Red {Wolf Rebellion I}

Chapter 19~These Are The Days~

These are the days that bind us together, forever, and these little things define us, forever.

-Bastille, "Bad Blood"

Chapter 19~These Are The Days~

Wedged between the cover and the first page of the book lay a folded sheet of paper. It was beginning to turn yellow with age, and I picked it up carefully. Unfolding it, I decided to read it before I lost my nerve.

The writing was faded and blurred, making it difficult to decipher, but eventually, a line of words began to converge and stand out.

Hell is real. Believe me, I've seen it.

My eyes were stuck on those words, unable to pull the paper away. What am I getting myself into? Had this agent seen the second level of Red? What else had Red been doing before I'd ever joined.

There's only one way to find out, so suck it up Ruby and read the damn book. Speculation won't get you anywhere.

I folded the note back up and tucked it into it's previous position. Then I turned the page to the first entry.

The writing was incredibly messy, with side notes filling the margins and words scratched out repeatedly. It looked like it'd been written in a hurry. Like the author wasn't sure how much time they had to get everything down on paper. I shuddered at that thought, pushing my hair behind an ear as I began to read.

May 12th, 2004

I've seen enough horrors here to make a man blind.

I don't know what's going on anymore. Roisin has been on edge these past months, and a lot of us have begun to notice.

Last month my team came home from a raid in body bags, all because of what was declared a tech malfunction.

I hadn't been there, Roisin had requested my help in the labs. While my team was being slaughtered, I'd been ordered to help the techs sort through data and find tracking patterns. My team had needed me, and I'd let them down.

I'll never forgive myself as long as I live.

I've spent countless nights awake, trying to decipher what happened, and why I'd been sequestered in the labs on that day of all days.

I paused in my reading, feeling my heart constrict for this unknown agent. However corrupt Red may be, an agent's team was akin to family. The first Hunt together created an indescribable bond. You had to trust your team to keep you alive, and they trusted you in return. For him to be kept back, and then find out that his team had been wiped out...there wasn't a word to describe the pain he must've felt.

I turned my eyes back to the journal, hating myself, yet needing to know the entirety of this stranger's story.

The entire compound mourned the loss, though it weighed heaviest on me. What if I had been there? Would it have made a difference, or would I have been cremated alongside my team? Sometime I wish I had been.

Roisin, on the other hand, was unusually emotionless.

We've had casualties before, and it's a terrible price for the eternal battle we fight, but I'd never expected it to be my team. And Roisin- she's always helped take care of things, keep our spirits up. In the rare case there were relatives or guardians to be informed, she did, and when bodies had to be prepared for burning, Roisin would have been by Keira's side the entire time, reading the rites.

But something had been different this time, she never attended the services; something that had shocked everyone, and made me furious beyond belief. Yet Terra had been quick to assure everyone that she was upset with herself for letting this atrocity happen.