"Don’t you ever feel sorry for them?” said Claude, gazing at the Vacant lining the avenue below as the Gang made their way across the rooftops. His head dangled to the side, with his entire face squinting in an attempt to gain a slightly better view. Some shuffled into and over decrepit and rotten wooden benches and long-forgotten market stalls, whilst others scraped their sides against the houses as they walked aimlessly to nowhere—getting caught in the holly and nettles growing upside the ruined houses.

“Why would I?” said Alon, shrugging his shoulders.

“I mean, it’s just that I think they’re probably sad as they are—You know, you can hear them right now, can’t you?”

Alon could indeed hear them—The monotone symphony of moans within the crowd drowned the cries and calls for freedom from their husk prisons.

“Free me...”

“Help me...”

“Set me free...”

Alon—as always—had to ignore them.

“What would you do if you turned Alon? Have you ever thought about it?” said Claude, stammering with hesitation.

“I’d probably do what they’re doing right now,” said Alon, lifting his hand out from being wrapped beneath his shoulder cloak, pointing towards the crowd below them.

“No, I mean—actually think about it for once. They’re walking around, out of their mind. Do you think there is someone out there that misses them? Or perhaps they miss someone else, even in the state they’re in?”

“I’d rather not think about that.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to dwell on that too much either...” said Claude, smiling as he looked at his feet. “What about you, though? Would you miss anyone if you got turned into one of them?” said Claude, eagerly awaiting a response.

“I’d miss myself most of all. Selfish, I know... But to lose your mind—your thoughts, your wishes, your desires—that’s worse than death. In that regard, nobody is more important. If you lose yourself, you lose the ability to even care for those at your side at all.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” said Claude, turning away from Alon, not helping but frown as he resumed to observing the crowd of Vacant.

Alon had little attention to the footsteps rapidly growing in volume coming from behind ever since Claude had began talking, yet now they had went from a steady pace to a full sprint.

Before Alon could turn around to face his aggressor, an arm shot over Alon's head and forced itself up his shoulder, holding Alon's neck in a vice—with Claude suffering the same fate as him.

“What are you two Fog-breathers talking about?” said Brook, despite being in ear shot to have heard the entire conversation.

Alon threw Brooks arm to the side scowling, with Claude letting it sit with a big smile on his face.

“Nothing that concerns you,” said Alon, turning to watch the Vacant with Claude.

“Excuse me, but I think it probably ought to concern me!"

Alon pulled an expression one could only recognise from eating rotten food in desperation, with Claude hanging onto his fellow Gang members every word—a level of respect anyone he worked with deserved.

"We’re a team, despite everything. There shouldn’t be any secrets between us, Alon,” said Brook, baring his snaggle teeth with a grin to attack Alon’s eyes with.

“No, there shouldn’t," said Alon, clawing at every chance to leave the conversation.

“Speaking of secrets, and what not... I’ve noticed you acting distant with us all after Kogan’s attack. That’s not even mentioning how he was pretty eager to come along with us to this Manor Casian wants to see. Awfully weird, huh?”

Alon—not able to hold it in any longer—turned to face Brook, squaring and sizing him up.

“If you have a point you want to make, could you just say what it is? Spare me the riddle, cunt.”

Brook checked Alon and called his bluff—stepping in closer towards him. Claude stepped back and looked for Casian with concern, who was at least fourty steps ahead.

“Well, the way I see it at least, is that you leave for a while and come back with Kogan’s stash. Then the attack happens, and you get all quiet and starting acting like you feel guilty all of a sudden. After that, we head to see Kogan not long afterwards, then he sees you and all of a sudden he wants to come with us? It’s pretty strange to say the least...”

“Wow, Brook; Have I told you about your talent for story-telling? You really do manage to weave such a lovely image about this made-up world you created, it truly is something to marvel at...”

“Funny. I’m just saying that you’re acting awfully strange for someone who, I don’t know... Hasn’t spoken with Kogan previously, gotten us nearly killed, lost us our hideout, and got us beaten to a pulp?”

“Shove it prick, I didn’t speak to Kogan—”

“So you say...”

“I didn’t do shit, now piss off—”

“After everything Casian has done for you too; One might begin to think you’re trying to steal his spot at the head of the Gang or something...”

Alon sprung around and grabbed Brook by the collar, knocking Claude back as he dragged him towards the edge of the roof.

“Are you looking to have an accident?” shouted Alon, shaking Brook as his face burned bright red.

“But of course you’d try and take over—” said Brook, grabbing onto Alon by the sides of his bedraggled woollen sweater. “—it’s not as if you could ever impress him. You’re uesless; You’re the reason half his men got killed...”

“What’s going on over there?” shouted Casian, now alerted to the trouble brewing behind him. “Alon, stop!”

Mythel sprinted up to the pair and began slamming her fist into Alon’s back, trying pulling Brook by his shirt between every blow.

