The next few days were spent working out the kinks of the plan with Finley fighting at every step. In the end, we had come up with Operation Home. Now, we were setting off.
I put on my fake Hunters uniform that was 2 sizes too big and went to check up on Alexios. We still hadn't made up from our last fight and I was hoping that we could talk it out on the way there. I knocked on the door, "Yea?"
I opened the door peering in and shutting it quickly when I saw Xios shirtless. Not surprising he's so muscular when he has been vigorously training for years. I lightly slapped my cheeks in embarrassment, bad girl!
"Are you dressed now?"
"Yea," At that I reopened the door and he was in his uniform. Why could they find his size but not mine? I pouted.
"Ready to go?" He nodded and slung his pack over his shoulder. We put on our masks and got going. The plan was to go through the woods and intercept a military tank that should be heading back to the Hunters base and get in like that.
He headed into the deep forest. It felt like fear was a sting on my arms, although that may have also been from the chill of the winter air. I turned to Xios. "Hey, I wanted to apologize. It was wrong of me to lash out at you."
"I get it, you've been hurt by a lot of people and I hate that. I hope you know that any person who's worth you doesn't need you to be great, they just want you." He blushed, I wonder why.
"You too, you're a great guy and don't skimp on who you give your heart to. Make sure they're great. I could introduce you to some girls." I smiled but for some reason, deep in my heart ached at the thought but I pushed it away. At that comment, Xios let out a sigh. I looked up at him, confused but he waved me off and kept walking.
Suddenly I heard the mashing of gravel, The tank. "Xios, the car is coming." He nodded and we climbed up the tree, positioning ourselves. A tank came into view and we jumped down on it. For a moment, I worried that I was going to fall off my eventually steedied myself. Alexios pulled up the tank hatch and pulled out the guy standing right under it. He threw him off and Alexios jumped down into the vehicle.
I slipped in right after to see a masscre. The two other men in the room ganged up on him but he swiftly took them out. "Sorry, I couldn't help."
"It's fine, wasn't like it was hard." I climbed up the hatch and he handed me the unconscious bodies. One by one I threw them off the tank. Once we were done, I jumped down the hatch and tightly locked it.
"Let's get going."
A pause, "I don't know how to drive."
"Oh, yeah. I'll drive then." Xios would never have the chance given his life in captivity. I sat in the driver's seat and started driving.
While I drove, Alexios went searching for information. He pulled out glove compartment and pulled out 3 sets of IDs. "You'd think they'd be smarter about hiding these kinds of things."
"They might be fake. Check for others, there might be a false bottom." He nodded and got to work.
Luckily there were no other IDs as the Hunters' base came into view. It was a much more imposing building. Tall, with beige brick walls. It was no more guarded than our cottage however.
We reached the large, metal barbwired gate and a soldier raised his hand to signal for us to stop. I felt my hands getting clammy at being in the lion's den, these IDs better work because if I need to reveal my face, it's all over. The man walked up to front window, motioning for us to get out. We climbed out and he looked at us strangely. "There should be 3 to a tank, where's your third." Busted.
"We were attacked, sir. We took them down but they got Harold." Alexios said.
He still seemed a little suspicious but was appeased. "ID please."
I handed out the ID of the smallest guy, Peter Robins it read. He read the ID before looking at the number on my uniform. "You can go back in." After checking Alexios, he joined me in the tank and the gate doors opened. I followed the tank in front to a drop of section.
Another soldier arrived and the people in the tank in front of us so we followed. I crawled out of the hatch after Alexios and stood in front of the tank. A soldier walked up to us, wearing the same mask as us, I suspect only lower officers do. He holds out his hand and I drop the keys in it. He takes it and leaves.
I turn to Xios, "What do we do now?"
He holds up his ID, reading it. "Well, we're in squad 3 so we should probably go there." I nodded. Alexios does all the talking and asking since people are already suspicious about how big my uniform is, it wouldn't help that a 'guy' has a girl's voice. He asks around until we found a group of people with a three on their back that matches ours.
"Hello, this is squad 3, right?"
They turn to look at us. "Kaeden, when'd your voice get so much deeper, man?" A male voice yelled excitedly.
Alexios coughed, "It's still early so it's still deeper."
"How was the mission, Peter?" A girl says this time, although with the masks and shapeless uniform, it's hard to tell who's who. I give a thumbs up and she tilts her head confusedly. "You okay? Why are you not speaking?"
Xios answers for me, "We were attacked and he got puched in the throat, we stopped by the infirmary and the doctor said not to speak much." I nodded vapidly at that.
"Oh, I hope you feel better soon, Pete." She said.
"Speaking of attacks, where's Harry?" The guy from before said.
Alexios injected false sadness into his voice, "Killed by the attackers." Some people turned away, likely trying to control their tears at the news. I felt bad but their friends aren't actually dead, so I don't feel too bad.
"Those supernaturals will loathe when I get my hands on them." A new voice seethes. I wanted to tell them that, they're not dead, that they did just as much to garner my hate but I couldn't if I wanted Alexios and me to make it out of here alive.
"Let's get away from this conversation, there's work to be done, right?" Alexios interjected, no doubt feeling as uncomfortable as me.
"Uh, yea, they want us in the training room." This will be useful, I can bring back information on how they train so we'll be more prepared.
"Let's get going, then." We followed them down a hallway to their training room. It reminded me of a school gym, large but with must more lethal equipment. The girl who called out to me earlier yelled, "Lieutenant Williams."
A tall and severe looking woman turned back. "Hello, everyone. Kaeden, how was the mission?" It took Alexios a bit of time to remember he was Kaeden.
"The cargo was safe, but we were attack and it resulted in Harold's death and Peter has temporarily lost his voice."
"I see, that means your training must be upped. Today, you'll be doing rotations. Start at one of the stations and go through them. 30 minutes at each." Everyone let out a chorus of 'yes, ma'am's' and split into the 6 stations. Alexios and I split together, going to the shooting station first. I had never shot a gun or even done archery in my life, mainly due to the fact that guns were ilegal.
I lifted the heavy gun and aimed, missing by a long shot. Alexios however, was doing much better at this stuff but it's likely that as a soldier, he would have used a gun. "Do you need help?" A cheery voice called from behind me, it was the girl. I nodded, she stood behind me and positioned my body. After a few shots with the correct position, I was hitting much closer to my mark.
-
I felt sick at the tought of this being my life. Just violence and betrayl, so much so that I was now firing a gun. Alexios put his hand on my shoulder lightly shook me. I looked up at him, broken from my trance. "What?"
"You seemed like you overthinking again. Everything will be alright." I hope so.