Instinct {Book 1 in Instinct}

Chapter Twenty- Eight

Milo

    The following morning I woke up to Allonia still on my chest. I smile to myself kissing her forehead. "Good morning." I tell her as she slowly looks up at me with a yawn.
    "Goodmorning." She smiles at me before getting up and grabbing some clothes. I wait a bit before actually getting up. I groggily walk to the kitchen ang grab an orange. In the middle of my peeling I hear a slight knock and then someone walks in.
    "Good Morning! Rise and shine!" Jacob's obnoxious voice rings throughout the house. I groan it is too early for this behavior. "Come on we have a long day of planning to get through."
    "Allonia isn't ready. She is going to see her family today." I try not to roll my eyes at Jacob.
    "Was it necessary for you to run here?" Raph asks Jacob as he finally walks into the house.
    "I need to get in my cardio anyway necessary. Now if that is a morning run it's a morning run." Jacob shrugs as he plops down across from me.
    "There is something wrong with you." I glare at him.
    "Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Jacob scrunches his face at me.
    "We can leave when Allonia is ready." I tell them as we all sit and wait.
    It took Allonia roughly a good 30 minutes before she was actually in the kitchen. She had on a pair of shorts and a black tank top paired with a pair of black sneakers. Her hair is in one of those low buns that she likes to do. She doesn't look like she was paying attention until she walked into the room to find Jacob and Raph in the room.
    "Hey guys." She tells them with a flash of a smile.
    "Good Morning sleeping beauty." Jacob smiles back with a wink. Allonia giggles as I just roll my eyes.
    "Are you ready to go? I can walk you over to your family." I tell her as she pours a cup of water.
    "Yeah. Whenever you guys are good to go." She gets a granola bar and we leave. Her family only lived a five minute walk away so we were there rather quickly. Allonia knocks on the door as soon as we make it, and her mom opens the door.
    "Good morning." Sandra smiles at us. "Do you guys want to come inside?"
    Before I could answer Jacob tells her yes and we all make our way into the home. They had already put their personal touches on the home. There are family photos everywhere as well as other decorative items.
    I stopped at a photo of their family, they were at a beach it looks like. Allonia was glaring at Andreus as he ruffled her hair as Alondra was trying to get in the middle of the two. Her dad was holding a crying toddler which I assume is Ancel as both of their parents are laughing at each other.
    "That's from the last family trip we had before everything happened." Allonia comes up from behind me. "I made sure we had the picture when they were transferring us." She lets out a low sigh as she analyses the photo. Sadness welled in her eyes at the memory.
    "Allonia!" Andreus smiles as he hugs his sister.
    "Put me down!" She cries of laughter.
    "And I thought you would have missed me." Andreus pouts as he puts her down.
    "Sometimes." She chuckles.
    "Milo." He puts his hand out for me to shake and I do.
    "How is everyone settling?" I ask.
    "Mom likes it. It's smaller than our other house but I guess she likes that. Brings us closer." He shrugs as he looks around the home.
    "Well that's good." I tell him as Allonia finds herself walking off.
    "Look, Milo I know you're planning something to get our brother back. I also know Allonia is going as well." Andreus made sure to keep eye contact with me. "She is my baby sister and if anything happens to her on that trip. My family won't be able to handle it. Even if we get Ancel back. So I am going to say this as nice as possible because I do like you. If Allonia comes back hurt in any way or something happens to her it is on you." I knew he was serious. I honestly don't blame him. I would do the same for Luna. I nod in response.
    "I understand." I tell him.
    "We should get going. Ted and Jess should be there already." Raph tells me as we all give our goodbyes and walk out of the door.
~~~~~
3 years ago
    "We will be back before you know it." My mom tells me as she grabs her bag to leave.
    "Keep an eye on your sister." My dad tells me as they both walk out the door.
    My parents were the best soldiers that the chief had, so it wasn't unusual for them to have to leave to go on rough missions. They did all of this among other parents to make sure we were all safe. They got food and other necessities from another camp nearby that we had all of our agricultural needs done. It was a few days trip away. I watched from the front door as they both walked hand in hand with one another.
    "They will be back Milo." I hear Luna come up behind me.
    "Still doesn't make it any less risky." I respond as our parents leave from our view.
    "You know how it is though." Luna tells me before she walked back to her room.
   
    I sat at home for another hour or so before I decided I wanted to see what Raph and Jacob were up to. "Parents are gone again?" Jacob asks as soon as I sit down on the bench.
    "Yeah but they are supposed to be here in a couple days." I shrugged. I got used to being the only one here for my sister but it does still worry about my parents. As of right now stakes between us and the government are high. Even with a so-called treaty that makes us safe from them they still find loopholes and start problems with anyone who leaves the confines of the camp.
    WIth that being said before leaving the camp we get debriefed and understand that there is a chance that we won't come back home. We have all come to terms with this so it wasn't always a surprise when people came up missing to be honest. I stayed with Jacob and Raph majority of the day until it got too late and we all went home. When I walked into the house my face dropped when I saw Luna sitting down with Chief Gam.
    "What's wrong?" I ask as I shut the door behind me.
    "Milo I suggest you sit down." Chief Gam told me. Motioning to the chair next to Luna.
    "I would rather stand." I tell her as I walk over to them in the kitchen.
    "Very well. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your parent's group was attacked by government officers." Chief began.
    "So they are in the infirmary? How extensive are their injuries?" I ask. I guess it wasn't clicking when Chief shook her head.
    "I came to give my condolences. Your parents didn't make it." She looked between Luna and I as Luna burst into tears. My hands gripped the chair in front of me until my knuckles turned a ghostly white.
    "No. Please tell me you're lying." Luna begs as she cries hysterically.
    "I am so sorry." Chief's eyes softened as she squeezed Luna's hand. "If you two need anything you let me know." With that Chief left, leaving Luna and I to process the death of our parents alone.
~~~~~
    We went well into the afternoon talking and perfecting the plan more. My mind kept wandering to Allonia. I'm fearful of her going but she is insisting on seeing this through. Knowing how stubborn she is she will honestly sneak into one of the cars anyway.
    "As long as the chief gives the go ahead we can start rounding up recruits." Jess explains after we finish up the last details.
    "Sounds like a plan we will talk to you guys tomorrow morning about what the chief says." Raphael states as Jess and Ted both nod.
    "See you boys in the morning." Ted states before patting my shoulder and leaving.
    "See you guys. Bye Raph." Jess more so had her attention on Raphael. They both watched each other for a moment before Jess walked out. With Raph's eyes on her every move on her way out.
    "Ooooo. Raphael got a little girlfriend." Jacob coos as he slings himself over Raph. "My man when were you going to tell us?"
    "It's nothing." Raphael shrugs. Jacob and I chuckle.
    "The way Jess was eyeing you. That wasn't nothing." Jacob laughs hysterically.
    "I didn't think you had it in you." I chuckle as Jacob continues to laugh.
    "Let's just talk about this later and go talk to the chief." Raph rolls his eyes as he leaves the room. Jacob and I look at eachother with a chuckle but follow Raph.

