"What do you think they're doing?" murmured Autumn in my ear as she kneeled beside me. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know," a flashback of what the little girl, Katie, had said came into my mind. She'd warned that these guys we're up to no good and this did seem slightly suspicious.

"Let's follow them." Autumn looked at me for confirmation.

"Are you crazy?" I asked her. "The little girl I met yesterday,"

"What little girl?" Autumn cut me off. Crap, she didn't even know yet. Now I was going to have to tell her everything. Or would I?

"Her name was Katie," my voice sounded alien but I continued. Autumn didn't need the whole story. "I don't really know where she came from and I don't know where she went, but she warned me."

"Warned you?" she asked, doubtfully.

"She said that the people at the Sanctuary were trading kids," I explained.

"Trading kids? Like, to whom?"

"The Skitters," Autumn turned to me, her mouth open in shock.

"Trading kids to the Skitters?"

I nodded in verification.

"Did you tell anybody?" she questioned.

"Yeah, I told Hal." I answered gravely.

"And?" Autumn said, waiting for elaboration.

"He said to keep it on the down low." I scratched the back of my head. Maybe I should've told Mike right away. Hal doesn't know everything, does he?

"Now we have to follow them," Autumn whispered excitedly. Before I could protest, she'd kicked off her tennis shoes and was half way to the shed door, padding through the damp grass in just her socks. I set off at a brisk walk to catch up.

"What was the point of that?" I hissed in her ear.

"The point of what?" she asked unassumingly.

"Taking off your shoes," I said as she stood on her tiptoes to look through the window panes of the door.

"For stealth," answered the blonde plainly. I rolled my eyes and followed her in the door after she'd gradually forced the rusty hinges open. The door led straight into a set of barely safe stairs and a large open area. Peering out from around the doorframe, I caught sight of Clayton and Tessa's father, as well as some guy's long, greasy brown hair.

"Is that Pope?" I breathed.

"I think so," Autumn replied in a low voice. "What is he doing here?"

"Who knows?" A quiet laugh escaped. "It's Pope." Autumn smiled in agreement and we sat in silence trying to gather as much information as we could without being caught.

"So what is this?" Pope's usual, not quite sober tone resounded in the musky, half broken shed. "My last chance to convert?"

"Maybe," Clayton replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"You must've done one hell of a Tony Roberts on those people to get them to hand over their kids," Pope growled, but a hint of admiration came through. Criminals always seemed to have some sort of appreciation for a job well done in their 'art form' as Pope had referred to it.

"I served with those people," Clayton explained. "Weaver's always been by the books, so new orders from Porter were all it took."

"He lied to Weaver?" I murmured angrily. Autumn immediately hushed me and waved her hand at Clayton.

"He's not done yet," mumbled the big eyed, blonde in a slightly frightened tone.

"And his, uh, Second in Command, uh…" Clayton trailed off and looked to Pope for a name.

"Mason," the convict supplied.

"It was clear he'd do anything to protect his boys." The commander finished and Pope nodded, agreeing with Clayton's final statement about Tom. Who wouldn't? The only things Tom cared about were those three boys' posterity.

"Do you really think you can deal with those lizards?" Pope asked with sickened curiosity. Autumn looked up at me, her eyes filled with anxiety.

"That little girl wasn't…" she couldn't bring herself to finish but I knew what she meant.

Clayton thought about the question Pope had proposed for a moment. He turned toward the stairs and began to make his way up them. I cursed under my breath as both Clayton and Tessa's dad headed straight for us. Autumn darted away from the doorway, dragging me with her and a good way into the woods before she stopped.

"Did you catch Clayton's answer?" I asked, panting. Autumn leaned up against a tree and took a moment to catch her breath.

"Yeah," she replied. "Something like 'It's not about winning or losing anymore. Just surviving.'" Autumn looked at me, her pale face red and patchy from exertion. "What do we do now?"

"Well," I said scratching my head. "We report it to Hal."

"You reported what Katie said to Hal, didn't you?" Autumn was looking at me strangely, like I didn't quite understand.

"Yeah," I replied, narrowing my eyes. "So?"

