After dinner everyone was asleep. Drea stood on the roof staring into the moonlit city.
"Thinking about Jose?", asked Matt while he walked up to her.
"That's only one of the things."
"So you're still angry at what I said. I know it came out to be mean but.."
"But it's still what you believe is true, right?"
"Drea, I can't follow commands. You know that. Look give it up. We need to fight tomorrow and fight together and.."
"Whatever Matt. You are free to do what you want. I only have to go out there and survive. I don't want to kill them."
"The Branders? Why not?"
"I don't know. Like I said, all of this, you and Jose, it's just a fraction of the things I'm thinking. Everytime I've killed an enemy it only gets worse! I wanna give up!", said Drea strongly holding back her tears.
"Hey it's okay. You can tell me everything you're thinking about."
"Is this it Matt? This is our enemy? Who are the Mutagens? Who controls them? It's like we all went through this long phase of fighting demons alone in a world where anything was possible! Didn't you have it too? Shut your eyes and something around you changes, you have crazy super powers and skills. And faceless enemies like they have no form. And then suddenly we are put into this world that seems real enough, with real people and other killers chasing us. When did all this happen? When did the Earth we know transform into this? I don't know if I'm real sometimes and it really depresses me. I feel so lost!" Drea was crying through her words and Matt hugged her to comfort her. Through teary eyes he spoke, "I don't know. I really don't. But we fight Drea. We fight for whatever this battle is for." From behind them Jose spoke, "I don't want to put you through this. I had just come here to say that our mapping guy Scott ran into an entire alien camp. He just returned and says there are plenty of them. But if you guys wanna drop out, you can." Then a little hesitantly, and sounding sorry, he addedd, "Just that you will have to leave our camp then." Silent for a moment, Drea finally spoke, "We'll do it. Where is Scott?"
With a respectful nod, Jose guided Matt and Drea to Scott. Along with Scott, they sat and understood the entire map and prepared to leave next morning.
Drea woke up feeling hollow and looked around to see Scott awake already. They were going to leave before sunrise to avoid being seen. Matt was still sleeping and she shook him awake. As they collected their items, Drea asked Jose if she could carry some food along. Stuffing the scarce food into Matt's tiny hiker bag, Drea carried only her gun and the ammo bag. Matt strapped on his quiver and loaded some more arrows he seemed to have carved last night. Drea slipped in some permanent markers in Matt's bag so that they could leave signs of their route. Together, the three of them set out in the lonely hours. Scott seemed to know the place well and guided them with ease. Drea noticed that they seemed to be going further into the mountains bordering the city's coastline and asked Scott, "How did you find this place?"
"That's what mappers do. Take campin' supplies for days and walk out into the unknown as far as possible.", replied Scott feeling proud.
"Don't you run into the branders?"
"Just a few. There has been worse. We used to Four of us working on mapping. Holly and Sharon, both sisters. They personally didn't get along quite well, but both were truly gifted in skill. They ran some cold war over inherited property or something; never would really talk much but had their independent searches going great. Then a few months back, we ran into this terrible gang of aliens. They killed Holly and Sharon; and my pal and I got saved. He now leads the team and I map"
"Jose and you did this together? Months back? Wow we're around this place for long!"
"A little too long kiddo!", joked Scott.
"How many of you have died?"
"To tell you, Holly and Sharon, Victor and Kayla, the Rosklov twins, Amelia and her daughter. That's maybe about it."
"Did they all work in pairs?"
"Yes they did, but they also joined us in pairs. All of you did. It's how things are. People team up, come to the store for supplies and we grow."
Then leading them up a cliff, Scott said, "This is it. You walk straight into the dragons den form here." Taking in a deep breath, they both turned thanking Scott and exchanged kind remarks about one another. Every thing seemed like a last goodbye and they departed as Scott called back, "Good Luck".
