A few minutes later, seven men and women waited in one of the rag tagged shelters inside the camp. Chris and Alex were among them. Chris had a large club with him, but he hoped he wouldn’t need to use that.

“Where’s Raymond? He should be here by now.” One of the students said impatiently. “I get he’s injured, but…”

“Something’s off.” Alex commented coldly. She quickly snapped to Chris. “What if he’s caught or something? He’s not in his best shape. If he stumbles across one of those patrols out there...the guards don't have much of a presence within the camp, but they are still there.”

Chris lowered his head. Leaving now would be safe, but if Raymond was simply late, he would be abandoned. Leaving someone behind was never something he was a fan of. “We’ll wait for another ten minutes. We’re not leaving one of us behind.”

Most of the students nodded in silent agreement. if they were the ones late, they wouldn't want to be left either. However, Alex didn't share their belief. She suddenly stood up from her bed.

“This is stupid.” She declared. “Jerry’s right in that this whole plan is risky. We can’t stay here any longer. If we are to leave, we should go now.”

Chris frowned at the challenge of his authority. He knew the risks, but perhaps it was a sense of honor, he stuck to his idea. “We’ll wait a little longer. Maybe a few more minutes. If Raymond isn't here by then, we leave.”

But that was already enough for Alex. She was impulsive, but she wasn't stupid.

“No. You will wait a little longer.” With that said, she turned and walked out of the room without any hesitation. After all, why wouldn’t she? Staying with Chris and the others would lead to more harm than good. If they wanted to remain in this camp and risk getting caught, then let them stay. She had no such plans.

Alex got out from the back door. Just as she was about to head for the fences, she heard footsteps approaching. It was late in the night, so the entire camp was quiet. The only sounds were the Sullivan soldiers talking and the wind blowing...wait.

Alex made to the cover of a few bushes and stayed there while observing what was going on outside.

With cold eyes, she watched as thirty Sullivan soldiers in red armor surrounded the shelter she was in just moments ago. They had swords, but all the swords were kept in their sheathes and they instead were all holding large batons. With an order from an officer, the troops suddenly kicked the wooden door open and poured into the house.

Cries and screams immediately followed. Alex thought she could hear Chris’s war cry, which was quickly silenced.

How did the Sullivan know…

Alex’s doubts quickly disappeared when she saw two figures walking into the now silent room. One of them was a Sullivan officer with specialized, more sophisticated red armor. She could distinctly see the engravings of a lion's head on the chest of the armor. The other figure had a familiar face.

Raymond.

The betrayal came unexpectedly, but Alex simply turned and left. A surge of irritation flashed through her mind, but it was quickly put down. There was no point wondering why Raymond turned or feeling betrayed about the fact that he turned. All she knew was that most of her accomplice were probably dead. If she wanted to get out of this death camp, she needed to do it ASAP.

As for Chris and the others...they made a choice, and that choice turned out to be the wrong one. They have been caught trying to escape, which meant they would probably be tortured and executed soon. And Alex's opinion on this...was that she really didn't care.

Alex made her way to the breach in the fences. Her heart sank a little when she saw a dozen Sullivan guards around the fence. The swords and bows they carried meant fighting her way through would lead to a quick death.

She was trapped. More importantly, if Raymond betrayed them, and he did, the Sullivans would know the name of everyone that tried to escape, including that of Alex. Even if Raymond didn't know about her involvement, Chris and the others did, and Alex doubted they would be able to keep that a secret for long from the ruthless and brutal Sullivans. She couldn’t go back and pretend like nothing happened. She would be hunted down and killed.

Her mind turned. It appeared that she only had a single person to go to.

Meanwhile, inside the room, all the students that tried to escape were subdued. Chris’s club rested by his feet. The Sullivan soldiers took them down easily. Pressed down by two soldiers, Chris had his eyes trained on Raymond. His eyes were filled with fury.

“Why? Why are you doing this?”

