There was a whimpering sound, like a dog crying, and a boot clad foot landed in front of me, narrowly missing my nose.
"Whah?" I grumbled and shoved the foot away. I tried to sit but found another body part on me. Jackson's other leg was strewn over my middle, pinning me down on yet another leg. Too many legs, my mind processed the thought slowly. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see mounds that resembled my friends around the fire pit.
Katia slept as she had been sitting most of the night, leaning against the cave wall. At her side was Kellen, his head surprisingly resting on her hip with her hand on his shoulder. He slept in the most awkward position, one leg pulled up, and the other stretched out and trapped under me. No wonder I'd been so uncomfortable.
The whining that had woken me was coming from Kellen and I got up and gently shook his leg. "Kels? You okay?"
"Huh? What's happening? Why are...?"
"You were crying."
He stood, slowly and shuffled away from the group after eyeing them all as if he'd forgotten where we were. "I wasn't," he grumbled as he stepped out of the cave.
I tugged my jacket around me and joined him. "You kind of were, Kels... Nightmare?"
"Don't remember," he said and pulled me into a hug when I shivered.
I pushed out of his grasp and ducked back into the cave, returning with one of our unused sleeping bags. As I unrolled it and tossed it around both our shoulders, I grinned. "You and Katia were cuddling!"
I thought he'd be happy that Katia would do something as nice as that when she supposedly hated him. He shrugged as he sat on the ledge, pulling me down beside him. "How can I be so twisted about this, Cole?"
"About what?"
"Katia."
Understanding what he meant was beyond me at that moment, and I laid back on the ground, waiting for him to continue. He laid back too, and we stared at the stars in the waning early morning darkness for some time, pulling the ends of the blanket over us.
"I want us to be better.
"I know."
"But I am so mad at her. Last night just reminded me."
"Why? We've already established you guys have both done stupid shit to each other. If you want her to forgive you, it goes both ways."
"In theory, yes."
"What makes it so hard?" I had a feeling he remembered his nightmare. Why else would he be so invested in this anger? Last night they'd been nothing short of normal teasing siblings.
"I know she doesn't like me, but we've never done anything actually hurtful to each other. That time in the dining hall was a mistake, I've tried to tell her that many times. I didn't mean for that whole thing to happen, I was actually worried about her!"
"I know."
"I know I messed up, but she wouldn't even hear me out. I never thought she'd go and..."
The hacking. He was still mad at her over that. I wondered if I should tell him what I knew; I was already involved so was I really butting in?
"That wasn't her, Kels," I said finally. "She had nothing to do with that."
"So she says." His laugh was cynical, like I was stupid for believing her.
"Kellen. It really wasn't her. Hads and Vivi called her out on it and she flipped on them for even suggesting she would do it. She said she was going to find and destroy whoever did."
He sat up, staring at me, searching for any hint that I wasn't absolutely serious. "Really? Please don't just be saying that to make me feel better, Cole."
I felt tears coming to my own eyes at his desperation and I shook my head.
"How do you know?"
"I was spying on her after it happened... you know... so I could destroy her."
Kellen crushed me into a hug, "God, Cole! You don't know wha―"
He didn't finish his sentence, pulling away from me, his Thunderbirds mask falling into place so quickly I was confused. "What is it?" He asked loudly and I spun to see a scout running across the open space towards us.
"Wardens," he choked out, gasping.
"Fuck! How far out?" I said, panic rising in my chest.
Kellen wasn't with me anymore; he'd run into the cave yelling. I could hear him rushing the sleeping people inside to move.
"I don't know."
Of course he wouldn't know. It's not like they were yelling out the time they saw the Wardens. We were working solely on bird calls. I did a quick calculation based on where our first scout was, assuming the Wardens to be about a half hour out, if they were moving fast. They wouldn't be though, they didn't know where we were. They'd be looking.
"The Nest knows?"
He nodded as Kellen emerged from the cave again. "Thanks, Kevin!" He said and pulled me away from torturing the poor boy with having to talk while he couldn't breathe.
With half an hour's hike between the Dell to the Nest, we couldn't afford to assume we'd get there in time, so we ran full tilt through the woods. Of course it would happen when we were away. Damn it, damn it, damn it! My throat burned and my body burned with a hot sweat as my limbs pumped me through the woods. I ran blindly towards all the kids I needed to be there for, ignoring the branches that stung my face and arms. I had one thought outside survival; if we don't make it, thank God, Jess isn't here!
Robert stood at ground level, shouting commands to those above him, when we burst into camp. He acknowledged me with a nod of his head and waved me to my position. He, Katy and Brian already had our plans so well running that I had nothing left to do but arm myself and join my squad.
I latched onto a swinging rope, tugging on it so I'd be hauled up. Stumbling across platforms and into my blind, I grabbed my pack, already prepared for action. As I swung it onto my back, Kellen and Jackson barged in. We said nothing to each other while we strapped our weapons in place, our eyes wide with fear. The plans had been set what seemed like ages ago, but now I wasn't happy at all that I would be separating from them. I hugged them both, pulling their heads down to crash into either side of mine and whispered a prayer for their safety.
On the ground, only two squads still remained with Robert. Brian waited on the outskirts of camp, and I ran to join him, squeezing Robert's shoulder as I passed. A group of freshmen, too small to put in danger, were wiping our tracks from the ground, obscuring proof that we'd been there. They would retreat to the trees, pull the ladders up, and hide in the blinds with our last resort shooters.
If the Wardens came this far, we would be ready to turn them back. We didn't know how many there were, or how armed they were, or if they came to retrieve or kill. I tried not to think too long on the latter, though it was the most likely; too many students, scattered in the woods, were in direct danger at that moment.
I hoped everyone would manage to get into hiding before the Wardens passed. As I reached my post, Brian looked down at me, struggling to climb the tree, still wheezing from my run. His mouth set in a firm line, he signaled for someone to throw a rope down for me.
"Sorry," I huffed when I finally perched in the crook of a tree near his. Though he nodded, he didn't take his eyes off where we assumed the Wardens would approach from. I focused my attention in the other direction; sitting two to a tree, we were prepared no matter which way trouble came at us.
I'd love to see your predictions. Are they all survivors? Who gets injured, who kicks ass, who falls, who crumbles?