liah

This Means War

"You're right. Okay." I paused, starring at Isy who was starring right back at us. "Mhmm, I'm ready." I took a deep breath. "Let's do this." I walked with Sam as he helped me inside.
The building was old, empty, and dusty. I had no idea how they could stand to be in this dump. I was sure Joe would start sneezing any minute. The doors closed behind us and Isy lead us down a narrow hallway. "Down here." She placed her hand gently on the old dirty wall. A small square on the wall lit up with a dim blue light. It then ran down her hand and scanned her fingers. The wall slid open, revealing a clean, well lit stairway.
"Follow me." She smiled as she made her way down the stairs and through a hallway.

This Means War

"I- Uh-" I looked back at Sam, confused and relived. "Should we go in?" I asked him, watching as majority of the Siblings filed in. "I don't know if we should or not. I'm-" I paused for a moment. "Skeptical." I faced the building again, studying the girl who introduced herself as Isabelle. She was short with long hair that lay over her shoulders in two braids. Her face was friendly and welcoming, but it could still be a trap.

This Means War

"Tilerians?" The mysterious voice shouted back at us. "Tilerians!" The voice shouted again, confirming who we were.
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes for a moment. To make it all this way and be shot down for nothing was what scared me the most. That all of this was a waste of time. Why would Joe give away our position so fast? He was nervous. Either way, if he didn't say anything, we'd be in trouble.
I opened my eyes to the sound of loud footsteps echoing throughout the building. The steps became louder and the pace grew faster as we awaited out fate. Joe and Sam had their hands on their guns, preparing for whatever was about to happen. When the footsteps stopped, I felt like my heart did with them. Two loud clicks bounced off the walls of the empty building. The doors slowly opened, revealing a short, red headed girl. She wore the same uniform as us. She was a Tilerian.
"Welcome to the Grey Base." She said, a smirk tugging at her lips. "It's safe. You're all safe now." She waved a hand, motioning us to go inside.

This Means War

Walking up to the building felt like an eternity. One, because I was a little nervous and two, because my leg hurt and I was walking slow.
Em got to the building first. I could see her up ahead, peeking through windows that looked coated in dust.
"It's empty." She shrugged her shoulders, looking back at us then towards the windows again. Spencer caught up to his sister, eager to look inside. His forehead was almost pressed against the window, his hands planted firmly on the dirty glass.
"Identify yourselves in ten seconds or we blow you away." A loud shout came from above. I looked up towards the roof, but I saw no one. Nervous, I looked back at Sam, unsure of what was about to happen to us.

This Means War

"I don't know..." I said quietly. "It doesn't look dangerous. It looks abandoned, like the cabin."
Em slowly began walking towards the old abandoned building. "How much further until we reach something else? We could stay here a night if we need to." She trailed off, almost hypnotized with curiosity.
"I guess we're following her, then." Nina rolled her eyes as she trailed behind her sister.

This Means War

That did sound like a good plan. A lovely plan. I had forgotten about life outside of the war. It all seemed so surreal now. Almost like a dream I could barely remember. "I wonder if my sister is alright. Or if she's even still alive?" I furrowed my brow at the thought and shook my head as to shake the faint memories away.
"You have a sister?" I heard what sounded like Spencer chime in.
"Mhmm. She's older than me. She was drafted about a year before I was. We didn't really-" I paused, spotting what looked to be an old building ahead of us. "Wait. Can anyone make out what that is?" I pointed through the trees towards an old overgrown trail.

This Means War

"School." I breathed, completely forgetting that I used to even go to school. It was a distant memory. I was never fan. School was never exactly easy for me. The work was. The people weren't. The whole, waking up at the butt crack of dawn to learn or be bored all day wasn't really for me. But I went anyway. I did my work. I hung out with very few friends, and went home. "I was in my last year of school before they drafted me. Didn't even get to finish." I thought out loud. "Seems like a life time ago."

This Means War

"Got it." Joe replied to Nina and waved his hand in the air, confirming that he'd heard her. I filed out behind the others, giving the old house one last look before moving on.
The air was chilled and damp. I thought the rain would have made it a bit more humid out, but the day was still young and it had not yet warmed up. As we traveled, I hobbled behind the rest of the group, slow, but still able to keep a good pace. Almost every ten or fifteen minutes, someone was asking me if I was alright and able to walk. I'd nod and continue to hobble my way through. I appreciated them asking me if I was alright, but after the first ten times it just got annoying. Nonetheless, I was happy that they cared.

This Means War

"Oh-," I was surprised at Sam's question, but pleased to hear it. It had only been about two days, but it felt like two years since I'd had a gun to protect myself with. Everyone was so busy taking care of me, a part of me forgot that I would actually need to protect myself. "Yeah, that'd be great. I'll take one."

This Means War

Joe shot Sam an over dramatic glare, then smiled, breaking his false anger. The rest of the siblings gather everything we needed and stood close to the door. Joe took his time fashioning a crutch for me. When he was done, he helped me stand up and handed me the makeshift crutch.
"This should do. Try it out." Joe stood back and I walked a few steps forward. It was comfortable. It would work.
"Thanks, I really appreciate it. This will do fine." I smiled. Joe nodded, threw a big bag over his shoulder and walked out the door.
"No problem!" He called from the porch and sneezed a few times. "I can't wait to get out of here and away from this dust." I heard him grumble.