A child tripped and cried when she hurt her knees on the slightly mushy forest floor of the camp. Gale sighed, almost wanting to laugh at the scene. When was the last time he cried? It was when mom told him that he needed to sleep in his own tent rather than mom and dad’s. That was the first time he ever slept alone.

Looking back at it, he never did cry when he tripped and fell. He already knew what to do when the family needed to move. Pack up the stuff he can pack up. Pots, pans, sticks, spears, bows, arrows, tent tarps, he still even remembered to this day.

Gale moved to the girl that tripped, still crying. Picking her up, she started crying even more as she stared at his muddy dirty face along with his hair that looked more like an explosion. He put her down, letting herself stand straight as he knelt down to meet her eye to eye.

“Hey, hey. It’s just me. The happy smiling nightmare demon. Are you hurt?” Gale asked, goofily smiling as big as he could.

The girl nodded, holding her sobs in. It worked, at least. She looked around, then ran towards one of the mundane women near the living quarters.

Activity continued throughout the camp. Everyone prepared for the convoy. Women gave extra blankets for the men to carry. Rachel took care of rations, dividing them amongst people based on height and gender, just enough to keep them filled. Annett helped other people pick what’s to be left behind and what to keep.

The rescued women stood in front of the camp’s entrance. Everyone looked away from them as they ate the smoked meat he’d given them. Hopefully, it was enough to last them until they got out of this shithole.

Yeah… this shithole, eh. Stay low, blend in, survive…

Shut up, Gale. That ship has sailed long ago. Rachel said she trusted me. Leaving and abandoning was not allowed. Since she said that, she won’t abandon me as well. I’m sure of it. Definitely.

Ollie approached, tapping him on the shoulder.

“Gale,” he whispered, “you think everything’s going to be alright?”

Gale turned to face him, noting the creasing on his forehead.

No. Everything was not alright. Too many people like this were going to cause casualties on the way. There was no way everyone was going to make it.

“No matter what,” Gale sighed, “it’s the choice we have to make.”

Ollie nodded.

Any more words would’ve been useless. Staying put wasn’t an option anymore. They had to move, had to try for the exit rift, or risk becoming one of Elliot’s thralls or, worse, monster food.

Gale’s gaze drifted to Rachel. She knelt in front of a group of children.

“Children, who do you hold on to when moving along or when theres big bad bears nearby?” she said.

One of the boys put their hands up.

“Yes, Damian,” Rachel nodded towards the kid.

“Hold on to mom and never let go,” the kid said.

Teaching the rescued women who were adults was one thing. Teaching kids? That was basically torture. But she made it look so easy. Too easy, actually. Maybe her fire could somehow make them feel more comfortable by warming them up and maybe emotionally manipulating them.

Gale’s eyes narrowed. I’m watching you.

“Remember,” Rachel said, “if you hear any of us yell ‘duck,’ you drop to the ground immediately, okay? No questions, no hesitation. Just drop.”

The children nodded, their small faces serious as they all nodded in unison.

Gale felt a small ache in his heart. He’d remember his parents teaching him how to do things in the wild. The lessons were harsh, enough so that his hands bled when he practiced making tools. As if they knew.

Suddenly, Rachel’s head snapped up, her eyes searching wide for something. She glazed over the group of children, counting quickly, then counted again.

“Hailey?” Rachel called out. “Has anyone seen Hailey?”

Gale snapped up, looking high and low for any sign of a child out of place. He used to climb trees. Was she on any branches? She’s not. Running around to exhaust herself just like he did? Again, no. She wasn’t there.

The other children looked around, searching for her like hide and seek. They were just a distraction. They could get lost themselves.

Rachel and Gale looked at each other, both quickly turning away. No need for her to tell him to look further away while she looked at the vicinity.

“Hailey!” Gale shouted, also hearing Rachel shout on her side of the camp.

Gale spread the tendrils of Breath of the Void. It fed him all of the signatures of everyone in the camp. However, it was useless. There were too many, and all the mundanes had basically the same small glimmer of light. It was discernible from each other.

