Kairo, sitting on the edge of his bottom bunk, roughly tugged on his beat up boots and tied the fraying laces as tightly as he could. It was his team's turn to go scavenging again, and he always hated those days. They never really found anything interesting nor did anything exciting, and he was always aching for some kind of action. Though he would never openly admit it to anyone, he'd sometimes purposely be careless or step out of line just to see what would happen. Nothing to serious came out of those tests, which only encouraged him to try more and more reckless things. Calix had always tried to keep him in check, but sometimes, he too would purposely let his guard down.
Across from Kairo on the top of the other bunk bed sat Slade, a lanky teenage boy with black hair that was long in the front, curious almond-shaped brown eyes, and skin so fair it was as if he'd never seen the sun in his life. Kairo never liked hanging around him that much as he found the younger boy to be slightly immature, but Slade stuck to him anyway, forcing Kairo to begrudgingly assume an older brother role. Together, the two boys along with Calix shared a room. They used to have a fourth roommate, Tycho, but he had transferred out to be with his friends. Aside from the two bunk bed sets, most of the free space in their room was cluttered with all their belongings strewn about messily. They had a single desk, but three different chairs lying all around. A few shelves lined the walls, storing mainly Slade's knickknack collection, consisting of things from old snow globes to bullet casings. A small bathroom was attached to their quarters, and it was always a pain to have to wait for each other to finish.
A loud sound in the doorway caused Kairo and Slade to look up quickly. Their eyes fell on Calix who had decided it was a good idea to kick open the door obnoxiously to announce his arrival. Kairo laughed to himself. Behind them, two girls calmly approached, Akilah and Yves. Akilah was a tall and stocky girl with black brown hair styled as a pixie cut and deep set blue eyes. Her entire left arm was heavily tattooed, and she had even done most of it herself. She smiled broadly, showing off her slightly crooked teeth. Akilah wasn't the most easy on the eyes, but Kairo respected her greatly as the leader of his team. Yves was much smaller with a slender curvy figure and a small waist. Her straight brown hair hung delicately around her ears, coming to rest at the top of her shoulders. Green eyes stood out against her fair skin and freckles spotted her round cheeks and button nose. She offered Kairo a soft smile, and he nodded simply in return.
"Ready to go?" Calix asked, leaning against the doorframe.
Kairo nodded, standing up, sliding his pistol into its holster, and shouldering his carbine rifle. "Yup. Did you give the Blanks their food today?"
"Yessir," Calix returned, giving Kairo a thumbs up. "Blondie wouldn't take it as usual and Brownie just accepted it and thanked me."
"Did she say anything else?"
He shrugged. "Just asked what happened to you and why you weren't coming anymore. And to that I told her that she roasted you so badly the other day that you needed to take some time off to recover."
"What?!" Kairo asked incredulously, glaring. "She didn't roast me in the slightest."
"But she did match wits with you," Akilah cut in, laughing.
Calix hooted. "She looked utterly confused when I said that to her though, so don't think your ego's gonna be hurt now."
Kairo sighed, shaking his head but grinning. "Aye, whatever. Let's just go."
The five of them headed down the hall, passing by all the other Insurgent quarters and heading to the upper levels of their base. Slade and Yves opted to take the lift while Akilah, Calix, and Kairo attempted to beat them by running up the stairs, not caring about the people they nearly bowled over on their way up. They regrouped at the room closest to the top which resembled an old basement, including old furniture like desks and dressers scattered about. The walls were made of drab grey stone and had a few random landscape paintings hung up. When the base had first been constructed, the room had been soundproofed to help mask the noise below. Taking care to conceal all the doors and panels, they all gathered at the ladder leading to the top hatch. Calix climbed up first and unlocked the door, pushing it open and hoisting himself out. On the top level, above all the complex structures of their base, existed an old and rickety cottage, long abandoned by its owners. Kairo figured that it had possibly existed many years before Sarin's regime had risen up. The fireplace was nice looking, but could never be used, and the front porch had a family of rats living under it. Once they were all out, they shut the hatch and replaced the floor panels in the correct position. It was early in the morning and the first rays of sunlight were peaking through the cloudy windows.