"So, he didn't do anything about it, right?" Autumn ran a hand through her thin, wavy hair. Breaking a stick off a tree, she fiddled with it nervously.

"This is different, Autumn."

"How?" her voice was shaky and I could tell something was wrong.

"Are you okay?"

"Jimmy, they're going to take us. I don't want to be harnessed." Unsure of how to answer her exactly, I gave an awkward pat on the shoulder. Her face, though it had been returning to its usual complexion, turned pink again.

"They're not going to take you," I told her, trying to sound confident. "I'll…I'll protect you?" Though it wasn't meant to be a question, my voice pitched up at the end. Autumn's flattened nose crinkled a little as she looked up at me with frightened eyes.

"You would?" she sniffed.

"I'd try. Just, uh, don't start crying or anything," I puffed out my chest. "I'll leave you out here alone." The comment elicited the exact reaction I had hoped for. Autumn gave a slight smile and a playful punch in my right arm.

"We should get back," Autumn said, wiping her nose with the long sleeve of her blue knit pullover. It had started to run in the cool, fall air. "They're going to start wondering where we are."

I nodded in agreement and the two of us headed back to the old wooden home. Passing by the shed, I gave a cautious look but didn't say anything to Autumn. She must be freaked out enough; after all she was just a Civy; one with surprising amounts of curiosity and enough steel to investigate those curiosities, but a Civy all the same.

When we got inside, the two of us headed straight for the dining room. Most of the kids were halfway through their Dinner, if not finished. Juneau scowled up at me as I walked toward the kitchen to get a plate. Autumn followed close behind me.

"Just to be clear," I told her nonchalantly. "We don't breathe a word of this to anybody."

"I know," my friend replied, ladling soup into her bowl. Autumn turned around and took a seat next to Juneau and Ben. I was somewhat disappointed that she chose them over me but ignored it and took my place beside Matt. The thought was quickly forgotten when I noticed Clayton and Tessa's dad in the doorway to the dining room. I wasn't close enough to hear them but I could clearly see a goose egg swelling on his forehead. Maybe Pope had managed to get away.

I couldn't decide whether or not that was a good thing as I slurped down my soup. It was the best I'd had since the convict himself had been cooking. Clayton and Tessa's dad entered the dining room and took the only two open seats left at either ends of the table. Tessa's dad ended up right next to me. I tensed and curled my toes in my boots. Already I could tell it was not going to be a very chummy family dinner.

Making me sick to my stomach, Clayton took his seat with a forced smile on his face. I glanced up at Autumn and she gave a slight shake of her head as if to say 'Keep calm'.

"Thought I heard some kind of commotion," Mike said looking up at Clayton.

"One of the sentries though he saw a coyote," explained the lieutenant.

"You certainly have a different scale of problems out here," Mike replied, slightly envious.

"Yeah," Clayton shrugged and laughed lightly. "You get used to it after a while." Clayton then turned his attention to Mike's son, Rick. That is something I try and avoid. If there was anybody that freaked me out more than Ben, it was Rick. The kid hardly remembered who he was when he first woke up. Even Ben seemed somewhat wary of him. If there was any way at all for me to feel sympathetic toward the beast I'd found Clayton to be, it was by speaking to Rick.

"What's the matter Rick?" he asked, scooping mashed potatoes onto his own plate. "Not hungry?"

Rick did nothing but give Clayton a disturbed stare in response. The man still didn't seem to be getting the hint; he laughed it off. "I'll tell you what," he said. "When your old man and I were posted together, he did not stop talking about you."

"Don't worry," Mike said, laughing, "Mostly good stuff." He patted his son on the back. Rick's expression didn't even waiver as he sat stiff as a board.

"And what good stuff could that be?" Rick asked, finally turning towards his father. This entire conversation had me totally remembering why I stayed away from Razorbacks. "How I was sick all the time? How I could barely catch my breath?" Mike's face fell and the rest of the table had gone silent, looking up at what was unfolding. Rick slammed his hand down on the table and I felt my heart leap into my throat. This kid was straight up scary. He looked up at Ben and Ben looked like he was about to piss himself.

"How can you eat their food?" he asked angrily.

