From previous RP.

LIAH:

Today was a gloomy day. The sky was grey, the clouds hid the sun, and the wind blew like something fierce. It was quiet in the cabins. Everyone in the girls’ hall was either reading, sleeping, or watching television. You could hear the guys on the opposite end of the hall yelling at each other over a heated card game. It was one of those days. I relaxed in my bed, picking with strings on the edges of one of my blankets. A loud bell rang, filling my cabin with much more noise than it was used to at the moment. "Dinner Time!” A strong males’ voice yelled down the hall. We were on a strict eating schedule here. I pulled myself out of bed, slid on my combat boots, and pulled a hoodie over my head. Keeping the hood up, I adjusted the drawstrings and pulled them tight, making sure when I exited the cabins the wind wouldn't get to me.

"Geez it's cold out here." I muttered to myself as I walked down the pathway to the Eating Hall, appropriately nicknamed the 'Mess Hall' by the soldiers. In just a few minutes I was walking through the doors. I was greeted by a burst of warm air and the many smells of whatever was being served. It smelled like pasta. I smiled, grabbing a tray, getting in line, and waiting for my food to be served to me. A tall, slender red head man wearing a hairnet slopped some pasta on a plate and handed it to me. "Gee, thanks." I said sarcastically. I took my tray and sat at a table, saying my grace and slowly beginning to eat. I wasn't hungry today though. Something didn't seem right. I felt a little on edge but I had no clue why. The hall was a lot more quite than usual and had a sort of eerie feeling to it.

BOOM. I heard an explosion in the distance. It was followed by the screams of my comrades. We were caught off guard, under attack, and vulnerable. We weren't ready for this.

NATCAT:

Yet another one. Another stupid bloody postcard. Sitting on my bed, I stared at the image on the front of it, another landscape that meant absolutely nothing to me. Sighing, I flipped it over half hoping that maybe there might be a ridiculous smiley face on the back, but nevertheless the same four words printed in pencil, smudged this time so I could barely make them out. But I didn't have to read it to know what it said. Hope you are well. Well thanks Dad, you too. Leaning down, I reached under my bed as the guys in our hall roared once again, engrossed in their card game. Pulling out an old shoe box, I opened it up and dropped the new postcard on top of a stack of old ones. Not giving them a second thought, I closed it quickly and slid it back under my bed as the lunch bell rang.

Already dressed in jeans and a jacket, I stood up and quickly made my way through the hall eager to get lunch over and done with so I wouldn't have to sit through any of those awkward conversations that I never knew how to participate in. Pushing open the swinging door with my shoulder, my hands stuffed deep into my pockets, I walked over to retrieve a tray of gloppy pasta from a skinny ginger that I said a quick thanks to, and sat down at the nearest empty table, digging in, even though I wasn't the slightest bit hungry.

BOOM. I straightened up, my mouth full of pasta, pausing my chewing to hear the screams of those in my own camp. An attack, that was for sure. And from the sounds they were definitely hand grenades that were exploding, they'd be close. Too close to run. I swallowed my mouthful as fast as I could without choking myself and dropped my fork onto my plate, leaving it clanging breaking the silence of the food hall.

LIAH:

For some reason, my reaction wasn't to immediately get up and help. I kind of sat there in my seat, still chewing on my noodles and scooping another mouthful in as the clanging of someone's fork hit their plate. I didn't want to fight. Not today. It was so cold and gloomy out. It looked as if it were going to rain and I wouldn't be surprised if it did. I looked around at some of the people still standing in line to get their food. Most of them were still standing there. Their mouths to the floor and eyes wide. Others ran to help.

BOOM another bomb went off. The Mess Hall shook and the lights flickered on and off. I sighed, pulling an elastic hair scrunchie from my wrist and pinning my hair up. I stood up, cracking my back and then my knuckles. "Alrighty. Let's get this show on the road!" I yelled. "We can't just sit here with dumb expressions on our faces. Y'all know what to do. Get movin' so we're not barbequed in the next few seconds!" I began half jogging half walking to the emergency supply closet, tossing guns to open hands and grabbing one for myself.

