Aleigha followed Steve around the camp. After she had finished the meal she was given, Eric had instructed her to stay by Steve's side. Looking around, she could see that Eric was watching her, his eyes following her wherever she went. She didn't like the way he followed her with his eyes. He wasn't the only one. Others from the camp watched her constantly, too. Everything she did, someone saw. Everywhere she went, someone saw.

She knew that everyone watching her was a bad thing. If everything she did or everywhere she went, she was watched, it would make it difficult to escape from the camp. If she needed to get back to the dome, someone would see and follow her, finding the secret entrance through the tunnels. She needed to figure out a plan for when she needed to return to her mate and infant son.

"Everyone is given a job," Steve told her as he led her to the boundary at the side of the camp where he was supposed to be stationed. "My job is this side of camp. I'm supposed to watch for anyone coming near. That's why I saw you coming out of the Ravine. The ravine is part of my rounds. I go back and forth from the edge of camp to the ravine all day until it's time for a meal. The one who covers for me after my shift eats, then we switch."

"So there's someone on each side of the camp?" she asked. Worry seeped through her. She tried not to let Steve see it. This was going to make it even more difficult to get away. "That will keep us safe? Right?" she added, not wanting Steve to figure out she was after information.

Steve smiled. "You're safe with us," Steve assured her. "Eric takes the dome side. He likes to keep an eye on that big gate of theirs. There is always at least one of those aliens looking down at us." Steve went on. "Only our strongest fighters are protecting the boundary of our camp, so you're safe."

"Has Eric been close enough to the dome to see inside?" Aleigha asked. "I bet it would be easy to spy on them through that clear dome," Aleigha told him, building a plan in her mind. "I want to look through the dome to see. Can I?" she asked, trying to sound like a hopeful child.

"Maybe after my shift, I can take you to the dome to see it," he smiled.

Aleigha gave an over-exaggerated nod. She was trying to look and act younger than she was. She was eighteen, but they thought she was only sixteen. They had got it in their head that you didn't age while infected by the toxin.

"What's my job?" she asked him. "Or do I follow you all day?"

"Eric will decide what your job is. He hasn't figured that out yet. Since I brought you here, I'm responsible for you. That's why you will sleep with me in my tent." He explained. "Eric decides everyone's jobs."

"I'm not sleeping with you," Aleigha told him. It sounded like a child protesting. "I'll sleep on the floor. You're a man. I'm just a kid, so that's not appropriate." She tried to make her voice sound as childish as possible.

It wasn't lost on her the way he froze, anger appearing in the depths of his eyes before quickly disappearing again. She knew right away that she needed to be careful. If he tried to touch her without her permission, she was going to have to defend herself. If it came down to having to defend herself, he was going to die. There was no question about it. The only one she wanted touching her was Merrick; No one else.

The deep-rooted anger in Steve's eyes bothered her the entire day. She played the dutiful child, following him around all day, not letting him know she had been bothered by the look in his eyes. When a man from the camp came to cover the shift had arrived, Aleigha followed Steve to get something to eat.

They ate the same basic thing from the last meal. A soup with random vegetables, mainly roots and chunks of meat. He gave her one without meat, remembering she didn't want to eat it. She was grateful he at least remembered.

"Thanks," she told him, taking the bowl and sitting at the bonfire to eat.

As she ate her soup, she looked toward the dome. Seeran, Merrick, and Vorik were watching them. "Do they always watch?" she asked Steve, looking up at her mate and friends. She was trying to make conversation that would give her some information, but not seem suspicious at the same time.

"There is always at least one of those aliens watching us. Sometimes more. I think the most we've seen at one time is five," Steve explained.

Aleigha nodded. "That's a lot of eyes looking down here. Have they tried to do anything bad?" she asked, trying to sound curious. She already knew the answer.

"So far, they just watch," he told her. "For now, anyway. They could attack us at any moment. We have to be careful and ready for anything." Steve's voice got serious. She wondered if he really believed that or if he was trying to scare her.

When she finished her meal, Steve took her bowl. "Let's take the bowls back; then we can go to Eric and get permission to go near the dome."

His words sparked something in her. She realized that permission was required for even basic things. She knew they all went to Eric to ask permission for things, but she realized it was more than for their safety. It was to keep control. The people in the camp shouldn't need permission to do anything, even if it was looking at the dome. Eric was controlling. It made her think of Travis. She hoped he was nothing like Travis. If he were, he would be the first to die.

