The Kidnap War

Family

The next day came, very similar to the one that had just happened. And after that next day, another day came. And then another and another. A week passed by. Not every day was spend in battle, but it was close. The "free" days were spend on the training grounds. Another week passed... and then another one. Every day there were injured... every day there were dead. James was terrified. Who wasn't? Despite the horrible situation they were in, James had grown very close to his new friends in a very short amount of time. When they were in battle and had to split up, they'd go in groups of two. Always the same duos of Chris and Zalinki, Jaiden and Rush, and James and Adam. Because of that, James had gotten especially close to Adam. It was both a relief to have someone close to you to be there and terrifying to know that any day could be their last.

'What are you thinking about?' Adam asked as they were laying on the ground, hidden in a pile of leaves. Their guns ready to shoot at anything that moved, despite the fact neither boy had had the guts to actually aim at and shoot another human.
'I was thinking of home...' James replied.
A beat of silence followed.
'You know, the day I got kidnapped, I was in detention because the teacher didn't like me passing around comics during class. I was on my way home late because of that and I remember being nervous. I was scared that my parents would get mad at me for getting in trouble. If I hadn't gotten in trouble that day, I would've been able to walk home safely with my siblings.' James explained.
'I was hanging out with my brother Caleb. We didn't feel like going home yet, but we were starting to get hungry and didn't have any money on us. He suggested we'd quickly go home to grab some food and be out again. I told him he should go get the food while I stayed because I didn't feel like walking all the way home. He protested, but I was the older brother which meant he had to listen to me. I don't know how long he was gone, but when he returned, I was gone. I should've went with him instead of being an asshole.' Adam muttered.
'Seems like we both would've been saved had we made a better choice of what to do in life.' James replied.
'Yeah... I wished I could tell Caleb I'm sorry though. I acted like an asshole and when he returned and I wasn't there, he probably got very worried. They all probably got very worried. My mom, my dad, my sister, probably even my dog. Do you think dogs ever look at you and think "my boy is all grown up now"? But my dog will think "where did my boy go?". All of my family will think that.'
'Yeah... I'm sure my mom was freaking out when I didn't come home. My twin sister and older brother would probably act tough, but be worried, while my older and younger sister probably cry in worry.'
'It's been a month... do you think they still have hope? Do you think they're still looking for us? Or do you think they gave up?'
'I don't know, Adam, I genuinely don't know...'
More silence passed. James glanced over at Adam, noticing tears escaping the dark haired boy's eyes. Adam missed his family. So did James.
'We can't give up. We need to do whatever we can to stay alive... for them and for each other.' The blonde said as he gave Adam a smile and wiped the tears from the dark haired boy's face.
'You're right... thank you, James.'
'I'm always here for you, buddy.'
'Do you think that... if all of this hadn't happened, we still would've met... by coincidence.'
James thought about it for a second.
'I hope so... but it doesn't matter what would've happened. Things are going the way they are going and we can't change the past.' He said.
'I'm not ever saying that this situation is a good thing or something I'm grateful for... but I am very glad I got to meet you, James.' Adam smiled. James felt a slight blush fight it's way up his cheeks, but he didn't know where it came from.
'I'm glad I got to meet you too.' James smiled back.
It was very true that he missed his family... but he felt like his friends were family too.

As more time passed, James started to get drowsy. The weird sleeping schedule and little amount of rest they had started to get to him. He glanced over at Adam and smiled. Despite being out in battle, he felt surprisingly peaceful. He wouldn't say he preferred being on duty, because any second he or the people he cared about could get killed, but he did like the time he spend with Adam. In the bunker, they were never really alone. Often they were calming down the younger ones, making sure they didn't lose hope. But out here, under this pile of leaves, the chaos was gone. The blonde wished he could spend quality time like that with all of his friends, one on one. James felt his eyes getting heavy and he decided to close them. He loved his new "family"... but he definitely still missed his old one.
Adam looked over to see James snuggled up in the pile of leaves. He couldn't help but smile as he saw the blonde had fallen asleep. Adam felt almost jealous. He was exhausted himself too. He couldn't take the risk of falling asleep though. At least one of them had to stay awake. If something happened, someone had to wake the other up to either fight or flee. The dark hair boy decided to rest his head on his arms for a bit. He wasn't planning on sleeping, but he did feel very tired. He glanced at the blonde who seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Adam smiled as his eyes closed slowly. He didn't mean to, but he drifted away to the land of dreams as well.

James and Adam jumped up as they were woken up by a loud scream coming from somewhere nearby.
'What the... what was that?' Adam asked slightly disoriented as he rubbed his eyes.
'I... I don't know... probably someone getting injured again.' James muttered as the scream faded into loud sobs.
For a couple seconds they listened while trying to hide themselves under the pile of leaves again. Suddenly Adam froze, his face going pale.
'What is it?' James asked worriedly.
'Listen closely, Jameson...' Adam said as he kicked away the pile of leaves that was on top of him and got back to his feet.
'What is it?' James repeated.
'That's Chris!' Adam said as he grabbed the blondes arm and pulled him back to his feet. Only now did James recognize the voice.
'Shit!' He muttered as he followed Adam through the trees, trying to find their crying friend.

After a bit of running, they arrived at an open area in the forrest. Chris was sitting on his knees in the middle, seemingly fine aside from the crying.
'Christain! What's wro-' Adam's words were cut of as he froze.
'What is it?' James asked as he looked from Adam to Chris. That's when he saw it. On the ground, right next to Chris, was Zalinki. He wasn't moving and his body was covered in blood, almost camouflaging him in the brown leaves.
James's heart sank. No... this couldn't be happening... he'd begged and prayed for his friends to be safe, but he should've known it was only a matter of time before this war took someone close to him. Adam seemed to get over his initial shock and ran up to his dead friend, crying and screaming.
'ZALINKI! ZALINKI! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, ZACK! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! Zalinki... no...' Adam pulled Zalinki's body closer to him, crying and sobbing together with Chris.
James, who had been standing near the edge of the open area, finally started moving towards his friends, silent tears streaming down his face. This wasn't fair... they didn't even get to say goodbye. It wasn't fair! It shouldn't have been him! He shouldn't even have been here!
James kneeled down with his friends. He knew Adam and Chris had been closest to Zalinki, since they had been locked in the basement together. It still hurt though. James tried to rub Adam's back for comfort, but the blonde was barely keeping it together himself.
The sudden rustling of the bushes caught there attention and the three boys turned to look at where to sound came from. Through their tears they saw a man. Not anyone they knew, not anyone working for their side. The man was wearing the uniform of their opponents. Chris, James and Adam had all dropped their guns as they rushed to their dead friends body... but this man was armed. And his gun was aimed at the three boys, ready to shoot.