Symbol.
-Benjamin Reinke-
Chapter One: The Cavern
"Wow, this place sucks." Jakub said as he stepped into the deserted cave. As Jakub looked around, he noticed some things he had not seen when he first entered. Moss growing from the ceiling, targets leaned up against the walls of the cave, bows and sheathes littered on the rocky floor. But the most unsettling thing was a skull sticking to the wall with an arrow through its eye socket.
Jakub felt a tingling sensation on his hand, which must mean he was close. When his mother told him the stories about how she got her symbol she always mentioned the pain on her hand when she was getting close to her symbol, Healer. As he got closer to the skull the tingling sensation slowly morphed into a burning pain. "She never mentioned this!" Jakub screamed in his head. Jakub fought through the pain until his hand touched the skull, and almost like clockwork it subsided. Jakub decided that this must be the moment that decided his symbol. He reached inside of the skull and found a piece of paper. On it, it said in great big bold lettering. It said Jakub Moore, and then underneath it said ARCHER in big letters with a symbol identical to his.
Under the symbol on his hand the word Archer burned into his skin. "I guess it makes since, considering the fact this looks like Robin Hood's man cave." Jakub said aloud. Jakub remembered a time when he was only a child; his father would read him old stories from the olden days. Stories like Robin Hood, Snow White, and Cinderella. Those were the good days when he didn't have to risk his life trying to find out what his symbol meant. Jakub picked up a bow and notched an arrow. As he aimed at one of the targets and released, it flew through the air and hit the target directly in the center circle. "I could get used to this." Jakub proclaimed pulling the arrow out of the center.
Jakub hid a bow and a dozen arrows in a sheath in his bag. Weapons were frowned upon in Promethia. The journey back would be quicker. He could easily get home considering he actually knew where he was going this time. Jakub went to a local bus stop, hopped on a bus and went home.
Chapter Two: There is No Place like Home
When Jakub finally got home he kicked off his boots and walked into the living room.
"Guess whose back." Jakub whispered into his mother's ear.
"Jakub you're finally home!" His mother said relieved. "So, what is it?" his mother asked.
"Archer." Jakub proclaimed proudly. "Now I need to take a shower." Jakub said, finally noticing the dried up dirt and blood covering every inch of his body.
"Good idea, you smell like Aunt Rhodie's farm." Jakub showered, then showered again to finally clean himself off, put on some clean clothes, then went to bed.
When Jakub woke up the next morning he put on his best suit. Whenever somebody finds out what their symbols means they must go to the Council. "I'm going now mom!" Jakub yelled across the house. Jakub walked down to the Council building, it was a nice day. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and the clouds were white and puffy on the freshly mowed grass. When he got to the council building he noticed the new bunch of Searchers. They were watching the video required to all when first starting their hunt to find out their symbol.
Chapter Three: The Friendly Neighborhood
"Hello there!" said a friendly man about in his fifty's. "As you know you were born with a symbol on your hand. Since you are turning eighteen it is your job to find out what your symbol is. If you don't find out what your symbol is by the time you are twenty five, you will be hunted. They look casual in the shadows, but when they walk into the sunlight they become disfigured monsters. So naturally they're called shadow lurkers. Make sure to have some happy hunting!"
Jakub walked through the wave of oncoming eighteen year olds. He headed towards the oldest part of this even older building. The doors swung open to reveal a large stand with four old men sitting in old chairs covered in dust and blood.
"Uh, excuse me."
"Yes Jakub we were expecting you." They all said in unison.
"I've discovered what my symbol means." Jakub said proudly.
One of the old men stood up and said, "Makayla will escort you out."
"What does that even mean?"
The same old man stood back up and said in a steely tone. "It means you have insufficient evidence."
"I won't leave until you tell me what the hell is going on." Jakub said firmly.
Suddenly the lights flickered on. The girl named Makayla suddenly started laughing, not regular laughter though. High pitched squeals of delight. She bent over in unnatural positions. Portions of her skin swelled up and boils covered her skin. "Come over here Jakub." She said in a demented tone. "Oh god, she's one of them!" Jakub screamed, running out of the building. She ran after him, laughter mixed with squeals of delight. As he ran she continually taunted him. When Jakub ran through the door, he noticed his bag still sitting on the couch. So he locked the door and sprang for his bag. He picked up his bow and notched an arrow. As she busted through the door, Jakub sent an arrow through her neck. She let out a scream. It wasn't your average scream, just like her laugh it was high pitched and bloodcurdling.
"This isn't over Jakub Moore." Makayla said. "There are more of us than you can possibly imagine." She told to gimly. Her body slumped against the door, closing it. The shadows covered her body and she returned to her normal features. Blonde hair, blue eyes, just an average girl he thought.
"A shame, She wasn't that bad looking." Jakub thought to himself, embarrassed to say it aloud.
Jakubs mom ran down the stairs.
"What was that scream?" she asked quizzically.
"One of them attacked me."
"Them? You're not making any sense Jakub." She then looked over and saw the body."Oh god Jakub, what did you do!" his mom cried.
"She attacked me!" Jakub replied trying to sound reasonable.
"Get out of this house." She said firmly.
"But mom, just listen to me." Jakub said trying to coax his mother now believe him.
"No, Get out before I call the police." His mother said turning away from him.
Chapter Four: Companionship
So after the falling out with his mother, Jakub packed up his bag, and left the house. "Well today is just perfect." Somewhere up ahead in this old alleyway a trashcan tipped over. Jakub instinctively reached for his bag where he stashed his bow. "And this lovely day is only getting better."
Jakub picked up his bow and slowly walked towards the sound of the trashcan. Suddenly all of the lights hanging from the buildings went out. A crash sounded from behind him. Jakub turned around about to fire when he saw the culprit. It was just a fuzzy kitten. He picked up the cat in his hand. "It is so small it even fits in my hand." "Maybe I'm getting a little paranoid." Jakub put the kitten in his coat pocket and it meowed happily. Jakub turned around to be greeted by three shadow lurkers. They wore all black clothes and held umbrellas, blocking them from the sun. In unison they dropped their umbrellas and ended up looking just like Makayla.
The only thought that occurred to Jakub was to run. He hurdled over garbage cans and ran through suburbs. When Jakub couldn't run anymore he turned a corner and ran into a random house. All the lights were out. "Thank god it is empty."
