I had nowhere else to go, at least, that's what they thought.

There was no protective cover where the soldiers stood. They were in a defensive line like a platoon of Civil War soldiers waiting to be given the order to fire. Right in the center of the line was Colonel Baxter with a smug look, but he made a mistake; he wasn't protected. He didn't know the full extent of my abilities. He thought he was safe, but I could get to him with my speed.

I thought about attacking the colonel. I could move to him and use my power to punch him so hard that he would explode. If I did that, there wouldn't be anything left to identify.

I looked at Claire. If I attacked the colonel, there would be no telling what she would do to everyone else, and I would still have the soldiers to deal with. If I attacked Claire, then Colonel Baxter probably wouldn't hesitate to have the soldiers open fire. I had to move quickly. I knew that Claire didn't want to hurt me, but I was sure that Colonel Baxter saw me as a liability and was leaning toward killing me.

I activated my power and moved.

I rushed to Claire and positioned myself behind her. I closed my hand around her mouth to limit the noise she could make, and I also mimicked the color of her power with the same hand to hopefully counteract anything she might try. All that happened in a blink of an eye because once I disengaged my warp drive, they were all looking to where I had been.

"Yoo-hoo!" I singsonged to get their attention.

All the eyes and rifle barrels immediately turned in my direction. My heart skipped in a panicked thought of a soldier accidentally firing their rifle. To my relief, they were trained better than that. Unfortunately, the soldiers adapted quickly, so they didn't even look fazed at my sudden position change, and neither was the colonel.

"Hold your fire," Colonel Baxter said while holding his arm out to the side. "That's pretty smart cadet, using her as a shield. But what's stopping me from killing everyone else?" All the soldiers moved their aim points from me to everyone else.

"If you kill them, I'll kill her," I said.

"If, and that's a big if," he said. "If you kill her, I'll just kill you, and I still win."

"Win?" I asked exasperatedly. "Is this just a game to you? Win or lose? Your daughter's life is on the line, and you don't even care!"

"Don't you pretend to know me, you little shit," Colonel Baxter said venomously. "You have no idea what she means to me or what the hell is going on with anything." He was yelling when he was done, and spittle flew from his lips. I knew I found his hot button by the immediate change in his anger level at my mentioning of his daughter, but I was unsure if I wanted to keep pressing it.

I inwardly shrugged at myself, tired of playing games. "Everyone keeps telling me that, but guess what? I do know what's going on in the world. I actually found people who would tell me something, unlike Camp Walker. But what I don't know is what in the hell is going on there? It also makes me wonder if you know what the hell is going on in the world?"

I could have kept talking, telling him about how the US Government was in tatters and barely functioning, that the camps were being liberated, and everything else I talked about with Enzo, but it just didn't matter anymore. It might be useful for Claire to hear it, she was probably being lied to as well, but I couldn't be sure she was. It was pointless to tell it to the colonel and the soldiers. I decided to just stick with the most important thing.

"I know the government doesn't support the camps anymore. There is no reason for us to be there either. Just let us go," I pled.

"Let you go?" Do you know how much time and money has been invested in all of you? You are the soldiers of the future. My soldiers." The way he said my soldiers made me uneasy.

I thought of something I had discussed with Enzo. After the government fell apart and couldn't support the remaining population, communities gathered to make their own miniature governments. Some remained faithful to the ideals of America and Western society. Yet, many devolved into mini dictatorships or were run by self-proclaimed warlords who would attack and pillage other places.

It dawned on me then that Colonel Baxter knew all this. He wasn't taking care of us due to any misguided loyalty to the government. No, he had far greater plans. He was trying to make an army for his own use.

"Now," he said and paused for emphasis. "You have five seconds to let Claire go and stop fighting, or else-"

"Or else, what?" I interrupted. "You'll have your soldiers open fire and kill us?"

"Yes," he replied coldly.

"So you invested too much time and money to let us go, but not so much that you can't kill us?"

"If I can't have you," he let the rest of the saying go and just shrugged.

"You'll kill Claire too!" I shouted.

The colonel raised his hand to signal the soldiers to get ready to fire. While they had all relaxed a little while the colonel and I talked, it hadn't been too much, so there was only a slight movement of tensing muscles as they focused their aim points. I was out of options and didn't know what to do.

"Stop," I said. I let go of Claire and pushed her forward. I didn't want to go back, didn't want any of us to go back, but that was the only way to ensure that no one would die.

Colonel Baxter smiled like a furry green creature that likes to steal Christmas. "Make sure no one hits my daughter, or I will be very unhappy," he drawled.

My eyes went wide as I understood the implication of his words. I hadn't even activated my power, but the world seemed to slow down. The adrenaline of the moment kicked all my senses into overdrive.

I thought about attacking the colonel before he dropped his hand. I thought about trying to stop all the soldiers or move everyone out of the fire line, but indecision kept me rooted to the spot. In the end, I wasn't able to do a damn thing.