“Why are we stuck moving mattresses around? Shouldn’t that be maintenances’ job?” Steve asked for the third time that afternoon.

Brian rolled his eyes. “I’ve told you already, Steve, getting everyone settled is a security issue. Maintenance is doing the same thing on the other side of the camp anyways.” He replied.

Will heaved another mattress out of the truck, his breath coming heavy with the oversized load. “Shouldn’t we be setting up those defenses? What if those demon bears attack again before we’re ready for them?” Will asked.

“Then we’ll do the same thing we did this morning. The faster we get this done, the faster we can start on our projects.” Brian replied. “Besides, we haven’t seen another one of them all day.”

Steve grabbed one of the mattresses laying on the ground next to the truck, tucking it under his armpit. “What if they’re just waiting for night again?” Steve asked.

“We’ve got a night shift ready, and they’ll wake people up at the first sign of trouble. We won’t be caught unawares like before. Now come on and help me unload these mattresses. We’re almost done with this load.” Brian grabbed the end of another mattress, pulling it towards him, it’s side sliding on the truck bed. Fred came up next to him as he stepped back, grabbing the other end before it dropped off the tailgate.

Despite his team’s protests, they had made a good amount of progress. Raiding the various cabins that still stood for their mattresses was tedious work since they could only fit eight mattresses at a time, and they’d made several round trips already. The other team had completed getting Andromeda theirs before lunch, and both teams had finished one of the other meeting halls each, leaving just Hydra and Volans to fill.

At least they weren’t being asked to move trunks to the meeting halls as well. Arnold and Finn had designated Circinus and Hydra meeting halls as the sleeping quarters for the boys, and Medusa and Volans for the girls, and were working to get belongings from the intact cabins moved to the appropriate meeting halls. Jeremy and the “volunteers'' still had to dig through the shattered remains of the destroyed cabins for any belongings in there, while also taking care of the dead they found inside. Brian would have joined them, except that Xavier had set him on this with his team instead, and Brian wasn’t about to ask his cabin to join him in the grisly task. He could stomach it, but he wasn’t so sure about the younger kids. Will, Fred and Steve were barely teens, they didn’t need to see any more of that.

Mark’s dead stare flashed into mind, and Brian shook it out as they carried the mattress inside, piling it along the wall with the others.

Zeke groaned as he set his and Will’s down next to theirs.“How many more of these do we have to carry?”

Brian looked back at Zeke before glancing around the room.“Quite a few more, I’m guessing, enough to fill this room. Is your shoulder doing okay?”

“A bit stiff, but it’ll be fine.” Zeke replied, rotating his shoulder in place and wincing a bit.

Brian nodded. “Take it easy, we don’t need you hurting yourself any further. Can’t have us down a man right from the start.” Brain ordered, and Zeke nodded.

“I’ve got some aspirin in my trunk if you need it.” Oliver added as he helped carry another mattress in, Steve struggling to hang on to the other end.

“Thanks, but the lifeguards gave me some already. I’ll take you up on that later tonight though.” Zeke replied.

Oliver groaned, setting the mattress down next to them. “We’ll all probably want some before bed at this rate.” Oliver replied.

“All I want is dinner. I’m already starving.” Kevin moaned from the doorway, the odd man out.

“Should have gotten seconds at lunch, like you normally do.” Brian replied.

Kevin frowned, crossing his arms in front of him. “Everything was gone by the time I got back. Dining hall people said they didn’t make too much extra.” Kevin grumbled.

“They’re probably trying to make sure we don’t run out too quickly then. We might have to go with a bit less than normal if we’re going to make it through this.” Brian replied, his voice low. The other boys fidgeted in place, the dire warning washing over them and weighing heavily over the whole camp.

Despite the hot afternoon sun and light breeze through the trees painting a facade of normalcy to the day, the ring of clouds in the skies around them was a constant reminder of the fragility of their situation. The whole camp was stuck on a ticking time bomb, and any number of things could hasten the countdown to their doom. A lack of food was only one of many ways in which the camp could descend into chaos and death. Lack of fresh water, another attack from the demon bears, loss of power. Only a few small, thin strings kept the camp tied together in some semblance of order, and the loss of any of them could be the first domino in a chain reaction that would end everything.