Walking through the house, Jakub noticed a light was on. He sneaked towards the light to see if maybe the inhabitants of the house left it on. 'Please just have left the light on." Jakub prayed under his breath. Jakub somehow doubted it. It wouldn't be the best idea because it would be awkward if he broke into a random stranger's house while they were home. Also breaking and entering is punishable by death on Promethia. Jakub slowly opened up the door. As he walked in the room was empty. Jakub hardly got out a sigh of relief when a knife hit the wall.
"Welcome to my humble home." a voice tried to say seductively.
"Jesus Christ!" Jakub cried ducking out of the way.
"Isn't breaking and entering a crime?" the mysterious woman said with the same seductive tone.
"Aren't weapons Illegal?" Jakub asked sarcastically figuring she wasn't a threat to him.
"Well I guess I'm a rule breaker, aren't I sweet heart." "So honestly, why are you in my house?" she said.
"They attacked me." Jakub replied.
She nodded. It seemed like she knew who they were. Maybe that's why she only has one light on in her house with a knife in her hand.
"Jakub" he said extending out his hand."
"You can just call me N." she said shaking his hand.
Chapter Five: On the Road Again
Jakub and N decided to leave the house, in consideration to the fact that they sounded like hyenas giving birth.
"Where do we go?" N said in quizzically to Jakub.
"I think we need to go wherever it takes to get us away from those things. I have you to take care of and I have Blair to take care of." Jakub said.
"Blair?" N asked.
"I found a kitten before I was attacked so I thought he'd like an owner."
"You are certainly different to say the least."
Jakub set down the kitten in an old building. "I'll come back for you later." Jakub said with a warm smile on his face.
Jakub and N were walking through an abandoned city. A man with a knife jumped out from behind a building.
"Give me all your money!" The man said with a no nonsense tone. Jakub silently and slowly pretended it itch his head.
"Ok, ok the money is in my pocket. Just let me grab it" N said hurriedly. Jakub reached for an arrow and fired it at the man. It hit him in the heart. Not even half a second later a dagger split Jakubs arrow in half as it went through the man's heart following Jakub's arrow. The man let out one final groan and he slumped dead onto the concrete sidewalk.
"Jakub whistled. "Damn N, how did you learn to throw that well."
"It's my symbol." She replied showing him her hand.
On it, crossed on a spear was an axe and a sword. Underneath was the word "Warrior." Jakub laughed. "An Archer and a Warrior, we won't be able to go anywhere without starting fights" Jakub said.
Chapter Six: Meeting the Adversary
They walked aimlessly through this abandoned city. Until eventually N couldn't take it anymore. "Where are we going?" She asked.
"I'm trying to find a certain building." He replied. Jakub and N walked until they made it to a building that didn't look like any of others. The windows were intact, and the paint looked fresh.
"What the?" She said amazed at what she saw.
"I saw it in a dream. Want to go inside?" Jakub asked with a smile.
"I don't see why not." She said as Jakub opened up the door.
As soon as they walked in a gun was pointed at both of their heads. "Who the hell are you?" A burly man in a suit asked. He was obviously high in the military because he had multiple pins and ribbons on his suit
. "I'm sorry sir, but I saw this place seemed vaguely familiar to me for some reason." Jakub replied sheepishly. "Well you better have a good reason, because you just walked into the biggest military base in Promethia." The man lit a cigarette. "Take both of them to the cell block." The man said.
"So you're just going to imprison us?" Jakub said angrily. The last thing Jakub remembered was getting hit in the head with a club.
Jakub woke up in a pristine room with N and some strange man sitting in the corner of the room. "Welcome to Hell." The man said rather weakly. He managed a laugh which seemed to cause him pain.
"Why are we here?" Jakub said to the man.
"How rude, not even asking the name of your savior." The highly sarcastic man replied.
"What are you talking about?" Jakub demanded. "Well since you pranced right in here weapons in hand, you were going to get taken here already. But since you were so snobby and back talked a military general they hit you more than necessary. I interfered so I got hit too and taken here along with you two." The man explained.
So why did you save me?" Jakub asked him.
"Well it wasn't fair for them to just beat you senseless. Also it would be a shame for a face like yours to get damaged." He said with a wink.
Jakub walked over to the man and held out his hand. "I'm Jakub."
The man stood up and shook Jakubs hand. "Call me Robert, only "personal" friends can call me Rob."
"Robert it is then." Jakub said with a laugh.
Eventually N woke up. "Well good morning sleepyhead." Robert said to N.
She looked to Jakub and asked. "Who is this guy?"
Jakub replied. "That's Rob." He said purposely, winking at Robert.
"So what are we doing here?" she asked. "Well we've been planning on escaping this closet they call a prison cell."
"So what's the plan?" She asked.
"Well first off, we're going to steal the keys from the guard. Second, we're going to retrieve our weapons. And finally, we're going to escape this place." N nodded her head in understanding but Jakub furrowed his brow.
"How are we going to do that?" Jakub asked.
"Just trust me." Robert said with a wink.
Chapter Seven: The Escape Plan
A guard delivered the meals as usual. As he was getting ready to leave, Robert tackled Jakub and started punching him repeatedly. While the guard was breaking up the sudden fight, N saw her chance. She quickly grabbed the guard's keys. "The guard didn't notice." N said to herself. The guard eventually broke up the fight, getting a bloody nose in the process. He stormed out of the room to go tell a superior.
"Why did you do that!" Jakub demanded. N lifted up the keys to show the two knuckle headed boys her big achievement. Robert smiled and said,
"Great job sunshine." Robert said, who apparently had a new nickname for N every two minutes. Jakub's mouth turned into an O shape when he saw the keys.
"It would have been nice to tell me at least." Jakub grumbled.
"It would have been." N and Robert said simultaneously.
Jakub unlocked the door with the keys and they all snuck out. On a table there was a butter knife. N snuck over and grabbed it. "You'll never know when I'll need it." She whispered.
Being careful not to make any noise, Robert whispered, "Your weapons will be being held in the vault, along with all my stuff."
They crept through the hallways, avoiding detection until they got to the vault. One single guard was circling the vault. When the guard's back was turned N snuck up on him. She gouged her knife into his neck and gave a motion for the others to come over. Robert typed in a 4 number code into a keypad and the door swung open.
Inside of the vault was everything you'd imagine to be in a vault and some that wasn't. Inside of the vault was, weapons, computers, books, and even money. Jakub found his old bow, but got some new arrows. N's face lit up when she saw her daggers and a small golden locket that Jakub had noticed on her neck before. Robert grabbed a simple little flash drive and a knife. "I grabbed it just in case." Robert said when he noticed N and Jakub looking at the knife.
