Damage Me

Chapter 19

There is going to be a war today. Hundreds of people will die. Men, women, even children. Dead.

There is going to be a war today, and my father is responsible.

Aaron and I have been ordered to stay on base and commandeer the whole process.

Our father said he has a surprise for us later.

Our talk with our father last night was more like an interrogation.

He was asking for everything and anything we knew and learned about Omega Point while we were being held hostage.

We lied and said we didn't remember much because we were locked away most of the time, and each question he asked led to another lie.

As expected, our father shared even less than we did. He mostly told us what we already knew; about the war, when it's going to happen, etcetera. But there's one thing he told us that I haven't been able to get off my mind.

He plans to bomb Omega Point. All of those who are not fighting, the elders, and the kids.

The poor children. When he told us that, I felt my stomach lurch and I felt sick, and my father called me out on it, on being weak.

I wanted to kill him.

Kill him before he can hurt anyone else, because he's not doing it for the right reasons.

He simply feels like it. Someone makes him mad and god-forbid he can't let it go.

I hear the com in my room buzz.

I answer it.

It's Delaleiu.

Right away I know.

The war has begun.

• • • • • •

I throw open my door, almost running directly into Aaron.

He looks scared.

Without saying a word, we bolt towards the elevators, and they ding open and we quickly get in.

I'm begging them to go faster, and when they open again we run out of them, slipping through the opening.

We're fast walking through the hallways, shouting orders at the few remaining soldiers left on base.

At one point I have to stop walking. I put a hand out, and lean against the wall.

"Are you alright?" Aaron asks.

I nod.

"We should rest," I say.

Aaron looks confused. "Rest? There's a goddamn war happening out there. We can't rest."

"There's nothing we can do, Aaron. Not right now. And you know it."

He looks at me for a long time, then sighs, nodding his head.

"Okay then." I say.

We will just have to wait.

• • • • • •

Aaron and I are sprinting down the hallways, and the whole world feels like it's in slow motion, like I can't possibly be moving fast enough.

We just got word that, only hours ago, Juliette was seen kicking and screaming and being bagged, dragged and driven away by our fathers supreme guard.

There is only one place he could have taken her, so that's where we are heading now.

We clamber in the tank, and this time I'm the one driving because I think if Aaron were to try, he would lose control and get us wound up in a ditch.