Like any other normal person Vera dreamt when she was asleep. But she never saw any significance in her dreams. No matter whether they were good or bad, in her mind they just happened. But this night when she was able to get some decent sleep, she dreamt intensely. And the dreams were not good.

In her dream she was running. She ran away, leaving Igor and Helen behind who watched her disappear with sad faces, but couldn't catch up with her. Butter the dog ran with her for a while, but when she started sneezing he stopped and fell back behind her until she couldn't see him anymore. She kept running and running, through Coock City and the Badlands, then through the Northern wilderness. She saw the crashed shuttle in the distance, saw Tammy lying on the ground in front of it, bleeding, with her hand pleadingly stretched towards her, but Vera ignored her and kept running. She ran until two foul smelling claw-like hands closed around her body, pressing all air out of her lungs. Before her two faces became visible: Sykes grinning gloatingly, and Johnson looking at her in disapproval and shaking his head. Then she felt tight ropes being tied around her wrists and ankles, pulling her into four different directions. She wanted to scream, but no sound came out of her mouth. Balefully Johnson glanced at her, his face a mask of pure evil. The ropes kept pulling stronger by the second, and Vera knew that it would rip her apart any moment now. But at just the moment that she felt her limbs would give away, she heard but one sentence out of Johnson's mouth, and it echoed in her ears like thunder.

Then she heard the snap of her bones breaking... and woke up. Covered in sweat, heavily breathing, looking around in panic, but she was awake. She stared into the darkness of the cave, feeling with her fingers on the sleeping bag she had covered herself with. Everything was fine. As fine as things could be in this moment, still being lost in the wild and being looked after by four runaways and a dog. Things had been worse before.

But Johnson's words were still echoing in her mind, and she couldn't calm her beating heart. She knew that it had just been a dream, but those words affected her. After all she had been through she wasn't even sure that something could be true about them.

Your parents will be next...

She blinked repeatedly to purge the shadows of her dream from her mind. In the corner of her eyes she saw a little dim light next to her that changed the colour. Little fingers were playing over this light, casting shadows to the ceiling. It was Jenny, lying beside her, having some sort of finger game with the light. She had noticed that Vera had woken up next to her, but she wouldn't be bothered by it. Everyone else seemed fast asleep. At least she heard silent snoring from one of the corners.

"Hi!" Vera greeted little Jenny quietly. Jenny looked up from her game for a heartbeat, looking silently at Vera before focusing on her game again.

Good conversation, Vera thought sarcastically. She wondered if the girl ever talked or was so traumatised by past events that she would never speak again. Taylor didn't seem to have any problem communicationg, but he appeared to be the more lively, more active one of the twins. Also the braver twin. Jenny would have never gone looking for food on her own or would have been brave enough to rescue Vera from the clutches of those criminals.

She found her backpack to be standing very close to her, and pulled it over quietly. The children had been helping themselves to the pastries and the fruit juice, but there were still loads of it left. Vera wondered what would be necessary to leave a visible dent in the food supplies her mother had given her. Good thing that most of the food had a long life time. She took a big sip from the juice bottle and ate a sandwich. While eating she noticed that she had still her headache, but her nausea wasn't so bad anymore. And after that ration stew Jesper had fed her with she was glad to have something good to eat again. She finished her sandwich and was puzzled that Butter hadn't come to her panting. Although her eyes slowly got used to the darkness in the cave she couldn't find Vanna or Butter. Taylor was lying in Vanna's sleeping bag, sleeping peacefully. The faint snoring came from Thor on the other side of the room. Vera hadn't noticed that he had come back to the cave again.

Shortly she wondered what might have happened to Vanna, but she knew she didn't have to worry about her. The were less sleep nests than people right now, and since the criminals were somewhere out there, the girl would probably be on her lookout. She'd certainly be, having taken Butter with her for it. But maybe she wouldn't mind some human company. Silently Vera worked herself out of the sleeping bag and put her backpack aside. Carefully she headed for the small tunnel leading outsinde, in the hopes of not waking anyone up.

"Can you take me with you?"

The question came so suddenly and unexpected that Vera flinched. Surprised she turned around. The voice sounded like Taylor, but he was sleeping tight, and only Jenny was there looking at her expectingly. It took her a few heartbeats until she understood that it was the little girl who just had said something.

"What do you mean?" she asked back. "Outside?" She pointed towards the exit.

Jenny shook her head. "Home. That's were you're headed, aren't you?"

