“Nero…” My eyebrow twitches. “If you keep jumping around like that and wasting your energy, there might not be a tomorrow left for you to see.”

Nero pauses. Even though the sun is barely in the sky now, I’m still able to see his facial expression twisting in a horrified manner. I didn’t mean to scare him—at least, not that much. And although I’ve no idea to what extent my statement rings true—for he may very well be able to survive here and under dire conditions in general—I’m glad that, if anything, it has convinced Nero to stop treating our predicament like a happy-go-lucky field trip.

Someone’s stomach grumbles, yet it’s not mine.

I take a peek Nero’s way, and sure enough, he’s holding his sides.

“It’s possible for you to get hungry?” The gasp that escapes me isn’t intentional, but I can’t help myself from being surprised.

“Hungry?” Nero repeats the word as if it’s the first time he’s ever heard it. “I…” He glances downward at his body, which has begun to demand food again in the most awkward of ways. “I don’t know,” he tells me. “This is the first time that I have heard this noise and felt this pain.”

Pain?

Heavens, I press a palm to my face and let the situation sink in, he’s starving. Humanity’s final hope is in the middle of a snowstorm, and starving without any provisions in sight.

I grab hold of his wrist and urge him to pick up his pace. “You need to eat,” I say. And then, reluctantly, I force myself to ask, “Those drugs they gave you back at the lab…do you think they could have done more than simply numb your emotions?”

Nero hums as he loses himself in his thoughts, and I don’t know why I even feared that bringing these dreadful memories up again would upset him, because clearly he sees these events as something from the past that can no longer touch him. “I don’t know,” he blurts. “But I’ve never been hungry until now, and I had a huge erection in the pod before: so, maybe!”

“Yes, well…” I clear my throat. “That isn’t something you should be shouting to the world with a proud grin on your face, Nero.”

“Huh, why not?”

My shoulders deflate, I sigh. “Never mind. Look, I don’t know how bad it is if we feed you, however…I cannot simply let you starve if your bodily functions are active again. We should attempt to gather provisions and find shelter before night falls for real this time—I doubt we could make it to the castle anyway, even if we tried, this fog’s doing nothing but rising.”

“Oh.” Nero tugs my arm back; it makes me stop in my tracks. “Why don’t we just ask that village over there then?” he says. “Maybe they’ll know where to find shelter and food.”

“Honestly…Nero, that kind of humor isn’t one I can find myself appreciating considering our situation is quite dire and—”

My jaw drops as I glance upward at the mountain before us. In the middle of the mist, stands the soft glow of yellow lights that emanate from a small town.

I gulp. I don’t want to get my hopes up, for maybe it has just been forgotten—yet, perhaps…could this explain why Nero had sensed a presence earlier today?

And if so, what does this mean?

Are they survivors? Or did they never leave Vlexidia in the first place?

“Aster,” Nero points at the faint shadows and outlines of the buildings. “You’re making your sad face again. Was my suggestion a bad idea? Do you think…” he glances down to our feet, “that they will fear me if we go, like you and the people in the lab did?”

Oh.

So he does consider these things sometimes.

I shake my head, grab his palms and give them a squeeze. As I look up to him, I smile and say, “No, don’t worry yourself, I’m positive they’ll take a considerable liking to you. That is”—I snicker—“as long as you don’t go around shouting inappropriate things.”

Mere seconds later, we take off and sprint towards the lights that guide us like tiny flames in the ever-growing night.

As our feet sink into the chilled snow, I can’t help but think that—in the strangest of ways—I’m glad I got to know Nero as a friend. As more than a peculiar mystery, hidden behind the lab’s prison of glass.

Perhaps I needed this—the taste of freedom.

Perhaps…we both did.