Toy Soldier {ManxManxMan}

CHAPTER 5

I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to not have a headache when I woke up. All I wanted was to be safe in my room at the rebellion, I wanted to open my eyes and see the green of the glow-in-the-dark stars I had glued to my ceiling, a guilty secret of mine. I couldn't even imagine how humiliated I would be if everyone found out I had something so childish in my room. Cass would no doubt tease me to death, but it made me feel like I was truly home. It was too cold to sleep outside at night, after all. Having glow in the dark stars on my ceiling was the closest thing I could get without catching pneumonia.

Everything in my room had been collected and hoarded through the years, mainly astronomy posters, books and magazines with zodiac facts and star charts. Josie used to call me a nerd, I call myself passionate. Maybe I loved it so much because the stars were so high in the sky, because I felt it would be a lot better to live up there than down here. If only it was that easy.

Instead of waking up in my room surrounded by my collection, I woke up on a couch in a room I'd never seen before. My anxiety instantly spiked, brought on by the pain in my hips and the memory of what I'd been through just hours before. There was the beginning of a scream caught in my throat when I forced myself to sit up, gasping, but hands on my shoulders kept me from falling off the couch.

"Easy!" it was a female voice that tried to calm me down, slender fingers brushing my hair back, one hand pushing at my chest, "You're okay, sweetie, lay back down."

"What?" I rubbed at my eyes, letting myself lay back down and forcing my limbs to relax so I could concentrate on slowing my racing heart, "Where am I?" I asked with a mumble.

"You're at our current base," was the reply, "We move around a lot for safety, but Orion brought you and your friend here to rest," there was a long pause before the woman spoke again, "H-here, sit up. Can you? How's your head?"

"I'm fine," I snapped, shifting around, and wincing as I pushed myself into a sitting position, pushing the hands away from my shoulders before reaching up to my head again, feeling over the bandages there.

It didn't feel like anything else was bandaged, and I was still wearing the borrowed shirt, so Orion and his group probably didn't do much besides check my head. Everything was still aching, and I missed Arthur so much. I wanted to start a hot shower and just live under the spray of the water until I died of starvation.

"Well, you don't look fine. You look like shit. Sit up, look at me." The strict tone of her voice shocked me, it reminded me of my mother whenever she thought I was being disrespectful, and out of habit I listened, sitting straighter and gaping up at her.

I didn't say anything, I couldn't say anything. My mouth moved like it wanted to speak as the woman's familiar eyes bored into me. They were dark brown like coffee, and her hair was like auburn, pulled back into a high ponytail to show her face and the scar on her jaw, and her smile took my breath away.

"Don't worry," she breathed, "I can't believe it's you either, Dakota."

My breath hitched in my throat as my eyes widened in complete shock. It was taking me longer than usual to fully comprehend what was happening, and the fact this person wasn't just a ghost. I had to reach out a shaking hand to touch a strand of her hair to prove she was real, then I jerked away from her in panic, and she held her hands out, looking startled that I'd reacted the way I had.

"No, no, calm down, you're okay."

"M-Maggie?" I choked out in disbelief, and she nodded, giving me a heartbreaking smile as her eyes became glassy with tears of joy.

"It's me."

"That's not possible," I argued, pushing hard against the back of the couch to keep as much distance between us as I could without standing, because I knew I'd just collapse if I tried, "That town was obliterated, I know it was, I saw it!"