Chapter 21: The Final Breath

“Oh… Mom!”

Beep, beep, beep.

By the time she barely detected the suspicious sound, it was already too late. The explosive device attached to the bottom of the car detonated, and the car instantly launched into the air.

Yeosu, flung out of the car window, rolled over and over on the sand. Cheche was trapped inside the overturned driver’s seat.

When Cheche, who had been momentarily unconscious, opened her eyes, she saw Oteb in uniform through the broken rearview mirror.

She snapped back to consciousness and frantically checked the back seat. The child wasn’t there. She saw Oteb smile widely in the rearview mirror.

Cheche fumbled for the gun, regained it, and pushed the car door with her torn left arm. After hitting it hard a few more times, a gap large enough for her body to escape formed.

As she gritted her teeth and crawled out, then stood upright on trembling legs, Oteb clapped for her as if in congratulations.

“Amazing, truly. I’ve never seen a deserter survive this tenaciously.”

Next to Oteb stood another human soldier in uniform. When he aimed his rifle, Cheche had no choice but to drop the pistol in her hand onto the ground.

“Sadly, the child will die soon.”

Oteb gestured towards the car, which had begun to catch fire, with a face devoid of any pity. He still thought the child was inside.

Cheche fixed her gaze on Oteb, careful not to reveal her searching glance for Yeosu. A dry swallow.

“Was it a natural pregnancy? It must have been difficult due to the sterility drugs administered during your girl soldier days.”

“…”

“How many times must you have rolled around to get like this?”

Tsk, Oteb clicked his tongue and circled Cheche’s body as if examining her. She seemed to hear him muttering that they needed to reinforce surveillance of sterility drug administration for girl soldiers.

Cheche cautiously rolled her eyes. She seemed to be gauging an escape route, but in reality, she was looking for Yeosu, who had been thrown out of the car window.

Guessing the direction the car rolled, she glanced towards the sand dune, and saw a black head almost buried in the sand, lying prone.

It was Yeosu. Her heart sank as the child lay motionless like a corpse, but the small hand gripping the sand twitched.

Cheche’s pale face instantly brightened. The child was alive.

“The interrogation will be at the guard post.”

Oteb, gesturing to the human soldier with him, struck Cheche behind the knee with the butt of his rifle.

“…!”

“It would be good to kill you immediately, but there’s a policy that deserters like you must be personally interrogated.”

Oteb’s military boot trampled Cheche’s prostrate back. Pfft, he scoffed at the impure breed’s twitching body like an insect, and took out a wire from his waistband to use as handcuffs.

Cheche desperately tried to regain her fading consciousness and fumbled for the pistol. Fortunately, Oteb’s action of pushing her forward brought the pistol closer.

However, it was uncertain which would be faster: her reaching for the gun or Oteb breaking her arm to stop her.

But she knew one thing.

“Ugh…”

She had to save her daughter.

Yeosu was stirring, slowly waking up. The child, with sand clinging to her torn wounds, instinctively reached out her hand like an infant, searching for Cheche.

If Cheche didn’t do something now, Oteb would discover that Yeosu was alive.

Cheche forced her closing eyes open. And reached for the pistol.

Thwack!

She did it. With a rising smile, Cheche swiftly turned her body and aimed at Oteb’s forehead. As Oteb, belatedly grabbing the rifle slung over his shoulder, looked at her with a flustered face, the trigger was pulled.

Bang!

Oteb died instantly.

The human soldier, who had been heading for the military vehicle, hastily raised his rifle and took a combat stance. In his wavering vision, Cheche, who had seized Oteb’s rifle, was caught.

Bang! The human soldier fired first, but it whizzed past Cheche’s feet as she swiftly rolled her body. He tremblingly aimed at Cheche’s forehead again. Cheche’s muzzle also aimed at him simultaneously.

Bang!

Gunshots were heard, and a few seconds later, the human soldier fell onto the sand. Cheche clutched her right arm, where a bullet had grazed her, and looked back at Yeosu.

The child, who had been holding her breath and watching everything, opened her eyes wide and moved her lips. Cheche, whose vision was blurred from excessive blood loss, couldn’t understand what Yeosu was saying.

