The Hunt

Chapter 17: Hanna

"The trainees are coming in the day after tomorrow. Have you been thinking about what you're going to say to them?" Jonas says as he walks through the door to our dorm.

"Can't you just talk to them, and I'll stay in here? Besides, I'm just starting to be able to understand these MBS readings," I point to the computer on my desk.

"Hanna, you're their leader. You have to be the one to tell them what's going on," Jonas pulls over a chair next to me.

"They hate me," I groan.

"They don't need to love you. They just need to follow you," Jonas says.

"I'm not even sure they'll do that," I keep my eyes on the computer screen.

"You'd be surprised how many of them respect you. Three months of training does a lot to a group of people, and whether you like it or not, we're a team."

"Enough with all this cheesy teamwork stuff. How do I get them to kill people for me?"

"Who said anything about killing?" Jonas frowns.

I shake my head, and instead go back to working.

"Hanna, I know we're trained to kill, but have you actually done it?"

I turn to him again, "No. Your point?"

"I've killed someone. During our mission, you know the exile that tried to attack us under the tree, that I shot? I can't forget him. That night in the hospital, do you know how many times I tried to tell myself it was okay? That it was okay that I shot him, it was for self defense, I was saving you. But no matter how many times I say that, he never goes away."

Kind of like how the feeling of blood and muck and rain never goes away.

"I just don't want to do it again. And I don't want anyone else to do it, especially you."

"At one point or another, you realize we might have to."

Jonas shakes his head and stares at the ground. I go back to typing.

It's another ten minutes before he decides to bring back conversation.

"So what have you been doing for the past few hours that's so intriguing?" Jonas asks.

I point to the computer screen, "I've been downloading data from the MBS's we recovered from the remaining bodies of our team. The computer is reading the chip on all of them, and kind of putting together a picture of what exactly happened during our mission. I can see our team member's movements, but more importantly, I'm studying the way the trackers on incoming enemies shut down. Any movement usually comes up on the screens, but in this case it didn't, and that's why the ambush was so successful."

"You got all that from this mess?" Jonas stares at the lines and markings on the screen.

"I've spent all this time recording patterns of when different sections of the MBS's were shut down; basically when all our teammates were killed. And the officers were right; it was all organized. I just can't find any evidence of who lead it all."

"Well what was that whole deal with all those exiles randomly running out into the open? The guards all shot them down, and that's like, twenty exiles that basically committed suicide."

"Yeah, that happened the night after the mission. The morgue gave me the assessments of the corpses, and they are definitely all the people who ambushed our team."

"What the hell? Why would they just run out to be killed like that?"

"I don't know. But I'm trying to find out."