The party of survivors pressed into each other in the same tremble. Their hands adjoined in shared consuming terror. All their sights set on the hugest battalion of tripods any of them had ever seen. They kept in a fissure of Earth, down the main drag through Lenox. They were relieved to finally make it to Massachusetts without threat, only for the worst intrusion. With no time to run or hide, Webb assembled everyone in a fissure in cement and earth left from a tripod emergence. Waiting for the convoy of titan machines to pass through. They walked just over their heads, throwing the ground like a plaything. All the refugees could do now was bare down and grit through. Pray to a higher power one of their search lights wouldn't graze over the crack under their feet.

The mass of their footsteps and whirring of multiple ungodly engines made it impossible for Shiva to concentrate. She tried endlessly, only to lose the grip of the mirage when her body would jolt. Their only hope was invisibility and silence. The favour of the pouring rain giving them the shroud to not be seen. Riley felt as if they were soldiers in the trenches hiding from enemy fire. The worst knowing was if they were caught - there was no escape. He kept a hold of Robbie's shoulder, keeping him hunched lower than he was. All Robbie could see out the fissure were their gigantic heights lighting the low clouds. Scarlet huddled to the ground as much she could with Jack cocooned in her arms. He was crying, but she was trying so diligently to shroud it. Webb and the soldiers surrounded the civilians. If they were caught, they would leap out first – sacrificing themselves in a last effort to trick the tripods in thinking there was no one else but them. Lilja cowered under Shiva's arm, even she was awe-stricken in terror. Unable to move or breathe at the hoard of the tripods just overhead. Every now and again a few would pass just over top. Crumbling the fissure a little more with their feet that blackened the entire hole.

Then something fell from the skies, walloping into the crack with them. Half of it hit the road, while the rest hung into the crevice just over a few soldier and refugees. The soldiers pressed their hands into the refugee's mouths to keep the screams as muffled as possible. Especially when it was clear the thing wasn't a thing at all. It was a grown man - deceased - face first and gaunt lifelessness wide eyed right before them. Their party shivered at the sight of it - unable to comprehend where he came from.

Accompanied with the jarring stomp and metal of tripod movement and heavy rain, were occasional slaps of pavement. It hit the rooftops, hoods of vehicles, and just before their crevice. Just when they thought their plight wasn't horrifying enough, they slowly started to understand it was falling bodies. Falling from the tripods, themselves. Raining over them like a taunt. Many of the refugees closed their eyes and sobbed quietly, and soldiers could only watch in despair. Riley wanted to turn Robbie away, but the boy's rage was beyond consoling. His teeth were clenched to the opening of the crevice taking the full view of the tripods. Every now and again, a small shadow would be ejected from the head, falling away like trash out a speeding vehicle. Then the snap of bone and flesh hitting a 100 foot drop.

They marched as if this plane of the universe was now their empire. Coveting the Earth like pillagers. The harrowing terror of humans just underneath their feet as they hailed celebrations above. Reaping the gifts of nature that humanity's societies thought were their birthright. Only to have it jealously stolen within just a couple days. What felt like hours were minutes. By the time the tripods eventually passed, many questioned if they were still alive. It was a shuddering concept to not feel safe in their own world. To the point it didn't feel like their world anymore. It was theirs, and theirs only.

Webb and Riley gave the first check. When Lilja deemed the hoard had passed in its entirety, they pressed on through Lenox. They had left Stuyvesant early that morning. They couldn't be certain, but it was definitely after midnight. Initially the plan was to cut through the night until they reached Chester. But given the brutal realization of danger with the tripod battalion, Webb deemed to find a place to rest for the night.

They were swift in the decision to not rest in town, knowing the possibility of tripod traffic was more likely through former communities. They searched for somewhere to shelter out of town. Riley took that time to check on Robbie. He was walking slower, even with the pain relief for his foot. Riley could see it wasn't from the pain. Robbie had been catatonic and avoidant since he met him. Typical for a kid who saw a lot of trauma, but something was rotting in his brain. A fear greater than tripod threat or any horror he had seen.

