A small group of us left early the next morning. As soon as the sun came up, we rummaged through the dusty store I had previously broken into. After a moment, we located a small foldable map of the area and a small pair of bright yellow binoculars. Knowing that we would most likely be gone the entire day, we gathered any food and snacks that we could find.

“I’m not sure of all the alternate locations my uncle had planned,” Melody said as we looked down at the map unfolded on the floor. “However, I did go into his tent a lot, and I think that this was one of his first choices for a second camp.” Melody pointed to an open space south of the Walker camp. It was surrounded by hills making it defensible. I thought it an unlikely spot since the defensibility made it difficult for a retreat, but after studying the map closer, I noticed that there appeared to be a small break between the hills. That break would have been perfect for quick ingress or egress.

“Any other places you can remember?” I asked. Melody pointed to a couple more spots, but she wasn’t sure about the exact location. “No problem.” I looked around at the others to see if they had any objections to what I was going to propose. “I think that the first spot is a good place to scout out. If the liberation group isn’t there, it might even be a good place for us to set up.”

“What’s wrong with here?” Randy asked. “We have beds, shelter, and other buildings that we could use.”

“I like here, but as long as the camp knows we’re here, we’re vulnerable,” I replied. “Which brings me to my next point. I want to scout this place because it’s also close to the camp. I think we need to keep a close eye on what they’re up to.”

“I’m not going back there,” whispered someone.

“Don’t worry,” I assured them all as I could see they were all in agreement. “I just want to observe it from afar. Keep an eye on them for any major movements. If we do that, though, we would need to be closer so we can relay information. As it is now, this town is too far away since we don’t have any vehicles.”

“Oooh, vehicles would be awesome,” cooed Randy.

“I agree, we can have the other’s check it out while we’re gone today. Randy made a sour face at my decision, but I knew it was only in jest. “Anybody have anything else to add?” When no one said more, I continued. “Alright, I’ll let Sarah know about canvassing the town for vehicles, and then catch up to you guys at the edge of town.” I looked at each of them purposefully. “Watch out for squirrels.” We all got up and left the store. I broke off to quickly head back to the hotel that we were all squatting in.

Getting back to the hotel and speaking to Sarah didn’t take long, but by the time I was out, the rest of the small team was already out of my sight. The team I chose for the mission was myself, Melody, Randy, and three others. I brought Melody along for her knowledge of the liberation group. She was also probably on equal ability levels as Sarah when it came to using her power. I managed to get her to leave her brother behind for the mission since I wanted to travel fast. Having a Siren on the team would have been a great advantage, but I didn’t think we would need him. After the events at the house, Melody was a lot more comfortable with leaving her brother under the care of Sarah and didn’t want to put him in any more danger than needed. Randy was the next best candidate ability-wise. I would have brought John, but he couldn’t see very well, so having him on a scouting mission didn’t make a lot of sense.

I moved quickly up the road to meet up with the rest of the team. Even though they weren’t far, and I hadn’t been gone long, I still began to worry as I made my way up the paved road. I still didn’t know if we were being watched by the camp. I also didn’t know what type of creatures were out there that could be dangerous to us. We still hadn’t had time to talk to Melody about all the changes that had happened throughout the world. I was feeling vulnerable, so I decided to do something about it.

When I crested the hill, I activated my power to look around. The world lit up like a psychedelic watercolor canvas. Colors mixed together where different materials touched and mixed. It didn’t help that my vision degraded when I used my ability. There was a copse of trees to the left of the road. The multiple shades of green branched through each other creating an amalgamation that shamed any actual painting, but the view wasn’t static like a painting. As the wind flowed through the branches and rustled leaves, the colors also moved and shifted. I was stunned as I looked at the display, momentarily forgetting my exposed position.

That was until I saw the yellow blobs of color moving between the trees. A blip of panic spiked in my heart as more of the yellow blobs appeared to materialize throughout the trees. A yellow tendril raised from the first blob and began to wave. I turned off my power to reveal what I was really seeing. Melody was the one waving at me. I waved back, but as I started walking over, I reactivated my power. As I got closed to the group, I made out more detail, and I was quickly able to see the green and brown branches of energy flowing through their bodies. Unable to see them from afar, I was worried I had found other people lurking around.

