"...How many people are there?" Mia asks, picking up her pace to talk more comfortably with Peter. "Are there other compounds? Do you have any information about where they might be?"
He holds up a hand. "Easy, lass, easy. The resistance is made up of about fifty of us. And nah. We're the only group, so far's we know." His voice is...sad? I can't quite tell what tone that is, to be honest.
"Fifty..." Eric trails off. "That's...more than I thought." His lips purse and his brows furrow. "...How long do people survive in the compound?"
"Hmm..." Peter looks up at the sky. "Dunno. We've done okay surviving so far." His tone is a bit lighter, his eyes distant as he looks up at the sky.
"...How many died in the last attempt?"
"Don't know. Wasn't there." He shrugs, still staring at the stars.
"...Oh."
The man laughs, his eyes going back to Eric. "We've been slowly growing, though. We'll get 'em this time, for sure."
Eric hums, but he sounds doubtful.
Silence takes over for awhile.
Peter leads us over the dunes of this weird planet. It's still not sand, but for whatever reason, the packed clay we walk over is shaped like sand dunes. I wonder how that happened. The air isn't windy or dry enough for it, I'd think.
But...
I don't really know anything about geology.
I certainly don't know how things might work on another planet, outside of what I've seen. Maybe it's just different? It's a different world, after all.
It feels like we've walked a very long ways by the time the sun is rising.
In the early dawn, I can just about make out a shape on the horizon, but I can't tell what it is.
A building of some sort. Something tall and angular, with no windows.
As the sun gets brighter and the shape becomes easier to make out, I realize that's where Peter is leading us. But we're still a ways away.
"Almost there." His voice is soft. He glances back over his shoulder, but the look in his eyes is hard. Like...he expects to see something horrible there behind us, maybe. "...Let's pick up the pace a bit more."
...I'm already tired from walking through the night.
But I'm guessing he's saying that because of whatever they plan to do to neutralize the tracking bands. If it's time sensitive, I'm guessing it needs to happen before dawn. When they're 'turned on' or activated, I guess, or whatever.
So I don't protest, though I'd like to.
The shape in the distance slowly resolves into a large building of some sort. There's not a single window or glass, though there are a lot of large doors that I can only assume are for moving things in or out.
We get to the closest of the big double-doors, which Peter opens easily, and steps inside.
The place looks abandoned, and smells like stale, old water.
Not the most pleasant place I've ever seen.
But it is cooler in here.
There are people here, too. A few. They...are guards, I think. They don't look at us or say anything to Peter, and we pass through without issue. There's...at least six guards that we pass. Each of them has a metal rod of some sort that...doesn't really look like anything I've seen before.
They're about the length of my arm, and have...weird bulges near the top of the rod. Like an odd sort of...metal baton? Or staff, maybe.
We pass the people and move through the hallways of the building.
Peter leads us down stairs and through doors into rooms with people. There's not a ton of light in here. But there are some lanterns, like the ones in our little hut, and the occasional candle. There's...maybe...six people in the room with us.
They're all asleep.
He leads us further into the building and we enter another room with another handful of people. This one has windows, despite there being none on the building from the direction we'd come from. They're small and barred, but it lets the early dawn light in, making the area bright. These people are...mostly awake. A few are sleeping on makeshift beds.
Ivan - the leader who spoke with us last year - is among those awake.
He stands and approaches us. "Good to see you all." His voice is rough. "And...you two?" He looks between Mia and Hestia, his eyebrows going up.
"These are our other two friends." Eric says. "They've been helping us prepare this year."
"Good, good." He nods and gives the girls a little smile.
Mia offers him a hand to shake.
He takes it, and gives it a single shake. "So. We don't have a lot of time before they activate the bands." He turns to Eric and me and gestures to the table. "We'll have to get started right away. The key is to interfere with the signal so it appears you're still in the testing area. They're not precise targets, so simply putting them somewhere in that location will keep you safe for now."
"...You're not going to remove them...?" Eric sounds a bit surprised.
The man shakes his head. "If we were, it'd have been better to take it off where we found you. Of course the bracelets are set to alarm if we try. You'll have to keep them on for now."
Eric frowns. "...And the interference?"
Ivan hums. "We may be living in squalor, but there are those of us who know their tech." He gestures to a machine in the center of the table. "This is a signal disruptor. Home made. Go ahead, sit. We'll get to work."
It takes about twenty minutes to disable the trackers in our bands, or whatever it is he does.
I don't quite understand the technology, and it doesn't feel like there's enough time to ask.
But once we're done, I feel....
Just even more tired than before.
The man smiles. "You've had a long day. Before we talk further...would you all like to rest?"
It seems like Eric wants to protest, but...his eyelids look so heavy. He looks like he's about to fall over.
"Yeah..." I speak for all of us. "...I think we'd like that a lot." My own eyes are so heavy. It feels like I haven't slept in days, and my legs feel like jelly. My throat feels a bit sore, and my stomach feels like I'm about to throw up.
"Is it really okay?" Mia asks. "To take the time to sleep...?" Her brows furrow.
The man laughs. "That's why we jammed the signal. You have plenty of time left now to rest." He offers her a small, warm smile. "Don't worry. Everything has gone to plan." He turns and gestures to someone, a girl about my age who's just been sitting and watching us.
"Take these four to the barracks. Make sure they have beds and food."
The girl blinks, "Uh...yeah. Alright." She looks at us a moment, and then turns and leads us away. "...So you're the newbies?" She glances over at us. She has brown hair, short and pulled up in a messy ponytail, and freckles over the bridge of her nose, and a thin mouth. Her skin is darkly tanned. She looks...weirdly normal for a person in the resistance.
"Um...yes. We are."
"Right. Well." She clears her throat and glances at us again. "...Name's Tessa. I...only got recruited a few years ago myself." She looks at Hestia. "...She okay...?" Her expression is worried. Hestia has her head on my shoulder and her eyes closed. She's not sleeping, she's still holding onto my arm. But she's not walking with her head up, either, so I don't really blame Tessa for being concerned.
"She's just...tired." I offer. I mean. She is.
"...Yeah. I bet. You guys had an unlucky walk." She shakes her head. "Wouldn't have thought Ivan would bother to get anyone that far out." Her expression is thoughtful. "Must have barely made it in time before the trackers activated."
My stomach twists at that.
Was it really such a close call...?
She leads us to a small room with about a dozen bets. Half of them are occupied. "You guys can sleep here." She says, and gestures at the open beds. "Get a nap and some food, and we'll see you around."
Hestia doesn't seem to want to let go of my hand, even when I sit down on the bed.
I'm so tired that it takes a bit for me to register that she wants me to sleep beside her. Not...necessarily to hold onto her hand, I guess. But she does keep it once I've lain down beside her.
Well.
We have real beds here. And space.
This is...
The first time we can lay down and not be...captives waiting on captors to wake us since we arrived in this place.
But I guess...
Some things with Hestia just won't change even then.