“Jeremy, I think we should wrap it up here for today.” James’ voice broke him out of his routine, and Jeremy groaned as he straightened up from bending over the pile of cabin debris. He squinted as he looked around, suddenly noticing that the clearing had gotten noticeably dimmer. The shadowed silhouettes of the rest of the volunteers were gathered by the truck, and despite not being able to make out their expressions clearly, their stances made it clear that they were just as exhausted as he was.

“Yeah, think you’re right. We’ve done enough for today.” Jeremy sighed, looking down at himself. His clothes and hands were covered in a mix of dirt, dried blood and other bodily fluids. Jeremy did his best not to think about it. He was sure that if his nose hadn’t stopped working halfway through the day, he’d still be retching from the smell. “Make sure everyone heads to the showers before going back to the meeting halls. Don’t need to be scaring any of the kids.” He added as James moved towards the huddled group.

Yasmina peeled away from them and shuffled over to join him, her eyes drooping as she watched the others begin to stagger away. “You good?” She asked, her voice tight in the darkening gloom of dusk.

Jeremy shrugged, looking back at the shattered cabin beneath his feet. “Good as can be, I guess.” He sighed, absently rubbing his hands together, the dried dirt and blood flaking away. “Not going to get any of that out of my mind anytime soon.”

Yasmina nodded, leaning up against him, her arms tight around his middle. He knew she was seeing the same things in her mind: the shattered, broken bodies of the campers and staff they had failed to save, mangled and torn to pieces by the demon bear’s brutal attacks. Many of the bodies had been unidentifiable. They could only guess whose remains they were handling based on who was assigned to the cabin they were busy digging through. The attendance sheet Katsuki had organized was useful in that regard, but given the chaos of the night, Jeremy was sure that there had been a number of people who had either run to cabins that weren’t theirs, or straight up went missing due to being caught outside.

The bloodbath outside of the staff cabin between Ursa Minor and Casseopiea had been an extremely potent example of that. After asking around, Zoe had volunteered the story of the final moments outside that cabin, further reinforcing the horrors of the night and the difficult decisions they had to make. It was only sheer luck that her group had managed to escape thanks to Natalie, and a few of the other campers had managed to run in all directions at the last moment as the demon bear attacked. Unfortunately, the vast majority of that group had been slaughtered in that clearing which made cleanup especially difficult, as it was obvious that the bear had stuck around and partially devoured most of the bodies instead of chasing those who ran.

Yasmina shivered, and Jeremy hesitated for only a moment before he put his arm around her shoulder. It didn’t really matter if he got the back of her shirt dirty, they were both already covered and nothing would fully wash those stains out. They were both lucky, their cabins and belongings had been spared any attack, and Jeremy knew he was going to burn the set of clothes he was wearing at the first convenient time. Most of the volunteer group would probably do the same by the end of their work.

“How many more cabins are there to go through?” Yasmina asked.

Jeremy looked down at her, taking in her tired expression. “We’re more than halfway. You don’t need to keep going if you don’t want to.” Jeremy replied.

Yasmina shook her head. “Where you go, I go. And they all deserve a proper burial...Or as best as we can give them.” Yasmina replied. “I just...didn’t expect it to be this bad.”

“Neither did I.” Jeremy agreed. At some point, he had done his best to disassociate the bodies as people who had been alive just hours earlier, but that had been hard to do. Many of the recognizable faces he’d found were people he’d worked beside for at least the summer, sometimes several previous years, while others were the kids who he had been instructing in wilderness survival skills just a day or two ago. It tore at him each time he looked at the ever-increasing body count, and thoughts about how he could have done better, done more to help them, to save them, gnawed at his brain as he dragged their corpses out of the wreckage.

Yasmina took his hand, gently tugging him away from the piles of debris that were once cabins. “Come on, let’s get moving. I don’t know about you, but I feel like a good, hot shower right about now.” Jeremy nodded, one last lingering around as he let her lead him away.

The walk back towards their staff cabins was quiet, a heavy, oppressive weight on his shoulders as his mind churned with anxieties. There was no way of knowing if the attack had been a one-time occurance, and Jeremy was sure that despite his exhaustion, he’d be getting very little sleep. The possibility of another attack, combined with the horrors he had slogged through up until now were burned into his mind, and even if he did get to sleep, he was sure that nightmares would soon follow.

