Revenge--The 5th Wave *Fanfic* ON PAUSE

Prologue

I look down at my blood covered pants and let out a long breath. I'm sitting up against a tree trunk with a knife still stuck in my leg. I was always told not to pull things like that out, otherwise I'll bleed out much more. Damn I wish this was a dream.

But nope.

I grab my water (or whatever is left of it) and chug it down. Fuck you, stupid alien creatures. A migraine is swirling in my head and I can feel the thumping of my pulse in my leg where I was stabbed. I'm light headed and feel like I could pass out any second. I wonder what would happen if I was already dead, y'know? I wouldn't have to be miserable in this shithole of a forest on the side of the road. I tilt my head back so it hits the back of the tree. My eyes feel droopy like right before you climb under the nice cozy covers of your bed. Damn. My bed. I miss my bed. Instead I'm leaning on a tree for support because I can't do anything else. Yipty damn doo.

As I stare out I can see Marika high five-ing me after I managed to hit the dummy's head.

"Nice work Sphinx" she's grinning as she takes the rifle out of my hands and aims. 'Sphinx' was her nickname for me.

"I wonder how we haven't been caught yet." I stare out into the field and cover my ears as she shoots. It doesn't do much but its something. Marika was the only other person I could trust, or even considered my family, aside from my little sister. My brother always hated me, and my parents were never really there for me.

"Yeah like my dead beat dad is gonna come looking for us." She sighs and hands me the gun.

"We'll always have each others backs, don't worry."

The memory fades as I come back to reality. Tears sting my eyes. I've let her down. I've let everyone down. I shift around trying to find a somewhat comfortable position where a root isn't digging into my ass. I close my eyes and imagine playing a board game with the five of us, but May would get too tired and I would have to would pick her up and carry her up the stairs to tuck her in. I would crawl into my own bed and immediately fall asleep not realizing I was actually tired.

* * *

I think thinking of sleeping made be actually sleep because next thing I know I'm on a bus. A kid next to me is clutching my arm and his head resting on my lap. I have the urge to move him but I can't bring myself to do it.

He can't be much older than six and it scares me. He's got short-ish brown hair with a couple curls but it's more of "I just got out of bed and it's been a rough night hair" kind of hair. He has a small backpack resting on his lap. I notice he's got dried tears and mud all over his face. Poor kid. Wonder what he went through. I reach my hand down to my leg. Thank god this kid isn't resting on my bad leg. I notice the knife isn't stuck in it anymore and instead is wrapped with a blood soaked towel. Underneath what is probably a whole roll of gauze. My hands aren't covered in blood anymore which is good, since it wasn't mine anyways. Well part of it wasn't.

I look around and notice the bus is almost completely filled. I'm not sure where we're going, but I think this kid has the right idea. I lean my head against the cool glass window and close my eyes.

* * *

We hit a bump and I jolt awake. I think it startled the kid next to me because he let out a scream, Ow.

The bus stops in a large paved parking lot. I hear the loud whirl of a chopper above us and a man steps on the bus. All our heads shoot up as he speaks.

"Hey kids my name is Major Bob!" He sounds cheerful for an alien apocalypse. "Welcome to Wright Patterson Air Base, I'm going to need all of you to follow me off the bus."

All the kids get up one by one and the little boy who was sitting next to me grabs my hand. The man who was just speaking disappears as the bus driver (who is also an officer) starts handing out little aluminum cards with numbers on them.

"Stand in the red circle while you wait for your number to be called." He repeats as the kids get off the bus.

"295!" An officer with a megaphone calls out and a boy raises his hand nervously. He walks up and is led out.

I look down to see my number, '381'. Great this'll be a while.

"304!" He announces after a couple minutes. The boy next to me turns towards me before he walks away and waves. I force a smile and wave back. He walks off and the wind whips my face as I look around.

There's water all over the ground, tinted red... delightful. The sky is dark and the clouds make it look foggy. The only lights I can see are the flashlights the officers have and the headlights on cars and buses. After what feels like forever, I'm called.