Still Breathing

Chapter 6. Riot

"I've been known to tear shit up and go off like a gun." ~ Hollywood Undead

Erica was walking behind the Colonel, still keeping her gun away. It didn't feel right to pull it out and she could tell that Quaritch didn't like it, but she didn't care. Eventually, they arrived at an old rundown shack that Erica immediately recognized from the old articles she read.

As everyone else searched around, Erica stepped inside and noticed old linking machines. She ran her hand along them, wondering which one of these was once her fathers.

Erica continued to walk around, finding an old video recorder that the Avatars used to have to do after every mission. She tried to see if there was a way to play the logs that were on the cam corder, but the shack was far too damaged to have any equipment running still.

Once Erica stepped back outside, she noticed Quaritch standing beside an old Machine with his name on it. She frowned as she realized that his decomposed body was inside. And Erica took note of the fear in his eyes as he looked at the patterns on the two arrows that were still in his chest.

She didn't know who those arrows belongs to, but whoever it was, the Colonel was scared of them.

Erica felt her ears perk up slightly as she heard a voice that didn't belong to any of the Avatars. It was quiet and whoever it was, they were speaking in Na'vi. "I got eyes on some guys. They look like Avatars... but they're in full camo and carrying ARs."

She whipped her head around and if she looked close enough, she could see three Na'vi's and... a human? What on Pandora was a human doing with a bunch of Na'vi?

As she took a closer look, she noticed they were children and her ears instantly dropped as she frowned. Quaritch took note of Erica staring off into the distance and that's when he noticed them too.

He smirked before motioning the other Avatars to look over at the bush as subtly as he could. Once they started to leave, the Avatar's started following them and Erica kicked herself internally. If she wasn't blatantly staring at them, they could've made it home just fine.

They were hiding in the bushes, waiting for them to come close. And Erica felt her heart sink as she heard the voice of a very young girl speak. "It's almost eclipse, come on!"

Erica heard her screams as she was grabbed by the other Avatars. The human and the boy Na'vi both grabbed their bows and began to point them at the girl who just grabbed the younger one. The rest of the Avatars stepped out of the bushes, pointing their guns at them as Erica stood there, frozen. She didn't want to hurt children.

She heard the boy telling the human to put his weapon down as the rest of them were grabbed by Avatars. Quaritch noticed Erica's reluctantess to participate, so he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her over to the boy who was kneeling on the ground.

"Hold him." He spoke through gritted teeth. And although she didn't want to, she listened as she held him by his braid.

"I'm sorry." She whispered to him in Na'vi. And she noticed how his ears raised slightly at her voice.

"Kiri!" She heard the younger one cry out to the older female who was telling her to remain calm. This absolutely devastated Erica as she saw the fear in each of their eyes.

"Hey Colonel, check it out, four fingers." One of the Avatar's spoke, holding out the females hand. "We got a half breed."

After the Colonel looked at the girls fingers, he made his way towards Erica and the boy as he instructed the boy to show his fingers. Erica stifled a laugh as she watched the Na'vi boy give the Colonel the finger.