Chapter 33

Kyle sits down ready to hear a clear strategy about moving Everyone.

Colin asks his wife to come up with a strategy, "The thing about our camp is that we consult my wife first. From the people we recruit to how we should move. I didn't ask her about bringing my father's camp here, it's biting me in the balls, they are such difficult people."

"I heard about the way they threatened to leave so you give them what they want, but came begging the next morning for you to take them in. I think everyone has difficult people to deal with, but in your case they can be avoided. Honestly it was great of you to take them back, how are they now?"

"Too well behaved. We have 2 runaways but it doesn't look like anyone else is interested in leaving. I feel like it was necessary for that to happen because problems have been on the low. With the new tents and everyone getting their own personal products instead of sharing it really is solving a lot of conflicts before they even ensue. Women get along better now, but there's still a divide. They all have their own groups and don't hang around the other groups. They just behave because they want to live in houses like we promised."

"Your father had a lot of people. I think his camp alone tripled your numbers. Have you reached 100 yet?"

"Yes, my father's group. The Infected escapees, and 12 new arrivals that came here. We have enough people. No more." Colin says annoyed.

"You can avoid trouble moving forward with the large wall."

"Yes, we had way more options to choose from for the people we brought here to help with supplies donations, we could only bring in such a few because it's rare to find people we can trust, and we are still in transition we are not yet on our feet, any wrong move we will crumble to the ground and we might not recover."

Kyle laughs to tears, "I'm sorry ... You are still what? Still in transition? What! You look like you've made it, what more can you possibly do?"

"Take over more territory." Lily says as she enters the room, "Hello Kyle, a pleasure to see you always."

Kyle laughs, "What happens after you take over territory?"

"Nothing, we leave the rest of the open space for our grand children. Do you expect me to send the kids out when we get over populated?" Lily sits down.

Kyle gulps, "I didn't think about overpopulation from having little foot prints around. I certainly was going to make a mistake bringing in double the number of people."

"Your worst mistake will be ignoring our warning Kyle. Those people in Red or Black will tear your people apart mining for black marble. They are foreigners here to take advantage of our suffering." Lily says very seriously.

Kyle gulps, "I won't let them in."

"Good," Colin says, "He wants to know how he should move." He tells Lily what she was called for.

Lily's eyes change colour, "You will move according to the pace of the young Murasaki in your camp, we cannot leave and must guard against the red liars, a word of warning, they will immediately leave our camp to attempt to infiltrate yours, you will let them in, they will kill you, they will turn your people into slaves, and they will cause war between camps until they are left to clean up the mess hailed as heroes, then get their entire camp infected being the stupid outsiders they are."

She takes a deep breath and shakes her head at Kyle, "It would have been better if you never moved. It's been by pure luck you've kept those people alive, you're no leader at all if you cannot make the difficult decision."

Kyle would take offense but he knows better than to doubt Lily, "Do they really change that much? Once they are safe?"

"People storm to your castle demanding you let them in, the ones inside stir up trouble you wish you could kick them out. You're going to have to be the bad guy most of the time, you can't make everyone happy." Colin says with his arms crossed giving Kyle the obvious 'You can't do that.' Look.

"Look, I want to protect those people. I want to protect everyone. I want people to be happy."

"Make the ones you have now happier Kyle. After winter your camp is going to have a pregnancy explosion like no other. Those kids will need your full attention. We supply everyone else with more than enough. Stop thinking about people outside your camp and focus on the ones inside. You are nowhere near prepared for the babies coming in your camp. Just listen to the kids, they are there for a reason. They have the answer you need. Go home and get some rest. You need it." Lily says.

Kyle nods and turns to Kevin who has been in the room the whole time, "Okay. Thank you."

Kevin takes him home.

Kyle arrives and there's an acid storm outside.

"Aira! Can you do it?" Thomas asks directly below the Shields centre.

"Yes! It's working!" Aira yells back.

Mira sighs in relief glad she received the warning on time. Acid rain is weak against ordinary shields but can melt nano walls.

"This is why I'm waiting for the go ahead to install the new wall." Thomas says.