His body moved on autopilot as they separated for a few minutes in order to gather their shower supplies and a change of clothes. The other members of Jeremy’s staff cabin had obviously already been by at some point, a whirlwind of belongings strewn across the room, the evidence of their attempts to quickly gather what they needed without leaving the campers unsupervised for too long. They would need to return at some point in order to organize getting their things over to the meeting halls, but for now, Jeremy didn’t care much that he had to step over the mess in order to grab his things. Any other day and the disorganization would have prompted him to call out whoever left the mess behind, but he was too tired to care at the moment.

The dark, powerless shower building was barely illuminated enough by the windows near the ceiling for Jeremy to traverse. He fumbled with the knobs for a minute, and after testing the water, was disappointed to find that the water wasn’t heated. Jeremy showered quickly, roughly scrubbing at his arms and hands to get as much of the dried blood off of them as he could. He quickly scrubbed shampoo through his hair, rinsing it out and stepping away as soon as he could, shivering slightly from the cold water. He dried and dressed quickly, heading back towards the cabin.

“Xavier and I are going to have a talk when I see him next. Why he didn’t think getting power to the shower buildings was a priority is beyond me.” Yasmina grumbled as she appeared behind him a few minutes later, still wringing her hair with a towel.

Jeremy yawned, a droopy smile on his face. “Lots of things going on, sure it just slipped his mind.”

Yasmina looked back at him, a small smile crossing her face. “Come on, let's get you to bed before I have to carry you there.” Yasmina tossed the towel aside, and Jeremy grinned as he caught her around the waist.

“I don't know, that sounds like fun to me.” Jeremy pretended to slump against her, and Yasmina rolled her eyes as she stepped abruptly to the side, letting him stumble for a moment before catching himself.

“Any other day and I’d at least give it a try. My arms are going to be noodles tomorrow, I can feel it.” She replied.

Jeremy nodded, turning back to his trunk for a moment. “Here, some ibuprofen.” He tossed the small bottle towards her, and she caught it easily, rattling it in her hand for a moment.

“Not much left in here.” She commented, popping it open to take a few.

“Was planning on restocking this weekend. So much for that.” Jeremy caught the bottle as she tossed it back, taking two for himself and swallowing them quickly.

Yasmina sighed, sitting down on the bed. “Crazy how quickly things can change.”

Jeremy nodded. “This time last night all I had to worry about was whether or not the campers would enjoy the bonfire. Now we’re responsible for protecting them and making sure they stay alive until… Well…” Jeremy trailed off.

Yasmina shifted closer to him. “I know that look. Don’t go spiraling down that rabbit hole. We’ve done all we can for today, so let’s get some rest and tackle the next thing tomorrow, okay?” She replied.

Jeremy nodded, taking her hand in his. “You’re right. I just hope we’re not missing anything.”

Yasmina stood from the bed, keeping his hand in hers as she looked back at him. “No use worrying about it now. If we’ve missed anything, it can wait till morning.” She gently tugged him towards the door, and Jeremy let her lead him out of the cabin.

Her hand had never felt so small inside his.

Jeremy waved towards the guards on duty as they made their way into the perimeter around the meeting halls, beelining towards Medusa. Luckily, most of the campers inside had already fallen asleep by the time they arrived, and the few that were still awake were clearly nodding off, their sheer exhaustion from being up for so long taking its toll. Jeremy nodded towards Brian, who caught his eye as he talked with Oliver, and they both waved at him from the other side of the room.

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen any camper willingly go to bed so early.” Jeremy whispered as they settled down on a pair of mattresses in the far corner of the meeting hall.

Yasmina gave him a small smile as she pushed her mattress closer to his. “Don’t get used to it, I’ll bet anything they’ll be up super early tomorrow morning.” Yasmina replied, eyeing him for a moment as she sat down.

Jeremy frowned. “What’s on your mind?” He asked.

Yasmina shrugged. “Guess I was expecting you to ask why I was staying here instead of heading over to the girl’s meeting halls.” Yasmina replied.

