“How many?” I asked, not sure if I was asking how many lived there, or how many I had hurt.

Concern radiated from Sofiya. “Does it matter?”

“A little.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. It just feels important.” I was beginning to get irritated. Even at Camp Thirty-Two I didn’t like it when I felt like people were trying to hide something from me.

“I’ll tell you, and more importantly I can also tell you why you want to know. Sixteen people live here, but only nine are here right now. You’ve met Yulia and myself and you’ll meet the rest of them a little later. The reason you want to know is because your mind is still operating under military programming. Information, such as the numbers of enemies, lets you identify threats and make better decisions in a crisis. Except now that there is no crisis, you mind doesn’t know what to do. So it does what it has been trained to do- get ready for the next crisis.”

“So where do we go from here?” I asked.

“That depends on you.” Sofiya said. “How do you feel about gardening?”