Eorþe

Chapter 1

Jupiter

I walked through the door, handing my handgun to Mitchel, our weapons man. I kept my hunting knife in the sleeve of my boot, making sure it was on me at all times.

I didn't trust anyone these days; That was for sure.

I sauntered up to the bar that was in the far back corner of the underground tavern we were located in. It was barely visible with all the darkness that ate up all the light the small lanterns emitted.

I sat on a ragged pillow top stool, stealing a glance at Amara, our leader, and Darren, the third best of our group.

There were only 4 of us now.

Amara, she was a spunky blonde with an eye for crazy. She knew all of our secrets, how? No one really knew. She was pretty tall, maybe 5'8. She had bright blue eyes, and dimples to die for. She controlled the tavern, making sure we all knew what to do and how to do it. No one really knew her past, Darren tried to get close to her at one point but all he got was a door slammed in his face. Amara stayed to herself since then, unless we needed to go on supply runs.

Then there was Darren, a handsomely dark man. He was probably 24, compared to my 20 years and Amara's 22. He had dark brown hair and even darker eyes. He was built with muscle, probably running track in high school and the star quarterback as well. He never talked much, but when he did he always put his two sense in; no one wanted it. He had a small lisp, and he bullied anyone who said anything about it. When I met him I had giggled at him and he pulled his hand cannon out at me. To say I was scared was an understatement.

There was me, and lastly there was Mitchel or Mitch. He took care of all of our weapons and ammo. Making sure they were all cleaned and cared for, he was also our Techie. He worked with our communicators, making sure they didn't glitch out and get us killed. He could hack any system we needed within minutes. He was very dire to our situation. He was smart. Probably smarter than all of us. He understood everyone here and if there was a problem with anyone we went to him. He was our personal therapist. He didn't sign up for that though. He saved my life when I first arrived here so I owed him. I owed him big time.

I kicked my feet up on another stool under the bar where I sat, "I scouted the alleys. There's a few patrols walking the streets but other than that, there isn't anything else worth worrying about,"

I took a sip of the water Mitchel handed me, "I do believe they're still looking for the Rouge," I called to the group. I shrugged my shoulders, turning around and looking at Amara who sat behind me at a table.

"Did you hear anything else that could lead us to him?" Amara cooed, wanting me to speak more about my encounter.

"No," I lied. I had heard plenty. They had found a trail of blood leading to a club not far from here that was in use of civilians needing a little, how did they put it, fun, in the middle of this alien apocalypse.

I just needed to know why he had helped me that night, and then I would turn him into the group for whatever else they desired.

"Okay, let me know if anything else comes up," she paused,"Darren, come with me," Amara spoke while Darren just sat there, not amused at her Command.

"What's the magic word, Princess?" Darren cooed right back, in a sickly sweet voice, like he was talking to a baby. It didn't suit him. His voice was too deep and his lisp was too prominent to sound alluring.

"If you don't come with me, I'll be sure to shove that gun you're cleaning up you-"

"Amara, play nice. Darren's just screwing with you," I cut in, not wanting to hear Amara's threat. She threw those out there like compliments.

Darren rolled his eyes and got up, slowly making his way to the living area, closing the makeshift door we had placed in the hallway.

I didn't want to know what they were doing in there. They had their days, and today seemed to me one. Filling the time with each other's presence even though they claimed to hate one another.

The tavern was weird, but good for hiding. It was completely underground, only able to get into it by a creepy staircase or a secret tunnel system going through the sewers. It had disgusted me the first time i set eyes on it, insects crawled all over. It smelled like an infection. But I knew, somewhere in my gut, that this was the right way to go. The mice didn't like me entering through there, that's for sure.

That's how I got in, through the disease infested sewer entrance. Another pang hit me, scenes from before washing over me, losing focus on anything else, my brain began to spew memories.

I crawled through the sewers, not wanting to face the Xylians patrolling the streets above me.

There was a halfway broken door, cracked open. It was small, moss and dirt had overtaken it, uprooting it from the place it sat. It sat there, asking me to go through it.

So I did.

The area I had entered seemed to be a storage unit of sorts. It was filled to the brim with shelves and drawers filled with food and supplies. No rodents or insects were in here though, so that was a plus.

I had been on my own for almost a year and didn't realize how much of a luxury it was.

I ran to the nearest cabinet and grabbed the closest food can I could get; canned pears. I gulped them down, and another, and another. Almost choking on the whole pears in the can. What I didn't think to notice was the click of a gun being turned off of safety and a cold metal being touched to the back of my neck.

"Please-" I had started to beg when I was knocked in the back of my head with the butt of the gun.

"Mitchel, I need my weapon. I'm going for a run."

"You need a bow? For a.. run..?" Mitchel looked at me, curiosity filled his eyes.

"Look, Mitch, I know you're smart, so you obviously know somethings up, but for your own good, I hope to the gods above you do not follow me. Because if you do I will make you-"

"Okay Jupiter, I get it. But if Amara asks, I'm obligated to tell her you're gone. Your guns in the armory."

"Thank you Mitch!" I pretty much screamed and kissed him on the cheek. I didn't bother to look back as I ran towards the locked door, eyes straight for my target.

As I got into the closet, that only Mitchel calls the amory, I saw all of our weapons. We had three walls filled. There were 2 tables with small grenades and C-4 sitting with their detonators. I never messed with explosives like that. It wasn't my specialty. I walked to the ranged weapons wall and picked up my bow, grabbed my sling of arrows and equipped them on my back, I turned, but before I left my eyes caught the sight of a red tipped arrow sitting on the explosives table.

"Why not," I mumbled to myself. I took the only arrorow I saw sitting on the table and put it in my quiver, and set off for the hunt that was about to go down.

____________________________________

I sat on top of a building, opposite the club that was about a block away from the blood trail i had heard about earlier, binoculars in hand. It was dark outside and the club had just opened. I was waiting for any sign of Xylians.

It had been about an hour, sitting in the cold chilly air, nothing but a thin jacket over the black T-shirt I wore. The knife holster and my quiver of arrows were really ticking me off, making me wonder why I was doing this in the first place...

For Saturn. That's why.

I jumped out of my thoughts when I heard a door slam at the back of the club. I grabbed my binoculars, looking through.

A set of gold and silver eyes locked onto mine. Sending shivers down my spine.

I'm screwed.