"Come on, pull it together."
The senior of the group grabbed and assisted the male who was about to fall; they'd been walking for more than an hour now.
Then again, another male behind them fell onto the ash-snow ground, trying to catch his breath. "I'm... I'm tired," he muffled.
Neo was the one who helped this fellow up; he sighed, noticing the guy had sustained a deep wound on his leg.
"I think we should set camp," Neo suggested, since night had already fallen.
They were only able to see this far thanks to the fire awakened in the group; he conjured a ball of flame, allowing them to see.
Hearing Neo's suggestion made everyone stop and stare at the senior.
"We can't, there isn't time before the rendezvous moves out," said the senior.
A few of them exchanged looks, but no one argued.
"They've already left. Mr. White said when the time is 6 hours left, they should move out," Neo explained.
But no matter what, the senior didn't trust a word he said. He kept finding flaws in Neo's words.
"And how do you know that? Did you bring a smartphone?"
Neo sighed. 'This shit, I'll have to separate him from the group,' he thought.
"The interface. I'm pretty sure he checked the interface; only 5 hours and 40 minutes remain," a girl pointed out.
"On top of that, I don't think he's heading to Aethernox; he changed route 30 minutes ago," Neo added.
Then everyone turned to look at the one with the map, the gullible fat boy.
He defended himself, saying there wasn't any time left, so instead of going to Aethernox, he decided to lead them to a sanctuary himself.
"And you made that decision yourself?" the senior cursed and dropped the male he once carried to the floor.
While everyone grouped themselves into those assigned to look for wood to set a campfire, the senior was at another end.
The girl with the magic book, Neo, and a random boy volunteered to join the search.
They walked down together and quickly found a withered tree with various berries around it.
"Fucking hell, I have been starving," the boy said as he quickly gnashed on the berries.
The girl felt ashamed for a moment because she saw Neo as a cute white-haired boy.
However, her hunger won the debate; she ran to have some for herself as well.
"Hey, you have to taste this," said the boy; he tossed a berry at Neo.
Neo kept staring at it. He chuckled. 'This group definitely aren't fit to survive,' he thought, suppressing his laugh.
For a brief moment, he considered warning them. His lips parted slightly.
But he didn't.
He watched them from behind. Those two were going to die; after all, the berry drained life energy from living things.
Which explained why the tree had no leaves. And why nothing else grew around it.
"Huh?"
Turning to his left, he heard a creak. He wasn't the only one, as those two had now seen the wagon.
While they cautiously approached it, Neo stood behind them.
In the end, it was an empty wagon. There was no one in it, except a dagger, a three-liter water bladder, and broken wood.
"It's stuck," said the girl. Then she noticed the boy drinking the water. "Hey, don't drink all of it," she said, forcefully taking it from him.
"Leave some for him as well." The boy exhaled sharply; he felt satisfied. "Guess there's no need to break wood."
After she drank, the girl tossed the water pouch to Neo. "Thank you," he said.
"Come on, let's move out now," said the boy; he carried the broken wood on his arm.
But when they started leaving, Neo wasn't behind them.
Turning around, the girl saw him standing in front of the berries. "Guess he's hungry as well," she said.
"Come on, he'll catch up."
After plucking a few berries for himself, Neo quickly caught up with them.
With haste, the group set a bonfire, and they all sat around it.
"When the moon is fully out, I think we should move," the gullible boy said.
No one argued; after all, the math was simple. If they wasted all night here, they'd die for not completing the quest.
With only five hours left, their chances were slim, even though the sanctuary wasn't that far anymore.
The senior, on the other hand, wasn't within the circle; he sat at the edge of the narrow mountain, staring into the nothingness ahead.
Then he saw someone sit beside him; it was Neo.
He didn't turn when Neo sat beside him.
"Get the fuck out of here."
"What did I do?" Neo asked.
Silence. The senior paused, looking at Neo without a word.
"I hate your mom," he finally said. "Because of her, my boyfriend is in the hospital," he added angrily.
Thanos. Realizing the senior was gay made Neo feel uncomfortable. However, he still needed to make peace with him.
"Why don't I just push you off the cliff? After all, no one knows what happens inside the origin," said the senior, his gaze dark and emotionless.
The silence stretched longer than it should have.
Neo wasn't taking any chances. This guy was a sadist and probably a psychotic maniac.
So he stood up from the edge of the cliff, moving away from the senior.
When Neo turned to leave, he was stopped. "Wait," the senior sighed. "Why did you come here?" he asked.
Hearing that, Neo turned to face him. "To find out why you hate me so much."
Silence.
"Actually, I don't," he said. The senior looked at Neo, then away. "I had a crush on you, but Thanos found out and..."
He let out a dry laugh, but there was no humor in it.
Neo's eyes twitched. What sort of twisted situation had he found himself in?
Well, at least a few things were making sense. "But I couldn't tell you because of your mom."
Neo kept quiet; he didn't know what to say. 'What type of crazy shit is this?'
Should he offer his ass to this guy? Definitely not.
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
Neo sighed. "I just came here to give you this," he said, stretching out the water pouch.
The senior stood up, and while taking it from Neo's palm, he made sure their hands lingered for a while.
'This guy is a sick shit,' Neo thought. But he didn't pull away immediately.
"Thanks for the water, it means a lot coming from you."
Then all of a sudden, while Neo watched the senior drink the water, the gullible boy ran towards them.
He was breathing too hard.
"We have a problem," he said. "Those two.... they're dead."