Storm

Chapter Forty-Two

We were ready to leave.

At least, we were physically prepared. Mentally, not so much.

I felt kinda like throwing up.

We'd decided on who the teams would be. The larger team - the ones who would barrage the walls of the Equator with whatever they had as a distraction - were mainly people from Ava's group that I didn't know. The smaller group was just me, Asten, Ava, and Ian. Max wasn't so happy about that, but I wasn't about to risk him, too. Even if he'd been through a lot, I didn't know much about his training and wasn't sure I trusted him running around the Equator with us.

On Ava's side, I'd heard that Evan had gotten pissy about his exclusion, but it wasn't my business to get involved. They'd both be on the outside team anyway.

The one thing I hadn't been expecting was the full extent of stuff that they'd stolen from the Equator. They had nearly any weapon I could imagine. And on top of all that...

...They had a helicopter.

When they said they had transportation covered, they hadn't been lying.

How we'd missed seeing this on the way in, I have no clue. I guess it'd been hidden by the large middle school building.

But as we walked out the back doors and found the metal monstrosity on the tarmac...all I could do was stare.

It wasn't even damaged. It was like somebody had picked up a perfectly new helicopter and plopped it down right outside this school.

I looked at Ava, eyes wide, mind reeling. She just smirked at me and gave a light-hearted shrug. "Like I said, we've got shit."

Then, she walked up to the machinery and hopped in the pilot's seat. I wasn't going to ask where she learned to fly. That'd open a whole new can of worms.

The rest of us piled in the back. There was more space than it'd seemed, but even so, our large group was crammed. Especially since there were already a myriad of bombs, weapons...and a lot of other indescribable tech.

For a second, I imagined what would happen if one of those weapons was set off.

That'd be some fireworks display.

The ride down to the Equator was relatively uneventful. I'd been afraid that we'd get shot down before we even reached the outskirts.

We decided to set down a solid distance away from the border in fear of being noticed. We were nearing their airspace, and I wasn't ready for this mission to end before it even began.

I stretched my legs the second I hit the snowy ground. Each of my muscles seemed to reawaken as I took a couple steps. Behind me, a couple of the people from Ava's group were covering the helicopter with a giant tarp and throwing snow and leaves upon it to make it less noticeable. Even if there weren't many people in the forest, it was better safe than sorry.

From where we stood, it'd be about a thirty minute walk to actually reach the Equator's border wall. We were about a fifteen minute walk from the very edge of where most of the Equator patrols scouted.

This would be...difficult.

Not only because we were trying to infiltrate the biggest threat to humanity, but because we were making a ton of assumptions on the way there.

Such as hoping the others wouldn't look too closely at our uniforms.

Ava had a stash of Equator uniforms that they'd managed to steal. The only problem was that they were from the very start of it's reign. They definitely looked slightly different than what I'd been wearing only a couple weeks ago.

Nevertheless, we had few other options. Evan had suggested we just take out some of the patrols and steal their clothes, but I'd argued against that. Partly because I felt bad hurting people and leaving them to die when they were just as brainwashed as we'd been. Also partly because I had a feeling the rest of the patrol group would notice when one of theirs didn't come back.

This would be difficult, but I was ready to face what might come. I had to be.

I felt a hand brush my shoulder. The tension in my muscles relaxed as Asten came to stand beside me.

"We'll make it out. I know it," he commented, staring off towards the trees. Off towards our destination.

I nodded. "But...it's always possible we won't...it's possible..."

"Then we'll go down together."

"Sometimes, I wonder how we've even made it this far." We'd been through so much, had seen death and barely escaped far too many times. Far too many times for us to be allowed to once more.

Luck eventually ran out.

And I wondered if we'd used up our last bit of it.

"I like to believe it's up to us whether we make it. That if we really do all that we can to live, we can make it through. And if we don't for whatever reason, at least we won't have regrets. At least we'll go out knowing we fought with every fiber of our being." With that, he gently grabbed my hand and laced his fingers in mine. I felt my heart catch as I looked up at him.

I remembered the moment we'd shared.

And maybe we didn't have time now to talk about it, but I could tell he remembered it, too.

I looked back towards the Equator taking in the snowy landscape, the evergreen trees and the gray sky above us.

"Then I guess we should show them what we've got."