Nocturne ➸ Ben Parish

04

     SHE PRETENDED NOT TO be related to me at first, but that changed quickly enough.
     "You still have family?" Teacup sighed, "Lucky."
     Zombie watched from afar, I remembered the necklace from training. He had a sister. Had. I quickly looked away. I had a younger sister. Had.
     "How'd you get by." I whispered to my older sister when the rest of the group was out of earshot.
     "Scavenging." she responded just as quietly, "Dad taught me how to survive."
     "I thought you were dead." I held back tears the best I could, "I thought you ended up just like Ezra."
"Lynn." she trailed.
"Soldiers!" Reznik interrupted.
"I swear to God." I yelled across the room, "Why the hell are you always here at the worst times possible?"
"To tell you that your mission starts in an hour." she responded as she left.
Shit. None of my squad was ready for
a real combat situation
"Mission?" Marika asked.
"We're the guinea pigs for their new headpieces." I answered, "It's supposed to see the 'teds before we could with the naked eye."

     Zombie had forced Nugget to stay behind by tying him up and hiding him in the bathroom.
     "Is this all of your squad?" a boy no younger than me asked as I stepped onto the helicopter.
     "Yes." I lied.
     The headpieces were attached to some of the most annoying helmets known to man.
     Soon enough, everyone but Nugget was sitting ready for the mission.
     Zombie was staring at the necklace that used to belong to his sister. Unconsciously, I reached for Ezra's old necklace.
     I didn't realize what I was doing until I saw Marika as well as Zombie staring.
     "Did you have another sister?" Zombie asked.
      I nodded, "She died shortly after my parents."
     "How?" he continued.
     I stared ahead, "Me." I forced myself not to let them see me cry.

Ezra was crying as we ran through the woods. Vosch and a few of his men were pursuing us. Either they didn't want any witnesses of what had just happened or they wanted to draft us into their kid army.
Ezra tripped, prompting Marika and I to stop and return to her. Her ankle was bent strangely. It was definitely broken.
The thirteen year old was crying harder now, "Don't let them take me."
Vosch was getting closer by the second.
"Don't you dare." Marika tried to stop me.
Ezra stopped crying, "I'm slowing you down Lynn. Do it."
I pulled the trigger just as Vosch became visible through the trees. Tears stung my face as I ran. Marika followed, probably wondering whether or not to shoot me in the back.
I didn't blame her. I didn't even try to think of another way. I took the easy way out.
I killed Ezra.

    "Ready?" the boy asked as the helicopter was nearing the ground.
     The teds made a landing impossible, so we had to jump out as soon as we could.
     "Follow!" I yelled over the engine.
     We were in the open when the shooting started. I grabbed Zombie and dove behind a car on its side.
     I switched the headpiece on. Blobs of fiery green popped up in front of us. When I returned fire, they scattered.
Why would the others be afraid of a group of kids. I kept shooting. A few of the blobs disappeared, either from them escaping or being killed.
    "The bus!" I shouted as I started running.
     Eventually everyone was there. Oompa stood up, looking around.
     "Where's Teacup?" he demanded.
     "Here." she answered.
     "Don't scare me like that-" he started.
     Oompa collapsed before I could hear the report of the sniper. Teacup screamed.
     "We're trapped." Flintstone stated.
     I shook my head, "When I give you the signal, you're all going to make a run for that building."
     "Nocturne." Ringer trailed.
     "Cover me Zombie." I loaded my gun and ran to the pipe that connected to the fuel tank.
     I pulled a grenade out of my vest, "Go!" I shouted at the top of my lungs before pulling the pin and tossing the grenade down the pipe.
     The rest of the group was already inside, but I was about halfway when the bus exploded. The force lifted me and threw me against the ground. I got back up, barely dodging pieces of metal.
     When I got to the building, everyone had their guns pointed at me until they realized it was me.
     "The sniper is on the roof." I told them, "This is the only place where they could've had a clear shot on Oompa."
     "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch." Zombie tried to push past me.
     "Behind me." I ordered.
     When we reached the roof, I slowly pushed the door open. The sniper was still trying to find us through the ruble of the bus. In one swift movement, I had them pinned to the ground with my knife against their throat.
     Their mask covered their eyes, but the heavy amounts of lipstick was a dead giveaway. Reznik had been the one that killed oompa.
     "I told you I'd kill you." I whispered through gritted teeth, "You killed one of my soldiers."
     "Oops." she smiled.
     I didn't hesitate. I killed her. I gave her a quick death that she didn't deserve.
    A tablet fell from her hand as she stopped breathing. On it were pictures of everyone in Squad 53. I brought it back down to the group.
     "They're kill switches." I felt the back of my neck where the tracker was. The trackers don't actually tell them where we are. It's just so they can kill us when they need to.
     I sliced the area right above it and pulled out my tracker. Suddenly, everyone had their guns aimed at me again.
     Flintstone took the tablet.
     "Those headpieces are meant to show 'teds' right? That's everyone without a tracker." I motioned to the tablet. i froze in realization, "We're not killing the others."
"Who are we killing?" Dumbo squeaked.
"We've been killing survivors." I stated.
"Bullshit!" Flintstone exclaimed.
     Before anyone could stop him, he pressed the button under his picture. He dropped dead in front of us.

EDITED

Here's where I got the inspiration for the title of this story:

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