Noah and I walked back towards our base. I wanted to invite Sarah and Ani to join us, but I knew that if they wanted, they would have done so already. Our short trip back was uneventful. I asked Noah what he had done in the hours I spent meditating, to which he told me that Sarah and Ani had prepared target practice for him on the upper floor beforehand. He also spent a good amount of time with Sarah. It seemed like she was warming up to him, or so he claimed. I had little interest in his romantic affairs, so I didn’t dig any deeper.

Moving past the western barricade, Noah was the first to hear the commotion. A large gathering of people stood on the barricade opposite to us. We could hear some shouting and curses thrown around. After a brief glance at Noah, we both jogged our way amidst the situation. As we neared the crowd, I started to discern what was being said. A woman’s voice was clearly distinct against the others.

“Please, please. I am begging you, don’t let him take me back. You don’t understand, they are monsters! You don’t know what they are doing to me!!”

The people from our group had mixed expressions as I weaved through them to get to the front. The most common was anger, but I also saw some contempt and annoyance here and there.

“No! No!! I will kill myself before I go back there. I… I can’t! I can’t!!”

Johann stood beside a young brunette woman. A black eye filled with tears marred her golden skin. Her black hair was disheveled and her shoulders slumped. Her clothes were no more than rags. What was probably a nice outfit of a t-shirt coupled with short white jeans was no more than rags now. She had no bra and her arms held her breasts as the only thing protecting them from prying eyes. Ciara was behind her. Although I couldn’t tell what she was saying, I could tell she was trying to calm down the young woman.

A guy wearing the resistant clothing set, full with the boots and beanie, stood alone a few paces in front of Johann and the young woman. He held a machete, the same as John. His face was familiar, but I knew he wasn’t someone from our group. She pointed at him and screamed that she would rather die than go back to wherever they came from, while he only stood there, with a bored expression on his face.

The crowd was getting relentless and Johann seemed to be stuck between a rock and a hard place for some reason I didn’t understand. He made eye contact with me and after a brief moment decided to speak something with Ciara. After a few whispered words in her ear, Ciara managed to calm down the girl and pull her into our group and the crowd.

“You are making a serious mistake bro.”

The outsider’s voice was also oddly familiar, but I still couldn’t place where I had seen him. As Ciara and the girl passed me by, I took off my jacked and offered it.

“At least to cover her up until you find something clean.” Ciara thanked me with a nod.

The girl seemed too lost to even understand much of what was happening around them and I pitied her. Whatever the situation, something fucked up had been done to her. I didn’t want to make conclusions without even knowing what was happening, but I sure as hell wouldn’t agree with sending her back to where she came from.

“Why are we making a mistake? Whatever you have done to that girl, it’s wrong and probably a crime. We will know more when she has calmed down enough to tell us.”

“Crime? Bro, wake the fuck up. There is no police in this place.” The guy said with no small amount of derision. “I will tell you why you are making a mistake. The guy that bitch belongs to is a fucking psycho. He doesn’t give a shit about anything, and he is strong to back it up.”

“Even more reason for us not to let you take her. Belongs to? She is a person, who do you think you are to own someone?” Johann raised his voice. “I don’t care if he is strong, he is still just one person. Can you see how many of us there are in here?” Our leader’s declaration was met with grunts of acknowledgement.

“Pfft. Aight, bro. Sometimes you gotta see to believe. I am trying to help you out, but you seem too stupid to even realize it.” The outsider seemed to be about to turn and leave when he paused and gave Johann one good hard look.

“You know, I thought you were lucky that I was the one who found her here. Most of the guys in my crew would just fuck you up and grab her by the hair, but now I realize you are unlucky. Very unlucky.”

“Do you think your threats scare me? You are a child who doesn’t know its place.” Johann’s condescending tone didn’t seem to affect the outsider.

“I tried to help you, you dumbfuck. Whatever. You’re a dead man anyway.”

