“Lyn. Lyn!” I rub my eyes and roll over, out of my sleeping pod and onto the dusty floor, looking up at Sara and groaning from the impact.

“Huh?” I ask, the events of last night still foggy in my mind.

“What happened to you guys? Where’s Jamie? I heard the group got back yesterday and he went to find you.” Her rapid-fire questions were not helping my memory return any faster.

I look up at her, puzzled. “What do you mean? I didn’t see anybody…” and that’s when it hit me, as I sit up quickly. “Oh shit.” Sara has a worried expression on her face now, and she squats down to grab me by the arms.

“What happened?”

“Coppers. There were six of them, and two got him. They tried to chase me but I had my pistol on me-” Sara interrupts me in the middle of my sentence.

“You didn’t shoot them, did you?!” She asked, getting more nervous by the moment.

“No, no. But Jamie told me to go. I came through the tunnels at Andrew’s. They were down at the Blue House.”

She scrunches up her face. “And you’re sure they didn’t see?”

I sigh and roll my eyes. “Yes, honey. I’m certain they didn’t see me go. They were too busy stumbling over themselves,” I chuckle.

“Okay, but do you know where they took him? We can send the team out to get him if we know where to go.”

“There you go, getting all analytical and leadership-y.” She rolls her eyes at me as I poke fun at her. “No, I don’t know where he is. But we have scouts, remember? We can find out and then send the team. We’ll get him back soon.”

Sara sighs and stands back up. “Alright. Let me round up the group and you can help me brief them when you’re awake and dressed.”

I nod. Of course, I’m going to agree. Who would dare deny the matriarch of the Colony? Sara walks off and I stand up, setting my blanket down in the pod to get a shower.

- LATER THAT MORNING -

I approach Sara in the dining hall. “I’m ready, do you have them?”

She turns around to look at me and nods. “Yes, they’re in the conference room waiting.” She starts walking away and I follow her. She swings the door open wide and everyone turns their chairs to face the front of the room. I do a little wave with my arms crossed in front of me, and my partner Kieran starts laughing from the back.

“Something funny, K?” Sara asks, tucking a piece of her silver hair behind one ear.

He immediately stops laughing and shakes his head. “No, ma’am. Nothing funny.”

She nods and turns to the chalkboard. “Alright, so today we need to find Jamie.” A hand shoots up at the table, and Sara sighs. “Yes, Josselin?”

“Is he back yet? I haven’t seen the rest of the crew.”

Kieran rolls his eyes. “Yes, they’re back. You haven’t seen them because you don’t pay attention to anything.”

Josselin scoffs and turns to look at him. “Excuse me? Why would I be on the scouting team if I don’t pay attention?”

“Because they couldn’t find anything else for you-” Kieran is interrupted by Sara; “Enough! We need to get this briefing done so you guys can leave. Please pay attention.”

K makes a duck face and sits back in his chair with his arms crossed, and Josselin rolls her eyes before doing the same.

“Alright. The group returned yesterday afternoon, and Jameson was taken by coppers last night. We need to find where they took him so we can send in the team to do an extraction. Kieran will lead team one, and Natalie and Oliver will join him. You’ll go to the Pit and the Watchtower to scout. Josselin will lead team two with Leon and Camelia, please hit the Garden and the Squall. Any questions?” Josselin raises her hand again. “Yes?”

“Can’t you have Kieran go to the Squall? You know it’s cold over there and I don’t do well in cold.” Josselin says, a pouty look on her face.

“No. Your task has been assigned, please don’t ask for an adjustment again. If there are no further questions…” nobody else raises their hand. “Okay. If there is any trouble, you use the shortest route to return here, even if it means we don’t find him today. You know they won’t hurt Jamie, because they need him. But we will not make a bargain or trade, so whatever you do, don’t come into contact with the police. If neither of you finds anything, we will send another group tomorrow. Now go, and be safe.”

Everyone rises from their seats and clusters into their assigned groups. I walk over to Kieran’s group, where he is standing with his back towards me, arms crossed. I touch him on the back of his right shoulder and he turns to look at me. “Take care,” I say. “Don’t get hurt.”

