I'll Be There For You

You reunite with Frances who reassures Ernie that Van Ark never hurt her personally, which Ernie is relieved about. Frances plays you a transmission that Maryam picked up from Guillemette, which says they've figured out that they can track you using the thumb drive. Janine has a plan though. The tracker only pings once at dawn, so if you're somewhere where you can make a quick getaway at dawn, you can stay ahead of them. The Maghreb have arranged for motorbikes to be waiting for you, but you'll need to be quick. Dawn isn't far away.

You need to move carefully. Underneath the sand is glass left over from the war between the Maghreb and Red Scorpion. It's what happens when you set off a lot of burn cubes in the desert. If you tried to drive a vehicle over it, it would sent you plunging into the remains of an underground city. A city full of zombies. Condensation collects on the underside of the glass overnight and falls like rain, which has filled the tunnels with lush vegetation – with the zombies as fertiliser. Ernie is struggling to wrap his head around how Van Ark changed the world, but he does remember that Frances went to school in Southampton.

Some parts of the glass are thin, but Frances has a map that should help you cross safely. Ernie is enchanted by the sky changing colour. In a few days he's seen more than he has before – at least that he remembers. Everything he remembers from Van Ark hurts, but up until now, his life was Red Scorpion base and watching Friends. Frances wonders how he can remember anything from Van Ark. Ernie doesn't know, but he does sometimes feel a rage that he assumes comes from his past life. The glass is fragile here, so move carefully and quickly.

You're back in comms range of Sam, and you're halfway there. Ernie says that he knows he's put you in danger and he's grateful that you didn't kill him for it, since that would have been the obvious thing to do. Sam is shocked and says it isn't the obvious thing. You don't do that. Ernie gets angry because that thought had been Van Ark again. He stamps in frustration, which nearly sends him through the glass. You pull him out before he can fall, but the cracks are spreading so you need to run before the whole thing collapses!

The rest of the glass is intact. Ernie is still frustrated, but Frances and Sam reassure him. No one is born evil – you just choose to do good things or bad things. Even Van Ark didn't mean to create the zombie plague. He was trying to create immortality. He was very talented and clever, but needed to think about the effects of what he was doing, like Ernie should have thought about the glass. Ernie says he's frightened of what he could end up doing. The zombies are getting closer and you still need to make it to the bikes. Get running!

You've reached the bikes. You'll get about 150 miles on the fuel but that should be enough to take you to your next transport stop. Ernie is impressed by how you just keep going and roll with the obstacles you encounter. He asks if the Maghreb would take him in. He thinks he could help them with useful projects, like the irrigation system. He wants to make something good. Sun's up! Time to get moving.