I spent the rest of the day inside Cain Hall. The front entrance was blasted out but the rest of the building seemed intact. The explosive trap they’d set for me must have been directed outward from the building since that was where the most damage was concentrated. A lot of the supplies had been ransacked but there was still a few emergency meals packaged up that I found. Enough for a few days, at least.

That evening I sat in my corner of the cafeteria, eating a reconstituted lasagna that wasn’t half bad. Beside me was Fatima’s bedroll, smudged in a few places with her toxic mucus. I hoped she was okay and not too afraid. I had to admit, though, that I was glad a healer would be able to get to the others in time to bring them back.

I did not sleep well that night, waking up multiple times. When morning did arrive I didn’t feel rested at all. I was covered in dark bruises and my lip was still cut from the explosion yesterday. Moving hurt, but not so badly as the day before. I eventually got up, but after a couple hours of doing nothing I went back to my bedroll and covered my head. Sleep found me quickly this time and I spent the better portion of the day that way.

On the second day I decided I might as well do a search of the island, just in case. I started with the Pinegree building. It was much as I remembered it, though without all the bodies. It had a certain, musky smell that made my stomach turn slightly and I opened what windows I could to air it out. In a side room, I found the bodies of the teachers, administrators, and healers. It seemed whoever had taken the others wasn’t interested in the adults. The smell in that room was significantly stronger as the decay in their bodies was really beginning to set in.

I should bury them, or maybe not. If rescue comes soon enough there might be other healers who could bring them back. I decided to leave them for now and shut the door.

From Pinegree, I went south before heading back north. I found plenty of footprints leading to the southern dock, as well as tire tracks, but nothing else. They’d cleaned up their trail well and left nothing of importance behind. The remnants of the southern dock still floated in the water, many of the pieces having been beached during high tide.

As I went north, I found less and less evidence of their presence. All of the computers were still missing but other than that the campus was untouched. A part of me was half expecting to find traps like landmines but no such thing ever arose.

I heard the airplane before I saw it. I was at the checkpoint nearest the airport when I realized what it was that I was hearing. I began running at once, hoping it was a rescue and not more trouble. I spied the airplane a couple of times through the canopy, circling the island. As I came into view of the runway the airplane was just coming in for a landing. I stayed out of it’s direct path and came instead along side of the plane as it taxied into place at the end of the runway. The side door opened and I braced myself, hoping I wouldn’t need to fight but preparing for the worst.

Kira and Harding both looked down at me with confused and worried looks.

“What happened?” they both asked at the same time.

It took a while for me to fully explain everything to them, and at the end of it they looked even more worried.

“We had no idea,” Harding told me. “We’ve been getting regular updates as though nothing was wrong.”

“Right up until we came within range of the island,” Kira added. “Then everything cut out which means either they left a jamming device here, or someone’s targeting us.”

“Or both,” Harding said.

“I’ve been doing a search of the island,” I told them. “So far I haven’t found anything.”

“Then whoever or whatever it is must be nearby.” Harding ducked his head back into the plane for a moment. “Go get the plane refueled and ready to leave,” he said to the pilots and then both he and Kira joined me.

“Could you give me a little healing?” I asked Kira as we started walking. “I’m still pretty sore from the explosions.”

“Of course,” Kira said and pressed her hand against my shoulder.

A faint light emanated out and the aches I’d been dealing with faded away.

“Doesn’t seem like there was any brain damage,” Kira noted. “Only a few bruises, really.”

“And my cut lip.”

“You didn’t have a cut lip,” Kira said.

“Yes I do, or I did before you healed me.”

“I always sense where the damage is when I heal people and you didn’t have any cuts.”

I let it slide and instead focused on completing my search of the island.

“I’d gotten up to the first checkpoint here,” I told them as we made our way down the road.

“Since they took all the computers,” Harding said, “If we find one that’s working we can bet it’s the one jamming or watching us.”

“Or they’re on a boat somewhere nearby,” Kira pointed out.

“They’ve got what they came here for,” Harding said. “Why stick around any longer?”

“They could grab any other supers you brought with you,” I said.

They both stopped what they were doing and looked at me.

“We do have a few supers on the plane,” Harding said.

“And they’re already unconscious and easy to move,” Kira agreed.

“Back to the plane,” Harding said at once and the three of us took off back up the road.

The plane was over by the fuel tanks now and the pilots were busy moving hoses. Looking around I couldn’t see any sign of anyone else.

“Why would they stick around for one more batch of supers?” I asked. “They just stole hundreds of them. What’s the point in hanging around for a few more?”

“I don’t know,” Kira admitted, “but we can’t rule it out.”

“We’ve got a problem,” one of the pilots said when we reached the plane.

“What is it?” Harding asked.

“Someone’s added water to the fuel tanks.”

I didn’t know much about planes but I knew water in the fuel was a good way to ruin an engine.

“How much fuel do we have left in the plane?” Kira asked.

“Not enough to get us anywhere useful,” the pilot replied. “This island was chosen specifically because it was away from most everywhere else.”

“Try the radio again,” Harding said.

“Already did. Nothing.”

“We’re going to have to find the source of the jamming signal or we’re going to be here for a while.” Harding grunted.

“There’s some rations back at Cain Hall,” I told them, “but it isn’t much.”

“Let’s say whoever they are keeps sending their updates so it looks like everything is normal,” Harding said. “They could make some excuse for us not returning, saying there’s a mechanical issue or something. That’ll buy them another couple weeks at most. Not enough time for us to starve, though we’ll be plenty hungry. If another plane arrives and they say it also had mechanical issues, that’ll probably raise the alarm and they’ll send a response team to see what’s going on here.”

“That could put rescue out as far as three weeks,” Kira said.

“Three weeks at most. Probably closer to to two,” Harding replied.

“So what are they hoping to accomplish,” I asked. “We’re not going to die here or anything.”

“No, but it does buy them more time when no one else knows that they’ve killed all our most powerful healers and stolen hundreds of supers,” Harding said. “If we’re going to have any hope of saving the rest of the people on this island and rescuing those who were kidnapped, we need to get a message out now.”