~Memories from the Beginning~

🎯Chapter 32🎯

Y/n and Emma blinked as they looked at Lucas.

"We'll be taking our leave then." Oliver said.

"Thanks." Lucas smiled.

'Lucas?'

The others left, leaving Y/n and Emma with Lucas.

"You shut the hell up, Lucas!" Mister's voice rang out.

'So he's alive? Is this really the Lucas?!' Emma wondered as Y/n curiously watched Lucas.

"Ahm, excuse me, but...Are you from Glory Bell?! Could it be that you've come from B 06-32...and you're a friend of..." Emma asked.

"The gear you're wearing...I figured you must've been to B 06-32 too." Lucas said with his back turned to them.

"Then..." Emma trailed off.

"Yes, I knew...but what I most wanted to know...I'm terrified of asking. It's been over 13 years already. Is that guy still alive...?" Lucas asked, finally turning to them.

Emma smiled at him.

"I mean, we did need an experienced guide to lead us here, so take it as you will." Y/n said, giving a thumbs-up.

"I see..." Lucas mumbled as he began to tear up.

"That's great...I'm happy...That's great...!"

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Lucas composed himself again and said, "Looking at me must be off-putting...Sorry about that."

"No, not at all. This is wonderful! I want to tell the news to that man! He will be so happy! He...He thought you were dead...He thinks he lost all of his old comrades..." Emma said.

"Understandable. You guys haven't seen each other for years and I'm guessing it wasn't in the best situation. It was here at Goldy Pond, right? Ty ate why Mister initially refused to some here." Y/n said as he leaned back in his seat.

Emma nudged him and he sputtered I'm surprised as he then fell back in the chair.

"You're perceptive. That's right though. I'm the only other one who managed to escape alive. And at that time, I thought I was dead too." Lucas said.

"There was a girl I didn't know. In fact, I'd never ever seen her face before. That girl told me she had been hiding for a long time. To escape from the monsters...She'd been playing hide-and-seek somewhere they'd never find her. And they didn't...so I could escape too. All thanks to her." He said.

"She gave me shelter. I believe by now the poachers must have decided that I escaped along with that guy. I kept to my hiding place, this windmill...for 13 years now. I've become 'A man who isn't there'. The only ones who know of my existence are Adam, the other 9 kids from before...and you two."

"What about the girl who saved you?" Emma asked.

"She died about five years later out of sickness. In the following eight years, I often thought of escaping this place alone. On top of this disadvantage, I don't have a pen...But if I made a last desperate effort, maybe I could reach the shelter, meet him again, tell him that I'm fine...However, whenever my thoughts went that way, something else would come to mind..." Lucas said.

"The bitter resentment of my murdered comrades. The screams of the small kids, running for their lives without even understanding why. The terror of that girl. I will put an end to this hunting park. I will never let them go...! So I gathered my comrades who felt the same way and taught them the skills..."