Undead Rises

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴇɪɢʜᴛᴇᴇɴ

ᴛᴏʙɪᴀꜱ ʜᴇɴᴅᴇʀꜱᴏɴ'ꜱ ᴘᴏᴠ

It felt weird having a routine after being on the road for weeks. We were woken up at the break of dawn by the sudden bright lights in the ceiling. They had given us new clothes and instructed us that we would get assignments after breakfast. We were moving slower compared to the soldiers who already knew the routine at the back of their hands.

We were each given a different type of uniforms today though. Joseph, Zoey and Jasper all got pale blue scrubs. Kai, Cora and I received the green cameo soldier uniform. Ben was given the clothes he arrived in, however now they were clean and pressed. 

Once we were all presentable, we all mad our way to the cafeteria. 

"You're face looks so...broken." Kai winced as he slowly moved his index finger towards Cora's face as if he was going to touch it. He was not wrong. The small wound on the bridge of her nose has begun to scab, causing her nose to look more red than usual. Underneath her eyes were extremely purple, almost as if someone had repeatedly punched her. The bruising on her neck was beginning to fade. I felt a tinge of pain in my chest as I remembered the man who had almost killed my sister.

"Touch my face and I'll make sure we look like twins." she threatened Kai, the edge of her lips slightly edged up, clearly letting him know it's a joke. I was worried about my little sister, when she got back last night; she looked confused and furious. I made a mental note to talk to her later when we were alone.

"It looks like we are going to be given different assignments today." Zoey told me as she came up beside me and laced her fingers through mine. "Well at least I'll still get to see you tonight, in my bed." I whispered into her ear, and she smiled before looking up at me. Her warm chocolate eyes were drawing me in and without thinking, I leaned in and kissed her. "I love you." she told me before giving me a wink and skipping a head of me. "I love you too." I said softly even though I know she didn't hear me.

"Who's going to look after Ben while we're doing our assignments? Can we take him with us?" Cora asked me as we sat down after we all received our food, which looked really plain, but we were not complaining. Zoey took a seat beside me. "We'll keep him with us but if we can't we'll send him with Zoey." I told her while shooting the young boy a glance, he also looked extremely tired. "Ben? Are you okay. bud?" 

"I'm tired. Why can't we sleep more?" he groaned as he lazily ate his food. "Well, soldiers are very disciplined. They wake up at the same time every day and keep following a routine because it helps them do their work properly." Cora explained as she pushed away her tray and turning to look at the little boy. He sat there thinking over her words for a moment. "They do it so they can kill the monsters?" he said unsurely.

"Basically. But they also clean and train with all the weapons they need." she continued; I watched my little sister have a conversation with a boy we had barely met a week ago. "Okay." he shrugged before continuing with his food. Cora released a small chuckle and turned back in her seat; she saw me looking at her. "What?" she questioned.

"He reminds me of you when you were younger, and I'm just realizing that you're not so little anymore."

"If it makes you feel better, she'll always be your little sister." Zoey said as she squeezed my hand. Cora nodded before sending me a small smile. "That side of the table is so cheesy!" Kai practically yelled causing some heads to turn in our direction, we shushed him but all chuckled. We all fell into conversations about the food and beds until we were interrupted by a man in uniform.

He had a buzz cut and a strong jawline, his presence screamed authority. I noticed the fact that he was a Sargeant, and that he was sending daggers across the table at Kai.