"The one with shape shifting?" Chronos asks.

Kyle stands closer to hear more.

"Yes, it's already done, what's missing are meagre things. Absolutely minor things." Thomas says catching Aira when he lands, "That was incredible. You should teach my son Tom when we get back."

Aira laughs, "How am I supposed to teach a baby Thomas, that's silly."

Thomas laughs, "Well, we'll have to wait a little while longer than." He says smiling at Aira who nods back.

"I didn't know you have a child." Kyle says looking at Thomas in his sweatpants and tank top.

"Good, because he inherited my power and I want that to stay a secret. He's 3 months old. Looks way too much like his mother."

Kyle furrows his brows confused, "How do you know he inherited your power at 3 months old?"

"He clumsily uses it when he's throwing tantrums. Things start flying in his room. He wails for hours without any peace. Bella watches him day and night. Using his powers gives him a headache, you can imagine a baby in pain that can't communicate his problem is a real pain. I've been working on this bracelet, it's number 1 the only way to walk through the new shield and number 2 has a full time baby monitor that alerts Bella and I how my son is doing. We are made aware of every little thing about his body, the vaccine dealt with most of the trouble. Wife says he's been doing better since." He shows Kyle a hologram projection of a photo of his son.

"Wow, he looks so healthy. The vaccine did that?" Kyle holds the picture closer.

"Yes. Miss him a lot. We talk over the phone, but I do most of the talking and he just smiles at me. He smiled on the very day he was born when I held him in my arms, babies are addictive." Thomas says smiling.

"I never wanted a child. They scare me." Kyle says.

"That's why your camp will never grow. How else is your power going to be passed on? When you're gone, what will you leave these people with? Children usually take after their father's when it comes to inheriting abilities. Choose a woman with a strong ability in case they inherit the mother's power, I certainly made my choice based on that. Woman's an angel I don't regret my choice, she has a plant creation ability. She can can make bread with the wheat, jam with the fruits and knows how to make the tastiest Vege dishes, my children will never starve with her power. Powers also evolve, if you're lucky the child inherits both powers, the babies vaccine has a yellow charge, it increases the odds of the child inheriting both parents abilities. Like little Akali, it worked on her, her hair is this beautiful colour, had no ability at all but now she has both parents abilities. It can only be given to babies as you grow older yellow charge disappears and you produce more purple blood cells."

Kyle nods his head, "Wow, I hope our children got that."

"Of course, all children were vaccinated. It's the adults who we didn't vaccinate. Only a few asked. We won't force it on anyone." Thomas says yawning. He was up all night making the new shield Chip.