NATCAT:

My attention was somehow pulled from the explosions outside our door, to a girl who began yelling instructions to everyone. I cleared my throat and stood up, determined to do what I could for this stupid camp. Moving over to her, I held my hands out for a gun. I was better with bombs than I was with guns but I'd learnt and trained as much as I could with these weapons and was ready to do my best. "Sam." I said simply, introducing myself to her trying to catch her eye, impressed with her actions.

LIAH:

"The names, Daisy. Nice to meet you, Sam." I gave him a smile. I knew this wasn't a smiling matter, but I felt like giving a smile would be good at a time like this. Calm some people down a bit. I looked him over. He was in my cabin... In the boys hall of course but I'd seen him around. From what I'd observed the few times I've seen him, he's quiet. I liked that already. Mysterious. "Ready to go out there and kick some butt?" I said, nudging him in the shoulder with my own as I walked by him and to the door.

NATCAT:

I gave her a small smile in return and looked down to the gun in my hand, making a quick decision. Following her, I flanked her side and spoke, "They're using typical hand grenades, the M67. They can be thrown from 30 to 35 meters by the average soldier, which means they're close. They've got a 3 second fuse and an injury radius of 45ft, 15 meters, so stay back and be careful." I just threw the information at her as I pushed the door open, letting her go through before I followed, hoping my spare time reading books in the library hall could be of some use. "From what I can tell..." I added quietly.

LIAH:

My mouth dropped as he laid all the information on me. I was surprised all of that info came out of him. "Uhhh... Ok." I said, nodding my head and doing exactly as he said.

Smoke filled the air, making it hard for me to really see anything and making it even harder for me to breathe. "I can't see anything." I mumbled, pulling my hoodie over my mouth, hoping it would make my breathing easier. Squinting my eyes I could see black figures with gas mask on their faces emerging from the thick, now blackening smoke. "Start shooting!" I yelled, hoping Sam would do so as I took the lock off of my gun and pulled the trigger. Two people went down, but it wasn't by my hand. I missed completely. There was a girl behind me, laughing as she continued to shoot at the enemy. 'Ok, weird.' I thought, raising my eyes at her for just a second before I focused back on the enemy. They began shooting back, sending more people in front of them and charging right at us. "Ahw, crap." I bit my lip. The small group of soldiers with me weren't going to be enough to take down everyone charging at us. We needed back up.

NATCAT:

Following Daisy's instructions, I flicked the safety off of the gun in my hands and aimed as well as I could through the black smoke, hitting a few soldiers and taking them down. "We need to get back, there's too many of them. We've got to regroup." I shouted to Daisy as I held my gun high, shooting whoever I could while backing away from the advancing troops. How did they move in so quickly? And how was it possible that none of our defense systems or perimeter soldiers were alarmed? None of it made sense at the moment and there wasn't any time to think about it either.

I nodded, shooting at anyone I could as I began to back away. "Alright. Let's get out of here then!" I shouted above the gun shots. I nudged the girl next to me and she got the message. Doing the same to our surrounding comrades. Shooting the last of the bullets left, I threw my gun on the ground and began to run. Same was right, we did need backup and we needed it fast.

I chased after the group of soldiers, retreating with them to the nearest building, taking cover while we figured out what to do.
"I heard they're loading as many people as they can onto the buses, taking the quickest route outta here." One soldier next to me spoke up as we leant against the wall, catching our breath amongst the smoke and debris.
"Well that's our best bet, either that or burn to a crisp along with the rest of our belongings..." I said and trailed off as I realized just what I was leaving behind to burn.