Very quietly and cautiously Matt and Drea walked in. The foliage started thinning suggesting cleared ground for camp. Pointing to a tree, as usual Matt climbed up and pulled up Drea's bag as she followed. What they saw from the top, took their breaths away. In front of them stood what looked like an old time cottage resort. The chimney was constantly fuming suggesting warmth and the place looked lit up in the thin dawn that was breaking across the horizon. Facing a beautiful river valley on their right, the resort was placed in the most distant location at the peak of the cliff. Outside that, convoys and trucks were lined up and more kept pulling in and out.l
"Where do you think they got the electricity?", whispered Matt.
"Umm if you have enough thermoelectric generators and ice then you burn wood on one end and put the ice on the other to produce electricity."
"That's true. The Branders would do that", said Matt in an extremely serious tone but deep down sarcastic.
Punching him lightly, Drea replied, "Even if whole of Noah's ark was Thermoelectric generators, it wouldn't be enough to power up this place."
"It only means the mutagens came here in something a lot more advanced than the ark."
"Look at the number of branders just casually walking in and out of that place. They're so confident no one would dare to invade their privacy."
"Not everyone is stupid. So what do we do? Walk in, climb a tree and attack?"
"We walk in and go straight into that main cottage there."
"Ha you're funny"
"Get me the markers."
"That's the craziest thing I've heard! You can't just draw veins onto us in black markers and be like, "Howdy Partner. Got some human blood we could use?" No no no..it's a total death call and lying!"
"Oh ya? Okay then why don't you draw them on me and I'll go kill some branders and meet you back here? After a team of them have caught you because you're the only suspicious person hiding in a tree spewing out arrows against a bazillion of them!!!"
"And I'd still have better odds of survival!!!"
"Not funny Matt. Now c'mon. We do this and die or we sneak up and die. Pleaaaaase?", pleaded Drea with a pout.
"Only because you said please that way", said Matt handing her the markers. Climbing off the tree they drew veins as realistically as they could on each others necks and backs. And then just like that, they walked into the premises. A few people looked up but not for more than a millisecond and resumed their work. The smell of food swallowed up the place and Drea whispered, "Told ya Branders need food".
"Or they are just welcoming their guests", said Matt walking to the direction of the smell.
"Matt focus. We had a breakfast."
"Yeah, that granola bar, it was really filling. This is just work baby; we walk right into the gossip. Know your enemy if you want to kill them." Drea wanted to protest but found Matt making sense. The cafeteria would probably give them most of the news.
Inside the warm cottage, Matt loaded his plate with the finest breakfast they had seen in all this while- French toast, eggs, milks, cereal, boiled corn and waffles. Drea didn't hesitate either, and they took a seat on the most crowded table they could find. Devouring possibly their last meal, Drea found no regrets in this mission anymore. On every wall, read the words, 'The rules you see, you lost your soul to me. And if I win here, both of us lose to the higher power'. "What does that mean?", whispered Drea to Matt. Then all of a sudden, a wave of small shining particles formed themselves into a floating screen. Matt and Drea stared in amazement at the screen that read, "Conversion toll" and under it were eight names and their details. "New Mutagen conversions?", asked Matt as quietly as he could. "I could bet they killed more than just eight with that fancy age technology", replied Drea.