Jeremy smirked. He was always the one to be a bit more stringent on the rules. “I think we can bend the rules for one night.” Jeremy replied.

Yasmina laughed. “Well, maybe I shouldn’t be setting a bad example-” Yasmina started to get up, but Jeremy grabbed at her wrist.

“Oh no, you’re not getting away from me that easily.” He growled, and Yasmina chuckled, tugging her hand out of his grasp.

“Seriously, I should-”

“Don’t. Stay with me.” Jeremy felt his voice crack for a moment as Yasmina looked back at him. A tight, nauseating fist had gripped his heart, and all levity deserted him.

Yasmina stared at him for a moment, her eyes softening. “Of course.” She breathed, settling down on the mattress as she took his hand in hers once more.

“Together forever, right?” Jeremy asked.

Yasmina nodded. “Can’t get rid of me that easily.” Yasmina grabbed the blankets folded at the end of the bed, and curled up next to him as they both laid down. Jeremy’s arm went around her as they tucked in, Yasmina crowding half onto his mattress, pressing closer to him.

“Stay with me.”

“Always.”

The camp was on fire.

Jeremy ran, his feet pounding on the dirt paths, desperately searching-

Screams erupted beside him as a cabin exploded, the roar of a gargantuan, shadowy beast hammering at his eardrums as it crushed the cabin underfoot.

Jeremy continued on.

All around him, the screams and shouts of scared and dying campers echoed through the dark woods.

“Jeremy!” Jeremy spun, and froze.

Chris staggered towards him from another pathway, missing an arm and half of his face, the exposed organs underneath nearly making Jeremy vomit. Chris raised his remaining hand, pointing at him.

“Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?” Chris’s voice repeated, his jaw flapping, only connected to his head on one side.

Jeremy turned away, desperate, searching-

“You! You didn’t-” Mike staggered out from behind a tree, his torso shredded and intestines dragging on the ground.

“Your fault!” Jeremy turned, a young camper with no head lurching towards him, arms raised.

“You didn’t save-” Mike fell on his face, blood splattering everywhere as he continued to drag himself closer.

Jeremy’s feet were frozen to the ground as more campers and staff appeared all around him, each of them horrifically disfigured and broken.

Mutilated and burned bodies, marching closer, their voices overlapping-

“Your fault!”

“Help us!”

“Save me!”

“We’re dying!”

“Help!”

“You-”

“Didn’t-”

“Save-”

“Us!”

Jeremy shouted in terror, finally able to move as he ran through the oncoming bodies, barely able to thread the gap forwards down the pathway.

He had to find-

Something.

What was he-

Who was he-

“Looking for me?” Jeremy spun, and he screamed.

David’s decapitated head, held in the jaws of an enormous, several-story tall shadow beat, leered at him. “You should have looked for me. You could have saved me.” David’s head taunted. Jeremy reached out-

The shadow beast’s jaw closed, David’s head turning into a red paste, dripping out between its serrated teeth. Jeremy’s knees gave out from under him as the shadow beast disappeared into smoke, wafting away like ashes in the wind.

“Jeremy!” Slowly, he turned, his eyes widening as Yasmina ran towards him, another titanic shadow beast that towered over the treeline right behind her, gaining fast, the ground shaking like miniature earthquakes with every long, terrible stride.

“Jeremy! Run!” She screamed, her eyes wide with panic.

Jeremy reached out towards her, desperate-

His legs wouldn’t move.

“Jeremy! I-” The shadow beast roared, splitting his eardrums open from the horrifically loud blast of sound, and Jeremy was helpless to watch as she was crushed underfoot, disappearing in an instant.

A desperate, wild cry of anger and despair tore out of his throat-

“YASMINA!”

“Jeremy!”

He shot upwards all of a sudden, his heart racing as sweat dripped down from his forehead. Darkness surrounded him, and it was only by the light of the moon streaming in the window that he caught Yasmina’s concerned face looking back at him. His eyes bounced around the room for a moment, taking in the rows of campers still asleep on their mattresses before Yasmina’s hand on his shoulder brought his attention back to her.

“Yas?” His voice shook as he tried to get his breathing under control.

