Their Guardian

Chapter 3

The last dream had left them angry, anxious and uneasy, this one was different, all this dream gave them was a sense of confusion and slight worry for her well-being.They knew she couldn't die, so they chose to ignore that final picture. Yesterday, the girl probably had the worst day of her life, today she was strolling through the woods like she belonged there. She was a puzzle, and they were dying to see all of the pieces.

Andy was the most confused, it had been awhile since a new one had been awakened and this girl was definitely not what she expected. She was strong, just not in the way they expected. All of them had been built for war, soldiers hardened by battle. She was different, she was small and for the most part, very unthreatening, a picture of innocence, too bad they knew better. From what Andy could tell she was made for a different type of war, one they had no experience in. Maybe thats why she was chosen, to fight the battles set in the shadows, the ones they didn't know how. 

Nicky was concerned for this mystery girl. He couldn't imagine being alone after awakening, but then again both Joe and him had rarely been apart. They were not subjected to the solitude like the others. If it wasn't for Joe, Nicky didn't think he would be the person he is today. Like the others, he was also curious. He was also surprised with the level of connection they all had with this girl already, since she had awakened, she had consumed their every thought.

Joe felt the same as Nicky. She was different than all of them, but that didn't stop him from wanting to find and help her. Transitioning into this new life is extremely difficult and the entire time all you had were questions to keep you company, the most important being why? It's the same question they still ask themselves every day.

Booker was brooding. It was bad enough that he had been awakened, though he never really voiced it out loud he wished he had actually died that day. However, now this girl was going to go through the same thing he did. When he woke up alone after his first time dying, he was left with questions that have only grown in number. He had a family that he had to watch die, he didn't want that for anyone else.

One thing that was certain, was that all of them were already extremely protective of her, and that would only grow with time. What they didn't know is that they wouldn't find her this week or the next one. She would haunt their dreams for months to come. All they did know is that when they found her. They would never let her go.

*Unknown POV *

It took her two weeks to get out of the forest. The journey itself was rather uninteresting, she spent most of it on the move and only stopped on the nights it was too risky to travel. Her favorite part of her days were the end. When the stars came out to play and the world seemed so small, it's probably why she took so long to get out of the woods. She would've taken any excuse to stay longer, and that scene had a calming effect. Here the stars shown with an unmatched beauty so far from civilization and it felt like anything was possible. What she dreaded the most were the dreams that would take her when she couldn't hold her eyes open any longer. 

Her dreams were a special type of unpredictable, one minute she could be watching her mystery people and the next be waterboarded in Russia, or vice versa. Her favorites were the family. They acted as if they had know each other forever, and the level of love and affection they would show one another would always leave her feeling empty. They kept her company, whether they knew it or not, and most of her days were spent thinking of them. 

The second category consisted of her past, ghosts of the people that she would never see again, and hopefully situations she would never be put in again. They were bad but familiar, she had lived through it once, why not twice?

The third type of dreams were always the worst. Trapped in an Iron cage, fighting for a freedom so far out of reach. It was an endless cycle of pain and suffering. She would fight and fight, always pushing against her prison, hoping that maybe one day the metal would bend, or hinges break, yet that day hasn't come yet. That was the worst part on the nights, and it always brought back a feeling of helplessness that made her want to scream. Yet she dealt with it. She had no time to worry about dreams when she had other priorities. She had always been goal-orientated after all, and that was not going to change with her new circumstances.

She had a unique set of skills that had been instilled in her from the moment her little hands could hold a gun. By age six she could hit a target over a hundred yards away with a handgun, to her it was just as easy as riding a bicycle, another part of growing up. Growing up on a military base wasn't the greatest childhood; it was lonely. Learning to speak multiple languages and being instilled with the arts of deception from a young age didn't help her make any friends.Yet, she had aways preferred this way of life over what it could have been, before the military she didn't have many memories at all. What she did know was that she was always better off with the CIA and Military as her parents, at least this way she made a difference. Her teachers were her only guiding force, and its safe to say it they weren't very nurturing.

They made her very good in a fight, or behind a gun, yet her weapon of choice were daggers, small, concealable and comforting. Just knowing she had a knife on her nine times out of ten, made her experiences in the Soviet Union much better. Business men and tipsy soldiers could get handsy and not many would admit to being scared of a sixteen-year old girl. It kept her quite comfortable in her environment, and even now that she's eighteenish, her views on daggers had not changed. Its why she clung to the hunting knife anytime she fell asleep or heard a noise too loud for her liking. Her lifestyle had made for a healthy amount of paranoia. 

It's why her hand brushed the handle as she walked the streets of this unknown little town trying to decide where she needed to go in order to start new life, yet her head kept drifting back to her fail-safe in Moscow. Both her handler and Courier had no idea where it was, so they would never notice if anything was missing. There were also resources that she needed in there, money, passports and most importantly her favorite weapons. However, getting in and out of Moscow would not be easy seeing as she is considered dead by both the CIA and KGB. She doubted either of them would welcome her in a friendly way after recent months, and she really did not need to be discovered. But she could do it, it would just take a lot of skill, prep time, and a lot more luck.