The army of three still walked.

Jake stayed at the group's rear. Peter took steps in front of him, and Maggie remained in the lead.

Clouds drifted in the sky. They looked like quiet travelers heading toward the nearest ocean.

"Don't worry, my High," Maggie said. She moved through the space between two trees. "You're going to get another opportunity."

"Another opportunity for what?" Jake asked.

"There are a lot of Freemans on this planet. And there are a lot of them on Free, obviously. You're going to get another opportunity to kill one of those pale brutes. And maybe I'll tell you a secret later. Not everything is what it seems to be, my High."

Jake didn't wear a crown, and Maggie hadn't kneeled for him, but he ruled over her and Peter. They were beneath Jake in authority.

Kara and Victor. One of those Soynites had power over the other, and that person wasn't Victor.

"I expect the Freemans to keep secrets from me," Peter said. "But friends shouldn't hide things from each other. You want to be friends with me and Jake, don't you, Maggie?"

"I also want to be alive next week," Maggie said.

"If the three of us stay together, you will be. But you have to tell us your secret. Before it becomes too late, you have to tell us what you're hiding."

What did Jake have to do?

He had to head into a Freeman base with his Watcher and their new ally, help them kill Freemans, then go home.

"I have to do a lot of things," Maggie said. A gust rippled her reddish brown hair. Tree branches shook. "Helping my ruler and his Watcher is one of them. Killing the Freemans is another thing I have to do. They're an evil bunch of people, aren't they? They almost destroyed our entire race. They destroyed Soy. And we have to walk all of this way because of them."

Jake had a beating heart. How long would that last?

He hadn't killed Lock Tannis, and that was why Freemans didn't kneel for the High. He had become one of Soy's rulers, but he had never led Free.

He hadn't commanded the Soy Maker to revive Soy. He couldn't run on his home planet's grass, or feel its warm air against his skin.

Lock's people had ruined too much for Jake.

The Freeman base housed more than one enemy. If Jake went into the building, its pale occupiers wouldn't give him hugs. They would try capturing him. Or they would try to kill him.

Either way, the Freemans at the base wouldn't give Jake the treatment he deserved.

"Well, we're going to kill them," he said. "They do whatever Lock Tannis wants them to do, but I'm not him. I'm not Lock. I know I'm not the Great Leader of the Freemans, but I might become the next one. If I kill Lock, the Freemans will do whatever I want them to do. And I'm not going to deny the truth. Lock leads the Freemans, and I don't. The Freemans hate me. They hate us. They're bad, and there's no doubt about that. They're not invincible, though."

"And they never will be," Maggie replied. "No matter how bad things get, the Freemans will never be invincible. They're always going to be killable. That's nice to know."

Jake could die if he took a laser beam to the heart. Maggie had shot a Freeman in his, and he had stopped breathing.

If Jake didn't want to die, he would have to fight.

"That Freeman I killed definitely wasn't invincible," Maggie said. "It doesn't matter how many times I shot him. He still died. That's what's going to happen to his friends in that base of theirs. The Freemans want to hurt us, and when they don't want to hurt us, they want to kill us. Does it look like I want to be hurt? Does it look like I want to be killed? I like being what I am right now."

"Unharmed," Peter said.

"Don't forget funny."

Still walking, Jake took a step. A twig snapped. Jake, Peter, and Maggie scanned the area. Laser guns didn't point at them.

"I wish we had invisibility bracelets," Jake said, speaking in a tone that belonged in a library.

Maybe he would use a book as a weapon.

"Peter," Maggie said. "When did you and High Jake arrive on this planet?"

"May sixth," Peter said. "We got here eleven years ago. Each person who boarded the spaceship survived the trip to Earth, by the way. We saw Freemans during the Invasion, but we hadn't seen any when we were still living in that spaceship. There was a pilot, me, the other Watchers, and our Highs. No one else. Even if Jake's parents hadn't been killed during the Invasion, they wouldn't have been with us inside the spaceship. The parents of the Highs couldn't travel to Earth with them. Just their Watchers. Me and Jake were safe inside of the spaceship. We were a lot safer than we are now, actually."