Yasmina shifted closer to him, a concerned look on her face. “It was just a nightmare, Jay. It’s all right.” She replied softly.

Jeremy nodded, trying to release the tension that had burrowed into him. His hand shook as he laid it over hers on his shoulder. “Sorry I woke you up.” He said, but Yasmina shook her head at him.

“Don’t be. You want to talk about it?” She asked.

Jeremy hesitated, the memories of the nightmare flashing by before he shook his head. “It was nothing.” He replied.

Yasmina frowned. “It certainly didn’t seem like nothing. I’m surprised you didn’t wake anyone else up. Come on, you know talking these things out always helps.” Yasmina replied.

Jeremy shook his head again. How could he explain it? It certainly wasn’t a completely rational dream, and sharing the details would only hurt her as well. “Not this time, Yas.”

She frowned, and he looked away, unable to take the sad look on her face. “All right. Try to get back to sleep, okay?”

Jeremy nodded as Yasmina settled back down on the mattress, and he laid back down next to her, his arm automatically going around her and holding her tight to his side. He caught a small smile reappearing on her face as she burrowed into his shoulder, and Jeremy closed his eyes again.

Sleep didn’t come easy, and soon he could hear and feel Yasmina’s breathing even out beside him. The sights and sounds of the death of the camp were burned into his mind, and no matter how hard he tried to ignore them, the frighteningly real possibility of his nightmare coming true haunted his thoughts.

At any moment the nightmare beasts could come back for another attack. So many things could go wrong, especially with the new crew of guards they set for the overnight watch. Despite Xavier’s assurances, Jeremy couldn’t help but wonder if they had made a mistake in not putting Brian’s group, a tried-and-tested group that knew how to work together and had done so successfully, in charge of the night defense, when the camp was the most vulnerable. PLus, with the unsolved mystery of the reality-warping cloudbank entrapping them, there was no telling what else might happen in the coming days.

Despite Jeremy’s desperate wishes, no outside help had arrived all day. There was no way that the entire camp, from an outside perspective, could have vanished in the middle of the night and not had someone outside notice. Jeremy had hoped that at some point a helicopter, or a plane, or something would appear over the top of the cloud bank, but nothing of the sort had happened, leaving a gnawing anxiety deep in his gut. All of Thursday had gone by without a sign, and there was only another full day scheduled with the campers before parents were due to arrive to pick up the weekly campers on Saturday morning. Surely, something had to happen by then, someone had to notice what was going on, and help would arrive.

Yasmina rolled away from him in her sleep, and Jeremy looked over at her, an aching, desperate need to protect her washing over him. His hand trembled again, seeing her crushed underfoot a titanic shadow beast once again. He shivered, trying desperately to wipe the image of her terrified face from his mind.

He’d do anything to make sure that he never saw that in real life.

A sudden, urgent need overtook him, and he slowly pushed himself up from the mattress, taking a moment to tuck the blanket higher over Yasmina before he got to his feet. He moved slowly through the rows of mattresses, stepping over loose belongings splayed out across the floor, his bare feet probing each step to make sure he didn’t miss anything in the shadows. It didn’t take too long for him to reach the door, and he quickly moved outside, taking care to shut the door firmly behind him.

The night air was still and heavy as he walked purposefully over to where Connor stood, the other man’s back illuminated by the lights over the meeting hall doors as he stared into the darkness of the woods. It was only a moment before Connor turned, the shotgun in his hand briefly coming up for a moment before Connor saw him, a relieved expression crossing his face.

“‘Lo, Jeremy. Surprised me.” He said.

Jeremy nodded before he looked towards the dark forest around them. “Seen anything?” Jeremy asked, and Connor shook his head, turning back to look the same way.

“Not so much as a peep. Literally, haven’t heard anything. Think all the action last night scared all the wildlife away.” Connor replied.

Jeremy frowned. “Hopefully none of it went too far. Hopefully the hunting team will find something useful when they head out tomorrow.” Jeremy replied, crossing his arms in front of him.

“Speaking of them, you’re not the only one up.” Connor nodded over towards Medusa, and Jeremy looked over to see the silhouette of someone sitting on Medusa’s steps. It took Jeremy’s eyes a moment to adjust to pick out Zoe’s features in the darkness.

