"More effective, but it would ruin the ruse, as well. That we've all just woken and all of this is for our own safety." With a quick look at her companion, she pursed her lips. Would Re-l draw the same conclusions that Mal had? That they were important in some way? Although perhaps that was simply wishful thinking. Perhaps she had gotten used to the illusion of being important. Shouting at scared little boys and girls to stand up straight and walk like men got into your bones after even a short while.

Mal shrugged, mimicking Re-l's movements, and let herself fall back into a march. It was easier - old habits. She patted the weight of the knife in her pocket.

Were they actually meant to stay alive through all of this? It was paranoid, surely, but she couldn't help but wonder . . . out here in this emptiness, half of them untrained and half of them, like her, trained wrong, for somewhere entirely different. She wondered if she could die of things like thirst, now, and decided firmly against testing out any theories.