Lisa:
It has been a week since the first attack. During that time there were two more attacks. During the first one I was still thirteen and so couldn't fight. That attack had taken us completely taken us by surprise. Many of us were going about our own business in the compound's open spaces. As a result many of us died and I was one of those. I had to use my crystal to bring Dianne back and so I was stuck at seven years old for that day.
The next day before my crystal had recharged itself the third attack happened. Fortunately this one we saw coming in plenty of time for those of us who wouldn't be fighting to get to the safety of the bunker. No one made it that far that time for which I was grateful.
As to the soldiers we brought back, about half of them decided to stay with us. The others went back to their units as children. They weren't happy about being made children, some were even the opposite gender, but they were happy to be alive. They understood the rules of war, we couldn't allow them to go back and fight us. We weren't demanding a prisoner exchange since we weren't keeping prisoners.
Four days after the first attack we learned that the Texas compounds had been taken over. Some from each compound were able to escape through tunnels.
This morning some of those that escaped the Texas compounds entered our compound. Anna's aunt, uncle, and cousin were among those that made it here. Her parents were ones that feared the Bonded and so stayed away from anything to do with them. They weren't proponents of rounding up Bonded but then again their niece was Bonded and they did love her. Anna hoped that her parents would get over their fear. I could only hope that their love for their niece would help them get over their fear.
Anna was now staying with me and Luke. Everyday that went by she told us how much she liked her new body and that she was thinking of remaining a girl after the war though she might want to be older. We could understand that.
The transformed soldiers that decided to stay with us for awhile were treated no differently then those of us who were here before. They seemed surprised by this. One of them had told me that he had thought he would be supervised at all times. I had told him that he wasn't anymore supervised than any other child in the compound. He had asked me if the children were supervised more than the adults and I told him that of course they were. I even told him that when I was a child that I expected it. There were times that I was having
such a good time being a kid that I forgot some of the rules for my safety. If I wasn't being supervised more than the adults ten I might get hurt. The boy had thought this over and then ran off to play. I was happy to see him finally play since he had been in an adult mind set still.
Also during the week we found out that it does matter which you say first to transform when transforming both age and gender. If you said gender first then gender will be the first thing to transform. If you said the age first then that would be the first thing to change.
Now it was three in the afternoon and I was heading to the council chamber. As I walked through the compound I heard that one boy say "Hi Miss Ketcher!"
"Hello Steve!" I said smiling and waving. He was playing war with some of the other kids and I stopped to watch them for a minute.
We encouraged the kids to play together though it almost always ended up with the boys playing war and the girls playing with dolls or dress-up. Most days there was at least one game of dodge ball and then the boys and girls would play together though it was often boys against girls.
As I watched one of the boys slumped down to the ground. Steve had come up and placed a fake crystal in boys hand. The boy stood back up and they went about their play. Quite a few of the boys wanted to use our crystals to play with. We didn't want them to. Not because we were afraid that they'd get lost or broken. We knew that could not happen. What we were afraid of was that one of us would accidentally say an age and/or gender while one of the kids was holding
one. We had theorized that it didn't matter how far from our crystals we were, they could still change someone holding it. So we decided to make some fake crystals for them.
After a minute or two I continued on my way. I would like to join them in their play but I did have duties here whether or not I was a kid and wanted to play. Since Anna was staying with us right now me and Luke decided that it would be best to be our original ages to give her a couple of authority figures in place of her parents.
Everyone else was in the council chambers by the time I arrived.
"Stopped to watch the kids play again didn't you" Mama said.
"Well you know how much I love kids" I said.
Mama laughed and said "Yes I do. Alright, you're forgiven again."
Everyone laughed at this. When everyone had settled down and I had taken my seat Dan said "I assume you all have heard the news."
All of us nodded. The news broke shortly after we had received the refugees from Texas. At first it was just rumors but now they were partially confirmed. What had been confirmed was that the President had ordered actions to be put on hold temporarily while talks take place between the Bonded representatives and government representatives. The rumors were that this was just a ploy to launch a sneak attack.
"They have decided on who they want to deal with" Dan said. "It seems that they consider us to be the leaders."
"You're kidding!" I said.
"I wish I was" Dan said. "It paints a big target on us."
"Why do they consider us the leaders?" Daisy asked.
"Well I'm ex-military for one thing" Dan said. "For another, it's because we were able to convince the other compounds to bring back the dead soldiers. They see this as us having clout."
"So we're the leaders now" Raymond said. "What do the other compounds say about this?"
"They seem to be fine with it" Dan said. "So now we represent the Bonded."
"Where are we going to meet the government's representatives?" Mama asked.
"It seems like it's going to take place right here" Dan said.
"I would have thought that they would want to meet in a more neutral place" Daisy said.
"Evidently they trust us not to harm their representatives" Dan said.
"And we won't" I said. "Though we will be taking precautions so we don't get caught flat-footed."
"What do you mean?" Raymond asked.
"I don't think that they would use such a tactic but, they may try using these representatives to take us out" I said.
"They wouldn't do that!" Daisy said holding her hand to her heart.
"Lisa is right" Dan said. "We have to take precautions. They may view this as an opportunity and try to take us out without the government's knowledge."
"I suppose we do have to be careful" Daisy conceded. "So do we know who the government's representatives are?"
"Yes we do" Dan said. "Agents Greenleaf and Harrison."
"We need to scrutinize Agent Harrison more closely" I said. "He struck me as being able to do anything to get rid of us. He could very well do something on his own."
"What did you think of Agent Greenleaf?" Dan asked.
"She struck me as someone reluctantly doing their job" I said. "She didn't want to tell us that force would be used. I think she may be sympathetic to us."
