"what? Why do I feel stretched? Why does everyone look smaller now?" A familiar voice reaches my ear as I am wheeling 7P through a dirt road towards a set of remote cabins. It is one that suddenly makes me very excited to hear, with joy overflowing in my heart. 7P is finally awake again! I stop wheeling the small cart that 7P is on and everyone gathers around.
"7P, you are finally awake!" Alice and 12Z run over to 7P's side and wrap her in a joy-filled embrace. 7P looks around us and has a confused expression.
"how long have I been out for?" I lean in to talk to 7P and inform her on our progress through Sweden and what Ismilda might be planning with the Scandinavian Union's neighbouring countries.
"for at least twenty four hours, you have been unconscious, and we have been traveling towards the Swedish-German border to reach Greece. You were hit by that drone dart, but it had some major effects on your body" 7P looks at her hands and the rest of her body as she starts to slowly get up from her resting position. As soon as she sees how much she has grown, she makes a surprised face and tries to form words with her mouth.
"I-I think I have regrown to my original size!" so the dart must have carried some kind of injection which reversed the effect the experiments had on her. But that could mean that her powers are gone.
"7P, if that dart reversed your shrunken state, does that mean that your powers were also taken?" 7P sniffs the air and something immediately grabs her attention.
"I smell a freshly baked pie over to the right side of the road. It is somewhere deep in the forest" how can a freshly baked pie be in the middle of nowhere? I guess investigating the mysterious pie would not be a bad idea. But before I can venture into the forest, I need more information.
"what kind of pie?" 7P looks at with a puzzled, yet humored face. Alice looks at me as if she does not know what to think, looking to 7P to see her answer. 12Z has a gentle, yet guilt-filled smile on her face, happy that 7P is alright.
"it is a meat pie. It contains beef and gravy" I have not had a meat pie in a long time, and the gravy contained within sounds absolutely amazing.
"I will take 11O and 12M with me to investigate" 7P and Alice nod to me as I walk towards 16M, 12M, 15G, 11O and 12S, who have all gathered together to discuss the dart that the drone used. I walk up to 11O and 12M, who are standing together.
"we are going to be searching for this mysterious pie that 7P has sniffed out" 11O and 12M look at me with blank stares.
"okay, I do not understand what we could possibly find, but I will come along" 12M begins walking towards the cart where 7P is.
"I have no idea how 7P would be able to smell a pie out here on this dirt road, but I am interested in what we will find" 11O walks shortly behind 12M, and I follow 11O towards where Alice, 7P and 12Z are gathered. 12M steps towards 7P, who looks at him when he gets close enough. And he then leans in towards her with a curious expression on his face.
"where is the small coming from? Is your nose so strong that you can smell food from hundreds of kilometers away?" 7P shakes her head and points towards the forest.
"the smell is coming from that way" 7P points to the right side of the dirt road where she had pointed me to moments earlier. 11O walks towards the edge of the forest and turns back to 7P, who is still sitting on her cart.
"does it smell delicious?" 7P laughs and nods to his question. With that clarified, I walk over to 11O and gesture for 12M to come along with us. As we begin to enter the forest, 7P forces herself up, with Alice and 12Z coming to assist her with walking. The three girls walk over to us before we can walk any further into the woods.
"good luck guys" 7P makes a weak, but confident smile.
"be careful 17C" Alice has a worried face and is concentrated on me.
"please do not die" 12Z looks at me for a few seconds before nodding to both 12M and 11O. And with their wishes of good fortune. Before we can enter the woods, 16M walks up to us and turns to the forest.
"do not get lost in there. We can not afford to lose anyone on the journey down south" the three of us nod to 16M. We enter the woods and follow the imaginary line that 7P's finger had created. We do not know what to expect when we finally reach this mysterious pie. Could there possibly be other prisoners who have escaped and have found the ingredients needed to bake a pie? Or could there be isolated people out here who are just living their lives? Maybe there is an outpost or camp out here somewhere. We will have to find the source of the smell to discover what is out here with us. 12M walks close beside me and quickly looks behind us for a moment, and then looks back to where we are heading.
