"Mils, can you stop pacing?" Heidi asks softly.
I shake my head, ignoring her. I've not stopped circling the room for three hours, biting my nails right down to the quick.
You know when you're excited and your stomach fills with excited butterflies? Mine is the complete opposite, the butterflies more like tiny knives, jabbing into my stomach and making me feel sick.
From the moment Zac and the others left us behind I felt like there was something missing, an ache in my chest, panic causing a lump in my throat that cannot be swallowed.
What if they don't make it back? Anything could go wrong... we sent all of them right into the Devil's lair. How the hell do we expect them to get out? Can they all really climb up and over that huge wall? The Enforcers have double the amount of weapons, triple the ammunition, four times the manpower. We're fucking screwed.
"Seriously, Emilia!" Kayla snaps from her seat. "Stop!"
"No!" I retort.
The sudden slam of the front door has me flying into the kitchen in time to see Claudia and Jordan enter, relief filling me as Kieran follows. They made it.
"You're back!" Sam exclaims, entering the room behind me.
"We are," Claudia confirms with a smile as Anna walks into the room.
"Where is-" I'm cut off by the image of Zac's head appearing in the doorway before he looks up, his brown eyes meeting mine. "Zac!" I exclaim.
I take no time hesitating or considering what I'm doing, instead throwing myself at him, his arms immediately curling around me, pulling me tight against his chest.
They made it.
The State is going down.
*~*~*
Over the next two months, the group throws themselves into action, a new building being torched or raided each week.
We come up with new ways to set them alight, Anna secretly smuggling alcohol every other week from the State's headquarters where she works. They drink so much of the stuff that she assured us she wouldn't get caught. Zac, on the other hand, had to take a break from stealing petrol once our initial successful mission.
The State combed the street for three weeks looking for the perpetrators but eventually gave up, unable to prove that anyone was lying when they said they were home the entire evening.
Despite that, a handful of us have been left behind on every attack since, attempting to keep at least half of us safe.
I haven't been allowed to join them, Zac and I having had a ridiculous number of screaming matches over the last month over whether I'm competent enough. It's only this week that I finally wore him down and he caved, allowing me to take part in the efforts tonight.
I understand his reaction and apprehension, trust me. Every time he goes with them, I spend the evening overthinking and panicking, terror causing my chest to tighten, the idea of Zac being caught or killed unthinkable. Even when he doesn't go, I worry about the others. We have no idea how long we'll be able to get away with this.
"You all know what you have to do?" Jordan suddenly asks, tearing me out of my dangerous thoughts. I nod, the others all muttering in response. Everyone begins to wander off and I make a move to follow, Zac grabbing onto my wrist to stop me.
"There's still time to back out, Emilia," he mutters and I shake my head.
"No there isn't," I counter with a smirk. "Don't you worry about me."
"That's all I'm going to be fucking doing," Zac retorts and I grin.
"I knew that you cared for me."
"Fuck off," he replies and I shake my head, lightly shoving his chest.
"See you later, Hastings," I say before quickly turning and following Kayla, not willing to let him see my shaking hands. I'm terrified, who wouldn't be? I've never done this before, and I've only been training with guns for three months. Who knows if that's enough time?
"Hey." Kayla smiles as I approach.
"You scared?" I ask her.
"Petrified," she confirms. "I'm doing it for Jace." Nodding, I turn back to look at the road, as Kayla rifles through her backpack. Within seconds, she holds the stinger out to me and I quickly take it. "You know what you're doing?" she asks.
"Not a clue," I reply, moving away and perching on the edge of the road, Claudia smiling at me from the undergrowth on the other side. Great. Now it's just a waiting game.
The deathly silence causes the nerves in my stomach to accelerate, a feeling of nausea filling me as I bite on my lip, attempting to concentrate and make sure I don't miss my cue. Before long, I accidentally gnaw off a large flake of skin, blood instantly covering my tongue. Fucking gross. That's just what I needed tonight...
My thoughts are cut off at the faraway sound of an engine. My eyes instantly widen and I inhale sharply, angling myself up onto my knees and pulling my arm back, the stinger still in hand.
Kayla watches from beside me, lying down on the ground so that she can see up the road.
"They're approaching fast," she murmurs. "Get ready..." she warns me and I nod, holding my arm back as far as I can, praying that I can throw this where it needs to go. I have one job, surely I can't fuck it up...
"Okay..." I breathe out, my eyes fixed on Claudia.
"Now!" Kayla yells and I quickly let go of the stinger, letting it fly across the road. Claudia grabs onto the other end, making sure it covers the tarmac. As soon as I see she's got it, we nod at one another before retreating away from the road, Kayla grabbing onto my hand as we go.
The truck flies past only moments later, the loud whooshing crash sounding out as their tyres burst, the squealing of brakes following. I shut my eyes at the sound, gripping onto Kayla's hand tighter, not daring to move until I hear nothing more.
"What's happening?" Kayla whispers. Moving my spare hand, I grab onto the gun that's holstered to the side of my jeans and grit my teeth. Where the fuck is everyone? Why is it so quiet...
The sudden sound of gunfire makes both of us jump, my hand slipping from the gun as I gasp.
"Shit," Kayla curses.
"Why are there so many guns?" I hiss, her eyes narrowing at my words, the shots seemingly never ending. "There's only supposed to be a driver and two Enforcers!"