At least the leadership seemed to have a good handle on how to keep things moving and orderly for a while. Being included in the meeting that morning had been enlightening, especially to the fact that none of the key leaders had panicked to the point of being useless. The camp director had chosen well, and Brian silently thanked him for that.

It was the other campers that made Brian worry. While there was a small contingent of kids his age, just about to graduate high school, a fair number of the survivors were young teenagers. Fear and panic at the unknown and precarious position they were in would spread quickly if not contained, and it wouldn’t take long for a group of them to overwhelm the camp should they decide that they were better off not listening to those making the rules.

“Come on, let’s go get the next load.” Brian said, and the others nodded as they turned to the door. The younger trio scrambled to get into the truck bed first, and Kevin helped Zeke in as Oliver rounded the front to take the driver’s seat.

“Brian? You got a minute?” Brain turned as he stepped into the passenger seat, Allison walking up to them from the other side.

Brian looked back at his crew for a moment as they shrugged at him. “Can it wait? We’re about to head out to grab the next round.” Brian asked.

Allison paused for a second before she shook her head. “Sorry, but...I have some...concerns? I guess…” Allison replied, and Brian frowned as he looked at her again. It was obvious that Allison had been crying at some point, the red rims under her eyes pronounced, and Brian felt a pang of sympathy run through him. She hadn’t lost a friend like they had, but in some ways, Madison’s situation was worse, having her there physically, but not mentally. Obviously the situation was wearing on her.

Brian sighed, stepping back out of the truck. “Sure thing. Oliver, our cabin is next, you think you guys can handle it while I talk to Allison?” Brian asked, and Oliver nodded.

“Sure thing. We’ll be back soon, take your time.” Oliver said, and Brian nodded as he closed the door. The truck rumbled to life and drove away, and Allison stepped closer, looking over her shoulder as it passed Andromeda.

“Can we go inside? It’s a bit hot out.” Allison asked, and Brian followed her inside.

Brian sat heavily into one of the chairs along the edge of the room as Allison paced in a small circle just inside. “What’s up?” Brian asked. Allison sighed heavily and massaged her forehead before looking down at him, the bloodshot veins making her eyes look red.

“Sorry, I should probably be talking to Xavier, or Connor and James. But you’re the first person I saw since I thought about this.” Allison said. A small pang of annoyance ran through him. He was a group leader too, wasn’t he? Maybe she just meant that one of the other staff members would be better equipped to handle whatever was going on?

“Well, I’m listening. And I’ll talk to them later, if that’s what you want.” Brian replied.

Allison shifted, a nervous energy running through her as she fidgeted in place. “I don’t know...Anyways, I’ve been thinking about, well...Everything. Do we really have enough people assigned to security right now?” Allison asked.

Brian frowned, contemplating her question. “We’ve got 22 people on our team. Xavier, Connor and James, plus 19 campers, me and my guys included. Why, do you think that’s not enough?” Brian replied.

Allison scratched the back of her neck as she spoke. “I’m just worried. How are the shifts split up?” Allison asked.

“We’ve got me and my team, plus Xavier for the day shift. Connor’s got another seven for the evening shift, and James has five for overnight.” Brian replied.

Allison shook her head as her foot tapped against the floor. “Isn’t it weird that there’s less people for the night shift? Shouldn’t there be more people on duty at night, when everyone’s asleep?” She asked.

“Everyone from the day shifts are close together and have radios with them, the plan is for the night shift to make a call for help if anything happens at night, wake the rest of us up. We’ll all be there if something’s happening.” Brian explained.

“What if the radios go out again?” Allison asked.

Brian shrugged. “They shouldn’t be able to now. Finn said the repeater was the issue, so they disconnected it. We’re radio-to-radio transmissions now, so there’s less range, but there’s no way for any outside interference that way.” Brian replied.

Allison started pacing again, the nervous energy inside her obviously working itself out. “I just don’t think we’ve balanced our teams right. The Dining Hall and the Farm have more campers than you guys. I get why maintenance needs more, but honestly, the farm shouldn’t need that many.” Allison said.

