It's our job to follow through.

  Brian entered the little hideaway first, though he was certain it was safe. Among the many they used for hunting awakened through the vast forests, this was one of the most important, and thus one only Brian and his most trusted lieutenants were permitted to know. Inside lay equipment and supplies, boxes and boxes painstakingly transported in the dead of night. They had computers, antennas, communication equipment, food… and weapons.

  A forward operating base, Felix called it.

  "I'll start editing right away," said Felix, plugging his camera into one of the laptops. They were all powered by a generator which charged off discreetly placed solar panels every day, dumping into cutting-edge battery banks donated by some tech entrepreneur who'd come to believe in their cause, and who now provided the servers for their private communications. "We can probably get another four or five videos out of this at least. Maybe more, and the military footage at the end will really spice things up."

  Brian let Felix talk, not really paying attention to his rambling. Felix was a talker, he worked through his ideas out loud. If it helped him to believe Brian was actually listening, then he could talk. In the meantime, Brian was still recovering mentally from the battle—the strain of commanding the golems, the pain of hearing his men die, the frustration and anger boiling in his chest as he failed once again to catch all the awakened in his trap.

  His other followers were also getting on laptops, except for the few assigned to guard the entrance. Brian sat in the corner and tilted his head back, closing his eyes. In any other room in the world, he'd feel vulnerable, but among these people, the most trusted men and women, those he knew were devoted without question to the cause of eradicating the awakened, Brian felt no shred of danger.

  "The President's declared a state of emergency now too," said one woman with a hooked nose—a stone cold killer, but also a terrible shot. Her son had been a pilgrim, and died in the forest near Rallsburg—by what, they might never know. She was utterly dedicated now, even more than he was. She never left their little bases, never went home, and poured every last cent she had into their cause. I can't blame her. If I lost Natalie…

  "Does that really change anything?" asked another man, one who'd been with Brian nearly since the beginning. They'd met in the forests not long after the town burned. He was a conservationist investigating the cause of the fires, and when Brian had shown him the truth of the destruction, the man had become their first real financial backer, a lifetime of trading stocks turning into a windfall for the crusade. "They already sent the army at us."

  "The Washington state national guard," corrected Felix, looking up. "Under the command of the governor. They can't send the Army, it's not allowed to engage in police actions on United States soil. The President can federalize the National Guard from Oregon though, and throw more bodies at us. It's not gonna matter though. More bodies doesn't really beat an insurgency, not when you can't damage the land and you don't really know who you're hunting."

  "An insurgency?" asked one of the guards, sounding offended. She was a career soldier, discharged honorably after losing an arm, but she was still a fighter at heart. Rejected from the police and every other form of serving the public she tried, the woman eventually ended up finding Brian in a bar west of the forest, and soon enough her rifle fired again for the public good. "Callin' us fuckin' terrorists?"

  "They sure are," snorted the other guard.

  "Fuck that. I'm not a goddamn terrorist."

  "They're just trying to paint us as the bad guys. That's how this always goes."

  The two guards continued to argue while Brian closed his eyes again. He never learned their names. He didn't want to, and if he were ever caught, he could never give them up. The only names he knew were by accident or due to fame, like Felix. They didn't need to bond. They had a common cause. When it was over, they'd go their separate ways. Nobody needed to know each other… but there was one name everyone knew—his own.

  Everyone knew Brian's name.

  "Oh, shit!"

  His eyes flew open. The voice was one of those doing research, checking the fallout from their latest action. They monitored every news site, every analyst and political commentator from both sides. Felix would gather as much information as he could, analyze the general public's opinion and reach out to his contacts, and plan their next move.

  An exclamation like that meant they'd found something important. Normally, his team barely got excited anymore by the analysis process. It was usually grunt work, just writing up summaries to give to Felix later. This was different. Felix hurried over, and his eyes widened. A moment later, they shot up to meet Brian's.

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  "...Brian…" he started, caution flooding into his voice.

  Brian laboriously got to his feet, feeling the burden of his responsibility more than ever before. He shuffled over to the laptop and leaned in, while his followers stepped respectfully aside to let him read.

  DAUGHTER OF "THE TRAITOR": MISSING RALLSBURG GIRL A SECRET STUDENT IN SOUTH SEATTLE MIDDLE SCHOOL

  Rumors fly in the recent upheaval surrounding Willford Jenkins Middle School, a public school located in south Seattle. Over the past forty-eight hours, parents have begun pulling their children out of school, fearing for their safety and claiming the administrators have allowed a dangerous pupil in their midst. More than a third of the 1100 students at Willford Jenkins missed school today, and officials expect that number to continue to rise. Their worries stem from a single child—Natalie Hendricks, daughter of Brian Hendricks, leader of the anti-Awakened movement and "Traitor of Rallsburg", according to the Rallsburg Diaries.

