I stopped and crouched behind a tree to look over the area. It would have been a picture-perfect day under normal circumstances. The sun was high overhead, its light cast swathes of gold betwixt the trees in a sporadic pattern. Pockets of light and shade coupled with a nimble breeze swooping down the slope made a dreamy landscape that clashed with the violence taking place.

Down the slope, crouched behind trees just as I was, were a squad of soldiers. Unlike me, they were all armed with rifles. They were all crouched and looking in the same direction that I was, so they didn’t notice my approach. I looked to where they were aiming. It was across a small stream that intersected the fall and rise of the two slopes. Up the hill about forty feet were the Carpenters. I couldn’t see all of them, but those that I could were pinned down, hiding behind the trees. Whenever one person tried to move, they were barraged with a flurry of bullets to keep them pinned.

I had the high ground on the scene, and I knew that I didn’t have much time to act. The reason I didn’t run into any cadre members after escaping with Melody was they had all been sent to round up all the Carpenters. We were lucky that only one squad had discovered them, but it wouldn’t be long before more arrived.

I located the closest guard and sprinted toward him. His back was turned, so he didn’t see me as I slammed into him. I wanted to knock him out with a punch, but since I ran too fast downhill, I couldn’t stop in time. Our bodies collided and we fell to the ground in a cloud of dirt and pine needles. The momentum of my tackle caused us to begin tumbling down the hill as we fought for dominance. The soldier’s rifle fell away as we tussled, but once we came to a stop, he was on top. He punched me hard in the forehead, and with the hardened plastic knuckles on his glove, I nearly lost consciousness from the blow. I grabbed his arm, and with my power, I made the aura around his arm vibrate intensely. I could see as the deeper color of his bones shatter instantly.

He let out a manic, high-pitched scream. He fell off me and writhed around in pain. I swiftly clutched his head and put him to sleep. I had never heard anyone scream like that, and I didn’t want to hear it ever again. Even though I could sense more people scrambling down toward us, I took a moment to repair his arm. I left a small break, enough that he wouldn’t be able to use it, but it shouldn’t hurt as it had.

I stood up and looked around to plan my next move. I wished I had done that before I attacked the first soldier, but my body kept moving before I thought. Our tumble had taken me too far down the hill, and I now stood in the middle of the two warring sides. To my left, I could see the Carpenters hiding behind trees, using them as cover from the bullets and weapons if the guards got too close. To my right, the guards were also using the trees, but it was for concealment and trying to maneuver to an advantageous position to get the drop on my friends. I didn’t know if it was the tumble into the fray or the screaming of the guard that gathered everyone’s attention, but at that moment, I was the center of it.

I wasn’t sure if the cadre were given orders to capture or kill us, but they were stepping out of their positions. The soldiers began to fan out, apparently trying to close in on me from multiple sides. It only took a couple of seconds before my only options were to face the group or turn and run. I wasn’t going to run and put my friends in more danger, so I was really only left with one option.

There was more cadre then I initially counted, another detriment to my hasty actions. Ten or eleven guards had stepped out from behind their trees. As they ran toward me, almost in unison, they pulled out their batons. They were different than the batons I dealt with earlier but no less damaging. The rods were telescoping and made of sturdy plastic, so no one in the camp would be able to manipulate them. It seemed they didn’t know much, or else they probably would have just tried to shoot me.

They all began running in my direction like a group of highly intelligent zombies. I looked around and found two rocks on the ground. I quickly grabbed them and leaving gaps for movement, I formed them tightly around my hands as makeshift gloves. As the first guard’s baton came swinging toward my head, I caught it with my left hand and slugged him in the chin with my right. He went stiff and fell over like a toppled tree. I used the opening to sprint ahead, so I wasn’t surrounded.