There was something sad, something yearning in her voice that made Vera turn around. She creeped back to the sleep nest and sat down on it, making a serious face towards Jenny. "I would love to" she admitted. "But at the moment I don't know how."

Jenny remained quiet again. But her hand felt for Vera's and took her gently. The eyes of the little girl seemed to shimmer moist. In this little light that continuously changed its colour it was hard to see for Vera, but there was something pleading in Jenny's face that made her heart sink. She realized that she might have heard Taylor's and Vanna's story, but she hadn't heard Jenny's version of it. Jenny didn't seem happy with living out here as a runaway. To the others it was an exciting adventure to enjoy this freedom, but Vera could make out of Jenny's glance that she had nothing of it.

"You miss your parents, right?" Vera returned the gentle grip around her hand. Somehow she had the feeling that the other girl was in need of some solace.

Jenny nodded first, but then shook her head. "It's not just that. My parents are dead, they won't come back. I know that. But I miss having a real home, living in a safe place. Not like this."

As far as Vera had understood Vanna's version, the new home of Jenny and Taylor had not been the most loving one. But it had hardly been Jenny's idea to seek refuge out here in the wild. Jenny confirmed that when Vera asked her about it: "Taylor doesn't like Uncle Joshua. He always prohibits things, and they don't get along at all. I don't care about that. He might not love us like he's our father, but he takes care of us." Then her well-known silence came back, as if she gathered courage to ask her next question: "What is it like at your home?"

Vera had to consider it. Had she been asked two years ago, she would have answered that it was dull and abhorrent, and that her father was about as caring and loving towards her as Uncle Joshua was towards his nephew and his niece. She wouldn't have used very positive words to describe her home. But since then things had changed a lot. And she had come to realize that her parents had done everything in their power to provide her with a good and safe home to begin with. It had taken her a while to understand that her father had given up his mercenary life for her, and that her mother had done everything she could to be there for her. Still, there had been lots of times when her parents were getting heavily on her nerves.

She looked at Jenny in the dim light, and her words got stuck in her throat. Before her sat someone who would never have this feeling of being cared for ever again, who didn't have such a home anymore. A girl that had no one left but her twin brother that cared about her. Someone who had forgotten how such a life was. Vera had been away from home for just one day, and already she felt homesick. Living out here in the wild was something she could hardly imagine. She didn't know what to say. "Oh, well..." she started reluctantly, hoping that it would be enough to please Jenny. But Jenny's expecting glance pierced her face, and she knew that it wouldn't suffice.

Honesty would then be the best way, she decided. "I once wanted to run away myself" Vera told her. "Back then I was about your age. I felt so... safe and snug. But it was so dull that it drove me crazy. I thought that I would die of boredom one day. Only when I started out at the academy, I began to feel happy about my life."

"But your parents?" Jenny kept inquiring. "Are they good on you?"

With a meaningful gesture Vera pointed towards the backpack. "My mother for sure. As for my father..." She hesitated. But she could no longer blame him for all the things he had done in the past. "Him, too. In his own way."

Jenny seemed to be satisfied with her answer. Just that it didn't make it better. After a while Vera heard quiet sobbing next to her, so she gently pulled Jenny over to her and gave her a warm hug. "I feel you" she whipsered in her ear. "I miss my parents, too..."

She didn't know what time it was, but after some time Vanna crawled byck through the tunnel into the cave. Taylor had arisen at this point, too, and had switched some of the light spheres on. Thor didn't seem to mind that much - he grunted and turned around in his sleeping bag to sleep some more.

"Never mind him!" Taylor explained happily when Vera showed a puzzled face. "He'd even sleep through if a Comm war was breaking out next to him."

It was about time for breakfast, and Vera knew of no reason not to share her supplies with the children once more. Amazingly no one had dared touching the box with the sugar bars. She prepared the table and stored several supplies on that shelf in the cave wall. After she had stacked it her backpack had become much lighter. She even stored one of her water bottles there. The remaining pastries from the bag were put on the table, and the children dug eagerly into them. Each one of them also got a sugar bar as dessert, what had an especially uplifting effect on Taylor and Jenny.

"I gave it some thought" Vanna shared with the others. "Vera needs to go home. There's no way around that." She turned to Vera. "It would be best if you headed for the spot where your shuttle has crashed. Since you're missing they will certainly have some way for you to contact them. In case that they're not waiting for you in the first place."

