As Enzo lifted the tent flap, sunlight streamed in and blinded me to what was outside. Once outside, my eyes took a moment to adjust, but once they did, I found I was standing next to one of the prettiest girls I had ever seen. Not only was I standing next to her, but we were uncomfortably close.

“Sorry,” I said as I stepped back to create some distance. Melody didn’t seem to mind the space; she stood her ground with her hands on her hips and a smile.

“So, this is the bag head, huh?” She asked jokingly. “Not bad.”

“Oh, God,” Enzo said as he looked down and shook his head. “Don’t make me lock him back up, Melody.”

“Aww, you can’t do that, Uncle Enzo. He’s too cute.” As Melody said the last part, she lunged across the small distance I made between us and pinned me in a sideways hug that pinched my shoulders together.

I was stunned and could only open my eyes wide in shock and look to Enzo for help. Physical contact in the camp was highly forbidden and only allowed in fights or punishment. Sure, I snuck as many light hand touches and shoulder brushes as I could when I was with Claire, but this level of contact was way above my comfort level. I don’t think Enzo cared about my comfort level; he was more concerned with the inappropriateness of his niece.

“Let him go. You’ll have time to get to know him later,” he said, turning to me, “Aidren, this is Melody, my niece. Use that information wisely. Now come on, you three, let’s get some food.”

Melody let go of me, and I looked at her. She looked around my age, and her height was slightly lower than mine. Unlike her uncle, her skin was a medium caramel and contrasted beautifully with her amber eyes and full red lips. Her hair was black, straight and long. As she moved, it fanned out, sparkling in the sun. She noticed me looking.

“Are you stunned by my beauty?” she teased.

I absolutely was, but I didn’t want her to know or seem rude, so I thought of the first thing that came to mind. “Did Enzo say, you three?” I asked.

“Yep,” she said and turned sideways. Like magic, a young boy was revealed to be standing behind her. “This is Victor. He’s my son.”

“What?” I blurted. I thought she was my age, and this boy had to be about nine or ten.

“Just kidding,” she said. “He’s my little brother. But, you should have seen your face. It was like you had never seen anything so scandalous in your life. Come on.” She grabbed my arm and led me in the direction Enzo had walked.

As we walked, she continued to hold my arm. I could feel my skin heating up and tingling where our skin met. I tried to take my mind off it, so I looked back to check on her brother, who I noticed was dutifully following behind us but not paying any attention.

“So, what’s your story?” she asked as we walked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I know you’re from the camp we have been scouting, but what about before that? Where are you from? Did you have hobbies before? That kind of stuff.”

“Why do you want to know?” I asked skeptically.

Her lips shaped into a petite frown. “There’s a couple reasons,” she said, then looked at me and smiled. “I do think you’re cute, though, so I want to know more about you to see if we’re compatible.” I could literally feel my cheeks getting redder. “What’s your ethnicity? You look Asian, but your skin is darker, and you change colors like a white boy.”

I cursed inwardly at my inability to hide my emotions from her due to my lineage. “You’re not far off,” I said. “My dad is white, but my mom is a pacific islander. So, I guess that’s sort of Asian; at least, that’s what I remember my parents telling me.”

“How long were you in that camp for?” She asked seriously.

“Does it matter?”

“No,” Melody sighed. “But it’s good to talk about it. That’s the other reason why I want to know about you. The reason why I’m here.” I looked at her questioningly.

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“When these camps are liberated, they’re full of kids who don’t trust anyone. Or, at least, any adult. You would know better, but I think if I were to be freed from a military camp by other military-type people, I wouldn’t trust anyone either. So we made our camps like this.” She waved at the camp, and it was only then that I really looked around.

“We’re made up of families and kids, so when we free a camp, there are people you can talk to, people you have something in common with, like me.” She smiled at me again, but this time it was different. It wasn’t teasing or playful like her other one. It didn’t fully reach her eyes. For some reason, it made me feel sad.

“Well, I wasn’t liberated. I escaped,” I said and paused. “But, I think you’re right about the trust. It needs to be built up and earned.” I wanted to say more, but I still didn’t know if I could trust her or this camp.