    "You boys have surprised me, if I am being honest." Chief Gam begins as she goes over the paperwork we had set up. "I didn't expect for you boys to get much done especially with Jacob. No offense."
    Jacob makes a face. "For your information I can be very focused." He admits.
    "How many times did he lose focus?" She looks between Raph and I.
    "A few times." I mutter.
    "Give or take." Raph chuckles as he looks over at Jacob. Jacob just pouts to himself.
    "Anyway, you boys have my go ahead to build your little rescue team. I would keep the use of new recruits to a minimum only those you believe could actually help. The recruits this year... are... different." Chief tries to find the right words to describe our recruits which only leads to a fit of laughter from all of us for a moment.
    "Got it Chief." I say before she dismisses us.

    "Why don't we go near the Bootcamp and get some runs in?" Raphael asks us.
    "Sure you need to stay fit for Jessabelle." Jacob jokes. It's already pretty dark out when we make it to the boot camp area. We run a lap before we start hearing yelling.
    "It's too late for all of this what is happening?" Raph questions as we walk closer it's by the stage, and looks to be two girls.
    "I should have killed you when I had the chance." I heard Delilah's voice.
    "Allonia." I gasp before sprinting over. When I get closer I see Allonia and Delilah fighting. I watch as Allonia gets on top of her pinning her down.
    "You probably should have because the only way you can beat me is if you have me tied up." Allonia growls at her. I watch as Lenna, Alondra, and Kenzo walk back from behind the stage to them. Of course he is involved with this. Before I know it I am sprinting and grabbing Kenzo by the throat. Pinning him to the ground, all I see is red. He put her in harms way, she could have been hurt. Allonia was put at risk of dying again. So in all honesty who else could I blame?