"Hey, kiddo." Once again, Robbie did not respond. "How you doing?"

Robbie was shuffling ahead in heavy breath. He did manage a 'fine' through his breath, but not loud enough Riley heard it.

"There's something keeping you from talking. I can understand the comfort in not talking. It feels safe." Riley muttered quietly from the others, only loud enough for Robbie to hear. Even so, he didn't speak. He was alone in an apocalyptic world. Considering where he found him, a teenager alone in a world like this meant one thing.

"Did you…" Riley asked gingerly, "Did you lose someone?"

Still nothing back, but definitely a feeling he was reaching sensitive territory. Riley continued the only way he could relate. In the only way he could understand. He couldn't begin to imagine what Robbie's toil was, but he'd at least try. "I haven't lost anyone from these things. I… didn't exactly have anyone to begin with. But I have had people. Before all of this started. I lost my brother in the Second Tower. We lost our parents when we were pretty young, grew up in the system. All we really had was each other. I can't begin to understand what you've gone through and what you've lost. I just want you to know if you need someone to talk to, kid. You don't have to suffer with the loss alone if you don't want…"

Then Robbie's voice cracked with a flat but annoyed reply, "I didn't lose anybody."

Riley startled to the reply. It was a genuine reply. Not a dazed response or empty acknowledgment. Even with a dose of teenage attitude. He was content to finally get something out of him. "No?" Riley asked, "Sorry. You just seem like you've seen some shit. We all have… but…"

"I got separated from my family…" Robbie confessed, "… and I don't know if they're alive. I'm starting to think they're not. I don't know how they could be."

"What do you mean 'separated', like you guys got torn from each other in a crowd or you got lost and couldn't find them?"

"I didn't get lost. You call me a kid, but I'm not a dipshit." Robbie grumbled back, leaving Riley in silence before stating sullenly, "Maybe I am. I don't know."

"What happened?"

Robbie was fighting with his stubbornness. Because opening up about them was the first time in days he felt close to them again. Pushing the thoughts back and keeping their names in his head was only confirming his worst fear. "My mom's in Boston but… I was with my dad and little sister trying to get there before I…"

"Before what?"

"Before I had to leave them." Robbie's voice crumbled to say it. "I couldn't hide anymore. There was this fight on a hill a few days ago. It was the first time I saw us actually fighting back. I saw what they've done and I was so angry. Just felt like everyone was running and hiding, no one was standing up and trying to get back at them. My dad wanted to keep hiding. And I get it, he needed to keep Rachel safe. But he didn't have to look out for me. I was just dead weight. I was useless and I wanted to do something."

"So…" Riley was bewildered. He wanted to be sympathetic. But the reckless endangerment of a young life was something he couldn't offer a sugar-coated response. "You wanted to fight the tripods… on your own? You and all your three chest hairs ran into a battlefield engaged in heavy fire because you figured you had what it took to… to what exactly?"

"Whatever, man," sighed Robbie with angst. "You and my dad would get along."

"I'm sure we would. Take turns beating your ass, too. You do realize there was nothing you could have possibly done but hide, right? Like you're not a psychopath."

"I know that." Robbie snipped back, "Yeah, I was probably gonna die. So what? I'd rather die fighting than hiding away just waiting for it to happen. Having to watch my sister and my dad die with me. When that thing picked me up, I was hoping it would just get it over with, but it threw me in a cage, instead."

Riley glowered, "So you're suicidal?"

"Who wouldn't be?" Robbie slowed his pace to look at Riley with anger, "What's the point in any of this? You saw those bars in that cage. They were tight, sure, but someone could squeeze through, no doubt. Those people we saw falling from the sky, they probably jumped. You know how I know? Because I was thinking of doing it myself."

Riley fought for consoling words. He firstly considered they were the aftermath of what happened when someone was sucked into the ship. The more he thought on it, the more he considered Robbie was likely right.