"Fuck, Germain must have sent reinforcements," Kayla mutters, letting go of my hand and grabbing onto her own gun. "I'm going to take a look."
"Wait up," I whisper. "I'm coming too."
We make our way back towards the road, Kayla cursing under her breath at the sight. I quickly look around her shoulder, my breath catching in my throat at the chaos.
No less than ten Enforcers stand in the road, fighting our friends. Anna's shoving the butt of her gun into one's chin as Kieran throws a punch at another. Jordan pulls his gun up just in time to shoot one in the head before they kill him. Fuck.
A loud bang tears my gaze away, eyes falling onto Zac as an Enforcer slams him against the side of the truck, his gun slipping from his fingers and hitting the floor. Oh, hell no!
I barely register what I'm doing before I'm right next to Zac, pulling my gun up and shooting the Enforcer in the head. My eyes widen as he drops lifelessly to the floor, a gasp escaping my lips. Zac grabs onto me, his hands holding my face, words coming out of his mouth. I don't hear them, I don't pay any attention, my eyes instead replaying the image of the man I just killed.
I just killed someone.
Oh my god. What the fuck?
"Emilia!" Zac's yell suddenly forces its way in as he shakes me by the shoulders. I let out a sharp breath before he whirls me behind him, letting go of me. I fly back against the truck, the breath knocked out of me before I see Zac grab onto an Enforcer's gun, wrestling it from him and turning the aim backwards, shooting him in the stomach.
A sudden scream sounds out and I turn just in time to see Kayla shoot her foot into the stomach of an Enforcer, him toppling onto the floor before Jordan puts a bullet into his skull. Shit.
"Get off!" I hear Claudia scream from the left, my eyes finding her in the arms of an Enforcer, fighting against his hold.
Everyone else is battling their own fight and I curse under my breath before heading straight for her, jumping onto the Enforcer's back and wrapping my arms around his neck. He lets out a choked breath before shoving Claudia away and launching towards the ground, me in tow. I land onto the cold tarmac with a wheezy breath, hands unable to do anything but release him.
I don't have time to react before the Enforcer is on top of me, his hands moving towards my neck as I begin to writhe beneath him. His hands have just latched onto my bare skin when a shadowy figure appears beside me.
Within seconds, the Enforcer has disappeared, the weight lifted from my body. Turning onto my side, my eyes fall onto a tall figure who's slouched down on top of the Enforcer, throwing punch after punch into his face.
Zac suddenly appears beside my saviour, resting his arm on their shoulder and beckoning them to stand back. I turn away just as Zac fires the gun at the Enforcer.
"Em!" Claudia exclaims, rushing over to me. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," I confirm, sitting up slowly. "Are you?" She nods in response and I turn back, just as the shadowy figure, a hero donned in a black hoodie, finally turns around to face us.
"Rayden?" I exclaim, my jaw dropping open in shock.
*~*~*
"Why were you even there?" Anna snaps, arms crossed as she watches Rayden. Claudia sits beside her, tending to a cut on Jordan's arm as Kieran and Kayla begin emptying the bags onto the table.
"I went for a run," Rayden retorts, shrugging. We had no choice but to bring Rayden back with us to the Safe House. As soon as the last Enforcer was killed, we emptied their truck of weapons and ammunition before setting it alight and disappearing into the night like ghosts.
Rayden had seemed shocked to start with once I revealed our secrets; the resistance, the attacks and all the illegal-goings-on. I could tell that the rest of the group wasn't happy with me telling him but he helped us, just like he's been doing for the last ten years of my life. I'm not going to treat him like an idiot.
"After dark?" Anna scoffs.
"Yeah." Rayden shrugs. "There aren't any Enforcers around at that time."
"That's true." Kieran nods.
"How much did we get?" Claudia asks.
"Enough to hurt them." Kieran smirks. "Around eight boxes stuffed full of ammunition."
"That's what we took?" Rayden queries, his eyebrow raised.
"You didn't have to help us," Anna retorts, crossing her arms and glaring at him once more.
"Leave him alone," I snap and she smirks.
"You better not breathe a fucking word to anyone." Zac warns, standing up in front of Rayden and looking at him menacingly.
"Zac!" I exclaim.
"It's fine, Mils." Rayden smiles at me. "I get it. I'll leave." He turns away, heading straight for the other room as I shoot Zac a scowl.
"He's not one of us, Emilia." Zac hisses and I roll my eyes.
"Nor was I," I remind him in a curt tone. "Or Kayla or Heidi or Sam. The more hands, the better."
"I don't fucking trust him," Zac snaps.
"Well, I don't fucking trust you," I say back, the words falling out of my mouth faster than I can stop them. "I..." I trail off at the sight of Zac's stone cold expression. Fucking hell. Turning away, I head after Rayden.
"Ray-"
"So, you've been behind everything?" he asks and I nod. "Every single time the Enforcers came to question us, they were looking for you?"
"Well... all of us technically," I admit. "But yeah."
"I always knew you were feisty but..." He smirks and I roll my eyes.
"Shut up!" I can't help but smile at his humorous expression. "I'll see you later?"
"Yeah." He nods, grabbing onto the door handle and pulling it open, the cold night air instantly hitting my face. "But... Mils?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm not letting this go, you know?" Rayden replies, shaking his head at me.
"What?"
"This." He gestures around us. "The State fuck me off too. I want in."
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Bit of a time jump in this one, but hopefully it worked okay.
Are you happy that Rayden is back? Should he join the resistance?