Blue Moon

Chapter 32

Drew showed up at their place later on that day. He had two guards with him, which he left outside their front door.

They gathered in the living room. Alona thought it was weird since they normally gathered in the kitchen.

They all stared at Drew expectantly, wondering exactly what he needed to say.

"I know. This is happening earlier than we thought." He ran his hands over his face. It was easy to see he was stressed about the upcoming war.

"We've found a group of castle guards hiding out in a building in the old city above us." He stood and walked around the room, "Which is nothing new, but we began monitoring them and found out someone was feeding them info."

Alona thought of the attacks on their shabby building, the drips of red paint still stained the sidewalk. It seemed even in their safe haven they weren't safe.

"They were trying to breach our security system. They almost succeeded. We captured them and placed them in the prison. Unfortunately, they killed themselves with cyanide tooth implants before we could get everything we needed to know. We do know there is a new king and that he was war general." Drew dropped down onto the couch next to Greg.

Greg wasn't used to seeing Drew like they were, he always watched Drew in admiration. Although he spent time working with Drew's men, he was always in the background, never fully working beside Drew.

Arlo shifted slightly on the couch across from them, "What's your plan?" It was obvious Arlo was ready for action.

Drew pulled a square, notebook-like device out of his messenger bag and placed it on the table between them. He pressed a button on the side and a holographic map spread across the table.

"This is the castle." He pointed to a red area on the map, it zoomed in to show a representation of the castle. "Your team will still do as we planned before. Even if they know you are coming, we need you on the inside. Ground troops will use the tunnels around the castle; we will use three tunnels from different directions. This will be the main attack, on the guards surrounding the walls of the castle. As Arlo's group will be deployed by ship at the top of the main tower and move down, killing the king and his guards along the way."

Alona thought of the busted window she had watched Arlo swing through. That had been the first time she saw him, with glass and laser beams flying through the air beside him. She knew he would be able to do anything he was assigned.

"Who is on my team?" Arlo asked.

Alona was shocked Arlo wasn't picking his own team.

"Whoever you want, Arlo. You always pick your team." Drew looked at him confused.

Arlo nodded and glanced at Alona. 

Alona saw the look, she knew what it meant. He wasn't choosing her. She wasn't ready. She felt her heart crack. She thought back to this morning and the previous night, she thought things had changed. Here was her chance to prove herself, to show him and everyone in the Rebel City that she belonged. Most importantly, it was her chance to prove to herself she could survive here, in this time.

"As these small groups are moving through the castle the rest of the army will be surrounding the castle and securing the town." Drew zoomed out to include to surrounding town.

Seeing the hologram made Alona think of her time at the castle. She felt the guards kicks, she tasted the drugs, she saw the faces of the disgusting people. She would have liked to kick in the door and thrown in an atomic bomb. Those sick people, with their twisted ideals. She felt sick to her stomach just thinking about them.