Very normally, Matt turned to the Brander next to him and spoke, "Low on the conversion today, eh?" The guy, a little confused replied, "Not really. Eight making it to the new world seems like quite a thing. Must be smart guys. Smarter than us for sure!" "Uh huh..", replied Drea informally introducing her to the conversation. "It's crazy huh? Forgetting who you are once you're there; converting your own kind. Checking in your soul like that", continued the Brander. Drea noticed his pitch black eyes and hoped he wouldn't notice Matt's hazel-brown shade. Lucky for her, her eyes were dark enough anyway, and so to avoid trouble she diverted the brander's attention to her, by saying, "Yes. It's terrible indeed.." She was talking when a blinding beam of light -just like the one that begin this all- spread across the room. Reflexively Matt and Drea let out a scream covering their eyes and the beam disappeared. Eyes turned to them as the Brander next to them asked, "Are you new?" "Yes." quickly spoke Drea before Matt could answer. The Brander explained, "This is the light of the conversions being taken into the new world. Everyday at sunrise and sunset. I also use it as reminder that I should be checking in for my shift. Your eyes should protect you from the intensity.." Drea cut him off saying, "We converted, I mean.. were changed yesterday. Our eyes are still not developed." She squeezed Matt's hand as if asking him to not speak. "Wow you should check in then to get that fixed", replied the brander. "We just finished our shift", spoke Matt with confidence. "But now that we know, we will surely mention it tonight when we start. Thakyou...?" "Jason", replied the mutagen. "Jason. This is Emily and I'm Tom. We won't hold you longer", lied Matt picking up his tray and walking to the garbage can. Half heartedly Drea and Matt discarded their food and feeling shocked, they walked out of the cottage.
"I can't do this. Let's go with your plan. Sneak, kill and die.", spoke Drea as they hid behind an alien convoy.
"Did Jason just mean we are invaded by aliens?"
"I don't care. We kill them and finish the job!!"
"Calm down Drea! Calm down and think like you always do."
"You want me to calm down and think?! We just had breakfast with a Mutagen who says that aliens have invaded the planet, they select some of us as slaves and convert some to be taken to a new planet in a blinding space ship!!? What part of that do you want me to think about?", Drea said freaked out. In the same tension, she continued "Hey Matt,I thought about it. The electricity isn't from thermoelectrics but generated from light receptors since they seem to have so much of it!!!"
"That's not the appropriate humour. We need to get the heck out and tell Jose.."
A voice spoke behind them, "Are you lost?" Nervously, they looked at the intimidating Mutagen and together they replied, "Yes" "No" He walked closer and pulled up Matt by the collar saying, "Who are you?" In an instant Drea shot the brander and the sound echoed in the entire place. "Not good", said Matt pulling Drea away as they started running. Soon other branders surrounded the dead one and someone yelled, "Maybe that way". Matt turned and pulled out an arrow killing another one of them. Drea did the same and soon screams filled the area. They were being showered with arrows and bullets but none too close since they ran in the cover of the trees. "I can't keep track of how many I've killed", shouted Drea thinking about what they'd tell Jose.
"Me neither but enough to have won your soul first", said Matt trying to lighten the mood.
"Oh please. I'm pretty sure I've covered up."
"It's a dead end", said Matt looking ahead as Drea shot more Branders behind her. Stopping at the edge of the cliff Drea said, "Climb that tree".
"No. We will be stuck then. They'll wait for us to come down, or moreover just climb up the tree and kill us." In the mess of the thought they saw a brander running towards them. Matt drew out another arrow to aim but
"Stop!", yelled Drea. "It's a kid damnit!" A small boy, not older than 7 came running to them with a knife.
"Yeah and a brander."
"DO NOT KILL HIM", scowled Drea.
"What's wrong with you!?" Matt positioned his arrow and tried to aim when Drea held the gun to his head saying,
"You go with him. Listen to me this time!! You asked me to think and I thought. Put that bow down." The kid was much closer now when Matt pulled down the bow and in a flash, less intense than the beam, the kid disappeared.
"What the heck?", said Matt as he looked around. "Okay now before others come, jump."
"What!? This isn't who can be the craziest!"
"I mean it. Jump. It's a deep river, we will survive."
"You will survive! I can't swim!"
"I'll save you. I'm here; just do it!"
"What the hell Matt no", Drea was screaming as Matt pulled her with all his strength to the edge and held onto her with all his life as he dived into the valley. With unbelievable energy they went deep underwater and Matt had to grasp onto Drea closer and tighter to pull her up afloat with him. Coming afloat he tapped her cheek saying, "You're alive". Opening her eyes, Drea struggled to stay afloat and hit Matt who was laughing. Then laughing too, "NEVER.EVER.AGAIN", she said as they made their way to the bank.
