He started walking away believing the army that resided there was dead. Milles couldn’t be any more wrong. There were 592 casualties out of five thousand troops thanks to Mira's quick thinking. She watched the whole ordeal as the woman was being consumed by the ice. Mira watched closely as the woman’s last-ditch efforts were hitting the man multiple times without getting frozen, unlike her other arm. When she placed her hand on the spot the ice hadn’t reached the frost quickly got to her. When she started punching the spot the man had ice on, it didn’t spread only when you’re in the way of the frost you will be frozen. 

This was a theory that Mira came up with in her observation. The ice only consumes things that are in the way, so it would be best to go where it already is. Her solution was to simply jump over it when it reached the floor. The only problem was warning a whole army, it was clear to Mira that most of the soldiers did not have a single pint of respect for their authority, Aviary. This made Mira skeptical of the armies’ real intention. The ice had finally reached the floor ready to consume everything in its way.

Without a second thought, Mira picked up a piece of wood from a campfire she threw it in front of the ice and it instantly froze on the spot. She then jumped in front of the frost before it touched her and landed on the ice behind it. It worked. She didn’t freeze to death like the other two soldiers. Since she couldn’t tell more than a thousand soldiers what to do she tried demonstrating how to survive. Aviary was the first one to follow Mira’s footsteps and then it was Royse and Betsy. 

A huge clamor of voices was shouting to jump and to be careful, the soldiers followed along. Some of the soldiers died from clumsiness and panic. The uproar of soldiers made Milles perk up after a few minutes thinking it was his imagination he heard them again. The moment Milles heard the second group of shouting it sounded more of a cheer than fear-stricken.

“They survived?” Milles asked himself in shock. He turned his head around to look behind him. He made an exasperated sigh and slumped his back hanging his arms loose to his knees. “Dang, it.”

The army cheered, relieved they survived the terrifying situation. Their celebration was cut short when they realized their fallen comrades. They surveyed the room with disappointment, tears welled up in some of their eyes. The children didn’t know what to do with themselves but just stared at the troops crying their hearts out and others went back to work with a sullen look on their faces. Seeing the soldiers cry pulled a few strings in Royse’s heart, Betsy began to cry with the soldiers, and Mira stood there contemplating ‘What would Kaleb say in this situation?’ One specific answer came into Mira’s head.

“I thought you were all soldiers,” Mira murmured.

“Of course we are! How dare you!” Aviary yelled

“An army that doesn’t listen to their leader, and a leader that listens to their soldiers. What kind of army is this?” Mira whispered under her breath making sure she wasn’t heard by the other soldiers. “Do you see how your other soldiers died ma’am? If this is your army then you’ve been given the shorthand of a stick or maybe you’re in the water hanging from a fishing pole.”

“What are you referring to?” Aviary asked 

“What I’m trying to say is that you’re not an army you’re all bait,” Mira said shaking her head. “We walked right towards you when bigger fish was circling you.”

Aviary stood there in silence, contemplating why would her superiors send her as bait and the answer was simple. She was considered a virus just like them. She looked around at her soldiers' sullen looks and despair. Her eyes then shifted towards the frozen troops that had died over a simple task. Aviary tried to read the statues to the best of her ability trying to see what had happened before they died. Some had been run over by others for their survival. Others hadn’t jumped up in time while another scenario looked like they’d been purposely pushed.

Mira was right. These weren’t soldiers, but selfish people trying to survive at the expense of their comrades. Aviary was properly trained from the best of the best, while her army seemed to have only been trained for a few weeks or months. Aviary was shocked to see this and had to come up with a solution to her problem. Her soldiers had no respect, were uncooperative, and had no regard for others. Aviary knew this would be a problem later on. 

“I see you’re very observant,” Aviary asked with an impressed look on her face. “You seemed very talented just like him what is your name?”

“My name is Mira Hollow and this is my brother, Royse,” Mira said trying not to smile at the compliment. “Oh yeah… and her uh… that’s Betsy Gasyer.”

“Hello, my name is Aviary however you three will call me captain, You will be trained with my soldiers by a professional fighter like me!” Aviary shouted in confidence making sure her soldiers could hear. “ For now we rest and collect our bearing for proper training, You will need a good night's rest. you will also have separate tents.”

“Pfft better than the farmer's training,” Royse said in excitement.

While Mira, Royse, and Betsy slept at night Kaleb was training with the farmer's animals. Kaleb's injuries are finally healed with the help of the doctor, The farmer's wife.

“C’mon Ryan lemme go see my friends already!” Kaleb yelled drenched with sweat from head to toe. “They would never leave me here with a lunatic like you!”

“My wife said you need to be physically active,” Ryan screamed back.

“Not with three sheep on my back! I heard her you moron. She said I need to rest not be working like a mule!” Kaled shouted exhausted from doing pushups with a small sheep on his back.

“It’s either this or dead with your guts hanging out like a pig!” Ryan said with a disappointed tone. “I know they will be back to finish the job so keep at it will ya!”

