That night was the first one planned to have been spent in the van. The band settled down early as Levi and Petra decided to take a small walk around the tube station's overnight parking lot.

"So, the police are after us." Levi said.

"And the experimenters." Petra replied.

"They're scarier."

"Yes, there's no death penalty as far as I'm aware."

"True."

"I wonder were dad is."

"He's the only person we might be able to trust."

"All the more reason."

"One good thing about this world though…"

"Yeah?"

"I get you." Petra kissed Levi on his cheek as they headed towards the van. In the van, conveniently, the only space available required Levi to be on top of Petra. Neither really objected to the forced intimacy.

The Borehamwood police blotter picked up the crime very quickly. Their server was empty as the bucolic town was usually crime free.

The police arrived at the café a crisp, approvable thirty seconds later.

They learned quickly that the suspects had left and thus, they filed the relevant location report. The boss was thanked and that was that.

The police now knew that the two were near New Borehamwood. From the café boss, two more vital things were learned: their names and that both were in possession of bank cards.

"Our man in the police says they're near new London." Zackly told Reiss over the phone.

"I have heard."

"We will try our utmost to reach them before the police do."

"Of course."

"Is there anything else?"

"Focus on them."

"Alright, I will not fail you."

"Proof would be nicer." Reiss hung up, leaving Zackly in a glowering umbrage. They had to beat the police – not too difficult a process, as long as the police did not demand more falsified evidence – the fake video was taxing enough already.

That morning was different at the hotel Erwin and Peter resided in. They saw the news and knew that Reebs had died by merely scanning the headline. It was on the tube to New London when an update came out, that the two learned the full story.

"She has her eyes." Peter summarized his gain of knowledge.

"They're in New London." Erwin added.

"We can save her."

"Everybody is after them."

"But we can save them."

"How?"

Peter stopped in his tracks. "We find them."

"How?"

"We use the police. To earn anything, they'll have to earn minimum wage. This means that they would encash their salary soon. But their cards will have been frozen."

"And they would not know that."

"Unfortunately."

"But that does mean that if they're not arrested tonight, they have some other means of survival."

"And in the city, those would be…"

"Illicit work."

"Like?"

"Need I enumerate?"

"Don't make my imagination do that."

"In either case, if it's an untaxable card exchanger, the police can't find them."

"But she has a HSBC card."

"How do you know?"

"She opened it last evening and it came to me just to let me know."

"Actually, why does card type matter?"

"HSBC won't add it to the account."

"Therefore, they would not be able to pay for anything."

"Yes."

"Shit."

"On to finding them before Reiss does…"

"The suspects were working at a small café in New Borehamwood before leaving abruptly. The police were notified by the owner as soon as the owner noticed. Their whereabouts are unknown though most sources believe that they are in New London." Erwin read.

"Does not help."

"I know."

"We could search the city centre. Anywhere where untaxed pay is popular and seventeen year olds are allowed is a good bet."

"I agree."

That night, Petra woke up to the electrodes once more. "Fuck you." She said in a disbelieving gasp. "Fuck you."

"Yes. That means you are stuck here now." Reebs said.

"Where is Levi?"

Reebs laughed. "Levi?" Petra nodded. "Levi's a figment of your imagination!"

"No!"

"Really, you're going to argue with me?"

"Yes, because unless you convince me that this is a dream, I will know that whatever I fall asleep to is not real."

"So?"

"That will ruin your experiment."

"But it's the only way you get Levi and your dad."

"Levi's not real."

"But we can make him, can't we?"

"None of that. I'll live without him. Just tell me what you want."

"Really? You in agony."

"Why?" Petra shrieked.

"It's fun to watch."

"Don't you have a soul?"

"Nope."

"A conscience?"

"None."

"Can't I-" Petra paused. "This is a dream." She said with a victorious air.

"And so you are convinced, and the experiment may resume." Petra heard a hiss as white smoke emerged from a vent in the ceiling. Her eyelids grew heavy. Soon, the experiment did resume.

Petra would have woken up screaming but was too familiar with that desire to let it be expressed. She kissed Levi's sleeping head in hopes of some reassurance. She knew he could be some apparition.

"Why is your heartrate so high?" She heard a whisper from her chest.

"Levi?"

"Who else?"

"I just had a nightmare, I think."

"You think?"

"I was like the recurrence."

"Shit."

"Except that you weren't real according to the adult."

"And this is an experiment?"

"Yeah."

"Feasible, I'll give it that."

"But how do I know what's real?"

"I'd live as if everything in the moment were real."

"And you'd love if I did that too." Petra said suspiciously.

"You don't trust me?"

"I don't know what to do Levi."

"I doubt I can help you."

"Give me a reason to live as if this was real."

"You won't regret anything."

"That I can buy."

"Then you have it."

"But what if they use this to know what I would do?"

"Then why would I be here?"

"To know my deepest secrets or something like that."

"I doubt that would happen."

"I don't know Levi. I don't know what to trust and I really want to trust you and it hurts that I have a reason not to."

"You'll have to come to terms with whatever you chose."

"What would you do?"

"Ask you the same."

"And proceed as I have been?"

"I think so."

"We're too alike."

"There's no such thing."

"Then answer me."

"I'd trust you by now. I think I'd give up on trying not to."

"Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds."

"O, it is an ever-fixed mark."

"Etcetera."

"Good night."

"Night."

Erwin and Peter exhausted much of West New London by the time the day was coming to an end. They agreed to stay away from the house they had begun to share and made arrangements under another pseudonym.

"It's hard." Peter said.

"For her sake, let's not give up hope."

"She really does have Mary's eyes."

"Did you never get to grieve?"

"More or less."

"That explains it."

"It had better, otherwise I'd deserve to be in the asylum."

"You don't think she did it, do you?"

"Neither her nor the boy. But we do know that they have successfully escaped."

"How are you so sure?"

"They wouldn't draw police attention in any other case."

"Fair enough."

"So, tomorrow we split up the East, right?"

"Sure. I'll call you if I find them, I don't want to make contact."

"Of course – they would not know you."

"There we have it."

"See you tomorrow."

The night was not nice for Zackly either – he had had no luck in finding the couple anywhere on company surveillance and none of the scouts he posted about the town ever saw either. He was willing to consider that the two were disguised at this point.

He did his own surveillance, but also found no leads. He hoped to offer a few lower-class people a cash reward for information, but failed due to time constraints. He knew he would have offered more than the police, but that would have to wait a night thanks to the CCTV footage he and a few team members had had to scrub. Facial recognition was nice, but Reiss demanded more security and that took much more time.

The couple were being chased by two enemies and a pair of allies. They did not know the magnitude of the hunt that was on. The only people fully aware of the entire hunting and helping packs were Zackly, Reiss, Peter and Erwin. The police only knew about the couple and the couple did not know about Peter and Erwin.