Countdown To Victory: Blaming Melanie

7 days to victory

I woke to chatter, looking up at Dylan and Ben talking quietly. Ben yawned into his hand.

"When this war is over, What's going to happen?" Asked Ben, I sighed and sat up.

"We'll be safe, we'll be able to live normally again" I answered, they looked at me, and I smiled softly at them, even if life will never be exactly the same, we will finally be able to have a life again.

Future generations will not have to worry or live in fear.

"What about the humans?" Asked Dylan, looking at me, I gave him a confused look, what does he mean? Why should I care about what happens to humans?

"I honestly could not care less about them Dylan" I sighed, and he nodded in understanding. I rolled up my sleeping bag, looking at Greg and Tyler, they were just waking up as well.

"We should just finish up the berries then get going," I told them, they all nodded in agreement. We gathered our equipment, pulling out the berries, I watched Dylan and Ben go outside to give berries to the girl.

I pulled on my bag, carrying the food bag in one hand and the girls in my other, I watched everyone shove on their own bags as we ate our berries. Heading out the door, the girl sat on the couch not tied up, I looked at Ben and sighed, this was no time to scold his choices.

I tossed her bag beside her, she looked at it and back at me, confusion on her face. She glanced at all of us, shaking her head.

"What's going on? I said I'm not-" she began, I sighed, shaking my head.

"If we leave you here, the next people who come here might not be so kind" I interrupted, I glanced at Dylan, deciding to aim for his compassion.

"Kind?" She questioned, seeming to be not believing what I said.

"Yeah... I don't want anyone coming here and killing you because they think you're dangerous or something" mumbled Dylan, she moved away slightly, pulling the bag to her lap and hugging it.

"But what's going to happen? I don't want to hurt more" she whimpered into the bag, not giving me eye contact, by how she lowered her voice, it's almost like she's trying to avoid making me mad. Good, I don't want to lose my temper again, I have more self-control than that.

"Look Melanie, you'll go into a special institute and then... I don't know" explained Dylan, not really looking at her now, by his face, he seems to think he's a horrible person. The discomfort and pain obvious in his eyes.

"Please" quietly mumbled Ben, Greg was looking annoyed. Ben stepped forward and gave her a small smile, she sighed, looking up at him.

"I'm scared Ben" she told him, the quiver in her voice obvious. I hate myself for feeling a small bit of weakness, feeling almost bad for her. Ben smiled a little wider.

"That's ok! I get scared too" said Ben, she examined him, sighed and stood up, slipping on the bag. We all turned to leave, Tyler walking up front, and me in the back. She was walking between Dylan and Ben.

We walked through the sunny day, shuffling through the small gap left by the landslide. Everyone is pretty quiet, and Greg seems itching to get to the fight. He glanced at me, moving to walk beside me. By the time the sun reached the top of the sky, we could see the small town, only about 5 hours of walking.

We approached the town, quickly greeted by a soldier. He saluted and greeted us, keeping his eyes on the human.

"Ah the rookie group, we were going to send a search out for you five if you were gone any longer" spoke the soldier.

"Yeah, we got trapped behind a landslide. We'll need a demon vehicle" I told him, he nodded. We followed him as he led us to the main military area, a few vehicles in place.