Imperium: Volume 3

There was a long silence before she finally answered me.

•~ I....Im sorry Raeve, I can't even sense her •~

•~ What do you mean!? •~ I pushed.

As I waited for her response I was rummaging through our room looking for something.

•~ Raeve •~ She said softly.

Don't fucking say it. Just then I noticed her backpack was gone. Some clothes from the dresser and some of her gear were also missing. Sarah didn't have to tell me.......I already knew.

•~ She's gone •~

.....................5 months later....................

I woke up tired today. Which isn't unusual, but getting up this early was starting to mess with my head. I walked down to the food tent where I could grab a cup of coffee to wake me up, before this mornings meeting.

I let my body give into a big stretch as a yawn faintly slipped from my mouth.

"Morning Oaken." Said Bowdie as she entered the tent.

"Mmm. Mornin." I replied.

I looked at her. She looked completely energized for someone waking up at 5:45 in the morning.

"How do you do that?" I asked shaking my head.

"What?" She said smiling.

"You know......your so happy and gitty. It's like 6 in the morning, and here you are looking refreshed and I look like......crap." I concluded.

"Hmm must be the youth in me." She said as she flicked her hair over her shoulder. I just gave her a blank stare.

"Your like a months younger than me." I said shaking my head.

"Weren't you up till midnight last night anyway?" She asked changing the subject.

"Ya. They like having me on night watch, and since we are in the dead ass of winter, and dark starts at 5:30, I get the best shift in the world." I said way to sarcastically. "Anywho, you heading into town with the group?" I asked, while taking a sip of coffee.

"Nah, Raeve won't let me do anything till I turn 18. He wants me to stay away as much as possible, and practically has me in a bubble." She said disappointed.

"Consider yourself lucky. My 18th birthday they practically gave me my first duty. But enough bragging, have you heard ab-"

I shut up the moment someone walked in the tent. It was Gunner. He was 2 years older than me, and was the most pompas ass I ever met.

"Morning treebert." He said as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

Ugh I hate him....I hate him so much. I just kept silent and ignored him. He called me treebert because my name had the word Oak in it. Like how original. He stared at me for a moment before opening his big mouth again.

"You look like shit." He said.

I just rolled my eyes and grabbed Bowdie by the arm and made our way out the tent.

"God, he's so annoying!" I told her.

"Ahah I think it's because he likes you." She said.

"Ha! If that's his way of flirting, I don't know what to tell ya. He's gonna need some new material, that's for sure."

Another yawn slipped out while we were walking back to the team leaders tent.

It been roughly 5 months since June left and we havn't heard word from her or from anyone else for that matter. We keep waiting for it, or atleast a sighting of her but its like she dropped off the face of the earth.

Jay had to send a group of us to a secondary base, since Lingham was over capacity, and aside from a few mentors the majority of us were of the younger generation. The youngest one here had to be Hudson, who was about 13 maybe going on 14 now.

We set up our base camp outside the mall about a kilometer away in the schools football field. We had set up field tents, that provided us with all our necessities and camped out for the better part of half a year. We had essentially gotten accustomed to sleeping outside, and even with the cold weather, we were still able to keep pretty warm.

I've grown alot since June left. I don't think she fully understood how much I idealized her, but I no longer wanted to be the whiny teenager who became the parents burden. I wanted to be strong, independent and make a name for myself. I worked my butt off, and when I turned 18 I immediately requested that I be put to work. With my perfect vision they made me a look out. They kept me around the area, mostly ensuring no Dom soldiers were a threat. I hadn't really been given the chance to execute a mission outside the camp, but perhaps with more training and experience one day it might come.

"Morning ladies." Greeted Sarah.

Since us youngins, as they so put it took to the second camp, Sarah and some other adults were in charge of us. Which was chaotic at times. If anyone even thought about venturing out side of base camps, she was quick to put a stop to your plans. Being a mind reader and all.

"So who's going out this morning for the errand run. We need a couple things from Lingham so I'll need a couple of you to head out." She asked.

"I'll go." I volunteered. I was up anyways.

"Bowdie?" Sarah and I both looked up to see Bowdie had quickly slipped out.

My shoulders slumped. What an ass. "I guess I'll be going by myself then." I said.

"No you won't. I just asked Gunner to tag along. We need quite a bit of stuff." She said without looking up from her papers.

