"Answer me," Ramsey scowled at Doug, and with a raspy voice, he repeated his question, louder this time, "Are you one of them?"
Doug stared at Ramsey's down-loped eyelid and examined it instead of answering his question. Ramsey noticed that Doug really didn't seem to care, nor even startled by him and this only made him more furious. He wanted to have control, and he wanted obedience.
"Doug!" Ramsey's voice filled the room as he grabbed Doug by the collar and pulled him up to his feet with ease. Even though he only had one good eye, his glare was piercing through Doug's restless, wandering eyes. Just when Ramsey had thought that Doug was finally getting anxious at him, he proved him wrong.
"Your question wasn't complete, nor did it make sense," Doug replied blankly. "I also find it rude on how you're holding my suit."
"Ramsey, please. . ." Penny whispered, walking towards Ramsey cautiously. She looked at him--his jaw was clenched and there was even a thick vein appearing on his forehead. She didn't want any more conflicts happening, and seeing Ramsey furious was one of her personal nightmares. She was the type to avoid any kind of argument and conflict, and even let the other win just to stop the commotion. Her body stiffened when she felt a hand rubbing her back, only to find out that it was Matteo, who was having the same thoughts as Penny.
Emelie's guard was up once again, because she feared that Ramsey would hurt Doug. At this point, it seemed like he wanted to kill him.
Ramsey's nostrils flared as he sighed and released Doug's collar. He lit up another cigarette and put it between his dark, frowning lips.
"Thank--"
"Piss off," Ramsey cut in annoyance, inhaling his cigarette. He was trying to calm his breaths. It was silent for a while, then he stroked his damp hair away from his face and said, "Look, there are these beings--I can't and I don't know how to explain. It seems like they have a goal of some sort--to kill." He turned his head towards Matteo and gave him a quick nod.
Matteo understood and just like that, everyone loosened up when Ramsey walked outside. Being the tall figure that he was, his back was slouched, and his hands were in his pockets.
Matteo scratched his neck and cleared his throat, "It's okay, Emelie. He wouldn't hurt anyone. He just gets really angry sometimes, when things don't go as planned."
"Are you kidding?" Emelie's voice in person was smaller than the voice in her head, "I thought he was going to hurt him." She looked at the two young women. Paige was biting her lip while Penny fiddled with her bracelet; they both couldn't look at Emelie.
"Look, I don't know what else to tell you, alright?" Matteo sighed, and crossed his bulky arms over his chest. "If you feel truly uncomfortable, you're always free to leave, but what I'm saying is true--Ramsey doesn't harm other fellow members, and I think he includes you two already."
Emelie shrugged, "I don't--"
"About the beings that Ramsey was explaining," Doug interrupted. He fixed his collar and tie, then sat down next to Emelie's feet. "Do tell more."
"Right," Matteo sat on the ground as well, followed by Paige and Penny. Emelie didn't know if she should sit or not, but then Doug tapped her leg and gestured for her to, and so she did. "We're not sure what they're called, but we call them dark demons," Matteo looked at Doug and raised a brow, "Why are you smirking like that? Anything funny?"
Doug didn't even realize that he was, so his expression immediately changed.
"Are you one of them? The ones who murder?" He pressed the question towards Doug.
No, Emelie thought, that's impossible. He saved me.
"They're called Cherno," Doug replied, "They're disciplines of Chernabog, a 'black god.' They only feed on humans who have no will to live on anymore. They usually wait until they commit suicide. . .and if they don't, they hunt them," Doug spoke slowly and carefully once again.
Emelie's eyes watered--she had forgotten to blink. What does he mean by 'hunt'? Is that old 'man' still after her? Why didn't Doug tell her about the chernos before? It seemed like he even lacked information about them when he told Emelie. 'Assassins', he said? Emelie can't believe him.
"Sometimes, when they're too hungry, they just feed on whoever they want," Doug added.
"Okay, hold on," Matteo was trying to take in everything that Doug had said, "How the--How the hell do you know that?"
"You, uh," Penny spoke up with a trembling voice, "You haven't answered Matteo's question."
Everyone stiffened once again after that. Emelie wasn't sure what to expect.
"No, I'm not one of those chernos," Doug finally answered.
"What are you then? How come you know these things?" Matteo was eager to ask, and he wanted answers--he wanted answers now.
Doug blinked and stared at the dancing flame in front of him.
"Doug," Emelie whispered cautiously to him, "You should answer that."
"Unfortunately, I can't. . .Matteo, right?" Doug looked at the tense Italian man.
Matteo nodded once.
"I can only say that I'm different from them, though I am not an enemy, I'm not sure if you can consider me as an ally," Doug looked at Emelie, whose mouth was slightly open, her eyes still wide, and she was frozen in her place. "Especially you."
Emelie decided to wake up early the next morning, in hopes to do something productive in the camp. She was trying not to think of what happened last night, and why Doug didn't sleep in their room. I bet he didn't even sleep at all, she thought. She wasn't sure what to think of him, after what he had said to her. She was slowly turning back to square one: confused and unsure of what to do. She was feeling a sense of familiarity: anxiety. Even so, she was willing to give the group a chance in regaining her trust.
"Em, here, take the basket and harvest some tomatoes over there," Penny said, pointing a chubby finger towards a direction.
Emelie squinted her eyes towards the sun's harsh light, trying to see where Penny was pointing at. "I'm sorry, where?"
Penny chuckled, her tanned cheeks turning red under the sun, "Just beyond the borders over there, not too far. Then turn left, you'll get there, hun. If not, I'll have to ask Ramsey to guide you," she said with a smirk.
