The Final End

the Squad leader

Bonnie sits on the ground behind me, Happily humming a tune that i dont recognise. Her hands start weaving my hair into intracate patterns, then brushing them out and starting over. Jack watches her fingers moving, and he seems to be thinking about something- or someone- else. as im listening to Bonnies humming, i hear someone shouting in the forest. i leap to my feet, and Jack does the same.

"wait" bonnie says in an offhand tone. just as she says this, sparrow bursts out of the trees, haulling a half consious Jason behind him. i sprint to where sparrow has colapsed and kneel beside the two of them.

"what happened?" i ask "whats wrong with Jason?" Jack comes up to us and hands Sparrow some water.

"Jason was fine for a while, but when i told himm to get down under the gunfire, he was a little too egar to obey. he hit his head on a tree. i think he has a concusion." Jack and i carry Jason back to Bonnie and Sparrow follows us, stretching out his arms.

bonnie presses some buttons on one of the picture squares, a timer, she called one, and some medical crew people come and collect Jason.

"don't worry" bonnie tells us "he'll be just fine. Just a few bumps and bruises." she smiles and again, we all sit and wait for the other two.

About fifteen minutes lter, Charis and Maloney come running out of the forest, both of them crying. Maloney has a horible gash on her arm while Charis is all bruised and seems to have a sprained wrist.

"It was the wall." Maloney says, motioning to Charis's wrist. "she fell if and i think its broken."

Sparrow gets up and looks over Malononey's cut. "what got you?" he asks her as he wraps the wound in part of his shirt that he had torn off.

"the guns. One of the bullets grazed my arm." she wipes a tear off of her face and bites her lip as Sparrow ties the bandage.

'I'll clean it when we get back to the house, then." sparrow says. He looks at Charis and he declares that her wrist is just a sprain and that it will heal fine on its own. then he turns to Bonnie "can we go back to the house now?"

"i suppose we can't disgus the corse unil Jason's back... alright, the five of you can go." bonnie is staring at Sparrows body. He's so thin that you could count his ribs.

we start walking back to the Squad house, but it soon becomes evident that Maloney is in no condition to walk. Jack picks her up and throws her over his shoulder, then drops her on her bed when we get back to the house. everyone is tired, so its decided that we'll stay in our rooms until Bonnie or Jason comes back.

Sparrow and I are delighted to find two boxes waiting in our room. each one is labeled with a number 83099 on the first and 62078 o the second. each of us take the one with our number and open them up to find food. Lots of food. we start eating, and while were eating the wonderful lunch of duck and carrots, we try and figure out why we were just put on a obstacle course so dangerous.

"It's hard to tell..." Sparrow says as he takes another bite of the duck "it could have been for a lot of reasons. Maybe they were trying to toughen us up. Maybe they were trying to kill off the weak ones. I can't be sure, but in my opinion, they were trying to force us to work togeather."

I look questioningly at him for a moment, and make note to never question his intelligence. He was incredibly smart and he didn't keep his thoughts to himself.

"You're probably right... On the last one, I mean. We're supposed to be able to function without help from the army... So I guess we all need to learn to rely on each other... And to trust each other..." This time it's his turn to look at me. His voice is quiet when he responds to that.

"Annie... If were all going to be the Squad... And were all going to function as a team... We need a leader... And in my opinion, Annie... It needs to be you." He doesn't explain his choice, and I want to question his choice. To prove in someway that I shouldn't be our leader, indeed, couldn't do it. But at this point, I've learned better.

"I guess... That we need to talk it through with the others..." That's the only thing I can think to say.

"So you'll do it?" He asks with a smile.

"Yes. I'll do it." I look at him and in that moment, him and I silently agree to work together. Not just in combat, but if I'm going to be our leader, he's going to be my advisor. And my best friend.