We are gradually regaining possession of the land. The civilians are in the centre of the area, where there is almost no danger. They are cultivating, breeding and producing the necessities for our development. The military are rotating. Sometimes they are resting in the centre, sometimes on a control mission in the moderate danger zones. Other times they are at the front line in the high danger areas being reclaimed and cleaned up or recovering survivors.

Sometimes we come across belligerent groups. We are careful and trained. We have more than a hundred soldiers, of which fifteen are good tacticians. There are very few casualties. Most of the time, we find pacifist people who only want to be helped. In one year, we are almost three thousand. Two thirds are women. So, to annoy my friends, I pretend to want to write to the guide that to survive, you have to be a girl. Blaise is the first to understand that I am joking among the men.

From the farmhouse, which is still the central point and the safest place, we send small groups to the surrounding towns, which take care of the restoration of the place. A power station is monitored and maintained. A chemical plant is being brought back into operation. A food processing plant allows us to make a huge number of cans. A foundry is refabricating glass containers. More and more land is being cultivated, with a variety of crops. Our livestock is growing as we discover more and more. The houses are repaired and ready for housing.

During my rest periods in the farmhouse, I spend time with my friends. I take advantage of them to behave like an almost normal girl. The swimming pool is my favourite place. I love swimming. Sometimes I swim laps until late at night. Like tonight. I have been swimming non-stop for two hours. Damien joins me and swims beside me for a while. I finally settle down. He too, right next to me. We catch our breath. We talk about everything and anything. Suddenly, without my understanding, he brings his face to mine and kisses me. It takes me a few seconds to realise, push him away firmly and run away.

I lock myself in my room. He knocks, but I don't answer. I am furious. I avoid him for the duration of my presence and leave with a relieved heart on my forehead. I am in a dogma mood with a toothache. Mathilde has to calm me down. We have an important mission. A group of survivors has been identified. About a hundred people. Ninety girls between fifteen and twenty-five. Ten soldiers who seem to use them as slaves. We need to make sure the group is functioning. We have to infiltrate them. I'm the only one who is militarily trained and who matches in age and physical appearance.

So I put on an outfit similar to the girls' rags. I put make-up on my body so that it looks less well-fed and covered in blows. I tangle my hair and make it dirty. I look like one of their slaves. I mix with the group when girls are sent to the fields to farm. The two men watching them with a machine gun don't see anything. The girls immediately detect an intruder, but say nothing. They understand that help is coming. I question them and learn more about their group. Our fears are well founded. They are slaves. The leader is well protected in a fortress.

If we are to free the girls without bloodshed, he is the one we must eliminate. I must get into the fortress. After a good bath and a change of clothes, I prepare to infiltrate. I am dressed in the light, flirty outfit described by the slaves in the field. As I wander around the base, I get a few flirty quips and get the numbers of several young soldiers. But how stupid they are.....I am a soldier. I've got better things to do than find a boyfriend.

So I go undercover and pretend to be one of the chief's favourites. I make myself known to the girls. I scout the place. I reassure the girls. The end of their ordeal is near. I have brought sleeping pills. I drug the men I can so that the girls can sleep in peace. It takes me two days to be spotted by the chief and invited to share his bed. I pretend to be terrified. None of the libidinous jerks think that a female warrior could be inside their walls. I am left alone with the chief. He is drunk. It's too easy to shoot him with my silenced pistol.

I leave the room in silence. I arrive at the flats of one of his lieutenants. He is having a fiesta with another soldier. He recognises me and asks what I am doing there. I shush him with my finger. The girls immediately understand what is going to happen. I am not one of them, they know it. I take out each of the two creeps with a bullet. The girls don't scream. The alcohol has slowed down the reflexes of the two men considerably, so it is once again very easy. I ask the girls to be quiet. I throw ropes through the window. Other soldiers join me, to reassure the girls that it is only women who are coming in.

We evacuate them in silence. My commando helps me to search the fortress. We kill the guards one by one, ending with the one guarding the gates. We interrogate the girls as we free them. All ten slavers are killed. I alone killed half of them. The ninety girls are freed. They will be quarantined and then moved to a secure location. Clarissa will have a job getting them all into counseling. Good for her. One of the favourites is pregnant and about to give birth in a few weeks. I'm having her taken to the farmhouse to see the surgeon.

After this mission, so that I can rest a little, Mathilde sends me to a moderate danger zone for sanitation. I meet Blaise there, to my great pleasure. He too is starting to enjoy being a rat corpse arsonist. We joke around like idiots. Two kids who are proud to do stupid things. Two kids who hate rats and like to see them suffer. We're a bit deranged, I think. I forget about the situation with him for a while. He makes me laugh and makes me more human. When he hugs me, I feel so good, so normal.

Blaise knows about my night with Thibaut and my kiss with Damien. How I don't know. But it doesn't matter. He asks me what I'm doing. He calls me a heartbreaker. With Thibault breaking up with Clarissa before sleeping with me and Damien breaking up with Naya right after our kiss, Blaise informs me that Naya and Clarissa are going to put a price on my head. He manages to make me laugh. I'm a mess and I didn't ask for anything. As a joke, I tell him I can only see one solution. Make them all believe that I'm in a relationship. Blaise offers to be the asshole on duty to help me. After all, I could describe his anatomy in detail since I've seen him naked twice.

His reminder of this more than embarrassing situation earns him a tap on the shoulder. We fight in my room and destroy the pillows. He ends up grabbing me and slamming me against the mattress, holding my wrists so I stop hitting him with my pillow. We're hilarious. Out of breath. I could break free, but I have no desire to.

- Meg.....I have to tell you something... i... I mean,with you,it's not like with sarah or any other girl... You're special... You I... love and desire... I know you don't want me. Don't worry about it. I want you to know that.

He presses his lips to mine gently. AND SHIT. What is wrong with everyone?

I don't struggle. I have to admit that Blaise is a good kisser. In fact, it is the most pleasant kiss of the three boys. BUT WHY ME? Why do they all want to kiss me? Anyway. It doesn't last. When he finishes, I confirm that I only feel friendship. However, in order to keep the three boys on an equal footing, I ask Blaise to sleep with me.

He will actually have a head start, but I don't tell him that. The other two, I pushed them away when they kissed me and I fell asleep unconsciously from fatigue. I didn't reject him and I'm going to fall asleep in his arms knowingly. It's Blaise. My best friend. A bit like my big brother. He's my favourite even though I've never been, am not and will never be in love with him.