Brianna woke up, confused by her surroundings at first. Then she remembered where she was. She looked over at Jack and Dekka. Jack's cheeks puffed out like a baby's as he slept. Dekka was sitting, staring off into nowhere and occasionally trying to move her leg without grimacing.
"Good morning," Brianna said, startling Dekka.
"How did you sleep?" Dekka asked. Brianna shrugged.
"Is your leg getting any better?" she asked. Dekka didn't answer. Brianna took that as a no.
"Huh? What? I'm awake!" Jack cried suddenly and sat up, his eyes still closed and his glasses dangling on one ear. He opened his eyes and was in the process of straightening his glasses when he froze suddenly.
"Do you hear that?" he whispered. Brianna and Dekka both shook their heads. Then Jack shushed them even though they weren't talking.
"It sounds like… beeping. From a tiny GPS…" Jack trailed off and looked wildly at Brianna. Brianna strained her ears and she heard a faint beeping noise. Jack suddenly sprang up and tackled Brianna, searching all over her shirt.
"What! OW! GET OFF ME, JACK!" Brianna yelled. Finally, Jack yelled triumphantly and held up a tiny, black thing that Brianna thought was some ball of black thread or something. Brianna shoved Jack off.
"It's a tracking device!" Jack exclaimed.
"Why are you smiling!" Dekka yelled at him. "That means the General knows where we are!"
"No, don't you see! We can just simply take them off our clothes and leave them here! And, it means all of our friends have one, too, right? Well, once I get a computer I can hack into the General's database and track them down!" Jack cried, grinning in pure joy. Dekka shook her head.
"What if the General gets them or us first?" she said. Jack's smile faltered.
"Well, we should take them off our clothes first. And Brianna can drop them a few miles away," he said. "I'll need to have my shirt back."
Brianna jumped up and quickly unwrapped Dekka's leg, so fast she didn't register the pain. She tossed the shirt to Jack and started searching Dekka's shirt.
"Look on the back where the agents pushed us," Jack said. "That's where I found yours."
It didn't take long until Brianna was holding three tiny tracking devices. She bolted away, placed them on the ground, and sprinted back to Jack and Dekka. Dekka looked like she was about to vomit all over the place, but Jack didn't noticed because he was too busy exalting over the idea that they would find Sam and the others, again.
"What's wrong, Dekka?" Brianna asked. Jack looked around and Dekka, suddenly aware that she didn't look too good.
"The bullets were poisoned, remember?" Dekka said. Brianna cursed.
"How bad is it?" Jack asked, kneeling down next to Dekka. "Wait, this poison is turning the veins orange. The other poison turned Brianna's green. Why would it be different…"
Jack gasped as he answered his own question. "The General is trying to find a poison immune to Lana's healing!"
"But that's impossible, right?" Brianna asked. She elbowed Jack just in case he didn't have the common sense to say 'Of course, Dekka will be fine,' or even just plain 'Yes.'
"Not really. Remember, the bugs were immune to Sam's light and the flu was immune to Lana's healing? So it is possible," Jack said. Brianna smacked him on the back of the head.
"Ow! What was that for?" Jack grumbled as he rubbed his head.
"At least the bleeding stopped so I can have my shirt back," Jack said and held up his blood-stained shirt. He wrinkled his nose. "On second thought, I think you should keep it for extra support for your leg."
Brianna heard a car engine, and it was growing louder.
"What if it's the General!" Jack yelled.
"It could be our friends," Brianna said.
"Or some random person," Dekka said. The three kids looked at each other and silently decided to not run from the car. It stopped a few feet away from them. The door opened.
"We have been searching for you guys since FOREVER," a familiar voice said. Jack, Brianna, and Dekka grinned. Sanjit stepped out of the car. Howard came out of the passenger seat, and Dahra and John came out of the back.
"Orc, Toto, Albert, and sometimes Bug are with us, too. They're back at HQ, though," Sanit said. He was grinning at them. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!"
"Have you found the others?" Brianna asked as they headed into the van. Dahra shook her head.
"You're the first ones we found so far," she said.
"Well, I know how I can easily find them," Jack said. He started explaining everything they went through, with the occasional 'And then I chopped his head off!' or 'You should've seen how awesome I looked!' from Brianna. Jack decided not to mention the fact that Brianna chopped no one's head off, and she spent the majority of their time there either poisoned or handcuffed.
"So, they're trying to create an army of mutants using your powers?" Howard summed up. Jack, Dekka, and Brianna nodded.
"How have you guys been since we've last seen you?" Brianna said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Well, Albert has been trying to round up all the FAYZians ever since the world heard about your escape from the military base," John said.
"I left my parents but told Virtue to stay when Albert emailed me," Sanjit said.
"You should have seen the email, though. It started with 'To whom it may concern:' I almost said no because of that," Howard said.
"It's a good thing you didn't. You would have missed out on all the fun," Brianna said and slapped Howard on the back.
"Mmmhmm. All the fun," he muttered.
"Where is this HQ?" Jack asked.
"It's an abandoned barn in the middle of nowhere. Amazing, huh?" Sanjit said and grinned.
"Sam, Quinn, Edilio," Astrid whispered urgently as she prodded the sleeping boys.
"What? I'm up," Sam said as he jerked up. Astrid shushed him.
"There's someone outside," she whispered. Quinn and Edilio were up, too.
