Back inside the wall, Ambrosius felt like he’d been walking for hours trying to get back to the hideout. Longer than it’d taken him to get to the wall, at least. The forest seemed to stretch on forever in every direction.

His leg had started bleeding again, blood seeping through the cloth tied around it. Ambrosius leaned harder on his crutch. He had too much on his mind to care. The world outside the wall was empty. Everything he’d ever been told about the monsters lurking outside was wrong. All wrong. For so long, everyone had lived in fear of nothing. Years of preparations for potential attacks, all for nothing.

Lights flashed by in the distance - hoverbikes, most likely. Probably searching for him. Ambrosius watched them aimlessly, wondering if they’d see him or not. He didn’t care either way at this point. Everything that had ever meant anything to him was gone or meaningless now.

The lights came closer. Ambrosius braced himself for the beam of blinding light to sweep over him…. closer… closer…

Suddenly, a pink blur slammed into him, whirling him behind a thick tree just as the light flared over where he’d been a moment before.

“Wh-mm?” Ambrosius tried to ask, but there was a hand clasped over his mouth.

“Sh!” Nimona’s voice came.

The beam of light swished around the area, then moved on.

Nimona released her hand.

“What are you- Are you trying to get caught?” she hissed.

Ambrosius didn’t have an answer to that. He just looked at her absently.

“Did you know?” he asked quietly.

“Know wh…” Nimona looked him over, noticing his muddied knees and bleeding calf. “Where did you go?”

“Outside.”

“No duh.”

“Outside the wall.”

Nimona was silent for a moment. Then she huffed.

“Let’s get you back to the hideout. The knights might come back.”

“You knew… You knew about the tunnel. You knew there was nothing out there.”

Nimona didn’t respond to that - instead she shifted into a tall, muscular form and scooped him up in her arms.

“The hideout’s this way.” she said, heading back the way he’d come. Ambrosius had walked right past it.

“Why didn’t you say anything about the outside?” Ambrosius asked, clinging to his crutch.

Nimona avoided eye contact.

“Would you have believed me?”

She had a point. Up until, now he wouldn’t have.

“So you’re from outside the wall?”

“I’ve been inside the wall since it went up.”

Since it went up… How long ago was that? Ambrosius stared up at Nimona, wondering whether or not to believe her.

“How old are you?”

Nimona shrugged as she stepped over a fallen log.

“As far as I know, I've always been here.”

Ambrosius let that sink in. He leaned back against her arm and closed his eyes.

“I don't even know what's true anymore… The Director is a liar and a murderer. The Institute has been hiding things. You're old…. Was Gloreth even a real person?”

“She was real.” Nimona’s voice got quiet. “She was my friend.”

Ambrosius opened his eyes.

“But… you’re a…” he trailed off, conflicted over the word that followed. He didn’t know what to call Nimona. He just knew what he’d been told by The Institute. “… What are you?”

Nimona looked slightly relieved he hadn’t finished his original sentence.

“I’m Nimona.” she said with finality, her foot landing heavily with the next step.

There was a long silence. That wasn’t the answer Ambrosius wanted. He wanted something that made sense to him - something that could be broken down and explained.

“That’s it? Just ‘Nimona’?”

Nimona shrugged and emerged into the clearing around the hideout.

“It works for me.” she said, pushing the hideout door open with her shoulder.

It was dark inside. Nimona set Ambrosius down on the couch and flicked on the strings of lights strung across the ceiling. Then she started rummaging through a cabinet.

“I saw this when I went into the city.” she said, holding up a small bottle labeled ‘skin-glue’. “Probably not as good as stitches, but better than nothing.”

The stuff was a kind of adhesive meant for keeping wounds closed. It burned when Nimona globbed it on the gash in Ambrosius’s leg, but he locked his jaw and kept still. He’d been through worse.

Nimona groaned in disappointment when the wound wouldn’t stay closed regardless how much glue she globbed on.

“I guess we’ll just have to amputate it.”

Ambrosius didn’t think that was funny.

