Chapter 5

Our next few hours were a lot of sneaking around. We broke off into small groups so we could search for people. Madelyn volunteered to take the kids over to the cave to hide. She didn't want to get stuck in a fight. Carter, Liam, and I were in the group that covered the North half of the island. Kathy and Cornelius covered the southern part. We all agreed that our guns were our last option, we don't want to kill more people than we have to. We didn't want to end up being the bad guys of our story. Carter would've checked the island in seconds and taken them all to the boat, but we wanted to give people the choice to stay if they wanted to. All of us wore the same black jumpsuit, so we looked intimidating when we'd walk up to someone and tell them our plan. We wouldn't fight anyone unless we were being attacked. If they said no then it was their choice. Not a lot of people said yes though, we gave them 5 minutes to grab stuff and walk with us. Our group ended up being our group's parents, and 6 others. We walked down to the cave with adults trailing behind us. Carter had done most of the talking, he was good at convincing people who things were going to be better in the Mainland. I removed the cover over the boat. We started to walk back out and saw Nathan halfway through the woods. "Hey, I couldn't find you all at the barn. I got worried you all were captured. Where's everyone else?" He asked as he leaned to look behind us.

Liam turned to look behind him then back at Nathan, "Cornelius and Kathy are checking the southern part of the island for more adults, they're probably only get 4 or 5 more people."

"How many people did you round-up so far?" Nathan curiously asked.

"14 adults," Carter answered, "including our parents, Carla's parents, Liam And Madelyn's parents, and Kathy's parents."

Nathan nodded, "Has anyone else passed away other than Cleo?"

"How did you.." I asked.

Nathan interrupted, "I saw her when I was looking for you all."

I looked down at my dirt covered black boots. The boys were talking but I was zoning out. I didn't even know what I was thinking about, my mind just went blank. I started to walk away from the group and got about 50 meters away before spotting a good-sized fallen tree and sat down on the dirt beside it. I leaned against the dead tree and picked up a pebble from beside me and messed with its molecules. I made it look like a little cow, then a person, then a boat, and finally made it into a cross with a loop on top. I made a few more before I saw Carter walking towards me in my peripheral vision. I turned my head and looked at him. He was holding a little black chicken in his arms.

"Umm, do I want to know why you have a chicken?" I laughed, I was confused.

He handed me the chicken, "I don't know, you seemed upset so I figured that handing you a random chicken from the boat will make you laugh."

"Well it worked," I laughed. Carter crouched down and picked up the crosses that I made and examined each of them.

He put them back down, "These are cool."

"They're supposed to be necklaces," I mentioned, "I haven't made the string yet."

He nodded and sat down against a tree across from me. He laid his legs in front of himself and put his hands in his pants pockets. I could tell he wanted to say something but he kept quiet, slowly changing what he was looking at. I looked down and the chicken in my lap and then back at Carter. "You look like there's something you want to tell me," I asked.

Carter didn't answer.

"Carter?" I prompted, "Earth to Carter, come in Carter."

He looked at me, "Why did you come over here?"

"Just because," I answered, "Why?"

"I just wanted to know. You seem like you're carrying some weight on your heart."

"I just don't want everyone to die. If someone dies it's my fault," I admitted.

"Hey," He tilted his head to look at me in the face, "Smile Carla, you're prettier when you smile. I mean you're always pretty... Ugh." He put his head in hands and laughed.

I could feel my cheeks turning red and I couldn't help but smile and look down.

"Careful you might turn into a tomato," Carter laughed.

I kept smiling. I looked down and realized I was still holding a chicken. "Why am I still holding this?" I laughed as I set it down beside me and it took off running.

We stood up and I hugged him. "Thank you."

"It's what friends are for," Carter explained, "We should probably get back to the Hideout, to make sure everyone is safe."

I nodded.

"And Carla?"

"Yeah?" I answered.

"Cleo wasn't your fault, none of this was your fault. Don't beat yourself up over it," Carter explained.

I nodded again and we started walking to the Hideout. We were making jokes to lighten the mood the entire walk back. When we got to the hideout I couldn't stay long because Nathan wanted me to help him get food. Carter and Liam agreed to stay at the Hideout with all the people we had already gathered.

