Waking up feeling warm was a new feeling that 636 wanted to experience every morning. The jacket combined with the blanket made rest comfortable and replenishing. It was the best sleep 636 had had in years.

Turning her head, she tried to look for Simone inside the tent but it was completely empty. Simone’s bed covers were thrown apart and when 636 put her hand on them, they were still warm so she must have left recently. She probably didn’t want to stay near 636 for too long.

636’s hair was a mess and when she tried to run her fingers through it they kept getting caught. 636 figured she must look like some kind of rabid animal with her hair sticking out everywhere. She pulled her brush out of her bag and started detangling the mess on top of her head. It felt more like yanking than brushing and each time she pulled it through her hair it sent a bit of pain to her scalp.

“Let me help with that.” 636 looked up to see Simone standing in the tent's entrance watching her struggle. She hadn’t even heard her come in, too preoccupied with attempting to brush her hair.

636 hadded her the hairbrush and Simone sat behind her and began running the brush through 636’s hair, much lighter than what she had been doing.

“Your hair is pretty long so it might be easier for you to start brushing it at the bottom. You know, to take the tangles out before making new ones.” 636 could hear the slight criticism in her voice and opted not to reply. She didn’t want Simone to realize how bad she was at such a simple human task.

The short scrawny boy, as Malcolm had described him, walked into the tent a few minutes later. Eyes infatuated with a slip of paper in his hands, he hadn’t bothered to look up. “Hey Simone, I was waiting by the firepit for you, why didn’t-” The guy stopped talking once he laid eyes on 636. The shock on his face soon turned into fear and wariness, making 636 look away.

“I’ll be out in a minute Alex. Just have to deal with something first.” Simone seemed to ignore the fear on Alex’s face, and instead of leaving with him she continued with fixing 636’s hair.

Alex cleared his throat, eyes dancing from Simone to the tent entrance a few times. “Right.” He said quietly and left the tent in a hurry.

“He’s very jumpy.” 636 spoke, voice still heavy with sleep.

“Alex is scared of everything,” Simone said, “Especially girls who can lift people into the air and basically immobilize an entire attack unit.”

636 was glad she wasn’t facing Simone. She didn’t have judgment in her tone but 636 was still a little embarrassed at her rash decisions earlier.

“Sorry.” She said under her breath, just loud enough for Simone to hear.

“Don’t be. It was actually pretty cool. And as for scaring my boyfriend… Well almost everyone does that. Even me. It’s actually kind of funny sometimes.”

“Your boy friend?” Why did she have to specify if her friend was a boy? “Aren’t you just supposed to say friend?”

“No, because that wouldn’t be accurate, I love him more than I love my friends.”

“Oh,” 636 said, still a little confused. “Is he your lover?”

Simone stopped brushing 636’s hair and turned her around to face her. “We just call that a boyfriend.”

“Seems less intimate.”

Simone rolled her eyes at 636’s antics. “The commander is waiting for you near his tent.” She said, ignoring the conversation the two of them just had. “Make sure not to scare anyone when you walk through the camp.” Simone winked and walked out, probably to meet up with Alex.

636 placed her brush back into her bag along with the blanket she had received the previous night. It fit snugly with the rest of her possessions and she was careful to rearrange her things so as to not crumble the blue flower she had picked her first day out. It had dried up a little but she still found it beautiful.

Exiting the tent, bag securely strapped to her shoulders, she watched the group in front of her pack up and move things, getting ready to head back to their home. She didn’t know if the choice she was making was the right one, but she was going to stick to it. Besides Zaiden and Simone, everyone here feared her. If she stayed with them it would only cause problems. It was best for everyone if she left; preferably after she learned how to make a fire.

636 walked through the camp, everyone’s eyes once again following her every move. The main firepit from last night was now smoking, having just been used to make breakfast, 636 could smell the food and her stomach ached for something to eat.

Zaiden was waiting for her exactly where Simone had said he was, and 636 was glad to see that Malcolm wasn’t with him. He had made his dislike for her very clear so she was going to avoid him at all costs.

“Care for breakfast?” Zaiden asked but didn’t wait for a response as he handed her a plate of food. “Still planning on leaving?” 636 nodded, mouth full of pieces from the arm meal they had provided. “Shame. You miss out on all this food.” He teased.

She was going to miss getting warm meals, she highly doubted her cooking abilities would be this great.

“So what’s your plan for when you go? Is there anything in particular you want to do?”

The only thing still on 636’s mind was figuring out her name, but Zaiden couldn’t help her with that. No one could.

“I’m not sure.”

“So in other words, there is no plan,” he said, “You know I’ve always wanted to try that out. ‘The plan is there is no plan’ but then I remember that that will get everyone killed. And we wouldn’t want that now would we?” Zaiden gave 636 a pointed look. She knew what he was implying. If she went out again without a plan she’d end up dead. He was probably right but she wouldn’t let him know that.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Really?” He raised a single brow and looked at her. “What are you going to do when you run out of food?”

“Hunt.” she said, not even believing herself. Killing was no problem but tracking an animal that was actually edible…

“Water?” 636 shrugged in response.

“What are you going to do when it’s cold? Freeze to death?” Zaiden asked, skeptical.

“I stole one of your blankets so that shouldn’t be a problem.” She admitted and he laughed.

“You stole a blanket?” He sounded a little shocked, not angry like 636 had expected him to act when she suddenly admitted to taking it. Sometimes her mouth moved faster than her mind.

