Quickly, we were led across the campus into an area behind the combat field. It felt so empty with all of the soldiers off at war. Just behind the training area - which was surrounded by an aluminium fence - was a long, thin metal garage. It was a simple box shape, with a few metal doors.

  “The armory,” Whiteford said, leading us forward. She walked up to a button next to the largest door, big enough to fit a whole tank through it. At a press, there was a beep, and the metal sheet slid upward and back, tucking itself into the roof.

  Inside was a large open space. It was lined with stations, each containing a basic set of a bulletproof chest protector and helmet, leather boots, gloves, and a gun hung above all of that. They were decently sized, but not two large. It could be held in one or two hands, but seemed to hold a large amount of bullets.

  “Is all this really necessary?” Mel asked.

  “For all we know, Les has been compromised and is being held by a specific task force sent out by Valamir. You must be ready for anything,” Whiteford responded, no amount of emotion behind it. “So don’t try and convince me to let you go without a few extra members.”

  I suppressed a groan. Of course they wouldn’t let us run wild in the countryside. “What about this thick outfit?” I asked, gesturing to the black leather coats that they have us wear.

  Whiteford rolled her eyes. “It may look protective, but it won’t to shit against a good shot.” She checked her watch, then looked back at us. “I should probably leave. Your teammates should be here soon.”

  As if on cue, a group of three people walked in, dressed in full-black jumpsuits. The one on the left and the one in the middle had darker skin tones and black hair, the one to the right having a light but solid tan, their hair red. The one to the left had hair short-cropped and close to their head and deep brown eyes. The one in the middle had a long braid down to their back and light hazel eyes. Lastly, the one to the right had straight shoulder-length hair and blue eyes.

  They all looked to be in their mid-30s, with the one in the middle being the tallest, seconded by the one on the right. The person furthest to the left had a square face; the one in the middle had a round face; and the one furthest to the right had a sharper, thin jawline.

  “And here is the remainder of your team,” Whiteford said. “You can all gear up, and I’ll be back soon to pick you up.” She promptly walked away without another word.

  The sound of silence prevailed for the next twenty seconds.

  After, the one on the right introduced themself. “Hi, I’m Keira - she/her.”

  Keira glanced at the person in the walking, who promptly introduced themself as well. “I am Markus - he/him, but I don’t care what you call me.”

  Lastly, the one on the left smiled. “I’m Marcie - she/them.”

  Markus spoke next. “And of course we know who you are.”

  We all nodded reluctantly. There was yet another pause, this one more brief. Marcie stepped forward, and she picked some equipment off the wall. The rest of us followed. I picked the closest bit of equipment that was not already taken.

  I slowly slid the bulletproof vest off the hooks first. As soon as it was no longer supported, I nearly dropped it on the floor. The sudden weight tipped my balance slightly. Damn, that’s heavy… I thought. I set it on the ground, and slipped off my overcoat. Struggling slightly against the weight and cursing my upper body muscles for never being truly built, I donned the vest.

  I then quickly clipped the helmet on and slipped my shoes off, replacing them with the heavy leather boots. After that, I slipped on the gloves, feeling the coolness of the fabric against my skin. I then replaced my coat. I looked up at the thing that completed the look. The gun.

  I grabbed it off the wall. It was surprisingly light and smooth in my hands, fitting perfectly. It felt… right. Which was concerning, but only slightly.

  After all, we were at war.

  I looked over at Seph. Somehow, in the strange outfit, he still managed to pull it off. Though I would love to yank that helmet off to see his face in its entirety. Hell, I’d love to yank everything-

  …And I ended that train of thought before it could wander any further.

  “Well, how do I look?” I asked, trying to get my brain back on the right track.

  Seph’s eyes wandered across my body, and he shrugged. “You look like a badass criminal going off to war.”

  “Well, at least exaggerate a little,” I said, chuckling softly.

  Seph drew himself up, arching his back, fluttering his eyes and placing his hand atop his forehead. With a lean and loads of inflection and emotion, he said: “Oh my god, Cade. You are the badass of badasses. The criminal of criminals. And what a massive gun you have. My, my, you don’t plan to… go to war?”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Everyone laughed, that is, save for Naomi and Vivian, who alway seemed to manage straight faces if they wanted to.

  “And that’s enough leaving you unsupervised,” Whiteford said, standing at the front of the door. It was obvious that she had seen at least part of Seph’s monologue.

  Seph instantly went back to his usual self, if not a little more timid. “We are ready, Officer Whiteford,” Keira said.

  Whiteford nodded. “Good. Come with me.”

  She led us out onto the open lawn. The chill was obvious nowadays, as winter was steadily approaching. A light dusting of snow would likely follow the current frost-covered grass shortly. But, my coat did wonders against the cold.

  We reached a building just behind the one that we had entered the original time. With the organization of the campus, each column being a letter and each row being a number, this building was A-2. It was the tallest on campus, almost like a skyscraper compared to the low-lying buildings. Except it couldn’t have been more than five stories tall.