Nathan and I walked out of the forest onto the beach to walk to the camp. He was explaining how they got to the barn and how the Commander was acting.

"After I broke up with Paige she was swearing and demanded to talk to the Commander, that's the last time I saw her." Nathan explained, "She got really rude with everyone and I snapped. She had been being rude with everyone about anything, she wasnt the same person I knew before. Everyone can have a bad day, but when she started to go off on everyone I realized that's how she was at heart. I realized that she had hidden that side of herself for the entire time I've known her. The way she looked at me after I broke up with her; it was pure hatred. I never realized that she had any hate in her at all."

"Paige was very good at bottling up feelings," I agreed.

"Have you seen her?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, Kathy and I saw her, she tried to attack us," I explained.

"Oh," Nathan sighed, "I feel like it's my fault."

"Nathan," I stopped walking and looked at him, "Paige's actions are her choice, it has nothing to do with you."

"Thanks," Nathan sighed and he continued walking.

I jogged up to walk beside him again. I looked out at the ocean waves hitting the beach. Nathan was staring at his feet as he walked. He looked over at me a few times.

"So how's your relationship?" He asked.

"You mean the non existent one I have, yeah it's been going great," I laughed, "Sorry to rub it in."

"Sorry for asking," Nathan laughed back.

We walked silently the rest of the way. We walked up the dining hall and to the back where the kitchen was. There wasn't anyone where so we filled our arms with bags of potatoes, we were going to make two trips so we can grab meat on the second trip. We walked back, still in pretty much straight silence. Nathan was out of breath he put the potato bags down next to Liam and sat down to catch his breath. "I'll be a few minutes let me take a break real quick," Nathan insisted.

"It's okay Nathan, I can do this trip by myself," I said, "I'll be back in an hour."

I started walking the same way I just came from. I stopped to pick up a rock, it was silver-colored and really pretty. I started to walk down the beach again, still holding the rock. I was messing with the atoms in it as I walked. I was not paying attention to where I was walking and bumped into Carter.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, "I didn't see you."

"It's fine," Carter laughed, "Whatcha making?"

"It's a heart now, I'm practicing trying to make things bigger but keeping the same shape," I explained. Carter started to walk with me, we were pretty close to the camp at this point. I started to multiply the molecules and it stayed in shape for a few seconds before turning into a blob of rock.

"Almost," I muttered.

"Why do you want to make things bigger?" Carter asked.

"Because then I can keep little versions of stuff in my pockets and grow them when I need them," I theorized, "Or at least I hope it works like that."

"That's a really cool idea," Carter encouraged.

"Yeah, it was your idea," I laughed.

"Wait what?"

"Yeah a few months ago you said, 'why can't we just grow ourselves and walk across the ocean.' You were frustrated about how many boats had failed. That's when I got the idea."

"Oh! I remember that," Carter excitedly said, "I didn't know that I inspired an idea though."

"I didn't want to tell you guys until I had it perfected," I said, "I didn't want you all to get your hopes up."

"Even if you can't do that, I still think you're awesome," Carter smiled.

"Aww thank you. You're so sweet."

"You're sweet too," Carter said, "and you're welcome."

I smiled really big, "I look like a tomato don't I?"

"You always turn pink when I'm around," Carter laughed.

"That's because you make me happy."

"Aww now I'm going to look like a tomato," Carter said as he smushed his face with his hands.

We arrived at the dining hall again and walked back to the kitchen. All the food was gone.

"Wait, there were piles of food bags here before?" I asked, "Where'd it all go?"

"I already got it all Carla, while you were walking up here," Carter said.

"Why?" I asked.

He shrugged, "So you didn't have to carry anything."

"What's the point in walking all the way up here then?" I happily asked.

"I wanted to hang out with you, we also needed to get some living animals for a farm after we arrive. I can't carry cows."

I laughed, "Okay."

We walked over to the stable and spotted Cornelius and Kathy who were also rounding up cows.

"Hey!" I joyfully shouted.

"Hi Carla," Kathy yelled back.