"I would have to agree with that" Dan said. "Now we only have a couple of hours before they arrive. I want you to meet them outside of the compound Lisa. You can take three other people with you."
"I know the ones I want to take with me" I said. "Jake, Sam, and Anna."
"Why those three?" Daisy asked.
"Because I believe it will be good for Agents Greenleaf and Harrison to see that we're not bad people" I said. "I'm sure that some of the soldiers that we let go have told some wild tales."
"Alright" Dan said. "It's your choice as to who you want to take with you."
The meeting finished and we set about getting ready for our guests. I was waiting outside the compound with Jake, Sam, and Anna when we saw Agents Greenleaf and Harrison come into view. They had someone else with them.
"Hello Agents Greenleaf, Harrison" I said. "Who is this with you?"
"I can tell you" Anna said. "She's my mom."
"Nice to meet you Mrs. Martines" I said.
"Who is this girl?" Mrs. Martines said. "Why did she call me mom?"
"It's me Anthony" Anna said. "I was killed during the first battle and they brought me back."
Mrs. Martines took a closer look at Anna and said "It is you! What have they done to you!?!"
"They brought me back from the dead" Anna said. "They made me younger so I wouldn't fight. The one that brought me back thinks that everyone should experience the opposite gender."
"You must be miserable" Mrs. Martines said.
"I was a little freaked at first but I think that I'll stay this gender after the war" Anna said. "I may decide to be older though. Oh by the way Kaylee is here as is Uncle Ben and Aunt Violet."
"That's nice dear" Mrs. Martines said.
"Excuse me but we thought that the only ones coming were Agents Greenleaf and Harrison" I said.
"There was a slight change" Agent Greenleaf said.
"Let me guess" I said. "They wanted someone that has a more neutral view."
"Yes" Agent Greenleaf said. "Mrs. Martines volunteered."
"I wanted to know what happened to my son" Mrs. Martines said.
"Well I hate to do this but we do need to search you before we let you into the compound" I said.
"How dare you make such a demand!" Agent Harrison said.
"You would insist on such if we were meeting you in some other place" I said. "As well you should" I added before he could say anything. "We expect as much. We're not asking you to submit to anything that you wouldn't submit us to."
"We will submit to being searched" Agent Greenleaf said. "This is war after all. You are right to be cautious."
I searched Agent Greenleaf and Mrs. Martines while Jake searched Agent Harrison. There wasn't anything that we could see.
"Alright" I said. "We don't see anything on you. If you'll follow me we'll go to the council chamber."
"Not until you give us a cavity search" Agent Greenleaf said.
"I will not submit to that!" Agent Harrison said.
"You will if you want to be a part of these talks" Agent Greenleaf said.
"I'm suppose to be here" Agent Harrison said. "You're too soft with these freaks."
"That is enough!" Agent Greenleaf said. "We were instructed to submit to searches."
"They did not say that the would do a body cavity search!" Agent Harrison said going red in the face. "You said that."
"They're not stupid" Agent Greenleaf said. "They were already going to give us a cavity search. I just thought it would be best for them to move it up."
"I will not submit to a cavity search by these freaks!" Agent Harrison said.
"Then you can leave Agent Harrison" I said.
"Like hell I'll leave!" Agent Harrison said. "I was assigned to these talks and I'll be at them!"
"Not if you don't submit to a cavity search" I said. "Agent Greenleaf is right, we're not stupid. We know that some things can be smuggled in cavities."
"I am not smuggling anything!" Agent Harrison said. "How dare you suggest that I'm under orders to smuggle some biological weapon into your compound!"
"I didn't say anything about biological weapons" I said with a hard look on my face. "I didn't say anything about you being under orders to either. You've given yourself away. You are no longer welcome in our compound. If you try to enter you will be shot. I'm not sure that we'll bring you back after. If I were you I'd leave right now."
"You can't make me leave!" Agent Harrison said.
"Right now there is a rifle pointed at you" I said. "I have a radio on me and the mic is open. With a single word from me or a gesture you will be shot. If you attack any of us you will be shot. If you continue to stand here you may be shot. If you try to enter our compound you will be shot. If you turn around right now we will let you go. It's your choice."
Agent Harrison glared at me and said in a low voice "You won't get away with this you freak. I'll see to it that everyone of you freaks are wiped out along with your supporters and traitors."
Agent Harrison took a swing at me which I easily dodged and a shot rang out. Agent Harrison staggered back with a hand clutched to his chest. This didn't stop him from taking another swing at me though and another shot rang out. This second shot took him down and he was dead.
"I want to assure you that we were under no orders to try to kill you" Agent Greenleaf said. She looked Agent Harrison's body and said with a disgusted look on her face "He was acting on his own."
"I had figured that from our first meeting" I said. "He was trying to take advantage of these talks."
"You know that there will always be those like him" Agent Greenleaf said.
"There always is" I said. "Some people don't like those that are different than they are. They have been here for as long as we have been and they will remain until we are gone. Just take a look at the KKK. They don't like black people simply because they are a different color. Same thing goes with religions. We do understand the fear you have of us. We're more different than race or religion. We do have a power that can be used for criminal activity as we have seen."
"Well maybe we can help people understand and not be afraid" Agent Greenleaf said. "I still insist that you give us cavity searches before we start."
"Of course" I said. "I assume that you'll want to place a call after."
"I do need to notify my superiors of what happened" Agent Greenleaf said. "I will give you a bit of good news. If these talks are successful then some things will be revoked. We can discuss what those will be during the talks."
"I look forward to the talks" I said. "I hope that we can resolve this. I didn't want a war."
"Does anyone ever want a war?" Agent Greenleaf asked.
"Some do" I replied.