“You are very bold for someone walking here alone and making demands.” I said before Johann would lose his cool. “Or you don’t think we have the guts to cut you down where you stand?”

The outsider turned to look at me. We spent a few moments in silence until he finally spoke.

“You were the one going around the barrier on the first day. How did that turn out, bro?” He spoke with feigned interest.

“I remember you now. You were that twat I spoke to. The exploration went great, very enlightening.” He looked different with the new clothes, but that look of perceived superiority was quite memorable. “But don’t try to avoid my question. You don’t think we can cut you down if you try to force your way?”

“Calm down, bro. I ain’t forcing my way into anything here. I am a diplomat, remember? Diplomat. It’s not me you have to worry about.” He raised his hands in a placating gesture as I stepped up to him.

“Who is it you have so confidence in? Maccurach?”

“Ding, ding, ding.” I frowned at his mockery. “Finally someone who can connect the dots!”

I glanced at Johann. I couldn’t quite get a read of the man, but he was nervous enough to be fidgeting with his feet. I wondered if it was anger, impatience or something else. Whatever it was, the outsider’s jab at him didn’t help the situation.

“Do you really think we are going to be afraid of him just because he has been placed first ranked on the latest wave? Leo,” Johann extended a hand towards me, “has been consistently placing first. If someone should be afraid, that someone is you.”

‘Is this really a good idea? Johann just gave away our element of surprise, for whatever that was worth.’

Despite my reservations about being exposed like that, I thought it was better if I went along with it and showed a united front now that the cards were on the table. At least ours were.

“Oh. So that’s where you are.” The outsider squinted his eyes at me, as if coming to understand something.

“You have been looking for me?”

“Maybe. You can’t blame us to be curious about who this ‘Leo’ guy is.”

“If you got nothing else to say, I suggest you get out. The girl is staying with us. Unless you want to stick around after she tells us what you have done to her in these past days.”

“Calm down, bro. I ain’t done anything to that bitch. Diplomat, remember?” Johann scoffed at the outsider’s words. “I did what I had to do. It’s out of my hands now. I will be on my way.”

Everyone just stared at him as he walked backwards to the barricade and then jumped it with remarkable skill. No one said anything until we couldn’t see him anymore.

“What the fuck was that? Does anyone care to explain to me what just happened?” I asked no one in particular.

“We don’t know much more than you do, Leo. Come with me. Let’s see what Ciara has found out from the girl.” Johann spoke with a hand on my shoulder.

I saw Noah in the crowd as I followed Johann inside. With a discreet nod I invited him to follow us. Not that he needed my invitation, but I wanted him by my side. Something about that guy’s attitude just had me wary. To stand in such bold confidence in front of a group as large as ours meant he had enough strength to back him up or he was extremely stupid. He didn’t strike me as dumb, but I doubted a group with such numbers could have hidden from us for so long.

The scouts had explored far and only once had they found an anomaly in the supplies. If they had the numbers, there would have been more signs. Or was I being too optimistic? Maybe. I had a tendency to do that, I admit. Regardless of what it was, we had to be on alert now. I knew a conflict between people was inevitable, I just didn’t expect it to come so soon and in such a cliche.

None of us spoke a word as we made our way to the second floor of our base. We soon found ourselves standing before Mrs Aya, Ciara and Gabriela who were all talking to the sobbing girl. When Ciara saw us, she stood and left the girl with the other two women and motioned for us to follow her. We walked some distance until Ciara felt it was far enough and started talking.

“Her name is Francesca. She has been staying with a different group since the first day. They had around thirteen people at first, but now they are down to nine, including her and another girl named Hannah.”

“Why is she in that state? Do you know anything else?”

“Calm down, Johann. I do. Let me finish.”

“I am sorry. Go on, please.”

“It’s not easy to get a detailed picture from her, she hasn’t been speaking in a cohesive way. What I could understand is that there is a guy named Somchai who found some of them during the first wave and he helped them survive it. Since then, he has been acting like the leader.”

