Ian got tired of seeing her sob and ended up interrupting her.

"I know it's not the time, but ... I've never read your diary. I'm sorry I broke into your house and your room like that. But that bastard had cameras all over the house. I couldn't bring myself to tell you. I didn't know how to tell you that. Besides... You haven't spoken to me in years. In the end, I decided to remove them myself. I understand it wasn't the best decision I've ever made in my life, but ... What did you expect me to do when I found it out? Tell the police? What was I going to tell them? That I had broken into your house and discovered all that but it wasn't to steal?

Emily couldn't see him straight in the face. She stared into space, tense and barely moving. She was so used to being afraid of Ian that she didn't realize she was trembling too.

Ian continued. "I know you hate me and you never liked me. You may not care about what I'm about to tell you, but I would never hurt you. I've never spied on you, because I've never entered your house with you inside. I've never read your diary, nor have I ever touched your clothes. I know they was yours because, in the photos, you had them on."

Ian paused for a long time, showing great regret. "I know you don't believe me, but... I'm sorry I saw the photos."

Emily seemed really uncomfortable hearing that, but also somewhat relieved. She felt that Ian was being honest and that he was truly sorry. That he had done it all for her or for his regal sense of justice. Thinking that the latter was more likely, she felt disappointed.

Ian realized that any further explanation would be superfluous and remain silent for a few moments. Then, and in a serious tone. "I'm leaving this place. It's not safe at all. Footsteps are heard from time to time."

Emily looked at him so terrified that she could hardly get the words out. "You're leaving? And I...?" It was obvious what would come next, but it didn't come out. She hastily wiped away her tears and looked into his eyes.

Ian turned around, looking calm. "Why did you come after me? I didn't expect it. Maybe that's why I didn't offer you, or wait for you. I sensed you were disgusted by my role in the death of those bastards. Or disappointed because I don't forgive you for not talking to me for so many years. I don't know if I ever will.

Emily couldn't stop shaking. She couldn't tell him the truth. She thought that anything she could say to him would sound too stupid and obvious. Although, there was something she wanted to know about him. But Ian didn't give her the chance to ask anything. "If you come with me, it's not for you to judge me like you did before. I will do everything I ever wanted. Nothing here will stop me."

Emily didn't like that. That was the Ian she feared. "But, what can I do? I'm dead alone. That's for sure. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do. I've played a few survival games, but... to what extent are the first steps in those virtual environments going to help me here? I don't know, and I don't intend to find it out on my own." She looked him straight in the eye and continued to ramble. "I want to go with you, but you can't ask me not to think about whether what you're doing is right or wrong." That's what she would have liked to tell him. But her friend Courage was still not helping her.

Ian started walking and Emily followed him, hurriedly. Her whole body ached, more her hands than her feet or head. She didn't understand why. She looked at her hands carefully and saw with astonishment that there was blood under her fingernails. Even, some skin? She checked her body to see if she had unconsciously dug her nails while she had suffered that panic attack. She couldn't find anything to explain it. She wanted to ask Ian if he knew what had happened to her hands, but he was walking several steps ahead, and the noises of the forest didn't arouse her confidence.

Emily kept walking barefoot. The grass wasn't as hard and damaging as the rocks and dirt were, but every now and then something hurt her. There were some small pieces of branch hidden under all the deciduous vegetation in the forest. Certainly, the forest wasn't like the timber floor in her room that she liked to walk on barefoot.

Ian was several meters ahead, deciding which was the safest path. He was doing this to avoid making her walk for nothing. The pain in Emily's feet was increasing, accumulating more and more. That made her nervous. At some point, she would have to stop. "Will he leave behind me then? I don't even want to imagine it."

Emily tried to focus on everything she saw. She had never imagined that there was so much life in a forest. She wasn't referring to any vermin, rabbits or birds. She meant everything under the leaves. In the comfort of a house, none of that could be seen. She thought that if she had to sleep outdoors, all those bugs would crawl up her legs or any part of her body that were in contact with the ground. She felt shivers and disgust.

Suddenly, Ian motioned her to get down. Immediately, she lay down on the floor and watched as all those bugs crawled all over her body. Some were almost microscopic. She felt pathetic for complaining that she had watched how eight lives had been extinguished in one morning when she had extinguished an unknow number of them with each step. "It may seem somewhat trivial and pathetic to Ian to think about these lives, but... At what point does someone decide that one life is more valuable than another just because of race or size?"

When she finished losing herself in her thoughts, she saw Ian motioning for her to get up. As Emily got to her feet, she saw a couple of students fleeing away from Ian. It was obvious that Ian terrified them, but he didn't even bother to follow them. A shiver ran through Emily's body at the thought that he probably didn't hold grudge a against them. If so, the situation would have been very different. She also thought that maybe he didn't want to get too far away from her. It was obvious that she was a burden to him, or so she felt more and more.