By the time we made it to a spot that overlooked the Military Camp, the sun was past its apex. We moved much quicker than we had with the entire group, but we maintained our caution while doing so.

We slowly crested the hill, being sure to keep our profiles low. As I finished dragging myself up from the highcrawl and had a good vantage point, I unslung the backpack with supplies I carried. I laid it beside me and then took out the small binoculars I found within the town’s convenience store. The binos were hot pink, and the space between the lenses was too small for the bridge of my nose. I still managed to look through them without too much discomfort and just a little double vision.

The binos didn’t really help me see what was going on down the hill, but I could make enough out. However, the scene below us was troubling, and I strained to look for extra details. The camp had apparently been attacked while we were gone. Around the perimeter of the base, which was quite a bit larger than I had realized, had double fenced wire topped with concertina wire. There were at least two places along the fence where it had been broken down and trampled into the ground. Three of the buildings had dark grey smoke pouring from broken windows.

Oddly enough, even though there were signs of fighting and the camp appeared heavily damaged in a couple areas, I didn’t see any signs of people. I wondered where the vehicles from the night before were being stored. From the areas of the camp I could see, there weren’t any signs of assailants or any place where they attacked. I also didn’t see any of the cadre and cadets that lived there. I didn’t know the exact number, but I knew that in total, the camp had a least a thousand cadets. It made our thirty carpenters seem paltry by comparison. That was one of the biggest problems with the camp. It was hard for us to supply the food.

“I don’t think we should get involved with whatever is going on down there,” Randy prodded. “Whatever is happening down there, it’s their problem to figure out.”

“What if it’s the remnants of the liberation group?” I countered. “After the camp attacked them, they could have launched their operation. They could be in there right now trying to free everyone. They also probably think that Melody and Victor are being held prisoner there. Enzo wouldn’t let that continue for long. Plus, if that was the work of the liberation group, meeting them there would alleviate the need for us to check the anywhere else for them.”

“And what if it isn’t?” Randy asked. “We have no idea about what is going on down there. Don’t forget that Sergeant Michel is still down there somewhere too.”

“I’m not worried about him,” I said absently. I had long since stopped being scared of Sergeant Michel. It was actually quite the opposite, now.

“Well, I am,” Randy guffawed. “That man has scared the hell out of me ever since the day we woke up in the camp. The way he was always so calm and robot-like until he just snaps. He’s psychotic, man.” After what I had seen in the colonel’s office, I couldn’t disagree with his assessment of Sergeant Michel’s mental state. I was usually too absorbed with my own worries and fears to think about others. Randy turned to Melody, “Are the liberation group armed?”

“Yes,” Melody answered, breaking me from my thoughts. “How else would we be able to assault a military instillation filled with soldiers and super-powered teens.”

“I don’t know! Jeez, sorry for asking a simple question.” Randy flailed his arms a little in exasperation.

“You’re forgiven,” Melody replied.

Randy stared at her, his eyes squinting in anger.

“Why do you want to know if they’re armed?” I asked. I knew that Melody would keep up the jibes as long as she could, and I didn’t want to be there all night.

“I just wanted to know if we would be at risk of being shot and killed by multiple groups of people. After last night, I’ve had quite enough of almost dying, and that was death from a single direction.”

I took a deep breath and thought about what Randy was saying. I didn’t want to come across as insensitive as the cadre usually had been, but I felt the need to reiterate the dangers of the world. “I understand how you feel,” I began. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that the danger will ever go away. At least, not on its own. There’s a good chance that there are allies inside the camp right now. Also, we aren’t sure if they are anywhere else.”

“Well, what if they aren’t in there either? Like I said before, we have no idea what’s going on in there.”

“That’s why we need to find out,” I snapped. Then, I looked around at the other Carpenters. They all looked scared and apprehensive to go back into the camp. I remembered that someone mentioned they didn’t want to go back in there. “Don’t worry, we don’t all need to go in there.”

I moved to get up, but before I could get all the way to my feet, a massive boom sounded from the direction of the camp. I stopped rising and stayed crouched. The gigantic thunder sounded once more from a large building toward the center of the compound.