The last line of the previous chapter - "Mm. I don't think we want him to get hurt any more than he has."

"Yeah." Klaus replied, staring forward.

Emma looked to Joshua and said, "Where should we go Klaus? Nobody in Bo-"

"I know." Klaus sighed and laid back.

"But don't worry, I have a plan."

Emma looked at him curiously.

"We're getting out of here!" Klaus jumped up and put his hands to his side.

"Since I called Joshua's house 'jolly house', this is going to be a 'jolly adventure'!!"

Emma looked at Klaus in disbelief. "Get out of here?! Klaus!! We both know ho-"

"Bah," Klaus waved her off, closing his eyes.

"Bah?! Are you trying to get us killed?!" Emma roared.

"You know we can't afford to keep on roaming, right Emma?"

Emma backed down and flinched.

"You felt it back there too, right? That old man talking about these 'Binding Orders' and then him suddenly dying…"

Emma avoided his gaze as he talked.

"And now we have Joshua to worry about. Who knows what'll happen to him when he wakes up." Klaus pondered momentarily before saying, "My point is, if we continue to live like this, we'll suffer more."

"Bu-but can't we just stay here? Outside is…"

"Haven't you seen the conditions? It's constantly declining."

Emma flinched again.

"We've stayed here for 5 years already, sometimes going further out to get extra food."

Klaus touched Emma's back as he said, "Ever since we met, you've been scared. I've been too. I know how har-"

"No, you don't!!" Emma slapped his hand off her back and moved away.

"You don't know how hard it's been for me!! I saw them all die. All of them!!"

Emma glared at Klaus aggressively.

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"And you want to tell me you know how hard it's been?!"

Klaus slightly widened his eyes and looked up.

"I guess you're right. I don't know how hard it's been for you."

He looked at Joshua momentarily and turned back to Emma.

"But what I do know is that if we stay here any longer, we're gonna die."

Emma's voice wavered as she said, "How? They don't know about thi-"

"They do."

She let out a small gasp.

"W-what?" she thought.

Klaus sighed, putting his hand on his forehead, and said, "I didn't want to believe it either, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Don't you remember when we first went into here, that man who was hiding behind a tree near the entrance?"

Emma began to tremble and shook her head.

Klaus hesitated for a moment before saying, "Mmm. That man had a mark too. Interestingly though, it wasn't the same mark Grandold had. The mark was…orange and gold."

Emma's eyes frantically moved as she said, "A-a-are you saying th-that that man is one of the Reapers?"

Klaus shrugged as he said, "Probably. I'm saying that there are definitely different marks that, instead of restricting a person, they enhance a person. Little Joshua here has one, on his chest. That's probably why he's so good with puppets."

Emma immediately got up and pulled the animal fur on Joshua's chest.

"N-no way," she said as she observed the mark, her body failing her as she kneeled. "Wh-when…this makes him good with puppets?"

"Probably. When I laid him down yesterday. You were facing my back but when I checked him, I saw it. When I did, I suddenly remembered the man." Klaus let out a chuckle and flinched.

"Isn't that interesting? Haven't you seen it too? The people here…"

Emma fidgeted as she said, "T-they don't really talk or d-do anything."

"They really don't, right? Another thing: didn't you feel like you knew what a Binding Order was when that grandpa talked about it?"

Emma gazed down and slowly nodded her head.

Klaus snickered as he said, "My theory is that people die when they speak about it…or maybe…remember it…" he looked up solemnly, recollecting the time when he and Emma were outside and saw people with Binding Orders, obeying mindlessly.

"T-then shouldn't we be dead too?!!!" Emma shouted, pulling her hair.

Klaus scratched his head as he said, "Ah, right. That's what's worrying me…we could be at risk just discussing it."

His voice slightly trembled as he said, "Grandold died an hour after he talked to us about it; however, it's been more than ten hours, and we're still kicking.

Emma thought momentarily before hesitantly saying, "Do they only die if they have the mark?"

Klaus squinted and looked at Joshua as he said, "Maybe. Joshua said that he couldn't tell me why he was so good with puppets…that might have been why. Or he could have just been being childish."

Klaus looked back at Emma and said, "Either way, Joshua seemed to be fully aware of his mark."

Emma crossed her legs tightly as she said, "R-right…why would the Reapers want to ki-"

Klaus leaned forward and said, "Exactly." He stood up and crouched beside Joshua before saying, "He's the key to figuring this out."

Emma stood up and slowly walked to Joshua. She stared at the mark briefly before saying, "I remember the man now, too. I…felt really scared when I saw him."

Emma paused for a moment and muttered, "A-are you sure we shouldn't stay…?"

"Positive." Klaus looked at Emma with conviction. "We're like sitting ducks. If we stay, we're begging to be killed."

"Is the outside really better?!!" Emma yelled, curling her fists.

"We've seen what it's like!! Those evi-"

"It's better than staying here and dying anyway," Klaus said monotone.

*Sniffle*

Emma's eyes began to water as she said, "D-do we really have to leave?"

Klaus took a deep breath, his gaze firm as he looked at the light blue sky. "There's nothing left for us here, Emma. If we stay, we're only postponing the inevitable."

Emma's face twisted with a mixture of fear and resignation. She opened her mouth, closed it, and looked away at the sky. Joshua lay between them, his mark hidden but heavy in their minds.