The Pause

Chapter 7

Far removed from the facility was the remains of a car repair shop. A lot of it was still intact despite rusting and corrosion. On the roof of this garage, Nathan and Emily lay next to each other, staring up at the stars. A white reflecting light shone down on them contrasting the darkness they were cast in. "You know, in the heat of all the war and breakdown caused by The Pause. No one ever took a second to just look at the sky. To Appreciate it's beauty" Emily said, in awe of what she saw. They both lay in silence, comfortable, finding solitude in each other.

She turns to him. "But I didn't drag you up here just to stargaze, tell me what's going on with you" Emily insists. Nathan sits up, looking into Emily's kind and insightful eyes. He sighs, he doesn't want to share this, open up his life to someone he just met. Yet there's something comforting about her. It's strange, foreign to him  WHY DO I FEEL LIKE I KNOW HER he thought to himself IS THIS FATE, NO. IT CAN'T BE. THAT'S TOO CLICHE. BUT, THERE'S SOMETHING. He inhales, slowly "When I was young, my mother was murdered by Mutts. It was soul crushing, I could never quite face it and I always felt responsible" Nathan begins. "Is that why you signed up?" Emily asks. He nods. "I spent most of my life trying to become a soldier, to protect the family I have left. To stop my father from worrying so much, and to make the world a better place for my little sister". Nathan's hands begin to shake. A silent tension begins. He starts to think about his sister, how she must be feeling, if she's missing him, if she's safe. "How old is she?" Emily asks, breaking the tension. "What?" Nathan asks trying to recover from zoning out into his thoughts. "Your sister, how old is she?" Emily persists, showing Nathan a reassuring smile.

"Seven" he responds, "she's so young, and doesn't know what the world holds, I'm worried what's gonna happen to her". Emily moves towards Nathan, "listen, don't worry. With a protective, caring and brave brother like you looking out for her. She's gonna be fine". Nathan runs his head to the ground, "I don't know if I'm even cut out for soldier work. Hell I can barely answer any of those stupid questions". She puts her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about that, or whatever Roberto says to you. I'll help you with all of that. I mean. I have no idea how to actually do any field work, if I'm honest I just signed up to piss my dad off". Nathan's head picks up, "why would it piss your dad off?"

She briefly laughs "he kinda runs the training program". Nathan's eyes widen completely in awe of this reveal. "Wait Andrews is?". "Yes" she cuts him off. "He took me in when I was really young, he was always against me doing anything dangerous. But he couldn't exactly stop me from doing this".

There was a strong sense of comfort between Emily and Nathan, for as little time as they knew each other. They felt they understood each other more than anyone else. They put faith in each other and they knew they could trust each other. "You ever think maybe we're not good enough to make it?" Nathan asks "all the other teams are filled with guys that have built themselves up and trained since they came out the womb, I'm just scared we are gonna fall short".

Emily sighs, "I guess. But think about it, no one expects us to do it. They think we're the bottom, we're weak. So if we try, we could prove them wrong. And show them, we're underdogs. Gambits if you will"

Nathan smiles, "Gambits. I like that" they look into each other's eyes and that feeling enters Nathan again. As if it was fate they met here. "Yeah, well we gotta get some rest, we have a lot of work to do tomorrow" Emily says as she smiles then proceeds to kiss him on the cheek. "Goodnight Nathan" she walks away as Nathan tries to hide the blush from his face