The Wastelands

Solitary Confinement.

A feeling f uneasiness overcame Shadow, and he felt like the world tilted on its side then realigned back again. It was a couple of moments more for him to respond as he touched the centre of his c.h.e.s.t before finally opening his eyes.

What greeted his sight was one of his Phantoms hovering despondently. "Worried?" Shadow asked.

The Phantom didn't respond. All he received was a backlash of emotion.

Cinnamon filled his mouth. "Concerned?" Shadow responded thoughtfully. "No, not at all." A pause. "Not yet, anyway."

***

Wastelands

Lilia stumbled but managed to stay on her feet. Heather wasn't so lucky.

"Are you okay?" Katy went to help. She took off her rucksack and bent down to grab Heather's arm, helping her up to her feet.

"It's nothing really," Heather said with a laughed, but it was strained. "I trip and fall all the time."

"But your bleeding," Katy exclaimed.

Heather touched her forehead and came away with blood on her fingertips. Heather just stared. "Oh."

Terran came up with his medkit. "No worries. It's just a scratch."

"Hah, is there a problem?" Captain Terrance called from the front.

Terrance answered. "No, Sir. Heather tripped over her own feet again. I just need to bandage her up."

Lilia could hear him sighing from here. "Fine, but don't take too long. We have a schedule to keep."

Terran turned to Katy. "Go, on as I said, it'll only take a second." Katy was hesitating, but as squad leader, she had to take care of more than Heather.

Lilia piped up. "I'll stay with them."

"No, I'll stay." Tessa rushed in. "I can help."

"To be fair, I'll like someone with more training to stay behind, no offence, Tessa." Katy decided. Tessa opened her mouth to protest but settled to just glaring at Lilia. "Are you sure, Lilia, we might need you?"

"It's not going to take long. Besides, the path is clear enough." Lilia said. She wasn't worried Spike could pick up more than she could. "If you like, I could send Sil ahead."

Katy had a relieved smile. "Yeah, that will help."

Lilia called out. "Sil!"

*Yes, I've heard. I'll be back soon.* Sil said and took flight.

*Good luck.* As he passed her by. He gave screeched in acknowledgement before flying ahead.

Lilia moved to Terran and Heather's side just as Captain Terrance shouted. " Come, let's move it!"

Everyone moved except for Tessa. That was when Katy put her hand on Tessa's shoulder to encourage her along.

As soon as they were further enough away. I turned to the twin. "Did you feel that?" She took off her rucksack and sat on it.

"Yeah, Bryson, right?" Heather was bouncing a little. "He just disappeared. I could feel him now, but still…"

"Hah, stay still?" Terran commanded as he was attempting to clean up Heather's wound.

Heather settled down with her arms crossed. "Yeah, Yeah, I wish you could just heal it instead of doing it like the usual way.

Terran just sighed. "I still need to clean it. Besides, wouldn't it look suspicious if you were healed all of a sudden?"

"I know that. I'm not a dummy." Heather argued back.

Terran rolled his eyes as he placed on the bandage. "There, all done."

"Finally." Heather sprang back on her feet but almost tripped again as a result.

Lilia grabbed onto her arm to study the younger girl. "Ha, we don't need for you to get hurt again."

"You're one to talk," Heather replied, with her tongue in her cheek. She wasn't joking, but not. Lilia could how Heather was worried about her.

"Not now." Terran interrupted. "Lilia, is there any chance that you can reach Druid and Bryson from here?"

"You know it's a long shot, right?" Lilia stated.

"Lilia, please," Heather pleaded. "I don't like what's going on."

She really couldn't really say no to that. "Fine, but no guarantees." Lilia placed her headphones on her ears and closed her eyes, following the Link to where Bryson and Druid were, but as she thought, her telepathy could only reach so far. Even if it did…

Lilia opened her eyes to find the twin's expectant looks, but Lilia could only shake her head in denial. "No, they are too far away and too many people. It will break before I could get anything at all." It wasn't just that. The Link was still there, but if there were no bite on the other end… better still, if they couldn't see the lure, then what was the point.

The twin bodies deflated in dejection. Then suddenly, Terran slammed his fist into the ground. Lilia had to cover her eyes as dirt swirled everything. As soon as the dust cleared, what awaits Lilia's eyes was a small crater where Terran's fist connected.

"Terran," Lilia whispered. It was a rare sight for Terran to lose control like that.

"We can't even do anything, can we?" Terran said, sadness laced in his words. "Bryson might be really hurt, and we're stuck here."

Heather had tears running down her face.

Lilia scrambled to think of anything to get them to brighten up. "You know, Terran, you really need to talk to Tessa."

Terran looked up, startled. "What does that have anything…"

"You know she thinks we have a thing for each." I interrupted, moving her eyes toward Heather, giving Terran a hint. 'Please play along.'

Terran seemed to pick up the signal. "Really, I haven't noticed."