"Thinking about Jose?", asked Matt while he walked up to her.
"That's only one of the things."
"So you're still angry at what I said. I know it came out to be mean but.."
"But it's still what you believe is true, right?"
"Drea, I can't follow commands. You know that. Look give it up. We need to fight tomorrow and fight together and.."
"Whatever Matt. You are free to do what you want. I only have to go out there and survive. I don't want to kill them."
"The Branders? Why not?"
"I don't know. Like I said, all of this, you and Jose, it's just a fraction of the things I'm thinking. Everytime I've killed an enemy it only gets worse! I wanna give up!", said Drea strongly holding back her tears.
"Hey it's okay. You can tell me everything you're thinking about."
"Is this it Matt? This is our enemy? Who are the Mutagens? Who controls them? It's like we all went through this long phase of fighting demons alone in a world where anything was possible! Didn't you have it too? Shut your eyes and something around you changes, you have crazy super powers and skills. And faceless enemies like they have no form. And then suddenly we are put into this world that seems real enough, with real people and other killers chasing us. When did all this happen? When did the Earth we know transform into this? I don't know if I'm real sometimes and it really depresses me. I feel so lost!" Drea was crying through her words and Matt hugged her to comfort her. Through teary eyes he spoke, "I don't know. I really don't. But we fight Drea. We fight for whatever this battle is for." From behind them Jose spoke, "I don't want to put you through this. I had just come here to say that our mapping guy Scott ran into an entire alien camp. He just returned and says there are plenty of them. But if you guys wanna drop out, you can." Then a little hesitantly, and sounding sorry, he addedd, "Just that you will have to leave our camp then." Silent for a moment, Drea finally spoke, "We'll do it. Where is Scott?"
With a respectful nod, Jose guided Matt and Drea to Scott. Along with Scott, they sat and understood the entire map and prepared to leave next morning.
* * *
Drea woke up feeling hollow and looked around to see Scott awake already. They were going to leave before sunrise to avoid being seen. Matt was still sleeping and she shook him awake. As they collected their items, Drea asked Jose if she could carry some food along. Stuffing the scarce food into Matt's tiny hiker bag, Drea carried only her gun and the ammo bag. Matt strapped on his quiver and loaded some more arrows he seemed to have carved last night. Drea slipped in some permanent markers in Matt's bag so that they could leave signs of their route. Together, the three of them set out in the lonely hours. Scott seemed to know the place well and guided them with ease. Drea noticed that they seemed to be going further into the mountains bordering the city's coastline and asked Scott, "How did you find this place?"
"That's what mappers do. Take campin' supplies for days and walk out into the unknown as far as possible.", replied Scott feeling proud.
"Don't you run into the branders?"
"Just a few. There has been worse. We used to Four of us working on mapping. Holly and Sharon, both sisters. They personally didn't get along quite well, but both were truly gifted in skill. They ran some cold war over inherited property or something; never would really talk much but had their independent searches going great. Then a few months back, we ran into this terrible gang of aliens. They killed Holly and Sharon; and my pal and I got saved. He now leads the team and I map"
"Jose and you did this together? Months back? Wow we're around this place for long!"
"A little too long kiddo!", joked Scott.
"How many of you have died?"
"To tell you, Holly and Sharon, Victor and Kayla, the Rosklov twins, Amelia and her daughter. That's maybe about it."
"Did they all work in pairs?"
"Yes they did, but they also joined us in pairs. All of you did. It's how things are. People team up, come to the store for supplies and we grow."
Then leading them up a cliff, Scott said, "This is it. You walk straight into the dragons den form here." Taking in a deep breath, they both turned thanking Scott and exchanged kind remarks about one another. Every thing seemed like a last goodbye and they departed as Scott called back, "Good Luck".
