Once the electromagnetic field had come down, Eric and Aster were improving, as well as the other recruits inside the outpost. When Mari, Eric, and Aster went up to the lobby, the first thing Eric did was again smash through the barrier, and this time, he shoved several lobby chairs into the hole to stop it from regenerating.

All the recruits were excited that there was now a way out of the outpost but a few were still afraid to leave.

What would happen if they returned to the base when all of them were sent there to die?

"I think we should leave and just figure out what happens when we get there," Mari told everyone.

"But what if they kill us there when we arrive," another recruit asked.

"Uhhh...."

"What if this is a test inside of another test," another recruit asked.

"I think that-"

"What if she was making up seeing all those bodies down in the basement," another shouted. "There's nothing down there!"

Everyone started shouting at each other, and the recruits were back at square one when they first realized they could not leave. The only way that some semblance of order returned was when Eric again mentioned that filthy D word.

Democracy.

"I say we take a vote. Who wants to stay....for whatever stupid reason...and who wants to go, like right now," Eric shouted.

A vote was taken, and it was a tie.

"It appears we have come to an impasse," Aster said. "Have you considered that democracy is horrible?"

"Shut up," Eric shouted. "Let's go again!

A second round occurred, and yet again, it was a tie.

"Okay how about this," Eric shouted to everyone. "How about the people who want to stay just stay! Everybody else can just go!"

More objections were raised and finally, those who were staying relented and helped create survival packs for those who would be leaving. When the sun rose again, and twenty recruits set off across the golden desert, the harsh reality of their choice started to sink in.

While under the harsh heat and climbing up a sand dune, Mari tried to make the entire morbid situation less terrifying by singing a song.

Sadly the song made the entire situation even more horrific with the song she chose.

"Every breath you take, and every move you make, I'll be watching you~"

Eric looked concerned as the song continued.

"Every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you~"

"Mari what the heck are you singing," Eric asked her.

"A love song to pass the time," she said.

"That sounds like the anthem of every stalker to have lived," Aster replied.

The group laughed but then started coughing once the wind whipped up. They never prepared for the possibility of a sandstorm, so the recruits started walking faster north. They couldn't outrun a sandstorm, and the recruits tried changing tactics.

They tried setting up a tent as quickly as possible but the wind took it away.

Their frustration turned into confusion because the wind seemed to be playing tricks with them. The wind would stop, the tent would fall, and just about someone would catch it, and the tent would fly right back up into the sky.

This would happen again and again, an invisible game that the recruits had no chance of winning. After fifteen minutes of losing a fight against nature, they gave up, and the tent went on its merry way, off into the clouds.

"We're going to die here, aren't we," Aster said solemnly.

"Yes you are," shouted a woman's voice.

Everyone turned to look at Mari and Mari put her hands up as if she were under arrest. Her arms started to tremble and shake when the sand underneath them started to move, and then sink. They started running in the opposite direction of the sudden sinkhole, but two of them were swallowed already.

"You've got to try harder than that," the woman's voice said.

"Where are you," Mari screamed. "Why are you doing this to us!?"

"You ask a lot of questions for someone who will be dead soon!"

Several feet away, a burst of pink wind flew out from the sand. A woman jumped out of the sand with a manic look on her face. She ran at them with inhuman speed and Mari screamed in terror.

"Oh gross no, it's you again," she shouted. "Go away you toad!"

"Gross?"

The wind died, the sand stopped moving, and the air became hotter and thicker.

"Toad?"

The wind was now back with a vengeance, and all of them were lifted off their feet, except for Eric. He was lifted a few inches off the ground and the moment his boots touched the ground he made his way for their attacker.

"I am Avalon Valeborn, and you are an Undesirable," she boomed. "You die here!"

She stood still when Eric approached her and timed her counterattack. He swung his arm high and she blew out a gust of wind once he was within range. It didn't work, because Eric's body was too heavy from the machinery, and she grunted in surprise when he punched her square in the jaw.

"The All-Father is waiting for you," Eric shouted. "Go greet him!"

He tried punching her again, but this time she protected her body in an orb of flames. Eric's left arm caught on fire, and for the first time in many years, he felt pain. He screamed and dropped to the ground, rolling, trying to put the fire out.

He rolled down the sand dune and she chased after him. She grinned from the thrill of the hunt and didn't notice a looming shadow over her.

It was Mari.

Mari still understood how to use the wind awkwardly flew instead of crashing back to the ground like the others. She aimed her fall onto Avalon and latched onto her like a tick. She locked her legs around her neck and Avalon lost focus. Her flames went out and she fell to the ground.

Mari rubbed her hands together as fast as possible, building up the static in her body, and then pressed her hands to the side of Avalon's head.

"CLEAR," Mari shouted.

"What the f-"

Mari released all the energy she had into Avalon. Avalon saw stars, then went blind as the shock overtook her senses. She was knocked out, and a loud whirrr went off. Her body went limp and Avalon's retina's blinked over and over. Mari sat on top of her back and the other recruits ran to her, to see what happened.

"Who is this woman," Aster asked.

"The terrorist I fought at the train station," Mari replied. "How did she find us out here?"

Eric rubbed his earring tracker and worried that someone else had picked up the signal to find them. He also didn't understand why no one had found them yet.

Mari got off Avalon's back, and Aster turned her over. He started patting her down and looking for any clues. When he took off one of her gloves, he found an insignia tatooed on her right hand.

image [https://i.ibb.co/b5MvVGz/sonemlem.jpg]

Aster dropped her hand as if it were poisoned and grimaced.

"She's a Sister of the Night," Aster told them. "They're a dangerous Weaver faction."

"Let's take her in as a bargaining chip," one of the recruits said. "They tried to get rid of us because they think we're all Weavers. Let's prove them wrong."

"Do you all think that you're not Weavers," Eric asked them. "What do you think made you sick earlier?"

"The food obviously," he replied.

The other recruits nodded their heads along like bobbleheads, and Eric rolled his eyes.

"Enough of the petty bickering," Aster said. "We need to take her seriously as a threat."

He took off his shirt and used it to tie Avalon's hands in front of her, and then used his undershirt to tie her ankles together. Aster dragged Avalon along the sand while they continued to make their way north.

Eric was being used as a living compass to find their way back. His thumb would turn green whenever they were heading directly north, and it made the trip a lot easier. Eric tried several times to call for help but it seemed he couldn't get a signal. Even though he was feeling better than he was inside of the outpost, he still felt that something was wrong outdoors.

As the temperature was dropping to dangerously low levels, an orange speck could be seen in the sky. It was an odd sight, the bright orange mini-van coasting through the sky, a beautiful aurora behind it.

Eric had never been so happy to see his cousin in his life but prepared himself to owe him a sort of hair-brained favor in the future.

Phoenix got out of the minivan, took one look at the traumatized group, and closed the door. There was rummaging around in the back and he opened it up again with a box of fruit snacks and juice boxes. He passed them out, making a very good impersonation of a soccer mom.

There wasn't enough room for Phoenix to take them all back at once, so he took as many as he could stuff inside, roughly ten people, and left to get help. All that was left were Eric, Mari, Aster, and five other recruits.

They took turns watching Avalon, and now it was Mari's turn. She was holding her by the shoulder while they shivered in the cold. Mari kept sneezing and her eyes stung from the wind pushing the sand into her face.

Every time she sneezed or coughed, little electric sparks would come out and unknowingly she had turned Avalon back on.

"I'm so cold," Mari said. "How long 'till he gets back?"

"Don't worry dear, I'll keep you warm."

Avalon burst into flames, and Mari screamed, the top half of her body lit ablaze.