"you know, for a group of people who have only just met each other recently, we are really getting along nicely. I thought there would be plenty of arguments about where we should go and what we should do. But the decision has already been made without any resistance and everyone is in agreement that we are going with the best plan. I am happy to be in such a united group" indeed, the group is very solid and strong at the moment, I only hope that it never falters. Our plan is one with lots of compromise. Our end goals are to find a safe place to live, and bring Ismilda down from her powerful position. We decided that finding a safe haven would be the first course of action, and then training up to fight Ismilda would be our second priority. But defeating her is still very important.
"the moment we are divided among ourselves is the moment Ismilda's goons find us and defeat us" 11O is correct, we are strong together, but alone, we are doomed to fall. The sound of a few helicopters are approaching now.
"do you think they are Ismilda's guys?" we hide behind some trees while the helicopters are passing over us. The sound of a jet interrupts the helicopters, while becoming increasingly louder.
"I do not think so. We are going to find out in a moment" we look into the sky, but we can not see the helicopters. The jet passes over us like a flash of lightning and as the jet's roar starts to become fainter, we come to a realization.
"do you hear the helicopters?" we search the sky to see if the helicopters are visible, but three separate explosions rock the ground and I can feel the vibrations from the impact which I can guess originated from my right side judging by the vibrations.
"well, I guess that answers that question. I am happy that we are not using our helicopter for travel anymore" because it has been a few days since Ismilda formed the Scandinavian Union, the air must finally be under her control. Predicting this would happen, 16M and I came to the conclusion that traveling on foot was the best choice while we are in Ismilda's territory. Now the question is how long we have until Ismilda's henchmen catch up to us and fight us. But there is also the immediate question to be asked.
"who do you think was flying those helicopters?" I thought that every helicopter which was taken by the crazy children during the chaotic escape from Edvardshagen was shot down during and after the destruction of the city" helicopters were swarming around the city throughout the night as we found our way to the airport and made our escape in the helicopter. 11O points to some rising smoke in the distance where the explosions came from.
"we can search the crash sites if you want your question answered" I shake my head to 11O's suggestion and look towards the way 7P had pointed to us.
"we have to first find the source of the pie, and then we will go to investigate. if there is the possibility that there is a structure out here in this remote part of Sweden, then we should ask the occupants if we could camp out close to their home and help them with whatever they need as payment" 11O nods in acceptance and we continue through the forest. As we push through the trees, a scent tickles my nostrils, and the smell whips my brain with disbelief.
"do you guys also smell that pie?" 11O and 12M sniff the air and their faces drop. We are all blank-faced and can not comprehend why a baked pie would be out here in the wilderness. 12M begins to walk ahead of us with his nose high in the air.
"well, it could be a trap set up by Ismilda's men, but I am getting quite hungry. And the snacks 12S and 13D looted from the city are nearly out" 12M may be joking, but I still do hope that it is not a trap all the same. So now we are approaching the smell, and the pie is getting closer. I do not understand though, why someone would allow such a delicious smell to spread so far into the wilderness. You are just asking for a group of wild animals to raid their home. But we are not like wild animals, right? We would not even think of stealing food from people out in the middle of nowhere, right?
"just so we are clear on the plan, we are not going to be stealing a pie if it belongs to someone. Right guys?" 12M and 11O do not even try to answer me and just continue to walk towards the smell, much to my displeasure. We walk into a clearing while I continue to think up ways how I can tell 12M and 11O that we can not steal from people, even if we 'have no other choice'. A fairly large cabin covers much of what must have been a large open field before the building was constructed. I begin walking towards the front door of the house before 12M pulls me back towards the trees.
"are you sure you want to talk to these people? They might report us to Ismilda's government and put us in danger" 12M lets go of my arm and awaits for my response.
