Finding Home | #Wattys2016

Chapter Nine: The Pearl Harbor

Chapter 9: The Pearl Harbor

Harper finally stopped about ten minutes into the tour and Elyza tuned back in to what she was talking about. "—so we're finally at the barracks. I'll leave you guys in here to get settled in. I'll be back in about an hour or two to bring you to the mess hall. You guys can have some lunch and then we'll leave you to rest. There are showers through the far door on the left if you need to use the restroom." She gestured halfheartedly further down the hall the way they had come.

The blonde girl sidled her way around Bellamy and between Elyza and Finn before making her exit. Her hand caught Elyza's and suddenly the blonde was holding a small sheet of paper in her fist. She closed her hand around it and shoved them both back into her pockets, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible.

After Harper disappeared around a corner, Octavia pushed the door open and tossed the shoulder bag she had on her onto the nearest bunk. The area looked very similar to the one Elyza had been in before she'd showered over on the Freedom. She assumed she couldn't expect much difference because it was set up so efficiently.

Bellamy stepped around Octavia and everyone filed in afterwards. They each found a bunk near each other. Elyza would have felt more comfortable near the back where she could keep an eye on everything. But she guessed that she could deal with if they were close to the exit.

Octavia and Bellamy bunked together, the brother and sister bickering over who got the bottom bunk until Octavia threatened to hurt Bellamy. Aurora bunked alone on the lower one next to her daughter and son. Elyza ended up with Finn, who called top bunk excitedly and hoisted himself up and settled down, giggling like a little boy.

"I've never had a bunk bed before," he leaned over the side, looking down at Elyza like the Cheshire cat. A huge grin was plastered on his face and his hair hung over, making him look a little crazy.

Elyza laughed, a little bit of the tension leaving her body. She pushed his face away, "Stop being weird." She pulled her bag off and opened her bag, placing her book on the bedside table provided. Above her, Finn had a small table that folded down from against the wall.

Continuing to pull everything out of her bag, she settled herself onto the bed. It felt the same as the one that was in her little cell back on the Freedom, uncomfortable and thin. She lined up the two knives she'd collected and slid the smaller one underneath her pillow and the other into the folds of a set of fatigues that she shoved into the lower drawer of the bedside table.

She only had a few items of clothing: two tank tops, two pairs of pants, her leather jacket, the pajamas she'd had since the airport, two bras, and three pairs of underwear. She couldn't fit everything into the shallow single drawer she was provided with, so whatever didn't fit was shoved back into the backpack and under the bed.

With a deep breath, she glanced around at the rest of her friends, ensuring that they were busying themselves with something or other and not focused on her. Elyza pulled out the sheet of paper that Harper had given her, wondering when she had found the time to write whatever it was that was on it. She toyed with the edges for a second before unfolding it and reading the rushed script.

Find me after dinner. I will be leaving for the Freedom tonight. You can meet my friends who will be helping us.

Elyza really didn't understand why Harper had decided to include her further because she was just a simple citizen. She'd assumed Harper would do the soldierly thing and figure out what had happened, Elyza didn't really think that she'd have to tell her to. But, it was evident that Harper was young and inexperienced and most likely scared completely shitless.