Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday

Chapter 1: Welcome to R.I.O.T

(5 years later)

A gunshot knocked me out of bed. Well, a more accurate description would be that it startled me awake. In which case I proceeded to half-jump, half-fall out of bed. I sprung to my feet, my mind calculating how far I was from the sound. I grabbed my rifle from the foot of my bed, not bothering with boots, pistols or armor. Time was of the essence if shots had been fired. I ripped open the door with my foot, swinging my loaded weapon into the open air of the common room in front of me.

"Ahhhh!" screamed Xavier, as he found himself on the other end of my gun barrel. "Warren, calm down!" I lowered my gun to my side.

"I'll take that to mean someone shooting a gun off at two in the morning does not mean we are under attack?" I snapped at him, probably sharper than I intended to. Xavier sighed before answering.

"No, it means I was taking Felma out cause she needed to go to the restroom and it was dark and I knocked one of my handguns off the table." He ran one hand through his hair and used the other to point down at Felma, his three-year-old chocolate Labrador, who was sitting quietly at his feet.

"I love how you say restroom when you really mean the surrounding trees, X." I heard Megan say from behind me. I turned around, my tension eased at the sight of her. It was a rare moment to see her midnight-black hair down out of her signature pony-tail, a pleasure not lost on me despite my brain being fuzzy. I noted she had taken the time to pull some armor on, she must have counted on me responding first. She flashed a smile my way, her handgun raised heaven-ward.

"I also am relishing in the irony of the resident weapons expert being the one to accidentally set a gun off." She said with a giggle to her voice. "It's almost hilarious enough to make me forget you woke us all up." It was at this point that Katrina peeked out from behind Megan, one of her medical kits clutched in her hands. And then to add to the fun, Justin came screeching around the corner from the tech room, a mildly concerned look on his face as he looked around the room for Kat.

"Your girlfriend's safe and sound behind me Justin, you can go back to your computers." Megan joked. Katrina blushed three shades of red, quite the accomplishment for her mocha skin.

"Who says I wasn't looking for her cause, you know, gunshots usually mean wounds and she's kinda our medic?" Justin retorted, with enough sass in his voice to make even me roll my eyes. Xavier bent down to pet Felma's ears before picking the gun up off the floor and putting it back on the table, while making a big show of putting the safety on.

"Well if no-one's dying, I'm going to go back to bed so that Warren can stop staring at my hair." Megan said with a smirk.

"Hey! I was not!" I stammered back, much to the amusement of everyone. Justin put his hand on my shoulder, laughing.

"The thing is, you were." He managed to say before bursting into laughter. I scowled at him, flipping my head to get my hair out of my eyes. Megan threw a wink in my direction before steering Katrina and herself back towards their room. Xavier patted his thigh, a signal Felma responded to by standing up obediently next to him.

"Be careful you two." I called as they started up the stairs that led topside.

"Always." Xavier replied over his shoulder as he clicked the door open. Once they had disappeared and closed the door behind them, I turned to Justin. I opened my mouth to ask him a question but he answered before I could get it out.

"Checked the sensors first thing, the noise didn't register topside so don't worry."

"Thank goodness." I said, sighing in relief. "It's all fun and games until someone hears that." Justin stopped and turned around, he had been walking back to his and Xavier's shared room.

"Warren, we're embedded on the side of a mountain, in the middle of nowhere. Nearest living human is like at least five miles."

"I'm aware of our location, but thanks anyway Justin." I snapped. He raised his hands in the air, smiling.

"I'm just saying, you shouldn't worry so much Warren, it's bad for your health." I snorted, adjusting the weapon in my hands. I waved at him in the direction of his room and walked off toward the supply room.

"Get to bed Justin, I'm gonna do inventory while I'm up." I looked back over my shoulder to see Justin looking at me curiously.

"Yea sure, you're going to do inventory. At two am. When that's Trina's job." Justin told me. I smirked at him, everyone calls Katrina Kat, except for Justin.

"Are you having your nightmares again Warren?" He continued. "Cause if you are, you know I'm here if you need to.."

"Justin, I thought I told you not to bring that up ever again." I said, cutting him off. "And they're not nightmares... they're..." I sighed, my sentence trailing off into the silence. I looked around the common room, letting the familiar sights comfort me. Behind me was the supply room, to my right was Xavier and Justin's room, and the hall that lead to the tech room, bathroom and med bay. Directly in front of me was my room, the smallest room, which I had to myself at the insistence of the others. Finally, to my left was the girls' room and the stairs topside. The common room here that connected everything held a small kitchen area, a table and chairs and shelves with miscellaneous gear.

"I just wanted to double check the numbers on a few things, since I think I need to do a supply run tomorrow." I said finally. It was the truth, at least part of it.

"You mean today." Justin smiled.

"Yeah, I mean today smart mouth." I threw back at him, smiling.

"Go to bed Warren." Justin told me. "We got enough problems with half the country against us without you being sleep-deprived. I'll wait up for Xavier and Felma." I sighed, he was right, I needed sleep. In our life you never knew when your senses would be pushed to the limit. It's not easy leading a rebellion, but hey, welcome to R.I.O.T.