"Walker! Walker!"

I groan at the loud voice screaming at me, covering my ears and cringing when my fingers slide against crusted blood on my forehead. I woke up ages ago, Charlie screaming in my ear, much like Emma is now as she rummages through the bushes to get to me. Neither of them is making my headache feel any better. In fact, the noise is making my head feel like it's about to split open. Charlie told me she couldn't tell if I have a concussion, but the device inside me is okay.

Lucky us...

"There you are! I'm so glad I found you! I've been walking for ages-" Emma pauses, her eyes widening when she actually gets a good look at me. "What happened to you?"

"Had a bad landing," I murmur. "Was knocked out until about dawn yesterday. I've been walking all night to get here since I thought you guys might have an earlier start than me."

"Oh... But I thought you knew how to do this stuff since Charlie said you-"

"Charlie was mistaken," I interrupt, my face hardening. "I'm not an agent or a pilot or anything. I never was. Whatever files you have, Charlie, they're not true." I wrap my arms around myself. "They can't be."

Charlie doesn't say anything. I think she's tired of me arguing since that's all we've been doing since she woke up. She said I was supposed to be briefed when assigned this mission. She gave me the name of the man who was supposed to inform me.

It was the name of my therapist...

The same who's told me to do nothing but push away any thoughts, hallucinations, or dreams of a different me. Charlie thinks there's something more to it going on, that he didn't brief me for a reason, that he hoped I'd miss the drop-off point, and I just happened to be in that cafe by coincidence then. In Charlie's files, that's where I'd always received my files or devices when working. Though I didn't tell her, I remember how I always felt drawn to that little cafe in the train station, even though I couldn't figure out why.

No, all I did was argue because I didn't want to think about it.

"And what about the picture? The one you found in Man-o-War?" She asks.

"I don't-I don't know. I just know that I never wanted to be someone who hurts people, and that's what you have to do to be an agent. I just..." I grimace. "Can we not talk about this, please?"

She nods. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. Maybe later then."

I don't give her an answer, so Emma looks at the steeple not too far ahead. "Weird place to choose a landmark, Charlie. Passed at least half a dozen taller spiers on the way here." She sighs as we start walking. "I had a terrible dream last night. I kept dreamin' about Jackson falling, the way he looked when he toppled out of that helicopter. He... The look on his face, and the way he tried to grab my sleeve..."

"It's been a hard time for you, Emma," Charlie murmurs sympathetically. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah... I never should have talked to you on SkyWatcher, should I? Should've stayed in my dressing gown on the sofa and not got mixed up with all this."

"I didn't... I'm sorry. I really didn't want this to happen."

She forces a small smile. "I know. I've been thinking. The EMP. I do get how things can happen without you wanting them to. I still think it wasn't the right thing to do."

"No, it wasn't! But I-"

"You didn't mean it to-what did you say?-daisy chain? But sometimes you do one thing, and stuff happens. I just understand, okay?"

"Okay."

The blonde bites the inside of her cheek. "I've had a look inside Jackson's backpack. It's got some notes about that Pro. Foster you mentioned, Walker, and all those test centers with the weird names like Sunday, Watermelon, and Tarantula. And a USB stick. Chance of us finding somewhere to open it is pretty small."

She forces a chuckle, and Charlie laughs along with her. It only serves to make my headache worse.

"Always interested in documentary evidence, aye?" She asks. Humor is still in her tone, but Emma's tone when she replies is somber.

"I want to know what's going on." She narrows her eyes at the church as we approach it. "Come on, Walker. The sooner we get there, the sooner... we'll get away again."

I wrap my arms around myself. "It's never going to end, is it?"

"It will," Charlie promises. "And you should be able to rest in the next village. It looks quite peaceful."

I wish I could believe her.

"Is that why you picked it?" Emma asks. "The spier with the red flag? Because I mean, that huge building on the hill would have made more sense."

"Pretty much, yeah. Village looks nice and I... I sort of know someone who lives there."

I raise a brow, but Emma seems to think nothing of Charlie's tone. "Shouldn't think we'll be staying long enough for tea." She glances at me expectantly. "Come on. Let's go as if the CIA, the police, some environmental terrorist and a shadowy organization run by Charlie's sister are on our tail. Oh, wait."

I can't help but giggle at her deadpanned expression, which makes her happy. We both are in shock right now, and any little bit of happiness we can get out of this is worth something.

