The night almost falls and Stan goes to the settlement amazed by how fast the drones construct the buildings and he search for Jorogumo, finding her with other like Mason, Kalevi, and the old man and walking behind her.
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Saying with almost a silent voice "Jorogumo I'm here"
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"excellent"
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she handed him a gun and says to everyone "you will guard the north perimeter from the start of the night until my soldier's come and give you permission to leave"
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the other say nothing and starts walking, before leaving she calls Stan and she says "tomorrow morning, I will come to find you to fix the machine, are you comfortable with this decision?"
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"yes"
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"great, now go to your post and be careful"
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he turns away and as he walks Jorogumo speak to him "Stan are you feeling well? You seem tired"
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Stan continues walking and wave his hand at her "I'm really well, just a bit bored"
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he reaches the others and sits together, waiting for the night to fall.
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Mason sits opposite from Stan and start chatting, with two soldiers speaking to each other as they watch the woods and the old man and Kalevi sitting silent, as the time pass and Stan and Mason continue to speak a soldier says "a girl is going inside the woods, let's go bring her out"
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Stan turns seeing a figure with blue eyes and dark long hair, he gets up and says "I know her, I will go inform her to come back"
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"alright, just come back fast, we don't know if there is anything out there"
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Stan leaves, following her inside the woods , following her steps in the dirt, he follows it until he saw Aphrodite curl on the ground and crying, holding her clothes tight ready to torn them, Stan runs and falls to his knee "Aphrodite what happened? Why are you crying?"
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she looked at him with more tears falling and watch her arms holding a small pack, he goes to grab it but she pulls it to her back,
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Stan left to wonder and says with an aggressive tone "give it to me" he grabs the packet and reads it "self abortion pill" Stan throws it down with force and goes in front of Aphrodite grabbing her shoulders and asking with an aggressive and low voice 'why you did that?" Aphrodite doesn't respond and just continue to shed tears and curling even more.
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Stan takes back the pack and reads the instructions "use the pill in a safe place and comfortable place, in the next ten minutes after the use of the pill you will feel intense stomach pain and intense bleeding, after the ten minutes the pain will be gone and you will have abort successfully with slight bleeding"
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Stan then sits beside her and hugs her.
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With Aphrodite biting her lips intense enough for her teeth to become red
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and placing her nails deep inside Stan and in turn grabbing a tree vein, Stan waits with patience until her pain is gone and when it finally goes away she look at her and says "why?"
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Aphrodite doesn't dare to look at his gaze and says "I cannot tell you"
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his heart starts beating faster, he slowly exhales from his nose and says "you said you wanted to help me, and I let you, but I cannot stare like this when a person who cares about me is in pain, please tell me"
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she finally manages to meet his eyes and says "do you remember that I told you that I earn money from singing?"
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"yes"
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her eyes start glistening and start sobbing "well there is another way of making money, selling your body"
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Stan's eyes wide open and his heart skip a beat
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"why are you doing this?"
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her tears start dropping and her voice changing "I cannot do otherwise, my parents have a neuron disease, they can't talk, they cannot eat and the money to make the surgery is too much"
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Stan left speechless and just slowly and gentle goes to hug her, with her falling into his arms with great speed "I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to kill it"
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Stan's mouth is left open for a while, ready to speak before Aphrodite interrupts him
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"I can't feel like myself anymore, I sold my body and I killed a baby that didn't even see the light of the sun"
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"but remember that because of you your parents will live, you are the reason you will see them smile again"
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"you are right but again, I cannot forgive what I've done" suddenly they hear footsteps and their hearts skip a breath, they quickly get up and Aphrodite hides behind a tree trying to hold her tears and sobbings and Stan goes forward and speaking with Mason, Kalevi and a soldier "do not worry everything is alright"
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the soldier responds with his deep voice "have you met with any creature? Are you alright?"
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"I'm alright, I just couldn't find Aphrodite for a moment that's all"
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"aphrodite?"
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"I mean the girl that went here"
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"oh, did you inform her to go back to the settlement?"
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"yes I did, she is already there"
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"Good now let us go back"
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on their way Mason talked to Stan some meters behind Kalevi and the soldier.
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He looked at Stan with a smile
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"so how was your time with her?"
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"we just talked nothing more"
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"is everything okay? You seem a bit sad"
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Stan raise his voice for a while "oh I'm fine, don't worry about me"
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they both say nothing and continue.
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At one point mason sigh and says "Stan I want to say sorry for back then"
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"what do you mean?"