They walked out of the vault as stealthily as they came in, except nobody got a butter knife to the neck. When they walked for a couple minutes they heard guards coming. Robert dragged them into a random room. A man had his face stuck into a computer not even noticing the new arrivals. Jakub notched one of his arrows and let it fly. The man slumped over in his chair. They waited for a couple minutes and guards just kept coming down the hallway.
"Is it because of we escaped, or do you think they found the guard?" N asked.
"It doesn't matter. Either way escaping is going to be hard." Robert said.
Suddenly an alarm started blaring. It buzzed in their ears, and loudly at that.
"Now it may be impossible to escape." Robert said, still managing to sound sarcastic. N looked around until she saw it. She slapped both of her friends in the back of the head.
"There's a fire escape right there!" She said angrily. They walked over to the fire escape. Robert pushed the door open. He walked through followed by Jakub and then N.
Chapter Eight: Losing a Life
As they started walking N realized she forgot to close the door. "I'll go close it." She said and ran up the steps. When she made it to the door, she only had time to gasp. The sound of the gun firing caused Jakub to bolt up the stairs. N had sunk to the ground making load moaning noises. Jakub sent an arrow through the man's head. He sat down by N and put his arm under her head.
"Hey Jakub, I think it's time for me to go." N said weakly.
"I think so too." Jakub said with tears rolling down his eyes.
"By the way, tell Rob I said bye." she said. N took off her locket and gave it to Robert before going limp.
Jakub lost himself. It was his fault that she died. He forgot to close the door and he dragged her with him into this place. Jakub slammed the door and screamed. He pounded the cold metal until Robert stopped him. Robert embraced him and they stood in that position for a few minutes.
"We should get going." Robert said quietly. Jakub only grunted a sigh before he continued walking down the stairs.
Jakub and Robert hid inside a building. Robert offered to take first watch so Jakub could sleep. After a few hours of restless sleep Jakub offered to take watch. Robert fell asleep as well, but he had constant nightmares. He saw N getting shot. He saw Jakub's scream which seemed depressing even in his dreams. After a while Robert woke up. He noticed that Jakub was gone and started to panic.
While Robert was still sleeping, Jakub snuck out. He searched all the buildings to try to find the familiar looking one. After about 5 minutes if searching he found it. It was called Pet Co. That's where he had put her. He walked in and bumped over a rack. The sound sent her to run over to Jakub.
"Hey Blair!" Jakub said excitedly as he saw his kitten running towards him. He picked her up and carried her back. When he got back to the hiding point, he saw a frantic looking Robert.
When he got back, Robert looked relieved but Jakub could tell he was still angry. "Where did you go!" Robert said. It sounded like a mixture of a question and a demand.
"I had to get something." Jakub said, as he set Blair down. When Blair saw Robert she mewed happily, and ran over to him. She rubbed up against his legs, almost begging to get petted. Robert reluctantly picked up Blair. He rubbed behind her ears and she purred happily.
"So what's in that flash drive around your neck?" Jakub asked quizzically.
"Oh shit!" Robert said, scaring Blair off of his arm. He had a frantic look in his eye as he ran out of the door.
"Where are you going?" Jakub asked trying to keep up with Robert.
"I have to get back!" Robert said slowing his pace down a bit.
"Get back where?" Jakub asked nonchalantly.
"I have to get back to the base." Robert said, the frenzy completely gone from his voice.
"Well you should at least let me come with. If you get attacked on the way, you only have a butter knife to defend yourself." Jakub said.
"Well than you better hurry up, because I'm not slowing down just because you want to come with.
After about a day of walking through the streets Robert started getting worried.
"We should of gotten there by now." Robert thought to himself. Robert noticed a large overpass and lit up. "We're here!"
Robert yelled grabbing Jakub's hand and running into the overpass. Inside the overpass there was a pop machine. Instead of inserting money, Robert put in a small card. There was a clicking sound behind the machine. When Robert pressed one of the soda buttons the pop machine swung forward, revealing a small passageway.
When Robert and Jakub walked in and were greeted by multiple shocked faces. Some of the faces were because Robert was miraculously alive. Others were because he was holding another man's hand. Jakub let go of Robert's hand, blushing scarlet. A teenager ran up and whispered something in Robert's ear.
"He wants to see me?" Robert asked. Robert walked over to an office that had a copper label on it. The label said Head Director in bold print. Robert looked over and he saw Jakub sitting in a chair looking bored. Robert took a deep breath and walked through the door.
As soon as Robert got into the room he set the flash drive down on the table. A mysterious looking man picked up the flash drive and plugged it into his computer. A smile lit up his face. "This is valuable information for this war." He said smiling.
"I'm just doing my job." Robert said.
"Speaking of jobs, you have a new one." The man said. He handed Robert a mission briefing and told him to get out of his office.
Chapter Nine: The Mission
Inside of the mission briefing, Jakub was mentioned. "How does he know about Jakub?" Robert thought. Robert shook off the thought and went to find Jakub. When he found Jakub, he was at the same part as before. Except this time he was surrounded. He was telling the story of how he got here to about 10 people. They were all hanging on each of his words. Robert felt something in his stomach, was it jealousy? When Jakub saw Robert he walked over to him.
When Jakub came over to Robert something strange happened. Robert wrapped his arms around Jakub's neck and kissed him. Jakub pushed Robert back with a look of disgust on his face. "Why the hell would you do that to me!" Jakub said. "I'm sorry I was jealous." Robert said to Jakub feeling guilty. "It's okay, I understand how irresistible I am." Jakub said with a wink.
"Anyways, We have a mission. If we get kill a certain person, the shadow lurkers might stop attacking you." Robert said grimly.
"Is it just going to be us?" Jakub asked.
"Yes, that's how it normally is." Robert replied.
They went down to a weapons room and Jakub got a brand spanking new bow. He picked up arrows that looked like they were from 100 years in the future. Robert smiled as he picked up a mace. He looked like he didn't really want it.
"Well I'll certainly feel safe if we have to bludgeon our enemies to death." Jakub said to him. After getting all the supplies they needed they left the base.
"So where are we headed?" Jakub asked.
"We get to go to the Shadow Home."
Robert said. "And where exactly is that?" Jakub asked, getting a little tired of Robert being so cryptic.
"It's in the suburbs of some small town a few miles from here." Robert replied. Jakub and Robert set off towards the small town. It only took about half an hour when Jakub stopped.