Very quietly and cautiously Matt and Drea walked in. The foliage started thinning suggesting cleared ground for camp. Pointing to a tree, as usual Matt climbed up and pulled up Drea's bag as she followed. What they saw from the top, took their breaths away. In front of them stood what looked like an old time cottage resort. The chimney was constantly fuming suggesting warmth and the place looked lit up in the thin dawn that was breaking across the horizon. Facing a beautiful river valley on their right, the resort was placed in the most distant location at the peak of the cliff. Outside that, convoys and trucks were lined up and more kept pulling in and out.l
"Where do you think they got the electricity?", whispered Matt.
"Umm if you have enough thermoelectric generators and ice then you burn wood on one end and put the ice on the other to produce electricity."
"That's true. The Branders would do that", said Matt in an extremely serious tone but deep down sarcastic.
Punching him lightly, Drea replied, "Even if whole of Noah's ark was Thermoelectric generators, it wouldn't be enough to power up this place."
"It only means the mutagens came here in something a lot more advanced than the ark."
"Look at the number of branders just casually walking in and out of that place. They're so confident no one would dare to invade their privacy."
"Not everyone is stupid. So what do we do? Walk in, climb a tree and attack?"
"We walk in and go straight into that main cottage there."
"Ha you're funny"
"Get me the markers."
"That's the craziest thing I've heard! You can't just draw veins onto us in black markers and be like, "Howdy Partner. Got some human blood we could use?" No no no..it's a total death call and lying!"
"Oh ya? Okay then why don't you draw them on me and I'll go kill some branders and meet you back here? After a team of them have caught you because you're the only suspicious person hiding in a tree spewing out arrows against a bazillion of them!!!"
"And I'd still have better odds of survival!!!"
"Not funny Matt. Now c'mon. We do this and die or we sneak up and die. Pleaaaaase?", pleaded Drea with a pout.
"Only because you said please that way", said Matt handing her the markers. Climbing off the tree they drew veins as realistically as they could on each others necks and backs. And then just like that, they walked into the premises. A few people looked up but not for more than a millisecond and resumed their work. The smell of food swallowed up the place and Drea whispered, "Told ya Branders need food".
"Or they are just welcoming their guests", said Matt walking to the direction of the smell.
"Matt focus. We had a breakfast."
"Yeah, that granola bar, it was really filling. This is just work baby; we walk right into the gossip. Know your enemy if you want to kill them." Drea wanted to protest but found Matt making sense. The cafeteria would probably give them most of the news.
Inside the warm cottage, Matt loaded his plate with the finest breakfast they had seen in all this while- French toast, eggs, milks, cereal, boiled corn and waffles. Drea didn't hesitate either, and they took a seat on the most crowded table they could find. Devouring possibly their last meal, Drea found no regrets in this mission anymore. On every wall, read the words, 'The rules you see, you lost your soul to me. And if I win here, both of us lose to the higher power'. "What does that mean?", whispered Drea to Matt. Then all of a sudden, a wave of small shining particles formed themselves into a floating screen. Matt and Drea stared in amazement at the screen that read, "Conversion toll" and under it were eight names and their details. "New Mutagen conversions?", asked Matt as quietly as he could. "I could bet they killed more than just eight with that fancy age technology", replied Drea.