“Did she say anything to you?” Jeremy asked.

Connor shook his head. “No, I just noticed her a little while ago. Figured I’d let her come to me if she needed to talk or something, I’d rather not miss something if I got distracted.” Connor replied.

“Makes sense. You give a shout if anything changes, okay?” Jeremy asked, and Connor nodded as Jeremy’s feet took over and moved towards Medusa. Zoe looked up at him as he approached, her hand coming up in a half-hearted wave.

“This spot taken?” Jeremy asked, an easy grin coming over his face.

Zoe smirked, crossing her arms in front of her. “Sorry, all seats are sold out. Lucky for you, I happen to have a VIP seat available for a discount.” Zoe replied.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow at her. “I’ll bite, what’s the price then?” Jeremy asked.

Zoe frowned for a second, and Jeremy could see the gears turning in her mind for a moment before she sighed. “Eh, can’t think of a witty reply. Too early. Can’t promise it’s comfortable, my butt’s going numb here.” Zoe replied.

Jeremy laughed as he took a seat on the steps beside her. “Couldn’t sleep then?” Jeremy asked.

Zoe rolled her eyes, shrugging her shoulders at him as if to ask him why he was asking such an obvious question. “Could ask the same of you then. Don’t think you’re on the night security crew.” She replied.

Jeremy shook his head. “No, couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d settle some nerves by checking things out here.” Jeremy replied.

Zoe nodded slowly, her eyes gaining a distant look to them as she drew her legs up and rested her chin on her knees. “Guess even you leader-types have stuff you’re worried about, then.” She stated.

Jeremy hesitated for a moment. “Nothing to worry about, just making sure our night crew is settled.” He tried to reassure her, but Zoe shot him a dark look.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to bullshit me. I may just be one of the campers to you, but don’t patronize me by trying to tell me that everything is hunky-dory when the last 24 hours have been anything but.” Zoe growled.

Jeremy nodded, letting the easy-going smile drop off his face. Well-meaning, empty platitudes obviously weren’t the way to go with her. “Sorry, didn’t mean it that way.” Jeremy sighed, and Zoe shrugged again.

“S’okay. You all been trying to put out all the fires, having a shit-ton of hysterical brats running around wouldn’t help much. I’m not like the rest of them, so don’t go treating me with the kiddie-gloves, got it?” Zoe’s eyes gleamed in the darkness.

Jeremy nodded. “You got it.” Her eyes stayed focused on his for a few more moments before they lost their hard edge, and she rested her head back on her knees, staring across the clearing at nothing.

“So why are you up, really then?” She asked.

Jeremy sighed. “Like I said, I couldn’t sleep so I’m settling my nerves by checking to make sure everything isn’t about to fall apart while I’m not watching.” Jeremy replied.

Zoe nodded slowly. “Makes sense. Trying to control everything. Anyone’d do the same in this fucked-up situation.” Zoe replied.

Jeremy looked over at her. “What about you? Why are you up?” Zoe hummed for a moment, her eyes lifting to the night sky. The clearing was silent for a few moments, and Jeremy wondered if she was thinking about her answer, or just refusing to respond. He joined her in looking up at the sky after a moment, wondering if she was searching the stars for the answer to his question. The usual starry night sky was only disturbed by the bright red glow from the comet, its tails a dusky blood-red against the inky darkness.

Zoe sighed, and Jeremy’s eyes fell back to her as she waved a hand in front of her. “Guess I don’t really know. Just… Got that itch, you know? Couldn’t stay in there with all of them.” Zoe waved a hand back towards Medusa.

Jeremy frowned. “Something wrong in there?” Jeremy asked.

Zoe shook her head, her curly hair bounding slightly.“Oh, no. Just… too many people, too much noise. Harriet snoring is one thing, but when you get a bunch of others going at the same time…” She waved a hand around.

Jeremy snorted. “Sorry, I’d offer you some earplugs, but they’re back in my cabin.” Jeremy replied.

Zoe shrugged. “No worries, I got some as well, the guys moving stuff didn’t have time to bring my cabin's trunk around yet so when I went back for stuff for tonight I just forgot ‘em. Won’t make that mistake again.” She groused.

