The Company

Chapter Sixteen- The Plight of the King of the Castle

I was awakened softly by the sounds of the chorus of "Revolution Radio." When I looked up, I could see I had actually fallen asleep in the bell tower, leaning on my arms. What was weird, though, was that now I had a blanket laying on me.

Huh, I thought. I guess I wasn't alone up here tonight.

Or it was those stairs that gave me away.

I took off the blanket and laid it over my shoulder as I went down. I, of course, managed to grab my phone and plug the headphones back in.

I'm not a savage, you know.

As I went down the steps, I looked down to my watch. 7:45, it read. I'd slept in late for once. It didn't seem that late, but if I wasn't exhausted, I don't know what exhaustion is.

Everyone was sitting there in the Homestead, eating, sleeping, being doctored, or just hanging out. I noticed Lionel was doing the last one, and I went to go see him.

I handed him the blanket. "Here. You might need this more than I do."

He shook his head. "No, take it. I've got a few more."

I nodded and put it in my bag. "Sleep at all?"

"Not really," Lionel sighed. "I just couldn't stop seeing all of that all over again. It was just...you know?"

I nodded again. "Yeah, I catch your drift. Not to toot my own horn, but I guess I did get some sleep."

"Lucky!" He eyed my bag and asked, "Hey, you got any of that Italian cheese left?"

I chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I do."

We didn't really eat a lot of breakfast because I had to go to this planning period for the return to the Academy.

We met in what seemed like an old abandoned lab room nearby the sleeping area. There were some built-in things that like desks, except with sinks and openings underneath.

I leaned against an open one as more people started coming in. The Washington was standing in the front of the room with his arms crossed. The whiteboard behind him had a poorly-drawn copy of what looked like a map to the Academy.

The Washington welcomed us in. "Hello everyone. I hope you at least slept well?"

There was a collective groan throughout the group.

What, do you think I'm going to just tell you what he said after that? No, I'll skip that part. Okay, I'll be fair. I wasn't really listening. He explained for so long that it was agonizing to be there. I probably should have been paying more attention to what he was saying, but no, I was way too bored. I was actually counting the ceiling tiles half the time, to be honest.

There are about 64 up there in that room. Or...never mind. I'll continue.

I'll give you the short and sweet version.

I was in the fourth group. You know, the group that was supposed to find more of Us. My group was to be sent to the boys' dorms and grab people. There was a rendezvous point near the woods that everyone was going to meet at before we left. The key was to wait until everyone in your group was there before you left.

That was it. That was the plan. Or at least, the short version. The version that involved me, anyway. There were the other groups, of course, but I honestly didn't listen. I just kind of went on with my day after that meeting. Unlike the other meetings, this one was slightly...different. That's the best way to put it. It was more stressed, more tired, more urgent. What I saw was done as though We had no time to lose, even if We had all the time in the world. Well, at least until ten thirty. There was a curfew for ten o'clock at the Academy, so we'd have to wait a bit. Everyone would be in their dorms by then and the Badges would probably be either asleep or too drunk by then.