Think, Gale. Where could this child be? What would he do if he was a child? What did he ever do when he felt bad after being treated so harshly during those times with mom and dad? He would find a space for himself. An enclosed dark space that no one could find, away from his parents. Just like what cats did to feel safe. All so that he could just cry on his own.

The tendrils moved, looking for any dark corners around the camp. There. Two large crates at the edge of the camp, out of sight from most of the activity. A small, tiny signature.

It had to be the lost child, Hailey.

He hesitated for a moment. The other girl cried when she saw him. What if she retreated back into the dark corner even more? Destroying the crate would make the child feel even worse. Just tell Rachel that she was there instead.

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But Gale had already walked and reached the crates. Crouching down, Gale saw the small child between the gaps of the crates.

“Hailey?” he called as softly as he could. “It’s okay. Do you wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

The girl’s head snapped up, her eyes wide as she pushed herself further into the small enclosure. Tears streaked down her cheeks. The sight of it made Gale’s chest ache. She was just like him back then.

“Come on,” he said, trying to infuse his words with warmth, though he wasn’t sure he possessed such qualities. “We can talk about it. And we can get Rachel here. And then all the other kids will play with you. And then… everyone can be happy. They’re worried about you, you know?”

Hailey hesitated, her small body still pressed against the crates. Gale waited patiently, knowing that pushing too hard might only scare her more.

His eyes looked to Rachel, still searching around her area, and immediately her eyes caught him. He waved at her to come over.

Rachel rushed over, and her shoulders loosened as she saw Hailey. As soon as she got closer, Gale put his hand between them as Hailey curled up even, hugging her knees even tighter. Clearly, she was scared of them. Maybe even afraid whether she was in trouble or not.

“Hailey?” Gale said softly. “It’s okay. You can tell us anything. Look, Rachel is here. Do you wanna come out and tell us why you’re crying?”

He used the same words he would’ve wanted to hear from the orphanage staff every time he asked them for help.

Hailey slightly lifted her head, her eyes peeking out from the knees that hid them. She glanced between Gale and Rachel, then quickly buried her face again.

“No. I don’t want to go,” the sniffles and sobs muffled Hailey’s voice.

Rachel knelt down and turned her shoulders in to look smaller. “Sweetie, we have to go. Everyone is getting ready, and your mom is worried about you.”

“That’s not my mom anymore,” Hailey cried even more. “She’s broken.”

“Who’s her mom?” Gale whispered.

“Anna,” Rachel sighed.

Well, that solves the issue. Anna did mention she had a daughter. But she was clearly different from before. The stone tower’s underground had definitely inflicted something on the woman, but he hadn’t expected how it would have affected her daughter.

Rachel took a deep breath before speaking. “Hailey, can you recall what broken things she did?”

“I don’t know… but she’s not my mom anymore. She looks like her, but she’s different. She says weird things and sometimes… sometimes she looks at me like she doesn’t know who I am,” Hailey said, her voice trembling.

“Sweetie. Your mom went through something really scary. Sometimes when people get scared, they act differently for a while. But she’s still your mom, right? And your mom loves you very much.” Rachel reached her hand forward.

Hailey shook her head and shrank back even further. “No, it’s more than that. She’s not just scared. She’s… wrong.”

People did say that children were much blunter than adults. Not that he had the right to say that, he was also still not an adult. However, for a child to call their mom wrong, those were things that Gale would’ve gulped hard when he read those lines in a book. And now it was in front of him.

“Hailey,” Rachel said firmly, “I know you’re scared. And it’s okay to be scared. But right now, we need to leave this place. It’s not safe here. We’re going somewhere better, somewhere your mom can get help. Will you come with us?”

Hailey hesitated, her eyes darting between Gale and Rachel. “Do I have to stay with my mom?”

Rachel reached out, her hand hovering near Hailey’s but not touching. “We’ll make sure you’re safe, okay? You can stay close to me during the journey if you want.”

Hailey nodded, uncurling from her tight ball. Gale let out a long sigh, not realizing he’d been holding his breath while Rachel negotiated. Although Hailey was only a child, he understood her. The feeling of wanting to crawl into a corner to run away from it all, he also still wanted that.