Raymond looked away in slight shame as the Sullivan officer returned the question gladly.

“It’s amazing what the will to live can do to a person, kid. When Raymond came to me, dying, I saved him. In exchange, he promised to tell me everything he knows...including your little plan to escape. Now.” He looked around. “From what Raymond whispered to me, there should be one more of you. Also...I still don't understand why you told him all the names of those who wanted to flee when he asked you. You are either very stupid or very trusting...or both.”

Raymond quickly answered. “Yes. A girl named Alex.”

"Fuck you! Fuck you, Raymond!" Chris cursed at the top of his lungs. “You will burn in hell for this! You will pay!"

Hearing these curses, the Sullivan Commander scoffed. "I don't know about him, but you, my friend...you and your people will certainly pay for this. As for the girl..."

The man waved his hand.

“Vice Commander?” A soldier stepped up and saluted.

“Scan every single bunker and shelter in the camp. Find this girl called Alex and take her back to me.”

“Yes sir.”

“We’ll find her, eventually.” Vice Commander Liam, the commander of the entire mining camp, turned back to Chris. A satisfied smile was on his face. “But you should worry about yourself instead. Take them outside.”

“Jerry, Raymond turned against us. Chris is captured. I’m being hunted.”

Alex charged into Jerry’s bunker and found the man lying asleep on his bed. Fair enough. It was late in the night. Glancing around the shelter to make sure everyone else was asleep, Alex quickly woke Jerry up and dropped the big news.

As soon as he woke up and processed what had happened, Jerry’s mind turned faster than the engine of a race car. “Does Raymond know you are involved?”

“I don't know, but Chris certainly does and he is captured.”

Jerry didn't say anything like ‘I told you so’. It would be a pointless waste of time. Instead, he jumped off his bed and removed the layer of grass that acted as a bedsheet, revealing the muddy floor.

He patted his hands on the ground before reaching something and pulling on it. Immediately, a layer of wood was pulled out, revealing an opening.

“It’s a safe house. I dug it in the night in case I needed to hide. It took me several nights.” Jerry stepped to the side and turned to Alex. “Get in.”

Alex looked at Jerry before jumping into the pit. Jerry closed the door and laid back onto the bed, pretending to be asleep. Just half a minute later, five Sullivan soldiers busted into the room.

“Step to the side!” One of them demanded. Jerry obeyed.

One of the soldiers searched Jerry as the rest ravaged through the room. Whatever furniture Jerry had in his shelter was smashed apart and broken to pieces. Jerry kept his eyes on the ground. He was afraid if he tried to look around, he couldn’t take his eyes off the bed where Alex was hiding in. The Sullivan soldiers weren’t fools. They would know.

Thankfully, nothing came up.

Jerry was about to take a breath of relief when the soldier searching him pressed him against the wall.

“Where is your friend? Alex?”

“I don’t know! She hasn’t seen me since we left the mines!” Jerry replied as nicely as he could.

“She tried to escape, and you are saying you don’t know anything about it?” The soldier demanded. He suddenly drew his dagger and pressed it so tightly on Jerry’s cheek that it slashed his skin. “I’ll give you one last chance before I scratch up your face. Where is Alex?”

“I don’t know anything. Please!” Jerry held his ground.

“I sure hope that’s the truth.” The guard suddenly turned his hand, and Jerry felt a burn on his cheek. Giving out a suppressed groan, he closed his eyes and felt his arms and legs shaking. But he kept his mouth shut. A part of him wanted to betray Alex and just save his own ass, but another part kept on reminding him that the guard wouldn’t dare kill him.

Finally, seeing he couldn’t get anything, the guard turned around and left the room. As he departed, Jerry let himself slide back onto the ground. His heart was jumping out of his chest. Those that never experienced it would never know what a near-death experience felt like. And now, Jerry was proud to say he looked death in the eye.