"This is the town where I used to live before they started attacking me."
"Well then this should be a trip down memory lane for you." Robert said sarcastically.
They walked down the streets of Jakubs town. As they walked Jakub pointed out parts of town. Like the playground where he played with his friends. He also showed him the school where he learned. But the one place that Jakub was avoiding was his home, where his mother told him to leave. There was a beeping on Roberts arm. On his arm was a little screen showing where the "Shadow Home" was.
"Do you know where West Street is?" Robert asked. Jakub felt like he was going to vomit. That was the street that he lived on.
They kept walking but Jakub felt like his feet were turning to stone. He saw his house. All the lights were turned on. That must mean his mom was awake. "Great she was probably sitting watching television." Jakub thought. The house was down the street.
"If there are a bunch of shadow lurkers in that house, it must be why my mother didn't want me walking this way." Jakub said.
"Your mother sounds like a sweet woman." Robert replied. "Yeah she was." Jakub said thinking about all the times that she was there for him.
As they passed Jakub's house the door opened. Jakub's mom walked out. She saw her son and gasped. "Jakub!" She cried running towards him. Jakub turned away from her and continued walking. If she was so eager to kick him out before, he could kick her out of his thoughts.
"Jakub Moore! You will face your mother." His mother said firmly. Jakub turned and saw his mother. Her eyes were puffy and she had a look of anger on her face. "I understand what I did was wrong. And I'm sorry for that." His mother said looking him in the eyes.
"You kicked me out of the house when I was defending myself."
"I know what I did and I regret that, but I won't do you see how it changed you?" She said.
Jakub thought to himself. He remembered meeting N, how he made friends with Robert, getting Blair, and so much more. "I guess some good came out of it." Jakub said to his mother.
"I'd love to stay for the family reunion but we have to go." Robert said.
"I guess you're right." Robert's mother said. But before Jakub left, he handed his mother Blair and ran. Blair mewed sadly as Jakub's mom took her inside.
It was sunrise by the time that they found the house. Jakub and Robert both knew where they were headed when they saw the house that was falling apart. The windows were smashed, the door was broken in, and the house was painted all black. Robert gulped and walked closer. They slowly opened the door. Inside there were at least 20 of the ugly things. When they saw them, they hissed and sprang for Robert and Jakubs necks. Robert swung his ugly mace and hit one of them in their face. It fell backwards and stopped moving. Jakub shot and shot until his arrows were running low. There were only a few left when Jakub ran out of arrows. When Robert bashed one in the face it left two of them left. "You take left, I'll take right." Robert said to Jakub charging forward. Jakub pulled a knife he grabbed from the base out of its sheath and charged as well. He saw Robert take his down and turned to him. Jakub kicked the ugly thing in the stomach and gouged his knife through its eye.
Jakub retrieved his arrows while Robert searched the house. When Jakub retrieved his arrow he turned and what he saw horrified him. The target had Robert in a headlock with a gun pointed at his head.
"Make one move and your little boyfriend dies." The man said with a crazed look in his eye. Robert was slowly dying, his lips were turning purple and he couldn't breathe.
"Stop It! You're going to kill him!" Jakub said frantically.
"Weren't you here to kill me?" The man asked, tightening the grip on Robert's neck. Robert stopped struggling and went limp. The man tossed him to the floor. The man laughed a horrible cruel laugh that made Jakub's blood boil. Jakub was about to lose it when he noticed Robert looking him ever so slightly, giving him a wink.
Jakub breathed a sigh of relief. The man noticed it and looked at Jakub quizzically.
"What's so funny?" The man asked.
"Wouldn't you like to find out?" Jakub said, sending an arrow through the man's heart.
The man hadn't even hit the floor when Jakub ran over to Robert. "Are you okay?" Jakub asked offering to help him up.
"I think I will be." Robert said accepting Jakubs offer. Jakub noticed Roberts neck and gasped. It was covered in a big bruise. Robert saw Jakub worrying and said,
"Don't worry, the ladies will still love me." Jakub laughed and they left the house.
Chapter Ten: The Plan
When they got back to the base they were greeted with cheers. The mysterious man who always seemed to know exactly what happened. He walked up and patted them on the back. "They've gone crazy. Now this war is greatly in our odds." He said walking away with a little skip in his step. "By the way, take a shower you smell disgusting." He said entering his office.
After Jakub took a shower, he got dressed and went over to the medical section of the base. Sure enough he saw Robert. He was sleeping in his tent with some kind of gel covering his neck. "It heals bruises." A female doctor said. She set a clipboard with a bunch of writing that Jakub didn't understand at the foot of Robert's bed. "Also he would like to see you." The nurse said walking away. Jakub figured he knew who she meant by he. So he walked towards the strange room. He took a deep breath and walked into the room. "Welcome to my lair." He said motioning for Jakub to come over to him.
Jakub sat down at a table in the man's office.
"So what am I supposed to call you?" Jakub asked the man.
"Just call me Jason." He replied to him.
"Okay Jason, so what do you want?" Jakub asked.
"I want you and Robert to go to the front line." Jason replied with a stern look on his face.
"You want us to go straight into bloodshed?" Jakub asked horrified.
"I'll do whatever it takes to win this war." Jason said.
Jakub left Jason's office and went to find Robert. He found him walking around the hospital making small chat with patients and doctors. When Jakub walked over, Robert saw the look of worry on his face. He pulled him to the side and asked him what had happened during his meeting with Jason. "He told us that we would have to go to the front lines of the war." Jakub told Robert sullenly. Robert shook his head in understanding.
"I had a feeling this would happen." Robert said.
"How did you know?" Jakub asked him.
"I'm gay; it's obvious he wants to get rid of me." Robert said. Robert looked at Jakub to see a mix of understanding and confusion mixed on his face. After a few seconds Jakub pushed the thoughts out of his head.
"I guess we'll have to get ready." Jakub said. Robert shook his head in agreement and went down to the armory.
Inside was the same as the last time that they had gone down. Weapons and vest covered the walls. Jakub noticed the bow he had used last time and picked it up, he liked the way it shot. Robert picked up a small pistol, ironic seeing how small it was compared to the mace that he had used last time.
He walked over to a target and shot at it. One hit the target directly in the head, one hit the target in the heart, and the last hit the stand the target as on, knocking it over. As the dummy hit the floor Jakub gave a small gasp and whistled.
"How'd you get so good at that?" Jakub asked.