But Emma's right. We need to figure this out. I hate not knowing, not understanding. I hate how everything-this mission, my memories, all that we found in Man-o-War-is like a jigsaw puzzle with all the pieces scattered around, some missing, some not even supposed to be there. Nothing makes sense, and the more we uncover in hopes of finding the truth, we only result in raising more questions.

I hate it.

"Guys, there's something caught up in the tree to your right. You should see it right up ahead if you take the next path," Charlie says, and Emma's green eyes light up.

"When you say 'something,' do you mean a crashed UFO? Because they often come down in densely wooded areas. The vibrations of the trees interfere with their navigation systems."

There's a beat of silence. "Um... it's not a UFO. I think it's-"

"It's a parachute," I interrupt, looking at the bright orange contrasting everything else in the trees. Emma's running past me before I can say anything more, calling out Paul's name. After receiving no answer, she looks back at me with eyes swimming with worry.

"Where is he?"

"He probably climbed down and started walking," Charlie states before I can, and the blonde frowns.

"It's not a very climbable tree, though. Not from that angle. He would have been dangling down from that branch."

I shrug. "Paul seems to be pretty resourceful. Although..." I narrow my eyes at the ropes. They don't look frayed or torn, and Paul didn't have a knife with him when he jumped. "I think someone cut him down."

Emma's expression morphs into one of fear. "Paul! Paul!"

She gets no answer, which only stresses her more.

"Keep heading for the spire," Charlie says. "I'm sure he'll be there."

Emma nods, although she doesn't look convinced, if her pinched brows and quivering lip are any indication. I wish we had some device we could give to him to keep in contact with us if we get separated. I could have given him my earpiece since I have a communicator inside me now, but it would have stopped working the second he got too far from my device.

Still, we should try to think of some way to ensure we can talk to Paul or any other non-device holder we happen to trust that doesn't turn out to be a CIA agent who we should have run from as soon as possible.

I still am unsure how to feel, knowing that Jackson's dead. I feel... sad, but what happened yesterday still doesn't feel quite real. We were so close to being done with all this, or at least, we thought we were, and then it all came crashing down.

Everything that's happened these past few weeks has been crazy, but yesterday truly felt like something I would have seen in my hallucinations or dreams.

Speaking of, I'm going to have to worry about my pills soon enough. I'll be out in two weeks, and I think it will take us a lot longer to get to Geneva than that.

I glance at Emma, who's wringing her hands and letting out small, worried whines. I notice them mainly because my head is still throbbing, and while the pain is fading, her high-pitched whimpers do nothing to ease the dying pain.

"I'm sure he's fine," Charlie assures. "And even if he's not, worrying won't help."

Her face twists. "I can't help it. I'm sorry. It's what my brain does when it's not busy. I worry. It's just... what if the Burn got him, or New Tomorrow? Or what if Jackson didn't actually die, or what if it's cannibals?!"

"It's not cannibals."

"It might be! You don't know! People might have turned to cannibalism after the blackout. Oh, God! What is it's cannibals or crazy cultists, or mind-controlled optometers? And do you think he likes me?!"

"What?" I wince, mostly from her screaming. But Emma's face turns a bright red as she babbles on.

"Nothing! Cannibals. Nothing."

Despite my headache, I can't help but grin. For all the times she teased me about Lawrence... "Did you just ask-"

"No, I think you may have misheard."

My grin widens. "I don't think I did. I think you just said-"

"Wait!" Charlie shouts, and I wince again while Emma slumps in relief. "I see him. Got him on aerial view, just coming out of the woods into the village. He looks fine, walking fine, no injuries."

Emma perks up hopefully. "No cannibals?"

"Definitely not. Although..." Her trailing off makes the two of us glance at each other worriedly. "Hm. I've zoomed in a bit, and he's with the police. He's accompanying them to the station."

"Guess we know he cut him down then," I murmur. I go quiet while I await instructions since barreling in there will do us no good, especially considering how my last few run-ins with the police didn't exactly go well.

I cringe. I hate how I'm part of the group saving the world, yet I'm a suspected terrorist.

Or at least Charlie tells me I'm saving the world, and I want to believe her. I don't necessarily think I'm on the wrong side when it comes to being with Charlie or Soleil, but I can't say with confidence that this side is necessarily the good side. Rather, it's the not-as-bad side compared to Soleil and the Burn...

And Lawrence.

It's been nine days since he betrayed us. Yet, I still can't force him out of my mind, even as I follow Emma as Charlie instructs us to continue walking while she tries to think up a plan to meet us up with Paul.

