The condition of the world is deteriorating. Dark, mysterious entities lurk around, devouring the minds of the pure and vulnerable. They sense even just a faint hint of despondency like how they sense blood.
Human extinction is only a few steps awa...
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Chapter 4: Camping Grounds
The group had invited Emelie and Doug to join their group. "We're only six in the camp. We aren't a lot, but we sort of symbolise a family, and it's more than enough," the leader of the group had said. "As impossible as it sounds, there are also kids in our camp as well. We take care of them well, but of course, everyone needs to have a contribution."
Their walk was silent, and the happy chatter of Paige was mainly the only thing they heard. Doug's eyes gleamed whenever the girl walking next to him giggled. He wondered how amazing it was to see how much this girl admired him. Doug had thoughts about the body that he had taken; he must've had a wonderful life, having this kind of joyful and pretty girl in his life was already a gift, he had thought. He didn't get why this man took his own life. Things didn't seem that bad in his perspective. He was happy that the suit didn't wear out when he found the body.
Behind Doug and Paige was the girl with over-sized, black shoes. Emelie was plain clueless on what had happened. Earlier, she felt a slight stab of jealousy as she watched the girl with red lips and neat hair cling on Doug, but now she didn't care anymore. Her dry lips turned into a snarl as another thought occurred in her mind 'in a world like this, why on earth is she wearing red on her lips? How does she keep her hair tidy like that when there are particles of dirt and dust in the air? How are they so carefree when the earth is slowly rotting beneath our feet? It's like they've forgotten about what happened.'
"Hey, you ready to talk now?" The man had introduced himself to Emelie earlier, but she had no interest in talking to the scar-faced person. He had been walking next to her for the last thirty minutes, but she had never said a word to him except when she had introduced herself.
"Name's Emelie," she had said earlier. The group didn't ask anything else after her blunt introduction. She was still uneasy around them. It had been a while since she had joined a group.
The man walking beside Emelie was Ramsey. He had told Emelie why he had a scar on his left eyelid, even though she didn't ask. It had caused his eye to slightly slope downward in an unnatural manner. He had said that it was because of another group of men that was threatening to murder him when he denied to give them his small supply of food. One of the men tried to attack him with a knife. The cut could have gotten worse if it wasn't for the Italian man who was also part of the group, Matteo. He had saved Ramsey by holding the man back, and the tip of the knife had only scraped Ramsey's face. In the end, the group had exiled Matteo, so he had no choice but to stick with Ramsey. Emelie had paid attention to his story and she wanted to ask more, although bit her tongue down and stayed silent instead.
She wasn't exactly sure what to think of about the group.
"I'm not really in the mood right now. I'll entertain you when we've reached your camping grounds," Emelie replied nonchalantly and wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.