"It's my symbol." Robert said showing Jakub his hand. On his hand showed a pistol and a rifle. And underneath there was the word Marksman.
"Do you want to see something cool?" Robert asked.
"Sure why not." Jakub replied. Robert tossed him an apple.
"Put it on your head and I'll shoot it off." Jakub put it on his head and stood by a dummy. Robert looked down the sights and fired the gun. The apple went flying off of Jakub's head and it hit the ground, opening up to see the insides blown out. Jakub gave a shaky laugh and walked back to Robert.
"Let's never do that again." Jakub asked. As they left the room, Jakub was still shaking.
Chapter Eleven: The War
They got into one of the convoy's that the base provided them. As they drove, the forest habitat that surrounded them, slowly transformed into a prairie. They drove until they heard the sound of gunshots echoing across the open space. Jakub looked forward and what he saw cause his skin to crawl. They saw people being shot, their blood covering the green grass. This prairie would have been a beautiful sight if it wasn't trampled by feet and covered with bodies. Jakub jumped out of the convoy into a manmade trench that they must have carved. Jakub saw Robert hop down next to him.
The convoy drove away showing the enemies. Or what was left of them. Some were people just like us, others were shadow lurkers. They couldn't stop bugging out. Some curled into balls, while others dug their claws into their skin.
"When you killed that man, the shadow lurkers went crazy." Robert yelled in his ear. Jakub noticed that the enemies were shooting the shadow lurkers. "They aren't useful if they can't even keep themselves from going crazy. So naturally they'd put them down like they were animals." Robert said with a look of disgust on his face.
Jakub and Robert hid inside the trench. They noticed a small building. They ran inside to get things straightened out. Inside was a young man. He looked about in his late twenties. He would've seemed to look like a young private, if it wasn't for his military decorations. His entire coat looked like it was covered with pins. Robert stepped forward and addressed himself.
"I am Robert Tyler, we were sent from the base in Pittsburg." The man stepped forward. He looked at both of the men as if he was inspecting them.
"Ah yes, I was expecting you two." The man said.
The man then pointed a gun at Robert's head. "Corporal Jason told me to shoot you on sight."
Before the man had time to time to lock a bullet into place, Jakub had an arrow pointed to his head. "Choose your actions wisely asshole." Jakub said through gritted teeth. The man lowered his gun and gave a small laugh.
"You're good with tests." He added. Robert gave a sigh of relief and stepped forward.
"What do you want with us?" He said.
"I want you to accompany me on a mission. We'll be ambushing the enemy compound." He said. "By the way, call me Reeves."
Darkness settled over the land like a blanket made of death. Groans escaped wounded soldiers as they were waiting for a military doctor to heal their wounds. Soldiers who were to injured took the easy way out with a bullet to the head. They snuck through the lines of defense like children playing capture the flag. When they walked for a few minutes they noticed a building. It was covered with black paint symbolizing death. Reeves handed Robert a small metal tube that Jakub recognized as a silencer. As they busted through the door, Robert and Reeves started shooting. There were about 5 military soldiers standing there. Jakub hardly had time to take one of them out by the time that they were all dropped. "Nice shooting Rob." Reeves said running up the stairs to the next level of the building.
They went like this taking out everybody who wanted to get in their ways. Things were going picture perfect until one of the soldiers pulled the alarm. An alarm blared throughout the building, alerting anybody who hadn't already heard the ruckus. Men came down by the dozens shooting their guns and shouting threats. They dove out of the way of the gunfire. Robert kept shooting despite the fact that he was bleeding from what looked like gunfire wound. Reeves pulled him down and they snuck down a hallway. Jakub was left behind however. The last thing Robert saw was a pair of handcuffs covering Jakub's hands. A butt of a soldier's gun hit him in the head and he slumped to the floor unconscious.
Robert and Reeves climbed up to the roof. They were both beaded with sweat and Robert had a gunfire wound just below his shoulder. Reeves pulled out a small first aid kit from a bag just below his belt. He had a pair of tweezers and gauze. He made Robert bite down on a stick while he pulled the bullet out. Reeves wrapped Roberts wound with the gauze. "What are we going to do to find Jakub?" Robert asked Reeves. "He'll probably be taken to the fields for an execution. "We have to get him!" Robert yelled. "In time, first we have to get out of this building." Reeves said spitting off of the building.
They slowly walked down the stairs. Looking down the hallway for stragglers, Robert and Reeves snuck through the hallways. Every time they heard soldiers talking or footsteps they ducked into one of the rooms. After about thirty minutes of doing this they made it outside. They ran out to the fields to see a squad of soldier about to do the execution. Reeves took off his silencer and fired his gun into the air. The soldiers turned and pointed their guns at Rob and Reeves. They both took a deep breath and started firing. In a few moments the squad was just a pile of dead bodies on the dew covered grass.
Robert ran over to Jakub and cut the zippy ties that the soldiers fastened around his arms. Jakub had a black eye and his ankle was twisted. Robert supported him back to the little shed where Reeves lives. Reeves treated to his wounds while Robert got some rest. Robert woke up to the sound of gunfire. Reeves was still asleep in a chair, with a gun in his hand. Jakub sat up and yawned. "Where am I?" Jakub asked. "We're back in Reeve's tent." Robert said. "Oh good, the last thing I remembered was seeing the butt of a gun hitting me in the back of the head." Jakub said. "What a nice thing that must of been to see." Robert said sarcastically.
Reeves slowly came to. He sat up and noticed the two men in his shed. "Why aren't you guys fighting?" Reeves asked. "We were waiting for you to wake up." Robert said. "Well I'm awake, so get out there." Reeves said pointing them to the door. Jakub and Robert exited to a strange sight. The gunfire had stopped. On the front line, of the shadow lurkers were screaming. It cut through the air like a knife through butter. The sound didn't have an effect on Robert but Jakub was fighting back tears. When he shot Makayla, she let out this kind of scream. When they looked at the shadow lurker they saw it had a bullet through its hip.
A soldier on their side of the field ended the screaming when he put a bullet through the things head. Jakub noticed how after the shadow lurker started screaming, the others disappeared. "It was kind of strange." Jakub thought to himself. Then he realized it, the scream was far too dramatic to be real. He must have been a distraction for the other shadow lurkers. "But what were they planning?" Robert thought, with his brow furrowed.
