“No.”
Mira’s voice had cut through the devastating silence that followed, and I looked back over my shoulder just in time to see her jumping up from the bench. She was already halfway down the hall before Sage or myself had even processed enough to follow suit. Where she was going, where any of us were planning on going, I don’t think we really knew. I could hear the string of curses falling from Mira’s lips as we ran through the halls, and that was all the answer I’d needed. We’d only just barely caught up to her by the time we rounded the final corner, bringing those massive doors of the cafeteria into view.
The rising hysteria could be heard from all the way at the other end of the hall. Still though, Mira hadn’t slowed down. If anything, the noise only seemed to make her run faster. She pushed through the doors, with Sage and I following close behind. The mess hall was in chaos. Each of the TV’s displayed that same horrifying message. Soldiers had begun to file in behind us, forcing the three of us to stagger out of the way as the hellish reality started to fully sink in.
People were jumping to their feet in the masses. There was screaming and crying. They whirled on the soldiers. Shouting. Pointing. Accusing.
Spy. Russian spy. Rumors. Invasion imminent.
I took a staggering step back, feeling my shoulder knock against Sage. Her fingers curled around my arm, and nails dug into my skin through the sleeve of my jacket.
For when the Russians come.
Spy.
“Ryan!” Mira’s voice brought the haunting words to a halt and I snapped my gaze to my left.
She broke away from the two of us, weaving her way through the crowd. Taking Sage’s hand in mine, the two of us followed after her. Her brother had hardly had the chance to react before he was engulfed in her arms, staggering back a step and nearly knocking into Lydia behind him. By the time we’d caught up, Mira was already backing up with her fingers curled in the fabric of his uniform. “It’s not true, is it?” She was asking as he ran a hand through her messy curls. “Tell me it’s not true. That-That this is just a drill…?”
Ryan’s response was quickly drowned out by the rising chaos around us. People were staggering around. Pointing fingers and shouting, all while being escorted out of the mess hall altogether. They pushed past us as though we weren’t there at all. The feeling was mutual. I hardly registered the shoulders knocking against mine nor the bodies brushing past me. Even the feeling of Sage’s nails digging through the fabric of my jacket seemed nonexistent.
All I could see was the soldier standing just behind the siblings, head tilted upwards and wide eyes locked on the screen. Her brows were tugged together and a shaking hand was hovering over her mouth. “We had no idea,” Lydia was saying under her breath. “We…we had no idea.”
Had no idea.
The warmth of Sage’s fingers had quickly become nothing but a distant memory as I found myself falling into the sea of hysteria. I might’ve even heard her calling out from somewhere behind me, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop. The doors to the mess hall had fallen behind me, leaving me alone with nothing ahead of me but the vast hallway and shoulder to shoulder chaos in every direction. Move, my mind was telling me. Get away.
A shoulder knocked against mine, sending me colliding with someone else who hadn’t seemed to notice nor care.
My eyes were trained ahead, watching as the end of the first hallway grew closer above the heads of those in front of me.
Soldiers stood along the walls of the hallway, looking pale-faced and statuesque with guns in hand. “Remain calm,” they were shouting over the raised voices. “Return to your rooms. The situation is under control.” The scripted promises only seemed to spark further outrage. All around me, voices continued to rise; soldiers and civilians alike. Words that sounded like promises and shouts that resembled accusations. It didn’t matter. Everything met my ears as a muffled distortion, no different than the nameless and faceless people swarming around me. We could fight and yell and point fingers, but it didn’t matter.
The end of the hallway came and split off into a T, giving me my escape. I pushed myself forward, squeezing through the crowd and out into the next hallway on the right. It stretched on long and empty before me, putting the mass hysteria both in the past and in the back of my mind.
We could turn on each other. We’d be at each other's throats before anyone else had the chance to find us. But the word spy spiraled around inside my head just as endlessly as the hallway before me. None of that mattered.
Because they’d already found us.