Brian furrowed his brow. He had had the same thought earlier, but had shrugged it off. He wasn’t really in a position to make that kind of judgment call for the whole camp. “Why didn’t you bring it up during the meeting then?” Brian asked.

Allison sighed, closing her eyes as she leaned back against the wall. “I wasn’t...really thinking about it at that point. We had just found Madison and I…” Allison trailed off.

Brian winced, obviously having stepped on a landmine. “Sorry.”

Allison shook her head. “No, it's not your fault. It’s mine, I should have been more...present. That’s why I’m trying to rectify that now.” Allison replied.

Brian stood out of the chair, stretching the soreness out of his arms as he did. “Look, I appreciate you coming to me with this, but other than just asking the others what they think, there isn’t much I can do.” Brian replied.

Allison snorted, giving him an odd look. “You can do more than you think. You’re the one who basically saved the camp, saved me. That kind of heroism doesn’t go unnoticed.” Allison replied.

Heroism? Sure, he had come up with the plan to kill the bears, but it could hardly be called heroism. More like, pure unadulterated rage and a drive for revenge on the things that killed his best friend. Still, he felt himself standing a bit taller, even as his mind whirled.

“I mean, sure, but most of the campers think it was Jeremey who saved them all.” Brian replied.

Allison shrugged. “Sure, some of them do. But you were right there with him, and there’s a good number of kids among the injured you saved who asked me about you. Not that I could tell them much, we haven’t exactly crossed paths very much before all this.” Allison replied. Brian felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards for a moment as he let her words wash over him, before his more rational side took over once again and brought him back to earth.

Brian rolled his eyes, scratching at his neck. “Doesn’t really matter anyways, I’m not the one in charge. Xavier and the others call the shots.” Brian grumbled.

Allison gave him a small smile. “Xavier will listen to you, he practically sang your praises when he arrived. I’ve never heard him talk so well about anyone, not in the few summers I’ve known him. He’s always seemed too serious and grouchy to say anything good about anyone.” Allison replied.

Brian raised an eyebrow. That didn’t sound like Xavier to him, but maybe he wasn’t such a hardass around other people? “Don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m kind of on probation with him.” Brain replied.

Allison shrugged. “I’d think him putting you as a shift leader kind of spoke for itself. You’re in the leadership for security for a reason, Brian, if he doesn’t listen to you, he’s not thinking clearly. Besides, even if Xavier isn’t listening, Jeremy should. You two worked well together, bring it up with him and see what he thinks.” Allison suggested.

Brian frowned. “Why aren’t you bringing these concerns to them then?” He asked.

“Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been holed up in Andromeda ever since the meeting. Like I said, I saw you and just needed someone to bounce these concerns off of who is in charge. I don’t have the time to go running around camp after everyone, and you’ll definitely see them before I do.” Allison replied.

Brian nodded. “Fair enough. Anything else?” Brian asked, and Allison shook her head as she stood from her chair. She stretched, her spine popping as she groaned.

“No, just that. Thanks for listening to my concerns for a bit, makes me feel better to have someone else on my side.” She smiled.

“Not sure how much help I’ll be, but I’ll do my best.” Brian replied.

Allison’s grin grew a bit as she stepped closer. “You’ve done a great job so far, I’m sure you’ll keep it up. By the way, I never thanked you for saving me and Finn before, and I did kind of promise you one, so…” She trailed off, stepping closer again, and Brian froze as she leaned in, her soft lips pressing against his cheek for a moment. Her eyes sparkled as she stepped back from the short kiss, an impish smile on her face.

“Uh….You’re welcome?” Brian winced at how his voice croaked.

Allison giggled lightly. “Now don’t go telling anyone. I shouldn’t be fraternizing with an underage camper like that, and I’ll deny it ever happened if you bring it up again! Still, it’s not every day you get to thank your hero for saving your life.” Allison replied, turning to head towards the door.

Brian’s tongue was twisted around itself as words rushed to come out of his mouth. “I’m...not a hero.” Brian stumbled over his words as he cringed internally.