Just then the explosion sounded. Debris went flying through the air. Shadow lurkers, on each side of the line were tossing in grenades, giggling maniacally. By the time that the soldiers figured out the shadow lurkers plans, the enemies had charged in. Soon it was a bloodbath. Men were shooting off guns, people were dropping to the ground with stab wounds through their stomachs. After hours of fighting, the gun fire slowed down and there were less enemies then from the start of the battle. Jakub saw the shack crumble down on itself and he ran over.
Inside the shack Reeves was flattened. When Robert and Jakub got over, Reeves was furiously pulling boards from off of himself, swearing every other word. "Damn Stormcloaks." Reeves said. "Who are the Stormcloaks?" Jakub asked Reeves. "There was an old video game where there was a war. The two sides of the war were the Imperials and the Stormcloaks." Reeves replied. "So you get your ideas from video games?" Robert asked, barely stopping himself from letting out a smirk. "Shut up Rob." Reeves said, now trying to hold back laughter as well.
Reeves pushed him out from under what was left of his shed. He truly noticed for once, that the gunfire stopped at night. The only sounds that were heard were the chirping of the crickets and the laughter of the soldiers around the campfire. "I don't think I can do this anymore." Jakub said. Reeves looked over at Jakub. "Why?" Was the only thing he asked Jakub. "It's just, that seeing these people die isn't right." Jakub replied with a grim expression on his face and in his eyes.
The war only went on for a few more weeks. The only thing Jakub and Robert did shoot into the nonstop wall of enemies. Jakub slowly stopped using his bow and picked up a gun. For the first two days he could barely shoot, but he slowly got the hang of it. Every once in a while, Reeves would give them an update to what was happening in the war. Days dragged on and on. Nothing exciting had happened except for the occasional grenade exploding. At night groans of pain filled the air, drowning out the melodies of the wind.
After the last day of the second week Jakub couldn't take it. "Why don't we just drop a bomb on these people?" Jakub said losing his temper. "We couldn't bomb them because if we dropped a bomb on them, we would put ourselves in danger." Robert replied, with no energy left in his body for arguing. Reeves considered this, actually thinking that this could be a good idea. "Jakub you may be right." Reeves said thinking about how this could work. "But how would be even be able to pull this off?" Robert asked. "If we managed to create an implosion, it wouldn't reach our side of the line." Reeves said. "Well than, let's get to work!" Jakub said excitedly.
Over the next couple of days the men got to work. Rob went around to tell the soldiers about the plan, and to tell them to stay away from the line incase Reeves was wrong. Jakub and Reeves planned where the strike would be, and what would have to happen when it hit. After about an hour they decided. In two days the strike would happen. After it hit the Imperial side of the line would ambush the dazed and confused Stormcloaks.
The following days the soldiers were prepared. The strike would hit on Noon. The soldiers slowly crept away from the line in anticipation for the strike. In the distance a plane could be heard. It got louder until it poked out from behind the trees at the end of the prairie. It launched out the bomb that would cause an implosion. The soldiers on the other side of the line started to scream. The bomb flew towards the black building that the guys had gone through.
When the bomb hit the building it exploded. Inside of a blast going inwards it started pulling things towards something that looked thing a mini black hole. "They didn't have technology like this in the last war." Robert said to Jakub who seemed amazed by the bomb. The last war was in the 21st century. It was called World War 3 because there were already two world wars before it. After the third world war they started experimenting with implosions. By the 23rd century, they developed a bomb then could replicate a miniature black hole.
When the bomb had sucked up guns and ripped tents off of their stakes, it started to suck up enemy soldiers. After destroying most things in the enemy camp the bomb stopped sucking up debris. The Imperials charged the enemy camp, knives in hand. They killed any enemy stragglers that didn't get killed in the bomb. After about 20 minutes of this there weren't any enemies left to kill. Imperial soldiers dropped their knives and started cheering. After days of pointless fighting it was finally over. Men could go home to see their wives and children, wounded soldiers could go to hospitals without getting killed in the process, but the best part was that Jakub could finally go home.
Reeves pulled Jakub and Robert off to the side. "We're still not done here." Reeves said. "Why not? The war is over." Jakub replied. "This battle may be over, but the war is still going on." Jakub replied trying to clarify the situation. "Okay so what's the plan." Robert said, already used to hearing mission briefings before. "We have a final assault on the biggest military base they have." Reeves said with a smile on his face.
Chapter Twelve: The Final Assault
So Jakub and Reeves had to deal with another long boring car drive. After about 2 hours of driving, Jakub fell asleep. Robert and Reeves just talked about simple things. Like their lives before the military, or lovers that they had at home. Conveniently, neither of the two were in a relationship. They started bantering with each other. They taunted each other and neither could stop laughing.
"Do you want to know what I think?" Robert asked Reeves. "Sure, what is it?" Reeves told him. "I can't believe your plan actually worked." Robert replied. Reeves flashed him a smile and said, "I was surprised that it worked too." Rob looked Reeves in the eye. They looked at each other and all the goofiness that they were feeling for, completely disappeared. Rob put his arms around Reeves's neck and Reeves did the same. They slowly moved in towards each other until their lips touched. They stayed like that for as long as they could, only pulling their lips apart so they could take a breath. "Let's not tell Jakub that happened." Reeves said, blushing scarlet. "Agreed." Rob said, with a broad smile on his face. "Too late." Said a half sleeping Jakub from the bench he was sitting on.
Robert and Reeves sat quietly for the rest of the ride, their cheeks still blushing furiously. Jakub could hardly keep himself from laughing. After a while of sitting in silence, Reeves sat up. They built the target in the middle of the desert. It's called Death Valley if either of you have heard of it. "I went there with my mother before." Jakub said. "Well forget what you think it'll look like. They have three square miles of it fenced up. Soldiers are everywhere. You couldn't even throw a rock without hitting a soldier." Reeves said. "Sounds like fun." Jakub said.
They drove for another day, just about boring each of them to death. The only time they stopped was to eat at bases spread out around the highway. Just like before, the scenery switched. It went from prairie to desert. The man who was driving the car stuck his head into the back of the convoy. "We're getting close." He yelled over the sound of the engine. After about 10 minutes the convoy stopped. "We're finally here." The man said.
The boys crawled out, eager to stretch their legs. They were escorted to a tent that looked bigger than the rest. Inside Reeves walked over and shook a man's hand. "So these are your impressive soldiers?" The man said sarcastically. "Well, we're not dead yet. So we can't be that bad." Reeves said, matching the man's sarcasm. The man grunted and motioned for them to follow him outside. He pointed towards a huge fence. "Here is our target. We sent a team inside a couple days ago but they went dark. I want you three to go in and rescue them. If possible," The man stopped. "Blow the hellhole to the ground." He finished.