Then Robbie huffed to himself before muttering, "I'm probably never going to see my family again. There's no point."

"You don't know if you're never gonna see them again, kid."

"You've seen those things, right?" Robbie's voice raised a little higher, "I'm not seeing them again. I left them." His voice fleeted, but he was trying so hard to keep his face still and stern. "For all I know they probably died because of me. I don't care what happens to me. Why do you care so much?"

"Because among all the shit that I can't control, and the things that'll haunt me until the day I die, I still have hope. I'm willing to bet before all of this you were a rebellious, spoiled little shit, probably had rich parents, never had to work a day in his life and never had to deal with loss."

Robbie flicked his curved eyes to Riley before walking a little faster, huffing angrily. But Riley continued, "To have hope, you need to know what it feels like to lose it first. You're someone who went from never losing anything, to losing everything in the blink of an eye. Any other kid in your shoes wouldn't make it, but you have. Something tells me you want to believe in the best. You want to believe they're alive. Which means you don't want to give up. You're someone who wants to help and doesn't cower to danger. Whatever the world has left, it's gonna need people like you. That's why I care."

Robbie let his anger fall away, he had to agree he was well off before the invasion. Besides a rocky relationship with his dad and a few bad grades, he was comfortable. When it all changed, he wanted to fight because he had hope. At some point he lost that. "What do I have to look forward to?"

"Seeing your family again."

"That's not going to happen."

"Why? Because they're dead? Did you see it? No? Then you don't know shit. For all you know they're alive and waiting for you."

Robbie snapped, "You don't know shit, man. You don't. You have no idea what's going on, no one does"

Riley bit his lip, certain he was just making Robbie angry at this point. Tough love was only getting him so far, and he didn't want to push him away. Even Riley had his doubts. Robbie wasn't stupid, he was realistic. The odds of his family still being alive were ten to one. The only one who had the ability to know for sure was Lilja. Then he lit up.

"What if I told you there was a way you could know for sure they're alive?"

Robbie grumbled back, clearly done with the conversation, "There isn't."

"There is," replied Riley with a shrug before subtly pointing up their group to Lilja and Shiva, who were up ahead with Webb.

"What?" Robbie flummoxed, "Who you pointing at?"

"Lilja." He said plainly, "If there's anyone who can find them, it's her. You ask her nicely she may do it for you. If you don't mind a girl digging around your head."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Robbie raised in an almost amused sneer.

Riley replied with sureness, "Don't play dumb, you saw what she did in that field a day back. Everyone in our little group is trying to rationalize it, but there's no rationality anymore. We got giant alien machines running the show vaporizing people into ash, she's not the most outlandish thing you've seen. You talk to her, she'll prove it."

"What can she do?" Robbie asked in a softer voice, "Like read minds and shit?" He cracked a smile at the end of it, even hearing it from his own mouth was ridiculous.

"And shit, yeah." Riley was still as serious as night, "She can find your folks. If that's something you want to do. She's probably dug around in your brain already, so I'm sure she'll have no issue."

"You know that sounds…"

"Batshit? Yup. I'm well aware. There's a reason we know where to navigate to avoid those things, Robbie. Us floating in the sky in those cages wasn't some doozy. You weren't hallucinating it, either. It happened. If it wasn't for her, we'd be long gone by now. You let yourself indulge a little hope, you may find you had nothing to fear in the first place."

Their party had found a bridge destroyed but providing a canopy of cover to hide outside Lenox. By the time they found it, they immediately settled for sleep. The rain had stopped, and night crept a frigid chill from the north. The first of winter fury sweeping into Massachusetts. Those who weren't sleeping with a tremble in the party were awake and huddling for warmth. Then there was Lilja, herself. Coming back from out of bridge cover. She needed to make sure tripod threat was far, and the best way to do so was the utmost concentration in solitude. Her return in silence was the confirmation to Webb that they and the refugees were safe. For the time being. With that, he allowed himself the luxury of rest. Lilja passed Riley and Shiva huddled together for warmth, sleeping under a pillar. She passed Stamos and a few other soldiers, rattling from the chill but ready to fire their weapons within the blink of danger – even in sleep. Each refugee was exhausted, every soldier drained. Their claw from battle to battle was worsening the spirit. Even after everything, she still felt like she wasn't doing enough. She was getting stronger, but she knew it wouldn't last forever. The invaders were here to stay, and the fight was losing its meaning.