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"that I stayed with the venurans back there"
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he wave his hand left and right "oh I'm totally fine with this"
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"if you say so"
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he make a big pause and continues "it's just that, I wanted some time to forget"
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Stan turns immediatly "forget what?"
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"I mean every time we are together I just have images in my mind with us and Alina, I just cannot forget the times we were together even if they were few"
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Stan's heart starts beating fast and sensing shivers to his spine, Mason look at Stans's hands clutching
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"at least she died as she wished, protecting those who need it"
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Stan's heart goes back to normal and says "yeah, you are right"
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they reach the settlement and sit down, with Stan tilting his head down and thinking, abruptly a plate with food comes to his view, he looks up seeing Kalevi offering it, he smiled at him and takes it "thank you"
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after eating it jorogumo with her soldiers come to them saying "thanks for your contribution, you can now go home and rest"
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everyone got up and said "goodnight"
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Mason and Stan go to their house and open the door.
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Seeing Aphrodite sleeping and facing the wall. Mason whispers "lucky man, she really likes you"
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He falls asleep and Stan goes too, grabbing Aphrodite and feeling tears coming from her, he hugs her even tighter and she does the same holding his hands.
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She falls asleep and Stan follows,
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Stan wakes up and sees Aphrodite missing, he turn seeing Mason still sleeping and he swiftly gets up, going outside and watching the sun halfway up, his heart skips a beat and then he does his routine and runs to the barracks with the soldiers waiting for him, he stops right in front of them breathing heavy and one of them says with a deep voice "come on walk, we will not wait, we have other duties to attend"
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he inhales deep and start walking with the soldiers, reaching the edge of the mountain and there he meets Jorogumo and says "I'm sorry I made you wait so much"
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"Luckily for you I have enough free time today to wait for you , but the next time be more responsible"
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Stan goes immediately to the machine and starts fixing it.
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By the time the sun was above them he finished, Jorogumo say "good work Stan, now you can go"
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Stan left with quick steps and goes to the settlement, watching Aphrodite smiling bright as she sings to the people.
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He waits for her to end and when she does he goes close to her saying with his eyebrows pulled "are you felling well?"
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"yeah, why do you ask?" Stan looks around seeing if anyone can hear them and then says "you don't need to hide it from me" Aphrodites smile fad away and says "I'm sorry, it's just that I never told anyone about all of this, and I'm used to hiding my feelings"
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"
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"I know, and thank you for all of this" she smile at him and their conversation gets interrupted by Jorogumo, she says everyone to gather around her and says "as it seems ae have enough food for ten more suns, but the food is not growing fast enough up here and until the USS arrive we need more, that's why I want volunteers to join today me and my soldiers on the hunt, to ensure that we will not starve until aid comes" people faces make no disagreement and many like Stab going closer, with the soldiers giving them equipment and guns, boarding the vehicles and leaving from a smooth road and going down to the outskirts of the thick, red and green jungle.
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Jorogumo inform them, saying "I'm reminding you to stay with your team and come back before dawn"
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the volunteers and the soldiers then scatter around and Stan get accompanied by Mason, Kalevi,, and two other soldiers.
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As they move forward they see red round slugs up in the branches, looking at them with their small eyes and showing their teeth on their tentacles, one of the soldiers starts breathing heavy and the other says "Aramis focus, we have people to protect here"
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"you are right, sorry Efiene" her breath goes back to normal and they start moving swiftly.
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They reach a place with the trees having massive holes underneath them , Efieme says "watch out the holes for any creature" Kalevi and Mason target the holes and they start moving even faster, they then reach a place with grey trees and thick veins sticking out of them, going inside the nearby trees through a hole or by going underneath, cutting a piece of them and leaving it, eating enough nutrients for the tree to live and the veins to grow and spread, Aramis spots a small animal, with big ears and a thin green fur biting the trees and taking the wood, crafting with his teeth small weapons.
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Aramis makes a sign with her hand for the other to surround it, and when they did they wait for a clear sight, with Kalevi firing first and hitting it to its chest, Efiene gets close and grabs it, saying "nice shot young man" she looks at it a bit more and says "let's go back, we don't have more time for hunting" as they start walking the creature starts having spasms, Efiene drops it and the creature swiftly climb Efienes leg, biting it and cracking her bone, Aramis draws her gun and shots the creature at its legs, ripping them and falling back.
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Aramis runs, catching Efiene before falling and Efiene saying with a smirk "I never thought you will save me sister" Aramis respond with a laugh and says "let's get you back to" as they step another foot the veins start stretching and connecting with each other, making a thick wall.