Jeremy nodded. “How’s the rest of your group holding up?” Jeremy asked.

Zoe sighed. “Harriet seems fine, but I know she’s anxious about being put with me on the hunting crew. Girl’s near as good as me with a bow on targets, but she’s never been game hunting. Might be something else, but talkative as she is, she’s good at keeping her real thoughts close to the chest, you know? Jenna’s been a bit quiet, but given everything that’s happened, well, I don’t blame her. She and Harriet get along just fine though, so hopefully she can help pull her out of her funk.” Zoe replied.

Jeremy nodded. “And the others?” He prodded.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “Courtney and Sophie...Well, far as I know ‘em, which has only been since the beginning of the week, Courtney’s the quiet one and Sophie’s the loud one. They generally stick around each other most of the time, despite being so different and arguing all the time. Nothing seems to have changed there, so I guess they’re doing okay. Don’t know ‘em well enough past that to know if they’re hiding anything. And the triplets… Well, good luck getting anything serious out of any of them. Buncha pranksters and jokesters, despite being so smart. Far as I can tell they haven’t had any troubles, they’re all joined at the hip as usual.”

“Sounds like a great group of friends.” Jeremy grinned.

Zoe rolled her eyes again. “Sure, if you wanna put it that way. Nothing like escaping certain death to bring people together.” She snarked, then sighed. “Natalie, on the other hand…”

Jeremy’s brow furrowed. “Natalie’s part of your cabin? I thought she was in Ursa Minor?”

“She is, but we kinda sorta adopted her until your team assignments took us apart again. She’s… Well, keep an eye on her, okay? She’s got something rattling around in her brain, and she ain’t good with people. She’s smart and tough, but she’s scared of something, and isn’t saying what.” Zoe replied.

Jeremy hummed to himself for a second, turning over the new information in his mind. “Do you think it has to do anything with her cabin group? She said something about not getting along with them when we mentioned making the teams, but with everything going on, I didn’t think much of it at the time.” Jeremy asked.

“Definitely part of it, at least. Mentioned the same to me after you guys pushed kitchen duty on her. Promised I’d step in if she had any issues with them, but I don’t think that was the whole story, you know?” Zoe replied.

Jeremy frowned. “Any ideas what it might be then?”

Zoe shook her head. “Haven’t known her long, but from what I can tell, she doesn’t get along with people very well. Took me a while just to get her talking, but she’s definitely got some walls up still. Not much I can do about that ‘cept keep working at it, I guess.” Zoe replied, shrugging to herself.

“Hmm. If anything serious comes up, let me know, all right?” Jeremy asked.

Zoe gave him a flat look. “Depends. You asking me to keep up with her cause she’s my friend and that’s the right thing to do, or cause she’s important to you now?” Zoe asked.

Jeremy’s brow furrowed as her eyes bored into his once again. “I don’t follow, what do you mean by that?” Jeremy asked.

Zoe frowned, her shoulder’s coming up as she bristled. “What I mean is, you all didn’t seem to have much of an issue pushing her into the position she is now, far as I can tell. Betcha you didn’t give her much of a choice either, just made sure she knew how bleak our whole situation was just to get her to agree.” Zoe growled.

Jeremy frowned. “That’s not-”

Zoe abruptly stood, pacing in front of him on the ground. “And not only that, but afterwards, you completely disregarded her concerns about team groupings and pushed her back with her cabin group without asking why she didn’t want to work with them. So you’ll ‘scuse me if I’m a bit curious about your motives. So lemme ask you again: Are you asking me to help with her because she’s my friend, or because she is important to making sure that the camp doesn’t fall to pieces?” Zoe asked.

Jeremy could feel the heat behind her stare. Jeremy swallowed thickly, his throat tight at her accusations. “I didn’t mean it like that, Zoe. Yes, we did push her into that position, and as much as I’d like to apologize for forcing that on her, I still stand by the fact that we don’t have any other good options. What I will apologize for is putting her with a group that might not work properly, but for the moment, things seem to be alright, considering Natalie got lunch and dinner squared away without an issue. And if working with her cabin mates does become a problem in the future, we’ll make changes to make it work.” Jeremy replied.

