liah

This Means War

"I mean--" I paused for a moment, nervously fiddling with my hands. "-I want to leave because the thought of being stuck underground without sunlight, or seeing the sky, or trees really bothers me. It could be years until we get to go back up. I don't even know if they send people on missions here. Are they allowed to go out? It's just a lot to think about." I sighed. "I'm not going home. I can't. I'll end up at another base, with another group of people, and another list of missions to go on. But at least I'll be out there above ground. Fighting."
Spencer and Joe stopped walking. Joe grabbed Spencer by the shoulders and started yelling at him. I didn't know what he was saying, but he was heated. Spencer pulled away from him, pulling his arm back and punching Joe in the cheek. Joe angrily grabbed Spencer by the collar of his shirt, but ultimately let him go. Whatever had just happened wasn't good.

This Means War

"That was insanely awkward." I looked up at Sam as he began pushing me out of the room. As we exited, I could see Spencer and Joe far ahead of us, whispering and talking closely by one another. General Thomas was kind to offer is what she did, but it was too much uncertainty in her offer for me. Having little to no information on such a big decision was too much for me. Or, well, not enough for me. There was too much and too little on the all at the same time. "What are you thinkin' about doin'?" I asked, curiously. "What if what they're doing here isn't really worth knowing?" I looked at the faces of those we walked by, all minding their own business. Their faces stuck in papers or conversation.
I also wondered where Em and Nina were. Nina had made such a big fuss about Joe, but didn't even vocally make a decision on what she was going to do. If she'd lost so much, why stay? I'd leave if I were her. I was leaving. Eventually.

This Means War

I sat there shocked, my mouth half open as I watched Nina walk away. 'What in the world just happened?' I thought to myself. Nina's unexpected explosion surprised us all. There was a sense of awkwardness and tension that quickly began to fill the air. The fact that she thought just because I'd almost died meant I was doing something for this war was a compliment, but everything I'd done, I'd done because I had to. I couldn't weasel my way out of missions, or getting drafted, or fighting just to stay alive. I didn't want to do anything of the things I'd done, but I did.
"You could cut this tension with a knife." Spencer whispered as quietly as he could. But his comment didn't escape my listening ear.
"I think I should go see if my sister's okay. Please excuse me." Em was starring down at her feet trying to discreetly wipe away tears that strolled down her cheeks."
I looked up at Sam who seemed to be just as taken aback as the rest of us. I couldn't read what else he was thinking. I wondered if he'd choose to stay or leave like Joe and I.

This Means War

I looked around, examining everyone's faces. I wanted to try to get a glimpse as to what they were thinking. I looked for any sign of them considering they'd want to learn all of the Grey Bases secrets and stay. The fact that the Grey Base was the only base left standing for fifty miles was scary. It was intimidating in a way. I was shocked to know it was the last base standing and curious as to why they didn't help the other bases we were at when we were attacked. So many of us were captured, killed, or taken as prisoners. Then it was just Sam, The Siblings, and I. We'd managed to escape and make a run for it. It was a miracle that we'd made it out. It was difficult to hear that we were the only surviving Tilerian base for miles and miles. We were just in the midst of our enemies and we'd made it. It was more than a miracle. It was pure, dumb luck.
"I-" I started to try to voice what I was thinking. "I don't think I want to know what you're all doing here. It could be years before you accomplish whatever it is you're trying to do. I don't think I can stay underground here that long." I paused. "I'll get better, then I'll be on my way... Ma'am. General, Ma'am." I struggled getting the last part of what I had to say, but I made my point. "I don't know about my friends, but I'll pass on knowing what it is you're doing here. Thank you for letting us in and for patching me up. But I'll leave when I'm fully recovered."

This Means War

"Thank... you?" I said, confused as to what was actually happening here. I was glad we were safe for the first time in what felt like centuries. It was so relieving that we could sit and recuperate for a bit.
"There's a level three?" Joe whispered and Spencer hit him in the arm. It was the first time I'd seen Spencer give his siblings a taste of their own medicine.
"Here at the Grey Base, we let soldiers recover from their injuries and traumas." General Thomas began again. "I suspect that sounds good to you." She smiled. "We run out classified missions that- I can't quite tell you about because well," She paused. "They're classified." She explained.
"What other things are happening here." Nina leaned in, narrowing her eyes at the General. She was listening as she spoke, but she wasn't quite sold yet. She was still skeptical of what the General was saying.

