Too young for war

Imagine me 2

"what happened today was no one's fault though, you can't blame us for that." I say looking at Sam.

"Elena's right, We haven't disclosed anything—"

Nouria lifts a hand. "Stop," she says, "We're losing our focus again. Nazeera was right when she said we were all in this together. In fact, we came together for the express purpose of defeating The Reestablishment. It's what we've always been working toward. We were never meant to live forever in self-made cages and communities."

"I understand that," Sam says, "But if they really know which sector to search, we could be discovered in a matter of days. The Reestablishment will be increasing their military presence within the hour, if they haven't done so already."

"They have done that already," Stephan says, looking at Nazeera. "Of course they have."

"So what do you propose?" Winston asks.

Nazeera doesn't hesitate.

"We wait. We wait for Ella to wake up," she says. "We need to know as much as we can about what happened to her, and we need to prioritize her security above all else. There's a reason why Anderson wants her so desperately, and we need to find out what that reason is before we take any next steps."

"But what about a plan for getting the other kids back?" Winston asks. "If we wait for Ella to wake up before making a move to save them, we could be too late."

Nazeera shakes her head. "The plan for the other kids has to be tied up in the plan to save Ella," she says. "I'm certain that Anderson is using the kidnapping of the supreme kids as bait. A bullshit lure designed to draw us out into the open. Plus, he designed that scheme before he had any idea we'd accidentally out ourselves, which only further supports my theory that this was a bullshit lure. He was only hoping we'd step outside of our protections just long enough to give away our approximate location."

"Which we've now done," Brendan says, quietly horrified.

Kenji drops his head in his hands. "Shit."

"Our mission," Nazeera says, "has to be about protecting Ella at all costs. If we lose her, we lose everything. That's it. That's the whole plan right now. Keeping Ella alive and safe is the priority. Saving the kids is secondary. Besides, the kids will be fine. Most of us have been through worse in basic training simulations."

Haider laughs.

Stephan makes an amused sound of agreement.

"But what about James?" I say. "What about Adam? They're not like you
guys. They've never been prepared for these things—"

"Yes, for gods sake—James is only ten years old!" Kenji says.

Nazeera looks at us then, and for a moment, she falters. "We'll do our best," she says.

Kenji seems to react.

"So we're just supposed to risk letting them die?" Winston asks. "We're just supposed to gamble on a ten-year-old's life? Let him remain imprisoned and tortured at the hands of a sociopath and hope for the best? Are you serious?"

"Sometimes sacrifices are necessary," Stephan says.

"why would you say something like that—" I say panicking.

"No way, no way," Kenji says. "We need another plan. A better plan. A plan that saves everyone, and quickly."

Nazeera looks at him with a sympathetic look.

Kenji suddenly spins around, he looks angry as he turns to my brother.

"What about you?" He says to him. "What do you think about this? You're okay with letting your own brothers die?"

as I realise what he said, I'm empty of words.

Brothers?
But I realise that this is not the time to bring it up anyway.

The silence is suddenly suffocating.

"Kenji—" I try to say.

Aaron doesn't answer him for a long time, but Eventually, he sighs.
It's not a calm, relaxing sound. It's a harsh, angry sound.

He doesn't even lift his head when he says, "I'm okay with a lot of things, Kishimoto."

"That's bullshit," Kenji says, his fists clenching. "That's bullshit, and you know it. You're better than this."

Aaron says nothing. He doesn't move a muscle, doesn't stop staring at the same spot on the floor.

"So that's it? After everything—that's it? You're just going to let James die?"

"What do you think J would say right now, huh? How do you think she'd feel about you letting someone murder a child?"

Aaron stands up.

"Kenji, can you stop it-" I try to say, I understand his frustration, but this is not helping.

Suddenly, Aaron is standing in front of kenji. studying his eyes,

Kenji looks away, he looks sorry.

"Look at me," Aaron says.

"Um, no thanks."

"Look at me," he says again, quietly this time.

Kenji hesitates before slowly looking at him.

"What happened to you, man?" He whispers. "Where'd you go?"