Her heart was racing, her steps stiff and achy, she felt a pinch of realisation and her thoughts entangled into questions in her head, nothing made sense just as much as it did. The lack of irony and the presence of it fought a battle similar to the loud argument the voices in her head kept alive. If it were her, and it were him, why would he do such a thing as spiteful as murdering her? What could've possibly triggered it? Kris said that he found out Stella was a traitor, but her letter only conveys the exact opposite of that. The worst thing about this is the fact that the truth hung between the lines, she could feel it.

But then again, why would he sneak into the basement and hide from them? If anything, they were supposed to search the buildings for any clues and contact each other once anything is found, if he were simply looking for a hint to Evran's location, he wouldn't have hidden from them. He had a different motive, she was sure of it.

Would confronting him about it help the situation? She thought about it for a while and hesitated; what if he really did it? Confronting him would only cost her her safety if he did.

"You all right, Sara? You look like you've analysed the secret of existence." Said Kris, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"What? Yes, I'm all right, why would you say so?"

Kris shrugged, "I don't know, you just look a little lost. Is it about Evran and the letter?"

Not really.

"Yes," she lied, "I'm trying to figure out how to tell Asli that her sister died, let alone murderd."

Kris nodded, her expression turned soft and her eyebrows pinched together, she was considering it for a moment, putting herself in Sara's shoes for a split second.

"It sucks," she finally said, "no matter how you deliver the news, it'll still suck, so just say it all at once, save yourself the effort."

Sara just kept staring at her as they walked back to the camp. It wasn't what she said, it was why she said it, how it's undeniably true coming from a person who witnessed both of her parents get hanged to death.

Few more steps and she could already smell something cooking in the distance, a bunch of murmured conversations hung in the air, and threads of smoke spread across the sky, they were back at the camp.

“Hey!” Vienna greeted them as they walked in, “Welcome back, girls, found anything?”

Sara looked at Kris, waiting for her to give an answer.

“Nothing but a letter and probably more questions than the ones I set out with, have you?”

“No. What’s the letter about?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you so, just wait until I have something to eat, I’m starving.”

“Oh, yeah, right, have a seat. Charlie is making some vegetables soup, do you like that, Sara?”

The last time she had it, she felt like an old woman with a chronic disease on her dying bed.

“Got nothing against it,” she said, flavouring it with a smile.

“Great.” Vienna said, smiling back.
Sara noticed that Mike wasn’t around yet, probably still trying to get back to the camp. She gave a sideways glance at Kris who caught her staring at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry,” she started to say, her voice as low as a whisper, “I was just wondering why Mike isn’t back yet.”

“Oh,” Kris said, her eyebrows knitted together, “he’s probably still trying to find anything that might help.”

Sara nodded, tapping her index finger nervously on the table. Is telling her about his presence in the basement do the situation any good? Or would it only confuse the girl more about her old friend’s intentions? Would talking to him first help her decide or just complicate it more?

“Hey,” his voice brought her out of her thoughts, and she looked up.

Their eyes met, a faint look of hesitation passed between them for a second, and just then did she realise talking to him would be way easier than she thought. He couldn’t deny it if he wished.

“Sit down, Mike,” Kris said before he grabbed a chair and took a seat right next to her, “Have you found anything?”

“No,” he uttered, glancing at Sara for a second. She narrowed her eyes at him.

Charlie placed the bowls in front of them and sat down right next to Sara, facing Mike. A spell of awkward silence hovered over them as they had their meal.

“So, what’s the letter about?” Vienna asked.

Sara gulped, looked Mike straight in the eye.

He didn’t even flinch.

Kris wiped her mouth and fetched the crumpled paper out of her pocket. Sara had given to her on their way back ‘cause she had no pockets to put it in. She started to read it aloud.

Sara listened carefully to the words for the second time, her eyes trained on Mike, trying to catch him off guard, change his expression maybe, but the guy knew how to conceal his thoughts better than anyone. He’d win a prize if someone were handing some for the best hypocrite around.

“So Stella is Evran? You kidding us, Kris?” Cory exclaimed.

“I’m still not sure but it only makes sense if she were. How else would she know us? Stella is the only person who joined us anew at the time, remember?”

“That would only mean one thing, Kris, and I don’t think we’re ready to start weighing in on that.” Vienna muttered, her tone serious and full of warning.

Charlie nodded.

Cory narrowed his eyes at Mike.

Sara felt cold sweat dripping down her neck.

Mike’s eyes danced over everybody sitting at the table before scoffing, throwing the spoon in the bowl, and standing up in anger.

“I can’t believe it,” he said, shaking his head, “Damn you all, I’m out of here.”

“Wait!” Vienna called out.

“Let him go,” Kris said in a calm voice, “It’s all just a cover up so he can run away from the conversation.”

The look on Vienna’s face was that of both shock and amusement. Sara put down her spoon next to her bowel and slowly stood up from her seat. “I gotta go,” she said and took off running to where Mike left before anyone could stop her.

She didn’t know why she was doing it, but she chased him still. Her heart raced, her breath quickened, and she called out to him to stop, “Mike!”
He ignored her and stomped farther away into his tent, but she wasn’t giving up. And into the tent, she went.

“Get out of here! Get out!” he yelled.