Then she walked by Scarlet and Jack. They slept over her rucksack and Scarlet was trying her best to huddle him for warmth, but the boy still shook. Small and pained whimpers as he slept, even the cold nipped him in torment. She slowly took off her jacket, stepped quietly to the two and draped the coat over Jack, tucking him in slight enough not to wake him or Scarlet. Even covered in soot and dirt, Jack's face still resonated such innocence. Slowly his shaking settled, and he released a deep breath out like a bout of relief. Lilja made a small smile, gently petting the top of his blonde hair before she stood in her grey crew neck from Wylen's Point. She hadn't interacted with the boy since their gathering began, but she couldn't quell the concern. The cold was biting, but she was no stranger to pain. The boy needed a moment of peace, even if it was just a moment.

She walked to the far-off wall out of the wind. She didn't notice Robbie awake and following her with his eyes. The faint smile he had when she placed the coat on Jack. He was now contemplating what Riley had said. That if there was anyone who could see if his family was alive, it was her. He wasn't convinced of their abilities yet. Even being in the hovering tripod basket and seeing the machine combust from its own beams wasn't proof enough. But seeing for himself just now that she had warmth, maybe it was worth a shot to at least ask.

Lilja slid back against the wall, leaning her exhausted head against stone and forcing herself to close her eyes. Even for just a few minutes. But approaching footsteps shot them open again. Robbie dragged his feet to her, a dejection in his stride. Hunched shoulders and an unsteady gait from the injuries he sustained from the tripod basket. His voice was slight as he said, "Hey."

Lilja was more than startled, she was already shaking. The chill had nothing to do with it. She wasn't expecting him to approach her. She muttered, "Hi."

He froze for a minute, glancing up the river before eventually bringing his weary eyes back to her. "Can I sit with you?"

Lilja curled her knees up to her chest. She wasn't sure how to act, or what to say. She just nodded. Robbie grunted as he pressed his weight into a strained leg and limped to her side. He too slid down beside her, resting his head against the stone wall and staring up over the trees on the other side of the river. Fearing the towering figure they all loathed to appear. As did Lilja. They sat in silence on that thought for a while. She had to remind herself of what Shiva said to not invade thoughts. To ask for permission. That her abilities were an ode of responsibility, not birthright. It was the worst with Robbie, as he was the one in their party she wanted to read the most.

He shyly introduced himself, "I'm Robbie, by the way."

She nervously jittered, keeping her eyes from his like it would hurt if she did look at him. She whispered back, "Lilja."

More awkward and suffocating silence took over, but Robbie came over for a reason. He asked a sincere question, turning his head to her in a hoarse and broken voice, "Can I ask you something?"

Lilja finally looked up and nodded, "Yes."

"Riley told me you… he said you can like… find people. You can read people's thoughts. Is that true?"

Lilja looked down to her feet. "Yes."

He looked down, too. Subtly nodding. Taking time to try and actually believe her. The question was burning, and he asked, "How?" He flicked his head back up to her.

Lilja stayed staring into the ground. She shrugged, "I don't know. I just do. I always have."

"Can you find anyone?"

Lilja wasn't sure how to answer that. "What do you mean?"

"Like people you don't know."

She asked him, "Do you know them?"

Robbie didn't answer with words, he spaced his eyes from her. He shook a nod.

"Who are they?"

He lost his voice and whispered, "My family."

Lilja would look up to him and steal the glance away, seeing him trying his best not to cry. She didn't know how to act or what to say to console. But she did have a solution. She said surely, "Yes. I can find them."

