ʜᴏᴡ ɪʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ ғᴀʀᴇ

               ❝ do i love her? of course i do. ❞ she was her only joy,  the one creation of hers that she truly loved with all her will. if sheknew of her child’s future, and of her own, she’d be heartbroken. despite everything that happens, she tried to be a good mother while she was alive.❝ i am proud of the woman she has become, and... am sad that i was not there to lead her across harsh rivers. ❞

              “That’s good. Very good. I’m very sure one day you’ll be a  champion at it.” Mercer throws his voice, as a master profiler and mimic of almost all personalities, he knows how to easily tap into everything from the charismatic talk show host to the smooth celebrity. Everything is able for him. Right about now Alex has found his niche as a paternal figure with soft and slow tones. Works great on kids. If he can get her to stay her until the other returns, he’ll protect her. It’s the most he can do. As CRUEL and BITTER he is to people, the virus doesn’t see the need to be callous to children. They’re perfectly innocent.

              “Say…” if people are after her, there must be a reason, Mercer  knows trust comes easy from kids with the right wording. “Do you have  anything special about you? Like how I can make my eye glow in the  dark?”

this gave her hope-- maybe she’d outrun them someday, by being really good at hide and seek! but halen knew she’d have to outrun them NOW in order to do so later, and that scared her more. she wanted to see the world that ethan promised her, with the fluffy candy that sticks to you like cotton or the ceilings that you can totally see through-- and the places with millions of things to play on, and the places with a bunch of music, and-- she had so much she wanted to see, she felt determined she would run away forever if it meant she got to do so. she wished with all her might she could do so.

                  That’s a relief - he hopes. If they truly are being hunted, what  happens if the other FAILS to return? Mercer shoves back that intrusive  thought the moment it surfaces his subconscious over the sounds of thousands  of voices talking and giving input without permission. Some voices are cooing,  motherly phrases, others are just words read from a dictionary - meaningless  garbled, white noise. By now Alex has learned how to attune to certain feeds  and listen to them over others. Right about now he feels CONCERNED.   They are rubbing off on him, the voices.

                “I get chased a lot, but I’m very good at playing hide and seek.  I’ll bet you are too. That’s good. My name is Alex.”

she didn’t want to think about what would happen if he didn’t come back. he would. she had no one else in the WORLD, if ethan left... she’d be all alone. if she felt like he’d leave her on purpose, she would have gone with him. halen trusted him, though. he saved her, he wouldn’t just abandon her now. he said he wouldn’t let carter touch her.

                        “Where did Ethango? Is he coming back?” The  virus is concerned for how long this will take - she already said she was HIDING from someone and Alex is willing to stick around to make sure  no one comes after the child. It’s the least he can do.

                         Mercer bends his legs and finally settles onto the ground  to sit, making himself even less THREATENING. “I’ll stay here - and I  promise not to tell anyone. I’m a good secret keeper and I can’t really tell  anyone anyways because I’m always being chased too.”

❝ ethan is looking for food! he said he’ll be back as soon as he can be- he promised. ❞ but that didn’t mean she didn’t worry ... it had been a while. was he coming back? but he said he’d never leave her, so he had to come back. he had to.