Free Unity by Jeremy Robinson Page A

it?” Gwen asks.
    When I look up to tell her, I see motion in the background. The boys are walking toward us, leaning to the side, trying to see me around Gwen.
    Daniel sees me looking. “What did you find?” His shout echoes in the valley, making me cringe.
    I shout back. “A little privacy! I’m peeing!”
    Daniel frowns and turns around. Gizmo spins away so fast that his legs get tangled and he tumbles over. He recovers quickly, scrambling to his feet, embarrassment muting any pain he might be feeling from the fall.
    When I’m positive the boys aren’t going to look again, I lift the triangular object from the ground and show Gwen. When she reels back as though electrocuted, she nearly drops Mandi, and I think it’s too much for her, too. But then she snaps her fingers at me and extends her open hand. “Let me see it.”
    She holds the pendant close to her mouth and blows away the remaining grit. Then she polishes it and rubs it on her thigh. When she lifts it up again, the black and orange pendant looks almost new. It’s just like the one I found in my go-pack, except that it’s a Support symbol.
    “Could you have known them?” I ask.
    She shakes her head, in a daze. “I think they’re older than three months. I don’t remember any kids I knew leaving.”
    While I hear all fifteen words she’s just spoken, only one of them sticks with me.
    I return to the ground, furiously tearing away grass and brushing dirt. It’s sloppy, rushed work, but the image starts to emerge, and it’s exactly as I feared. The man we found was clearly a full grown specimen. At least eighteen, anyway. But these small-boned bodies, some no more than four feet tall...
    These were kids.
    Like us.
    While I’ve found only one badge, I think it’s safe to assume that these kids were dropped off on this island, like we were supposed to be, and someone slaughtered them. The question is, who? And why? The where and how seem pretty obvious. The when is close enough to now to make me nervous.
    Really nervous.
    “They were Unity,” I tell Gwen. “Like us. A bunch of kids.”
    She looks a little pale. “What do we do?”
    “This might change our outlook, but our...mission is the same.” I stand up, looking at the boys. They’re still at the far end, backs turned to us and no longer searching. Probably waiting for permission to turn in any other direction but back at the peeing girl. “We need food, water and shelter. We just need to find those things more quietly than we might have done before. Keep our eyes open for signs of recent human activity. Find a way to contact home, or get off this island.”
    “And if we can’t?” she asks. “If they find us?”
    “Then our Point will protect us.” The voice is small and slightly muffled, coming from Gwen’s back.
    Gwen shifts Mandi’s small frame up over her shoulder and into her arms. “You’re awake.” Her surprise gives way to suspicion. “How long have you been awake?”
    Long enough to have heard what we’re up against , I think, but my guess turns out to be an under-estimation.
    “An hour,” Mandi says.
    Gwen moves to put her down, but the young girl winces, and she’s not acting.
    “Are your legs hurt?” Gwen asks, frozen in place.
    “I don’t think so,” Mandi says. “But my head—”
    Gwen puts the girl on her feet. She looks unsteady for a moment, but that’s not surprising. She spent a good portion of the day hanging upside down over Gwen’s shoulder. And for an hour of that time, she was conscious. And listening. Observing.
    What kind of kid does that? I wonder, and then I decide, a sneaky one. More than that, she remained still and silent even when Gizmo screamed, even when we uncovered the skeletal man, and the mass grave of murdered Unity kids.
    “Can you stand?” Gwen asks.
    “I’m okay,” Mandi says.
    Gwen’s voice shifts from concerned to irate. “Don’t do that again. Honesty is key to all successful unification pairings.” She speaks