Allison looked over her shoulder back at him, a small grin on her face once more. “You are to me. Later.” Allison disappeared through the doorway into the sunlight.

Brian’s brain rebooted as he stood there, a hand drifting up to his cheek. It wasn’t the first time he’d been kissed by a girl, but usually he was the one initiating, or at least knew the girl was interested. Allison had caught him off guard, especially since she was college age and, admittedly, very beautiful. He grinned to himself as the feel of her lips tingled on his cheek and the sound of her voice echoed in his ears.

Hero, eh? He could get used to being called that.

If only some of the other leaders saw it the same way Allison did.

Brian shook his head. No use thinking that way right now, they’d come around soon enough. Once he proved himself to them, they’d all change their tune. Keeping the camp safe and secure was his job, and the moment that something happened, he’d be there again to make sure that no one else had to go through the horrors they had just lived through again. He’d make sure of that.

Still, Allison had a point. There wasn’t too much he could do if he didn’t have enough people to help him. He’d have to talk to his uncle or Jeremy later, hopefully they’d be willing to listen to him.

Brian checked his watch and rolled his eyes. He took the radio off of his belt, thumbing the button on the side. “Brian to Xavier, come in.” He said.

The radio crackled for a moment before it sounded back at him. “Xavier here. How’s progress?” Xavier asked.

“Just a few more rounds on mattresses for Virgo. Working our way through Leo cabins at the moment.” Brain replied.

“Good. Once you’re done, we’ll reconvene to go over construction plans.” Brian nodded to himself. It’d be a perfect time to talk to the whole group about seeing what they could do to move a few people around to beef up the security team.

Brian thumbed the radio once more. “Copy that. Brian out.”

“Over and out.” Brian clipped the radio back on his belt. Being told that he needed to check-in every hour was slightly annoying, but at least for now it helped them coordinate and share updates on progress. Brain was sure that once things settled a bit more, they’d become much more irksome. Being forced to check-in, like having to report to a babysitter, he scoffed. Why he had to be the only one who had to check-in with Xavier rankled at him.

Or, perhaps, it was a good idea overall? Brian’s mind raced. Sure, the dining hall was checking in people at meals to be sure that everyone got their fair share, but what about in the evening, before bed? Perhaps there should be more check-in times for everyone than just meals and lights out? Who knows what could happen in between those times, how could they coordinate and keep tabs on where people were at?

Brain scratched at his head. One thing was for sure, if they were going to institute anything like that, they’d need more people. Only having eight people checking to make sure no one had gone missing, from among nearly 150? While also making sure that there was a watch posted around Andromeda, or any other crucial places? There just weren't enough people on any of the security teams to make that work.

He’d have to talk to Xavier, or Jeremy. Getting either of them on board would make things a lot easier to convince the rest of them.

Brian’s attention shifted as the truck reappeared, a new load of mattresses in the back. Brian stepped out onto the porch, meeting the truck as it rolled to a stop in front of the building.

“How’d it go with Allison?” Oliver asked as he stepped out of the driver’s seat.

Brian shrugged the question off, not willing to share the experience with him. “Just some stuff to bring up with the rest of the leadership. Let’s get these unloaded, yeah?” Brian moved forwards, and the unloading continued.

It was another few hours before all of the mattresses they needed were loaded into the building. They had quickly run out of mattresses from the intact cabins, and were forced to wait until the volunteers could excavate some more. Brian had kept the rest of his team away from the site of the digging but had eventually wandered over himself, and regretted it almost immediately. The pile of mattresses they had to discard alone was enough to make him reconsider his thoughts of helping, the blood from the broken bodies that had been sleeping in them up until the moment they died soaking through them.

Brian wasn’t sure whether or not they’d managed to find enough mattresses for everyone, but at least it was a good start. With the intact cabins all being emptied, the only cabins left were the ones that had been destroyed, and it would take a lot longer than a few hours to get through digging through all of those. Already, he could see the toll the work was taking on the volunteer group, and they were still working through the girl’s cabins in the north end of the camp. The destroyed cabins in the south side of camp had yet to be touched, and from what Brian had overheard, they were expecting to find a lot more bodies in the cabins there than in the north.

