Bye, Bye, The Camp II.

The advantage of being a recruit was that there was no need to worry about packing or arrangements of where to go and how to survive in a new place. Everything was arranged by the house.

Or Kristensen thought until she found herself in a shuttle with Mel, Trudy, and Arson. It was awkward...

It was the kind of awkward that made it hard to ignore the other people or pretend to be oblivious.

There was a big elephant in the room... in the small space of the shuttle, to be more precise.

At first, Kristensen closed her eyes and listened to the noise outside, the sound of birds and the wind, imagining what Cyan would be like and if she would meet Caston Maddison... out of curiosity, she wanted to find out if an alpha of a house was different from the males she met thus far.

But, she couldn't keep her eyes closed for the whole journey.

"It's hot today..." Mel said awkwardly, "Why is it so hot today?" Really, really awkwardly, but the silence stretched.

It didn't make sense at all, Kristensen thought. Drew knew there was friction between them, yet she placed them in an enclosed space together for who knows how long... was she really unafraid that they would do something to Arson?

There was no music on the shuttle to distract them, too. Kristensen felt uncomfortable all over, and there was a gaze she couldn't ignore, too.

"So hot..." Mel continued.

They ignored her.

At least Kristensen was ignoring her. Her eyes were moving under her eyelids, and they showed. As for Trudy and Arson, they were too occupied with their own thoughts.

On Trudy's side, she was replaying the scene when the boy bumped into her. She kept thinking she missed something but couldn't catch what it was no matter how many times she replayed the scene.

There was also the plate she picked from the underground chamber, but, thinking about it, she thought she dropped it when she and Kristensen fought then, did she or did she not?

The feeling of uncertainty made her frown and unfrown. Her face was tight - she didn't notice the mood in the shuttle at all.

And on Arson's side, things weren't any better. Drew asked her - no - told her to keep Kristensen busy no matter what it took so she couldn't have a chance, even a moment to find Ocean.

She didn't want to, after all Kristensen treated her well before, better than Trudy and Mel so she didn't want to do anything untoward to her but when she thought of what Drew promised...

"I'll train you. I'll make you the most powerful omega in all of Crandale. Only someone with a surname Ly can make that dream come true."

Arson knew she'd never get that chance again if she didn't go along with Drew. So since they've sat in the shuttle, her eyes drifted to Kristensen unknowingly... she was conflicted.

"Hell..!" Mel exclaimed, finally successfully grabbing their attention. She looked at all of them and stopped on Arson. "What exactly is Drew asking you to do?"

Arson cringed, and her reaction didn't go unnoticed. Kristensen's brows rose slightly, and then she went back to pretending to be asleep.

Her actions made Arson frown unhappily, and she blurted out quickly, "She asked me to be a light bulb between Ocean and Kris."

She blurted out the truth out of frustration.

Kristensen's eyes opened abruptly and wide.

"What?!"

The reaction of the three was the same.

"I don't know either. I thought they were brother and sister them she asked me to do this..." Arson mumbled unhappily.

She momentarily forgot about what Drew promised her. All she wanted was to vent the frustration she felt since Drew asked her that - and how scary she was..!

The only thought on Kristensen's mind then was actually simple...

Wasn't Ocean only playing around when he flirted with her?

But on another thought, wasn't Drew taking her - Kristensen - way too seriously?

All in all, they didn't know what to say because it was a worlf apart from what Mel said she heard.

The shuttle bumped into something hard then, they jolted, and it stopped. They were saved by the seat belts.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry..." The driver said as he went out.

They looked out the window but saw nothing of what they hit. They were in the middle of the road, it was only then they realized they were in a town. There were people and people and buildings.

Kristensen was the first to get out.

The air of living - people going on about their lives, being busy, going back and forth - hit her on the face and she took a deep, let out a deep, real silence since a long time.

This was good, she thought, total different from The Camp.

"Why's she smiling? Rich people... they killed someone, and she can still smile." The snide comment pulled her from her thoughts.

She rounded the car, went to the front to see the commotion.

The driver was surrounded by a group of people, piping snidely from the sidelines while he sweat profusely. Kristensen looked at the young man lying on the ground.

Hit? How?

The shuttle wasn't going fast, but it didn't go slow either. How could it hit him, and he didn't bleed at all?

Kristensen's eyes moved all over the young man's body but found no sign of a wound on him at all yet... there was a moon symbol on his hand. A symbol was the same as the one on Isaac...

Not again... Kristensen's brows furrowed. Was there something about this symbol, or was it a mark for something?

When Trudy went to touch the young man, Kristensen reacted quickly and held her back. She reacted before she thought things through.