Robbie sniffled and asked a little higher, "You can?"

"I'll need to look in your head to see them. If I see them, I will find them."

Robbie was visibly deterred by the statement, a slightly disturbed glance to her before nervously flicking it back to his feet. "Um…" His mouth was open, but words struggled to fall out. "What do you do… does it hurt?"

"No. Not for you." Lilja replied, "It'll help if I can touch your hand. It's not needed, though. Might be a little harder to find them if I don't."

Robbie shifted himself to face her, causing Lilja to jolt a little back. He said with an ache, "Yeah. That's fine. Just… as long as you can find them, right?"

"I will find them." Lilja shifted herself, too. Facing him back. She said, "If you're alright with me inside your head."

"Yeah," he rested his hand on his right knee. Before Lilja could place her own over his, he hesitated and asked, "But… what if they're not alive?"

"I'll still find them." She stated, making his eyes wilt to even imagine it. "I will tell you the truth, I will not lie. So, before we begin, are you sure you want to know the truth?"

Robbie kept his eyes away from her and nodded downward, "Yes. No matter what, I need to know." He wouldn't dare show it, but already he was preparing for the worst.

Lilja whispered, "Okay." Robbie uneasily flipped his right hand over, revealing his dirty palms. Lilja gently brought her fingers first. Her other hand holding below. She asked once more before focusing in, "What are their names?"

"Uh…" Robbie shook, "My mom, Mary Ann. My dad, Ray. My sister, Rachel."

"Thank you," she silently soothed, letting her eyes fall down to their hands.

Her gaze stayed on their hands for seconds, turning into minutes. Robbie was beginning to feel uncomfortable. That maybe she was stalling time – confirming she couldn't do it. That otherworldly creatures crawling from earth was as outlandish as things could get. As he was soon to take his hand away, the broken streetlamp a few feet from them buzzed and flickered with light. The air got dense. Robbie wasn't able to react, but his eyes certainly did. He curdled to see Lilja's face go white like snow, her eyes as black as night. Veins darkened like spider webs across her cheeks and eyelids.

He whispered, "Are you…"

"Quiet." She said blankly. He craned his head nervously, not sure what was going to happen but fearing it, regardless.

Lilja was travelling through scenes and moments of a seventeen old life in seconds. So many faces seen and left, experiences and vulnerabilities. It was rare when she scoured this far into a mind – she was not adept. All she needed was the faces. She needed to see them well enough she knew them. She had experienced these moments with them. The mother, the father, the sister. They were flashing in her head. Their voices, their personalities. The love Robbie had for each of them. She tried not to focus on their lives and sensitive moments. Only them. To understand they were real. In doing that, she was able to find Robbie's mother.

Lilja opened her eyes. But not to see Robbie before her in the waking world. She was in her own. Watching moments happening at that very second. She was in a living room of a dimly lit home. Voices scattered and muffled but becoming more octave as she stepped closer. She saw four people sitting to a couch before a coffee table. Picture albums sprawled over it in mounds of memories. The three consoled a weeping woman. She was pregnant. Her red hair tied up but coming undone. She wore a long cardigan with a white t-shirt underneath. Sweatpants and a necklace around her neck. There was a man closer to her than the other two, burying his face into her shoulder as she wept. Two people to her right with their hands petting to her arm and knee. Older people. Elderly. A man and a woman.

Lilja said quietly as she crept closer, "I found your mom."

Robbie looked up to Lilja in loss for breath. Her face still vacant and pale. Her black eyes looking down into nothing. "You did?"

Lilja said, "She is… with others. A man. Two old people. They are in a living room."

"Those are my grandparents." Robbie sighed, still not comprehending she could actually see them. "The man is my step-dad."

She was in Mary Ann's head. To the point she could almost feel her vivid dread. The sadness behind her tears. Knowing it was for her children.

Robbie asked her, "How is she?"

