It feels like we have been walking for hours.

My feet hurt. My head hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts.

I do not say anything to anyone since I know I am not the only one hurting. Aiden and Theon keep saying that the Jumper camp is just a few more miles ahead, but it feels like we have walked halfway across the world.

Most of what we have walked through has been woods. Sometimes, we come across a stream or a road, but most of the time, all I see are trees, branches, bugs, and dirt.

I walk with Devin only a few feet behind Theon and Aiden. The rest of the group walks behind us, and I can’t help but feel sorry for them. Every time I look back to see how they are doing, their lifeless eyes look back at me. They reminded me of the eyes of the dead people behind the show tent. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to shake that memory. There were just so many.

“Are you ready to tell me what happened in there?” Theon asks.

“No. I want to wait until we are farther from Treegrass. I don’t want any of the shooters to go searching for us and find us sitting on a tree trunk telling stories,” Aiden says. “I want to put as much distance between us and them as possible.”

We keep walking, and the thick forest full of tall trees eventually starts disappearing until all that is left are tree stumps—a whole lot of tree stumps. There is a clearing completely devoid of trees for what looks like miles. Just the bottoms of cut-down trees and tall grass are seen.

Aiden and Theon lead us across it, and I can’t help but wonder what went on here. Who cut all these trees down, and why?

“What is all of this?” Devin asks.

Aiden answers, “I don’t really know for sure, but someone at some point in time cut all the trees down. From what I can tell, this was a whole forest until the trees were taken away. The stumps don’t look that rotted, so they were probably cut down within only ten years or so ago. My guess is that the New World did it, but honestly, who knows.”

"Could it be anyone else?" I ask. We are in no man's land, and Aiden said another wall was blocking the outside world from us here, so it couldn't be anyone else, right?

"There have been stories of outsiders getting in and scavenging, but nothing has ever been confirmed," Theon states. "If the stories are true, then maybe some came in here and decided to steal the forest."

I doubt someone would come into the New World just to steal a few hundred, maybe a thousand, trees. How on earth would they carry them back? It had to be the New World's doing, but why?

I can’t stop staring at it. All these stumps everywhere make me want to cry. It feels like someone tried destroying my own home. I can’t imagine all the trees in Treegrass ever getting cut down, they show our history, and they are part of who we are.

I almost trip several times because I am too busy looking around the open area rather than looking at where I am stepping. I can see more trees in the distance to the left, but they are far, and only a few of them exist.

It takes us about forty-five more minutes of walking before I can see trees up close again. The tall oak trees look like a wall bordering all the cut-down trees. It is as if the people who cut them down decided to draw a line, and all the trees on one side got cut down while the others got to remain.

When we walk into the woods, I quickly realize that the terrain is different here than in Treegrass. The woods here are denser and more challenging to walk through.

“Watch your step!” Theon yells to the group.

Aiden looks back at the group calmly and says, “There is a road up ahead, so the walk will get easier. Our camp is not much further now, maybe about an hour or so.”

“It would have been nice if they had brought the ATVs back after they dropped the injured off,” I hear Theon mumble.

I try not to think about the pain in my feet, and instead, I try to focus on where we are heading. I do not look back or around at our surroundings. I just focus on what is ahead of me and where my feet are going.

About another half an hour passes when Theon speaks again. “So, do you think we are far enough that you are ready to talk about what happened to you guys in the carnival?” He asks while glancing at Aiden and me.

I look at Aiden, and he looks back at me. Neither of us are ready to talk about it, but I know that Theon is dying to know.

“We found the room relatively easy,” I say. “Everything else was a little bit harder.”

“I bet. You guys were in there for probably about five hours at least,” Theon says. “I had to practically tackle this one down,” Theon points to Devin, “to stop him from trying to go in himself.”

I look at Devin, and he looks unapologetically back at me. I can’t blame him. If the roles were reversed, I would have been the same way.

“Sam got the list along with a map,” Aiden says, “while I distracted them from the room. We met back up in the kitchen… then we tried to make our way back to the maze, but there were guards everywhere.” I notice that Aiden doesn’t mention Ethen, and I understand why. He tried to save Ethen, but Ethen got caught, and we had to leave him behind. While it might have been Ethan’s fault for getting caught, I can tell that Aiden still blames himself for it.