"Calix, Yves," Akilah ordered, "Unlock the shed and go get the ATV's."
"Aye aye, chief," Calix returned, saluting strangely and heading out with Yves.
Akilah sighed, leaning against the wall slightly and looking over at Kairo and Slade. "You hear about the attack in the Northern Sector?"
Kairo shook his head. "No...what happened?"
"Our base in the north was attacked and overrun by Sentinels. Only a handful managed to get away, but most were either captured or killed on the spot."
"Wait, wait," Slade spoke, his voice trembling slightly. "How'd they know where they were?"
Akilah shrugged. "We don't know. But they've been cracking down harder on Insurgent activity recently. This is the first major base that's been overrun, but stats show that our death tolls have been slowly rising. Things aren't looking great for us right now."
Kairo cursed under his breath. "So what are the bosses doing about it? I know there's no way to fight them in an all out war, but we have to do something instead of just running away."
"I don't know. And quite frankly, I don't know if they know either."
"Say, wasn't Julia in the Northern Sector?"
"Yes, but we heard that she escaped. I'm not sure where she's heading next though. Clovis just said we gotta be alert and ready in case anything happens."
Before anyone could say anything more, Yves tapped on the door lightly, drawing their attention. "Rides are ready."
Akilah nodded. "You four pair up and let's head out."
Kairo glanced over at the three ATV's and his eyes fell on Yves. She offered him a smile, which he awkwardly returned as he made his way over to her.
"Can I ride with you today?"
He shrugged, climbing on one bike and turning on the ignition. "If you want."
"Hey," she said, touching his shoulder lightly. "We good?"
"Yeah," he returned, but his slightly sour tone said otherwise.
She sighed. "Look, I under that it's hard on you but..."
"Just drop it, okay? I'm fine."
"Okay, okay. Just...can you please stop shutting me out? We promised before it all started that we wouldn't let it destroy our friendship if it didn't work out, and now look at you. If I had known it would end like this, I would've said no from the start."
He sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be detached but...it just takes time to try to get back to how things once were, you know?"
She nodded. "I understand."
Kairo extended his hand out and helped her climb on behind him. Yves wrapped her arms around his torso and they were off. Calix and Slade had paired up and Akilah had taken one on her own. With Akilah leading, they sped through the countryside on their way to the closest uninhabited village to the west from where they were. Though Kairo hated scavenging, he loved the outdoors. Being cooped up underground always made him antsy and he'd often sneak out at night to explore on his own or with Calix and to get some fresh air. Feeling the cool wind on his skin and the sun behind his back caused a small grin to form on his face. He unintentionally raised his speed and Yves had to tighten her grip on him to stay in place. Calix took Kairo's actions as a challenge and increased his speed as well with Slade sputtering protests behind him. Soon enough, they were speeding past Akilah who yelled after them to slow down. A rather large bump in their path elicited a yelp from Yves.
"You good?" Kairo asked, not diverting his gaze from in front of him, but taking a moment to check up on her.
"Y-yeah," she replied, laughing, but still holding onto him tightly. "But what's the rush?"
"Why not? I mean, the sooner we get there, the sooner we leave."
"Alrighty, but don't try anything stupid."
He smirked to himself. "No promises."
It wasn't much longer before they arrived at the village. The houses slightly resembled the cottage that was above their base with cobblestone walls and shingled roofs but that these were newer and more recently deserted. It was not their first time there, but there was still much they hadn't explored yet. At Akilah's command, they parked the bikes by the closest house and dismounted.
"You can spread out, but don't wander too far. Remember to keep your comlinks on in case there's trouble."
"There never is," Kairo muttered under his breath, glancing over at Calix. "C'mon dude. Let's look around."