As they resumed their journey, she thought of all the comforts she'd had in her life, and how little attention she had paid to them. Shoes, comfortable clothes, food in the fridge, paved floors, hot water, a society that provided her protection, education. "But everything comes at a price. It's not free. Without education there is no work, without work there is no money, and without money there is nothing. Goodbye to all that materialism that I never realized I was so surrounded by."

Thinking about all that, temporarily kept her from thoughts like... "What was Hector's yelling about? "I understood that Hector and the other boy had something personal against Ian. But, what about the others? And Rebecca? Why did Beth's friend attack him?" Everyone seemed to hate Ian. Certainly, not talking to him had distanced them so much, that she knew nothing about his life. Only the gossips that people made up.

Emily kept wondering as she dodged small bits of branches and anything that might hurt her delicate feet. She wondered things that sooner or later would end up happening. "How am I going to relieve myself in the woods with Ian around? I don't want him to see me doing that. He's going to have to do it too. Though I guess he has it easier. And what am I going to clean myself with?" She grabbed a piece of grass and realized that it wasn't going to clean her perfectly. She touched her belly, in the bladder area. The bladder was getting fuller and fuller. She looked at the sky and said. "Blessed civilization, and now what?

When she realized Ian was nowhere to be seen. She cursed herself for being so stupid and not paying attention. "How could I have lost track of him? Damn it!"

Suddenly someone other than Ian spoke to her from behind. "Please, Emily! Tell Ian not to kill us!". A shiver ran up and down her spine and almost made her bladder sphincter relax. Emily turned around. Her heart nearly leap out of her mouth. She recognized that voice before she turned around, and she would recognize it even in hell itself. It was Beth's voice and she was not alone.

Emily glanced in all directions with her back to Beth and her friends, but there was no sign of Ian. She tried to hide her growing distress. She didn't want to give them any clues about her heavy dependence on Ian. She feared that they would decide to take advantage of the situation and hurt her. Gradually, she realized that this was unlikely. They seemed very lost, scared and vulnerable. She supposed she looked that way too.

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Beth's eyes searched for Ian. It was evident that they had been followed from afar. "Does that mean they had seen the end of George? Then, they know what Ian is capable of, so they want an ally."

Looking down at the ground, she began to feel as pathetic as she thought they looked. She gripped her spear tightly, and made a promise to herself. "This has to change. I have to get stronger." Then, she realized. "If I can't live alone for a single day, how am I going to get strong?" She sighed, feeling naive.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that behind Beth and her three companions was someone else. Two very dirty-looking men were walking towards them, slowly. Emily began to tremble at that instant, terrified. Beth realized that such an overreaction, couldn't just be about her. They all turned around, but none of them screamed.

The two men approached apparently calm, but attentive to their surroundings. It was obvious that the two men weren't concerned by the fact that each of them had a spear. The two men were really dirty and looked hungry. Emily could tell they hadn't eaten or slept well in days. They didn't seem hostile, but they gave a bad impression. They had their feet protected and a lot more clothing than the four. They had small sacks tied around their waists, loaded with something that didn't look like food or water. One of them, with a very dry lips, asked them with a pitiful face. "Have you arrived today? Do you have anything to eat? We are very hungry."

Listening to them, Emily realized that it must be normal for people to arrive at this world with some regularity. One of the girls responded with some embarrassment. "Yes. We arrived today, but we have nothing. How long have you been here?"

The individuals looked at each other, frightened and disappointed. They seemed absorbed, watchful of any hidden threat. The farthest individual indicated to the closest one that they should leave, but the closest one still seemed unwilling and answered. "We arrived about a week ago. We were about fourteen people when we arrived. Now, it's just us."

Emily put her hand to her mouth, trembling and thinking to herself. "I didn't want to believe it when they warned us. Not even when Ian bet against the old woman. I thought it was to scare us." Emily didn't want to show any more terror than she had.

One of her classmates asked curiously. "Didn't you take any of what they asked for to the settlement?".

The individual who was still showing signs of wanting to leave added. "The closer you get to the settlement, the safer it is. But also the less stuff you will find".

The other individual added. "We hardly found anything. The few vermin we hunted, we ate it. We were so hungry that we didn't even make a fire."

Emily understood that making a fire was difficult thing to do without firewood and without what was needed to create a first flame. She understood too, looking around as terror crept up her legs. "Making a fire is like saying. I'm here, come kill me."

The farthest individual, who had taken a step away, added. "Don't trust those bastards in the settlement. The cooked food they will give you for bringing them what they ordered is worth significantly less than what you will give them. They're absolute motherfuckers."

Beth's other companion asked a question that Emily no longer doubted. "What happened to your companions?".

