Not A P.E.I.P

Chapter 5: Sophia

Once again, Sophia felt like the only qualified adult in the group.

For a brief period of time, she had thought that Owen might fit that title, but when she passed the foyer and heard him making some kind of bet with Junior, all hope for that went right out the window. Idiot, nothing good can ever come from a bet with someone like him. But, that's his own damn problem, Sophia was busy scoping out the area.

The house came with a fair bit of food, and looked like it had been lived in rather recently, with things that would normally go bad still fresh, and drawers open haphazardly. She narrowed her eyes as she came across a cracked picture frame on the bedside table of the master bedroom, no photo inside. This all felt very... Off.

It certainly didn't help that the person she was choosing to put her faith in looked startlingly like her shit-for-brains husband. The General was proving to be much more rational and intelligent than Jack. Still, the sight of him running a military was unsettling. But she had to trust him, he was sticking his neck out for them on very little reason.

She thought back to the conversation they'd had in private, at her own request. She still had no idea why he agreed to hear her out. It may very well have been that her worry for Sally came as out a vicious motherly rage, and was proof enough that she had a heart. Or maybe it scared him, but likely not. The kid, she looked so much like her daughter, Melissa. It set something off when she fainted, and after making sure Sally was well taken care of, she screamed bloody murder at McNamara. Externally, he didn't seem very phased, but quickly had Sally escorted to their temporary living area, and the others into an extremely long and frustrating briefing.

Afterwards, Sophia approached him, still mad as hell. And she had a good reason! What was going on? When could they leave? She asked him to explain himself, to which he told her he couldn't, it was "classified" or some other load of bull. So, she asked to speak to him alone to "sort some shit out", still steaming. He hesitated before responding, which was odd. He hadn't hesitated at anything else before. But, he caved, and escorted her to yet another creepy room, this one nothing more than a metal box, a metal table, and two chairs. He said he'd be more willing to disclose information if she gave him a reason to trust them all.

Now, Sophia couldn't speak for the others, so she just spoke for herself, telling the general what she'd done before she got sent here. The last thing she'd remembered was going to sleep, thinking her family was finally safe in Oregon, only to wake up in that creepy room. She caught herself close to tears a few times as she recounted everything they'd been through, but held it together fairly well, telling the story as it was. The General was silent for a long time afterwards, staring at her with a furrowed brow and a deep frown. Just as she felt ready to say something else, he stood, and explained where he was going to move the group, and what the plan was.

Sophia sighed, frustrated as she thought about it. He'd given her a phone before the others, telling her that she'd be responsible for the others. Not much had changed in that way. The two younger ones, Sally and Draco, they looked so much like hers... She shook her head, clearing that thought away. No need to get emotional about it, she'd just have to hope they weren't as idiotic as hers. She took one last look at the cracked frame before heading into the kitchen. It was getting close to dinner time by now, and it was obvious that the majority of the group likely couldn't cook. At least, not well.

Besides, after everything that happened today, she thought they needed some comfort food from mom.