"That's pretty obvious. After all, this is Freeman territory. But we can't forget that they're not superior to us. Even though the Freemans invented space travel, they're not better than the Soynites. And those pale fools aren't better than the humans, either."

Despite what Peter had said, he couldn't change the fact planet Free had many Freemans, buildings, spaceships, weapons, and military bases. Free thrived. Lock Tannis's home remained on that planet. His warriors guarded it.

The former Highs had lived in the Soynite royal palace. After becoming a High, Don Ascend had settled in the home. He, Theo Majestic, Boris Endman, Tale Wick, Ray Fire, and Notch Slip had lived at the palace. It had been the former Highs' home. Don's and Boris's wives hadn't lived there. Theo's wife, Lilly, had been its only female resident when Soy's invasion happened.

"The Freemans outnumber us," Peter said. He stepped over a fallen tree branch. "But I'm not scared of them. I never will be. I don't have any Saves, but I do have a gun. Either we kill all the Freemans, or we kill Lock Tannis. There is no in-between."

When would Peter's brown eyes close for the final time?

He had met Theo over a decade ago, but the years hadn't robbed him of his desire to do what Theo wanted him to do.

Freemans had spilled innocent blood. Soynites had died, but Theo had birthed a new generation of Highs.

Had Freemans killed five of them?

Jake breathed. As long as he lived, at least one High was alive.

"Theo Majestic is stronger than Lock Tannis," Peter said. "Lock has powers, sure, but Theo has all the Saves. If strife and Vamp didn't exist, he would be able to kill Lock very easily. Theo isn't a High anymore, but that doesn't mean he stopped being powerful. The vacuum of outer space can't even kill him. And he can see the future. I wish I could do that."

What did Jake's future hold? Would he and his two allies reach the Freeman base? Or would Lock's warriors kill them before they could?

Free's people had delivered death to Soynites. Freemans had driven Maggie's race to near extinction, and she had killed a Freeman in a meadow. His race had slaughtered more than one innocent Soynite.

One dead Freeman wasn't enough.

"I remember seeing Freemans during the Invasion," Peter said. Jake stepped over a long stick. "There were so many of them. And there were so many dead Soynites. Too many. I had to get to Jake, though. There were lots of Freemans who were still alive. And I hated that. What gave them the right to be alive, when so many dead Soynites were in the streets and the grass?"

Jake looked around, but no Freemans stood nearby. The closer he got to the gray base, the higher the chance he would encounter a Freeman. Lock's people acted as if they had been born with ownership over the forest.

"What had the three of us done to deserve what happened to us?" Peter said. "We lived, but we saw horrible things. We survived the invasion, but what the Freemans did killed our happiness. It's a shame that no one killed Lock and all of his people."

Jake frowned, as if Peter had told him Lock had arrived on Earth.

Before their deaths, Jake's parents had wanted him to become a High. A Soynite leader. Peter had brought Jake to the outside of a spaceport, and Theo had turned him into someone who deserved a crown.

"Jake's parents were dead, but he wasn't," Peter said. "I couldn't save his parents, but I could save him. And I did. Me and him have been together for a long time, haven't we, Jake? Back on Soy, the Freemans were killing every Soynite they saw, but they hadn't been able to kill us. We escaped Soy with our lives. If we're lucky, we will survive our attack on that Freeman base we're going to."

Jake had survived for sixteen years. He had been born on February twentieth. He had met the oldest High. The Highs and their Watchers had split into pairs, leaving a spaceship and its pilot in a desert.

Theo hadn't been in the space vessel when it landed on Earth.

Many years ago, his father, Holy Majestic, had died as a king. His death had led to Theo becoming Soy's new king. He had created the High system. Jake and the children he had traveled with were proof Theo had made new Soynite rulers.

