When I made it back to camp the fires were already being put out by an emergency fire department while Red Cross members ran around, tending to the wounded.
But that was all they could do.
Only half of the camp was still standing, more or less.
A quarter of the dorms had been completely destroyed in the attack and I could still see the flames flickering inside.
More than a dozen bodies of fallen soldiers were already being shrouded for a hasty burial.
I spotted Martha, one of Hylla's assistants, hunched over a brown shroud, her entire body racking with uncontrollable sobs. Her twin, George, hadn't made it.
There were a lot more campers who didn't make it, people I'd known and others I hadn't even seen before. But it didn't matter. They'd died fighting for humanity.
Just this morning, nobody would have expected something so…devastating.
I spotted Meg joining the Red Cross to apply first aid to the wounded. Despite everything, I was so glad to see she was alive.
Brody was talking in hushed tones to an officer nearby, their expressions grim. When he saw me, he waved the officer off and started walking towards me.
But in that instant, exhaustion washed over me and I stumbled once, twice…then the world tilted.
And the ground rushed up to meet me, and I let it.
My eyes shut close before I even hit the earth.
***
I woke up the next morning in a big infirmary tent filled with dozens of injured groaning soldiers and doctors and nurses darting around, fully busy today.
The air was thick with the stench of blood and antiseptic.
There was a medical drip attached to my left wrist.
God. I really hated hospitals.
Next to me on my infirmary bed, Meg was snuggled up, one arm and one leg over my body possessively as if I might escape.
This would have been sweet if she wasn't snoring and drooling right next to my face.
I tried to move but she pulled me tighter and muttered something about stupid gremlins in her sleep.
"She insisted on sharing the same bed with you." A deep voice said.
I looked over and for the first time noticed Brody sitting on the floor next to the bed.
"Brody." I croaked. My voice sounded like I'd gurgled on lava.
"You doing good?" He asked, searching my face in that big brotherly way of his. Typical Brody.
I just shrugged. Nothing much to say. I couldn't even call what had happened a victory.
Considering the losses.
"Where'd Hylla go?" I asked, "She was supposed to join us…"
Brody shook his head and stretched out his legs in front of him, "The situation out there is equally as bad as it was here…or worse. Our soldiers are already stretched thin across the globe. Hylla had to go out there, ordered me to remain here and help defend the camp." He paused. "But the rest of the world is in utter chaos. The strongest of us are out there, Bloodfang…"
"Bloodfang!" I snapped up, "He's alive?"
"Yeah, don't underestimate those guys." Brody smirked.
We remained there in silence for a while, watching a nurse try to apply antiseptic on a screaming soldier's arm... or where his arm used to be. There was just a bleeding stump now.
I felt shame spreading slowly through my body. If I'd been a little faster…and stronger, the damage wouldn't have been this bad. If Brody hadn't showed up…
"Umm, Brody about last time…" I managed, "When I punched you…"
"You kidding?" He grinned, "You being that strong is…"
A young female soldier appeared from nowhere right beside my bed.
I mean, literally appeared out of thin air with a small "pop" sound.
If I wasn't pinned down by Meg I might have literally jumped from my bed.
I'd never seen a teleporter in camp. Didn't even know one existed.
Immediately she appeared, she faced Brody and saluted in an official military manner. Brody nodded.
"Please excuse us." Brody said meekly, "military stuff."
I shrugged, "Do whatever. This is a public space anyway."
"I'm Katie Adams." The young girl said and saluted at me too, her overly alert eyes was unnerving to me.
"Uh, I'm Zephan." I said, unsure of what to say. Also Meg snoring next to my face didn't encourage much conversation.
Katie faced Brody again and started talking about what sounded like mission reports.
And it all sounded bleak. So bleak it couldn't even be real.
The number of civilian casualties was in millions worldwide. Cities were being overrun by monsters. Militaries had fallen in a day. Two END bases had already been razed to the ground too.
The world really was ending. Right now.
I should be out there with the likes of Hylla and Bloodfang, not lying in bed watching Meg drool.
Even Katie herself seemed like she'd just come from the battlefield. Her uniform was all covered in dust and soot with a bunch of monster scratches on her, but otherwise she seemed fine.
"Brody, let me go out there. I can help." I said, forcing myself to sit up.