Each of them had a cow attached to their hand by a rope. We walked 4 cows back to the boat. All of us were laughing and joking around on the way down there. Liam was helping us load the cows onto the boat when Kathy realized we had to go back out to grab feed. Madelyn, Liam, Cornelius, Nathan, Carter, and I walked back out towards the Camp. We had everything ready to go except the cow feed; everyone was already on the boat. We got to the treeline when Liam noticed that something was moving inside the dorm; the door was wide open.

"Maybe it's someone who didn't know we were leaving?" Madelyn hopefully pondered.

"I don't think we're going to get that lucky," I stated.

We walked in the direction of the dorm; crouching so we weren't seen. When we got to the door I walked in first. Immediately I had a sword across my throat, the Commander grabbed me by my arm and walked backwards. The rest of the group walked in with their arms in the air. Kyle, Ethan, and Mateo were behind them with guns.

"Where are my people," The Commander demanded, "If you cooperate then we will take it easy on you rebels."

I looked at my group of friends and lightly nodded. Then I lifted my hand and grabbed the handle of the Commander's sword and spun it around; twisting the Commander's arm. Still holding the sword in one hand I turned around and thrusted my fist just under her ribcage in the middle of her body. She toppled backwards and knocked her head against the ground. I quickly turned back around to look at my group who had successfully disarmed and knocked out the three adults. We walked out of the dorm and started to move towards the stable when a not so friendly face showed itself again. Paige, was standing in our way with an assault rifle in her hands. "I want my powers back Carla," She demanded as she pointed the gun at me.

"Funny joke, you should be a comedian," I joked

"I'm not going to tell you twice," Paige angrily snapped.

"Did you eat a bad potato?" I laughed, "You're jokes aren't really that good."

She fired the gun, and in a flash of light Carter was in front of me. Paige was on the ground. Carter stood in front of the group with her rifle in his hand. He opened the second-hand to show the bullet she fired. I held it in my hand for a few seconds before putting it in my pocket. "We need to keep moving, who knows how many others are going to try to attack us," Nathan pointed out.

We nodded and kept walking. We were almost there when shots rang out again. Carter disappeared in a ball of lightning.  A few seconds later was back in front with a handful of fired bullets that he dropped in front of us.

"That took a lot out of me, I'm really hungry now." Carter said as he bent over; his hands on his knees. He was breathing heavy.

"I've had enough of that," Cornelius said as he created a glowing purple ball in seconds that surrounded the group.

Markus, Amelia's boyfriend came out of nowhere with a sword. The moment it made contact with the purple haze it vaporized him.

"Well, I didn't know it did that," Cornelius said in a surprised voice.

"What happens if we touch it?" I turned to Cornelius and asked.

"Umm, I'm pretty sure we can walk through it," Kathy said as she stuck her arm out of it.

"What if your arm fell off," I laughed.

"I would've carried it around and smacked the next person that tried to hurt us with my fallen arm," Kathy laughed back.

"That's one way to smack someone," Nathan laughed.

"Casually beats someone to death with a severed arm," Liam laughed.

"How do you casually beat someone to death?" I asked in between laughing.

"Hi how are you *smack*" Carter hysterically laughed. Everyone else laughed too.

Everyone kept walking, we kept Cornelius in the middle of the circle so none of us would walk outside of it.

"This is a lot of trouble for some bags of feed," Nathan pointed out the obvious.

"If we don't get the feed bags, then the cows will starve," Cornelius answered.

"I know, I'm just saying that it's a lot of work," Nathan said.

Jeff jumped out of the tall grass and started shooting at us. He realized after a few shots that the force field around us was preventing bullets from hitting us. He walked beside us and started to follow. Without touching the force field he would throw rocks and shoot every now and again.

"Why is he following us?" I asked.

"He's trying to find a weak spot in the force field," Nathan answered.

We walked a few feet before Kathy seemed to have enough of Jeff trying to break the force field. "Hi, how are you? How's your life been? Not good as it seems. Leave us alone, we're not hurting you!" Kathy yelled at him.

He kept throwing rocks.

Kathy looked at Cornelius and asked if he could hear us but before he could answer she chucked an energy ball through the force field at Jeff. He flew back a few feet and didn't get back up. We kept walking. Kathy was silent the rest of the trip. We got to the barn that held the feed bags.