Xavier called for him and the other two security leads to meet him at Operations, and Brian headed that way as his thoughts world in his head. How should he bring up the ideas Allison and he had thought up? Laying it all out on the table might not be the best way, he’d have to figure out some way to convince his uncle that they hadn’t made the right decisions earlier, that some of what they had come up with was flawed. But would Xavier accept it coming from him, or would suggesting that it had all been Allison’s idea be better?

Brian’s mind cast back to their last meeting, and he frowned as his pace faltered for a moment. His uncle had been odd during the entire thing, constantly asking what the whole group thought they should do instead of just dictating everything. It went against a lot of what Brian knew about his uncle, and about how he knew he worked with the staff during regular years. To have him asking for input and leading the conversation to have them develop the ideas-

Brian’s thoughts suddenly clicked into place, and he grinned.

It was a test.

Everything Xavier had done in the last meeting had been testing them to see if they were up to the task. Asking them leading questions, getting them to pose ideas for figuring out the defenses, rather than just laying it all out for them. Xavier was a veteran of Vietnam, for crying out loud, he had probably forgotten more about how to create and enforce the security of an area than they would ever know. Asking them what they would do, and guiding them to the answers instead of just giving it to them, it was brilliant.

But why?

Brian’s brows furrowed as his brain churned into motion again. Why had he chosen to take this moment to try to test them, to see if they were ready to lead the defense? Sure, he was injured and couldn’t be there with them if things happened, but it wasn’t as though he’d be too far away. With the radios working, he could give them instructions from anywhere, so there wasn’t too much need to have them step up as much as he was asking them to.

Maybe it was all for him? Brian’s thoughts cleared as he latched onto that thought, trying to trace it backwards. If Xavier was testing him specifically, what was the purpose? To see if he could be in charge of a team while out and about? To see if he was ready to be a soldier?

In any case, Allison had been right about one thing: He had more opportunities to improve the security of the camp than he originally thought, and Xavier was looking for him to present new ideas to see if he was ready to be a leader.

Strong purpose filled him as he entered the operations building, finding that he was the last of the group to arrive as the others gathered around the table in the front meeting room. Brian stepped over the blood trails leading to the first office and joined them, looking down at the campus map spread across the table.

“We should build watchtowers after we finish the barricades.” Connor was saying. “We should have one at each path into the meeting hall area since that’s where we’ll all be at night.” Connor made some marks on the map as Xavier nodded.

James crossed his arms from the side of the table, a frown on his face as he looked down at the map. “What are they going to be made of? We might not have a lot of supplies left over after walling off the spaces between the meeting halls.” James asked.

Xavier shook his head. “Don’t need too much to start off with ‘till we get the barricades done. We’ll get people up on the roofs of the meeting halls first so they have a better vantage point while we get the walls constructed. After that we can start looking at other places that need watchtowers.” Xavier grunted.

Brian came to stand next to Xavier, eyeing the map as well. “What about the other fortified positions? We should have at least two towers for each of them, at least. With the dining hall, the shower buildings, the craft shop, and operations, that's...14 more.” Brian calculated, frowning. Way more than they could have occupied at their current numbers.

Xavier shifted in his seat. “Should have an extra two by the generators, the bears didn’t touch them this time, but we don’t know if that was a fluke or not. Best we be ready to defend them as well.” Xavier replied.

Brian shook his head, the numbers not adding up in his head. “We don’t have enough people to put in all of those. Even with our current numbers, that’s every member of the security team, minus you of course. If something happens at night, we’re not going to be able to get people to all of those places safely.” Brian pointed out.

James shook his head, rubbing at his forehead. “We’ll have to make do with what we have. Everyone is going to be spread thin, we’re no different.” James replied.

Brian shook his head. “Look, I get that. We’re low on manpower, sure, but I think we need to take another look at how we assigned people. I think we should reassign a few from teams that are overpopulated to be on the security team.” Brian replied.

“None of the teams are-” Connor started, but Xavier held up his hand.

