In The Shadows

Chapter Twelve

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*****

Copper.

Bitter and strong on my tongue.

I pressed a shaking hand to my mouth and brought back scarlet blood on my finger.

Voices. Someone was shouting my name. I groaned and shifted from the lying down position. I twisted around to the origin of the voices, blinking against the shock of the moment, and scooching to lean up against the support of the column.

"Irine?" I grunted, looking over in her direction. My muscles cried out and my mouth was bitter with blood, but as soon as I saw her all of that didn't matter.

It was the explosion of her vest that had sent me sprawling backwards. Within seconds, it popped like a kernel in a pan, unexpected and vicious. Her arm was squished between the column and her vest, and she yelled for me to help her. Because it hurt. Because there was a bruise already blossoming in violet swirls.

I scrambled over to her grape-like form and pushed her over an inch, freeing her arm. As soon as it was free, she beat against the vest in an angry storm, swinging her legs like Lauren had done. Tears glistened in the corners of her eyes, almost sizzling on her infuriatingly reddened face.

"How-" I gasped. "What happened?"

"They cheated is what happened!" She burst out, following it with a stream of extremities. Her curly hair kissed the carpet as she wriggled around, pointing animatedly through the window and towards where the shooter was. "He wasn't a trainee. That guy was the one that took us in, an officer. And he wasn't wearing a vest either. "

"What? That doesn't even make sense. This exercise is for trainees only."

"Whether it makes sense or not, I just lost because that bloke decided to cheat."

"It's okay, it's just a dumb exercise," I reassured. "Stop, breathe. Take a second and breathe. There's no reason to get so worked up at this." I gripped her hand in mine, waiting for her rapid breathing to slow. "You're fine."

She rolled her eyes, blood obviously still boiling. "I know, I know. You're right. It just makes me so mad. We were so close, I could smell the victory. We could have done it together. Yet here I am, like one of those dumb roly poly bugs who can't seem to get right side up."

Despite myself, I laughed. "It's okay, we made it this far together."

She scoffed, "Together, we literally made it two steps. Whatever, it's not like I'm dead or anything. Please just go before you waste your chance and some other kid takes the banner."

"You got it." I glanced around the side of the column before dashing over to the door that would lead me up to the roof.

"Amber?" She called out and I turned my head to look over at her giant balloon form. "When you come back down those stairs, I expect a game plan that will guarantee a win."

"You'll have nothing less," I promised and whipped the door open to an echoing stairwell. I readjusted my gun in my arms, the foreign metal pressed up against my chest in preparation for an unwanted ambush. My boots pounded against the stairs, matching the beat of my angry heart, and I burst through the door.

Wind whispered through my hair, carrying the secrets of the other soldiers. The sounds of where they are. Of who's winning, who's losing, who's scared, and who's not. I crept to the edge of the roof, anxiousness of the unknown soldiers waiting for a chance to shoot at my vest spreading throughout my body down to the tips of my toes so that I had to shift from foot to foot in order to keep from jumping up and crying.

From here, I could see the banner. It was exactly how General Kane had described it, midnight black with the army's navy blue insignia in the center. It waved at the soldiers who stood in the shadows, shaking in their boots, beckoning and taunting, almost daring, them to take a step closer. To try to dethrone it. The only problem was that it was in the middle of all the buildings, where anyone and everyone could hide with the single intention of ending anyone's chances with the simple twitch of their finger. All of the soldiers that formed a surrounding circle, lying on the ground in their inflated vests, were proof of exactly that.

I huffed, flexing my fingers from their cramped position and tried to figure out a plan. I could see the figures hiding in the alleys, pacing back and forth, debating about how they should go about this insane test. I could see the ones who had determined that if they couldn't reach the banner, then no one would, the ones lines up on the roofs with guns perched over the side, flinching at the slightest breath.

There was the "go for it and run" plan, but I would be eating dirt as my vest exploded within a matter of seconds. There was a defensive plan where I could protect myself with my gun, but I had promised myself I wouldn't shoot at someone again. There was also the possibility of forming a team, but I had arrived here yesterday. I had no clue who to trust and who to avoid.

A crash came from the street below, off to the right where the back alley was, and I shot over to see what the commotion was. A skinny girl with dirty blonde hair had run into a trash can, sending the metal lid skidding across the dirty ground and into the wall, before she took off down the alley.

An idea sparked in my head like a bright, shiny light bulb, and I snuck back towards the staircase, palms sweating in the hope that it would work.

Irine's head popped up when she heard the door, sinking down when she saw it was me, her curls crowning her head in their relaxation. "Anything?"

"You bet." I grinned, sprinting over to a column.

"And?" She prompted.

"It's a death trap out there, I wouldn't make it by just running out. Especially now that we know there are other people, the officers, who are hiding and targeting trainees."

"Good optimism." Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

I instantly thought of when I had been betrayed and ambushed with only a trash can lid to shield me from their hungry blanks. That would be my way in, by becoming untouchable and beating everyone at their own game. They thought, the officers and blood thirsty trainees both, that there was no way to take the banner without a bloodbath, that merely walking up wouldn't work. But I would be here to prove them wrong.

"How do you plan on getting past them?"

I smirked. "By fighting fire with fire."

******

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- Scarlett