He smirks and chuckles at me. “You know I’m smarter than that. It’ll be okay.” He kisses the top of my head quickly and wraps one arm around me in a farewell embrace. “We’ll be back soon.” I nod and step back so they can leave. He turns back to the group and waves towards the door. “Let’s go, y’all.”

- LATER THAT DAY -

Around dinnertime, Kieran’s group returned. He was bloody, with wounds all over his body, and Oliver and Natalie had to carry him into the Hall. When I saw them, I shot up from my seat and ran over to help, Jack and Leon following close behind. “What happened?!”

Oliver shook his head as he and Natalie handed Kieran off to Jack and Leon to go to the infirmary. “We were at the Pit. Kieran thought he saw something in their courtyard and wanted to investigate, but Nat told him not to. He said he’d only be a minute.”

Natalie took over the story from there. “He left and we tried to watch him, but he was already out of sight. I should have gone with him, I’m sorry. We started worrying about five minutes in, but around the ten minute mark he reappeared, looking just like he does now. He said the coppers saw him and let the Banta cats out, and they chased him before playing around just like they do with the deer.” Nat’s story was interrupted by a cry of agony coming from the infirmary. I whipped my head around and started heading in that direction.

“Lyn! Where are you going?” Oliver asked.

“I’m going to be with him. He needs me right now,” I responded, turning around again to walk to the hallway. Natalie tried to say something to keep me with them but Oliver stopped her. When I arrived at the infirmary door, I took a deep breath in to collect myself before I entered the room. As I push the door open to the waiting room, Kieran screams in pain again and it brings tears to my eyes. Sara turns around by the desk at the sound of the door and reaches her arm out to me. I walk over and wrap my arms around her, tucking my face into her shoulder.

Sara starts petting my head, like she used to do when I was little. “He’ll be okay hon. Doc Sam says it’s not too bad, it’s just very painful.” I nod and turn around to look at the room. The only other person here is Jesse, probably waiting for a check-up on her unborn baby.

“Will they let me go in?” I ask. I’d rather spend time by Kieran than not know how he’s doing, but of course, Sara knows that. She nods and gestures to the OR door, and I slowly walk over before tapping on the glass window and pushing it open. Sam turns around and then flicks their head to let me know it’s okay to come over to the table. As I step toward them, I get the full effect of Kieran’s injuries.

He is mostly intact, but he has puncture wounds all over his arms from the Bantas, and there are scratches across his entire torso and back. There is one gash on his left thigh that’s quite deep and doesn’t seem to want to stop bleeding. His right hand doesn’t seem to be too badly injured, so I go around to the other side of the table and pick it up in mine. He opens his eyes, looking over at me without moving his body. “I went and got hurt, I’m sorry Lyn.”

I shake my head, wiping the tears trying to escape my eyes. “It’s not your fault, my love. It’s them. I’m sure they knew we’d come, but I didn’t know they’d moved the Bantas to the Pit. I wouldn’t have let Sara send you there if I had known.”

He half-smiles, like his normal self, and squeezes my hand gently. “It wasn’t up to you. This is fate, remember? Everything has a purpose. We’re getting where we’re supposed to be, even if it doesn’t look like we want it to.” I nod, knowing he’s right.

“Alright. It’s time to do some stitches, do you want to stay for that, Lyn?” Sam asks me. I look at them and nod again.

“Yeah, I think I need to.”

They shrug and grab their tools to get started. For the next hour, Kieran grimaced and groaned and occasionally cried out in pain as Sam stitched and bandaged him up. The worst part was the gash on his thigh, it took 23 stitches and four gauze rolls to bandage it sufficiently. Then we wrapped it in three ACE bandages to apply compression and the job was done. Since there was no way Kieran would be able to walk for a while, we called Jack and Leon back in to help us move him to a wheelchair so we could transport him to the sleeping pods.

That night, I stayed with Kieran. I needed to know he was okay, and if he wasn’t, I was there to help. He didn’t sleep very much, since we didn’t have pain medications to ease his suffering, and if he wasn’t sleeping neither was I.