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The mission has been terminated. Return back to the base.
"Let's go." Crystal shot up, instantly checking her surroundings. I slowly stood up next to her.
We were leaving? What about our mission? I couldn't believe that we would just have to quit at the drop of a hat.
"What about the rest of our mission? We just leave it and quit?" My voice was coming out sassier than I had anticipated. But I couldn't understand why we couldn't just continue to do what we had come to do. We were so close.
"Their position was compromised."
"Yeah but ours wasn't, so we shouldn't take the chance to leave. What if there's something crucial to the mission that we could be missing?"
I heard it before I felt it. It was like a whip, cracking across my face and echoing along the stone in the back of the alley. Then I felt it, pricks of pain where each of her five fingers and palm had struck. It spread like fire, a hot flame that ignited in my cheek and spread to my entire face, heating it to a burning red. My mouth opened and closed like a fish, I had no idea what to say.
"Let me get one thing clear: you will not under any circumstances question my authority again. I have been here way longer than you, and as a result, I am superior to you. I make the decisions, you follow them. You do not question them." Her voice spit knives and I flinched at her words, sinking back as they cut into me.
"I-I'm sorry," I stuttered. "I was just-"
"You were just following orders," She finished for me, her voice low and authoritative. I nodded quickly, submissive and quiet. I still didn't understand why, though. Why was it such a big deal? What happened that triggered her to become so fired up so quickly?
"Let's go," she ordered again. "Keep your head down and blend in." I didn't say a word as I followed her cold footsteps down the alley. The streets were quiet, only a few groups of people here and there, walking home and chatting. The moon shone from above, winking off the windows, and bathing Crystal and I in a pale light.
Crystal's reaction to my protest kept nagging me. I wanted to ask her what happened so badly. If something bad had happened, then why were Mason and I out here without all of the information? Whatever happened, was it Crystal's fault? Was I also unsafe? Paranoid filled questions racked my brain, something just didn't feel right.
Crystal and I reached the end of the main road, our shoes scruffing against the road as we came to a halt. She beckoned me over to the side of an abandoned building. Our base and meeting place was a rundown shack about a half mile down the road. We waited one second, listening for anything suspicious before Crystal peeked around the corner to check for any visible warnings. I waited anxiously, my back up against the brick, checking all around us.
"Come on," Crystal whispered, and we both peeled ourselves from the wall. Keeping on high alert, we jogged slowly down the dirt road that bordered the edge of town. With the town on our right and woods on our left, we stayed quiet in hopes of maintaining our nonexistent profile.
When the base was in sight, Crystal beckoned me into the woods, saying, "Let's observe from a distance to make sure it's safe before going inside."
I silently nod and follow her through the trees, keeping low near the bushes. My breathing is heavy from the jog and I breathe slowly, trying to slow down my heart rate. Wow, I really should have exercised more.
We sound like the wind, the only noises coming from our sneakers crushing the dried leaves beneath us. Twig branches from the toothpick trees reach out to tangle my hair, and a few strands are loosened from the ponytail. But I tuck them behind my ear to fix later.
"There it is," Crystal murmured, tugging me down behind a bush with her. We both observe silently. It's nothing much, just a rundown shack that used to be a hunting cabin. It looks like it's a one room shelter with a small porch and wood so old that it appears to be an ashy gray. A path leads up to the porch from the road we were just on, overgrown with weeds.
"Is anyone else here yet?" I ask, my voice no louder than a breath. It seems like it's just us, but I couldn't be too sure.
"I'll ask." Crystal places a finger against her comms system and says softly, "Is anyone at the base yet? I repeat, is anyone at the base?"
We waited a few seconds, the static crackling in our ears before we heard Noah's boyish voice, "Chase and I are hiding in the trees."
"Same with Amber and I. Wait for Jax and Mason in order to go."
"Got it."
"Have you been in contact with Davis?"
"Chase and I have been trying, but there's nothing."
"Okay keep trying. Crystal, out."
My stomach twisted. "What does that mean? Davis has no idea we need help?"