"Maybe they're good?" Quinn said. Astrid strained her ears, trying to make out what they were saying. The voices sounded familiar…
"Shhhh," Astrid said. Quinn opened his mouth, probably to say "I wasn't even talking!" but stopped because the voices outside got louder.
"Open up this door for me, will you, Orc?" said a voice that Astrid recognized. All four of them gasped and bolted towards the door, eager to greet Albert and Orc, and maybe others. The door swung open and Albert jumped back, startled at seeing Edilio, Quinn, Sam, and Astrid.
"You're here!" he said, shocked. "Sanjit and the others just went out to go looking for you and the others!"
"Why are you here, then?" Astrid asked, frowning.
"This is the basecamp for the FAYZians. I've been trying to find everyone ever since you escaped from the military base," Albert said. Astrid noticed two more people behind Orc and Albert.
"Hi Bug and Toto," Astrid said. Bug disappeared and Toto was in the middle of a lively conversation with Spidey, so didn't notice Astrid's greeting.
"Who else do you have?" Sam asked.
"Us four, Sanjit, Dahra, Howard, and John," Albert replied. "And the others who escaped from the military base once we find them.
"Is this really the best place for a basecamp?" Edilio asked. "Anyone, like us, for example, could just stumble upon it."
"Ah, but technically, you didn't," Albert said mysteriously. He swiftly walked in and motioned to Orc, who pushed aside the largest box. Underneath it was a trap door.
"This is the real basecamp. We call it the HQ," Albert said. He opened the trap door and started climbing down the vertical ladder. "Come. It's actually quite big."
One by one, everyone followed Albert down into HQ. Finally when they were at the bottom of the ladder, the kids all gasped. Astrid was expecting a cold, dirty, dark room with concrete floor, walls, and ceilings. What they actually saw was the complete opposite. The ground was a squishy carpet that could easily be slept on and you wouldn't even notice. Although they wouldn't have to, because one side of the room was full of bunk beds that were in the wall, so they didn't waste space. The opposite side of the room were piles of canned foods, cereal, and other non-perishable foods. There was some bean bag chairs in the corners, and three doors at the opposite wall of the ladder. Two of the doors obviously led to a girls and boys bathroom.
"What's behind that third door?" Astrid asked.
"The place Jack will spend most of his time, if we find him," Albert said as he opened the door. the room was filled with blinking lights, glowing monitors, and tangled wires all over the place.
"How did you find this place?" Quinn said in awe. Albert shrugged.
"Happy mistake," he said. Astrid frowned, but Albert didn't offer up a more detailed explanation. She decided to let it go and counted the beds.
"16 beds. And there's most likely going to be 20 of us, if everything goes as planned," Astrid said. She saw Albert frown and added, "Katie is a girl who helped us escape. She's sticking with us, for now."
"Well, Caine and Diana can share a bed, Astrid and I can share a bed, and two people could sleep on the floor or share a bed with someone," Sam said.
They heard a car door shut outside.
"That's probably Sanjit and them," Albert said. "But before we go up, they have to yell 'It's just a FAYZ' so we know it's them. Of course, Sanjit may forget that."
But, Astrid heard the unmistakable voice of Sanjit yell, "Hey Albert! It's just a FAYZ! Now, will you let us down there? Dekka's hurt!"
Sam, Quinn, and Edilio gave a whoop of joy because Sanjit had found Dekka. And maybe others. The trap door opened and Sanjit, Dahra, John, and Howard entered the room. Brianna and Jack, who was carrying Dekka, joined them.
"Did you miss me?" Brianna said and beamed.
"Of course we did," Edilio said while he laughed. Jack laid Dekka down on a bed.
"I need to see a computer, immediately," he said urgently. "Oh, and I noticed those CB radios and walkie talkies up there. I wonder if I could wire them…"
Jack was interrupted by Albert. "The computers are in there."
"Right!" Jack said and ran into the computer room, shutting the door behind him, leaving everyone staring, confused, at the door.
"He's going to hack into some thing and use the tracking systems to find the others," Brianna said. "Oh, and Sam, you better find the mini GPS systems on you, or else the General could be knocking on our door any minute."
Sam started searching his clothes frantically, until triumphantly holding up a tiny black tracking device. Brianna grabbed it and was gone in a gust of wind. It didn't take long for her to return, dusting her hands off.
"What happened to Dekka?" Edilio asked.
"She got shot in her leg, and that's why we were separated from you guys. She's also poisoned, so we better find Lana ASAP," Brianna said. Sam blinked and shook his head.
"She's what?" he asked. Brianna sighed.
"She's poisoned. P-O-I, oh, you get the rest. I don't need to spell it out for you," she said. Dahra was already working on her.
"Need any help?" Astrid said as she approached Dahra.
"Maybe a guide to how to deal with poisoned bullet wounds," she muttered. "I know how to deal with venomous snake bites, so I'll just do that for now."
"Aren't you supposed to suck the venom out?" Quinn asked.
"No. That actually could make it worse. The best thing to do is stay calm, so your heart doesn't pump the blood faster, causing the venom to reach your vitals faster, and wrap a loose cloth above where the venom is to slow the blood flow." Dahra said. She did all of that, and sat back, watching Dekka, who was sleeping.
"It's best she stays sleeping," Dahra said. "There's nothing else we can do until we find Lana."
Jack came bursting out of the computer room, holding a paper.
"I know where they are!" he said.