"It's going to be fine, isn't it, Walker?" Emma asks although I don't think she actually expects me to give her an answer. "We'll just explain to them who we are, we'll get Paul, and then we'll be on our way."

I frown. "And just who exactly are we supposed to say we are? What are we supposed to tell them? We came down in parachutes from a helicopter that exploded from the mountainside after taking down a CIA agent that tried to kidnap us because we're carrying very special, working technological devices?"

"Yeah," Charlie says, drawing out the word. "I wonder if Paul might be best at getting out of this alone."

Emma's expression is one of pure distress. "But we-we don't know what's happening to him. The police station's right there and-"

She stops when I grab her hand, my eyes on the notice board right by the station. I close my eyes and rub my temples with my free hand, rubbing my temples as my eyes burn with tears of frustration. I saw this coming, but having it confirmed makes a strained curse leave my lips.

There's a drawing that looks eerily similar to me, right under the words, 'Seen at Inverness and in Edinburgh University before both explosions. Thought to have links to the terrorist organization New Tomorrow. Wanted urgently by the police.'

"I've not so much as got a parking ticket before this, you know," I sigh, letting my hand drop from my face, and my eyebrows furrow when Charlie lets out a little noise.

"Well, my files on you say-"

"Your files are wrong." My words come out harsher than I intend, but I am not having this conversation again.

Charlie simply clicks her tongue. "Right. Yes. Um, Emma, you could go around the back of the police station to see if you can hear anything. Walker, keep walking. I have somewhere for you to go."

•

My headache stops just as the ringing starts.

I inwardly groan, looking around until I find the ringing phone box on the street, ignoring Charlie when she tells me I need to continue. I know the pain of ignoring the ringing, and the pain in my head has just now ceased.

Honestly, I'm grateful that I had as long as I did without spacing out, considering how stressful this has been.

So, I pick up the phone, and I'm suddenly in that dark room with Dave again. He looks normal, for the most part, but I can't help but stare. He never answered my question from before. I doubt he will now.

"There was this one time with Elspeth," He starts, actually looking at me. "I mean, I know what you're thinking. Pathetic crush, right?"

I laugh despite myself. "You and I are in the same boat, friend."

He doesn't give me a reply as he continues, not that I'd expected one. "But there was this one might, we came to this really post hotel bar, meeting one of our contacts..."

The scene around us changes as he talks, and I hear music in the bar's background as he continues.

"An MP with a really impressive coke habit. He chose the venue. I mean, who wants to drink in a place with no atmosphere that charges ten quid a pint? But then he bottled it. Didn't show up. And Elspeth... I don't know. Usually, she was all, 'work, work, work.' But that night, we'd just got New Tomorrow to start working with us."

"This is big for us, Dave," Elspeth says, her eyes sparkling. I didn't even notice her appear. "Huge. If we can't celebrate this..."

Dave picks up a drink from the table he's sat at and stares at it. "And we just kept on drinkin'. I think I spent about 200 quid that night. Could have been 1,000, and I wouldn't have cared. But at kickin' out time, Elspeth turned to me and said-"

"Why don't we just get a room?" She asks, placing her hand on his shoulder and giving him a coy smile.

Dave stands, then laughs before turning to me. "I actually laughed! I mean, what a line, right? But she was totally serious."

"It's been nearly a year, and you're... you're really nice, Dave." Elspeth smiles at him again. "Some more celebrating?"

Thankfully we just go back to the dark room because I'd rather not have to see what I'm already sure Dave's about to tell me. A sinking feeling settles in my stomach. This isn't going to end well.

"Like I was gonna say no!" He exclaims. "And it was..." He snorts. "To be honest, I was so bloody nervous it wasn't even that great... except in the way it totally way. Naked, she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. She made me want to start sounding like a Raymond Chandler novel." He laughs again. "You know, 'She smelled like the Taj Mahal looks in moonlight.'"

His laughter bounces off the walls that I can't see in this never-ending darkness. I don't miss the slight sadness in it.

"I thought, 'we could be happy like this the rest of our lives.' I don't need it to be about me. It could be about her. She's the one who knows what she wants. Some of us are just happy to be the one that helps, you know? I wanted to be that for her.

"In the morning I had a pounding headache, and she was gone. We never spoke about it. We pretended it never happened, or at least, she did."

I wince at the slight heartbreak in his voice.

"But I... I knew then there could never be anyone else for me."