But Brody shook his head, "Not yet. You have no idea the condition you were in when we found you…you are still too battered."
He forced me to lie back down and promised he'd let me go the next day and left with Katie, still discussing mission reports.
****
I spent the rest of the morning in bed, brooding. By lunch, Meg and I made our way to the mess hall, which was now mostly roofless from the battle the previous day.
Only half of the camp was present and the ones around were mostly covered in fresh bandages.
"Wanna go for a walk after lunch?" Meg asked suddenly, staring into the distance while chewing a sandwich.
"Hmm?" I asked, kind of taken off guard. "Uh, sure."
She didn't say anything else till lunch was over.
After lunch, she left to put on her hiking boots and met me outside the mess hall.
We walked around the ruined camp in silence. Seeing the damage in broad daylight was jarring.
The sinkhole in the training field was still there, but heavily barricaded with guards on constant standby around it.
We finally got to the tree at the edge of the camp where we'd had a chat few nights ago.
Our first night in the camp.
Meg sat down on the grass and patted the space beside her for me to sit.
"Do we continue being END soldiers?" She said abruptly, hugging my arm the way she usually does when she's nervous.
"Why'd you ask that?" Even as I said that, I already knew the answer.
She squeezed my arm and whispered, "I'm scared. This is too dangerous. This is…" she looked at me, her eyes were wary and unsure.
Everything she said made sense. I was scared too. We weren't even military-trained. But…
"We are gifted." I said, "There are billions of helpless people out there who need our help…and that's what our Abilities are for. We can't just…stop fighting."
That wasn't a very encouraging thing to say.
Meg just stayed quiet, hugging her knees to her chest.
I wrapped my arm across her shoulders and tried again, "But if you can't, then we'll stop. You know, I joined END to protect you anyway."
Her lips curled up in a sly smile.
"You've passed out twice since we joined END." She said, slightly amused.
I frowned, "Yeah?"
"And I haven't even passed out once."
"That doesn't even—"
"Doesn't that make me way stronger than you?"
"The first time was Macy's fault!"
"Doesn't matter."
"And then I literally crashed from an Ourodrakon"
"Uh huh."
I looked at her face and saw she was holding back her laugh.
"You suck." I grumbled.
But I was just glad she was at ease again.
"Besides…" She asked, "What happened up there?"
"What?"
"When you fought the Ourodrakon." She said, now serious again, "There was something riding on it, right?
Then I remembered I hadn't talked about it to anyone before now. I'd actually just tried to forget about the incident afterwards.
I stood up too quickly and my head spun, making me a little nauseous.
"I need to report to Brody." I said and stumbled into the tree. "Like right now."
"What?" Meg asked, looking slightly alarmed by my sudden urgency. "Wait, tell me what happened, Zeph."
"Walk with me back to the command tent. I'll tell you about this Scokytocles thing that attacked me."
"Scoky- what? Sounds like a species of some kind of evil critter."
"What's really wrong with you? And that's a serious question."
As promised, I told Meg about what had happened on the Ourodrakon ride of death and destruction.
"So it's basically like a commander slash mind control creature thing?" She summed up.
"Not exactly mind control, but you know…" I tried to find the right words. "It was just harder to fight with him inside my head. Infact he expected me to be fully unable to fight with him around. Said something like, "how are you able to move when I'm around" or something something like that."
"Any chance i'm a Scokylite? Because I can also talk inside your head?"
"It's Scokytocles and no, I think you are just super dumb for thinking that. That's all."
"You fool." She grumbled. But her mood lightened up almost immediately, "Do you think maybe I can push him out of your head?"
"Huh?"
"With my own telepathy, I could."
I paused. I hadn't thought of that before. Was that possible?
"That's actually a smart idea, Meg."
She beamed. "I'm a genius, you know?" She said, tapping the side of her head.
We got to the command tent and spotted Brody with some high ranking looking officers plotting war strategies with miniature soldier figures, tanks and helicopters.
There were about six in total. And they all had that hardened veteran look on them.
"Hi!" Meg yelled suddenly and they jumped.
"Sorry about that." She said with an air of importance, grinning widely. "We have crucial military information we'd like to share."