"I do not believe anyone out this far wants to have the government visit" I walk over to the front door as 12M and 11O follow me shortly behind. I step up to the front door and knock three times. I look around the front yard at some of the flower gardens scattered around while we wait. The door opens to a middle-aged man staring at the three of us with a cautious stance.
"who are you? And what are you doing here?" the man does not sound pleased that people are at his front door, in his far-removed land.
"can you please allow us to set up a camp close to your house. We do not have any supplies and could use some food. But do not worry, we are willing to work hard for food and water if you would please allow us to stay around here" without money, food or water, we are bound to die if we do not find a source of income, food or water. The man does not look like he is going to allow us to stay.
"I barely am able to buy enough food to get by, what makes you think I am able to supply food and water to the three of you?" a girl of about seventeen years of age, wearing a black dress with white flowers, appears from behind the man and looks at the three of the unusual people who are at her front door.
"what are these boys doing here on our farm, dad?" the girl's father turns back to quieten her down. Wait, did she say 'farm'? Does that mean they are growing food?
"Felicity, we have talked about this. No matter how much you ask, it is only ever going to be the two of us out here. No pets or family are going to be coming to live with us" this father sounds quite strict and maybe a pinch of overprotective.
"well, it is not like we are going to be intruding too much. Our group can camp nearby and help you with anything that you need done on this farm" the father makes an unconvinced hum and strokes his chin, thinking about the prospect of slave labor. His daughter steps closer to the door and stops beside her father, looking at each of us.
"they do not seem to be bad people" the girls father shakes his head and turns to his daughter while taking a quick glance at the three of us.
"you do not know that. They could be working for the debt collectors" the daughter makes a loud, annoyed sigh. What did he just say about debt collectors?
"dad, if these boys were with the debt collectors, you would already be on the ground with the house caught in a blaze. They have reached the point now where violence is their only option" the father looks to us and accepts that his daughter is right.
"okay, fine. Your group can camp nearby. But you have to help around the farm when I need it, okay?" we each look at each other with smiles and turn to return to our group on the dirt road.
"thank you sir, we will be back soon" we walk back through the forest and make our way to the road. The birds are chirping around us as we walk through the forest. 11O turns to me with a calm faces and smiles as he tilts his head.
"now that we have somewhere to stay, we can plan out the best route to Germany, The Papal State and finally Greece" this might be our opportunity to recover from the fights we have been through. I should have asked the man if he could help me with the blade fragment. 12M steps in closer too.
"once we set up our camp, we can train in anticipation for a fight" we will definitely be able to hone our skills and improve our fighting capabilities. We exit the forest and walk up to where everyone has gathered near 7P's cart.
"did you find that pie?" I nod to 7P's question and point into the woods.
"we found a farm and talked to the man who owns it. He has agreed to allow us to camp nearby and help with his farm. We can stay there until we have the fastest way to Greece" everyone makes a small cheer and our group starts to move into the forest. 16M, Endo, 12S and 12M are leading in the front. While Halfar, Seive, 7P, Alice and 12Z are trailing behind, in the back of the group. I slow down and wait for them to catch up to the rest of us. As Halfar reaches me, Seive's eyes shoot towards our right side and he breaks into a sprint, shouting.
"I thought these things never saw combat! Let alone guard an entire convoy of supplies!" through the trees, a group of vehicles are gathered together, with every single one of them being burnt out. The Great War truly was epic in proportions, considering that there are vehicle wrecks left over from combat, even all the way out here in the forest. As we are getting closer, the largest vehicle has two separate barrels on the turret. It is what looks to be an experimental tank. The two barrels look like they are attached, with each one coming out of opposite sides of the tank, having one facing forward, and the other facing backwards. There are three holes in the side of the tank and a skeleton halfway out of one of the tank's escape hatches. It took three shots to bring this thing down. Seive is running around the tank like a dog circling a tree where it was chasing a squirrel. There are four trucks lined evenly around the tank, with two still reasonably intact. The trucks seem to have been abandoned during an attack, but no one has yet looted the vehicles, since there are still crates of supplies visible in the trucks. I walk over to Seive, who is still looking around the tank at every detail he can see.
