My mind was in a panic, thoughts scrambled. I couldn’t figure out what to do.

Run? Hide? Or what? Maybe try talking to him and settle this?

But there was less and less time to think. Just as the hissing sound started to fade, I quickly slipped behind the nearest bushes to hide. My instincts were on high alert. Considering Neight's last words, I wanted to bolt as far away as possible, but common sense told me that getting lost was an even bigger threat. I tried to calm down, to catch my breath.

Come on, Emma, pull yourself together… What can he do, really? At most, he’ll just scold me... And besides, I'm armed, so he can't do anything to me.

"Evie, are you done with these childish games? You’d better come out now."

Hearing Neight’s angry, stern voice, my confidence crumbled, and I stopped thinking clearly. It seemed like he could do more than just catch me—he could do something terrible. Feeling my life was in danger, I snapped and dashed into the forest.

"Stop!" his voice rang through my helmet. "Have you lost your mind?! Wait… you... ost... ck…"

The further I ran, the weaker the signal became, Neight’s words breaking up into static before disappearing altogether. I had no idea where I was running, but that didn’t matter. One thought consumed me, pushing me to keep going no matter how hard it was.

Don’t let him catch you!

I repeated the phrase over and over as I weaved between trees, pushed through bushes, and slipped on wet grass, nearly tripping over roots.

Don’t let him catch you!

The thought pounded louder and louder, drowning out my ragged breathing. I gasped for air, feeling like it could run out at any moment. My legs felt heavy like lead, but I couldn’t stop. What if he caught up to me? What if he captured me? What if he killed me?

Don’t let him catch you!

My foot landed in something soft and wet. Before I could register what was happening, I lost my balance and fell backward, landing squarely in the middle of a muddy puddle. The fall was anything but pleasant, especially with the weapon slung over my back digging into my spine. I sprawled out on the ground, realizing I didn’t have the strength to get up.

I stared blankly up at the sky, where rain continued to fall, right on top of me. The trees around me, like protective domes, kept the space beneath them mostly dry, while this unfortunate clearing, where I’d slipped and now lay, was fully exposed, allowing the downpour to drench me.

Disgusting…

Helplessness set in, replacing my panic with apathy. At that moment, I didn’t care what happened next. I knew I’d run too far and had no idea where I was or which direction the ship was in. There was no hope that Neight would be able to find me either.

After lying there for a while, I started reflecting, thinking about how I’d ended up in this situation. At what point did everything go so wrong? Was it when I decided to rebel and do things my way? Maybe it was because, once again, I failed to keep my emotions in check? Why had Neight’s words scared me so much? Why was I so afraid of him? Now, lying in the mud, drenched in rain, I realized that he probably wouldn’t have hurt me... At least it wouldn’t have been worse than this…

The raindrops were becoming less frequent, but they still kept tapping against my helmet and slowly sliding down, while I continued to ponder. I was beginning to realize that what scared me most was that I didn’t understand Neight. What was he thinking? What drove him? What were his motives? Why did he look so much like Albert? It always unsettled me that he knew too much but said too little. He had so many secrets, and his behavior was strange, especially considering that night when I caught him typing and muttering random numbers and letters. Yes, he trusted me with a weapon, but could that have been part of his own plan? I had a strong feeling that he didn’t fully trust me, though I had to admit, the feeling was mutual. From the very beginning, instead of true cooperation, there seemed to be a constant confrontation between us. Who would outsmart whom? Who would gain the upper hand? We both tried to give each other only the bare minimum of information in order to get some advantage. We weren’t a team; we were more like two people trying to use each other to the fullest. I needed Neight for protection and survival. Ideally, I wanted him to save my family and loved ones, without even telling him. I was sure I was important to him for some reason, though he never intended to tell me what it was. Distrust, suspicion, secrecy, deceit, manipulation. Those were probably the perfect words to describe our relationship.

These thoughts left me feeling disgusted because I knew I was just as guilty as Neight. Yes, he tried to dominate and was quite harsh, but it seemed like at least he knew what he was doing. My plan, in the end, led to nothing good.

"Maybe I should have played it safe and agreed to that damn cryostasis instead of trying to act cooler and smarter than I really am?"

At that moment, I heard the rustling of leaves from the direction I had presumably come from. Someone or something was slowly approaching, and my survival instincts kicked in again. I quickly rolled onto my stomach, then, fueled by adrenaline, rose to my knees and pulled out my gun from behind my back. Aiming it at the source of the sound, I almost stopped breathing and froze in anticipation. Just a minute ago, it felt like I was ready to give up and let go of the situation, but now, faced with a threat, I realized how much I wanted to live. If necessary, I was prepared to fight to the very end.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Imagine my surprise when a familiar figure emerged from the thick foliage. The sleeves of his suit were still carelessly tied around his waist, exposing his torso, to which his right arm was strapped with mesh-like medical plaster. He was wearing a helmet, with raindrops tapping on it and slowly trickling down. In his left hand, he was holding an electronic notebook, which he had been looking at before stepping out from behind the wall of bushes. Seeing me, he immediately stopped. For a few moments, we silently stared at each other.

How happy I was to see him again!

"Could you maybe point the gun somewhere else?" he said irritably. "Or just shoot already. Don’t forget to take off the safety."

