Dawn lit a straight path toward a town that shimmered in the morning dew. Exhausted and heedless of any danger, we walked in its direction. The broken and weed-strewn asphalt slowed our progress, but we couldn't be stopped with a destination in sight. My breath escaped in a thin wisp while the sun simultaneously warmed my nape. If I wasn't too weary for deep thought, I would have remarked on the polarizing experience.

Our ragtag group of child soldiers stood atop the pockmarked asphalt road that looked down onto a small town. The street was full of holes from lack of maintenance and would be unable to support any but the most robust, off-road driving vehicle. Not only were all the roads damaged from years of neglect, but from my time with the liberation group, I knew that we were right in the middle of a vast mountain range that made traversing the area difficult and rare.

At the bottom of the short rise, the ground evened out for a couple of hundred meters. Packed tightly on each side of the road were lines of buildings, which in the town's heyday, must have been the area they called downtown. It was down and a town, so I suppose it wasn't wrong.

As we all stood there unmoving, I took a few more moments to scan for any signs of life. I couldn't see any lights, fires, or smoke from anywhere. The stores didn't look too bad; they were dark and covered in dirt and leaves, but at least all the windows I could see were intact.

"Sarah," I called, then looked around for her. There were only a few people between us, so I walked over. "What do you think?" I might have helped everyone escape, but she was the leader. Her insight into our situation didn't disappoint me either.

"We've been walking for a while, and everyone is tired and hungry. We also have some wounded, including you," she looked at me sternly. "I wish we could put more distance between us and the camp, but this might be as good as we get."

"I'm surprised this town is here, but I know there isn't much past this point except wilderness," Melody added to our conversation. She had walked over to Sarah with me, and I noticed Melody standing very close to me.

Sarah looked at Melody quizzically, and I knew she was still trying to figure out if she could trust her.

"We also have to figure out what to do about the camp," I said.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked.

"They aren't going to let us go," I stated, but it didn't surprise her. "It'll probably be sooner than later, and we need to be ready for when they come. There's more that you don't know too. We all need to sit down and talk. But planning our defense is going to take priority. I don't think we'll have long."

"Well then, let's go see if we can find a place to rest and some food to eat," Sarah said as she walked down the dilapidated road. I looked to Melody, who grabbed my hand, smiled and nodded. Victor, silent as ever, appeared as he clasped Melody's other hand, then he looked to me, smiled and nodded just as his sister had. I chuckled, and we all set off down the road.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

If someone had been around to see us, it probably would have looked like a scene from one of those old zombie movies I watched with my dad as a kid. The mist around the small town was still thick in the air, and as we came out of it into the town, we were spread out haphazardly; some were limping, but we all just slowly shuffled along.

Sarah and I took point, moving ahead of the group, each of us on either side of the road. I reached the buildings first since there were more on the right side of the road. I crept along, looking through windows on the opposite side of the street for signs of movement.

As I got to the edge of the large windowpane of the building I was at, I quickly peeked in. With the filth covering the window, it was hard to get a good look, but it appeared to be a small souvenir store. I kept low as I went past this store and on to the next one.

I peeked into the second store, and I found what we needed. Before it was abandoned, the building was a convenience store, but it looked like there were still items inside. I signaled Sarah, and she quickly crossed the street to give me cover as I checked the door.

It was locked, but I focused on the door handle, and its outline turned hazy. I matched my hand's aura to the handle's energy, then broke it off since I didn't want to take the time to learn how the locking mechanism worked. It fell away in pieces. I caught the parts that fell apart on my side of the door. Inside the shop, there was a slight clang of metal from the dropped components.

"What is your power anyway?" Sarah asked, looking stunned at my actions.

"Tell you later," I said as I walked into the building.

Sarah walked in behind me, and we started to scan the isles. Most of the items had long since expired, but I thought some, especially the canned goods, might still be usable. There were even some cloth bags by the counter that we used to fill with food.

"Even if this food is bad, we can just grow some later. Now we just need to find a place to rest," I said.

Sarah smiled, "I think the building right across the street is a small hotel."

We left the convenience store and quickly ran across the street. The area continued to look abandoned, but we wanted to take extra precautions. When getting to the building, we swiftly checked around to make sure it was secure on the outside.

Luckily, the door to the hotel wasn't locked. It had two doors at the entrance. The first was a large sliding door that didn't work. A smaller door next to the sliding one was the one we used. We knew it would be a decent place to rest by looking around the lobby and down two hallways.

Sarah and I did our due diligence, as Sergeant Michel would have said and checked each room to confirm they were clear. This was the first time I had thought of Sergeant Michel since we left, and I was glad to actually be doing something productive because I didn't think I could handle the emotional strain of dealing with everything that happened in the camp right at that moment.

It had just been a few hours, but it already felt like a distant memory until I really thought about it. I went through all the rooms in the hallway I was clearing. Luckily they were all unlocked, which must be a safety mechanism for when there was no power. Sarah returned to the lobby shortly after me and confirmed that the rooms in her hallway were also clear.

A short time later, everyone was safely inside the hotel room. Some were already in their rooms, asleep or coping with the events of the last twenty-four hours however they could. A small group of us sat around some chairs in the lobby, discussing our plans.