  "Her father's a mass-murderer," said Megan Sinclair, whose daughter was a classmate of Natalie. "She was at school under a fake name, hiding from the police and the FBI, and she terrorized my daughter. She's just as bad as he is."

  In response to growing protests, principal Frieda Talbot has declared Natalie's continued right to attend, citing the school board's decision and laws protecting students' rights. "Though she registered under a fake name, this was clearly an extenuating circumstance. Natalie has every right to attend school, and Willford Jenkins is fully prepared to defend her rights. She has been an exemplary student since the day she arrived."

  Natalie's official record at the school, exclusively obtained for this report, reflects this sterling claim. However, other students dispute her reputation.

  "Jenny's crazy. There was a dodgeball fight and she broke Blake's nose. She nearly broke a kid's neck on her first day. And she's so weird," said Lydia Jennings, another classmate of Natalie's, who was attending under the name Jenny Heshire.

  Rumors also persist that Natalie is one of the awakened—those with the ability to use magic. Though many concerned parents cite this as the reason for removing their children from school, we could not confirm this claim, and it was not supported by any students contacted for this report. Whether or not she holds magical ability, Natalie Hendricks is certainly the cause of the chaos engulfing Willford Jenkins this week.

  Felix was still watching Brian as he finally stood up straight again. "...Brian?"

  "She's still alive," he breathed. Until that moment, he'd believed, but the fear always remained. He hadn't received a single sign, not a single hint of his daughter until this story.

  "Yeah, but—"

  "Of course they'd say she's awakened," he said dismissively. "Of course they'd persecute her. It means nothing."

  "I found something else," added a woman on the opposite side of his laptop, pointing at her screen. "You'll want to see this."

  "What is it?" Brian asked, unsure what he was looking at on her screen. "This is a… blog?"

  "Yeah, with an interview of another student. Blake Sinclair. Looks like they were friends." She scrolled to a photo—and there she was. His daughter.

  Natalie looked so much older than the last time he'd seen her. Her face hadn't changed much, and her hair was just a bit longer than before… but it was in her eyes and her expression. Natalie looked guarded and afraid… hurt. She was surrounded by other girls, smiling into the camera, but Natalie clearly didn't fit in with them… and she wasn't smiling.

  His heart ached. He wished he could jump through the screen to be with her.

  "It goes on for a bit, and this girl claims she's awakened too, but there's no proof or anything. Kinda reads like she's jealous of Natalie with a boy she liked," she added, rolling her eyes. She scrolled down further, and another photo appeared.

  Brian's whole world stopped.

  "Oh my God…" Felix gasped behind him.

  It was Natalie again, and she looked even more withdrawn and damaged than before, but now… her face had changed to match. A scar spiraled around her cheek, starting at her ear and spinning out onto her face. Her hair was worn lower and thick to hide as much as she could, but it was obvious. Her eyes were purple—contacts, maybe? I don't understand...—and she held herself in a defensive pose, as if she were about to be attacked, though she was just sitting in the back of a school bus.

  A boy sat next to her, holding her hand. He looked nice enough, though his eyes were hidden behind glare off his glasses. Natalie didn't seem particularly warm toward him, or toward anyone nearby. She just looked… broken.

  Brian fell to his knees. Tears burst from his eyes. "...Natalie…" he murmured, over and over again. His people watched, all clearly aching for him, but what could they do? Who knew where she was, or what they could do to help her?

  "If she's got a boyfriend…" started Felix carefully.

  Brian turned to him, frantic. "She might be living with him. If he isn't, he'll know where to find her. Figure out who he is and where they are. Do whatever you have to."

  Felix nodded. He glanced up at the police officer, one of Brian's oldest lieutenants and veteran of more than one battle. Brian had sent him after Natalie before, but it was obvious now why he couldn't find her—from this photo, she looked completely different now. It's like she isn't even my daughter anymore…

  His people set everything in motion, while Brian remained stuck kneeling, gazing at the photo shining off the laptop in front of him. Natalie was frozen in time in that photo—his strong and brave daughter, damaged and broken, while he'd been away fighting against the whole world for her. I should have found her. I left her out there all alone, and look what happened. What was I—

  "Don't do that," said the woman on the laptop, setting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't blame yourself. You've been through hell. We tried to find her. We tried everything."

  "It wasn't enough," whispered Brian. "It wasn't enough."