The Choosing

Chapter Twenty-Six

The bubbly feeling in my chest didn't last long, as all of the exits of the house quickly shut. I heard what must have been the clicks of all the locks before metal restraints came down and locked as well.

"What the hell?"

Essence yanked at the restraints that covered a window. They didn't shift or budge an inch. Whatever was going on had to be serious for these kinds of precautions. I had never seen security this sophisticated.

"Something must be wrong," I mumbled while studying the restraints on the window Essence was taking on.

"Yeah," Cade agreed. "It's most likely something to do with The Town. How are we supposed to prepare when we don't know what the problem is though?"

He made a good point. All of these security measures were great and all, but I had a feeling it would stop the mind-controlled soldiers from The Town.

"What about that communication system that the woman that brought us here talked about? I feel like she said it was like in a wall or something?" Essence said.

"You are brilliant!" I exclaimed, running down the flight of stairs.

Cade and Essence followed as we searched for something in the walls. I assumed it would be some type of screen. Maybe if we found this we would be able to ask somebody what was going on. I looked and felt across the walls of the hallways praying that the communication device was near-by.

"Found it," Cade called from the room with the large couch.

I jogged to where Cade was to see him tapping on a large screen.

"Welcome to Comunicon," Essence read out loud. "Please enter your user name and password."

I groaned and stared at the screen. How in the world were we supposed to log in?

"How are we supposed to get on now?" I asked, hoping one of them would have an idea.

"Do we know anybody that lives here?" Essence pondered.

Cade's eyes widened and he started typing furiously on the small letters on the screen. He filled in both a username and a password, but stopped before pressing 'done'.

"I hope this works," he whispered.

"Well if you don't press the stupid button we'll never know," Essence sassed.

Cade rolled his eyes, "Shut up, I'm gonna-"

I leaned over Cade and pressed the button to stop their bickering. We all sat in silence as the little green bar filled up. The loading screen seemed to take forever as my anticipation built. The sudden sound of screaming and gunshots outside didn't help either.

"This better work," I said, my voice shaking.

"If it doesn't," Cade started, "We'll fight."

Essence flinched at a gunshot, "We'll fight even if it means we don't all make it."

"Yeah," I agreed, uneasily.

They both seemed so certain and unafraid of death. How was I supposed to tell them that I was terrified of dying? I was practically shaking thinking of having to kill again. It was safe to say I had many mental scars that weren't going to fade easily. I mean, unless I died today.

"Yes!"

My eyes flitted to the screen to see tons of message bubbles flying at the speed of light. They all seemed to be talking about what was happening outside.

"How did you sign in?" Essence asked Cade.

His eyes were glued to the screen, "I knew somebody that ran away from The Town. They said something about Pax so I figured maybe they were here and bingo, they were."