Chapter 12

The boy looked around before spotting us and gave us a shocked look.

I was about to try and rush him when he spoke.

"I'm sorry." He said in an urgent voice. "I didn't know the place was occupied. I just need a place for me and my guys to lay low."

He held his hands up in surrender to us, taking Jag and I off guard.

"I'll leave if you want, but…." He trailed off as he eyed me. "Oh, shit." He muttered.

I drew back, closer to Jag's chest.

"Your eyes. Your one of us?" The boy asked me, then glanced up at Jag.

"Us?" Jag asked the boy.

"Cap!" Cam a call from outside. "Place clear or what?"

"Negative!" The boy called back. "We got escaped Mutants in here though."

I felt Jag tense at the words and the boy noticed.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He tried to assure us. "I escaped a lab as well. Been out for a few years now. Joined up with a group that's fighting back." He turned to show us his right shoulder sleeve which had a patch that said RMM in grey letters over a yellowish gold ring on a black background under the letters and ring.

"Rebel Mutant Militia." He said with pride. "Second Company."

"Cap?" Came the same voice from outside. "Come on, it's pouring out here. Can we come in or not?"

The boy gave us a questioning glance.

"Would you mind if I invite my guys in out of the rain?" He asked.

Jag looked hesitant but nodded as he stood up slowly and pushed me behind him.

"Thanks." The boy said turning to the door he came through. "Come on in guys!"

Soon there was about ten to twenty-five people in our house, dripping wet and most were armed to the teeth.

"I'm Phenix, by the way." The boy who kicked our door open said, extending a hand for Jag to shake.

Jag shook his hand, still wary of the boy.

"What is it you people want?" Jag asked, glancing around the room.

"Just shelter from the rain." Phenix said, with a shrug. "We found a lab near here and raided it. Managed to find a few stray mutants too. The Bark-breaths gave chase but we took care of them. Now we just need a place to lie low until the rain stops and we'll be out of your hair."

"Bark-breaths?" Jag asked.

"The wolf mutants." A girl with black hair and three dark blue lines that looked like arrow heads on her jacket sleeve.

Jag nodded in understanding.

"Sorry," Phenix said. "I haven't introduced my guys."

He began a long speech about his guys but Jag cut him off.

"Your trying to fight the lab with twenty people?"

"No," Phenix began. "This is only one platoon."

"What?" Jag asked.

Phenix sighed.

"Bare in mind we're not a real army so our units are a bit weird." He began. "Privets don't have any markings on their sleeves. Privet first class has a stripe." He pointed at one boy who had a single dark blue line that looked like the top part of an arrow on the upper sleeve, close to the shoulder. "They command three people each. Four people make up a fire team and each fire team are led by a corporal. A corporal has two stripes on their sleeves." He paused to make sure we were following. "Two fire teams make a squad which is led by a Sargent. They have three stripes on their sleeves. Each squad has a special patch." he continued, pointing at the patch of the closest soldier who had the same RMM patch as Phenix except it had a dark blue six under the letters and it overlapped the gold ring slightly. Jag nodded, eyeing the girl with the Sargent stipes. "Two squads make a platoon, led by a lieutenant. They are marked by a grey bar on their collar." He pointed to a boy to his left who showed his collar. "Two platoons make a company that's led by a Captain like me." He showed us the two grey bars on his collar that were connected by two small grey lines. "We only have two companies right now but we're hoping to expand our numbers in the future."

"So, if there are two companies, who runs the show?" Jag asked. "I mean, there must be two captains."

Phenix nodded.

"The Major runs the army right now." He told us.

"So, where's the rest of your guys?" Jag asked, looking around.

"Seventh squad is securing our evac sight." Phenix said with a shrug. "Eighth squad has been disbanded."

"Disbanded?" Jag asked.

"We have taken some casualties since our company was founded." Phenix said, uneasily. "Replacements are rare so we split up eighth squad and used them to fill the ranks of other squads.

"So, I take it this is fifth and sixth squads?" Jag asked.

Phenix nodded.

"Where's one through four?"

"In first company." Phenix said. "On other assignments."

Jag nodded as I noticed some kids my age mixed in with the others. None of them were dressed in combat gear.

I pointed at one of them and gave Phenix a questioning look.

He glanced where I was pointing and smiled.

"Like I said," He began. "we ran into some stray mutants."

They all nodded to me and I nodded back.

There were two of them that looked identical. The only difference that I could see was one of them had a nasty scar going down over his right eye. They had dirty blond hair and a muscular build. The scared one looked like he was pissed and kept sniffing the air. Next to them was a girl with brown hair and tanned skin. On her other side was a boy with a grin that reminded me of a Bark-breath back at the lab who enjoyed bombs a little too much.

After some back and forth conversation about whether or not they were tracked here, Jag told Phenix and his guys they could stay the night.

So, the escaped mutants eventually approached me as I was grabbing myself a coke from the fridge after I had worked on a car in the garage for an hour or two. They seemed to be my age.

"Hey, how's it going?" The non-scared twin asked me.

I nodded to him in response.

When it became obvious I wasn't going to respond, he tried a different tactic.

"I'm experiment CS-32," He began before gesturing to the twin. "This is my brother M-32."

I nodded to them as M-32 gave me a mistrusting look and a slight snarl.

The brown-haired girl elbowed him in the arm.

"Be nice." She chastised him in a friendly way, which threw me off because he looked like he could knock her out without breaking a sweat and that he was the type of person to kill without a second thought. The girl then turned to me. "I'm S-86" She told me, holding her hand out to me.

I shook it as the boy with the mischief eyes spoke.

"HAH-231." He introduced him self. "Nice to meet ya."

I gave him a nod as well before noticing an Asian girl in back of him.

She was standing off on her own, obviously not comfortable with the crowd. Something I could relate to. I caught her eye and gave her a nod. She nodded back and gave me a friendly smile.

"That's HAH-233." CS-32 said with a nod. "And sorry about M-32, he's not the most social person but he's a good guy."

I nodded as M-32 raised a quizzical eyebrow at his brother.

I could tell an argument was about to start between the two siblings so I took my leave and went to the garage, intending to finish working on the car.