The Defiant

Calm Before the Storm

Sparrow

So much was happening. 

First, Roan and Ezra were on a cross-country trip trying to run away from the General. Second, Levi, Dakota, and Atlas were in North Dakota, still waiting for Grade B to return. Just kidding; They were on the road to Illinois to save people from a bombing! And Josiah and I were... Well, we were still in Washington, in our room, waiting to hear from Maralynn about whether or not we were flying to one of the other cities needing help. 

It was nine o'clock in the morning. I had woken up to the group chat blowing up and decided the world really fucking hated us. 

My phone rang, and Josiah picked it up for me. 

"Hello, Maralynn," he sighed, stopping his pacing. 

I lifted my face from the pillow. He put the phone on speaker. 

"We plan to send out two groups tomorrow to help with the San Francisco and Pheonix bombings. You don't have to go, but it would be greatly appreciated if you did, seeing as you and the other patients are probably the only ones who can enter the quarantined zone without dying," she chirped through the speaker. 

I rolled my eyes, already knowing she had probably guilt-tripped all of the other Grade A patients into going. 

"And who else will be there?" Josiah asked, seeming to read my next question. 

"All Grade A patients, except for Blake, and A few Grade Cs, including Wendyl."

I sighed. 

"Just a second, Maralynn."

Josiah muted the phone and looked at me. 

"Should we go?"

I shrugged, deciding that if our boyfriends were out fighting, we could be too.

"There's nothing else for us to do. Plus, it will help a lot of people."

He nodded in agreement and unmuted the phone. "We will go."

"Excellent," she pipped. "I will get ten plane tickets and have five of you go to California and five of you go to Pheonix."

I frowned, realizing she hadn't bought tickets for her own men. 

"And, are we going alone?"

She paused. 

"Yes. We don't have the right hazmat suits for our people, and it would be better to have normal-looking civilians walking around instead of obvious agents."

As much as she pissed me off, she had a point. 

"Fine," I grumbled. "But put me on the team to Cali."

Josiah didn't let her respond before hanging up and throwing the phone on the bed next to me. 

"This is bullshit," he muttered, running his hands over his face. 

I rolled over and sat up, watching as he started pacing again. I lost focus and spiraled into a wave of dark thoughts. 

It would be a miracle if we came out completely unscathed after tomorrow. The General would have men out there looking for survivors. They would know to keep an eye out for our faces. We would be rescuing people who had just been through hell. Would they even follow us? If I found out my dads and sister had died, and someone told me to come with them, I wouldn't have left their bodies for anything. 

Their faces flashed in my head, and I clung to the images. 

I didn't want to forget what they looked like... I grabbed my phone and opened the web browser.