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The creature starts spasming again and Efiene whispers to Aramis's ear "it seems I have to save you again"
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Efiene jumps with her one leg and with her knife start cutting the veins with them regenerating fast, Efiene screams "run" Stan, Mason , Kalevi, and Arami start passing, with Efiene cutting then faster and harder for them to pass.
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Aramis takes her knife to her hands and start cutting "come, sister"
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Efiene jumps to pass but the veins have surround her leg, pulling her and falling to the ground, grabbing her body and pushing her from getting up
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Aramis says loud "you three start shooting" they shoot the veins with no effect, having only one magazine of bullets left.
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The creature starts crawling with its arms, with veins coming from its legs, supporting it, Efiene screams "Aramis take the others and leave"
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"no I won't leave you here"
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"sister someone must go to take care of mother" Aramis's eyes wide open and she continue cutting them as the creature gets closer, Efiene draws her gaze on Stan and says "please take her from here"
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Stan takes his eyes from her and nod his head.
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he and Mason grabbing her and pulling her away as she screams "leave me save my sister" they pull her further as for the final time she watch the smile of her sister, and after a brief moment they hear a long scream stretching for many minutes, Stan and Mason eyes wide open and feel shivers in their spine, holding Aramis harder as she scream and fight and Kalevi looking at them with a straight face.
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After a while the scream stops and Aramis stops resisting, Mason and Stan take their hands away and she falls to her knees whispering "why, why her?" Kalevi respond to her "this is life, it doesn't matter what good or bad deeds someone does, they will die for no reason" Aramis hold her tears and stayed with her mouth shut.
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Abruptly a dark cloud begins rising beside the canopies, all except Aramis look at it and Stan says "it's from the place we were, maybe someone is there" Kalevi says "I'm going to check it" "don't you need someone to help you if anything happens?" "I do not need help" Kalevi leaves and Stan and mason turn their gaze to Aramis.
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Her body shaking and putting her hands on the chest, curling down and murmuring "is it because of what we did in the war?" Mason asks her "what do mean by that Aramis?" She ignores him and continues "if your souls can hear me I'm sorry, I didn't want to do it, I didn't had a choice, leave me, I cannot anymore, I cannot hear your screams anymore" Mason kneels beside her and touch her back.
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She quickly gets up and looks at him, Mason tells her "there is no one screaming here, you are safe" "I cannot hear you, they won't leave me, the children are watching us, they want me and my sister to suffer before they can rest" Mason grabs her and shake her "come on put yourself together" Aramis goes to draw her gun and Mason quickly stops her, Stan runs and help Mason.
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Aramis fights them, hitting them with her legs, hitting Mason many times, almost feeling his bones are ready to crack but he still hold her "leave me to die, I deserve it" abruptly Kalevi comes back, watching them, Stan shouts "Kalevi please help us, Aramis try to suicide" Kalevi look at them for a bit longer and exhales, he open Aramis jaw and takes some pills from his pocket and gives it to her and after ten minutes she closed her eyes and fall asleep.
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Mason then leaves a small and short scream and Stan asks him "you have survived worse" Mason smile and says "like when we were outside and three guys attacked us?" Stan smirk "yes" "have you forget that I fell down with the first five punches,it was you and Alina who beated the shit out of them, especially you" Stan's heart skips a beat and Kalevi interrupts them and says "we have to go back, the sunset is close" Stan help Mason get up and takes Aramis with Kalevis help.
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As they walk Stan asks Kalevi "did you see anyone back there?" "No, when I reached the source of fire it was already extinguished, it burned the trees and the veins and the soldier's body, the only strange thing was a figure inside the trees, almost in our height and looking identical to us" "we have seen them again in the forest we hunt, do you think they follow us?" Kalevi look and him and Mason and says "no, they would not come this far for a prey" Mason stare Aramis and says "what kind of pills did you gave her?" "They help me in my sleep, nothing harmful" they all left silent and reach Jorogumo and the others.
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Jorogumo walk with quick steps towards them and takes Aramis into her hands "what happened to her? And where is Efiene?" Kalevi talks first with no kind of pain or affection in his words "Efiene died by some sentient veins and I knocked Aramis because she tried to suicide" jorogumo stay with the same unemotional face and respond "I will take care of her" Stan and Mason look at her intensely and Jorogumo asks "Stan when you can come to the barracks, I want to say some things to you" Stan nod his head as he look at her with the same way and they go to the vehicles, with two third of the people made it back ,some of them coughing, all of them having their heads down and the jupitarians, laying their bodies on the seats and laughing.
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