"But if we stay and fight, we have a chance!" I hear a boy yell. I looked behind me to see it was a kid. Maybe around fifteen or so. Definitely too young to be here.
"You can stay here and die if you want kid. But we're not." I sighed. Another bomb went off and the building began to shake, causing me to jump. "Whew. That one scared me." I mumbled to myself. "Alright! How far away are the buses from here?" I asked, trying to think up various escape plans so we could all make it to the buses alive.

"They're at the south end of the camp, near the weapons warehouse. About a twenty minute walk, in our case a ten minute run." The soldier beside me explained and I knew I couldn't leave them behind. "We'll need something to protect ourselves though, we'll be down in seconds if we try to get there empty handed." He continued.
"Yeah but not if we're quiet." Everyone looked at me as I spoke, eyebrows raised as if being quiet was physically impossible. I sighed and swallowed my nerves. "We know this camp better than these intruders right? We know the fastest routes and the most concealed routes. We can either take the main road, which'll take us around, making it the ten minutes run you mentioned. Or we can sneak between buildings, make a straight run for it, under cover."

Everyone was quiet as they listened to Sam speak. They were thinking it over, but I was ready to work with his plan. "Then we're doing that. Running in between the buildings is the best chance we've got. And we need to hurry because those buses won't hesitate to leave us. The enemy also won't hesitate to kill us." I thought for another moment. "We [i]do[i] need some sort of protection." I began to look around the room. I had no clue what building this was. "Before we go, we should look around here for at least a minute. If we can't find anything, we just get out of here and hope for the best."

I nodded once, looking at Daisy, silently thanking her for just getting on with it, knowing some of these soldiers would've taken the chance to argue. Pushing myself off of the wall, I looked around the room, judging from the amount of books and the few couches in here, I quickly guessed it was one of the recreational rooms we had dotted around the camp. "Well, I don't think we'll find much in here. It's basically a library." I said trying to figure out how close we were to my cabin.

"Alright." I nodded. "Let's get going then." I could feel my heart pounding through my chest. We were about to go out in the middle of battle with no protection. I was afraid, but I'd do what I had to do to live. I sighed, walking back towards the door. "When we leave, make a right. We'll be in between this building and the Mess Hall." I looked to Sam. "Or maybe you should lead the way." I stepped aside from the door. "I mean, it's your plan. You know the exact route you want us to take."

I shook my head. "I'm not a leader, you've got it sorted, you go." I said nodding to the door, urging her to go. I'd follow at the back, easier to slip away and I knew the way to the buses, I could get there before they even noticed I was gone. Another boom sounded and shook the building we stood in. "I think that's our cue."

I gulped. "Ok." I looked around at everyone. I studied their faces one last time before we were to exit those doors. It might be the last time I saw these people alive. "Let's go." I opened the door and ran towards the right side of the building, coughing as I inhaled a mouthful of smoke. Glancing behind me, I could see my comrades were right on my tail. Good. So far, we were all together.

I ushered everyone out behind Daisy and waited until they were all gone before following the last person out the door. Staying by the walls of the buildings we passed, we kept low trying to stay out of sight, moving as quickly as we could without gaining any attention. There were bullets being fired everywhere while numerous booms surrounded the camp, creating more smoke and fire for us to move through the best we could.

I ran and ran, going as fast as my legs could take me. But I tripped, falling right on my side. "What the hell?" I mumbled, looking to see what I tripped over. It was a dead body. I cupped my hand over my mouth, trying to hide the small scream that escaped me. I scrambled to my feet looking at the others who'd also stopped in their tracks.
"Just keep going!" One of them shouted at me and I nodded, running and jumping over the occasional lump I could see through the smoke.

Swallowing my nausea at what Daisy had tripped over, I ran to keep up with the others as they continued ahead, trying to ignore the fact that the only things we were jumping over at the moment were dead bodies. A few minutes later, I recognized the building we were currently passing, knowing it was right next to my cabin. Slowing down, I watched carefully as the others ran ahead, disappearing out of sight. Taking a breath, I glanced around me before taking a left, making for the boys cabin as quickly and quietly as I could.

