Protectors of Earth

Put on Your War Paint

The conversation left Zayn in such a shocked state, he didn't even say bye when Jacob left. He hoped they would be able to find Harry and Liam.

Once Zayn finally broke out of the trance, he went to find Louis and Niall. They needed to prepare for whatever Peter was going to throw their way.

Louis was easy to find, he was showing Trish how to summon animals. Trish seemed to only be summoning pandas. "Trish can you stop creating pandas?" Louis begged, earning a giggle from Rebecca.

"Seems practice is going good" Zayn commented, sitting down next to Rebecca who was drawing in her notebook.

"Trish is bad at following the rules."

"I can tell."

It took Louis a few more minutes to finally notice Zayn. When he did he ran over and hugged him, engulfing his face in kisses. "I missed you" he proclaimed.

"I was only gone for an hour" Zayn laughed.

"That is too long."

The boys embraced, making up for lost time. "Jacob and some of the other Germans are going to search for Liam and Harry and bring them back to us."

Louis's smile dropped. "Oh" he muttered, backing away from Zayn.

Zayn could tell Louis was just as upset by Niall. Maybe he shouldn't have told Louis about the Germans plan.

It was late afternoon when the search team left. They brought weapons and a week's supply of food. The group consisted of the German leaders and nine other volunteers. They each split into groups of four and went different directions into the woods. They felt confident they would find the boys.

Niall and Louis were the only ones not excited about the search party. Zayn could tell that his boyfriends had really hurt the blond and Louis. It would take some time for them to forgive Harry and Liam. Zayn pulled Louis and Niall into a hug and told them everything would work out.

That night Caroline allowed Evan to be free as long as he was supervised. Trish, Rebecca, and Evan happily all sat together, and Zayn could tell they were slowly becoming Freedom Fighters.

Zayn spent his evening with his boyfriends and it felt amazing. The horror he endured at the hands of Peter still haunted him, but being with Niall and Louis helped him forget. He felt happy and never wanted this feeling to end.

The night was cut short, when an alarm started blaring out. Caroline and Ryan stood up each sharing a terrified glance. "Everyone get in your battle stations, Peter is almost here."

"How close is he?" Niall asked, squeezing Zayn's hand.

"Our watchers say an hour or two away. They are on the move towards us."

People were running everywhere around the camp. The children were being led into a hidden bunker while the adults each grabbed their weapons. Ryan was coordinating where the soldiers were to hide. They needed to figure out a way to stop Peter from using his mind control power. He could wipe the whole army with one command.

It was decided that Zayn, Niall, and Louis would face off against Peter outside the campground to keep him away from Caroline and the others. The Freedom Fighter army would then fight Peter's army.

The plan though was easier said than done. Fighting Peter was nearly impossible. Rebecca and Trish both volunteered to help so it made Zayn feel a little better, but he knew most of their attention would be on helping their friend Natalie.

Evan was going to help Caroline. Many of the soldiers in Peter's army were under mind control. The goal was to knock out the soldiers under mind control, but Caroline knew they would not be able to spare everyone. But that was the price of war. Innocent blood was always spilled.