"He'll answer," Crystal affirmed shortly, but she wouldn't look at me. Her eyes kept surveying our surroundings.
"How do you know?" I pressed.
"Because he has to answer, that's why," Crystal snapped. "Now stop asking so many questions and focus on the task at hand."
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to shut myself up. But to no avail I whispered, "And if he doesn't? What do we do next?"
Crystal's dark eyes flashed when she looked at me, but when she closed her eyes and opened them back up again there was a newfound sense of patience. Her voice was low when she responded, "We'll figure that out when it comes. Last time, we-"
Her voice was cut off with the sudden sharp crack of a twig behind us. Footsteps softly fell onto dead leaves, crackling like a growing fire. Crystal pressed a hand on my arm, slowly pushing me back into the shadows of the bushes. I sunk in behind the leaves, my heart beating faster and faster with every footstep.
As the footsteps grew closer, a shadow, no two shadows appeared. One was tall, a boy. The other was shorter with long hair wrapped in a ponytail, a girl.
Jax and Mason.
Crystal and I both let out a sigh of relief, our lungs seeming to collapse with relaxation against our rib cage. Jax and Mason crept through the trees, their bodies low. The only sounds they made were their feet against the dry foliage.
Crystal tapped her forefinger against her comms system in her ear, "Jax. What are you doing? I could hear you from a mile away."
We saw as Jax held out a hand to stop Mason, both of them sinking lower into the brush and out of our line of sight. His lower voice crackled through the system, "I know, but we had followers we couldn't shake all over town. Then we finally lost them when we entered the woods a while back. I didn't want to run the risk of them seeing us again."
Crystal let out a huff of frustration but responded with a quiet, "Okay".
I was getting the feeling that she liked to be in control. At all times.
"Anything on Davis?" Crystal asked Noah again.
"Nothing."
A slight chill ran up my jeans and nipped at the skin under my t shirt. I watched as the little black bugs scuttled over leaves and plants, dipping in and out of the pockets of moonlight cutting through the trees. When one ran over my sneaker and started to rush up my pant leg, I brushed it down, earning a stern look from Crystal for my sudden movement.
"Anyone else's butt fall asleep?" I could practically hear Chase's mouth curve into a grin at his joke.
"Chase, seriously?" Crystal chastised as she rolled her eyes, forcing down a smile of her own.
"Good news! We can stand soon! Just got word for Davis he's on his way."
"Copy that." Crystal and Jax both responded. My heart lightened at the happy news.
"Wait for Davis's signal before leaving your hiding places," Noah ordered seriously. "He will let us know when he is here."
"Copy that." Crystal and Jax said again.
We waited in silence, with just nature moving around us.
I began to count away the seconds, which turned into minutes.
One minute. Two. Three. Five. Eight.
How soon was "soon"? Was it three hours "soon" or five minutes "soon"?
I wriggled my foot, trying to get rid of the feeling of pins and needles stabbing through my skin. But the smallest movement crunched a leaf underneath me, so I just let it fall back asleep.
Suddenly, from farther away, I could hear a sound that droned on above the forest's music. It sounded mechanical, heavy. Was it Davis?
"Wait." Came Noah's soft command. He heard it too then.
Crystal gently pressed on my hand again, and just like before, we sunk back into the bushes, into the shadows. The droning sound grew louder, a machine that groaned on the road Crystal and I had taken. Headlights pierced through the trees, cutting through the darkness like ice through snow. They grew closer, bouncing from the truck's uneven drive.
Davis's voice crackled over the comms system. "Almost there."
"Is this him?" I asked Crystal.
Her face was concentrated, tight as she debated in her mind. "I'm not sure. Let's just wait one second."
I nodded, focusing on my even breaths. The truck drove closer, close enough that we could hear the dirt and gravel that crunched beneath its tires. The headlights swept across the woods, catching the toes of my sneakers in the process. Quickly, I tucked them in closer to my butt, my heart rate speeding back up.
And then the truck began to slow.
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