A tap on his wound on his cheek told him it was nothing more than a small slice. Reasonable. The Sullivans, at least the bottom level foot soldier, couldn’t afford to lose a labor just based on suspicions.

Tap. Tap.

Jerry smiled. That was the thing he loved about Alex. She wasn’t the brightest, but she wasn’t a fool either. Although it sounded like all the soldiers have left, instead of taking the risk and talking to him, she tapped the layer of wood. If there were Sullivan soldiers, they might think it was from a source other than a girl below the bed. It wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t too bad to come up with on the spot.

“It’s safe now.” He announced. “But unless you need anything, don’t come out. We don’t know who might come in.”

Inside the pit, Alex nodded. She quickly remembered Jerry couldn’t see her.

“Are you ok?” She heard Jerry’s groan.

“Yeah.” Jerry replied quietly. “Just a scratch.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It could’ve been much worse.”

Alex leaned back in her spot. “Jerry, there is something you need to know.”

“Yah?” Jerry nodded. He was slightly worried that this might be one of those ‘I love you’ talks. If that happens, he might need to come up with a soft rejection as soon as possible.

Thankfully, it was something else.

“I don’t process emotions like normal people.” Alex continued. “I don’t exactly feel fear. I mean...I can cognitively recognize being beheaded is bad for me, but I don’t get scared if I am to be beheaded.”

Jerry rose his eyebrows. His eyes lit up. “So...you don’t feel any emotion?”

“Not any emotion. I just have less emotion than normal people.” Alex did her best to come up with an explanation. “I don’t really feel sad or angry. Well, I do feel angry, but it’s just rare. For example, when I saw Raymond betrayed us, for one second I wanted to kill him. For the next I no longer felt anything.”

“Anti-social Personality Disorder.” Jerry suddenly commented.

Alex rose her eyebrows again.

“It matches all the characteristics you talked about. Were you like this since birth?”

“I’m like this ever since I can remember.”

“Then you’re a psychopath in contrast to a sociopath. Psychopaths come from defects in the amygdala before birth while sociopaths are caused by their experience. It’s nature vs nurture.”

Jerry left a part out.

Psychopaths don’t get grateful or emotional, at all. Almost all that they do were done for their own benefits, which means if what Alex said was true, she didn't initiate this conversation with him because he saved her life. She did so because it could provide her with gains.

“Ok.” Alex nodded calmly. The information Jerry just provided her didn't seem to linger on her mind for too long. “Now that I told you mine, you should tell me yours.”

Ahhh. So that’s what she’s going for. Jerry tilted his head as his eyes turned ice cold. It was her manipulation. After arriving, and everything that happened after, Alex must’ve seen how helpful he could be. She wants to use him, and she intends to do so by establishing a bond via sharing secrets.

Usually in a case like this Jerry would just turn and leave, but in this case he was willing to fall for it. Sure, trusting someone who wouldn’t hesitate to manipulate him could be a risk, but Jerry decided it was better to trust someone as decisive and logical as Alex than brainless idiots like Chris. At least Alex knew when to yield. It was all part of his plan. Perfectly logical plan.

What Jerry didn't realize was that his decision was hardly ideal. He was risking his own life protecting someone who would stab him in the back. He tried to justify it with logic, but…

“Basically, I have trust issues. I rarely trust anyone. I just think the worst of them.” He replied as his mind turned. “I have also realized the truth in life.”

“Which is?”

“Emotions are the source of all our pain. I’m trying to control, if not eliminate, my emotions. It’s the only way to truly be victorious.”

“I sense a story.” Alex said slowly. Her mind turned as she processed the information. “I guess that’s why we’re so close.” Someone who was born with problems in recognizing emotion and someone willingly trying to block out emotion. What a match.

“Perhaps. Maybe there’s a story, but that’s for another time.” The day was already getting brighter. Jerry stood up from his bed. “I should be going out soon. I will try to bring you some food, but it will be best if you stay down there. We’ll talk when I come back.”

He walked out of the room.