There were barely a dozen of us left on the island. Ten students, or whatever we were called, and the two guards. At the moment we were sitting in the cafeteria while the guards ran us through their security protocols.

“No one leaves Cain Hall without prior authorization,” the lead guard was saying. “This building will remain in lockdown until reinforcements have arrived. We are still working on a way to contact the outside but even if we are unable to reach them, they will send aid after not hearing from us for more than a day. As we need to keep a watchful eye on our surroundings, some of you will be enlisted in helping us keep watch. These will be three hour shifts, managed around the clock. A schedule will be drawn up soon and you will be expected to be on time and prepared to be vigilant during the entire shift. One of us will be with you during your shift.”

He turned to the other guard who stood up and joined him.

“There is bedding stored in the back of the cafeteria and we will be using this room for our sleeping quarters as well as mess hall and general meeting space. One of us will be stationed in this room at all times so if you need something, come here and we will get you taken care of. Any questions?”

“Yeah,” Hector called out, “what are your names?”

The two guards shifted uneasily at realizing they hadn’t ever introduced themselves.

“Penn Matting,” the first guard said.

“And Denise Clobe,” the second guard said.

Another hand went up into the air and Penn nodded to them.

“You want to explain how we’re on an island and not in Virginia?”

“There are two Cain Centers,” Penn explained. “One in Virginia, and this one. The Virginia Cain Center is for the moderately dangerous supers whereas this one is for the more severely dangerous ones.”

“He means the more dangerous powers,” Denise cut in. “Ones that are more likely to cause real harm to others or themselves rather than just property damage. That was why we had so many healers here.”

“While we’re on that subject,” Penn resumed, “be extremely careful with your powers since we are without any healers for the time being. I know all but one of you are strong and durable, but don’t push it. Also, remember that one of you is not strong or durable, but is instead quite toxic and reacts poorly to being upset.”

I glanced over to Fatima who was sitting a slight ways away from the rest of us, her skin glistening with a thin layer of mucous. She looked uncomfortable but smiled weakly when she saw me looking her way. I waved and she returned it. That was when I noticed the latex gloves she was wearing. Probably a requirement to keep her from spreading her mucous on everything she touched.

“For now, we just need to sit tight,” Denise said. “We should be getting aid in just a day or two.”

That pretty much wrapped up the meeting, such as it was, and bedding began to be dispersed. I chose a spot in a far corner of the room away from where everyone else was setting up their sleeping bags. In addition to wanting a bit more privacy, I was also worried about hurting someone by accidentally hitting them when getting up.

“Can I sleep by you?”

I turned and found Fatima with her bedding, looking uncertain.

I was about to say no but stopped myself. She was so little and scared and I was the only person here that she had any kind of connection to.

“Sure,” I said, smiling, “just not too close. I’m really strong and don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

Fatima nodded and placed her bedding a couple feet away from my own. I figured that would have to do. I could still easily get to and from my own spot without needing to go around her.

“Misha,” Penn called out before Fatima and I could get any further into conversation.

“Here,” I replied, waving my hand.

“You have first shift on lookout with Denise,” he said. “She’ll take you up to the roof and show you what to do.”

I nodded and moved to follow Denise.

“Bye,” Fatima said, waving.

I waved back at her and then joined Denise, making our way out of the cafeteria.

“Keeping watch isn’t hard,” Denise said as we made our way up the stairs. “The trick is to make sure you don’t get distracted. Ideally we’d have enough people that we could alternate more frequently but this is what we have to work with. Once we’re up there, we can chat but not too much. You’ll keep watch of the East and South. I’ll watch North and West. We’ll switch sides every half hour.”

“Do you have binoculars or anything?” I asked.

“We do” Denise nodded. “The equipment is already up there and in place, but you you want to only use them when you need to look at something specific. Otherwise, just use your eyes.”

“And what if I do see something?”

“Then let me know.”

“Do you think it’s likely that anyone’s still on the island?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Denise replied, “and that’s the problem. Better to be on the lookout and have nothing there than to assume we’re alone and be caught off guard.”

We reached the roof access, which was a ladder tucked away in a closet leading up through the ceiling and out onto the roof. I took one look at the ladder rungs, bolted into the wall, and knew it would be a trick to get me up them without damaging any of them.

