When We Were Humans | Book I

Chapter 9: Our Choice

Viewpoint: Eli

"Come on now! Don't look all scared, I won't hurt you," Athena said, with a slight grin. I highly doubted that 'Athena' was her actual name. The situation seemed too weird. She came out of nowhere and helped us. She also was alone and that put me off slightly.

"This isn't some 'Percy Jackson' bullshit, what's your name?" Nate said, as he backed up defensively.

"That's confidential. Only those who are cleared are allowed to know my name," Athena said, as she flipped her hair.

"Who's cleared then?" Mr. Brooks said, in a skeptical tone.

"Me," she said, with a wide grin. Damn, she's cocky.

"It's just you?" I asked. "It sounds unlikely. The military is more organized than this."

I could hear movement from behind. One of the men has managed to get up. He raised his gun at us.

BANG

We all ducked from the sound. When I looked up, I found the man collapsed on the ground with a hole where his left eye used to be. The wound was spurting out blood from the eye socket onto the ground, painting the leaves a dark red.

"What the hell was that?" Mr. Brooks said, as we were all covering our ears in anticipation for another shot.

"My insurance," Athena said, as she grabbed a walkie talkie from one of her various pockets. "Eyes, get your ass down here. You're scaring these wonderful people."

A shadowed figure dropped down from the trees a short distance away. The figure started to walk slowly towards us. Upon closer observation, the figure appeared to be a tall, well-built, college guy. He looked to be about twenty, as it was evident by his slight four o' clock shadow and scruffy hair. He looked like he's become a hardened individual, as it was evident by the fact that his expression gave off no emotion. He carried a black sniper rifle that looked like it had many attachments that I don't know the names of.

"Eyes, say hi to our guests," Athena said cheerfully. He just nodded towards our direction. Damn, he's cold.

"Don't mind him, he doesn't talk much, especially to new people. Now, who do we have the pleasure of meeting?" Athena said, in a gratuitous tone.

"My name is William Brooks, and that's all you need to know," Mr. Brooks said, in a sort of rude tone. I could feel the tension building up again, and I think everyone else could too.

"Sir, please know that we have no intention of hurting you," Athena said, with a warm smile. "Unless, you give me a reason to."

"Why are you here? Didn't the military peace out a while ago?" I asked skeptically. This felt too odd. They just came out of nowhere and decide to help us? There's something going on here.

"Not all of us," Athena started. "We have a small base stationed not too far from here in Bellaniva. Eyes and I were just coming back from a scouting mission and we saw that you guys have skills that we need."

"You guys were spying on us?" Kristen said softly, as she looked at them in slight horror.

"How long? How long have you been watching us?" Mr. Brooks said, through gritted teeth.