Chapter Thirteen: Inside the Base
Not wasting any time, the boys walked towards the wall. There was a small hole that was blown through the wall. When they walked through the wall they saw an empty courtyard. "Well, this isn't suspicious whatsoever." Reeves said taking a step inside. One of the average looking statue's head rotated and shot out a bullet through its mouth. Reeves feel back into Roberts arms. "Are you okay?" Robert asked him. "as long as I'm here in your arms." Reeves said sarcastically. "He might of said it sarcastically, but he really meant it." Jakub thought to himself, suddenly feeling like the third wheel. "So anyways." Jakub said trying to get the lovebirds out of their own little world. "How are we going to get past here, with the statue with a gun in its mouth?" Jakub asked the two. The two other boys faced Jakub, shrugged, and then went back to their own little world. Jakub let out an audible groan and went to work by himself.
Jakub noticed that the statue only shot at heated things. Jakub tossed a half frozen bottle of water, but the statue didn't shoot. Jakub tossed over one of his hot hands and the angel blasted it to bits. "So the statue has heat sensors." Jakub said. "Ok, so how are we going to get past them?" Robert asked Jakub.
"Hmmm, I don't know." Robert said.
"How about this." Reeves said pointing to a discarded car hood. "Since it's cold outside, the metal won't set of the statues heat sensors.
"That could work." Jakub said with his brow furrowed.
"Let's go then."
They picked up the hood. They snuck by each statue, hoping that they wouldn't get blown to bits. After carefully sneaking by each statue, they made it to the end of the courtyard. The tossed down the car hood and walked through the door.
"Is this whole place a strategy game?" Robert asked, seeing their next obstacle.
"Well if it is, this game is going to get a bad rating." Reeves said, trying to sound cool.
The next room was a giant river. "The current is too fast for a boat, besides we have nothing to build a boat with." Robert said.
"Why don't we go get a closer look?" Jakub said heading towards the river.
They walked over to the river. While the other two guys were thinking, Reeves noticed something unnatural. "Why is the sand so dry?" Reeves asked. "If the water is splashing out, why isn't the sand getting wet?" Jakub and Robert investigated this phenomenon. Reeves picked up a handful of sand, and he tossed it in the water. Instead of sinking, the sand didn't even cause a ripple. "See how the sand doesn't sink? That must mean that this isn't real." Right after he said this, the floor started shaking. Pieces of the ceiling fell, revealing a black ceiling. The sandy desert floor started flipping, revealing a black tiled floor. The miles of desert that appeared to stretch out, were replaced by the same material as the floor and the ceiling. "See I told you it wasn't real." Reeves said with a smirk on his face.
They walked around the room, trying to find an exit. When they couldn't find one Jakub sat up against the wall. "Please show us an exit." Jakub thought to himself. Suddenly, a door appeared. If that wasn't enough, arrows started pointed to the door, if almost it wanted them through this room. They all charged to the door, scared that it would disappear at any moment. They charged through the door to see a group of people. Each of them had wounds and seemed like they didn't want to continue. When they saw Reeves they swarmed him.
"I knew that they would send reinforcements." One of them said.
"I can't believe that you made it through without any injuries." A woman said who had her feet planted in position, as if expecting an attack at any moment.
"So what's the plan?" Jakub asked.
"I thought you'd never ask." The woman said with a sly grin on her face.
"Call me Dawn." The woman said. "Our plan is to get to the end of these little games that these people are playing with us. Our scout just told us that there are only two more rooms. After that he went dark, I'm pretty sure he's dead. The last thing we heard was a scream and a gunshot." Dawn said. "So let's continue down this fun little path." Reeves said sarcastically.
They continued forward. When they walked into the next room, their jaws dropped. It was a two story room, but about ever inch there was a door. "Oh wow, how cliché." Jakub said. "One of these doors will lead forward, but the rest will have something scary. Books never have things like that. We have such a good author." Jakub said, breaking the fourth wall.
"So we should check to the doors, but be careful to kill the things that pop out if necessary." Robert said.
"Exactly." Jakub replied.
So they got to work. Searching for the correct door, and killing the things that were in the bad ones. In one of the doors there were a couple shadow lurkers. They lunged at one of the soldiers. Their claws dug into his skin, killing him in the process. Two other soldiers killed the shadow lurkers and went over to the soldier. They took off the woman's helmet and closed her eyes, to make it look like she was sleeping. After a tiring process of opening doors and almost dying, there was only door left. "On the count of three we'll open it." Dawn whispered. She counted up from one until she got to three and slammed open the door.
Inside was an empty room. The only thing was a door at the end of a long hallway. They ran down the hallway and charged through the door. Inside of the final room was the thing you would imagine. Each section of the room had a plaque. On each of the plaques were the names of everyone in the room.
"So this is the final room then." Jakub said. "I suppose each of these little sections will have something that is supposed to make us not want to continue. I'll also bet that whatever's in there must have been pretty big for one of your soldiers to kill himself."
Dawn stepped forward and said, "How are you so sure he killed himself."
Jakub looked her in the eyes. "What else would be in there? I'm trying to keep my hopes up that whatever's in there won't push me past the breaking point." Jakub said standing at his door. "Well, now that I've scared you guys senseless lets go." Jakub finished walking into his room.
Inside Jakub's room really was his greatest fear. There was a chair kicked over, and above where the chair was kicked over was a hanging body. Not just anybody it was his mother. His greatest fear really was losing his mother. Jakub felt like he had nothing else to life for. He sat down and decided that this life was over. He saw the door and all thoughts of ending his life dissipated. He ran towards the exit and barreled through the door. When he got out of his room he slammed the door. "I guess I'm the first one over." Jakub thought to himself, sitting down against the wall.
Robert and Reeves looked at each other. "Well I guess it's our turn to go." Robert said quietly. Both men took a deep breath and walked through their doors.
Robert's room stopped him dead in his tracks. There was only one thing, and that one thing was his father. To make matters worse, Robert's father had the belt he used. "No son of mine is gonna be a fag!" Robert dad cried out raising his belt. Robert's throat felt dry, like he as drying to swallow gravel. He remembered the beatings he got when he was a child just because he was slightly different from the other boys in his grade. The worst part was, whoever designed this made his father much larger than Robert. Their heights were about the same time apart as their last beating. However this time Robert was the bigger man.
He stood firm and strong in his place as his father swung his belt. Robert caught the belt and threw it to the ground.
