mirror was defaced with strange language that Hana quickly associated with the Omnic "language".

It was a series of symbols, almost like pictograph but none of them looked like anything, just crude geometry arrange in an almost arbitrary manner. Underneath the Omnic sentence was one in Korean that Hana could read.

BUILT TO SERVE

RUST-BUCKET

ONLY MACHINE

Hana frowned looking at the strange graffiti. There was a sense of emptiness in her chest as she read the Korean characters. They were written in a harsh manner, as if someone slashed at the mirror with a brush. They looked angry. Furious. But Hana didn't understand it, didn't understand the anger, the fury.

She looked past the writing and into the reflection. Hana almost gasped at her appearance. It didn't look like her, it looked like some… creature designed to look like her and got almost everything right except one crucial part.

Her eyes.

Her brown eyes looked dark, almost as dark as Gabriel's. In class once, they talked about space and the cosmos. The teacher explained about black holes. Dense matter that was once a star collapsed into a single point, sucking in everything around it. Space. Time. Matter. Light. The black hole didn't discriminate, it took everything and obliterated it.

That's what her eyes looked like. Black holes that obliterated everything that they saw.

She rubbed her eyes, hoping to see her brown eyes again but they weren't there anymore. Just the black holes. Hana went over to the toilet and did her business. She couldn't wash her hands but she wiped them as best she could on her pants. Hana didn't look at her reflection as she exited.