"what exactly is that tank supposed to be Seive?" my friend looks at me with excitement in his eyes, trying to stop himself from jumping up and down on the spot.
"this was an experimental Swedish tank. I read about it in the declassified 'research and development of experimental weaponry' documents. To see one in person is very exciting for me-" 15G pushes beside me and leaps towards the tank.
"WOW! A Back-eye medium tank! I can definitely see the Wing Chun inspiration" Seive steps up to 15G, while attempting to contain his excitement.
"it truly is a great sight, isn't it? I can not believe I am seeing one up close myself, especially on a historical site" both 15G and Seive begin to talk to each other as they start pointing at parts of the tank and breaking into cheers every time they take a close look. We have to set up our camp at the farm though, so we can not take too long to look at the tank wreck.
"are the supplies good enough to take?" 15G turns back to me and points to the four trucks surrounding the tank.
"if you mean the crates of goods that the trucks are carrying, then yes, they are good enough to take" 11O, Kranter, 16D, 16Y, Halfar and I begin to carry the crates of supplies to the farm. Dark clouds are beginning to pass over our heads, with the winds following them blowing against the trees and surrounding us with the sounds of rustled leaves. The cool breeze is keeping my body cool while we carry these heavy crates, but I still have the pain of the blade fragment to deal with. We emerge from the forest and meet up with 16M, who has already begun the construction of our camp. Halfar gently lowers his crate onto the ground and tries to open it. With a few struggles and grunts, he gives up.
"we are going to need a crowbar or something. These crates are sealed shut" we should try asking the man if we could borrow some tools if he has some.
"Halfar, 16M, we should walk to the house to ask if they have anything we could use" Halfar and 16M gather up with me and we walk towards the front door of the cabin.
"what can we expect from this guy 17C?" I turn to 16M as we continue walking towards the cabin, with a cool breeze flowing around us.
"he appears to be quite paranoid. He said something about debt collectors coming for him" 16M makes a troubled hum.
"I hope we are not going to have to help him with any troubles if those debt collectors come knocking" I can see us getting into a fight if that happens.
"well, if it does come to that, at least we might be able to use it as training in preparation for the fight we are going to be in inevitably when Ismilda's henchmen find us" both 16M and Halfar nod in agreement as we reach the front door of the cabin. I knock twice and we await for someone to answer the door. The door opens to the man, who looks at our camp over near the edge of the farm and shakes his head. I wonder just how many people he thought there would be in our group.
"what do you kids need from me? Or are you just here to announce your arrival?" 16M steps forward and clears his throat.
"we found some supplies on the remains of a convoy left over from the Great War. But we can not open the crates, so we were going to ask you if you had any tools which we could please borrow for a few moments" the man looks towards our camp and spots the crates we were trying to open. He scratches his head in disbelief.
"I do not know where you found that convoy, but I have searched all over the surrounding forests of this farm, and I have never seen any convoys around here. But whatever, I guess. You can borrow my crowbar, which is located in my tool shed. But try not to break the darn thing" 16M nods with a grin on his face and extends his hand out to shake hands with the man. The man meets 16M's hand with his and they shake on it. Hopefully this is beginning of a long friendship.
"thank you sir. We will return the crowbar once we have opened every crate" the man steps back inside and closes the door. We walk over to the tool shed and enter the small metal structure. There are dozens of tools spread around the shed. On the furthest shelf, I spot a drill, metal plate armor, some wire, the crowbar and a shotgun. Without touching anything else, I pick up the crowbar and carry it out of the shed. We walk towards the camp, ready to open the crates with the items of mystery inside.
"what do you think we are going to find in the crates?" without turning his gaze to me, Halfar continues to stare at the crates.
