Hidden Elements

Chapter 12

Zach had mentioned last night that Hilary would drop them off,  guess she must've come here when we were sleeping. I grabbed the smaller one and inspected the uniform. I heard the door open and Jade walked out. Zach and Becky had a conversation on who will go in after. It was kind of pathetic, it went like, "you go before me." "No, you go first." And that repeated for a while. "Just pick," I called out, trying to not sound to mean. I think Jade and London has put me in a bad mood today.

I went back and looked at the uniform. It was black and a dark red. It looked like a mix of the Ruler's and rebel's uniform. The cargo pants were black with a red belt which had a compartment for a gun. The shirt was a button-up in black with a red cross over the chest. There was a tub of black face paint connected to the coat-hanger with instructions. 'Apply as a strip over the eyes.' There were red hiking boots but I kept my own black ones. I checked to see if anyone was looking and I got changed. The uniform fit perfectly. I was buttoning up the top when Zach came behind me and grabbed his own uniform.

"Krista," he acknowledged me. "Zachary." He grabbed my shoulders and spun me around so I was facing him. "Stop it," he whispered. "Make me." I wiggled out of his grasp and walked off and did the rest of the buttons up. I know the bell will ring for breakfast soon and I needed to put this paint on so against a wall, I moved my palm from up to down. From my palms, water came out, covering the part of the wall I directed my palms to before. My left palm kept spurting water and my right palm, wind came out and pushed the water to the wall. I rested my hands at my side and watched my creation. The water turned to ice. It makes a great mirror. I turned my head and saw Zach with his mouth gaping. I turned around and faced the ice and I made the strip over my eyes of the paint. I tied my hair back into a high ponytail and I was done. But I had to get rid of this ice. I pointed my palms out and I felt the heat from them as the fire burned the ice until there was nothing left. 

Zach went to London with the paint. "Could you put this on for me?" He asked. She agreed straight away and painted a strip on for him. Typical Zach to get a girl to do all his work. The bell went shortly after. We ran to dining hall 90 and Hilary and Matt were there, even Emet. They were dressed in the uniform also. Hilary looked down to out shoes. "Why aren't you wearing the assigned footwear?" Zach shrugged and she looked at me. "These boots have helped me escape numerous Enfirma, they are kind of like my lucky charms." She rolled her eyes but allowed me to wear them. We ate but I only had a piece of toast. John looked up from his book and greeted us all. "So today your mini mission is to survey above ground Verto. You are to look for any people or objects. Good luck."

We got up and we walked down the tunnel to the grate. I walked next to Matt. We spoke in hushed voices. "Is there anything we are looking for specifically?" I asked. "Not really, but it would be good to see if we can find weaponry. If we study them, our mission will be much easier as we know what they'll attack us with." It didn't take long to get to the grate. Hilary opened the latch and climbed out, then Matt, me, Zach and lastly, Emet climbed up. I was shocked when I saw the surface. Those skyscrapers, gone. Pavement, gone. Everything, gone. All that was left was ashes. Ashes everywhere. I looked up and the sky was covered in clouds. It made the city look darker than it actually was. Hilary had a bag she was carrying and once she opened it, inside were guns. They looked like those old ones I've seen in books. The ones from the 21st century. I know how to use these, that's the scary thing. I have never murdered a soul but I've seen them when I run. I've had to defend myself with one of these. It send's shivers down my spine just thinking about those memories.

"Go!" Yelled out Hilary and we ran off, looking for anything. I placed my gun on my belt and searched. 

Hours past. I couldn't find anything. It was getting dark and Hilary called us back, for safety measures. Things come out in the dark that you wouldn't want to meet. I was running back before I felt my boot connect to something and I fell face first into the ashes. I sat up and brushed off the dust and I turned to see what I tripped over. I screamed. Everyone came to see if I was okay. When they saw it, everyone stopped. My breaths became quicker as I looked at it. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

Matt crouched next to me and wrapped his arms around me. I looked away and I felt safe with him next to me.

It was a dead body, bloody and half burnt. The female still had her big blue eyes open. She was wearing one of the Ruler's soldiers uniform. Zach seemed unaffected. Hilary walked up to her and noticed something she was holding. A gun. Now that, that was a gun. It didn't shoot bullets like the old gun on my belt but with one of these special kind of laser things. But these are special. The power can be controlled. It can be a harmless weapon or a lethal one. Hilary took the gun and closed the girls eyes. "We gotta get going." She commanded as she started walking to the grate. Matt let go of me and helped me up. I was shaking so badly, Matt had to grip my arms to keep me from shaking too much.

We walked to the dining hall but I skipped dinner and went straight to bed. There was something new in my nightmare, the girl was there. Instead of her dying, it's me.

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Teaser for chapter 13: A little Matt and Krista time. Their relationship is changing. For better or worse?

Thanks for reading! Long chapter this time.

HT12