Emelie shook her head and immediately grabbed the basket from Penny, "No, no, I'll be fine, thank you." She heard Penny chuckling again behind her, and she rolled her eyes. It was obvious that she disliked Ramsey more than anyone in the group. To her, he was bossy, both noisy and nosy, overconfident, and had serious anger issues.
She had expected to see a small garden with withering plants, and tomatoes barely seen, but she was corrected by the sight in front of her. The garden was indeed small, although big, round, and red tomatoes were hanging down tall stems. Her eyes twinkled as she rubbed her fingers around a plump tomato. It felt smooth on her palm.
It only took her a few minutes to finish harvesting all the tomatoes. When she turned around, a man was standing in front of her. Startled, she dropped the basket and the tomatoes rolled away from her and towards moist dirt.
Emelie sighed, "Doug, you frightened me." She crouched down to pick the vegetables up.
"I apologize," Doug replied, as he picked up the tomatoes as well. "But I think we have a few things that we need to discuss."
"I don't think we need to discuss anything," Emelie stuttered out, focusing her gaze on the tomatoes that she was picking up.
"We do. I know that you know that," he handed out the tomatoes and Emelie hesitated to get them but she did. "Are you afraid?"
"What?" This time, Emelie looked at him. Doug had the same, blank expression as always. One side of his face was greeted by the sunlight, and the greyness of his eyes seemed to be more striking. Strands of hair were sloping down messily on his forehead, although he didn't seem to mind.
"Are you afraid of me?"
"I--" Emelie thought for a second, and was about to say 'yes,' but she knew it wasn't true. "No, I'm not. How could I be?"
"How could you not?" Doug had an immediate response.
Emelie didn't expect a reply from Doug like that, she was taken aback. "Well, sort of. I'm kind of confused, because of what you had said last night. . ."
"What about it?" Doug was leaning closer towards Emelie, and his eyes weren't wandering around this time.
"You didn't tell me that a 'cherno' was hunting me," the word 'cherno' slid off her tongue oddly, "You didn't even tell me anything about them, I thought you didn't know what they were called before."
Doug leaned back, "I wanted to correct them. You, on the other hand, didn't know anything about those before, so I thought you didn't need to know."
"I should! Knowing that they're after me now," Emelie blurted out, a little bit frustrated.
"Who said that they were after you?"
"Well, you said last night that they hunt those who. . ." Emelie's voice trailed off.
"I did, but as long as I'm with you, I don't think they'll follow you," Doug assured.
"Why?"
"They fear me. Not only that, I've done something that I shouldn't have done. It was not my right to." Doug stood up and wiped the dirt off his pants.
"Right to what?" Emelie followed and stood up as well, gripping the basket tighter in her hand.
Doug looked away, "It was not my right to change your decision about wanting to jump off the bridge."
Emelie was startled, "So what? You saved me, Doug. That doesn't matter anymore."
"I know how important it is when you save someone," Doug blinked and his grey eyes were wandering around once again. "Although I was not allowed to."
Emelie massaged her temples, "Wait a minute," she stroked her blonde hair aggressively, "Back at the crate, were you planning to leave, knowing that chernos would be after me once you do?"
"It wasn't my intention to leave, but it seemed like you were afraid of me back then," Doug replied.
Emelie licked her dry lips and ran her tongue across her teeth, "That seems about right, and yes, I was, a little bit."
"Are you happy with your decision?"
"Of course," Emelie was still confused and still had so many questions in her head, but she managed to flash a smile nonetheless. "I didn't get to say a proper 'thank you,' by the way."
"How do you say a proper 'thank you', then?" Doug tilted his head slightly, out of curiosity.
Emelie put the basket down. She tiptoed, reached out, and wrapped her arms around Doug's neck. He blinked several times, and was shocked on how something so simple felt so warm and relieving. He leaned slightly, wanting to feel the warmth in her embrace a little more. His knees began to feel weak as he slowly reached up and touched her back with one hand, unsure of what to do.
"Uh," a voice was heard. Emelie immediately released Doug and picked up the basket full of tomatoes. "Penny thought that you were lost, Emelie, so I had to come find you," Paige said with an awkward tone.
"Oh," Emelie forced a laugh, "Me and Doug were just talking. We're about to head back now."
"Alright, I'll leave you two then?" Paige asked, a hint of jealousy echoed in her voice.
Emelie shook her head, embarrassed, "No, we'll come with you."
Meanwhile, Doug just stood there, and never in his existence, had he felt so alive.
"Look, what you saw back there--I was only thanking him," Emelie broke the silence.
"I wasn't asking," Paige snapped, flipping her hair to the other side of her smooth face. "I wasn't asking because I'm not bothered by it."
"It just seems that you fancy him, that's all," Emelie blurted out, studying Paige's feminine features. Her cheekbones were prominent, her lips were still pink and plump, and there were no dark circles under her eyes.
Emelie unconsciously touched her cheeks, her lips, and rubbed her eye bags.
Paige rolled her eyes with a grin, noticing what Emelie was doing.
The two walked in silence, but after a while, Paige let out a small whimper, "Wait, who. . ."
"I'm talking about Doug."
"No, I mean," Paige stopped walking and Emelie stopped too. "Who are those men. . . Why are they with the kids?"
Emelie looked at Paige's eyes and looked in front. She gasped as she saw five men talking to Elaine and Henry. Her breathing hitched as she looked closer--all of them were looking at the two children, although it seemed like they were not looking directly at them but rather through them, with their blank, lifeless eyes, and floating bodies.