“Let go of him you bastard!” screamed Mythel, huffing and puffing as she grappled with Alon to let Brook free.

“I’ll let him go, OK? Just step back and give me a second, by the Three..." said Alon, shaking his head.

Mythel got a few more thumps in before collecting herself and stepping back, with her eyes locked with Brook’s as she did.

Alon threw Brook back onto the roof with a scowl, much to the delight of Mythel and Casian. Brook pulled down at the bottom of his shirt and brushed it and his shoulder cape down for dust. Brook gave Mythel a quick peck on the lips before turning towards Alon with his signature shit-eating grin.

“Thanks, friend. Glad you saw sense for once.”

“Fuck off, next time you start shit there won’t be anyone who can stop me from letting you hit the stone,” said Alon, trying to make his promise as clear as possible.

Brook scoffed. As they walked past them towards Casian and Kogan, he interlocked his arm with Mythel's—who had still kept her scowl for Alon ever since the argument first began.

Claude walked up to Alon and placed his arm over his shoulder.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I am... Brook just knows how to get the worst out of me; It’s nothing, really.”

“I don’t even know why Casian let him into the Gang in the first place, he'd never usually let anyone like that join us.”

Alon cocked his head to the side with a frown as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Probably because Casian needed her," said Alon, nodding at Mythel—who had her head resting on Brook's shoulder as the pair walked along the rooftop together.

“Makes sense.” Claude took his arm from Alon’s shoulder and began walking alongside him.

***

“So, Casian... When are you telling me about the purpose for you wanting this Hunter Manor so badly?” asked Kogan, who had walked alongside Casian since they left his hideout.

“You didn’t have to come.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I know.”

“I didn’t have to let you live, yet here your stubborn ass still stands—in a position where you're still able to not answer my question. There’s a slight imbalance here in our relationship, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Why do you even care in the first place?”

Kogan shook his head in confusion.

“You’re willingly going to a Hunter Manor, are you kidding me?”

Casian—his hands in his pockets—looked down at the floor with a frown.

“The way I see this, is that you’d only be going here if you either desperately had to—or you had something big planned. Either way, it’s something I want to be a part of; Something important to the Great Casian—master thief of the Lower Tier—is something I am most definitely interested in.”

Casian raised his eyes up to glance at Kogan, raising his head only enough to see him.

“Careful, O’ great King of the Lower Tier; It sounds like you might actually respect someone other than yourself.”

“Careful Casian.”

“Fine.” Casian puffed his chest as he inhaled, stretching his arms out wide and looking around at the surrounding rooftops as he exhaled. “These Hunter Manors are rumoured to contain the sole entrances to the Upper Tier after the Old Entrances were sealed during the Quarantine.”

Kogan laughed.

“You want to go into the Upper Tier? Whatever the reason for?”

“Don’t you?”

“Of course—Who doesn’t? That’s beside the point, though; Wanting and doing are two entirely different things, and possessing one doesn’t give you the right to the other.”

“Depends on how badly you want it.”

“Depends on how little you care for your life, you meant to say?”

“How badly do you want it, Kogan?” said Casian, scanning him up and down.

“Not as much as you, that’s for sure...”

“You’re King of the Lower Tier, are you not? Have you never dreamed of being King of the entirety of Krestelen?”

Kogan paused his saunter towards their destination and looked at Casian, his eyes focusing on the ground as he contemplated the options laid before him.

“Always.”

“A good King does what’s best for his people, does he not? What of all those families you have tucked away living in all those tunnels you've dug underneath that bathhouse of yours? Don't you want what's best for them?”

“How did you even know about that?” asked Kogan, the bewilderment not even coming as a surprise to him anymore.

“You don't give me enough credit... Besides, I'm telling you that getting everyone all up there is what’s best for us: Believe me.” “We’ve done alright so far to make the best of this mess we’re stuck in, have we not?”

Casian scoffed at the mere notion.

“Just look at us two, Kogan; We’ve been fighting for the past month or so over a few scraps of food. Winter is near upon us, and there’s barely even enough food within the entirety of this tier to get us all past next week. We need to take the Upper Tier.”

Kogan nodded slowly, fully weighing the pros and cons of what he had just done.

“I’m with you, then. Take the Upper Tier for me, and I shall lead us into a new tomorrow. With you at my side, we shall crush those before us.”

“Whatever you wish.” said Casian.

Casian began walking towards the Manor again, turning away from Kogan to queitly focus on the task ahead. Kogan grabbed Casian by the forearm, stopping him in his tracks.

“One last thing...”

Casian bowed his head slightly, smiling respectfully as he did.

“How did you even come to learn of this Manor? I was the only person alive who had known about it, there was no way you could’ve known...”

Casian’s smile faded, replaced with a snarl.

“Come, let’s just get to this Manor before the sun rises."