“Go on, Brian. Speak your piece.” Brian’s heart swelled as his mind raced. As he thought, there was wiggle room here, and Xavier was giving him the opportunity to show what he was capable of.

“Okay, so for example, we have 25 people assigned to the dining hall right now. The two staff members, sure, that makes sense, neither of them are experienced with dining hall, so Natalie’s in charge, and she needs them to keep everyone in line. But 22 other campers? The dining hall shifts on a normal schedule only have six or seven people. Even if we take into account the lack of experience among the campers working in that area, we shouldn’t need almost double the number of people on a shift. If we move a few people from the dining hall to security, we can fill out our overnight shift better, so we don’t only have just enough to guard the meeting halls.” Brian explained.

Xavier scratched at his beard for a moment before he spoke. “How many are you thinking?” Xavier asked.

Brian’s heart raced as numbers flew through his head.“Only a handful. If I remember right, then there’s five boys from Virgo that we could use better at security than the dining hall. That’d leave the dining hall with 18 people, enough to have nine per shift, with overlap during lunch.” Brian replied.

James scoffed, a frown on his face. “You’re asking nine inexperienced people to do the job of six experienced ones? Are you sure that’s going to work?” James asked.

“From what we’ve seen from Natalie so far, she seems capable enough with organizing and leading her team. We’ll need to talk to her first to see if she can make it work.” Xavier said.

Brian nodded. “After that, the only other team I’m thinking of is the farming group. They’re the next-largest after maintenance, who I definitely don’t want to pull anyone from. We'll have more than enough projects for them going forwards. But the farming group has 26 people, 27 including Katsuki. Given what I saw yesterday afternoon, they’re used to only having a small handful of workers themselves.” Brian said.

“That was before their work became essential to extending our food supply.” Connor stated.

Brian shrugged, stepping back from the table a bit. “Again, I’m not thinking of taking many of them, or even re-assigning them right now. But they’re not going to be working shifts, and unless we’re here for a very long time, what they’ve grown so far through the course of the summer is almost ready to be harvested. Once that’s done, even if they re-seed the land, there won’t be too much work for that whole group. We could take a small number now to fill out our shifts, and once their work load drops, then switch a more over depending on how many they’ll actually need to continue working there.” Brian continued.

Connor scratched at his arms as he looked back at the map on the table. “So another handful from farming?” Connor asked.

James made a note on a piece of paper next to him. “We don’t have any girls on the security team yet. If we move Aquarius B over with us, that’ll still give the farming group 20 campers to work with, and that’ll give us an extra 5 people to work with.” James added.

Brian nodded, leaning forwards once again. “That’ll put us at 29 campers including me, plus you two for 31, so enough for 10 people on two shifts and 11 on a third. If we put that 11-person team on the night shift, we’d be much better off, and more able to defend key points around the camp, like the dining hall and generators. I’d much rather have enough people already awake and ready to go to defend the camp while everyone else is still waking up and getting ready in the case of another attack than needing reinforcements right from the get-go.” Brian finished, looking down at Xavier.

Xavier paused for a moment before he nodded. “It’s a good idea. I’ll talk to Katsuki, see what he thinks.” Xavier replied, and Brian grinned. With more people on their team, it would be easier to make sure that they were staffed well for any eventuality. He’d take some more time to think about how to work getting mandatory check-ins instituted. He resolved to check in with Natalie, or whoever was on duty for food service, for their counts at meal times, and would suggest the evening team do the same. Perhaps the night crew could do a headcount once they started in the evening?

“So after the barricades, what comes next?” James asked as he turned back to the map.

“Getting those watchtowers up will be the next priority. We’ll make permanent ladders up to the meeting hall roofs first so they can keep watch while we close off the area.” Xavier replied.

The planning meeting continued for a while as the order and method of constructing the defenses were laid out, and all the while Brian silently reveled in the fact that he had managed to make Xavier listen to him. The heady sense of purpose that had followed him inside the room solidified in his mind. He had the right ideas, and could convince the leadership to listen to him, despite his age and relative inexperience.

Despite his mandatory meeting with Katsuki later in the evening, Brian was satisfied with how things were going. And as long as he kept contributing and leading well, things could only get better for him from there.