Their Situation

Ethan, observing from the sidelines, also had no intention of confronting his friend, who was clearly lying. What supplies? What deal? They had obviously set out to enter the portal. Andrew's recent behavior was more than suspicious, and it was evident he was hiding something. The question was, what? Even though Ethan had decided to trust Andrew and go along with him, it didn't mean they wouldn't have a lot to discuss once they were back in safety.

Andrew himself knew his explanation wasn't watertight. In their previous life, they had reached Bren swiftly and struck a deal for equipment. As society grew more unstable and they ventured into rural areas, they'd decided to stock up before continuing their search for Rose. That's when they stumbled into the portal. While they survived and Ethan gained an ability, his severe injury delayed their search for Rose by weeks, setting off a chain of events.

"How did you get here?" he then asked, trying to divert the topic away from him.

Rose sighed, exasperated. "When you two didn't return for ages, we got worried sick. Lucky for us, you'd connected your phones to the GPS app. We checked your position, but then it suddenly vanished. There weren't many explanations for that, so we checked the portal app and put two and two together."

Rose paused, her expression growing serious. "We immediately set out. The portal's location matched your last known GPS coordinates, so we made the decision to enter and search for you." She glanced at Luke, who nodded in agreement.

Ethan's heart sank hearing this. He hadn't considered the GPS tracking or the possibility that Rose and Luke would follow them through the portal.

"You shouldn't have come," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "It's too dangerous here."

Rose's eyes narrowed. "And it wasn't dangerous for you? We couldn't just leave you behind. Besides, we have abilities that could help."

Ethan felt a pang of guilt. It was his job to protect her, and now she was in this mess because of him. He couldn't forgive himself if anything happened to her.

His emotions were clearly visible on his face. Rose sighed as she noticed. She knew it was futile to convince her brother that she wasn't a little girl anymore. Actions would speak louder than words. The coming days would be challenging, and it was crucial that he accepted her as a full-fledged team member, not just as someone to be protected.

Rose exhaled. "Now, tell me everything. What did you encounter after coming here? How did you get hurt? And what were those things that attacked us when we came through?" The area around them had grown quiet and peaceful. The attacks had ceased once they took shelter behind the shield. Though their makeshift barrier of twigs seemed dubious at best, they appeared safe for the moment. It was as good a time as any to assess their situation and devise a plan on how to leave this place.

This time, Andrew held nothing back. He recounted every detail of their experiences since stepping foot into this realm.

"We're not sure why the second shield Ethan was carrying didn't work. As you can see," he gestured to the one behind them, "this one does the trick perfectly. The creature somehow can't sense us behind it, so it doesn't attack. Unfortunately, with Ethan wounded and unable to move, I had no way of carrying both him and the shield to the portal. I tried—that's when I got hit. So we decided to rest for now."

It was only then that Rose noticed the darkened patch of blood on one of Andrew's arms and his shredded cloth. She felt a pang of guilt, recalling how she had felt reproachful towards him for letting her brother get hurt. Now that she knew exactly what had happened, she realized it wasn't Andrew's fault at all. If anything, he had done his best for her brother. He could have left alone long ago, but he had stayed.

"But isn't it easy, then?" Luke intervened. "Rose can take the shield and walk in front, while we can both carry Ethan behind and simply go back through the portal."

Rose bit her finger in thought. "It isn't that easy," she disagreed. "As we don't know why the second shield didn't work, there is no guarantee that this one will protect us until we leave. What if it doesn't? Wouldn't we serve ourselves on a silver plate to that thing?" She shook her head. "The risks are too high."

Also, she narrowed her eyes at her wounded brother, she had a score to settle with that creature for hurting her brother.

Her retort dampened Luke`s enthusiasm. "What are we then supposed to do?"

"There is only one way to make sure that that thing doesn't pose any threat to us," she said and all turned their eyes on her in expectation.

"We kill it."