Calix grinned and jogged over to his friend. Slade asked to come too, and they agreed, although somewhat reluctantly. The three boys walked down the cracked sidewalk, examining the houses for one that wasn't entirely falling apart. The one they settled on was two stories tall with dark vines growing up the sides and a half open front door. Kairo nudged it aside and the three of the team stepped in, floorboards creaking under their heavy boots. Calix made a beeline for the kitchen while Slade lingered in the living room. Kairo opted to check the second floor, walking as lightly as he could on the creaky boards. Arriving at the top, he found a hallway splitting off to two bedrooms and one bathroom. He peeked into the bathroom first, glancing at the ratty rugs and smudged mirror. Crouching down, he opened up the sink cabinet to see if there was anything useful underneath and scored some unopened containers of soap, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and some small towels that were still in decent condition.
"Better than nothing," he muttered to himself.
Opening the medicine cabinet, he grabbed some painkillers and other over the counter drugs that he figured Doc would find some use for. If not, then he could just throw them out or use them for himself. He moved on to the two bedrooms, but didn't find anything much of interest besides some clothes and an old novel. Peeking under the bed, Kairo spied an old soldier action figure, surprisingly still in good condition. It was small, just a tad bigger than his hand, and covered with dust. Figuring Slade might like it, he decided to keep it. Kairo stuffed all of the items into his backpack before settling down on the ground, leaning against the side of the bed. It was so frustrating to him that he was stuck running monotonous scavenging missions when other Insurgents were out fighting on the field or infiltrating government controlled points. They were doing things that really mattered, and he wanted more than anything to be involved too. Everyone was saying they were all working for the cause together, but he still felt that he could be doing more. When as he explained his point of view to the Blank the other day, even he was questioning what he was actually doing. Was it all futile? How could they stand up to a threat as big as that? And if they lost, what would happen to all of them?
His thoughts were interrupted by Calix coming into the room, a wide grin on his face and his arms loaded with cans. "Can you believe all the loot I found? And look, I got some pickles! Hell yeah!"
Kairo made a face. "Pickles?"
"Yessiree! It's a surprise no one picked up these sooner."
"Because maybe they have good taste unlike you."
Calix glared. "Oh, come on now. No need to roast me. You're just jealous."
"Of your pickles?"
"Of my superior taste in quality food."
Kairo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure."
The sound of a loud crash followed by fast, scrambling footsteps snatched their attention. Both heads turned to see Slade running frantically up the stairs, pistol in hand. He rushed into the room, wide eyed and shaking fiercely.
"Woah, there," Calix said, placing a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"That loud noise came from outside. A-and I heard voices, but it wasn't Akilah's or Yves's."
"Another scavenger?" Kairo asked, rising to his feet.
"I don't know."
"Stay back. I'll check it out," Calix returned calmly, taking his double barrel shotgun and proceeding down the stair cautiously. Kairo glanced over at Slade who was still visibly uneasy. His eyes narrowed on the weapon in the boy's hand.
"Finger off the trigger, bub," he ordered sharply and Slade quickly obliged. "Who taught you the basics of shooting anyway?"
"Y-you d-did..." Slade stammered, still gripping his gun.
Kairo paused. "Right. But obviously you weren't paying attention."
"I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
Kairo sighed. Knowing he had to calm Slade down a little, he opened his bag and pulled out the soldier action figure from earlier. He roughly swiped off the grime as best as he could before turning to Slade.
"Hey, bud, look what I found."
He gaped. "Woah..."
"Take it. It's yours."
A tiny smile came to his face. "Thanks, Kairo."
He laughed slightly. "Sure. It's nothing. Now, come on, and stay behind me."
Kairo walked to the top of the stairway with Slade trailing closely behind. From where he was standing, he could see Calix moving slowly toward a window. Low, almost robotic sounding voices cut through the walls, and he heard the beeping of some sort of device. Calix peeked out of the corner of the window, then muttered a string of curses. His eyes met Kairo's.
"What is it?" he whispered.
Calix's expression was grim. "Sentinels."