Defying Destiny

3- Change in Plans-ish

The marching finally gets far enough away that I decide it's time to move before we are caught again. While we had waited, Serenity made a splint for Carlie while I tried to get in contact with someone outside of the town to send backup. No one had answered, of course.

Serenity climbs out to scout out the area to make sure we were going at the right time. Serenity gave a signal to us and we climbed out cautiously. Carlie winces as she pulls out my bag. Whoops. Me, being the forgetful child I am, left it in there but Carlie was nice enough to pull out for me even with a hurt leg.

"I don't think it's safe in there Rey," Carlie said when she caught sight of the ruined building that was once a magnificent sight.

I sigh and ignore the comment. Too many other things were going on to worry about what she said. I continue to walk but Serenity grabs my collar.

"What are you doing? You are going to get yourself hurt and then we won't be able to help you because you walked off!" Carlie nods after this comment. Serenity's glare broke me. I try to apologize, but I couldn't figure out how to. I continue to walk towards the school building, pulling my hand gun out of my bag. It was always nice to feel it in my hand. Almost as familiar as my own hand.

Serenity and Carlie walk in front of me while random thoughts pop into my head. Serenity checks around multiple corners before letting us continue on. The maze of buildings got harder and harder to navigate from the burning and smouldering building materials. I was still in my head, seeing images of my poor sister. I didn't even want to go on if they weren't alive. Really, I didn't want to go on if they took her as a prisoner of war.

Eventually, I lost Serenity and Carlie.

I don't care. I have tears streaming down my face and I can't walk any farther. I sit and pull my knees up to my chest. I just stayed there, thinking. It wasn't my thing to think. It was mainly Serenity you saw lost in thought.

I sit in a crib wrapped in a plush pink blanket. A man and a woman walk into the room, holding hands. The woman holds a stuffed polar bear with a bow in her hand. I find myself giggling at their goofy faces. The man leans down to lift me from my comfy palace of plush pink stuffed animals. He holds me in his strong, scarred arms. He whispers to me, "You will be great, Audrey Madison Young."

The woman leans in and kisses my bright blonde hair. I feel a smile tug at my lips. "Your daddy will be back very soon, but right now he has to go and fight the war." I couldn't understand the silly words they pronounced so beautifully in their sweet soft voices. The man put me back down into my crib and the woman, now with tears in her eyes, put the soft polar bear into my little chubby arms.

"Audrey, I-, "

"Audrey! We have been looking for you for hours!" I hear Carlie call to me before I see them. I feel their arms wrap around me and lift me up. I realize that they have flashlights and it is very dark. Serenity is holding me up while Carlie wipes my face with some towels.

"We went into the main building, thinking you had already gone in there because you were mad at us. We almost got caught because they had this meeting thing in the classrooms about searching and finding the Renegade HQ and any information regarding them," Serenity hugs me while she tells me this. Carlie nods and fixes my hair into a messy bun. "We also saw them take the students- any of them they didn't kill. They took everyone that was in the kindergarten complex and the Grade 1-5 school and shoved them into vans and planes with shackels on their feet. We didn't see Mia though." I covered my mouth and and choked on the rising tears. Is she dead? Why wasn't she with her class in the Grade school? Mia? Where are you? My mind seems to race with the thoughts of what happened to Mia.

They remembered about me. I smile to myself, making a mental note to never abandon them. "What time is it?" My voice surprises me because it sounds grotesque and cracked at every syllable.

"It's almost two in the morning, Rey," Carlie sounds unamused and it was the first time I notice the bags under her eyes.

"Let's get going so we can get out of here," Serenity starts to walk and we follow behind.

When we got to the main walkway, all I could see was destruction. From our view, most of the top of the building was burnt to a charred black. The east side was under piles of burning rubble. There was no one seen on this side of the school but we could hear shouting from a distance.

I open the main building doors as silently as I can. The silence is eerie and the halls are dark. The Government either cut the power once they were done with their meeting or the Keepers of the building flipped the breaker switch. The main building in the school complex was where everything important was located. The office, the administration of School One, School Two, School Three, all three cafeterias, and the Allocation check in. I head up the stairs towards the cafeterias. Serenity stays farther behind, checking to make sure we aren't being followed. The silence gives me goose bumps. This hallway has never been quiet in all of my years here. Creeping past the library, I finally reach one set of cafeteria doors with a sign on top of it reading "Grade 9-12 Only Entrance." Serenity and Carlie were still behind me, examining papers scattered on the ground.

Thank goodness we have a set of doors that don't squeak, I think to myself as I walk into the ransacked cafeteria. All of the cafeterias are the same, but I couldn't bear to go into one of the ones for the lower grades. Too many faces would haunt me. The walls were supposed to be a sterile blue and pale green, but as of right now, they're covered in unknown substances that smelt like rotten eggs, ketchup, and cat pee. A ticking sound, I assume the "lunch lady" machine, echoed in the large room that could hold almost one thousand people. All of the tables are flipped or completely destroyed, blocking the easiest path to the actual lunch line. A poor kid about my age in a Government uniform was crushed under a table, blood streaming from his nose. That's what made the Government so cruel- they would draft anyone into their army.

I don't see anything for a while and I start to worry. It was too quiet, too perfect. Even though it was two in the morning and completely torn apart, it felt forced. Holding my gun up, I see movement in the corner of the cafeteria where the freezers are. They're here. It's okay, your friends are here, I tell myself.

I use what's left of my voice to call to Serenity and Carlie to come help me even though I could barely hear myself. Why I was in there I had no idea but I needed backup. Fortunately, Carlie and Serenity came into the large cafeteria from the back doors.

I continued to sneak along the perimeter of the bland cafeteria. Serenity and Carlie crept through the abandoned salad bar that we hadn't used in years on the opposite side.

I walk down the hot lunch line. "Please scan your Allocation Card," the machine to take your lunch money says in a monotone voice. I kick the scanner really hard, and its holographic barrier disappears. I continue to walk through. I see Carlie peeking over the serving spot. I sigh with relief. Running over to her, I see her hiding behind the carts using the milk cart as a barrier.

"Guys I feel like we shouldn't be here," I say to them once I get closer. They nod in unision and stand up slowly.

They walk towards the doors out of the cafeteria. I quickly walk towards the freezer and try to open it. The ticking becomes more imminent and I start to wonder what it is. My curiosity took over and I started searching for the source.

"Audrey! Get down!"