It was just as she was swaying and heading towards the sand dune. Bang, another gunshot rang out.

“Oh, Mom…!”

Yeosu witnessed Cheche, who had been walking towards her, collapse forward. Gasp, tears streamed down Yeosu’s eyes as she swallowed back a sob.

Just then, a man in a navy blue uniform and military cap stepped out of a black military vehicle that had stopped. It was the same color uniform as Oteb’s, but the insignia on his chest was different. It was obsidian black.

Yeosu knew him. He was the same man who had gotten out of the truck’s driver’s seat.

The commander, as if to check Cheche’s vital signs, tilted his cap up and down, clearing his vision. The deputy commander, who got out of the car behind him, also wore the same navy uniform.

“I intended to hit the back of her head.”

“It’s a shame the wheel got stuck in the sand for a moment.”

The commander grumbled in dissatisfaction. He leisurely watched Cheche, who was still twitching as if trying to grab the fallen pistol, and took out a dagger from his belt.

“Such useful individuals have gone away, so I can’t let them die gently.”

He tilted his head back and forth, then cut Cheche’s neck once and both wrists once, as if butchering an animal.

Gulp, the gushing blood formed a vivid red river on the sandy ground. Flop, she twitched her body but could no longer move her hand towards the gun.

“However, I am concerned that we couldn’t interrogate her.”

“Eight capable members died. It was unavoidable.”

“Yes, then I will collect samples to send to headquarters.”

While the deputy commander took out a syringe for collection from his chest pocket and collected Cheche’s blood, the commander meticulously observed everything from the burning car to the traces of scattered gunfire. No signs of anyone else were visible.

“Let’s go back now.”

The commander turned towards the military vehicle. Before following, the deputy commander felt a strange gaze and looked back, but everything was normal except for the swirling sand dust.

Was it just his imagination? He adjusted his military cap and returned to the driver’s seat.

From the hill where they had left, a black head peeked up. Yeosu, who had been tightly covering her mouth for a long time, finally let out a sob.

“Oh… Mom. Oh… oh…”

Yeosu’s running body was precarious, as if being pushed by the wind. She stumbled several times while running down the hill. Later, she lost all strength and had to crawl on all fours.

Yeosu, who had barely maintained her balance and ran, finally collapsed in front of Cheche. Even though her knees were drenched in the pool of blood that overflowed and collected, she was intent on caressing Cheche’s face.

“Oh… Mom. G-get up.”

Yeosu lightly shook Cheche. Gulp, blood gushed from Cheche’s mouth. It was an unknown number of times she coughed up blood. Her mouth and jaw were already stained with black clots of blood.

Tears incessantly streamed down. Yeosu’s hands trembled with fear. ‘Mom, Mom.’ Her desperate calls did not reach Cheche. Afraid that even comforting her hand would harm her mother, Yeosu could no longer rashly touch her.

Only tears flowed. She wanted to burst into sobs right now, but she kept wiping her eyes, afraid she wouldn’t see her mother’s lips move.

However, in her blurred vision, Cheche’s lips only parted and closed briefly, unable to form words as before.

Yeosu learned what the pain of a torn heart was. It felt as if the yellow sky above, filled with dust, would heavily collapse upon her.

Her body was so crushed that she couldn’t even tell if she was breathing. She simply placed her hand over her mother’s. She heard her faint, shallow breaths. She saw her eyelids fluttering as if they would close at any moment.

Cheche’s lips parted as if to speak. But the shapes, which failed to become words, only dispersed as empty breaths.

“Oh, Mom. W-what… what should I do? T-tell me. P-please.”

Yeosu had never once thrown a tantrum at her mother.

Even when she had to endlessly walk through the desert, eating only dry grass for a week, or when her ankle swelled up after falling from a cliff while digging for stones, or when she missed the drainage time and had to drink rotten water for three days, she only smiled sweetly, not wanting to be a burden to Cheche.

But now, she wanted to throw a tantrum. She wanted to relentlessly beg her to please speak, to move her lips and tell her how she could help now.