“You’re still not answering the question, Jeremy. So let me ask one last time.” Zoe leaned over him, her hands on her hips and a sneer painted across her face as she towered over him. “Are you asking me to help her with her problems because I’m her friend, or because she’s important to the stability of the camp?”

“Both, I guess. If she’s having issues with her job because of her problems-”

Zoe scoffed, and turned away from him. “Thanks for being honest, at least. But you’re still not seeing the point.” Zoe bit out as she started back up the stairs.

Jeremy got to his feet and looked after her, his mind racing. “Then help me understand, Zoe. I don’t understand what you’re trying to get at.” Jeremy replied.

Zoe looked over her shoulder at him. “Let me ask you a different question, then. Would you be so concerned with her problems if she wasn’t in charge of the dining hall?” Zoe asked.

Jeremy frowned. “Of course I would-”

“Would you be willing to change up the assignments just to help out one other camper? I know for a fact there’s a few others who are going to have issues soon, and I don’t see any of you leader-types taking that into consideration.” Zoe interrupted.

Jeremy hesitated. “What kind of issues?” Jeremy asked.

Zoe sighed again, turning away once more. “Nothing you can handle right now, not while you’re thinking about the bigger picture. Sure, you all might think it’s fine to put the campers in neat little groups and tell us all to just do our jobs, but I can tell you now, it’s gonna implode.”

“So help me keep that from happening! Tell me what’s wrong-”

“So you can fix it? So you can control it? Tell me, what part of this whole situation makes you think you really have control over anything?” Zoe shouted, turning around, and Jeremy was stunned to see tear tracks running down her cheeks.

“Zoe, I-”

Zoe angrily wiped the tears away from her face. “You want to control everything so you can make sure nothing bad happens to anyone, I get it, but that’s just not gonna happen. This shitty, fucked up situation is gonna get worse every minute, and until we have a way out, that’s not gonna change. Best we can do, the best any of us can do, is make sure that the people closest to us don’t get burned when it all falls apart.” Zoe continued, her face set in stone as she glared down at him.

“I didn’t mean-” Jeremy started, but she quickly override him, her words coming at him hard and fast.

“I told you not to patronize me, Jeremy. I know what’s going to happen, and you do too. Some point, everythin’ is gonna fall apart, and while you leader-types scramble to keep the ‘important’ people safe, the rest of us will be left to fend for ourselves. Best any of us can do is to protect the ones we care about most, and I know for a fact that when it comes down to you saving a camper or Yasmina, you wouldn’t hesitate in that choice.”

Jeremy staggered backwards, the blood draining from his face as she lobbed accusations at him, the images of the dying campers from his nightmares filling his head. “N-no, I- I would-”

“Save everyone? Not possible. But I do have to thank you for one thing. Least you made Natalie indispensable, so she’s safer than most. She’ll need it, she hasn’t got a mean bone in her body, so she needs others to stand up for her. Meanwhile, I’ll just have to be the one to protect the ones important to me since none of you can be trusted when it comes down to the end. And you be damned sure not to get in my way.” Zoe turned, and without another word, she disappeared into the Medusa meeting hall, the door closing solidly behind her.

Jeremy’s legs went out from under him, sitting heavily on the steps. Despite the acerbic tone she had taken, too much of what she had said had stuck Jeremy to his core, leaving him scrambling for purchase at the top of a cliff. The deep chasm of truth yawned beneath him, and Zoe’s words had dug that chasm with frightening efficiency and ruthlessness.

His mind whirled as he sat on the steps, trying to piece things together, but pieces of his nightmare kept echoing in his head, and he buried his head between his knees as he desperately tried to force the images out of his mind once more. Try as he might, the sights and sounds of a dying camp filled his mind, echoing and burning in his mind’s eye until he felt sick.

Jeremy staggered to his feet, his body on autopilot as he circled back around to Circinus, his mind set on only one thing as he made his way back over to Yasmina’s side.

The gnawing, aching guilt of knowing Zoe was right tore away at him.

He’d sacrifice everyone else to make sure that Yasmina stayed safe.

And that thought sickened him to his core.