Lilja wanted to answer truthfully, but a part of her couldn't. Mary Ann was broken. Unconsolable to the comfort of the three surrounding her. All she could do was hack for breath, still desperately trying to keep quiet in fear of the tripods outside. Lilja felt her own eyes swell to see it. Helpless in letting Mary Ann know that her son was alive gnawed at her gut. She wouldn't extend that feeling to him. She knew what she said, but the truth she promised was confirmation of life. That was all.

"She's okay," weakly replied Lilja. "They are alive."

"What about my sister and my dad?"

"I'm about to find them now." Lilja closed her eyes from Mary Ann, letting the memories of Robbie sprint inside her head again. Ray and Rachel were far more difficult to find, but she wouldn't relent. She dug deep, throwing a gust of wind into Robbie and Lilja. He found the stretch of time dejecting. He prepared for impact, waiting for the news he had accepted days ago.

Lilja could feel the recent moments of Robbie with the two. So recent it was practically yesterday. The three had been surviving together. Suffering against the collateral together. Tensions were thick between his dad and himself until they weren't. Until it was too late to make amends by the time they separated. That he promised to keep his little sister safe, but couldn't quell his consuming rage. Rage for the machines and the things that drove them. Rage for being so damn helpless. That at the first bout of opportunity he ran to fight them. Figuring his sister and father would be far better off without his weight to worry about – feeling that he would fair better on his own. Among all this clouded feeling, was an overwhelming guilt. Guilt that he left them. That if he stayed, he would be able to protect them. That leaving them was the path to their deaths. He depended on them being alive. So much that if they weren't, he wouldn't be, either. Lilja took that fear into herself. The same bargaining with something higher that could be listening and would perchance take pity. She prayed she'd find something. Anything.

Then she opened her eyes to a basement. It was in squalor. Dank and cold, wet like a muskeg. What could find refuge in here?

She whispered slightly, "I'm in a basement. I… I think it's a basement."

Robbie leaned in, "What do you see? Do you see them?"

She glanced to the corner behind wearing wall fixtures. A man under a pull-chain light sharpening a shovel. Wearing a sweater hood to dangle off his head freely. A muscle shirt and necklace with a golden ring through it. His face sweated and pallor, eerily disturbed. Lilja did not recognize him from Robbie's memories. "I see... a man."

"My dad?" Robbie took sharp breath in.

"No." Lilja cooed, "A different man. A strange man."

Robbie flummoxed at this, "What… why is he… what else do you see?"

Lilja progressed deeper into the cellar. Slowly taking in the grim surroundings of mold and murk. So much shadow. As she came into an opening, the light from the windows started to swell warmer. The sound of the tripods outside fleeted. It was like the morning sun was peering into the basement, bringing it back to life.

"I found them."

Robbie's expression flicked from dread to hope in a blink of an eye.

"You see them?! They're okay?"

The warmth was not from anything else but the two on the couch. It was Rachel and Ray sleeping. Holding each other in the first bout of comfort they had in nightmarish days. She realized the warmth from the sun in the windows wasn't in real time. It was the effect of Ray's mind. Displaying the comfort he felt holding his daughter. The love he had for her.

"They're alive." Lilja cooed, "They're sleeping… on a couch."

Robbie still had a grip in his chest, telling him that none of it was real. Cemented in the worst possible knowing, because it was all he came to understand since the tripod burrowed out to Lincoln Avenue. He wasn't eager for hope. Hope had no familiarities with him.

She swiftly came to understand he would not believe in her words. Words were simple to doubt. She didn't blame him. She never had to rely on the ode of words. She wouldn't believe her, either. Then it came to her suddenly. Something she never dared to try until now, but she was certain she could. If she had the advantage to know for sure, she would share that advantage with him.

"Do you want to see them?"

Robbie looked up to her vacant stare as if he heard it wrong. It was impossible, but everything happening seemed to be impossible. They were now in a realm of all possibility. With that, hope finally started to grow.