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Crack. Crack. Crack.
Shots rang out, one after another and bullets embedded themselves in a scattered and inconsistent pattern across the target. With an aggravated growl, I tore the magazine from the rifle and began reloading it. ‘In case the Russians come.’ I slid the final lead bullet into the magazine and jammed it back into the gun.
Invasion imminent.
I hoisted the rifle back up to my shoulder and stared down at the target that wavered beyond the scope. With a shaking inhale, my finger pulled the trigger and another shot pierced the air. A metallic clang rang out through the empty room and I released the smoldering casing. Each new shot fired was another weight over my shoulders; another shot missed and yet another shot to give away my position.
I’d almost been expecting to get caught. Private Maier had been surprised to see me down there without Shada, though she’d let me in without much argument. All under the pretense that she was on her way, of course. But yet, each second that ticked by and each crack of the rifle had allowed a new feeling of fear in my chest. She wouldn’t rat me out, would she? I watched the small stream of smoke rise from inside the chamber as I released another casing. Besides, they have enough on their plate as it is.
Fine by me.
Bullets crashed aimlessly against the target as the loud cracking echoed through the room until my ears were ringing. My eyes burned and my skin was hot, teeth grounded together as I reloaded. Again. And again. And again.
‘In case the Russians come.’
Another crack.
America has fallen.
Another.
Another.
A quiet click once again brought any further practice to a screeching halt as the magazine was rendered empty. “Goddammit!” I snarled, once again tearing the magazine out. That familiar hot prickling began to crawl under my skin as I began reloading. My hands trembled as I forced bullet after bullet inside. Several slipped through my fingers, clattering to the ground at my feet.
'Might be able to startle a Russian one of these days.’
“I’m going to do far more than just startle one,” I muttered under my breath, knocking the magazine back up into the well and lifting it to rest against my shoulder. The target stared back at me through the scope, steady and unwavering. A grinning face flashed through the back of my mind, followed by charred fingers and a garbled voice. ‘Why aren’t you helping?’
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” A voice had cut through the silence the same moment my finger tightened on the trigger. The rifle kicked back and a muffled thunk sounded once again, reverberating through the massive room as the bullet hit its mark nowhere near the target.
I whirled around, eyes narrowed and grip tightening on the rifle as I regarded the girl standing in the doorway. Private Maier stood behind her, russet hair tucked away under her hat and wide eyes flitting between us. She stepped away, disappearing back out of sight. The door fell shut behind Shada, whose gaze had caused every muscle in my body to tense up.
“Tell me how exactly I knew I’d find you here?” She eventually broke the silence, pushing off the doorframe and sauntering further into the massive room. “Fucking around here during the day. Kinda sounds like the one thing I told you not to do.” Her lips were twisted down into a scowl as those piercing eyes flitted between Lydia’s rifle and the spray of bullet holes on the target behind me. “Blowin’ off steam or hiding out? ‘Cause I’d hardly call this mess practicing.”
Shada circled around me for a brief moment before coming to a halt and snatching the rifle from my hands. Without waiting for any sort of response, she jerked back the bolt and emptied out the chamber. The casing clattered to the floor, rolling to a stop against the scuffed leather of her boot. I ground my teeth together as she flicked the safety back on, shrugging the weapon over her shoulder.
“You’re here too,” I fired back at her, earning a callous glare from the girl. I shifted my stance, folding my arms over my chest and meeting her gaze with a withering look of my own. “So that makes you a hypocrite.”
Amber eyes flitted me up and down, one brow raised slightly as she offered nothing but an unamused snort in response. “Maddie made sure to inform me that you were already down here waiting.” Her lips had curled into a sneer as she started moving again.
The taunting way in which she circled me was far more casual now, though no less irritating. She sauntered off, stopping along the wall beside the door and shrugging off the rifle. “Said you wanted a head start. Funny. Don’t remember agreeing to this during the goddamn day. And today of all days.” I watched as she set the gun down, leaning it against the wall with the barrel in the air. “Lucky I was already on my way down. Otherwise, who else would’ve covered for your ass?”