Gale looked at the trembling shoulders of Hailey. Her small stature, her innocent wants of wanting to just have her normal mom back. It was all too relatable. He wanted to protect her against the unfair punches of life. That itself made him feel a sense of purpose. Maybe, just maybe, there was more to life than just surviving alone.

Rachel and Gale led Hailey back to the group, catching Anna’s figure standing at the edge of the camp. Her eyes were unfocused as she whispered ‘the eyes’ repeatedly on her lips.

Anna turned around, seeing Hailey. Her lips opened into a smile, yet her eyes remained distant, giving both Gale and Rachel goosebumps.

“I’ll take her to the other children,” Rachel said.

Gale nodded immediately and watched as Hailey joined the rest of the children. The other children were like Hailey. They didn’t deserve any of this right now. Hell, even the adults of this place didn’t deserve it. None of them wanted to live in a forest. Even he himself didn’t want to live in this forest without a library nearby.

Yet… he remembered John and Dmitry. Seeing them hurt also hurt him. Was it weakness to feel bad about others getting hurt or dying? Getting attached would cause you pain, Gale. That’s why you got hurt in the orphanage. Leaving towards the exit rift was still the correct decision, and his feelings didn’t matter.

Gale walked towards Rachel. “It’s time,” he said simply.

“Right. It’s time to go,” Rachel said, biting her lips. She turned to the assembled group and put her chest into her voice. “Everyone, gather your things. We’re moving out now.”

Murmurs and whispers spread through the entire camp. Parents held on to their kids tightly, hand in hand. Members glanced at each other, asking themselves if this travel was all worth it, and some even asked whether it was worth waiting for rescue rather than doing something on their own.

Gale moved to the front of the convoy, eyes scanning beyond the walls of the camp and beyond the treeline as tendrils sent him preliminary scouting information. No beasts yet, but the forest loomed before them. Dark and hungry, literally, as the beasts would even eat their own. He felt like he was in Lord of the Rings, about to fight against a huge dark army, and that was probably the only situation he wished he would never feel.

The group fell into formation behind him. Gazes pricked at the back of his head. Each one expected him to be something greater than what he was. He couldn’t let them down, even if his legs were about to buckle.

He turned to face the group, eyes landing on each of the core combatants, Rachel, Ollie, and Annett. They had become his allies throughout this strange hellhole of a world. They were something he didn’t want to admit—a connection… a friend.

“Are we ready?” Gale asked, projecting his voice through the whole crowd.

“Ready as we’ll ever be. Not conserving my ammo this time,” Ollie said. His usual mischievous grin looked very forced. He was scared too, huh.

“All good on my end.” Annett gave a short nod, her eyes already focusing beyond Gale’s figure.

Rachel met Gale’s gaze. “We’re set.”

“Alright,” Gale said. “Annett, you’ll take the middle. Keep an eye on the civilians, make sure no one falls behind.”

Annett moved to her position.

“Rachel, Ollie, you’re up front. You’ll be the first line of defence against whatever’s out there.”

Rachel and Ollie exchanged a glance before moving forward, their strides purposeful and in sync.

Gale turned to the women who had survived Blue Haven, their faces a mix of fear and determination. “We’re the rear guard. In the jungle, the rear is the most important. Nothing gets through us, understood?”

The women nodded, gripping their bone weapons tightly. Gale saw the fear in their eyes, but also the spark of something else. Hope, maybe. Or the fierce will to survive. Either way, he knew they’d fight if they had to.

Taking a deep breath, Gale addressed the entire group one last time, trying his best to keep his voice from shaking. “Listen up, everyone! We’ve got a long way. First, we’re heading through the dark forest to a giant tree. You’ll know it when you see it.”

He paused, looking into all the members’ eyes, making sure everyone was following. “After that, we’ll get to the stone tower. Then it’s onto the scorched earth.”

Gale saw Anna flinch, her eyes going distant for a moment before refocusing.

“From there, we’ll enter the dead forest. We’ll go around a hill to avoid Blue Haven. After that, the exit will be in a clearing of meadows.”

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