Alice: Hey Brenda, have you seen Aeron?
Brenda: No, Alice, unfortunately not. Is there a problem?
Alice: Everything's fine, don't worry. Swan, what about you? Have you seen him?
Swan: No, I haven't seen him, Alice. But he's probably in the old caravan.
Alice: Could be. (Inner voice: He promised me he wouldn't go there again.) By the way, I like your hair, Swan. You look much better. I'm going to the caravan, see you later.
Swan: See you, Alice. By the way, thank you.
This was the last thing I needed. Whenever Aeron is down, he goes to the old caravan. Actually, since he's always down, we could say he's always there. He promised me he wouldn't go there, but unfortunately, since he lost his sister, he's been hanging out there. I'll slowly introduce everyone to you, but first, I need to find Aeron. We need to find a solution, yes, a solution.
Alice: Hey, Aeron (Inner voice: He really is here).
He turned his face towards me, pale and drenched in sweat, and said, "Alice, I'm sorry."
I said: "Aeron, I understand you. Really, I do, but I'm struggling to give these people hope on my own. I understand, I wouldn't want to lose Elsa either, but please, try to pull yourself together. It's been two years since we lost Elsa. Please, please…"
In that moment, I lost control. I sank to my knees and began to sob uncontrollably. For the first time in my life, I cried so much. When I was at the orphanage or when the outbreak started, I couldn't even cry for the ones we lost. No one had ever witnessed me crying this much, and strangely enough, I hadn't witnessed it myself either. I couldn't stop myself. What was happening to me? Suddenly, I was falling apart.
- From Aeron's perspective -
Alice? Alice? She wasn't responding, just quietly crying. This was the first time I'd seen her cry like this… in fact, the first time I'd seen her cry at all. Usually, between the leaders of our group—Aeron, Alice, Alex—she's the one who's always more positive. I felt an incredible pain in my heart and moved towards Alice, hugging her. Alice was crying so much, her breath was running out. I said to her, "Alice, please calm down," but she couldn't. The more she cried, the more my heart ached. It felt like a dagger was being driven into my chest. I called her name, "Alice," but there was no response. I quickly checked her heart and, thank God, she was just sleeping. These might seem strange to you, but since the outbreak, this was the first time I'd seen Alice like this. It reminded me that she was human too. I picked her up and laid her down on the bed behind me, covering her with a blanket. She had a fever and was mumbling. She kept repeating someone's name: "Lowell, no, Lowell, don't go, Lowell."
I called Amanda on the radio and asked Bert to give her something for the fever.
If you're wondering about Amanda, just like Bert, she's part of the pharmacy team. She's a nurse. When we rescued her from the looters, she was badly injured. But Alice didn't give up on her, and now she's the leader of a pharmacy team that brings us healing. Don't worry, I'll explain who the looters are and what I mean by "the group." I'll give you all the details, but right now, I need to figure out what's going on with Alice