"the crates belonged to a military convoy, so it could be anything from food, to weapons" the many possibilities flourished as theories in my mind. The green grass I am treading, and the dark clouds and the blue sky in contrast only aided in my mind's thoughts. The wind is a gentle stroke on my face, calming my mind for when the physical strain on my body intensifies when I attempt to open the crates with this crowbar. Alice and 12Z walk up to me to encourage me for opening the crates, though even now 12Z looks like she is being weighed down by her guilt taking over her mind. Besides that, opening the crates has to be the most interesting thing happening around here right now, so it is sure to gather everyone's attention. I turn to the cabin to see if the father and the daughter are watching me, to see what is in the crates. I spot the father in the window, but he quickly darts away from the glass. His daughter looks to her father and is laughing as she looks back to watch me open the crates. I walk over to the first crate and raise the crowbar, ready to force a wedge between the lid of the crate and the rest. I successfully force the crowbar in-between the lid and the crate, pushing it upwards. Gathering all the strength I can muster, I push the crowbar down and pop the crate open. But the blade fragment cuts deeper into my body and the pain forces me to my knees, which is met with Alice, 12Z and Halfar running over to me to see if I am okay. I struggle to rise to my feet, but Halfar and 12Z quickly assist me to stand.
"do not worry guys, it was just a sting. It is nothing to worry about" Alice and 12Z shake their heads to me with concerned expressions on their faces. 7P has even left her cart and is slowly walking over to me. Alice runs over to 7P and helps her towards me.
"the more you push yourself, the more dangerous that fragment in your body becomes. We should ask the man in the cabin if he can help you" I start trying to walk over to the cabin, so 12Z and Halfar help me along to the front door. 7P takes this as us being in agreement and returns to her cart. Halfar looks back to the crate as he helps me along.
"I wonder what was in the crate?" after all that effort to open the crate, I was not able to take the first glimpse of the crate's contents.
"what was in the crate 16M!?" Halfar's voice echos through the forest as he shouts for 16M to look in the crate to tell us what it's contents were.
"fuel and spare vehicle parts!" that was a disappointing crate we opened. We exhale in disappointment as we reach the front door of the cabin. The door opens before Halfar can knock, revealing the daughter Felicity looking at the three people in-front of her. Her eyes wander to my partially-bleeding wound and she winces at the sight.
"how did you get that?" while I would like to tell her the full story, I also want to get the wound treated. So I am going to have to give her the short version.
"some people were after us. I was stabbed and a fragment of the blade has been lodged in my body. It is going deeper every day" Felicity looks at the wound with a concerned face and walks back into the house, signaling with her hand for us to follow her.
"hey dad, we have a problem" we enter the house and wait by the door for further instructions. Her father emerges from a hallway on the second story of the house and descends a flight of stairs and walks over to his daughter.
"what are they doing in here? They agreed that they would camp outside" Felicity directs her father to my wound, which catches his interest.
"this boy says he was stabbed by someone who was after them. Do you think we can help with this wound?" Felicity's father looks at me with suspicion before we reaches for a nearby first-aid kit. He pulls out a needle and some stitching equipment.
"so who is chasing your group? Are they anyone to worry about?" I do not want to tell this man who is chasing us, but I feel like he is not going to stitch up my wound if I do not tell him. Well, here goes nothing I guess.
"we are fleeing from a facility contro-"
"hey Horncross! Where is my money!?" Felicity's face is filled with fear. Her father walks over to the door and opens it.
"hey Frotram. Do not worry about it, I will get the money. I promise" Felicity looks very scared of what is happening. I get up, onto my feet and walk to the door. Halfar and 16M grab my shoulders and try to stop me from moving any closer.
"17C, do not do anything stupid" I look back at 16M and laugh, while also making sure that I am not making too much sound. I reach the door and turn back to Felicity. In the quietest voice I can manage, I will make a promise to her.
"I promise you, I will save your dad from this situation" Felicity does not know how to react, she is just frozen in place.
"so you do not have it, even now? That was your last chance. Now you will be brought to near-death! But I have little self-control. So please do not blame me if you die" I walk out into the front yard, the first thing I can see is Felicity's father trying to fight off Frotram. I move over to the fight and try to gather some power in my hand. Hopefully I can muster enough power to deal some damage to this guy. A tennis ball-sized ball of energy is in the palm of my hand now. I swing my hand and send the ball of power towards the man, hitting him and knocking him back a few feet. The man turns to me with a confused face and sees that I am standing in the field now.
