Shadow Moses [Fransykes]

Chapter 38

With her hands on her hips, Alissa stood next to Jack and Hannah who held a long metal board so shiny I could see my reflection in it up straight.

An enormous smile decorated her face as she gazed at Josh with something like pride stirring her dark eyes. 

"I think I have the answer," she said, pointing at the metal board. "Shields."

Josh raised an eyebrow. "Metal... shields?"

"Yes," Alissa said like it was all so obvious. "They say there's enough of these to build a mountain."

She gazed at Hannah. 

"Right babe?"

"Well, that's the term the fighters used," Hannah clicked her tongue, tapping her knuckles onto the board, letting a resonant clatter sting the air.  "I'd say there's definitely a huge ass amount of these bad boys."

"See." Alissa turned her smile back to Josh. "A huge ass amount." She chuckled, mimicking Hannah's tone. "There's enough to make a shield for everyone."

Josh gazed at the ground, biting his lower lip to hide his smile. "That's an... idea."

Alissa crossed her arms. "You don't like it."

"No." Josh raised his gaze. "It's not that I don't like it... It's just that it's not practical. Most of the people that will make first line fight with knives. They need both their hands free, and also, no one can be that fast to raise their shield up in time to stop a bullet."

"We have the guns from the Sight Keeper group that attacked us," Alissa said, shrugging, "we can practice-"

"That's a risk I'd advise you not to take," Josh said. "We don't have much ammunition and we already separated what we're gonna use for training those who are gonna make our shooters."

Alissa dragged her hand down the smooth surface of the silver board, frowning. "This metal is thick enough to stop a bullet I'm certain, and we can't win this war if we can't defend ourselves against guns. This is the best we've got."

"How would you make the shields?" Josh asked.

"The same way we emboss knives and swords," Jack answered him, "with fire. We soften the metal then carve it into a shape we want."

"I see..." Josh said pensively, "I definitely think we should make the shields but we should go big. It can be our defense tactic. The first line could make those who carry shields and we can all go behind them but we still need something else that could work against bullets."

I stood on the side, silent. 

As per usual I had no fucking idea how to feel. I truly didn't know what my problem was. This was what I wanted after all - for Alissa to listen, and now when she did I was still skeptical as hell. 

I didn't want to be jealous, but as much as it was stupid, I couldn't deny that it bothered me how they all suddenly listened to Josh. My attitude was idiotic, I knew that. I was getting on my own nerves, but I couldn't help it. 

He sounded like a leader, like he was born to be one, which he perhaps he was, and perhaps I knew that, but it was still frustrating for some reason.

My stomach kept twisting. 

Beneath all that suspicion perhaps lied a part of my mind that was certain I was gonna lose him in all of this, one way or another. 

It seemed life just kept taking people away from me. First Kellin, now my brother's life was on the line... 

My mind was a fuss, and what Josh had said to Alissa yesterday when they trained kept me up all night as a million questions occupied my mind like parasites.