We were coming close to being exposed. The gaps between the buildings were becoming bigger and the quantity of bodies we we jumping over grew in size. "Stop!" I heard a voice. We all skidded to a stop. "The buses are over there." A girl pointed. "But we have to run through that field to make it. There will be some open fire." Another bomb went off. "What I'm saying is... Be careful." She told to us and I nodded. "Let's hurry up then!" I sprinted.

Racing to the door of the cabin, I pulled it open and went straight to my bed. Sitting down beside it, I checked over my shoulder, making sure I wasn't being followed before I reached down to pull out the box full of my fathers postcards. Puffed from the run, I breathed heavily as I opened up the lid with soot covered hands and grabbed the postcard that sat on top. Not wasting a second, I stuffed it into my pocket and shoved the box back under the bed before a loud bang sounded near by making me jump. Making my way back to the door, I glanced out seeing a group of soldiers who didn't belong here approaching the very cabin I stood in. Taking cover, I searched around the room for another exit. Quickly, I raced around the side of the room keeping low before forcing the window open on the back wall. Just as I lifted a leg to climb out I heard a voice shout and looked over at the door to see a man pointing at me and calling to his men. With my heart thumping in my chest, I jumped out of the window and landed on the ground outside, running immediately back to the path the others had taken, not taking a chance to stop and see if I was being chased.

---

We all ran through the field as fast as we could. In the distance, I could see the dark green buses through the thick gray smoke. "We're almost there!" I shouted, ducking and dodging the occasional bullet that whizzed past my ear. After running for about two minutes straight, my breathing became rather difficult. I was wheezing. I could feel myself slowing down, but we were so close. The others were beginning to zoom past me. I couldn't breathe. "Come on, Daisy!" Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me along with them. In just a minute, we were trudging up the three stairs of the bus. Making my way to the back of the bus, I plopped down in a seat and began to look around to see if we all made it. "Where's." I paused, taking a deep breath. "Sam." I breathed out. I didn't see him, I peered out the window at the chaos outside as I dug through my pocket the inhaler I kept with me in case of an emergency. I had asthma, but it almost never bothered me until now. Taking a puff from my inhaler, I sighed, trying to get my breathing back on track. I didn't see Sam anywhere.

I ran, ran so hard I thought I might pass out. I could hear the soldiers gaining on me, shouting orders at each other. I couldn't hear their words over my own heartbeat though. Suddenly, I jumped out of my skin when I heard bullets being fired and felt some shoot pass me, others hitting the ground by my feet. Cowering as I ran, I knew I had to be near the buses, I wasn't that far off. Keeping straight I suddenly noticed a few buses rolling away to my right. "No." I gasped and veered right, running past the few buildings left and out into a large field, the soldiers right on my tail.

The bus I was in was starting it's engine. "Wait!" I stood up. I was still very out of breath. "Just wait two more minutes! The guy from my cabin, Sam! He was right behind us!" The bus driver glared at me. He slowly turned around in his seat, but an arm on the back of his chair and cleared his throat.
"Honey, that boy is probably dead and we have to get out of here. Do you want to die? 'Cause I sure as hell don't!" He roared. I was taken aback when he yelled at me.
"Just wait! Look, I see him coming!" I pointed out the window. I didn't see him. But I figured if I just gave him at least one more minute, if he was alive, he could make it.

My lungs were burning as I ran faster, dodging bullets that I couldn't see and hoping that not all the buses were gone yet. I was half way across the field when I felt it. The rough burn searing the side of my right arm, I lost my pace and stumbled a bit as I raised a hand to my arm. Just a graze, I breathed a sigh of relief but knew I wasn't safe yet, I had to keep moving. Continuing on, I took a moment to glance over my shoulder to see about four soldiers on my tail, all of them had their guns up shooting as they ran. A few horrible moments later, I reached the gravel of the road and ran up to the last bus that was slowly moving out from it's space. "Wait! Please! Wait, I'm here!" I shouted as I waved my arms, racing over to it.