“Why bother, then?” I doubted I’d actually get an answer to that question, and the impassive look on her face when she turned back to me had only solidified that thought. Her eyes weren’t on me, though. Instead, they were looking past me at my admittedly pathetic handiwork from earlier.
Finally, Shada sighed and crossed the short distance between us. “Snagged this for ya.” She reached around to the waistband at the back of her jeans, pulling something out from underneath her bulky jacket. The buzzing fluorescent lights glinted brightly off the sleek metal of the gun as she held it out to me.
My gaze flitted between the pistol and back up to her face before reaching out and accepting it from her. I glanced down at the weapon, turning it over in my hands and running a thumb over the rough texture of the black grip. Before I could say anything in response, I caught the tail end of a listless shrug from the girl. “Figured you’re pretty shit with the rifle. Oughtta try something a little more your speed, yeah?”
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I’d resented her comment on my ability to handle Lydia’s precious rifle, and would’ve killed to have had another chance to fire it. To prove her wrong. But Shada had remained hellbent that I’d been doing it all wrong. And, as much as I hated to admit it, that pistol immediately felt far better in my hands than the rifle ever had. It was lighter and hadn’t been as awkward to hold, leaving me firing shot after shot. Each time, the slide instantly kicked open and spat out the smoldering casings like a bat out of Hell. The drawback was the range. Where the rifle had been able to accurately hit the target from the opposite end of the room, the new weapon was greatly limited in that regard. Still, with each new pull of the trigger, another bullet hit the target from only a few yards back.
Shada hadn’t said one word to me, and she didn’t have to. I felt those eyes on me the entire time, accompanied by the endless pacing from behind me. My grip tightened, nails digging slightly into the skin of my left hand as I drew a breath and pulled the trigger once more. The bullet hit the wood with a thunk, just above the shoulder of the target. Finally, that pacing had come to a halt as the casing clattered to the concrete.
“Still jerking the trigger when you fire,” she all but griped as she stood beside me. Her eyes wandered over my form, arms crossed tightly over her chest and lips curled into their typical downturn. Her fingers drummed lazily against the thick fabric covering her biceps as she eyed me. Something about those eyes glittered with nothing more than pure judgment. “It should be smooth. Pulling the trigger shouldn’t move the gun. And take the shot on the exhale, not an inhale. Now go again.”
With an aggravated huff, I raised my arms once again and held the pistol level before me. The bullseye watched me from beyond the sights, and my finger curled around the trigger. Slow. I took a steadying breath. Exhale. A loud crack pierced the air and bounced off the walls around us. A smoldering hole appeared in the bullseye over my sights, finger still resting against the trigger of my cold gun. Beside me, Shada had gone rigid.
“Well, well,” a smug voice had practically purred from behind us. I lowered the pistol and whirled around. Towering in the doorway with soldiers flanking her sides was none other than Meredith Blackthorn, herself. Held in a hand before her was her own smoldering pistol. “Miss Vanderwaal. Miss Rhodes. To what do I owe the pleasure of running into you girls here on this fine day?” Her lips curled back in faux amusement as she nodded to each of us in turn, holstering her weapon.
She crossed the room, boots echoing off the walls as she approached us. I forced my gaze away from the approaching woman, instead looking wide-eyed in Shada’s direction. She wasn’t looking at either of us. Sharp eyes were narrowed at the floor, jaw set and face wiped of any further emotion. When Meredith came to a halt only mere inches from myself, she plucked the gun from my hand with no resistance.
“My, what a lovely model you have there. Such a nice, sweet gift,” the Commander Sergeant mused. “How very thoughtful of you, miss Rhodes.” Shada said nothing as the woman spoke, and I dared a glance up at the gun in the soldier’s hands. She turned it over, eyeing it as nothing more than a treasure she’d stumbled upon. With a subtle upturn to her lips, Meredith ran her fingers over the glinting chrome of the barrel. “I’ve always fancied Beretta’s. Rather reliable. Someone has a fine eye and good taste, I see.”
