à la folie (To Insanity)

Chapter 13- Jackson

    I open my eyes cautiously, not entirely sure where I am. The ground beneath me is cold, and hard. I hear voices nearby, someone's talking in the hall. Raven is above me, running her fingers absentmindedly through my hair. When I move, she looks down, relief flooding her face. She tries to say something, but quickly breaks down in tears. I push myself up, holding her until she quiets. The door opens suddenly, I reflexively push Raven behind me trying to shield her from whomever is walking through the door.

    “Jackson, get up.”

    It's Elizabeth. I rise reluctantly, not wanting to leave Raven. She struggles up anyways, her hand on my arm. Something about her standing by my side helps calm me down. Elizabeth motions through the door, one of her followers enters the room. She is holding two bundles of clothes, which she hands to each of us. The girl leaves immediately after, Elizabeth dismissing her with a nod.

    “Put these on, we're going hunting today.”

    She too leaves, letting the door swing shut behind her. Raven looks terrified, not entirely sure what's going on right now. I help her into the clothes, noticing how lightweight the fabric is. When we reach the second layer, I can tell it is plated. Raven frowns, clearly thinking the same thing as me. Her coat has been returned, as well as her boots, bag, and weapons. I receive much of the same, with the exception of my gun. Typical of my little sister, not trusting me. She has good reason to, I almost shot her last time I had a gun, not to mention the two girls I shot before coming here. Raven pulls on her coat, reassuring herself that all of her blades are accounted for. I quickly put on the clothes Elizabeth provided, noting everything that could be useful at some point later on.

    Raven tries the door and, finding it unlocked, pushes through. We find Elizabeth on the other side, waiting for us. She checks us over, making sure all of the padding is properly positioned. Apparently satisfied, she walks away motioning for us to follow. She leads us up the same stairs we came in. The cold air hits with the intensity of snow, skies warning of the nasty weather to come.

    Angie and Dan are lead out of the stairwell next, Will right behind them. One of Elizabeth's girls opens the lid to a storage container, pulling bags and gear out. Once everything has been distributed, Elizabeth explains our mission. We will not be hunting animals, as we were originally lead to believe, but people. Our primary targets, the escaped Hunters from the overtake of the compound we were being held in.

    “They are not to be harmed. Take as many as we can, the safehouse is not far from our hunting grounds. Everyone grab a supply pack and let's move out while we still have the light, I don't know how long we're going to be gone for.”

    Her girls each grab a bag, leaving five for my team. There are about ten of them in the group, not counting my sister. It's a rather large group for a stealth mission, sixteen people leave room for error and detection. There must be more to this then Elizabeth has told my team. I open my bag, we have enough provisions for one or two weeks; three if we are careful. A quick glance over my team shows they are doing the same, each bag seeming to contain items that are tailored to fit each individual. Raven hands me something cool and well weighted, a gun. Elizabeth is watching us, and frowns at the exchange. She makes no move to take it, or give Raven another. I check the ammo Raven hands me, hollow point bullets. The gun has a fair weight to it, perfectly similar to mine. I know I'll fare well with my set of supplies, everything is set up nicely.

    Elizabeth's girls haven't opened their packs, probably well aware of the contents. The last thing I check before closing my bag is the med kit, fully stocked. It is possibly my most valuable asset, my training focused mostly on emergency medical response. One of the girls, Nicole I think, distributes masks similar to the one my sister carries.

    “They may be field testing a new form of the poison, we haven't received information to tell us if they have found out about the break ins that gave us our supply of the canisters. Always be prepared for a sudden attack. If you notice a canister is loose, alert the rest of your group. We already have girls out there, you all know your meetup points. You will have enough provisions to make it to the next rest point. If you can't make it to your safe spots, come here or meet a closer group for help. I don't want to lose any more of our forces. Do not repeat Juliana’s mistake, I will personally introduce you to the means of her death. ”

Elizabeth starts sorting her girls into groups, according to skill set I'm assuming. My group stays together, two extras being added. Elizabeth joins our team last minute, apparently still wanting to keep an eye on us. She walks by and clips one of the silver canisters at our hips, carefully handling the delicate vessels. I wince as she clips Raven’s on, knowing just how deadly they can be.

“Clara, you're leading. Haley, I want you to scout ahead. Let us know if you run into any trouble. Everyone, make sure your communications systems are up and working! Let's move out.”

Raven and I pull up the rear, not wanting to be in the middle of the group in case of an ambush. I keep sneaking glances at her, monitoring her as best as I can while on the move.