The wake-up bell rang in the morning. Noooooooooo, I need more sleep! "Come on Krista, get changed, breakfast is served at 7, only half an hour to get a spot in the bathroom." Becky's perky voice hummed. "I am very comfortable where I am," I moaned. "I'll get Zach to pull you out of bed again." She threatened. I quickly jumped out of bed and climbed down the ladder. Becky was in hysterics. I smiled at her as her laugh quieted down. "If you ever threaten that again, I will mould you to that wall." I pointed to the wall and she chuckled. I looked over to the bathroom and two of the girls were already waiting outside and Zach behind them flirting. Looks like he's back to normal then. I liked seeing that side of him last night, but I know he'll probably show that to me anymore.
We went to line up for the bathroom when Becky asked in a hushed voice, "what did you and Zach do outside." I felt the memories flood back in, seeing my own hand as a weapon. I shook that thought out of my head and thought of Zach. "N-nothing, I wasn't feeling well, Zach just came out and tormented me." I'm not going to share to anyone what happened last night, not even Becky. She nodded and changed the subject straight away. I was getting really annoyed waiting for the bathroom, it's already been 15 minutes and only the second person is in the bathroom. London somehow got five minutes extra and she's still in there.
I jumped the line, ignoring the girl Jade yelling at me to go back to my spot. "Are you done yet?!" I called out to London. I didn't hear a reply. "I will burn this door down if you don't answer me!" "Leave me alone loser, wait for your own turn!" She yelled back. I look a step back and held my palm out. Jade ran up to me and leaned against the door. "If you are so rude to my friend in there, you will have to pay the consequences." She threatened. I laughed and took a step to her. She was much taller than me, even taller than Zach but I wasn't scared of her. "What's so funny, loser?" "You gotta be more creative with the nicknames Sir Beanstalk but your not threatening." She was shocked, no one probably talks to her like that. "Now back away from the door before I send a tsunami over you." She walked away angrily to Zach. I heard what she said about me to Zach. "She's horrible baby," she whined. "I know babe, just ignore the beast." How could he say that about me?
My head whipped around. "It takes one to know one, Zachary." His eyes looked like they were shooting daggers at me, he hates his full name. He then took a deep breath in as he went back to talking to Jade, who was just inches away from his lips. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. My mouth made a O shape as I watched them make out. Becky came and stood next to me and she looked really heart-broken, playboy Zach has broken another heart. Oh don't tell me he kissed Becky too? He's only been here for two days and he's already probably hooked up with everyone in the room. What he said to me yesterday must've been all fake, all just to make me like him more. I made a gagging noise to try to cheer up Becky and she smiled. It was actually kind of awkward watching them. Zach was on his tip-toes to reach Jade's face. I tried to hold in the laughs.Once they finished their make-out session, London still wasn't finished. I turned to face the door and with one powerful roundhouse kick, the door came off it's hinges. London was looking at herself in the mirror when the door came down. She turned around and gasped as she saw the door broken. I walked in, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the bathroom. "Next time, don't take as long."
She gave me a dirty look, "I'm going to ask for you to be removed from this room!" London screamed. I flipped her off as I walked into the bathroom and placed the door so no one can see in or open the door. I had the quickest shower but I realised I forgot to bring clothes. Crap. I tied the towel around myself as I pushed the broken door open and stepped out. Jade stuck out her tongue as she went to the bathroom before Becky. "Real mature," I muttered under my breath. I looked to Zach and his eyes were looking up and down at me. I felt my cheeks heat up as I went to the wardrobe and I saw two uniforms hanging. But they weren't the rebel uniform, they must've been the Subsisto uniform.
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