Kaleb continued doing pushups understanding the farmer's concerns. Kaleb had told Ryan everything that happened including the Gasyer’s family house to the abandoned village. Not like the farmer believed his every word, but still took it seriously considering his injuries. Kaleb continued to train for his safety and hoped to protect his friends. 

“We will be back.” A voice whispered coming from a tree above “Not like training is going to help you, but it’s in just in a matter of time.” Ada whispers in a malicious tone.

“Why are we just looking idiot c’mon we have better things to do Ada!” Danny said impatiently waiting for her sister.

“Tch whatever”

In the middle of the night, multiple gunshots could be heard inside of the monstrous plant waking up all the soldiers. Mira and Royse both slept in the same tent until Mira woke up in a cold sweat when she heard the gunfire. She shook Royse violently trying to wake him up with uneasiness setting in her stomach. Her hand was shaking uncontrollably as she was hyperventilating. Royse woke up from his deep sleep with widened eyes trying to see what was going on and scanned the tent. 

“What happened?” Royse asked disoriented and afraid to death.

“I think it worked!” Mira yells at him but is incredibly doubtful of her words

They jump up and in a frantic rush out of the tent hoping that the plan worked. Betsy’s tent is filled with bullet holes from all directions covering each side leaving no room for survival. About one hundred soldiers were already up looking at the tent examining it from the outside impatiently waiting for their captain to come and give an order. Others were outside their tents confused and tired. Some lazily sat down unconcerned about what was going on. Mira looked at the tent with a wide-opened smile for everyone to see as if she was the culprit. 

“I knew it! Whoever did this must be a lazy fool.” Mira said with a confident smile. Her arms crossed around her chest as if she owned the place.  She turned around to face Captain Aviary who was coming right towards her. “I knew one of your soldiers would attempt an assassination on Betsy’s life! They didn’t even set up a fire, wh-”

“I would like to see you and your brother in my tent immediately, Mrs. Hollow,” Aviary said in a serious and menacing tone. Disappointment showed all over her face and a stern look in her eyes made Mira baffled and anxious. “ This type of behavior will not be accepted.”

“What are you talking about?” Royse asked merged with a bit of anger. His face spoke volumes as he exaggeratedly distorted his face to show his confusion.

“I’m not repeating myself, do you understand?!” Aviary shouted commanding them as their leader to listen and obey.

Betsy anxiously came out from behind her to look at them and hid again. Mira and Royse looked at each other baffled and mistreated, but if they wanted to be trained to be warriors they had to listen, no questions asked. Royse and Mira did what they were told following in complete silence and only talking to each other with their eyes. When they finally reached the tent, Royse and Mira remained silent waiting for Aviary to speak first. Royse and Mira sat together in front of the tent entrance while Aviary and Betsy sat at the back. 

Royse glared at Betsy expecting an explanation of what was going on, while Mira looked up at Aviary patiently waiting for her to talk. Betsy's eyes stayed on the floor feeling Royse throwing daggers directly at her. Aviary left an awkward pause in the room to survey and see everyone's reaction.

“Mira and Royse… I and Betsy spotted you both taking some guns and shooting Betsy’s tent.”Aviary explained, “Now I would have believed that you both attempted to murder Betsy, but you were the ones that suggested moving her to my tent without anyone noticing-”

“Wait” Royse interrupted confused about what she was talking about. “We’re being framed?”

“Yes by a spy,” Aviary answered with a quick and simple answer.

“Spies don’t do that.” Mira retaliated. “Unless it’s different beyond the Repeating forest.”

“Beyond the Repeating Forest is a barrier stopping everyone from leaving, but it lets people through. The Barrier covers the village and the forest.” Aviary explained.” Outside your barrier is the real world where millions to billions of people reside and where you’re all called viruses.”

“What’s a spy?” Betsy asked

“The spies in the outside world are mainly made and trusted in New York in a league called Rats. They mostly do investigations, assassinations, stalk, and camouflage.” Aviary explained.

“So ninjas,” Royse added

“Yeah sure ‘ninjas’. The problem is we can’t have them in the army, because they are known to execute everyone which may be a mishap. We have to figure out who it is before whatever’s out there attacks us again.” Aviary said. “We need to find this person or they’ll kill all of us.”

“Easy leave that to me.” Mira gladly volunteered.

After their team meeting, they decided to train with some soldiers. She could only find about 60 people who accepted the training. Mira also trained with them, keeping a watchful eye on everyone. She had to find at least two spies out of five thousand people. She was dealing with professional assassins who knew to hide their trails and leave no clues behind. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack. She had to grab a handful of dirt and then separate the gold by washing away the soil with water. 

The training with Aviary should help her find the spies using the process of elimination, but that would take too long. She needed more ways to catch them in action. She had to set up traps for them a bait big enough that they wouldn’t be able to resist. She had doubted that the culprit's goal was Betsy instead she thought of it as a cover-up for something bigger. Aviary had given Mira a book to write down all her suspicions and plans on finding spies which will not be an easy task. Betsy now had to train with people she didn't know which made her anxious. 

Aviary had them all lined up in a straight line and teamed them up in pairs which was now the beginning of their long training.