It all seemed awfully convenient for them to be here, apparently liberating the camps and employing a beautiful girl to befriend me. The cadre said the world was a dangerous place now. I couldn’t be sure these people weren’t lying to me. I had to be careful until I could.

We had to stand in a short line to get the food being served, but it wasn’t a long line. Additionally, it was far different from what I was used to doing at Camp Walker. I had always hoped that after time, the eating procedures at the camp would have changed or at least relaxed a bit, but they never did. That was the first time in a long time that I didn’t have to follow a strict regimen, and it was actually causing me a little anxiety. When I got to the pot, I was handed a bowl with stew and a lump of bread.

As simple as the food was, it smelled lovely. It reminded me of when my mom didn’t have to work, and I would come home to her cooking in the kitchen. I didn’t receive any food in the morning, so I was suddenly ravenous. I must have stopped while I was lost in thought from the sudden intrusion of memories of my mom’s cooking because I looked up and couldn’t see Melody or Enzo. Luckily, they saw me. Melody yelled for me and waved me over to some picnic benches that were a little way off from everyone else eating.

I sat down next to Melody but faced outward so I could look around while I ate and make a run for it if needed. But just as I had the thought, I realized I wasn’t going to run, at least not until I had more information. It did make me wonder about how relaxed they were all being. No one seemed to care if I ran, and no one worried about me.

“What’s to stop me from running right now?” I asked.

“Leave your stew if you’re going to do that. We can give it to someone else,” Enzo said without looking up from his bowl.

“You don’t care?”

“Only if you waste that stew,” he pointed at me with the spoon in his hand.

“You know what I mean. You have security patrols that will track me down if I go, don’t you?”

“We have security patrols and radios to communicate with them, but if you run, I’ll call them and tell them to let you go. But I don’t understand why you would leave, we’re right in the middle of a mountain range, and I don’t think you want to be out there alone. My job is to liberate that place you came from, I could use your help, but I won’t make you.”

I didn’t say anything after that. I silently looked around at everything while I ate, pondering my choices. To my left, the campground sloped downward.

I could see maybe a hundred meters down the hill until the trees stopped any further visibility. It’s not that the trees in the area were highly dense; it was just the number, girth, and large clusters of rocks and bushes all added up.

I assumed there were more people, but I counted about forty to fifty people eating in the area. Not everyone was close together; the area consisted of about ten spaces where someone could park a vehicle or RV and stay for the night. A paved road passed all the spots and continued further than I could see, so I knew there was much more to the campsite than I could see. I didn’t know which road led out, though, so I figured my best bet would be to just go down the hill if I had to leave.

A few men spread out among the groups of people in the area, but I mostly saw a large number of women. I also noticed that a few small children were running around jumping off rocks and running around trees just like kids are bound to do. It’s what I would have done if I had come to that place before I was taken in.

I finished my stew and stood up. I had to figure out what I was going to do. I planned to gather more information about my family once I left the camp, but I didn’t realize my memory would have been returned to me.

“Hold on a sec, I’m almost done,” Enzo said, then to himself, but so we could all hear, he mumbled, “kid’s a God damn eating machine.”

“Sorry, I just don’t want to be still.”

I felt a touch on my forearm and looked over to see Melody with that damn smile that made me feel sad. “You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said, playing it off as nothing, “I’m just not used to sitting still.”

Enzo grunted as he got up from the table. “Kid,” he said, looking me in the eyes. “You ain’t gotta lie to kick it.”

“Huh?”

“We know how those camps are. We know how they conditioned and treated you, and we’ve seen what happens to the people who come out of them.” We all walked to a large bucket and dropped our dirty dishes. “So what I mean by that is don’t try to lie to us and tell us you’re okay. Hell, even if you think you’re okay, don’t tell us that because we know you definitely are not.”

I started to protest, but he held up his hand. “Don’t twist that statement all around and think I’m insulting you. I’m just saying those places are messed up, and no one comes out without some kind of baggage.”

I didn’t respond, so Enzo turned around and waved at me to follow him. With Melody still at my side and her brother right behind, we all walked back to Enzo’s tent.