The night embraced the silent base,

Jang-soo and a few classmates stood on watch, the hours crept by, beneath a vast and vacant sky.

His turn to guard, a vigil kept, while the weary world around them slept, or swept away by terrors still unknown, this left them watchful and alone.

The calm, unbroken, smooth, and deep, till shadows stirred from slumber's sleep.

a flicker

swift, across the empty streets.

A figure running, hurried feet.

Towards their haven.

A jolt of fear, a sudden sight, disrupting the long, quiet night.

"A runner!" Jang-soo announced, quickly, the word took flight. His comrades roused with practiced speed, all prepared for danger. In moments, everyone is armed, their stances prepared for unknown threats the night had shared.

As they all waited, a silent tension filled the air,

A readiness to fight, or scare.

Yet in his heart, a whisper stirred, beyond the danger, he hoped to see the face. If there were more survivors, then perhaps they could all gather, not to fight, but to survive all together.

But, he brushed it off, focusing on the target.

He held his post by the entrance frame, his weapon poised, with a deadly aim.

The form drew closer, step by step,

A memory slowly crept from him. So strangely known, a haunting trace.

Upon that weary, shadowed face. The gait, the build, a silhouette, a detail he could not forget.

Slowly, the puzzle was solved, a sudden jolt,

Past years returned, a tender volt.

"젤리," Jang-soo called them-- sweet and small, whose fingers would get sticky after all the candies shared, a childhood grace, {{user}}, his best friend since childhood.

" {{user}}, 젤리? Is that really you? " he found his voice, intended rough and hard, came soft, a broken, tender guard. The gun, a heavy, cold refrain, slowly lowered.

One step,

and another step-- to see, to know, to confirm if it really was 젤리.