Theo, Boris, Don, Tale, Ray, and Notch. Those men had been Jake's Highs. They had worn blue crowns, given speeches, and led their people.

A long time ago, Boris Endman's granddaughter had gone missing. She had been kidnapped as a baby. Boris had never found Alice Endman, his son's only child.

Theo had turned Jake into a Soynite ruler, then Theo had gone somewhere.

Where did his former co-rulers live? If given the chance, would they kneel for Jake?

Theo had killed their authority over Jake. He had become the former Highs' leader, but they had never kneeled for him.

Soy, their homeworld, hadn't exploded. But the Freemans had destroyed its green. They had left the planet gray, barren, and ruined. If Jake went there, he could walk on it. Soy had a surface.

"We're not going to die in a Freeman place," Jake said. "The Freemans will, though."

Maggie looked around. "I love your confidence."

"Regardless, you have to be careful, Jake," Peter said. "I'm sure a lot of Soynites had been confident before Freemans murdered them. You need more than confidence to win battles."

Jake, Peter, and Maggie stepped through a wide gap between two trees.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"I'm going to win a lot of battles," Jake said. "The three of us will. The Freemans at that base, they're not going to be able to stop us. Everything is going to go well. A lot of Soynites aren't here anymore, and that's because of the Freemans. But they're not going to kill me. So many of our people are dead, but I'm not. I'm going to get rid of some Freemans today. I'm going to kill as many as I can. Because of what they did to us, the Freemans deserve to die. They didn't just hurt our people. They hurt Soy, too."

Freemans occupied the base Jake and Peter had chosen as their target. But they didn't know how many enemies lived inside the place.

If Jake had X-ray vision goggles, he would be able to see through the base's gray walls. A laser gun and X-ray vision goggles would be a dangerous combination.

"I wish I knew how many Freemans are at the base," Jake said. "It would be easier to fight them if we had X-ray vision goggles. At least we have laser guns. It's good that you brought yours, Maggie. It's great that you're with us. Three Soynites are better than two. Back in that meadow, you gave that Freeman what he deserved. You gave him what the rest of his people need to get."

"But I haven't killed the universe's worst Freeman," Maggie said. "We're walking in this forest, and Lock Tannis is probably still alive. He was definitely alive while his people were attacking Soy. I killed that Freeman, but who killed his leader? Definitely not me. He hasn't been killed by anyone."

Maggie hadn't pierced Lock's heart with a sword. Jake hadn't, either.

Lock had been alive for too many years.

"Someone is going to kill him," Jake said. "I just don't know when. It might not happen today. Or tomorrow. But a Soynite will kill Lock Tannis, and that person will become the new leader of the Freemans. Lock almost got rid of our race. But someone is going to get rid of him. I don't have to see the future to know that."

"Keep your optimism, my friend," Maggie said. "Someone has to be hopeful."

Peter looked around.

"And someone has to end Lock and his reign," he said. "Billions of Freemans love him, and the Soynites who survived the Invasion hate him. When the Freemans killed almost all of our people, they were doing what their leader wanted them to do. They didn't violate their laws when they invaded our planet, but they did break moral ones."

Maggie sighed. "The universe would be a better place if Freemans never existed."

Free's people had invented space travel, but they had almost destroyed Jake's race.

"Lock Tannis and his minions need to die," Maggie said. "The Soynites who got killed during the Invasion didn't deserve to die like that. They deserved to die of old age. Instead of dying peacefully, they were murdered by Freemans. Those Soynites didn't get what they deserved. At least we can kill some Freemans. We can do that. I just wish we could've saved our people, and I also wish all the Freemans were dead."

Wishing the Freemans were dead wouldn't make them die.

"Sadly, we have to put in actual effort for Freemans to die," Jake said.

Aware he hadn't killed an enemy, he looked at his laser gun. He hadn't contributed to Soynite society in the way Peter and Maggie had.

