Storm

Chapter Sixteen

I held my breath as Kyan approached the boy.

Honestly, I was hoping Claire hadn't put out some sort of warning about us. She knew we were at least considering rescuing Asten. If I were her, I would've definitely told everyone to be suspicious.

So this entire mission could be ending super fast. I just hoped that this specific boy hadn't yet heard the news.

But it seemed okay.

I watched as Kyan waved at the kid and then started talking loudly and animatedly. He was a bit overdoing it. I felt like Kyan was more of a subdued personality, and I wondered if this was weird for him.

The boy didn't mind the sudden attention, and in a few seconds, the two were having a very animate conversation. Kyan kind of shifted his body, forcing the boy to turn his back on us.

So far so good.

There still wasn't anyone else nearby, fortunately, but we had to act fast. I grabbed January's attention, and then counted down, mouthing each of the numbers.

We ran.

First thing I realized, was that I'd underestimated the distance we'd be going. It felt like forever with us completely out in the open. It was hard enough to run as it was, since the sandy ground was extremely unstable and easy to slip on. I told myself not to look anywhere but straight ahead. Even if I did see somebody watching, it wasn't like I could do anything about it.

We reached the edge of the tent, and I immediately pulled up a piece of the fabric and had to army crawl beneath it. They had the tents tied down in many different places to keep something just like this from happening.

I only was able to stop and catch my breath once me and January were safely inside.

I'd been in this tent before. Like every other, it was very large, with multiple strong wooden poles holding it up. The light that filtered through the tent's material was tinted brown. It was more than enough, though, to illuminate the rows upon rows of wooden shelves holding all kinds of supplies.

They were very neatly organized, each section labeled and grouped accordingly. It honestly reminded me of some sort of apocalyptic supermarket.

I nodded once at January, and we immediately split up to find what we needed.

Compass. Map. Compass. Map. I repeated the words in my head as if doing so would make them magically appear.

My first target was the tools section. Here, there were tons of rakes, hoes, hammers...anything you could think of that would be useful. They even had forks and utensils as part of the section. I walked through row after row, until finally...

There.

A small label read "Navigation". Perfect. Maybe I'd find both a compass and a map here.

I ran towards it without hesitation and shuffled through a large assortment of navigational tools before finding a decent, working compass. I shoved it into my pocket before looking through the other shelves, still in the section.

In my mind, I was determining how much time had passed.

Technically, we didn't have a time limit. As long as Kyan was still out there talking to the boy, we could still be in here. Unless, of course, somebody decided to check up on the storage tent.

Even so, we couldn't take too much time. The longer we spent here, the greater the chance of us being found out before making it out. I'd estimated about five minutes could be the longest time we should stay.

I kept searching through the shelves, but no matter how hard I tried, I knew the truth: the map wasn't there.

That could mean one of two things: either Claire had taken all the maps out of the storage tent for some reason, or the map was in a different section.

But the latter made no sense. Why on Earth would a map - the most recognized tool for navigation - not be in the navigation section? Where else could it be?

It took me walking up and down the different aisles of a million different things for it to finally hit me.

Oh.

The maps wouldn't be with the other navigational tools because that wasn't where they were most useful.

For the camp, they always used the maps for finding other resources. Specifically, food.

Meaning it was possible they'd leave the maps by the food, since that way, anyone returning from a mission wouldn't have to walk  from one side of the tent to the other to put away what they'd taken with them.

I was hoping I was right as I sprinted towards the opposite side of the tent where January would also be. And yes. Just as expected.

I nearly ripped the map from the shelf before sprinting towards the back of the tent. It'd definitely taken longer than five minutes, but we would be fine. We had all of our resources.

Now for the last step: running back across to where we'd started. Then, we'd regroup with Kyan and head off to get a ride.

"You got everything?" January asked in a whisper, out of breath from running about, grabbing everything we needed.

I nodded and smiled. We were good to go.

I quickly shoved the two things into the backpack, and we slid out from under the tent.

The one part of the plan we hadn't considered was the fact that we would be blind when coming out of the tent. We wouldn't be able to see if anyone was on the opposite side, and therefore, wouldn't know what time to go.

And maybe we should've considered that a little more.

Because the second I crawled out, I was met with the blazing glare of a girl, looking just as shocked as I was.

January reacted before I could even think.

She sprinted away, towards the side of the tent. I followed her, nearly tripping in my haste. Together, we made our way towards the front of the tent where Kyan would be, as the girl screamed warnings behind us.

We royally screwed up, but maybe we could still get to Kyan, and outrun everyone.

But, once we got to the front of the tent, it didn't seem like we'd be having any such luck. Kyan was there, mid-conversation with the boy, who still conveniently had a gun. Both of them froze the second we came into view.

And instead of running towards us, Kyan took one glance, and sprinted away as if his life depended on it.