Click.

"Walker, are you alright?" Charlie asks, and I blink as reality starts to bleed into my vision, my brain feeling scrambled. "You've been standing there in that phone booth for a few minutes now."

"Y-yeah, sorry," I mutter. "I just needed a moment, and I didn't want to be out in the open since I'm wanted."

She hums in reply but thankfully doesn't question it. I exit the phone booth, rubbing my temples as I keep walking, avoiding people when I spot them. Since Charlie doesn't want us mentioning we have working electronic devices, I'm guessing this place is still feeling the effects of the EMP Charlie set off. Therefore, at the very least, I know they wouldn't be able to phone the police if someone were to spot me.

Still, best not to risk it.

"Okay, Walker. It's just that house with the green door up ahead," Charlie says, and I stroll towards the house with the little white gate and cobblestone walkway up to the front porch. As I go through the gate, I look at the precious little lawn decorations set out-cute little ceramic frogs and birds. It's nice.

"And do I just-" I start once I reach the door.

"Just knock. Mrs. McCurdy knows you're coming."

I nod, her words giving me the slightest bit of relief. My hand raps on the door three times, and before I can even lower my hand, the door opens, revealing a woman in her seventies. She's small, around 4'11", and thin as a pole. The thick lenses of her glasses tell me she can barely see anything at all.

"Oh, hello, dear," She greets, smiling at me. "Aaron said someone was coming." She turns towards the staircase. "Aaron! Aaron! Your friend is here!"

Mrs. McCurdy steps aside so I can come in, walking around to the other side of the room to continue reading her book. While she's occupied, I focus on a young man's footsteps as he clomps down the staircase. He's pale, skin almost white as if he's never seen the sun, with hair just as light. His eyes are blue, but there's a red ring around the outside of the iris. He can't be older than nineteen, if that.

His eyes widen when he sees me, and he groans, which wasn't the reaction I expected.

"Bloody hell. Bloody Charlie. Said someone might come. 'Just an off chance,' She said. "I only put your stupid earpiece back on this morning to stop our weird black box from making this horrible whining noise."

"Walker, Aaron. Aaron, Walker," Charlie states, ignoring his complaints. "Walker, Aaron is-"

"Don't talk to me when Mrs. McCurdy's around," He hisses, and I look at him in surprise. "It interferes with her hearing aid. She'll think she needs to turn it up." He glances at me, his eyes going up and down my figure in what seems to be... annoyance.

"Oi, you, Walker, or whatever your name is, come out into the garden with me, alright?" He looks over to Mrs. McCurdy, who's busy reading her book. "Jane, we're just going out to the garden. It'll just be a minute."

She smiles politely. "Alright, hon. Would your friend like some tea?"

"Nah. Walker won't be stopping. Thanks all the same." He grabs my arm and pulls me closer so he can whisper in my ear. "Back garden. With me."

Thankfully he lets me go before leading me through the kitchen and opening the door to the back garden. I try not to bristle too much at his tone, although it gets on my nerves. Surely I wasn't like this when I was a teenager, right?

Not that I can remember.

Once we're in the garden and the door is shut behind us, Aaron turns to look at me, glaring at me as if I'm the worst thing that's happened to him today. He crosses his arms. "Now, I don't know what your game is, mate. I've got a nice thing going here with Mrs. McCurdy. She's a sweet old lady. I think I remind her of her grandson. And my plan is to sit this whole thing out right here."

"Uh... okay?" I respond. "Charlie just told me to-"

"I know Charlie wants me to walk to some secret new place or something, but you know what? No dice. She got me out of Edinburgh. Very nice. I found a bike, and I cycled here. All very countryside, very scenic, and finding a new meaning of life among the cows. But I am now trenching all over the fields, and Jane is a nice lady who makes scones on Wednesdays and enjoys looking after me."

"I've tried to tell you, Aaron. You can't!" Charlie exclaims, which only causes the boy to scowl. "Not anymore. It was okay when I thought-"

She's cut off by the doorbell ringing up front, followed by hard, persistent knocking.

"Mrs. McCurdy! Mrs. McCurdy, open up! We're looking for a wanted fugitive, and we got a call saying someone was headed this way."

Aaron inhales sharply. "Oh, bloody hell. You would, wouldn't you, Charlie? You really bleeding would." He gestures to me. "That's why you brought her here. To flush me out!"

"I... I wasn't sure the police would actually come to the door," She replies, and my jaw drops.

