We had settled into camp life and Bela and I were visiting with the occupant of the tent structure next door whose name was Blag. Blag had recently heard some news that he shared with us concerning the capture of two mirror people who were caught by Zoe lurking around the Mutant camp. Blag informed me of another meeting at "The Stump" a tree trunk cut off about one foot above the ground. When we arrived Zoe was clapping his hands together in an attempt to quiet the crowd which had gathered.

"Fellow Mutants, " began Zoe in a clear concise voice. He pointed at two mirror people who were tied back to back with a 3/8" rope. "I caught these two wandering around the outskirts of our camp!"

When Zoe paused for a moment to catch his breath, a dragonfly was buzzing by, & stopped directly in front of his face, hovering roughly a foot away. Everyone's attention centered on the insect. The only sound was the buzz of his wings. At that instant, Zoe's long forked tongue unrolled from his mouth to grab the insect in mid-flight, rewinding,..pulling the the tidbit into his mouth. He smacked his lips zestfully, & continued addressing the council.

"Fellow mutants. After interrogating the prisoners at length, I've come to the conclusion their proximity in relation to our camp was no accident. It's obvious they were on a specific mission. That mission was to spy on us, assess our numbers, & report their findings back to military intelligence of the mirror people."

A gasp arose from the representatives of the mutant council, as the ramifications of this information began to hit home. In the lull of the moment, Zoe was greedily eyeing another insect that had wander close to range. The insect seemed to sense the danger however, & quickly flew off in a lateral direction,..just as his tongue was unrolling for the kill. It escaped by a hair, buzzing around just out of reach. A sigh was emitted by the council.

Zoe had a slightly irritated look on his face, & a yellow mutant in the back of the crowd was unable to withhold a snicker. He was rewarded for his efforts with a look that could kill from Zoe, which caused the smile to instantly evaporate from his face. The red & orange mutant on either side of the yellow quickly inched away from the yellow, rather than risking Zoe's displeasure by association.

A minute passed by that seemed like an eternity to the yellow mutant. Zoe's unblinking stare felt as if it was burning a hole right through him. He blushed, taking on a tinge of orange. The orange mutant to his left inched even further away.

The yellow mutant squirmed around uncomfortably, his eyes darting to & fro in an unsuccessful visual appeal for sympathy or support. Zoe, apparently dropping the matter for the moment, once again addressed the council.

"The two mirror people who I've captured will not be allowed to return with their findings to the mirror people, They will be fed to the Silver Mutants who have recently professed their taste for human flesh!"

The execution was over, & the remains of the two mirror people were given to the silver mutants who were partial to the taste of human flesh. They didn't bother to wait to bring the remains back to the camp, & tore into the burned bodies, snarling like hyenas fighting over carrion.

Two vultures had been circling overhead waiting for the mutants to dispose of,..or abandon the corpses. When they saw the silvers tearing into the food, they knew from past experience that there would not be even a morsel remaining. They flew away in search of another meal.

I stood there & watched with disgust,... the silvers, as they finished off all of the flesh & were squabbling over who would get the larger of the remaining bones. The dispute was settled when Mogg,..the captain of the silvers,.. snatched both femurs of the adult with a threatening snarl & a menacing look, passing one of the bones to Nill, his wife. With a loud crunch, He snapped the bone at it's thickest point, proceeding to suck the marrow from inside, grunting & slobbering all over himself, & making quite a mess in the process. I nearly lost my appetite for the tasty tray of grubs & assorted insects that Zeta, a female purple mutant that was Zoe's better half was serving to the rest of the mutants.