Vera took a look around and saw Jenny's pushing face and Vanna's pondering expression. "What about you?" she adressed the elephant in the room. "You still want to hide out here from the authorities? Isn't it time for you to go back"

"Go back?" That came out of Thor's direction who had gotten up in the meantime, and he said it with blatant disdain. "Go back to what? We've got everything we need here."

Vera glanced at him with one eyebrow raised. "Hadn't it been for me you wouldn't have anything to eat now. And this will happen again as soon as you run out of supplies. Then you'll have to go out and gather more food. That cannot go on forever."

"We'll manage" Thor insisted bitingly. "Besides, what's it up to you anyway?"

"What's it up to me? Are you off you knockers?" Vera felt that she got louder, but is was more than justified in that moment. "Do you think I'll just go away and don't turn back after you had helped me?"

"You're not responsible for these children here" Thor snapped back. His voice also increased in volume dangerously. "You have no business with us. And you won't talk us into living some life we don't want."

"Oh really?" Vera stood up and put her hands on her hips. "First of all, you're a child yourself, in case you forgot. And before you mention it: Yes, so am I." She look around in the group. "And second: What do you mean by 'we'?"

Taylor seemed to agree with Thor, but Vanna and Jenny had sided with her, with Jenny griping her hand like last night. Butter stood beside his owner and moved his head to watch Thor and Vera like he was observing the discussion and waited for the conclusion of it.

"You are not safe here" Vera continued, this time her voice was toned down again. "Never mind Johnson and his people - you can't live here forever, without food or medical supplies. And even if you could - what kind of life is it to hide out here all the time?"

Thor was unreasonable, to put it mildly. He pointed at the cave and everything around them. "You see what we've built up here? Do you see it? You won't undo this for us!"

And then she understood. It was Thor's story she had not payed too much attention to, otherwise she would have understood it earlier. He had no mother, no uncle, no one who would wait for him. But since Vanna and the twins had shown up in his hideout he suddenly had had someone. Not only someone to keep him company, but also someone that would knuckle under and would be led by him. He was important and powerful for the first time ever in his life. That feeling could have never come from the institute. And he wouldn't give up this power for anything in the world.

But he also saw the faces of the other children. No matter how hostile he acted towards Vera, he could see that this was happening right now. He had lost them already. Jenny confirmed it by stepping forward and looking straight into his eyes. "But I want to go home."

Vanna had also taken one step forward. "It was good" she said. "We had a great time here. But there comes a time when we have to end it."

Thor looked defiantly from one to another before he turned his rage towards Vera again. "You lied. You said that you weren't with the authorities. But you're doing exactly what they would have done."

"I'm not with the authorities" Vera replied insistently. "I just think further than you do, that's all."

"Then I suggest you go further than I do and just vanish from here." With a demanding gesture Thor pointed at the exit tunnel, ignoring the gasps of protest from the others.

Vera saw how Vanna and Jenny wanted to come to her aid. Vanna opened her mouth and took a deep breath to say something, but Vera touched her by her arm and shook her head. It's no use. He won't listen to it anyway. And she had the feeling that Vanna did understand her, maybe had heard this exact thought in her mind. They were similar to each other in many ways. Jenny on the other hand who didn't notice any of that tightened her grip around Vera's hand - she didn't want Vera to leave. Vera gently released her hand from that grip, gave Thor a meaningful look and walked over to her backpack to pick it up. She shouldered it, but paused to give Thor another glance while he watched her in grim satisfaction. She waited for a reaction. There was none.

With a shrug she passed by him without saying another word. It was unfortunate, but there was nothing she could do about it. She was toying with the idea of knocking him down again, but that wouldn't do her any good. She made a gesture of regret towards the others before she pushed her backpack into the tunnel and crawled after it.

"Please wait!" Jenny exclaimed in desperation and tears. But Vera wouldn't listen. Especially after Thor's sharp response: "Let her go! She has no place here anyway."

Moron, Vera thought scornfully. She might have failed to convince him, but he wouldn't be able to hold them any longer. As soon as she would be back at the academy and had overcome all this, she would return to this place to give these children another chance.

An earshattering band cracked behind her.

The detonation was so loud, it made the cave quake. Dirt was raining upon Vera as she tried to crawl forward. Behind her she heard affray and terrified screams. In shock she wandered what had just happened there. Such a ruckus could only mean... But that wasn't possible! Then she noticed it, and it was clear to her from this moment. A smell came to her nose from behind - a faint, but unpleasant smell, like a badly ventilated tavern. And she heard a voice, droning and lacking any subtlety. She knew this voice well:

"Well, I don't believe this! What have we got here?"