636 held the straps of her bag tighter. “Yes and good luck trying to steal it back,” she challenged, completely serious, expecting him to fight her for it.

“You can keep it,” he grinned, “Technically I did give it to you, so I guess it’s yours now.” 636 nodded, acknowledging her small victory.

Zaiden shook his head, still dumbfounded by her. She was a mystery he couldn’t unpack, and that’s probably what made her so interesting to him.

“My offer still stands. Come with us. Or at least stay until we’re ready to go.” Zaiden stared at her for a few more moments until he was sure she wouldn’t answer him. “I’ll be in my tent if you need anything. You can hand the plate to Malcolm when you’re done.”

636 didn’t want to see Malcolm, she had hoped to ignore him forever but life didn’t have the same plans. She looked over to see the man in question already watching her, most likely since the start of her conversation with Zaiden. Simone was standing next to Alex, arm slung over his shoulders and the poor guy looked nervous watching the small fire. He really was scared of everything. 636 wondered how he had ended up with the most intimidating woman at this camp.

She liked the idea of talking to Simone a lot better than dealing with Malcolm so she walked over to the pair and sat down. Alex practically jumped but Simone held him still and he relaxed. He looked at 636 and smiled. He seemed more embarrassed than scared now. If the most cowardly person here could smile at 636 then maybe there was some hope after all.

The couple continued to talk but it was about things 636 didn’t understand so she didn’t offer any input. It was easier to sit and listen. Unfortunately, since she didn’t do much talking, she finished her food before everyone else. Malcolm was standing with the cooks over a portable stove, she didn’t look at him long enough to tell if he was watching her.

Out of everyone at the small military camp, Malcolm was the one that showed the most hostility towards 636. A few others would hold their guns tighter but no one else was as direct as Malcolm.

636 brought her dirty dish over to the group and they all paused to look at her. Unlike a certain blonde, not everyone had been watching her every move and they didn’t hear her walk up. The look of surprise turned into wariness as Malcolm stepped towards 636, roughly taking the plate from her hands. 636 didn’t give him a chance to say anything to her, she walked away before he could.

636 sat by the fire even when everyone else was finished and going back to their individual duties. She watched men and women disassemble tents and load things onto bulky wagons and trucks. A lot fewer trucks than wagons. They were probably hard to come by.

Everyone seemed to have a job here. No one except 636 was sitting down doing nothing. The log she was on was starting to become uncomfortable. Zaiden had asked her to say until they left but she was sure that would just be a burden to everyone. The others were jumpy and too nervous around her to work efficiently.

Leaves crunched behind her and she turned to see Zaiden walking towards her. She must have been sitting on the log for hours, the camp was already packed up and the soldiers looked ready to leave.

“I have a proposal for you.” Zaiden sat down next to her. “You join our ranks and I’ll help you by giving you a place to stay, food to eat and a warm place to sleep at night. No more roughing it in the woods. We’d be helping each other.”

“Why would you want that?”

“Because I think you’d be a valuable asset in war.” He looked down at his hands folded in his lap. “Plus, I don’t like the idea of a girl wandering around in a place like this alone. I mean, is that something that you want to do?”

Did he actually care about what might happen to 636 or was he just trying to use her like everyone else in her life? There had only been a few people to care about 636 and they were all dead. Bad things seemed to happen to people who got too close to her.

“The only thing I want, no one can give me.” 636’s voice held a certain sorrow in it that she hadn’t shown Zaiden before. Something about it made him curious.

“What is it that you truly want 636?”

“A name,” she confessed, “And not just any name, my name. The one I was given at birth. The one I had before I was taken from my family, but I’m starting to see how impossible that is.”

“It’s not impossible.” Zaiden turned her head to look at him. “You think you’ll never get to find out what your real name is but I don’t think it is.” 636 brushed his hand off and hugged her chest.

“How?” She asked skeptically.

“Do you know what happened to your family?”

“They’re dead.” 636 recalled the conversation Dr.Willow had with her all those years ago, when he told her the truth about her place in the labs.

Zaiden was quiet for a long time, he seemed to rack his brain for any solution but was having trouble finding one. “Did they keep records or files inside the laboratory you grew up in?”

“I- Yes?” 636 had spent her whole life there and every moment was documented somewhere. She was never able to read anything other than numbers so the files had always been a lost cause for her. “I don’t know if they would have my name though. Even the doctor I worked with everyday for years didn’t know my name.”

“That’s because they probably never had a need to know it. You had a number and it was most likely easier for them to keep track of, so they didn’t need to call you by name. But they must have documented it at some point in time, like when you were first brought there. My bet is they still have it with the rest of the files of every other child that was taken.” Zaiden’s reasoning made sense to 636 but she still had her doubts. It seemed too simple. Too easy.

“And if it’s not?”

Zaiden brought his hand up to his chin. “How about this?” he said. “We go to the labs and find out for ourselves. If it is there you’ll stay with us but if it’s not, I won’t bother you about joining us ever again.”

“How would you convince everyone to go to a laboratory some of them have probably never heard of?”

“I’ll tell them it’s another supply run,” he reasoned. “Do we have a deal?” Zaiden held out his arm, waiting for 636’s choice. The only thing left on her list was finding out what her name was and not only would she figure that out if Zaiden’s intuition was right, she would also get a new place to call home. She’d have a job like everyone else and finally belong somewhere.

The more she thought about it the more she liked the idea of joining them. 636 grabbed his outstretched arm. “Deal.”