"Charlie! What the hell?"

Aaron scoffs before smirking at me. "Guess she didn't tell you her plan either. You are too clever for your own good, Charlotte." After sighing, he side-eyes me. "Come on then, Walker. Follow me. And grab that bag from the shed. We're getting out of here until the coast clears."

He points to the shed thats wooden door is half open. While I want to ask questions, I figure that doing so will only agitate Aaron more, so I bite my lip and keep my words in my throat. I grab the bag, grunting at how heavy it is, and following Aaron as he keeps walking. He mumbles something under his breath.

I try not to be too irritated at his attitude. I wasn't exactly thrilled when I was shoved into all of this either, and I'm still not. I can't blame him for being unhappy with having to do all of this, especially since he's barely an adult.

"I'd got a nice thing goin' there, Charlie," He grumbles after a few more minutes of walking. "Now you've got the cops onto me."

"They weren't looking for you. Not really."

He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, but we know what would happen if they started asking questions about me, don't we?"

She doesn't reply, and he scoffs, already knowing the answer.

"Walker? Walker, can you hear me?" Emma's voice comes in, and I perk up.

"Yeah, I hear you. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm sittin' in the bushes outside the police station. It's just a little country place. Paul should be alright if he keeps his cool. Listen."

"And you're saying you were... kidnapped?" The police officer asks, her voice skeptical.

"Yes. I don't know what they wanted from me," Paul lies, doing well at sounding befuddled. "I think they were with the terrorists. Must've been since they had a helicopter. I managed to escape, grab a parachute. That's how you found me."

"And what would they want you for?"

"Maybe... because of my job? I work with paintballing. You know, up in the highlands. Maybe they mistook me for a real gun expert."

I cringe. Not the best lie he could have given.

"Sounds a bit suspicious to me," The officer replies.

"Actually, I... didn't want to do this, but it's possible we could clear this up right now. The local man down here is-"

Whatever fib Paul was about to say is cut off by another man's voice, presumably another police officer.

"Ellen, there's nothing down at McCurdy's. She hasn't seen any strangers. I think Mr. North just wanted a bit of attention, as usual. We can let this one go, can't we?"

"No, John. No, we can't," She answers. "Don't you remember? Six people got through before the second bomb went off. One of them rode a bicycle through Edinburgh. They must have something to do with those devices everyone's looking for. Most valuables thing this side of the Atlantic, they say. See if you make contact with the police in Edinburgh. Someone here might recognize him."

My heart stops. They know about the devices. They know about us.

But wait... six?

Me, Emma, and Lawrence make three, and adding Aaron makes four, but who are the other two?

During a talk with Emma and Charlie, the subject of other people holding devices was brought up, but Charlie never went any further than the fact that there were.

I wonder-

"Charlie, mate, you never mentioned to me this device was valuable," Aaron says, and I snap my gaze to him, studying the shock on his face.

"It... didn't seem relevant," She replies, and I hold back a sneer. More secret keeping. I wonder how Aaron would react if I told him what she's told us about these devices and the power they supposedly hold.

He just shakes his head. "I can see why. So, the situation is you've got a friend in the police station, someone coming down from Edinburgh to interrogate him, and another friend lurking in the bushes outside, and you all need to escape."

Her sigh is heavy and tired. "That's about the size of it."

A wide grin spreads across the pale boy's face.

"Well, seems to me like you need is a distraction." He sucks his teeth. "And I don't know. People have hidden depth, but I can't see Jane McCurdy holding up being questioned by the coppers. Walker, you know what to do with fireworks, right? Light the blue touchpaper, run off as quick as you can."

I frown at him. "What are you-"

He steps up to a shed behind a small church and slams his shoulder into the door once, twice, three times until the door bursts open, revealing an entire haul of fireworks. He looks at me, eyes gleaming.

"I happen to know that this is where the churchwarden keeps his fireworks for the summer barbeque." He gestures to the bag. "There should be some matches in there."

I open the bag, digging around some of the clothes and electronics in the bag before grabbing two boxes of matches, tossing one to him. I don't miss how his eyes light up as he lights one.

"Oh, I love letting a bunch of these off in one go. If we do it just here, we can get around to the back of the police station without anyone seeing us."

I nod, lighting my match and setting it to the blue paper. As soon as I have a few lit, Aaron's grabbing my arm and hauling me out of the shed. His laughter rings into the air as the high-pitched sound of the fireworks going off breaks through the peaceful day like a hammer to glass.