The more talkative individual pointed in one direction. "Don't even think about going that way. There's more wood and plants you can pick up. But they do it on purpose to make us go in that direction."

The same girl asked something already unnecessary. "Who's doing it on purpose? What's over there?"

Beth, fed up with her companion's stupidity, yelled at her. "I don't give a shit what's over there, dammit! You're dumb! We're just not going in that direction, and that's it."

The individuals cowered so much that their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The one who kept waving the closest one to get the hell out of there, put his finger to his lips and whispered to them to shut up. "Are you crazy yelling like that?" The farthest individual tugged on the closest one's clothes and whispered very seriously. "I'm going with you or without you." This one, didn't need to hear anything else. Hastily and stealthily, they began to leave.

Beth tried to follow them, but the most cautious individual threatened her with his spear. The bloody spear let her know that he knew how to use it. "If you follow us, I'll kill you. We don't want women with us."

Nina, the idiot from Beth's group asked. "What's wrong? Are you gay?"

Emily watched with some envy as those individuals managed to run away at full speed. Their feet were well protected. She bet they were the clothes of some of their companions. "How much must they have suffered in this week? How many must they have seen die? I don't think they were the ones who killed them. They don't look like that. But Ian does." Then, she looked in the direction they had pointed and wondered. "Why don't they want the girls to go with them? Would the apes be that way?"

One of the girls tried to follow the individuals, but stopped when she saw that no one else was doing so. Beth tried to take cover behind a tree in case her screams had draw the attention of whatever was in that direction. The other two girls followed in unison. The third, feeling ridiculous, had no choice but to imitate them.

Emily was still there, still and scared. She was shaking badly as Ian still showed no signs of life. "Where the hell are you?" She whispered to herself, turning some of that terror into anger. She had never been this close to Beth without being humiliated or insulted by her.

Then, she turned slowly and walked to where she had last seen Ian. A few seconds later, she could see with disappointment that Beth and her group were following her. For several minutes they walked in silence, but Beth put a stop to that by whispering loud enough for Emily to hear her. "Where's Ian?"

Emily remained silent, as she always did whenever Beth spoke to her. Even if they were in such a dangerous place, she still hated her. But she also feared her. However, Nina, the stupidest of the four, clearly tired of Emily's silence, rebuked her. "Are you deaf RedCow? Where's Ian?"

Emily didn't like that at all, so she stopped abruptly, clenching her her fists. But, to her surprise, what followed was Nina complaining. "Ouch! Why did you elbow me?" Emily heard a series of murmurs that she couldn't make out. And then, after a brief pause, she heard Nina apologize out loud. "Excuse me, Emily! Ouch! Why are you elbowing me again?". Emily sighed. More and more murmurs followed.

Emily couldn't believe that such a stupid person could be Beth's friend and not her lapdog or one of her lackeys. She supposed that having a father with money had its advantages. She didn't plan to spend another second on them anyway and kept walking. She remembered Ian's sentence. "They've been making you suffer for years. For every tear you've shed, they'll shed a tear of blood."

"That's a lot of tears." She thought again, remembering that the ones who had made her cry the most were Beth and Rebecca. She felt a shiver as she remembered Rebecca's face and the last thing Ian had said to her. "I will do everything I ever wanted. Nothing here will stop me." For a moment, she almost wished Ian didn't shown up. But, when she heard several insults among which she understood "RedCow", she immediately changed her mind.

Emily looked in all directions, but Ian was still absent. It was obvious he was watching them just as he had done with George. Emily guessed that he either didn't want to see them or didn't want to hurt them with her around. Emily turned and watched them out of the corner of her eye. They always stayed at a safe distance. They were neither too close nor too far behind. "It is obvious that they only want to get close to me to get Ian's protection without apologizing to me for years of humiliation. I hope no one ever helps you."

When Emily turned around, she freaked out. But she was able to stop herself from crying out. Ian was there. Serious and gritting his teeth. Emily understood that he had been close to her the whole time. "Surely, he have heard everything. Why is he coming out now? Was he tired of observing without being discovered?”

Emily tried not to look at his face. His gaze was one of disgust and utter contempt towards them. Emily began to tremble. She didn't want to be there and witness what she assumed was going to happen.

Ian whispered to Emily, avoiding being overheard by the rest. "Keep calm as much as possible and walk in that direction without me. Don't look back for anything in the world. Walk without stopping. I'll go after you as soon as I finish some unfinished business."

As soon as she heard that, she started shaking. She couldn't help but think that he was going to kill them, one by one. Savagely. Emily tried to meet his eyes. She wanted to tell him not to do it. She wanted to tell him that she didn't want him to go down that path of death. Down that path of no return. But, Ian was no longer looking at her. He walked steadily. Without hesitation. That was like him. He never lied. He never hesitated.