“A lot happened. Let’s just say it was good that we got out of there when we did. Who knows what they would have come up with next if we stayed. The shooters were getting clever in there and turned all the lights off so we couldn’t see. They used these helmets,” Aiden says and holds up the helmet in his hand to show Theon, “to see in the dark. We got one off of a guard and used it ourselves. When we were leaving through the maze, there was a guard, and we made a lot of noise. That is why I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.”

Aiden does not look at anyone as he says all of this. He just keeps his head straight and looks ahead at where he is going. I know he does not want to talk about what happened in there. It is too traumatic.

I want to say something to let him know that killing the guard does not make him a bad person, but I know he would not want anyone else to know unless he was comfortable with it. I have to let him talk about it when he is ready.

“Well, it sounds like they are getting creative. We will also have to get creative for when we go to the next town on the list. We need to be ready when they move the carnival to the next place. We should really try getting there before the carnival does. It would be nice if we could break into the town earlier to warn people and get them out,” Theon says.

“Well, that sounds familiar,” Devin says.

“Yeah, Theon, if you are the one warning people, then I don’t think anyone is getting out,” I say, remembering how he just yelled at me to get out of the carnival and did not explain anything else.

“I will work on it,” Theon says while turning his head to glare at me.

“You are going to need to work hard, considering you kind of suck at it,” I say with a little amusement in my voice.

We come up to the road that Aiden was talking about, and we follow it for a while before Aiden and Theon lead us off the smooth pavement and back into the woods. It does not take long until a small house that looks like it is falling apart comes into view, and I can see two people standing outside holding long sticks.

“Is that the camp?” Devin asks, sounding disappointed.

I try not to laugh while Theon turns around with a scowl on his face.

“No, that is not our camp. That is just a lookout to ensure no one finds us,” Theon says.

One of the guys comes over to us, and I recognize him as Vesper.

“Well, that was faster than expected. Did you find the room I was talking about?” Vesper asks.

“Yeah, we found it,” Aiden says, pulling out the notepad and map from his pocket. The map is folded up the same way it was before when I handed it to Aiden.

“I see you also found a gun,” Vesper says, pointing to the gun that is strapped over Aiden’s shoulder.

“I guess you could say that. We have two smaller guns as well. I have no idea how much ammo. I didn’t check since I am not as good with guns as Balan, and I figured he should be the one to check it out,” Aiden says.

“Well, speaking of Balan, he is waiting for you by the fire. He is waiting for everybody, actually,” Vesper says. “I think he is excited to know we were able to get people out this time. All the injured are in the brown tent if anyone wants to say hello to them.”

With that, Vesper returns to his spot on the deck of the small house, and we follow Aiden and Theon through the woods further until we come across their camp. Most of the camp has no coverage over it. There are a few small homemade tents, but they don’t look well built. One storm or a powerful gust of wind could easily knock some of them down. A few fires are going on in various places, and most of the people I see are sitting or sleeping around them.

A few people look up at us in curiosity and I do not know what to do. Do I introduce myself and say hello? I ignore them and follow Aiden as he leads us further into the camp, where I see some food cooking over a larger fire and people lifting buckets of water and putting them into smaller containers.

There are people cutting wood with a saw and another group of people using string to tie things together. I do not know what they are making, but I am interested in their work.

A guy who looks to be in his forties comes up to us. “There you are. I was wondering when you would arrive,” he says to Aiden. He then turns his body to face the rest of the group and introduces himself. “Hello, hello. I am Balan, and I was a police officer in Tundris. I would like to welcome you guys into our camp, and I would like to apologize for the things you have probably seen within the last twenty-four hours. We went through the same thing just two months ago,” he says grimly.

“I would like to encourage you guys to stay and make yourselves comfortable. If you need anything, let me know. I will be happy to answer.” Balan continues, “We do not have the best accommodations right now, but I will ensure you all have somewhere to sleep tonight.”

Balan looks to Aiden, “As some of you may or may not know, this is my son Aiden, and I know he will also be happy to help you if you need anything.”