She had done something good when she got rid of the pale warrior earlier, but Jake hadn't turned a Freeman into smoke.

"I know," Maggie said. She tapped her weapon. "These guns of ours are really helpful, by the way. These things can kill Freemans, and that's why we need them. I'm going to do what I have to do. And I already know the two of you will. I have no doubt about that."

"Thank you, Maggie," Jake said.

He hadn't completed the mission he and Peter had started. But they would accomplish what they needed to, and their enemies would die.

"We have a goal, and we're going to finish it," Jake said. "There are Freemans at that base, but they aren't going to get rid of us. We're going to get rid of them. We have to. We have to revive Soy, and we have to win this war. I don't want the Freemans to beat us. And Theo Majestic doesn't want that to happen, either. We have to win. For Soy, and for everyone who died when that planet was attacked."

Too many Soynites had lost their lives. Jake was alive, and he might hurt and kill Freemans later. Lock's people could bleed. They could suffer. Their hearts could stop beating.

Maggie had killed a Freeman in the meadow she had left. If she lost her life today, she would die as a Freeman slayer.

"I want to kill a Freeman," Jake said. "I want to do what you did, Maggie. You actually killed one."

"I've killed more than one Freeman," Maggie said. "And there are more of them we have to get rid of."

"We're going to kill them. And someone is going to kill Lock Tannis, too. I don't know when it will happen, but it will happen. Someone will beat him."

Jake, Peter, and Maggie walked past trees in the forest, intent on reaching a building Freemans occupied. Their people had destroyed Soy's trees. They had used weapons to murder Jake's people and ruin his planet.

The guns the army of three wielded had come from Soy. The Freemans had destroyed that planet, but they hadn't disposed of every Soynite weapon. Maggie's laser pistol had turned a Freeman into smoke. He had died today. His leader would die in the future.

"There are so many things we have to do," Maggie said. "Protect the people we care about. Make sure we don't get killed ourselves. Aim our guns at people who want to kill us. Avoid getting shot by red lasers. Avoid getting stabbed by red blades. We also have to get inside the Freeman base. When will life get easier?"

"It gets easier each time a Freeman dies," Jake said.

If Theo Majestic had died, that meant Jake had become Hase's only descendant.

Jake. Theo. Lilly. They knew what it was like to have the last name Majestic. Nobody else.

Lilly, a Majestic by marriage, hadn't been born as King Hase's descendant. If Jake and Theo died, Hase's bloodline would end.

"It's good to know that I made my life easier earlier," Maggie said. "And I really want to live an easy life. After all, I deserve to. I definitely do. The Freemans haven't been good to me. They haven't been good to any of us, really. There's not enough kindness in this universe. The Freemans proved that a long time ago. I'm never going to forget what they've done to us."

"Neither will I," Peter said. "And I won't stop being loyal to Jake. Even before the Freemans attacked Soy, I was ready to do whatever I had to do to keep him safe. And if I can't keep him safe, I'll make sure to do my best to protect others. That's the truth. During the Invasion, Jake became my responsibility. And he became my High. But he's not just my High, Maggie. I'm not the only Soynite he leads."

Maggie stepped around a tree. "I know. He's my High, too."

Six children had become Highs, and one of them walked near trees in Washington. Maggie hadn't kneeled for Jake, but she hadn't denied the fact he was her High.

"I want to serve all the Highs," Maggie said. "I really do. The former Highs aren't in power anymore. Theo, Boris, Don, and the others don't rule Soy anymore. Jake does. And five other people do, too. Maybe I'll meet one of them."

"You're going to meet all of them," Jake said.

Six Highs. Jake had been in a cafeteria with his co-rulers, and he had listened to the ones who had been able to speak back then. Their Watchers had been in their lives during the journey to Earth.

Maybe death had claimed the Watchers who weren't Peter. Or maybe each of them had survived so far.

Armed and alive, Peter walked in front of Jake. He couldn't be with his parents, but he did accompany his Watcher. Peter had helped him survive Soy's invasion. And he continued to assist Jake.