Very normally, Matt turned to the Brander next to him and spoke, "Low on the conversion today, eh?" The guy, a little confused replied, "Not really. Eight making it to the new world seems like quite a thing. Must be smart guys. Smarter than us for sure!" "Uh huh..", replied Drea informally introducing her to the conversation. "It's crazy huh? Forgetting who you are once you're there; converting your own kind. Checking in your soul like that", continued the Brander. Drea noticed his pitch black eyes and hoped he wouldn't notice Matt's hazel-brown shade. Lucky for her, her eyes were dark enough anyway, and so to avoid trouble she diverted the brander's attention to her, by saying, "Yes. It's terrible indeed.." She was talking when a blinding beam of light -just like the one that begin this all- spread across the room. Reflexively Matt and Drea let out a scream covering their eyes and the beam disappeared. Eyes turned to them as the Brander next to them asked, "Are you new?" "Yes." quickly spoke Drea before Matt could answer. The Brander explained, "This is the light of the conversions being taken into the new world. Everyday at sunrise and sunset. I also use it as reminder that I should be checking in for my shift. Your eyes should protect you from the intensity.." Drea cut him off saying, "We converted, I mean.. were changed yesterday. Our eyes are still not developed." She squeezed Matt's hand as if asking him to not speak. "Wow you should check in then to get that fixed", replied the brander. "We just finished our shift", spoke Matt with confidence. "But now that we know, we will surely mention it tonight when we start. Thakyou...?" "Jason", replied the mutagen. "Jason. This is Emily and I'm Tom. We won't hold you longer", lied Matt picking up his tray and walking to the garbage can. Half heartedly Drea and Matt discarded their food and feeling shocked, they walked out of the cottage.
"I can't do this. Let's go with your plan. Sneak, kill and die.", spoke Drea as they hid behind an alien convoy.
"Did Jason just mean we are invaded by aliens?"
"I don't care. We kill them and finish the job!!"
"Calm down Drea! Calm down and think like you always do."
"You want me to calm down and think?! We just had breakfast with a Mutagen who says that aliens have invaded the planet, they select some of us as slaves and convert some to be taken to a new planet in a blinding space ship!!? What part of that do you want me to think about?", Drea said freaked out. In the same tension, she continued "Hey Matt,I thought about it. The electricity isn't from thermoelectrics but generated from light receptors since they seem to have so much of it!!!"
"That's not the appropriate humour. We need to get the heck out and tell Jose.."
A voice spoke behind them, "Are you lost?" Nervously, they looked at the intimidating Mutagen and together they replied, "Yes" "No" He walked closer and pulled up Matt by the collar saying, "Who are you?" In an instant Drea shot the brander and the sound echoed in the entire place. "Not good", said Matt pulling Drea away as they started running. Soon other branders surrounded the dead one and someone yelled, "Maybe that way". Matt turned and pulled out an arrow killing another one of them. Drea did the same and soon screams filled the area. They were being showered with arrows and bullets but none too close since they ran in the cover of the trees. "I can't keep track of how many I've killed", shouted Drea thinking about what they'd tell Jose.
"Me neither but enough to have won your soul first", said Matt trying to lighten the mood.
"Oh please. I'm pretty sure I've covered up."
"It's a dead end", said Matt looking ahead as Drea shot more Branders behind her. Stopping at the edge of the cliff Drea said, "Climb that tree".
"No. We will be stuck then. They'll wait for us to come down, or moreover just climb up the tree and kill us." In the mess of the thought they saw a brander running towards them. Matt drew out another arrow to aim but
"Stop!", yelled Drea. "It's a kid damnit!" A small boy, not older than 7 came running to them with a knife.
"Yeah and a brander."
"DO NOT KILL HIM", scowled Drea.
"What's wrong with you!?" Matt positioned his arrow and tried to aim when Drea held the gun to his head saying,
"You go with him. Listen to me this time!! You asked me to think and I thought. Put that bow down." The kid was much closer now when Matt pulled down the bow and in a flash, less intense than the beam, the kid disappeared.
"What the heck?", said Matt as he looked around. "Okay now before others come, jump."
"What!? This isn't who can be the craziest!"
"I mean it. Jump. It's a deep river, we will survive."
"You will survive! I can't swim!"
"I'll save you. I'm here; just do it!"
"What the hell Matt no", Drea was screaming as Matt pulled her with all his strength to the edge and held onto her with all his life as he dived into the valley. With unbelievable energy they went deep underwater and Matt had to grasp onto Drea closer and tighter to pull her up afloat with him. Coming afloat he tapped her cheek saying, "You're alive". Opening her eyes, Drea struggled to stay afloat and hit Matt who was laughing. Then laughing too, "NEVER.EVER.AGAIN", she said as they made their way to the bank.
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