"I love fireworks!" He cackles. "And there come the police to see what the fuss is. Run!"

•

"Paul!" I exclaim, waving my hand as he and Emma run to meet us. "Are you okay?"

He nods, a bit breathless. "Doesn't look like they're chasing us."

That's surprising. "They just left you alone? You didn't have to knock one of them out or anything?"

He shrugs. "Well, I had to..." He shakes his head. "No, it was fine. All went out to see what the racket was. Nice bunch, really."

A look of disgust crosses Aaron's face. "No such thing as a nice copper."

Paul tilts his head at him, curious. "Right... I can't believe we found another person with the device. Quite the coincidence."

His tone tells me he doesn't really believe that, and the way his lips twitch when Aaron huffs confirms it.

"Yeah, coincidence," He drones. "That's what it was. Wasn't someone in Geneve deciding I'd had a comfortable time for long enough and needed to be smoked out."

"I left you there as long as I could," Charlie defends, her voice on speaker so Paul can hear, "but with Lawrence gone, we-we needed another device, Aaron. And when the chopper was coming down not too far from your village..."

Paul clicks his tongue. "Ah. Not a coincidence then."

As if he didn't already know.

"Nothing with our friend, Charlette, is ever a coincidence," Aaron says with a dramatic sigh. "She was nice, Mrs. McCurdy. Reminded me of my nan. I just turned up in her garden with a puncture in my bike, and she invited me in. She gave me a place to stay, and I fixed up things around her house and ran errands for her. But I guess good things never last forever." He looks at Paul and Emma. "It was nice to meet you two. I might walk with you guys for a while. Where're you headed?"

"Geneva," Charlie answers for us. "Going through London."

He chuckles. "Yeah? I might not get all the way to Geneva, but London? That sounds alright. I've got some good mates in London. Nice to see them again. And I think I will not be going back to that nice village where the police would like me to help them with their quires, I bet."

"What have you got against the police?" Emma asks curiously, and Aaron just shrugs.

"I've got a bit of previous experience with them, that's all. Nothin' big. Just wouldn't want the attention. I didn't murder anyone or anything. I'm not a monster."

I gasp, my eyes snapping to Emma, who's gone white as a sheet.

"Oh. I... I really wish you hadn't said that," She croaks.

Aaron's joking demeanor falls. "Why? What's up? You've got a face on you like someone told you the truth about Santa Clause. You do know the truth about Santa Clause, right?"

"Emma," Paul whispers, reaching out to her, but she pushes him away.

"What?" Aaron asks. "Boyfriend broke up with you? Cat died?" He pauses to think. "Got your period?"

I send him an unamused look while Emma rubs at her eyes that are welling with tears.

"I killed someone a couple of days ago," She admits but pauses. "Or was it-It couldn't have been just yesterday, could it? I can't remember. He was attackin' us. He would've killed Paul, but I still-I still did it. I-"

"He wasn't a good man, Emma," I tell her. "He lied to all of us."

"If I'd killed everyone who ever lied to me, I'd..." She shakes her head. "I know you killed some of those Burn members, Walker, but apparently, you're more than even you know! But me... I don't know why this happened to me!"

I don't get to register the shock of her words before she bursts into tears, her shoulders shaking as she sobs. Charlie and Paul try to console her, while Aaron just watches with wide eyes for a few moments. He clears his throat.

"It's alright, Emma," He says with surprising gentleness. "Listen, sometimes life puts you in an ugly position, and you've got to do an ugly thing, alright?"

She sniffles. "What?"

"Life isn't easy, and it isn't simple. Can't make it better by wishing. I'm betting none of us want to be here. All of us have had something go wrong, maybe really wrong." As we walk along a little ridge, he points ahead. "There's the sea, little glint far away. Do you see it?"

She nods.

"The sea is like life. That's what my dad used to say. The sea doesn't care about you, doesn't know about you. It's gonna try to break you, not because it hates you, just because that's what it is and that's what it does. And you've got to find a boat or learn to swim because when the big waves come, you've got to ride them, or you'll drown.

"That's what happened to you. Big wave came; you rode it and didn't drown. You did what you had to to survive and keep your friends safe."

We all stare at Aaron in shock. That was... amazingly poetic.

"I..." She murmurs. "Yes. Thank you."

He winks at her. "Anytime for a hottie like you, babe."

I rub my temples. "Of course."

A/N: Here you go, guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter! Please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!