“I think you’re supposed to wrap it up after you glue it. So it stays closed.”

“Right. That was my next idea.”

That worked. The fresh bandages didn’t show any blood, even after several minutes.

Nimona got busy in the kitchen while Ambrosius laid back on the couch, staring at the ceiling emptily. He could hear the stove crackle to life as the scent of cooking meat began to fill the room. Funny, Ambrosius hadn’t remembered it being hooked up to any power sources.

It was several minutes before Nimona’s face poked in front of his.

“Wake up, it’s chow time!” She plunked a sizzling pan of bacon onto the table next to the couch.

Ambrosius’s stomach growled loudly. He hadn’t eaten at all that day. The stress of everything that’d happened hadn’t let him get hungry.

Nimona snatched up a piece of bacon and shoved it into her mouth, hot grease dripping from her fingers.

“Dig in!” she said through the mouthful of food. “I forgot to get forks but hey, your hands are probably clean enough!”

Ambrosius stared at the pan of bacon. In the back of his mind, he could hear his mom reviewing fork protocol for the formal dinners he’d grown up with. ‘You’re Gloreth’s ambassador,’ she’d told him, ‘you need to set an example.’ She’d always meant well, but at the time it had only stressed him out more.

Nimona’s voice broke in.

“Well? It isn’t any good cold.”

Ambrosius closed his eyes. His mom was gone, and it wasn’t like he needed to impress anyone anymore. He leaned forward and tentatively picked up a strip of bacon. The hot grease stung his fingers, but he ignored the pain and bit off a piece. It burned his tongue.

“Hot…” he mumbled, trying to cool it down enough to eat.

“But good!” Nimona responded through her own mouthful of bacon.

She was right. Ambrosius gave a weak smile and took another hot bite of freedom.

“So…” Nimona said, “What’s our next move?”

Ambrosius sighed.

“I don’t know.” he said, “Everyone I care about is dead, everything I’ve worked for is gone, and everything I knew is a lie. I'd almost rather…” He paused for a long moment to chew, “You know… what is outside the wall?”

Nimona shrugged.

Ambrosius wasn’t sure what to make of that.

“You've never looked?”

Nimona shrugged again.

“This place has always been my home.”

Ambrosius was dumbfounded.

“Haven't you ever wanted to leave?”

“Sometimes. But it isn't so bad here. There's food and lights and TV. … and there's your family.”

“Yeah…” Ambrosius remembered their old conversation. “Have you been stalking my family from the beginning of time?”

“Not stalking, just… watching. Mostly. You're Gloreth's kids.”

There was a long silence.

“You said you were friends?”

Nimona avoided his gaze.

“Yeah. Sorta. Kinda.”

Ambrosius didn’t press the question.

“So that’s all that’s keeping you from trying to escape again? Food, lights, and TV?”

“What, you think I’d find that outside the wall? There wasn’t anything out there before the wall went up, and there hasn’t been anything since it went up. I've looked.”

Ambrosius shook his head.

“There has to be something out there. If there’s nothing out there eating everything, why wouldn’t there be anyone? It’s worth a shot.”

Nimona cocked an eyebrow.

“You want to leave?"

Ambrosius was beginning to feel a spark of hope. If there wasn’t anything for him inside the wall, maybe there was something outside.

“Why not? There has to be some other place with food and lights and TV.”

“Need I remind you of the cannons?”

“What if it was dark, and the cannons got sabotaged?"

"What if there's nothing out there and we can't come back?"

"Come on, where'd your sense of adventure go? I'm supposed to be the one playing it safe!"

Nimona picked up another piece of bacon.

"I just... don't want you to die is all. You're the last of Gloreth's kids."

"I'm going to die if I stay here." Ambrosius paused. "Really, if I'm the only reason you've been sticking around… would you go with me if I left?”

There was a long silence. Then Nimona spoke.

“I suppose you have a plan for that?”

Ambrosius was quiet for a moment.

“Maybe…” Then Ambrosius grinned. “Actually yeah. I do.”