"I can… see them? How do you…"

Lilja assured softly, "Trust me." She raised her hand to him, and he instinctually backed away. "Don't be afraid. You have to stay still."

She wasn't looking at him, her face was vacant and her eyes perilously glazing blacker. But her words were filled with sureness. Soft and nurturing like a protector. She wasn't being anything else but genuine. He relaxed his shoulders and let her hand come to his right cheek. He held his breath. As soon as her cold fingers cooled on his skin, a sudden head wallop like his brain bounced off the walls of his skull.

Robbie embraced the pain for a second, then it was gone. His eyes shot open to what Lilja could see. The warmth in the windows. The rundown basement. The couch. His eyes laid on them filled with tears, and he pushed breath out into a silent weep. He couldn't believe his eyes; he couldn't believe they were alive. But they were right there. Sleeping in front of him so close he could reach out and touch them. Seeing them now, he felt his knees buckle. They both looked so exhausted and weak. Malnourished and downtrodden. Their faces and clothes filthier than when he left them. Rachel's yellow curls stained in muck and matted in dust. Ray's sweated face filled with cuts and bruises. His brown hair greased. Rachel tucked her trophy ribbon from horse riding under her chin. Robbie couldn't believe she had trailed it the entire of the way with her. And yet, it was exactly what Rachel would do. It was the relief he had become foreign to. Their chests rising together was enough to break him down into sobs. All he could do was stumble to the couch and kneel down. They couldn't hear or see him, but he prayed they'd at least hear this.

"Rach… Dad… It's me. I'm okay. I'm going to Boston. You two meet me there, you can't stay here for long, okay? Please…"

Robbie's sobs were in Lilja's head, and in real life. His eyes were the same as her own. Pupils dilated over his irises and his whites bloodshot. His veins highlighted in his face. He was in the vacancy of the dream, but Lilja could feel his hot tears dip down her hand as his cheek shook. In her eyes, she was behind him a few feet. Harbouring a respectful distance in the shadows as he cried over his sister and father. Saying words he wish he had said. Letting all the fear, sadness, and trauma of the week come out. The awe that Lilja's abilities were real, and he was now an example of it. The overwhelming relief his sister and father were still alive. That he didn't leave them to die. But seeing them now, he regretted ever running to the battlefield. The last time seeing them with Rachel in tears and Ray relenting everything he knew to give Robbie the freedom to act. It wasn't worth it. None of it.

"I'm sorry," quivered Robbie, taking his hand to Rachel's. "I'm so sorry, Rach. Da… Dad? Dad. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have… I shouldn't…" His words melted into weeps, and he bowed his head to bob sullenly. Lilja watched with every feeling of Robbie's. A tear fell down her cheek, then a few coursed down the other. In her head and in real life. She had never shared her clairvoyance with anyone before, and she didn't expect the unity of emotion it would create. Understanding Robbie's regret and not being able to comfort it was entrapping. All she could do was watch and share his fears for their well-being.

He whimpered through a crack of his voice, "Stay alive. Please. Just stay alive. I love you guys."

Then Lilja's hand was gently pulled from his cheek, snapping them both into reality with the effects of her abilities phasing like waking up from a dream. Robbie sniffled and gasped, holding onto Lilja's hand for longer than needed. He moved his wet eyes up to her own. He noticed the streaks from tears on her cheeks. The first inclination in his mind was the need for comfort. He nearly sought it in her when he saw her empathy. But he eventually released her hand. Lilja was still fighting with the emotion she felt. Still feeling his pain. Most confusing of all, it made her want to keep him close.

But he croaked through a weak voice. As if he was trying to hide his tears in vain. "Thank you."

He stood from her slow, struggling with his hurt leg. Lilja sat and watched him limp back to his spot to try and get sleep. But really, he just needed to be alone. She wanted to follow. Wanted to tell him it was going to be okay. She wanted to leave with him to find Rachel and Ray and ensure their safety. But none of that happened. She watched him sit back into the shadows, birthing fresh tears in silence as she was left to her own mind again.