"Excuse me?" said Ben, his voice quiet with fear. Poor Ben, if he wasn't enough of a weirdo already, this wasn't making it better. Ben pushed himself away from the table, picked up his plate, and left the room. Juneau took off after him and Autumn looked up at me, helpless. I scooted my chair in as the two made their past me, I followed them with my eyes. It had to totally suck to be Ben, or any of the Masons for that matter.

"We are guests here, Rick." I heard Mike growl from down the table as I continued to eat. "I raised you better than that." He then turned to Clayton, "Excuse my son's manners," Clayton nodded in understanding as Mike stood up to leave the table, bringing his empty plate with him. Hal got up as well to clear his setting, but Tessa interrupted him.

"You get a pass on chores tonight," she said taking his plate from him, "Since you're new here." Hal laughed and I couldn't help but do the same under my breath.

"You don't have to do that," he said. Lourdes got up as well, leaving her plate behind with no reservations.

"Since you're new here," she said with a smile, meaning it as a jab toward Hal.

I scooted myself down next to Autumn to finish my dinner. "Well that was awkward," she widened her eyes in agreement and I laughed. "At least soon enough Rick will be back with his own kind."

"You're disgusting," she replied jabbing me in the ribs with her elbow.

"Did you see Tessa head outside with Hal?" I asked her, changing the subject.

"Yeah I did," Autumn gave me a suggestive smile and I waggled my eyebrows. "I also saw Lourdes follow them, looking pretty ticked."

I opened my mouth respond but never got it out. Hal had come busting back into the dining room with an urgent look on his face. He tried sounding calm but I could tell something was up.

"2nd Mass to bed," he ordered. Matt groaned beside me but he got up from his place and headed toward the stairs. Autumn and I both took a final spoonful of dinner. Letting Autumn get in front of me, I stopped next to Hal.

"What's going on?" I asked. Hal contemplated something for a moment and then seemed to realize there was no point in lying to me about it.

"We found Eli Russel's backpack."

"Wait," I said trying to remember where I'd heard the name before. "Isn't that the kid whose parents stole from Anne?" Hal nodded and looked at me. I could tell he was thinking the same thing I was.

"Along with what Katie had said…" I couldn't finish the sentence. All of a sudden I knew that there was no chance I'd misunderstood or over reacted and Hal confirmed it all with a nod of his head. "What're we going to do?"

"We're going to remain calm," Hal said with finality. "Mike is gonna figure it out."

I considered telling Hal about Pope but decided against it. After all, he had said to remain calm and something like that had me panicked enough. There was no need to get Hal on edge too.

"Now get to bed," said Hal as we reached the top of the steps. I nodded but I knew that tonight was going to be even more restless than the one before.

Rusty, Matt, and Juneau all seemed to be sound asleep, no problem and for whatever reason, Rick had gotten moved into our room as well. He was asleep on Hal's bed. I could hear Autumn tossing and turning in her sleep and Hal was sitting in an old rocking chair, as unable to sleep as I was and Ben was sitting up, wide awake, staring at the doorway. Minutes passed then hours. Mike crept into the room at what had to be around 12:30 am. He looked out the window for a couple of moments, arms crossed.

"I wish you'd known him before," I figured he was talking about Rick. Did he mean the kid wasn't always a psychopath? "As sick as he was, he never complained." He turned away from the window, to Hal. "Not once." Mike looked down at his son with a reminiscent smile and stroked the curls on his boy's head. "And boy could he make me laugh. I hated it when they took him," he said, brow furrowing, "But I hate what they did to him even more." Mike loaded his Rifle and turned back to Hal.

"Mike, what's going on?" Hal sat forward, confused. The click of the rifle roused Lourdes.

"Hal?" she asked, still half asleep.

"Grab your weapon," said Mike to Hal he then looked to Lourdes. "Wake the others, we're leaving this place now."

AN: Hey so I've recently decided this story will probably just span to the end of Sanctuary parts 1 and 2 with the option of a sequel, depending. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know with a review! Thanks to Mrs. Dylan Authors for her character Autumn Grace and to AwesomeChick101 for being my sound board. Also, I would like to thank all of you readers for taking the time to read this at all!