Denise went up first, unlocking the hatch and climbing out. Then it was my turn. I placed a hand and a foot on the ladder and gingerly eased myself up. I felt the rung in my hand quiver and eased up even more, moving my hand so that it just rested on top of it, rather than gripping it. That made it difficult to balance but I was at a much lower risk of damaging it.

“Take your time,” Denise called down to me.

I moved up to the next rung, again just placing my hand, almost all the way open, onto the rung. Slowly, rung by rung, I climbed up. When I finally reached the top without breaking any of them, Denise looked at me with surprise.

“Penn and I had a bet on how many rungs you were going to break off on your way up here,” she said, laughing to herself.

“Then why’d you pick me to go first up here?” I asked.

“Because we needed t talk to you in private and this was the easiest way to do it without raising suspicions.”

I turned to her in surprise.

“Talk to me about what?” I asked.

“About how we might have a spy among us. We know you strong supers tend to hang out in the field so it isn’t too surprising that you were outside when Emil and his group attacked, but there’s still the chance that one or more of them were in on it.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because there were security rooms that were broken into that look like they were forced by someone with super strength.”

That was worrying.

“I don’t know all the supers yet,” I said slowly, thinking, “but are all the strong supers accounted for?”

“No,” Denise replied. “We’ve found some of them among the dead, but haven’t been able to identify all of the dead yet so there’s a chance the rest of them are there, but also it could be that one of the supers you were with helped Emil and then went outside to join you. Did you notice anyone joining you later?”

I tried to think back but couldn’t say one way or the other whether we’d all been together from the start or not.

“Penn and I have done a count of the guards we’ve recovered,” Denise went on when I didn’t answer. “There’s definitely some of them missing. Could be that they were taken captive, but more likely that they were in on it. Otherwise it would have been too hard for anyone trying to force their way onto the island to do so without having the alarm raised. That fact alone is all the proof I need to know that at least one guard was bad, if not more.”

“Who would do this?” I wondered aloud.

“There’s any number of governments and organizations that would love to wipe out the most powerful supers of the western world,” Denise pointed out.

“And what do you need me to do?” I asked.

“We need someone to search the island,” Denise said. “Penn and I can teach you how to do it, where to go and what to look for, and then report to us on what you find.”

“Why can’t you just do it yourselves?” I asked.

“We’re the only two guards left,” she said. “We need to stay here and keep things calm while we try to call for help.”

“I thought you said help would come in a day or two no matter what.”

“They will,” Denise admitted, “as long as no one’s sending in false reports, pretending to be us.” She let that possibility sink in before continuing. “If that’s the case, then they’re still here somewhere and waiting for their own reinforcements.”

“But what good would that do them?” I asked. “There’s so few of us left here.”

“There’s all the dead,” Denise pointed out, “and some supers can bring you back even if you’ve been dead for a while. Days, even.”

“So they could come and take all the supers they wanted, revive them, and do what?”

“Make them work for them,” Denise said. “There’s any number of supers who could be useful to an enemy state, and young minds are impressionable. How many here would be willing to do what they were told in exchange for money, pleasures, or anything else?”

That was a horrible thought and not one without merit.

“But why me?”

“Because your indestructible as far as we can tell, and old enough to be responsible.”

That was flattering, but hardly assuaged my own doubts and insecurities.

“Look,” Denise went on when she saw my expression, “there’s nothing on this island that can hurt you. You were hit by a rocket and it did nothing to you. Emil’s and Fatima’s poisons are among the most deadly and you have no reaction to them. I can’t think of any super who could do you any real harm.”

“The rocket still hurt,” I pointed out, “and I nearly suffocated from Emil’s poison.”

“I know it can be scary, going out alone,” Denise said, placing a hand on my shoulder and holding my gaze, “but it’s what we need right now and you’re who we’ve got.”

I tried to come up with an excuse not to do it but in the end I was swayed by her arguments. Penn and Denise were needed here to keep things together and none of the other students were tough enough to handle the potentially dangerous situations I might find myself in. Whoever these people were, they’d already shown a willingness to kill and they clearly had weapons capable of dealing with most supers. What else could I say?

“I’ll do it,” I finally told her.

“Good,” Denise sighed in relief and then began walking me through how I was to go about searching the island.