“Not before you tell me what you were doing at that basement!”

“What are you talking about, you sick idiot?” he spat.

Her disgust towards him only seemed to increase by the second.

She stepped closer to him, closing the distance between them.

“I’ll repeat it again, what were you doing at that basement? And don’t you dare deny it, I’ve seen you there."

With her teeth clenched and her index finger pointed at him, she met his wicked eyes. He didn’t say anything for a second before letting out a scoff.

“You know what’s funny?” he started to say, “how you think you’re just gonna drive people around here, fit in the crowd and manipulate Kris into believing you and your messed up stories of people that don’t even exist.”

He smirked, she fumed, her teeth clenched harder, she thought they might crack any minute.

“You’re going off topic,” she spat back, “accusing me of lying and making up stories is nothing but a proof of your cowardice. I know what you did, and I assure you that I’m gonna do something about it, I won’t let it slide.”

“Huh, let’s not forget who lied about who they are to the people trying to help them, I wonder who you work with.”

The freaking bastard and his blabbering mouth!

“It’s a bit contradictory coming from you, traitor.”

When his expression changed and gave him away, he thought Sara didn’t notice and laughed it off as if she dropped a ridiculous joke.

“We’ll see who laughs at the end, murderer.” She spat before turning around and stomping away, out of his sight.

“You know,” he shouted to her back, “I’d reconsider that last sentence if I were you, freak!”

She clenched her fists and strode off faster. He must’ve taken the folder, and she was determined to seize it back. Whatever Evran found out was still unknown, but Sara was certain that it was critical.

“Where were you?” Kris asked as Sara walked into their tent.

“At Mike’s, I had something to ask him.” She said, mentally preparing herself for the next probable questions. Why? About what? Did you accuse him of murder? I told you not to talk to him now! Why didn’t you listen?

“About?” Kris urged.

Sara sighed, “I asked him what he was doing at the basement.”

Kris’s eyebrows met in confusion, “What basement? What are you talking about?”

Sara looked around to make sure no one was outside and zipped up the entrance.

She took a deep breath and threw her backpack on the floor.

“All right, see, I should’ve told you earlier but here we go. Remember when we heard some noise in the basement today but you found nothing down there and assumed it’s the wind or whatever?” she waited for her to respond, and when she nodded, she continued, “Well, right before stepping out, I saw Mike’s reflection in the mirror, and we had eye contact.”

“Sorry, what?”

Sara sighed again and plopped down to sit on the floor. “Exactly what you heard. He was hiding from us, and him not wanting us to see him only proves our suspicions more, Kris. Please tell me you can see where this is all coming from, if anything, you should be careful with him.”

“He’s my friend, Sara, a very close one, it’s just unfair to believe such assumptions with no proof.”

“Proof?” she exclaimed, her tone smudged with disbelief, “What more proof do you want? How about waiting for the Separators to bless us with a visit any minute, does that suit you?”

“I don’t like what you’re implying here, Sara. If Mike killed Evran thinking she was a traitor, that doesn’t make him one. It might’ve been completely unintentional.”

Sara laughed bitterly, she couldn’t believe she was hearing this from Kris, out of all people.

“I don’t recall telling a joke, I’m serious here, dead serious.”

“I know you are,” Sara muttered, “that’s what makes it harder to believe. That Mike you trust so much is with the filthy racists who killed your parents!” her voice rose at the last phrase, and it wasn’t only a few seconds before she regretted being too blunt about such a sensitive subject.

Kris just stared at her for a while before nodding and shaking her head at the same time.

“I I’m sorry, I didn’t mea-” Sara started to apologise but Kris cut her off.

“It’s all right,” she said, “you said nothing wrong, just accused the closest thing to a family that I’ve ever had of being an ally with the filthy monsters ruling what’s left of humanity.”

The words came out bitter, cold, and yet Sara felt them burn her to the core, the guilt was unbearable. She never thought what she said would ever reflect such a terrible meaning, it’s all different from Kris’s perspective.

“I’m really sorry, Kris, I didn’t mean it that way.” She said.

But Kris only nodded, got up and unzipped the entrance, and out she went before Sara could say another word.

She messed it up, no doubts, but she was going to fix it. Few hours and midnight would fall, she knew what she had to do.

When she was completely certain that Kris had thrifted to a deep slumber, she took off the blanket on her side and got up slowly. Her scarf was sprawled on the floor and she wasted no more than a few minutes in wrapping it around her head. She hopped into her boots and quietly unzipped the tent, riding off into the cold night air of Pallid.

She made her way to Mike’s tent, her determination silencing the anxious voice in her head. She was going to get that folder, and she was going to do it now. When she got there, she thanked the good lord that the zip is undone already, and in, she went.
She looked around, the guy had nothing in his tent but a big cardboard box in a corner, and the excuse of a bed he was wrapped in, which was basically just a pillow under his head and a comforter over him.

She tiptoed to the cardboard box and opened it. She was met with clothes, a razor, and nothing else. Sighing, she got up, her disappointment clearing away any hope she had of proving her point to Kris.

But just when she stepped forward to leave, he spoke, right into ear, and she flinched from his sudden proximity.

How couldn’t I’ve heard him move?

“I wouldn’t hide something that critical in a cardboard box, smart pants.”