A short buff guy with a thousand scars on his face at the other end of the room grumbled, "Who let these kids in here?"
"Kids?" Meg started.
Thankfully Brody stepped in. "Sorry, Captain Harrier, these are Zephan and Meg. They are new recruits but they've already proven to be really useful in the field. But I don't—"
"I have information." I said, stepping forward. "About the monsters."
"Something you feel we wouldn't know about?" Captain Harrier asked.
"Yes."
"We've discovered the Scokolodons." Meg declared.
"It's called Scokytocles." I corrected, "and yeah, I encountered it while I tried to stop the Ourodrakon the previous night."
"You mean that creature that rode on the drakon's back?" Brody asked.
"Yeah!"
"Oh. It's not an unusual monster actually."
"Oh…It's not?" I said, my excitement faltering.
"It's not." Brody said. "I spotted it yesterday too. Was surprised you somehow won against it on your first encounter. They are monsters of higher intelligence and they seem to command the lower ranked ones."
"Oh." I said again.
"Was that all you wanted to tell us?" Brody asked.
"Uh…yeah, I guess." I muttered, my face now burning with embarrassment. "Uh, come on Meg, let's go."
"But do you know how to fight it? With telepathy?" Meg said quickly.
"What are you talking about?" a seriously buff blonde girl asked, frowning.
"You see, it talks to people through their minds and disorient them and all, right? And I'm a telepath. See where I'm heading?"
"Hold up. Did you say it can talk to people through their minds?"
"Uh."
"Yeah!" I quickly chipped in this time. "I heard it talk inside my head. And very clearly." I paused, "Umm, are there no other reports like that?
There was an uneasy silence in the room.
"Maybe it's because of your…condition?" An older woman at the head of the table said.
"Hey." Meg warned.
I squeezed Meg's arm, "She's probably right. I did feel like it had a connection to this…thing inside me. He called it a poison."
Captain Harrier grunted, "if this is true, then—"
Next to me, Katie Adams the teleporter appeared right next to me out of thin air, making me quickly back into Meg and making Meg trip and fall.
"I swear to God…" I complained.
She saluted to the room and faced Brody.
"Mission report: Squads Echo Rift Division and Delta Ghost Unit have been completely wiped. Skyraxes and Mnueei have completely broken through our defense on Fourth Avenue and are currently assaulting Ravenwatch Battalion. We require immediate back up. Like ASAP!"
"Dude…" Meg muttered and rushed to Katie's side and handed her the water canteen she usually hung on her waist. "Drink up."
Aside from the sound of Katie gulping water, the room was filled with uneasy silence again.
"Brody, you have to let me go out there." I pleaded. "I'm of no help here right now."
Brody remained silent, fighting his thoughts. "What about…the Scokytocles controlling you…"
"It didn't control me. It disturbed my mind but I was fine. I swear."
"And now he also has me." Meg said.
He looked like he was already regretting the decision but he said, "If it gets too chaotic fall back immediately. We can always regroup and attack again. No need to be a hero."
I grinned, "You can count on me."
"Us." Meg corrected.
"Meg…" I started but she shushed me.
"I'm coming with you, Zeph."
She stared at me intently. She was not backing down from this.
"Fine." I sighed. But I really wished she wouldn't come.
I mean I trusted her with my life to watch my back no matter what but I just couldn't shake off a bad feeling about this.
"Katie." Brody said, "Take them back with you. With your teleportation."
"Wait, that works for other people too?" I asked.
"Barely. It drains the teleporter drastically…but this is an emergency." He turned to Katie, "Please."
She nodded.
"Oh and–" Brody pulled out a four feet long blade with a familiar bluish tinge along the edges. "I noticed you liked this sword. You should take it with you."
The metal looked newly sharpened and it glistened wickedly in the afternoon sun, I could have cried.
What was I becoming? Crying because of a weapon?
"Cliché." Meg snorted, "I'll have a firearm instead."
"Now good luck, you guys." Brody said and clapped our shoulders with his massive hands. "Katie is going to drop you in the middle of a battlefield right now. Be prepared for anything. And please don't die."
And with that, Katie stood between Meg and I, laced her arms in ours and asked with a smirk, "You guys ready for battle?"
We nodded.
And then I felt my body get sucked into itself and we slipped into darkness.