"You haven't noticed?" Lilia's voice was incredulous. "She glares at me like I stole her favorite toy."

Heather laughed, finally wiping away her tears. "Little brother, you must be blind. I think even Captain Terrance noticed. Most of us found it amusing because there's no secret that Lilia likes girls." Lilia and Terran just stared at her."Okay, I find it fun to watch, but yeah, it's getting a little too much."

Lilia wrapped her arms around Heather's shoulders. "Listen to this. A little birdy told me that the little princess is planning to take our Herbal genius back to the City."

"Really." Heather drawled. "Why am I not surprised."

Terran held up his hands. "Wait! You know that's impossible."

"Sure, I know that," Lilia replied. "But does she know you have your own reasons that have nothing to do with me? If not, she'll blame me. I know she will."

"Maybe Tessa will come after you," Heather said excitedly. "Oh, I'll like to see that."

"I really wouldn't." Lilia contradicted. She was sure that Lilia would take Tessa out in a fight. Still, whose family owned a chain of hospitals, Tessa certainly had enough money to come after Lilia. Either way, dealing with all that mess would be way too tiresome.

"Boring," Heather pouted.

"Okay, I see your point," Terran said. "I'll talk to Tessa." Lilia gave him a look. Terran tended to avoid conflict. "I really would."

"Fine, but don't come running…" Lilia paused as she turned sharply, looking into the dense tree-line.

"Lilia." Heather's voice was concerned.

"Shh," Lilia whispered, putting her hand up. There it was; a distortion. It was the same distortion she felt the other night, but it was a lot closer and spreading rapidly, but slowly. "We need to get to the Camp. Quickly."

"What's wrong," Terran asked.

"Can't you hear…" Lilia stopped herself, seeing the confused look on his face. It looked like he didn't hear the distortion. The noise was subdued enough that it almost even escaped her notice. "Never mind, I'll explain later, trust me, Okay. We need to leave now!"

"Heather, are you fine to run?" Terran asked as he picked up his rucksack.

"Yeah, no problem." Heather bounced back on her feet. This time without falling, and followed suit. "Wouldn't it be faster if we left this here?"

"Who knows. We might need this stuff." Lilia stated, she too picked her rucksack. I smile, forming on her lips. "Besides, if we can't run with a little extra weight. We can't call ourselves Lumeye."

"Hah, some of us aren't gorillas like you," Heather responded. She hopped a little, testing the weight. "Race you." Then she took off.

Lilia and Terran shared a look before following after Heather. It didn't take long for them to catch up with the rest of the group.

"Ha, calm down, Spike. What's wrong?" Captain Terrance was trying to calm down the agitated Spike. The distortion was coming closer. Spike certainly was sensing it., He looked terrified.

"Sir, we need to move," Lilia called. She swung her rucksack unto the sled.

Ha," Conner cried out. He grabbed the sled sides so he wouldn't fall off; he had the privilege to ride the sled because of his injury.

"We have no time." Lilia insisted.

Captain Terrance took no time to respond as he fisted Spikes harness. "Everyone, load your gear." As everyone complied. He grabbed a couple of weapons, pacing them to David. "Hand them out to those who could use them."

"Yes, Sir," David said. Heather, Tyson, and the teacher were handed rifles. Everyone else got crossbows. Lilia didn't take anything. Neither did Katy, but she did have a couple of duel daggers that looked really sharp.

The Captain bends down to Spike. "Run to Camp, top speed."

"What about me!" Conner argued.

The Captain only spared the boy a glance. "Hold on tight!" Then he told Spike. "Go!" The spiked wolf ran away. "Okay, here how we are going to do this. We're all going to run the rest of the way, but we run as fast as our slowest person, no running ahead. We protect each other, here me!"

"Yes, Sir!" Everyone shouted together.

Then they were off, but it wasn't long when Lilia spotted Sil flying toward her. *Sil, what's wrong?*

*Nothing really, the path is clear, but was there..?* Sil hesitated.

*What do you mean?* Lilia was confused.

*No, it's best to see for yourselves,* Sil stated. Like Lilia

When they finally we found ourselves standing in front of a gate.

"Finally!" Tessa gasped out of breath. "Wait, this is the camp, right? We don't need to run anymore?"

"Yes, this is Camp 2," Terran confirmed.

The Captain opened the gate door, but as soon as he stepped through. He stopped, dumbfounded. "Where are all the other teams? We can't be the first ones to get here."

*Oh, good, there were supposed to be people here. I thought there might be but wasn't too sure.* Sil sighed.

*Of course, there's supposed to be people!* Lilia's said, incredulous.

*Ha, how was I supposed to know. People are confusing, sometimes,* Sil argued back.

"I want everyone to work on securing the camp," Captain ordered. "While I'm going to set up the Communicator device to find out what's the hell going on."

"That'll be a waste of time." A new voice interrupted.