"Subject E-73, I've come to take you back."

Emil stared at the girl. She didn't seem to be much older than his cousins, her shoulder-lenght hair red as autumn leaves. She held her head high and looked at him like... Emil wasn't sure. Like he was beneath her? His hand fell to his side and he looked at the destruction behind the girl, started moving towards it. The large man that had accompanied the girl was suddenly in his way.

"Move it, they might be hurt!"

The man's fist hit him in the stomach and he took air, landed back in the broken building, tried to regain his breath. There wasn't enough time, the man was over him again, striking down against his ribs faster than Emil could react. His ribs broke, one of them cut through his lung and the girl called the man back. Emil coughed blood, but pulled himself to his feet again. He tried to talk, but was unable to. His body started trembling again and he fell to his knees, screamed as the bones realigned again. The trembling subsided and he got up, spit some blood to the ground.

"Are you crazy? We need to see if there's any survivors!"

The man was behind him. Emil swirled around, his left arm pulsating, growing. He caught the man's leg and threw him over his shoulder, into the only wall that was still standing. The wall fell over the man.

"Ah... AH, I'M SO SORRY!"

His arm regained its normal shape and he rushed to the wall, started pulling bricks and wood from the pile. A strong hand wrapped itself around his arm and once again he flew, landed with his back against a tree, upside down. He slid down the tree, hit his head on a rock and fell onto his stomach. He groaned, rolled over. The man was already there, grabbed his collar and pulled him up. The girl giggled.

"Great Ryavan! Will you follow along, subject E-73, or do we need to force you?"

"I don't know who you are", Emil tried to pull away from the man, but was unsuccessful, "but you seem to have mixed me up with someone else! I'm not a subject!"

"But you are", the girl said. "You're not much different than Ryavan here."

"Look, I don't know who you are and what you're doing all the way out here, but you need to let me go so I can look for survivors from the crash!"

The girl came up to them. She looked extraordinary short beside the man, and Emil kicked again, tried to break free from the man's grip to get down on eye-level with the girl. He would make her see reason. The girl looked at him, smiling.

"It's so fascinating, Ryavan, isn't it? Just look at it, you wouldn't think there was anything odd about it at all if you met it in the streets."

Ryavan nodded. Emil's arm pulsated again, grew, and he struck down on Ryavan's arm, made the taller man release him. He ducked, tried to rush past the man, his transformed arm grabbing something from the ground as he moved. Ryavan didn't move, and then he was suddenly infront of Emil again, lifted the Swede from the ground. Emil felt his arm transforming, felt whatever he had picked up get sucked into his arm. His eyes widened when he understood what was going on and he tried to break free, try to hold his arm back, but it was stronger.

A hole opened up right above his wrist and a loud bang echoed over the area. Ryavan flew backwards, as did Emil. The girl's smile faded as the two men flew, and she turned around in horror when they were halfway through the air. As Emil hit the ground she had started running after Ryavan and Emil looked at the man, looked at the hole in his chest. He could see wires sticking out, pieces of jagged steel. As he got up the girl had reached Ryavan's side, her hands pulling at him, examining him. Emil wavered a little, dizzy from hitting the ground, and slowly walked towards the girl and Ryavan.

Emil stumbled, got up, and then fell over again. He could see the girl shaking her head, her red hair dancing over her shoulders, her fingers pulling at the wires in Ryavan's chest.

"You're going to be fine..."

Emil could hardly make her voice out, but it sounded different than before, sounded more human, more fragile, and he forced himself up again, walked past the girl and the man. He had to look for survivors from the crash. He pulled off his belt with explosives, dropped them next to the man, and started running towards the fire.

"Is there anybody there?!"

No answer. The flames reached high, but Emil tried to get closer, was pushed back by the heat. He strained his eyes trying to spot anyone in the wreckage, but nothing.

"Can you hear me?!"

"Ryavan..."

