Page 105 of Us Defiant Few

Multiple TVs stacked on top of each other, showing live camera feeds of Desert Spring.

The men on top of the wall.

The training area.

“Oh my god.” Derek’s face paled. “Is that our house?”

They inched closer to the top screen, recognizing the couch inside their living room. Khalani glanced at the other TVs in horror.

“Fuck!” Takeshi punched the wall.

One of the screens displayed a live feed inside her bedroom.

Khalani took a step back, nausea burning up her throat, her legs nearly buckling beneath her.

Winnie moved to the desk, scanning through the white papers. “Recolonization efforts have been thwarted due to the Sinners,” she read from the top sheet. “Extermination ordered.”

Winnie’s eyes rapidly shifted through the other papers.

“Expansion stalled. Request for more resources denied.” She glanced up. “Winnie doesn’t understand what this means.”

“Let’s focus on finding the photo albums,” Khalani instructed. “They have to be in here.” She raced to the bookshelf as Winnie and Takeshi joined her, frantically looking through the books.

Derek kept staring at the screens, his eyes widening.

“Guys.” They jerked at Derek’s panicked voice as he pointed to the left screen. “The Chief’s leaving the training area with Patreus. They’re headed this way.”

Khalani turned back to the shelf before he finished speaking. They couldn’t leave just yet. The Chief had been spying on them the entire time. She needed to know what else they were hiding.

Her eyes shifted to a thick, white notebook. She quickly pulled it open, revealing dozens of pictures.

“I think this is it!” she exclaimed.

Khalani studied the photos, confused as to what she was looking at. Several families stood outside houses that looked eerily similar to the ones in Desert Spring.

Under each picture, a year was printed.

1991. 1992. 1993.

“Winnie found another one!” Winnie reached for a much darker album on the bottom shelf, covered in dust. But Khalani kept searching through the white one, not recognizing any of the people in the photos.

She kept flipping until she got to the very last page.

Two women sat on a swinging bench with bright smiles on their faces.

Khalani’s mouth parted.

“Is that—”

“The Chief,” Takeshi answered over her shoulder, gaze narrowing on the photograph.

The Chief wore a rare smile in the picture, but it was undoubtedly her. The woman to her left looked just like Ari—the lady who’d healed Winnie when they first arrived in Desert Spring.

Her eyes lowered to the year printed.

2035.

“Two thousand and thirty-five.” She furrowed her brow. “That’s over three hundred years ago. That can’t be right. We must be missing something.”