Balan looks around at our group once more, and he seems to be thinking about something. He speaks again when it looks like he has decided on his thoughts. “Aiden, why don’t you bring them to one of the fires to rest for a little while? I will come find you all once you have had some sleep, and we can discuss where to go from there.”

“Let’s go to the closest fire over here,” Aiden said while leading us to one of the many fires to the left. “We have not finished building proper shelters for everyone yet, so some of us sleep and spend our time hanging out by the fires we make. We don't want to make too big of a fire that would draw a lot of attention, so we make multiple small ones, typically around a flat part of the woods.”

“Do you guys not sleep in that house back there?” Devin asks.

“No, we found some tools in it, but it is mostly rotted out and falling apart, so we use it as a lookout post,” Aiden says.

“What do we do now?” I can’t help but ask.

“Right now, we rest. It has been a long night,” Aiden says. “Balan will probably come back in a few hours to talk to you guys about joining the jumpers and going to the next town.”

I nod my head in understanding, and I approach a tree near the fire. I sit down and rest my head against the trunk, but I can’t seem to bring myself to fall asleep. I know I am tired, but it is like my body knows I am exposed here out in the woods and is refusing to let me sleep.

I look at the rest of the group and see that some of them are also struggling to sleep.

“Just close your eyes,” Devin says. “You will fall asleep eventually.”

He sits beside me against the same tree, but his eyes are closed. I copy him by closing my own eyes and hoping that sleep will find me.

I don’t know when I fell asleep, but I wake up when I feel something nudging my foot. When I open my eyes, I see Devin is the cause.

“Balan is back. Aiden says he wants to speak with everyone now.” Devin says.

Looking around, I notice I am still against the same tree as before. The sky is still light, but it seems that a few hours have passed since I fell asleep.

More of our group from Treegrass are up and talking to one another around the fire, but most of their heads are turned towards the right, where Balan is standing.

“I know you all have had a rough night, and maybe some of you are not ready to answer me,” I sit up straighter and hang onto every word he is saying, “but I would like to know who is interested in joining me and the Jumpers in our efforts to fight back against the New World. I would like to point out that you do not have to join the Jumpers. I do not want you to feel like you have to. We will take care of you regardless. I understand if you do not want to put your life at risk, but I just figured I would ask. You can join and back out at any time. You don’t have to give me an answer right now. You can think about it for a while, but I just wanted to put that question out there.” Balan says.

"As of right now, we are mostly focused on warning the other towns of what's to come. Hopefully, in the future, we can work our way up to taking back our homes and making sure no one else loses their lives due to the New World."

There is silence for a few seconds, and I look around to see if I can get a general idea of what people are thinking. From their faces, it seems like they have mixed emotions about joining the effort to fight the New World.

“I’m in,” I say.

Devin looks at me in understanding, “You can count me in as well.”

A few more people also want to get involved, but a significant number are still too afraid, and I understand why.

When no one else says anything, Balan speaks again, “We hold a meeting about once a week for everyone involved in the effort. These meetings are to share ideas and try to come up with our next move. We also try to have training every day at noon. Naturally, you guys have had a long night, so we can wait a few days before starting. We do not have many supplies, but we do our best to share what we have with everyone. There aren’t really any permanent sleeping spots. We are working on that, but just try to make yourself at home for now.”

Someone approaches Balan, and he excuses himself before leaving. The rest of our group looks around at the camp, and I can tell that none of us know what to do now.

Aiden comes over and sits by Devin and me.

“Why don't you rest some more? You still look tired,” Aiden says to me. “I have let Balan know everything we had seen in there. Tomorrow, we will discuss what to do about the New World and the carnivals.”

“We are going to make them pay,” I tell Aiden.

“Yes, just not today. Try to go back to sleep,” Aiden says. His voice tells me how tired he is.

Aiden leans his back on a nearby tree and closes his eyes.

“He is right,” Devin says. “We are both going to need our energy if we are going to go up against the New World.”

I feel the exhaustion take over my body, and I close my eyes and try to relax, but Devin’s words stick in my brain. We are both going up against the New World. I know he is strong, but I can’t help but worry about losing him to them, just like my Mom and Dad.

I think about all the people the New World killed, and I think about all the ways I could get back at them. They can’t get away with what they did.

I will not let them.

Chapter 35

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