Target In Sight

Chapter 2

I glanced around and everyone seemed to start to panic. Abbey began to twirl and tug at her ponytail hectically. Harriet took out her cell phone and tried to connect a call several times before grumbling in exasperation. "I don't have any bars here."

"Neither do I," Matt replied, rubbing his temples in frustration.

The four kids I didn't know swarmed together and started running around, shrieking like chickens who had recently lost their heads. Harriet threw herself on me and kept muttering, "I wanna go home, I wanna go home," directly into my ear. I pulled her off and and seized her shoulder before she lost control. "We're going to be fine," I assured Harriet. "Mr. Harmon isn't gonna let us get hurt. We're in good hands." 

"How can you say that Shelly? We're who knows how deep underground and locked in some freaky neighborhood movie set. And we have to kill someone? What the fuck, man..."

David stepped into the center of the confusion and bellowed, "SHUT UP!" with all of his strength. After he caught our attention he took several deep breaths before he continued speaking. "Listen, guys. It's like Shelly said. The school won't let us get hurt, so don't be stupid thinking we're in a life-death situation right now."

"Don't call them stupid," I shouted. "You're just as scared as the rest of us, so don't go and try being all bossy and shit just to get us to follow you."

"You would think I'm that shallow, wouldn't you Shelly?"

"You are that shallow, you little shit!" Before our argument could get any more heated Charlotte snapped her fingers to silence us. She pointed at the skybox and spotted a small panel sliding open. We couldn't see anything but darkness from the gap above. We all fell silent and just stared at the hole, waiting for something to happen. "What do you think is there?" Charlotte asked.

"I have no idea," Thomas answered. "What do you reckon it is, Jimmy?"

"Could be a supply drop," James inferred. "Just parachute a crate right in the center of the street and we got our stuff. Speaking of our stuff, when are we getting our bags?" Crap, that's right. We didn't bring any of our luggage. We have absolutely nothing at our disposal.

I was starting to fall prey to fear when I looked at the opened panel again and saw something falling with incredible speed. It looked like a man, plummeting headfirst to the ground. Oh, sweet Jesus. My friends saw the man dropping out of the sky and gasped in horror.

I feared the worst for this suicidal stranger when he spun mid air and landed in the kneeling position, kicking up whatever sparse dust was on the concrete. The man stood up and I was able to get a good look at him. He was tall and lanky, dressed in a desert combat uniform complete with a Kevlar vest. His raven hair was long and disorderly, with random strands hanging over his feminine face. He scanned us with blazing orange eyes, which locked onto me quickly.

The soldier walked briskly, with the the air of a war veteran fresh from battle, and stood at attention in front of me. He towered over all of us, casting an impressive shadow over our frozen figures. He asked, "Are you Shelly Jessica Duran?" and I noticed that he had a woman's voice. This was a girl.

"Y-yes, I'm Shelly Duran."

The woman gave a bow and continued. "I am HVT-7G08, and as captain of Team Apollo you are cleared to relay me commands during operations."

"I'm your captain?"

"At least that's what it said in the briefing." I don't know why, but I couldn't help but love the thick English accent she spoke with. Team Apollo surrounded her in awe and, in a moment of total indiscretion, Matt asked, "You're a girl?" HVT-7G08 turned her head in annoyance and answered with, "You're a boy? Oh wait, of course you are, since you look like a bellend."