"If we walk in there with the force field, it will destroy anything it touches. I'm going to have to take it down." Cornelius said.

"Then take it down, we've got this handled, just get the feed bags," Carter weakly squeaked as he sat down inside the barn.

I helped him back up, "We need to get you some food."

He leaned up against the wall. Kathy and I stood watch by the door. Madelyn picked up a bag of feed and threw it over her shoulder. Cornelius used his force field to pick up 2 bags. Liam had 2 of them and insisted on carrying more but Nathan had the last one already on his back.

"What was that?" Kathy whispered after a bump on the side of the barn disrupted the silence.

We heard it again.

"I'll be back," I pronounced.

"Carla I'm going with you," Carter insisted.

"No," I protested, "You can barely walk, I'll be okay."

"Carla," Carter said, "Be careful."

"Always," I smiled as I walked out the barn door. I slowly walked around the corner to where the noise came from. Nothing was there. I heard the noise from the other side of the barn. I rounded the corner but there was nothing.  I thought I was going crazy, I couldn't figure out what the sound was. I heard it again from the other side. I stood still, whatever was making the noise would definitely come back around to this side. Nothing ever came. I turned the corner and saw a bullet fly right by my face and hit the barn. It left a little dent in the side of the barn and fell to the ground. Another one when through my stomach and hit the barn. I looked in the direction that the bullet came from. Someone was 150 meters away at the treeline. Behind a tree. I walked towards them. Bullets flying through the air, most of them just going right through me. I picked up a rock and threw it, holding out my hand I made it the size of me before it made impact. It landed a few feet short. I picked up another and copied the same thing. Still, a few feet short. The guy started running. I ran after him. I held out my hand to him and shut my fist. He dropped. It was Morris. He started to try to crawl away but I grabbed him by his ankle and dragged him back to the barn, with his rifle in my other hand. Kathy was the first to ask me what I did.

"His legs are paralyzed," I answered loud enough for everyone to hear me. At this point everyone looked at him and asked why I chose to bring him up here.

"I wasn't trying to kill him," I said, "I just wanted the gun. I didn't know if you all wanted to ask him anything."

"I'm not telling you children anything," Morris protested.

"First off, these children are about to leave, so you start talking and I fix your legs or I leave you here without fixing your legs." I said as I dropped his leg.

"Why were you shooting at us?" Carter asked. He seemed stronger than he was.

"I was ordered to, all of you are kill on sight," He answered.

"Why?" Kathy asked.

"The Commander said you all are dangerous and trying to overthrow the government we have set up," He quickly answered, "She said you all are starting a rebellion."

"We're leaving the island," I answered, "to go to America. We're not starting a rebellion. We're going home."

"That's not what she told everyone," Morris admitted.

"What makes you think she'd tell you the truth," Madelyn explained, "Why would she tell her people it's safer in America and we can sail across the ocean?"

"Well there's 10 more guards trying to kill all of you," He explained, "Can I walk again please."

"Fine," I crouched down and put my hand on his leg. I stood back up as soon as I touched his leg. He sat there for a moment, moving his legs and spinning his ankles. He stood up and looked at me, "How can I help?"

I looked around at my friends, they all nodded like they knew what I was thinking, "Grab a feed bag."

Carter was starting to gain his strength back, he was able to walk without help now. Nathan looked at Cornelius and asked, "We're going to need a force field if we're being hunted by the Commander's guards."

"I can only do one force field at a time." Cornelius explained.

"So what are we going to do," Kathy asked.

Everyone looked at me.

"What do you expect me to do?" I asked.

"Run and grab some food, grab some tech. Carla you're pretty much invincible, just grab something helpful," Madelyn said panicky.

"Pretty much," I skeptically repeated.

"Carla, everyone who can defy, ricochet, or outrun a bullet is weak, helping, or without necessary equipment to protect everyone. Except you," Liam pointed out.

There's a lot on my shoulders, and literally everyone who wants to leave is counting on me to not get caught. "Fine," I grabbed Cornelius's rifle and gave him my pistol, "Thanks."

I walked out the door but not before giving Carter a fist bump.