“The waves were harder and some people died. Francesca hooked up with one of the guys, but after the third wave Somchai suddenly became very aggressive. Somchai told everyone to call him Maccurach and that the girls belonged to the strongest. Francesca’s guy, Tony, didn’t like that and got into a fight with him. Somchai, I mean, Maccurach killed him and...”

Ciara closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“And he took her and Hannah as his. He tied them up in a room during the fourth wave and most of the day, only untying them when he wanted to…” Ciara paused again. She clenched her fists as she found the courage to continue. “After the fourth wave some of the guys were poisoned, including Maccurach. The girls managed to loosen the ropes and escape through a broken window. They caught Hannah, but Francesca managed to reach us before Hyuk got to her.”

“That is all I know. If you want more details, I am afraid you will have to give her some time to calm down and rest.”

“Thank you.” Johann put a hand on her arm.

“I- I will go back to check on her.” The emotions in Ciara’s trembling voice were barely suppressed. We watched in respectful silence as she moved away from us.

“We can’t let them have her back.”

“I agree with you, Johann. But what about the other girl, Hannah?”

“What do you suggest?”

“We can’t just stand around while they treat her like a sex slave. What does that make us?”

“Say we set out to rescue her. How do you suppose we do that? We don’t know where they are, or how strong they are. You are already someone beyond what humans can do. What if they have someone like that? Or more than one?”

“Tsk.” Noah clicked his tongue. “Don’t be such a pussy, mate. A lot of us have become stronger. We aren’t a bunch of pushovers.”

“I am not saying that, Noah. I am saying that the waves are already hard by themselves. If we start fighting with another group and we have more injured and dead, things might get out of control.”

“Maybe you should put this to vote instead of making the decision alone.” Noah rebuked.

“I am not making any decision. I am just pointing out another perspective you two are not observing. We will put it to the group when we know more. For now, we will keep the information at a minimum. We don’t want to share misguided information.”

“I hope you are not trying to put this under wraps. If what that guy, Hyuk, said is to be believed, trouble will find us no matter what you do here, Johann.”

“I know. Just trust me, Leo. We can’t rush these things. I’m also bothered by what is happening to that girl, but we have bigger things to worry about. There are over fifty people who depend on our leadership to survive.”

“Tomorrow after the wave we better decide on an action plan.”

“We will, Leo. We will…”

I left with Noah as Will and a few others passed us towards Johann. It seems that the other faction was just as eager to get some information on what was happening. I wonder how much Johann was willing to let them know.

“This is fucked up, mate. I don’t trust that dickhead.” Noah spoke as we left the building to get some air.

“I know you don’t. But for all his shortcomings, he has been doing well for the group, and I meant what I said. Tomorrow after the wave we will have to come up with something.”

“Tsk.” Noah clicked his tongue. “I don’t know where you see all this good he is doing for the group.”

“Let’s not get into politics, please?”

“Alright, mate. Sorry. He just pisses me off.”

We walked in silence for a while, as we passed by a lot of people still outside gossiping and discussing what had happened. No small amount of them glanced at me, but none were eager to engage. I saw Chen speaking with a group of six people from John’s unit, or former unit, but he was too busy for me to approach.

“I am going to try and meditate. What do you plan on doing?”

“Don’t know. I might walk around and talk to people.”

I moved towards a far corner in the perimeter, somewhere that would probably be quiet enough for me to meditate. Noah weaved between the groups of people looking for someone to approach. I left him to his own things while I sat in a comfortable position.

Despite Ani’s best efforts I had not been capable of sensing magic, not that she had even expected me to on the first try, but it reminded me of how much meditating was good for me. With her I wasn’t trying to relax, but to achieve a certain state, now I was going to meditate just to relax and organize my head. With all that had been happening, some clarity of mind was very much welcomed.