Kristensen's heart raced as she pulled Trudy away from the young man. Instinctively, she felt a surge of protective urgency, a nagging sense that it would be disastrous if Trudy came into contact with the young man.

If once was an accident, twice couldn't possible be right?

"Wait, don't touch him," Kristensen cautioned, her voice tense with apprehension.

Trudy recoiled at Kristensen's sudden movement, confusion evident in her expression. "What's wrong?" she asked, her voice tinged with concern.

Kristensen hesitated, her mind racing with possibilities. "I don't know," she admitted, her tone betraying her unease. "Don't you think that symbol on his hand is familiar..?" She trailed off, unable to articulate the sense of foreboding that gripped her.

Before Trudy could think further, Mel and Arson joined them, their expressions mirroring Kristensen's apprehension. "What's going on?" Mel asked, her voice laced with concern.

Kristensen shook her head, her gaze fixed on the seemingly unconscious young man. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "But we need to be careful."

The driver was already overwhelmed by the berating from the crowd as they waited for the authorities to take charge of the situation.

It turned out they were in a town close to Cyan called Bunchee, the town was like a mini introduction of Cyan, the big city.

Out of all the people who were clamoring and condemning the driver, Kristensen found that they didn't seem to be wolves. She couldn't detect anything, pulse or aura on them at all except for the young man conscious on the ground.

He was a beta. Actually, he was in the same class as Isaac.

What puzzled Kristensen the most was why the young man had that symbol on his hand. Her mind raced with questions as they waited for the authorities. Was he on the same pack as Isaac? Why did he appear here? Was the pack's sacrifice going to appear here, too? and what did the symbol signify?

Before she could dwell on these questions further, the authorities arrived, dispersing the crowd and taking control of the situation. Kristensen watched as they loaded the young man onto a stretcher, her mind buzzing with unanswered questions.

"Isaac..!" Trudy exclaimed excitedly after some time. "We saw that symbol on Isaac."

It seemed she was thinking hard about that after all?

Kristensen didn't know what expression to have for a while and could only look at Trudy... speechless. Was that what was important?

She turned to three people around her after the commotion died down and the crowd dispersed, her expression grave. "If that symbol is what I think it is, we have to catch with Vince and Casey fast," she said, her voice firm. "And we need to be careful. I don't think this was just an accident."

Mel and Arson didn't fully grasp the gravity of the situation, but Trudy did and made her expression go from worried to extremely worried.

Kristensen, too...

Although they had expected The Camp not to be the only place that group of people operated, Kristensen had thought they would have to spare some effort in order to find out about then, she hadn't thought they would fall right onto their lap.

Were they lucky, or were they lucky?

"Let's follow them. We'll find out his name from the authorities. It'll be easier than searching blindly." Trudy suggested.

They all nodded, resigning to their fate.

Kristensen and the others followed the direction they got from asking around about the closest administration office and made their way there.

In Crandale, the governing system was through the administration office. The clinics, the authorities, and the registrars.

The clinic administration was for all sickness - man-made or otherwise - classes related problems - omega not being able to harness the moonlight or transform - and awakening problems. The clinic administration dealt with the physiology of wolves in a nutshell.

The authority administration was for all policing wolves. Crime, conflicts, and such. If there was ever war, they would also be the one in charge of such a matter. Their work was probably the hardest given how wolves were categorized in classes. How to arrest an alpha when you're an omega...

Kristensen thought it was hard for them. She sympathized with those a lot.

The last was the registrar administration. They dealt with the structure of Crandale and everything in it. How many alphas were there and which alphas would be likely to become the next head of an alpha house.

And apparently, it was there Kristensen would get her identification as an alpha and a member of House of Caston Maddison.

That administration was the one that had the power to solidify her identity.

Name: Kristensen Ryson.

Age: 26

Sex: Female

Class: Alpha

House: Caston Maddison

Bond: Unmated.

She shook her head at that thought, yet that was probably how her information was going to read, wasn't it?

The amount of information they found in the time it took to find the closest authorities office was really mind-blowing, especially to Kristensen. Her companions at least were aware of the governing system in Crandale, if nothing else.

As for her, she was the country bumpkin who looked at everyone and everything with sparkling eyes. Her intrigue couldn't be suppressed no matter how she tried to out on a stoic front.

Her eyes revealed what she felt. Curious, curious, and intrigued.

When they reached the office, Kristensen realized one suspicious thing that escaped their attention before.

Why did Ocean and the others not turn back when they realized they weren't following them?

"How are we going to contact Ocean and the others?" Kristensen asked as they stepped into the authorities building.

What she said... made them realize they had nothing, not a single dime on them.

If they got abandoned, what would they do?