"I should get some rest too. Maybe later we'll talk more about this." Kyle enters the mall heading to his room to sleep.

~~~

Luna smiles at the women from Angel's tent asking for the vaccine. She wishes for the syringes with vials and injects them one by one.

"Thank you." They return to their tent and sit down smiling, "Noelle you're a genius."

"Mhmm, and now you know it." She closes the door after taking out her jacket and going outside. She screams when her jacket is covered in ice.

"What's wrong?" A male asks after rushing to her side.

"Uhm ..." She holds up the jacket in ice and waves it in his face angrily.

"Oh." That's all the male says replying.

Toya melts the ice when he's called to solve the problem. He washes the jacket and was about to give it to Noelle but her hands are steaming.

"Mira!" He calls his sister lost about what to think. He was assuming it's heat but he cannot sense heat, that is cold.

Mira looks at Noelle and checks what her power is, "One power with multiple powers, basically her name, Noelle. She can teleport, change her size to shrink smaller, can willfully generate ice and snow. Power is most powerful in Winter."

Noelle takes a deep breath, "How do I stop freezing everything?" She asks scared out of her mind.

"Just calm down and revel in the awesomeness of having powers. What else can you do?" Mira casually responds and turns around walking away.

"Oh! Okay, just like that." Noelle says nodding her head and taking her jacket walking to the kitchen to make food with Aira.

"Wow, your eyes are really pretty." Aira says complementing how blue they air.

"Thank you Aira, what are you doing stirring the pot like a witch. Is the spoon heavy?" Noelle asks laughing at Aira.

"It's too big. I usually just use my power to stir the pots, but I am tired from flying up and down so much." He stops and sits down.

Noelle opens the pot and it's just boiling water. She closes the pot and opens it again to make sure she's seeing properly before, her mouth widens with shock. She turns her head very slowly and looks at Aira who is dying from laughter.

"Aira!!!"

Everyone's attention immediately turns to the kitchen to Aira flying out with his foot stuck in a pot.

He dodges a ball of ice and a snow ball before attacking back with a lightning tornado.

Noelle's blizzard and the lightning tornado cancel each other out both Aira and Noelle look at each other with smirks on their faces.

"Unfreeze my foot!!" Aira yells annoyed with the burning feeling.

Noelle covers hair face, "I don't know how."

He passes out instantly.

Thomas runs to his side and looks at Toya and Luna treating him instantly.

Chronos reverses the burns on his legs, "She's this powerful on a rainy day?" He says helping Aira up.

"Clearly the girl needs training." Thomas says helping Aira up, "Did you manage to boil the water?" He asks Aira.

"Hot air floats up, I couldn't do it. I don't think I can generate hot air." Aira says.

"You can generate lightning inside a tornado. To generate wind you instinctively activate the latent heat in air, that should not be possible unless pyrokenisis is in your DNA." Thomas explains to Aira, he didn't want to give him straight answers.

Aira looks at him confused, "Fire? My parents didn't have that power."

"I know. Not all powers are inherited. Your power is supposed to improve generation to generation. The ability to turn air into wind is a sign of that, but don't rush. I want you to figure this one out on your own." Thomas ruffles his head smiling at him.

"I'm sorry Aira. My temper is a bit ... Wild." Noelle looks at him, "Why did you pull such a stupid prank." She tugs on his cheeks.

"Ow! You're still mad." Aira looks her in the eyes.

"Oh, you have no idea." Noelle hugs him.

Aira laughs, "The look on your face was hilarious though."

Noelle chuckles, "You got me good."

"Well, Luna you're on food duty. Aira failed at boiling water." Thomas says.

"Is that supposed to be his punishment?" Luna asks upset that not cooking is Aira's punishment.

"Yes. He wanted to have ribs by the way." Thomas says.

"Than why boil water?" Luna asks still confused.

"If he managed to boil the water I would teach him how to grill meat. No grilling meat until you get it right." Thomas says.

"What?! Oh come on!" Aira walks away upset.

"Oh. Well, grilling ribs it is than." Luna says asking Toya and Rin to make the fire.

Luna sets up the big table and wishes for sauced ribs and marinade.

"I've never seen ribs that large before." Mira says.

"Never had a crowd this large to feed before." Luna replies. She wishes for sliced bread in plastic. Loaves on end.

"Since grilling will take time. Can you ask today's group to make sides for the meal." Luna says preparing soda in a 20L cooler boxes.

"Emily. Can your group make the salad. The men are grilling the meat." Dodge says.

The women happily go to the kitchen but Thomas is fixing it with Aira.

"You'll have to use the kitchen upstairs ladies. Stop by the mall. It'll take a while before we're done here." Thomas says giving them a pass to the grocery store.

The women run to see the grocery store, it's always Noelle's group that get supplies for everyone in the morning.

They show Courage the green pass.

"Sorry ladies, but that pass is for the food market on the other side of the mall. It will close down soon. They are transporting everything to the new mall." Courage informs them, "Bright green next to the stairs that lead to your shop. Hurry."

The women run and arrive showing Storm their green card.

"Hurry, we're supposed to be closing down soon." He says moving out of the way.

Emily grabs the cart and runs around grabbing ingredients. They leave looking back.

"It's so beautiful inside. Can you imagine the children used to sleep in that room. I can't see it."

Emily nods entering the lift, "What happens when we leave? This place is starting to get comfortable you know."

"No way. I want to go to a place where I can walk around more. This is just a taste of what's waiting on the other side. I am ready to go right now."

"Yeah, I want more than this."

"Alright ladies let's stay focused on the food."