Aleigha followed Steve to where Eric was standing. Eric turned and watched them approach, his eyes lingering on her longer than she liked. There was a hunger in his eyes that made her feel naked even though she was fully clothed.

"What do you need?" Eric asked Steve as they stopped in front of him.

"Aleigha has never seen the dome up close. She wants to go near it to look inside. I was coming to ask you for permission to take her over there so she can see it up close," Steve told him.

Eric studied her for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Be careful. There may be an exit where they can sneak up on you," Eric told him.

Aleigha wondered if he said that to scare her. Steve didn't seem to be bothered by his words.

Steve nodded, then pulled her toward the dome. She ran up ahead like a child would do and looked through. She did her best to look like she was a child seeing something cool for the first time. The way Eric followed her with his eyes and the brief spark of anger in Steve's eyes, she needed to act as young as she could. Neither of the two men felt right. Both of them looked at her with hunger. She knew they would eventually try something she didn't want with her. She knew she had to be ready and keep her weapons close.

As she looked inside the dome, she formed a plan. "There are humans inside," she told Steve. "If someone goes in there to spy, then you can find out a lot of information."

"We've already thought of that. There is no way to communicate with them once they're inside. We don't have any hand-held radios to communicate."

Aleigha remembered the Kreq listening in on the conversations at the park, so she threw in some information of her own. "I bet if someone meets them along the dome at a specific time each day, they could give a report through the barrier. I can hear people inside," she told him. "That means if you put a spy inside and you stand here, you can talk to them."

Steve looked at Aleigha in surprise. "That's a really good idea," he told her. "I think we need to go talk to Eric."

Aleigha followed Steve to Eric. Eric was standing at one of the outside tents, watching them. She wasn't surprised. He had been watching her all day.

Steve walked up to Eric. "Aleigha had an idea. She said she could hear talking in the dome, which gave her an idea. She said if there was a spy on the inside of the dome to find stuff out, and they met someone at a specific time at the dome who was on the outside, they could give a report."

Eric looked at Aleigha. "Are you going to volunteer as a spy?" he asked. Something in his tone made her think she should refuse. He looked tense.

"No," she told him. "I don't want to be trapped inside there."

Eric's features changed. They suddenly relaxed. It was as if he was expecting her to say she wanted to go inside. He would have seen that as suspicious. She didn't want to act or look suspicious. Aleigha wanted to go inside the dome, but her gut told her not to let him know that.

"I think you have a good idea. I'll have to think of a way to get someone inside," Eric told her. Then looked at Steve. "It's getting late. Go get some rest and get Aleigha settled. This will be her first night here."

Steve nodded and pulled her toward a tent in the center of the camp. "This is our tent," he told her, moving the flap aside so she could enter.

There were rolls of sleeping bags pushed up against the side of the tent in a neat row. Steve handed her one, then grabbed one for himself.

She unrolled it, watching him do the same. Then laid it flat on the floor, unzipping it to get in. She left her boots on, which caught Steve's attention. The deep-rooted anger was clear in his eyes.

"You should take off your boots so you can sleep more comfortably," he told her. His voice was even. She noticed the spark of anger flicker with each word in his eyes as he spoke. Aleigha knew she needed a good argument.

Aleigha looked up at Steve, trying to ignore the spark of anger she saw. "I learned right after I was cured that I should always be ready to run. If we get attacked, I don't want to have to stop to put my boots on. We're really close to those aliens. What if they come outside that dome while we're sleeping? I'd rather be uncomfortable and be able to run from them and stay alive than comfortable and have to stop to get my boots on so I can get away from them."

Steve studied her for a moment before getting into his sleeping bag. She noted that he left his own boots on. Either she made a good enough point, or he was expecting her to run from him and needed to be ready to chase her. She had an idea that might ease his mind, or at least she hoped it would.

"Hey Steve?" she asked. "If I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, can I wake you up to take me? I don't want to go out there by myself," she told him.

The anger in his eyes immediately vanished. She could tell that she had eased his mind about her leaving her boots on. She tried her best not to let her relief show.

"I would prefer you waking me up rather than you going yourself," he told her, stressing 'prefer.'

"Thank you," she told him before rolling over and going to sleep. She hoped no one would try anything while she was asleep.

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