His words immediately snapped me back to reality, and I quickly lowered the weapon. I still couldn’t believe Neight was standing right in front of me. Tears blurred my vision.

"S-sorry... I wasn’t even thinking... I didn’t... I didn’t mean to... I-I’m so sorry..."

My lips were trembling, making my words come out jumbled and barely audible. I lowered my head. I was too ashamed to look at him because I knew I had seriously messed up this time. I was bracing myself for him to start reprimanding me, scolding me, shouting, accusing me of incompetence and stupidity. After all, I knew I was guilty.

"You know, after your stunt, I’m not sure what else you might come up with. By the way, how did the search for water go?" he asked sarcastically, clearly venting his anger and frustration on me. His words only hurt me more. It felt like he was grinding me into the dirt with that question.

"Sorry..." I whispered quietly, lowering my head even further.

I couldn’t manage to say anything else, as if a lump had lodged in my throat, preventing any sound from escaping.

After a minute of agonizing silence, he let out a displeased sigh and asked, in a calmer yet still strict voice, if I could stand and walk. I silently nodded, still staring down at the puddle of mud where I remained kneeling, and I still couldn’t bring myself to look at Neight.

"Take it," he commanded dryly, handing me his tablet before gripping my arm tightly so I couldn’t run off. "Let’s go. And please, no more nonsense, okay? We’ve wasted enough time and energy on your latest ‘brilliant’ ideas."

He moved forward into the forest, pulling me along.

"I won’t run away again," I said quietly.

"Hm... I feel like I’ve heard that before."

"I really won’t…"

"Sorry, but after what happened, I can’t just take your word for it."

It stung, but maybe I deserved that. We continued walking in silence for a while. Occasionally, Neight glanced at the tablet I was holding in front of him with my free hand. I noticed that it was displaying a radar app. On the green screen, marked with circles and lines, a line, like a clock’s hand, swept in a circle, refreshing the image. In the bottom right corner were two white dots that moved closer to the center as we progressed. I guessed those dots were us, and the center was the ship, the source of the signal.

So that’s how he found me…

"Neight, is this a navigation system? Didn’t you say using it could be dangerous?" I asked cautiously.

"I didn’t have a choice. I wouldn’t have found you otherwise. But you’re right—it could make us detectable. Especially since I had to use it during the flight earlier. We need to hurry and turn it off before someone spots us."

"B-but why take such a risk just for me?"

At my words, Neight clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"I already told you, I’m not doing this just for you, but for my own survival. Maybe this will be a shock, but the world doesn’t revolve around you."

Yeah… I’ve really made him angry. I doubt he’ll forgive me anytime soon…

I kept walking behind him in silence, feeling downcast. The two dots on the radar were now quite close to the center, meaning we should soon reach the ship. Suddenly, to our right, not too far away, there was a loud splash, as if a giant boulder had been thrown into water. Neight and I immediately froze, exchanged a glance, then simultaneously turned our gaze toward the source of the sound.

"Water!" I said.

"And it’s close…" he quickly added.

Could luck really be on our side? If there was indeed a water source nearby, it would be perfect—close enough to the ship to use regularly. I felt a surge of energy and was ready to rush off and investigate.

"We need to check it out," I said excitedly, taking a step toward the sound, but Neight immediately stopped me, pulling me back by the arm.

"Not so fast. We can’t go there right now."

“What? Why?!”

I looked at him in confusion, though he couldn’t see my expression through the helmet. I didn’t understand how we could pass up such an opportunity.

"Did you already forget what I just told you? The navigation system is still active. We need to shut it down first before addressing anything else."

"B-but wait! You heard the water too, right? We can quickly go grab a sample and then head back to the ship. We can’t waste this chance! Otherwise, we’ll have to keep going back and forth, and we might not even find this place again!"

At my words, Neight walked over to the nearest tree, released my hand, and pulled a knife from his belt, carving a large cross into the bark.

"We’ll find it again now," he said calmly. However, I wasn’t satisfied with this approach.

"So you’re suggesting we waste time marking trees but aren’t willing to take a few steps to scoop up a bit of water?"

"First of all, even if we do check it out now, we still need to make marks so we can find this spot again. Second, are you even listening to me?! We could be detected, and then no water is going to matter! And third, that splash didn’t happen for no reason. We have no idea what’s waiting for us there…"

"Neight, I understand that this is risky. But you also need to realize that we don’t have much time to be running back and forth! I’ve got, at most, an hour before the effects of the medication wear off, and then I’ll be out for several hours while I recover."

"You’re really sticking to your plan?" he asked, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"Well, yeah, if we have the chance. Aren’t you?"

Neight didn’t answer, though maybe I had asked a stupid question. It was clear he preferred his plan of going into stasis, so I suddenly had a new argument in my favor.

"You yourself said that by activating the navigation system, we might have been detected. What if our enemies arrive while we’re asleep? Won’t we be easy prey then?"

Neight flinched at my words, as if realizing the mistake he might have made. I knew I’d hit the mark, so I continued:

"If you want, I can go quickly on my own and—"

"No!" he cut me off instantly. "You’re not going anywhere alone again! Fine, you convinced me. But we must act fast. And don’t take a single step away from me, understood?"

Neight grabbed my hand again, and we quickly headed toward where we believed the large water source—and possibly our salvation—was waiting.