This Means War

"I don't think I like her very much." I mumbled as we all slowly began to follow Isy where she was going.
It was a long walk to wherever we were going. Not the usual two of five minutes it took to get from one place to the other. It was more of a ten minute walk that included lots of twist and turns to get to our destination. When we arrived, we were taken to a door painted gray. Isy opened the door and walked inside.
"Well, are you coming?" She asked, rolling her eyes. She was annoyed. We all looked at one another before following her inside.
The gray door lead to a soft blue room. There were computers, chairs, tables, maps. Anything you could think of. Ahead of us was a single wooden desk with a gold name tag on the desk that read 'General Thomas'.
"Oh, I see you finally made it." A strong female voice said to us. From the corner of the room, a tall, dark woman with a neat bun in her hair, came forward. "You must be our newest bunch. Welcome to the Grey Base." She said with a smile, walking down the line and shaking each of our hands.

This Means War

"Now follow me." Isy started up again. "This way is where the lounge is. You can relax and take some down time in this room. There's a TV and-" She paused, looking back at us to see we weren't following her. "Wait, why aren't you walking." Isy crossed her arms over her chest and stared at us.
"Well-" I looked up at Isy who was suddenly looking down at me from where she stood upon hearing my voice. "Get to it then. We're not following you anywhere else until you tell us what's going on. Like he said, we've been through enough already. We're not going to end up on our asses again. Personally, I don't have the time nor energy to be in constant danger anymore." I finished. "Tell us what's going on."
"Now." Em finished, placing both hands on her hips. Joe was backing us up, standing strong and tall we waited for Isy to say something.

This Means War

"So, this here is the laundry room." Isy gestured to her left towards washing machines and dryers. "It's pretty easy to find. It's right by the dining hall." She said with a smile as she glanced back at us and continued walking. "I'm sure Miss Wheelchair knows where the hospital wing is." She laughed a bit. I wasn't smiling.
"See, I told you it wasn't a bad place." Spencer mumbled and gave a sly smile to his siblings. They ignored him.
"You know where the dining hall is, so there is no need to explain that." She continued to walk. We turned down a hall that didn't seem to be as blinding as the others, but bright still nonetheless. "This way is our operations room. That's where all the important stuff happens. Don't worry, you won't really be in there." She assured us.
Weirdly, I was still a little uneasy about all of this since the others put the idea that this could all be a trap in my head. I wished I knew how everyone else felt or what they were thinking.

This Means War

"Fine." I rolled my eyes, wheeling backwards, only to be stopped by Em who had grabbed the handles of my wheelchair and began pushing me.
"Do you think you can run if we need to? Not like we'd get far. But we could try." Em whispered in my ear, leaning down nonchalantly so she wouldn't look suspicious. I nodded as she stood back up. "Good. Now lets see what Isy's talking about." She began to wheel me along with the others.
Behind us, Sam and the others were pushing their chairs into the tables, following right on our heels. Isy never slowed her pace, confident we were right behind her, which we were.
"Where do you think we're going?" I asked to anyone who was listening.

This Means War

"Maybe they were told not to make us feel uncomfortable." I suggested, trying to look on the positive side of things. "I mean, I would try not to stare at us. We looked pretty bad when we first arrived. Maybe they didn't want to be rude."
"Yeah, but it seemed like they didn't even notice us when we came in. If I saw a band of dirty kids bloodied and beaten, I'd want to know who they were." Nina said just quiet enough for us to hear.
In no time, we were all leaning in to the middle of the table, shoveling food into our mouths and gossiping about this strange new base we stumbled upon. I understood why everyone was suspicious. Hell, I was suspicious now too with all this talk. This all seemed too easy. But maybe we just had dumb luck.
"What if this is just a repeat of what we escaped." Joe mumbled, side-eyeing everyone. "What if we're trapped. We don't know how to get out of here. There are too many hallways. Too many steps." Panic began to lace his words.
"Calm down, big bro." Spencer whispered. "It's not a trap. They said we were safe, remember?" Spencer sat back in his seat, placing his hands into his lap and sighed. "Look, I get you're all worried. But try to relax."
"Or maybe we should be worried." Nina spat. "Look, I don't want to go through any of that again. We should go."
Now Nina was being rash. I thought we should wait to have this conversation somewhere more private. Somewhere no one would grow suspicious of what we were talking about. I'm sure we looked... Out of place, whispering and being secretive in front of the whole cafeteria. Soon they would start to notice us. And that might not be a good thing.