I dont think my shoulders could have slumped any further. I really don't like this guy. He's so full of himself and is always goofing off during drills. The only reason they stick him at this camp is because of his attitude.

He's an Imperium as well, and you would think his only ability was to be a jerk face but it wasn't. Perhaps a side effect?

His ability was actually complex. He didn't know it but I was actually quite jealous of him. His ability allowed him to phase through solid objects. And me? I could see through any obscure obstacle. Whoop de freaking do.

"You asked to see me Sarah?" Gunner said as he entered the tent. He glanced at me, and I made sure to let him know I wasn't a fan of the idea.

I kept my brows furrowed and had my arms crossed over my chest.

"Yes." Said Sarah. "I just need you to accompany Oaken to Lingham and grab us some more provisions. Can you do that?"

"Seems easy enough." He said.

I just rolled my eyes and grabbed a list that Sarah held out to me.

"Let's go." I said

I left the tent and Gunner followed. I made sure to walk ahead of him to avoid the unrelenting bull crap he liked to fill my head with. Just nonsense really. I don't think I've ever seen a serious side to him in the couple years that we've known eachother.

"Can you hold up?" He said while sprinting up to catch me.

He matched my pace but kept quite. I could tell in my periferal he was glancing at me, and it was worst then him talking to me.

"What is it Gunner." I said monotone.

"Nothing. Your just so serious all the time." He said.

"I'm just trying to do my part." I told him.

"By being there errand boy? Seems beneath you if you ask me." He muttered.

"And what does it matter to you hu? Unlike you I like to be useful, and if it's to grab provisions then so be it! Perhaps you should do the same." I snapped at him.

I kept walking and left him standing in place. I came up to a fork in the road shortly after which stopped me dead in my tracks. To the right would take us to Lingham. The left would take us out of town.

I stood there looking at the road that forked to the left. Is this the road June would have travelled? What was beyond the dirt road?

"Earth to Oaken." I heard him say.

I just stood there and turned to him.

"Come on."

We didn't talk the rest of the way. It took a total of 15 minutes to walk the kilometer to Lingham and I wasn't looking forward to the walk back with him.

I made my way in and took the list out of my pocket to review the supplies that we needed. I noticed we needed some medical supplies, so headed towards the infirmary where Rowen was running things.

"Hey Rowen." I said with a smile.

"Oaken!" He said playfully. "I was expecting you." He went over to the other side of the room and handed me a box of supplies.

"Holy." I said. "This is quite heavy." I turned to see if Gunner could grab a wagon or something but he was already gone.......typical. "I'll be right back Rowen, I'll have to get something that will help carry this stuff back."

"No worries. I think there may be a sled by the mission control room." He said.

"Okay thanks." I set the box down and made my way over.

The room was buzzing with people and seemed overly chaotic than usual. I slowly moved towards the plastic curtain and could see Jay and some others scrambling. Raeve was also in the room looking anxious, as if waiting for bad news or something.

Then I heard it.

"She's been spotted near Brighton." Someone said.

My brows furrowed. Did they mean June!?

As soon as the thought left me I saw Raeve blip out of the room. I just stood there listening in, hoping to get more information.

"Yes Oaken?" Said Jay.

Shit. He caught me.

"Oh...h..hi....I was just looking for a wagon or sled to take back some provisions." I tried to keep it cool. He pointed to the corner behind me and had his brow raised. Dammit.

"Thank you. Okay bye." I quickly retreated and grabbed a wagon with sled legs on them and headed back to Rowen. I placed in the essentials, and started retrieving the rest of the provisions by myself.

About an hour later I was making my way down the road when I saw Gunner up ahead. He was standing to the side of the road waiting for me, and clearly didn't dress the part as he was moving in one spot to warm up.

"What took you so long?" He asked.

I just shot him a look.

"Why did you even come here if you weren't going to help!?" I said.

"What do you mean?" He answered as he took the wagon from me.

"Ugh nevermind." I walked along beside him and was heavy with thought. What I heard back there. Was it June?

We shortly approached the fork in the road, and I looked in the distance as the air started to fill with a light snowfall. I felt a crisp breeze blow past me, and I took in a deep breath allowing it to fill my lungs till I felt the sting. I looked up to the white sky and got lost in the halls in my head.

Did they find you June?