The girl's voice. Emil turned around, looked at her. Her eyes were tearing up, she fell to her knees and leaned towards Ryavan. The man didn't move, and Emil slowly walked towards them. The girl's shoulders were shaking and he knelt down beside her, put a hand on her shoulder and she flinched, took hold of his explosives and pulled away from him.

"NO!" she shrieked, her voice high. "This is your fault! If you had just come along quietly he wouldn't have had to die!"

Her hand shivered near one of the grenades, and Emil stayed still, swallowed.

"I... I didn't mean to..."

"No! I don't want to hear it!"

Emil looked at the man, slowly raised his hand to close the man's eyes. The girl looked at him, her hand still close to the grenade.

"Perhaps... Perhaps giving him a proper burial will give you a sense of closure. How does that sound?"

Her hand rested on the grenade and she shook her head violently.

"No, I want him to live! I need him to live!"

"I'm sorry, I can't fix him, I'm not a doctor..."

"He doesn't need a doctor, he needs me! And my lab! And I... I..."

Her eyes fell on the burning helicopter, new tears running down her cheeks. She pulled out the grenade, lifted it.

"I can't get there because of you!"

She brought her arm further back, her body shook and then she fell to her knees. Emil got up, rushed towards her. Took the grenade from her and pulled her into a hug. She grabbed onto his shirt, buried her head into his shoulder and he carefully put the grenade down, gently caressed her back. After a while she pulled away, looked away from him. Emil grabbed a plank, started digging in the near frozen ground. Splinters got stuck in his fingers, his arms hurt from the exercise, but he didn't stop until the hole was deep enough. The girl turned back when he started moving Ryavan's body and she looked at him, her eyes tearing up again.

Emil continued working with the body, tried to get it down into the hole, and then he felt her at his side, helping him even though her tiny body couldn't do much. They gently lowered the body into the hole, Emil crossed the man's arms over his chest before climbing back up. He stood quietly by the grave, the girl shaking beside him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know him... Would you like to say something?"

She fell to her knees, grabbed a handfull of dirt.

"Ryavan... I'm sorry it had to come to this."

She dried her eyes, dropped the dirt into the grave, then got up again, walked away. Emil looked after her, dried his own tears.

"I'm sorry, Ryavan. I didn't mean to kill you..."

He started filling the grave. The work held him warm, but night was falling and he needed to find someplace safe for himself and the girl, if she allowed him to. When the grave was filled up again he knelt next to it.

"I'll keep her safe for you, even if it kills me."

He got up, went to the girl's side. She didn't move to acknowledge him, but Emil was certain she felt his presence.

"My name is Græn."

She pulled her fingers through her hair, and Emil looked at her, looked at the destroyed building infront of him.

"I'm Emil, Emil Västerström. I wish we would have met under different circumstances."

"No, you don't."

She started walking. Emil looked after her, hurried his steps to catch up with her. They walked in silence, neither knowing where they should go.

"Am I your captive now, E-73?"

"I think I'd prefer if you were my friend. But you have to stop calling me E-73. I told you, my name is Emil."

"Ryavan was my only friend..."

"It doesn't have to be that way."

They continued in silence for about 10 minutes, then the girl stopped, her eyes on Emil.

"I don't know how friends work."

"Well, to start with, they call each other by their names."

"I've always known you as Subject E-73. One of the E-series. Most of those have died now."

"I'm going to want to know more about that later, but for now..." Emil held his hand out to the girl. "My name is Emil Västerström, 19 years old, part of the Swedish Cleansers and currently stuck in the Silent World together with... well, with you, Græn. And my current plan of action, if you want to follow along, is to find the rest of my team."

"Your team?"

Emil didn't pull his hand back, still waited for the girl to take it, and nodded.

"You didn't think I was out here all alone, did you? We got seperated by mistake, but we were heading towards Odense, so they should be there."

The girl looked at his hand, in his eyes and then at his hand again. Slowly she lifted her own and grabbed it. Her grip was firm.

"Emil Västerström, I am glad to meet you. My name is Græn, and I will be... delighted to accompany you through the Silent World."