I wake up early like normal and grab my phone to check the time.
It's only 5am. I don't care much, so I get out of bed and change quickly. I leave quietly and go to the bathroom.
When I come back, still nobody is up, so I listen to music. Music is basically my one escape from life. The thing that matters most and let's me momentarily forget all that's happened.
I close my eyes and nod with the beat. I feel a hand on my shoulder, so I look up to see James. When I pull an ear bud out James starts talking, "We have to train early. The enemy is coming and there's no escape this time. You're gonna have to be ready to fight at least some of them."
"How many are there?" I ask, pulling the other earbud out and sitting up.
"There's at least twelve of the fifty." James says seriously.
"Okay..." I say slowly, "is there a leader?"
James nods, "but he isn't coming."
I nod slowly and stand up, "okay... So how long do we have?"
"Not long." James says, grabbing my arm and pulling me to the extra room.
After roughly an hour of hardcore training, there was a banging on the door. I let go of James's arm as Jackson walks in. "They're here."
We walk out and surprisingly there's no chaos. There's nobody to panic. They're all gone.
"They're already outside fighting." Jackson answers, "they're keeping the enemy out so you can stay sa-"
"Why can't I help?" I ask nobody in particular.
I sense them exchanging a look so I turn around to look at them.
"Uh..." Jackson rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. He looks for support to James, who gets the hint.
"You're... Special..." James states slowly, "you're very strong and brave. You're what we need to defeat the main enemy. But we can't let you get hurt."
"If I'm so strong and brave I won't get hurt." I say, backing up.
"No, you don't understand." Jackson says, "if you get hurt, or worse killed, this world is done for. Sure, if you got killed you'd be with your-" I shoot him a glare, so he stops talking.
"I wanna help." I state, "I can't let them do this by themselves."
"There's 5 of them." James assures, "they'll be fi-" a body hits the window and falls to the ground.
"I need to help." I say, "please."
James and Jackson exchange a look and shake their heads.
"I have to help. You have to stay. Jackson make sure she stays." James says, jogging outside to help.
I look at Jackson, who's still watching James.
"Let me go out there." I plead quietly.
Jackson looks down at me, face twisted up with worry. I'd never seen him like this before. It scares me a little, but he leaves the expression there, "no." He answers.
"I'm going out there." I state, challenging him with my eyes before turning on my heels to walk out. I only make it three steps before a hand clasps around my arm.
"I can't let you." Jackson says, only above a whisper.
"What if everyone dies because I'm not out there?" I ask tugging against his grasp.
"Then we'll get you out of here and to the headquarters." Jackson says.
"Let me go." I command turning to face him.
"Nope." He says, "I can't lose you too."
"Too?" I repeat, "who else have you lost?"
Jacksons eyes shoot to the ground,"never mind." He mumbles.
I rip my arm from his grasp, "who have you lost?"
"Nobody." Jackson lies, "just... Nobody."
I furrow my eyebrows, "well." I pause for effect, "sorry."
"For wha-" I kick his feet out from under him.
"For that." I say before turning and darting out.
"LIZ NO!" Jackson calls as he jumps up.
I wave mockingly as I step outside.
I immediately get the action.
A guy charges at me with a battleaxe. I mean... A battleaxe? Seriously?
He swings it at my head and gets it stuck in the wall of the building. This must look extremely weird to all pedestrians - but there aren't any. They were all frozen in time. One guy had been dropping his ice cream cone, a lady was tripping, a child was crying... What happened?
The end of the battleaxe slams into my gut, pushing me against the wall. I kick the guy, pushing him away, and begin to fight.
When I get the chance, I rip the battleaxe from his grasp and swing it at him. He dodges it, making it get stuck in the wall again. I cant't pull it out, so I just leave it.
The guy punches at me, but I dodge it and shove my fist into the space between his neck and shoulder, stunning him. The man falls over at my feet, and I scan the people left.
There are eight more bad guys standing and four more of us standing, not counting me.
They quickly were taking care of the remainder of the guys, but I figure I should help. As I walk over to the group, a guy comes out of nowhere and slashes a knife down my arm.
I yelp and glare at him.
His head explodes.
What just happened...?
All of a sudden I was pulled into the small store. Jackson scans me.
"Oh that's a lot of blood." He says, eyeing my arm, "nice fighting. C'mon."
I narrow my eyes and follow him to the 'employees only' in the front of the store. Jackson points at a crate and tells me to sit on it
He pulls up another crate and sits down, holing medical stuff. Gently, Jackson grabs my arm and starts to rub disinfectant stuff on it.
I wince, and eye him, instead of my arm.
"So why did you go out to fight?" Jackson asks with an edge, "after I told you not to."
"I had to help." I say, disconnecting the eye contact.
"You coulda helped by staying inside.
"Yeah." I grunt sarcastically, "I coulda been moral support."
"Well you have to stay safe." Jackson states irritably, unwrapping medical tape. "You're very important."
"To who?" I practically yell, "some Utopian government? Am I gonna be some lame Utopian war hero?"
"No–"
"Then who?" I hiss, making Jackson wince, "you? Do you still have 'lovey-dovey' feelings for me like in some romantic comedy movie?"
"No–"
"That explains last night." I mutter angrily.
"Last night was a heat of the moment." Jackson says, as he cuts the medical tape.
"I'm sure it was." I say madly, "which was why you said–"
"I KNOW WHAT I SAID." Jackson interrupts.
I stand up to walk away, but Jackson grabs my arm, "I'm sorry about what I said." He says, "and I'm sorry for getting mad at you."
I turn my head, and look back at the door, "okay."
"Look." Jackson says calmly, "Liz. I–"
"It's fine." I interrupt, "I'm sorry I disobeyed you."
Jackson lets go of my arm. I'm still facing away from him, but I sense the pain in his breaths.
Don't judge me.
Then the door bursts open and the remaining girls run in holding the down.
The down.
The remaining girls are holding Izzy and James.
——————
AN: IM SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. SCHOOL STARTED AND AHHH.
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED.
I think my mom is gonna install Wattpad and I don't want her to read this because she's a grammar nerd and she'll be like "THEY ALMOST KISSED. YOU'RE TOO YOUNG FOR KISSING."
I know mom. I know.