"what the hell are you? It does not matter, I am going to beat you to a pulp too!" the man runs towards me, just as I had anticipated. I gather power in my fist and push it into my knuckles. Frotram reaches the minimum distance, allowing me to now unleash all the power built up in my fist. Before Frotram can react to my sudden strike, my fist collides with his face and sends him flying through the air. He lands on one of our crates and screams out in pain. I run up to meet him with another strike, but he disappears before my very eyes. Does he have powers too? Or is he just that fast?
"what kind of monster are you? You little brat!" I turn towards the forest, where the man's voice is now coming from. The man is now backing into the forest.
"you will not come near this place ever again!" the man shakes his head, turns around and breaks into a sprint. Running into the forest and disappearing.
"I will come back with friends next time, and we will break your jaw for what you have done today kid" now that the man is gone, I should check on Felicity's father. I run over to the girl's father, who is lying on the ground in the middle of the field.
"father! Are you okay? Please, you have to be okay!" Felicity runs past me before I can reach her father first. I reach Felicity, who has collapsed onto her knees and is hugging her father. I crouch down and look over Felicity's father.
"can I please have a good look at him to make sure that nothing important was damaged during the fight?" Felicity looks to me and nods, shuffling away from her father and allowing me to have a better look at the man who had just been in a deadly brawl. He appears to be unconscious, which is something that I would consider to not be too serious. But his mouth is bleeding and both of his eyes are filled with blood. I wave over to Alice, 12Z, 15G and Seive for them to come and help. The group runs up to us and looks down at the injured father.
"do you think he is going to be alright?" I nod to Seive and look down at Felicity's unconscious father. His injuries are bad, but they are nothing to worry about.
"how long is he going to be like this?" Felicity is on the verge of crying, looking down at her beaten and bruised father. It must be bad for her mind to see her father in such a state.
"I predict he will be like this for a few hours. We should bring him inside and just give him time to rest and recover" Felicity breathes in and weakens her strained face. I make a faint smile towards her, wait, now I am on the ground. What just happened!?
"what is it!? Did that man hurt you when you were fighting!?" I try to stand back up, but a sharp pain where the blade fragment currently is located is preventing me from being able to move. Seive, Halfar and 12M run over to help me get back on my feet.
"I still need to get this thing out of my body. It is tearing through my guts and is creating too much pain for me to bear" with everyone's assistance, I am finally up on my feet again. 7P walks over to me and points to my wound.
"I have been around long enough to have some knowledge of surgery, so I will take a shot at it" I hope 7P knows what she is doing. With 12M and Halfar helping me along, I manage to enter the cabin and find a lounge to rest on. While I am resting, 12M, 16M, Halfar and Endo lift Felicity's father up from the ground and carry him up into his room in the cabin. 7P, Alice, 12Z, Seive and 15G gather around me, while Felicity follows her father to his room.
"how are you able to control your powers as well as you were able to? Out of everyone in our group, you might be the one person who has been able to use their powers on command" I really wish I could explain it, but I only ever really force a feeling through my body. I do not know of any possible way of explaining it, I wish I could put it into words.
"I honestly do not know. It is just a feeling that I focus on, which helps me to use that power" even though my mind is currently focused on trying to explain how I think my powers work, the pain from the blade fragment is still trying to overtake my thoughts with the pain it is causing me. As I clench onto the bloodied wound, I look up to 7P, who is showing a concerned face.
"well anyway, I should try removing that blade fragment now" I did not expect her to be starting the procedure so soon.
"couldn't you have given me more of a warning than that?" 7P shakes her head and extends her arm out towards my forehead.
"no, I am going to start now, rather than take a risk with that thing digging through your body. And by the way, you are not the only one who can use their powers on command" her finger is now pointing directly at my forehead. Wait, what did she mean by power?