Over a decade ago, he hadn't died in his home. Peter had found him. They had gone to the spot where Theo Majestic had waited. Five children and their Watchers had traveled to the area. Theo had transformed them into Soynite rulers, and the kids had escaped with their lives.

"We're going to survive our attack on the Freeman base," Jake said. "After we do that, we'll be able to focus on other things."

"Hopefully, I'll meet your co-leaders," Maggie said. "I hope they're as nice as you."

Jake smiled. "You're sweet."

He walked around a tree. Twelve years ago, he had been able to do that on Soy. If he were there, he wouldn't have the opportunity to move around a tree. It was Lock's fault. He had spoiled so much for the Soynites.

"I don't know where the other Highs are, but I do know that we have to find them," Peter said. "Me and Jake lived with them for a few months. The Highs and their Watchers were living in a spaceship together, and they were safe. We were safe from the Freemans. Me and Jake weren't in danger anymore, but we knew we were going to Earth. And we knew there was a high chance the Freemans would go there too. We knew we would leave the other passengers after the spaceship arrived on Earth, and that's what ended up happening."

The Highs and their Watchers had emerged from a spaceship, and they had separated into six pairs. No matter how far Jake was from the other Highs, he hadn't stopped being their co-ruler.

"The Highs have to reunite," Peter said. "They have to meet up and work together. I can only hope that their Watchers are still alive, because we need their help. We need those six pairs to be together again. The Highs have to fight for their people. Our people. And the rest of us have to fight too."

When Jake took his first step on Earth's land, he had done it as a ruler. He and Lock Tannis led people. But Jake would rather end the Freeman leader's reign.

"And we will," Jake said. "We will fight. We're going to win too. Fairness was in short supply when the Freemans attacked Soy, but we're going to punish them. They won't win this war."

Two minutes passed.

"There's the Freeman base," Maggie said.

A building stood past the trees. Its gray walls towered over Jake, and it might become the last place he would step into.

Goosebumps erupted across his skin, as if someone had shoved him into a walk-in freezer.

The trees near Jake stood like soldiers on guard, but their bare branches couldn't fire lasers at the High. Freemans might get the chance to.

A laser beam zipped toward Jake. It moved toward his face at a rapid pace, red and violent.

He moved. The laser launched through the space he had stood in. It passed through the gap between Peter and Maggie, missing them. A tree received a wound.

Jake's heart pounded, but Lock's warrior hadn't shot him. The High could kill the person he needed to kill.

The Freeman enemy held a laser rifle. Jake had seen the damage a gun like that could do to someone. His breath shivered.

"You're far from home," Maggie said, hurling her words at the armed Freeman. Jake rushed to the spot behind a tree. Maggie ran. Red lasers almost hit her. "A shot to the head won't kill me, Freeman."

"Maggie, hide!" Peter shouted. He stood behind a tree. "I'll distract him."

Maggie could pick a hiding spot. The spaces behind the trees provided them, but lasers could blast through their wooden bark. If the Freeman shot Maggie in the head, she might fall and shut her eyes forever. If she died, she would never see grass on Soy again.

Peter peeked out from behind the tree. The Freeman rushed, and Peter let laser beams loose. They missed the Freeman. He and Peter wielded guns, but so did Jake. He aimed before pulling his gun's trigger. The laser blasted through a tree and not the Freeman.

Jake opened fire again. His lasers tunneled through rough bark. He could see the Freeman he needed to kill. After all, Jake hadn't gone blind.

A blind Soynite would be an interesting sight.

Like the Freemans, it was natural for Soynites to have good eyesight. Soynites didn't need to wear glasses so they could see. Neither did the Freemans. Even before Soy's invasion, they had outnumbered the Soynites. Those pale people infested the universe.

Maggie hid. Jake saw her, but their foe didn't. The Freeman sprinted. Jake moved. The Freeman turned, then pulled his gun's trigger. Jake pulled his.