The Commander Sergeant reveled in the silence for several painstaking seconds before she offered a rather amused hum. The woman started in a slow and taunting stride, circling the two of us. “Tell me, Miss Rhodes…” Her eyes were on Shada, and Shada alone. “How is it that you came across such a fine piece of weaponry?” Meredith’s tone was cut and demeaning. The taunting tilt of her head told me that she knew exactly what she was doing.
Still, the girl refused to meet the soldier’s gaze. Steely eyes were narrowed and trained at the ground. Her fingers tightened over her arms, curling the sleeves of her jacket into her fists. “One of your men carried it with them. I just thought-”
“One of my men?” She echoed, her tone overly chipper and faking every ounce of surprise. “By that you mean Lydia Cartwell, I presume?” It seemed that the lack of the girl's immediate response had been all the answer that Meredith needed. With a satisfied hum, her gaze rolled over to me and I dropped mine down to my hands with a hitch of my breath. “So if that is the case, Miss Rhodes, then how is it that Miss Vanderwaal got her hands on it? Could it be that you two have finally put aside your differences in these trying times?”
Meredith was standing directly behind me, now. I could almost feel her breath on my neck, the nose of the gun tapping effortlessly against my side. My fingers curled tighter until my nails dug painfully into the palms of my hands. Even that hadn’t been enough to quell the way they trembled, seemingly down to my bones.
“I took it from her,” I blurted out before I could stop myself, and Meredith stepped back. “From Shada, I mean. I just-I thought maybe she could help me. She knows Lydia and-and I forced her. Forced her to bring me here and I took the gun. Didn’t think she’d find out.” Another wary glance was spared in Shada’s direction. Wide eyes were on me and lips pursed. I couldn’t tell if it was anger or shock. But I’d promised that neither of them would get in trouble because of me. I swallowed, turning my attention briefly back to Meredith before dropping it back to my hands. “Either of them. Shada didn’t even know I was down here. Private Maier-”
“She’s lying.” The tone was deadpanned and calculated. “I’m the one who-”
Shada was cut off in an instant. A loud and gut-wrenchingly indescribable sound filled the air, like metal hitting bone. My ears were ringing in the following silence, my mind racing to catch up with what happened. Shada, staggering back with shaking hands hovering over her cheek and Meredith, towering over her with the Beretta in hand. The chrome was now smeared with flecks of red in the buzzing light of the fluorescents.
“You will speak when spoken to, Miss Rhodes,” the Commander Sergeant hissed. Her eyes were blazing now and all traces of amusement were rendered null. “I may have allowed Major Cartwell to have you here, but make no mistake. I have no room for unruly strays.”
My feet were rooted to the ground and my chest burned with each rapid breath I took. I couldn’t move. The droplets of blood that now painted the grey floors went unacknowledged by the soldier as she wiped away smears of crimson from the barrel of the gun. “Private Holt, Private Bergara.” Her two soldiers stepped forward at her sides without any further instruction.
The wordless duo advanced like witless dogs and the only movement I could muster was a stricken look in Shada’s direction. She was still doubled over with her bloodied hands hiding the extent of whatever injury she’d sustained. The rough hands clamping around my wrists were a distant afterthought, only brought to life by the cold handcuffs that dug into my skin.
“-warned you, Miss Vanderwaal, to keep your head down.” Meredith’s words drifted over the thudding of my heart in my ears and my gaze snapped back up to her. “Twice now you have disobeyed me and called question to my authority. I have allowed you grace, but it seems that you’ve chosen to waste it. May this be a lesson to the both of you.” With a look to her men, the Commander Sergeant gave her final command. “To the cell, men. Both of them, and make sure they stay out of my way.”
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