  Whiteford briskly led us through the front door, not letting us even take a moment to stop and stare at the surroundings. I got glimpses through the crowd as we walked across the main floor - there were small meeting offices on balconies for the next two floors, before a roof, above which I presumed were the remainder of the floors.

  But Whiteford didn’t lead us up; she walked straight to the back of the room. People on the way stopped and respectfully bowed their heads at our passing. As soon as we had made our way across the room, Whiteford stopped and stepped aside, motioning at a staircase in front of us.

  It led down into a sleek metal hallway. Small groves were dug in the walls, each with a bright blue light. “This tunnel will lead you out into the countryside, near where he may have snuck out,” Whiteford said. “Go. Do not return until the sun has either set, Les has been brought back, Les has been confirmed dead, or all but one of you is alive.”

  On that cheery note, she whirled around and left.

  Seph was the first to step forward. He warily made his way down the stairs. I reluctantly followed him. The rest of the group walked down soon after. The tunnel was eerily empty - our footsteps being the only sounds other than a faint whirring in the background. But another sound soon joined it. The sound of cascading water appeared in the distance.

  I almost gasped as I realized that we must be in one of the tunnels off-shooting from the waterfall cavern.

  “All units, come in.” Whitefords voice crackled in my ear. I flinched at the surprise message. The rest of the Xarnon agents looked just as confused.

  Marcie, however, just lifted a finger to her helmet and responded. “All units present, confirmed.”

  I felt up towards my helmet as well, and felt a button. Whiteford’s voice came through the speaker again. “Take the next left when you see a branch.”

  “Alright,” Marcie responded.

  We briskly headed down the hallway. As soon as we turned, the next instruction came. “Follow this hallway and take a right at the staircase. Be careful, you will be out in a hilly field. There is little cover at that point. After that, spread out and secure Les.”

  Marcie, who seemed to now be the designated ‘message-responder’, responded with a confirmation that she had heard. We continued down the hallway until we reached the staircase.

  Another instruction came. “You’re on now, Seph. You have been chosen to lead.”

  I glanced at Seph, who seemed quite proud of his new position. He responded this time: “Affirmative.” He then turned to us. “Let’s move. Get your guns ready, just in case.”

  He stuck his weapon forward, and crept up the staircase. Markus and Keira backed him, their weapons pointed diagonally. The remainder of us followed, unsure of where exactly to point our weapons. We emerged onto the plains. Seph ordered us to get in a circle, and we complied, creating a deadly ring of armed agents.

  There were ten seconds of dead silence. The area was bleak, with pale green grass stretching out across bumps upon bumps. In the distance was a forest, where you could see the peaks of the tallest buildings of the Xarnon campus. They truly stuck this place in the middle of nowhere.

  “I think we’re clear,” Seph said, pulling back. We matched him. “Alright…” he began. “I guess we should split up.”

  “One of us will need to be with each group,” Markus said.

  “Alright. We can do two groups of three, one group of two,” Seph said. He paused, as if thinking. “Ok, Mel and Naomi can be with Markus. Me and Cade will be with Keira. And Vivian can go with Marcie.”

  Everyone seemed to have no problem with that. They all began nodding, and we went off with our groups. I approached Seph, and smiled. His face seemed to light up when I came close to him. Keira approached us as well. “Y’all ready?” she asked.

  “Yep,” me and Seph said simultaneously.

  Seph led us on somewhat of a roundabout route. “We’ll be going around in a somewhat arc-shape. We’ll need to cover the small bits where people could nestle themself in between the hills,” he explained.

  The grass was crunchy under our feet as we trekked the first five-minute leg of our journey. We aimed to go further away from everyone else in order to cover more ground. There were little trees, each one being at least 20 meters away from the next bit of cover. We finally reached an entirely different area of the plain.

  The hills got steeper here, more variation in height.

  “Well, if I didn’t want to be seen, I would be up there,” I said, pointing to the tallest hill.

  Keira nodded. “Being back there does seem the most logical place to cower.”

  “Then let’s head there,” Seph said.

  “O-” I began.

  And then I was on the ground and my head was spinning, spinning, spinning.

  “What the fuck?” I mumbled, feeling for the bump on my head and trying to get up.

  I was shoved to the ground again. “Stay down,” Keira hissed. “There are possibly hostile units on that hill.”

  I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision. Keira had shoved us behind a low bush. I could barely see dark figures moving along a hill in the distance.

  “There has to be something going on here,” Seph muttered.

  While he was thinking, I pressed the button on my helmet. “Possible hostile units moving along a ridge into your direction,” I said.

  Seph’s eyes glanced along the path in which they moved along. “They came from behind that hill.”

  Keira and I looked at where his gaze was. “It seems so,” she said.

  Seph looked at the two of us, deadly serious. “That must be where Les is.”

  As soon as Seph spoke that, gunshots erupted in the distance.

  “Fuck,” the three of us said - almost at the same time.

  Keira rose. “We’ve got to go now, while they’re distracted.”

  Seph blinked at her a few times. He bit his lip. “Fine.”

  Without another moment to pause, we took off running, hoping no one would gun us down in the process.