One of the soldiers swung after me as I ran. Pain exploded from my elbow, and my arm went limp. The pain made my head swim, and my limp arm dragged my weight to the right. My unbalanced frame caused me to stagger away from the blow. My foot caught on an exposed root, and I staggered more, spinning wildly as I tried to keep from falling to the ground.

Like hyenas, the guards saw my weakness and pounced to attack. Before I could regain my footing, another came in and slammed his baton into my shin. I fell to the ground with a thud. I was unable to break my fall because of my arm, and I was in too much pain to scream. Almost immediately after I fell, a boot slammed into my stomach, and air rushed from my lungs, unwilling to come back. I was kicked in the stomach repeatedly; I think they all took turns. A boot hurtled toward my face, and a moment later, my cheek felt as if it had been shredded with a hail of broken glass as it exploded in pain. My head swung back from the force of the blow, and I could feel the warm blood that had been pooling in my mouth get ejected. One of the guards pulled my hair and dragged me up. Blood started to drain from my nose.

“Gross, don’t let his blood get on you, or you could get their disease,” one on the guards sneered. I wanted to spit the blood in his face, but I could barely open my eyes, and my jaw hurt too much to move.

“What should we do with him?” Another asked.

“This kid is a freak among the freaks, and he’s too much trouble. We have orders to get the Carpenters back, not this diseased sack of flesh.” The first one that talked said. Although, I wasn’t sure it was him since I was having trouble seeing more than a few inches away. The others must have either agreed, or the one speaking was in charge because no one said anything else.

My eyes burned from my blood that dripped into them, but I could see as he pulled out his pistol strapped to his leg. He brought the gun up to my face and pulled the hammer back. As I looked down the barrel, a branch wrapped around his wrist, through the trigger guard and continued up his arm. The soldier lifted into the air as more branches began threading around the other remaining guards. All tried to struggle, but they were lifted up and out of my sight like the first one. No longer supported by the guards, I fell to the ground again. Through my hazy vision, I could see multiple pairs of boots walking toward me. I looked up, and I could see Sarah’s face as she walked forward.

“Damn, Aidren,” she admonished. “You sure don’t do things the easy way, do you?”

I smiled at her maternal tone, but that was all I was able to do. I closed my eyes and focused on healing my injuries.

“Aidren!” Melody yelled. I opened my eyes to see her running around a tree. When she spotted the group around me, she slid to a stop.

“Who are you?” Sarah yelled. Without waiting for a response, she bent down and grabbed a tree root that was sticking from the ground. A wooded spike shot out of the earth toward Melody. Before it struck her, Melody grabbed the root with both hands. Her feet were pushed back with the force of the root, but she didn’t lose her grip on it. The two young women both appeared to struggle for a moment as the makeshift spike pulsed with energy.

“Sarah, stop,” I finally managed to croak. “That’s Melody, she’s with me.” As if choreographed, both girls let go of the root, and it fell to the ground. “Melody, this is Sarah.” They nodded at each other, clearly neither trusting the other. I noticed that Victor wasn’t with Melody and figured she must have stashed him somewhere. “Go get Victor so we can go.”

Melody didn’t say anything, she just nodded and went back up the hill.

“Who the hell is that, Aidren?” Sarah asked, whirling on me. “She’s a Carpenter, why have I never seen her?” I chuckled at her question even though it still hurt my ribs. “What’s so funny?”

“She likes to be called a Wood Bender,” I stated. “She wasn’t in our camp. She was in the liberation group that I met after I escaped, and she got captured when we were attacked.”

When I mentioned the liberation group, Sarah became very interested and started peppering me with questions. I mentioned that I would tell her all about it, but we needed to keep moving.

Suddenly Sarah gasped in surprise. My eyes sprung open ready for an attack. Sarah was rushing toward Melody, who had returned with her brother. When Melody saw Sarah rushing forward, she moved Victor behind her to protect him.

“He’s so cute,” Sarah cooed, her motherly instincts taking over. “What’s your name?” Melody rolled her eyes and then motioned for Victor to say hello.