A red laser beam blasted through the air.

A blue one rushed.

Jake's laser missed. Pain slithered through the wound in his forearm. Groaning, he dropped his gun.

"Jake!" Peter yelled.

The Freeman's violent laser had blasted through a chunk of Jake's arm. Blood rushed out.

In a rush to take Jake's life, a laser hurried toward his face.

Someone grabbed him.

The person forced Jake away from the spot where he had gotten hurt. The red laser launched through the space he had occupied.

"Freeman!" Peter shouted.

He opened fire.

The Freeman unleashed lasers from his gun, trying to kill the man who tried killing him. An understandable exchange.

Maggie forced Jake against a tree. She placed her hands on his broad shoulders before making the hole in his jacket's sleeve bigger. She examined the wound.

"I would tell you you're okay," Maggie said. "But I can't do that, because you're bleeding."

Jake's breath trembled. "I'm going to be okay."

His arm bled, but that didn't mean he would die soon. He would be okay.

The tree's hard bark pressed against Jake's back. Freemans had shot Soynites, but the High didn't have to become a dead one. His wound proved his enemy would rather harm a Soynite than let one live in peace.

Jake bled.

Maggie stayed near him.

Peter distracted the enemy.

The healing glass was shaped like a square, and it could make injuries vanish. But Jake didn't have it in his pocket. Someone else had it.

"Peter has a healing glass," Jake told Maggie.

"Peter is also busy," she said. Jake winced. "Stay strong, my High. Okay? Can you do that?"

"I can."

"You're not just a wounded warrior," Maggie said. She patted his shoulder. "You're also a good one."

She peeked out her hiding place before leaving it. She hid behind a tree. A red laser sped past it. The rushing beam blasted through several trees.

Maggie ran. She dashed, and a laser missed her by a few inches. Jake frowned.

Peter had stopped being able to distract the Freeman. For how long?

As Jake bled in a forest in America, did the High he had stood next to outside a spaceport lay in a blood puddle?

Had Jake become the last living High?

For way too long, Peter had been the only Soynite Jake could talk to.

Maggie had learned he was a High, but she didn't know Jake was the first Soynite High of the current group of them. Outside that spaceport on Soy, Theo had made him into a ruler. Theo had done the same to five other children.

"Jake!" someone shouted. A deep voice.

Peter.

He stood behind a tree, not far from the one near Jake. Peter held his laser pistol in one hand. The other formed a fist.

"I'm going to give you the healing glass!" Peter said. "Catch."

He tossed the healing glass.

As the object sailed through the air, a laser blasted into the tree close to Peter. Wind whistled through the new hole in the wooden trunk.

Jake snatched the healing glass out of the air, then his Watcher sprinted. A red laser charged through the air. It missed Peter's head.

With the healing glass in his possession, Jake brought it to the injury. It healed. He laughed. Precious blood no longer fled his arm. The Freeman wouldn't succeed in killing him. In the future, Jake would walk on Soy after its revival.

He moved the healing glass into his pants pocket. He looked at the laser gun on the ground before grabbing it.

While rushing, Peter opened fire. He and Maggie ran. His lasers missed Lock's warrior, a terrible enemy who deserved to die.

Jake aimed. He and the Freeman opened fire. A blue laser blasted through the pale warrior's chest, and a red one tore through Maggie's head.

The Freeman dropped. Maggie fell. No matter how much time passed, she would never go back to Soy. The dead Freeman had ruined trees with his lasers. He had ruined Maggie's opportunity to return to her home planet.

Jake heard voices, ones belonging to Freemans. It sounded like they were behind him and Peter.

"They're coming!" Peter said. He grabbed Jake's arm.

They ran.

"Casualties happen, Jake!" Peter said. They dashed toward the gray building. "They happen."

While Jake rushed toward the Freeman base, Maggie's killer morphed into black smoke. As he thought about his friend's corpse, Jake intended on surviving.

He intended on killing.