"I'm the bigger person! You can't hurt me anymore." Robert said calmly to his father who was slowly shrinking. Robert pushed his father who fell onto the ground, out of the way as he left the room. Robert saw Jakub and breathed a sigh of relief. He sat down next to Jakub and waited for Reeves.
In Reeve's room was a battleground which was slightly familiar. "That's it?" Reeves said. "This'll be easy." He started towards the door before a voice made his blood run cold.
"Reeves wait!" A voice cried out from behind him.
"No it can't be him, anybody but him!" Reeves thought. Reeves slowly turned around, his suspicions were correct. Lying in a pool of his own blood, with a bullet through his hip was his mentor.
"I'm going to die Reeves, and that's a fact." His mentor said.
"No, you can't" Reeves said with tears welling up in his eyes.
"Don't let anybody change who you are." The man said with his dying breath.
Reeves loaded his gun. He put it up to his head and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry everyone, I just can't continue anymore." Reeves said. He just about pulled the trigger when Robert popped in his mind. Reeves shook the bad thoughts out of his head. "I have to keep going, I have to keep going to for him." Reeves said putting his gun away. "This is the first time that you constantly popping up in my head was useful." Jakub said to a Robert that would never hear those words in person. Reeves walked through a door that randomly popped up in the middle of the battle field. When he saw Robert, he ran towards him and gave him a loving embrace.
A few minutes later gunfire was heard. It didn't come from before the entrance to the rooms; it came from inside one of the rooms. Not even a minute later, another gunshot was heard. "That must mean that only one of them will come out now." Jakub said with a worried expression on his face. After about five minutes Dawn came out through her rooms. She seemed less brave than before, and she had tears streaming down her face.
She took a deep breath, wiped her tears and said, "Well, what are we waiting for. Let's go!"
Chapter Fourteen: The Computer
The four of them continued down the path. There was only one door left. It was bigger than the other doors that they saw along the journey. It was made of solid wood, and had intricate carvings covered around it. Jakub took a deep breath and he pushed open the door. Inside was the biggest computer either of them had even seen.
"Holy shit, that thing is gigantic." Dawn said in amazement.
"This has to be a trap, why would it be so under protected?" Jakub asked. Jakub approached the computer. He pressed a random key, and they computer electrocuted him. "Well I bet we're going to make great progress with this thing." Jakub said sarcastically.
"Well I have an idea." Robert said.
"Then let's give it a go." Jakub said sucking on his finger. Robert aimed his gun at the screen. He unloaded and entire clip into the computer screen without leaving a dent. "Well, that certainly worked." Jakub said sarcastically.
"It worked about as well as well as yours." Robert said with a smirk on his face.
"How about I give it a try." Dawn said suddenly. "My plan is to blow the thing to bits." She said with a sly smirk plastered onto her face.
"You do what you want, as long as I don't get blown up in the process." Robert said nervously.
So dawn went around, setting down explosives that she conveniently had in her bag. "I didn't know what we were expecting." Dawn said innocently. As she was setting up the last explosive, soldiers came bursting through the doors in which they came in. "Stop, or we'll be forced to shoot!" One of the men said. "Jakub!" Dawn whispered urgently. "I just finished before the guards ran in. I'll blow up the explosives, and you'll have to go on without me.
"We can't do that." Jakub whispered to Dawn, almost as if the thought of the idea made Dawn look crazy.
"It's the only way." Robert whispered quietly to Jakub.
Dawn took a slow deep breath.
"Are you guys ready?" She asked them.
"Yes." Jakub said, the only one brave enough to speak up. A single tear rolled down Dawn's cheek as she activated the explosives. The explosion sent a shockwave of vibrations, along with a deafeningly large sound. The explosive blew the computer to bits, along with blowing a gaping hole in the wall. The explosion caused a ringing in Jakub's ear. However he could still hear Reeves saying, "Run." as he ran out the building.
Dazed and confused, Jakub barely managed to make it back to the camp. Reeves stepped forward and explained what happened inside the zone, along with what happened to the first team. The last thing Jakub remembered before blacking out what the general saying the war was finally over. Jakub did it, he could finally go home. He could see mom and Blair again. With that thought, Jakub let himself slowly drift into unconsciousness with a smile on his face.
~Epilogue~
One Year Later
"I can't wait to meet your friends." Jakub's girlfriend Samantha said.
"Either can I, it's been a while." Jakub said.
The ride over to Rob and Reeves's house only took about twenty minutes, but Jakub hardly ever visited because it brought back bad memories from the war. When the memories flooded back into Jakub's mind, it usually brought depression.
Jakub and Sam pulled into the parking garage by the guy's apartment. They walked over to the apartment door and knocked three times. Reeves answered the door with a smile on his face. "Come on in!" Reeves said cheerfully. When they walked inside Sam must have felt like she was in a complementing mood.
"I love your apartment." Sam said, ogling over everything in sight.
Robert's voice was heard from the kitchen. "Dinner is going to be ready in a few minutes. Just sit down at the table." Robert said.
"I'll be right back, I have to talk to Robert." Jakub said heading towards the kitchen.
Jakub stepped into the kitchen. "Oh hello Jakub." Robert said to him.
"I need to talk to you about something." Jakub told Robert
"Go ahead, what do you need to ask?" Robert said, pulling the food out of the oven.
"I had a dream, and in that dream I saw the building where you were undercover."
"Hmm, and you're asking why you had that dream?" Robert asked trying to make sense of this conversation.
"Yeah, that's exactly why I'm asking."
"Well some call it fate." Robert said with a toothy grin on his face. "But others call it dumb luck."
"Well that was certainly helpful."
A few minutes later, Robert brought out dinner. "It looks good." Reeves said. "Dinner looks tasty too." He said with a grin on his face.
"Oh wow, you're just so hilarious." Robert said, kissing Reeves.
Sam gave Jakub a weird look. But she looked away. "She must be okay with it, she just didn't know." Jakub thought to himself. Everyone exchanged pleasant conversation.
"So what are you guys doing now?"
Sam asked. "Well Reeves and I are both going to college. He's going to college for Criminal justice. And I'm going in for Forensic science, so we can still work together like old times." Robert said as he flashed Reeves a smile.
The pleasant conversation lasted on for a few more hours. The conversation stopped when Jakub said that he had to go home. "Well, it was nice to meet you."
Sam said giving each of the men a hug. After Jakub and Sam got back to their own apartment Sam faced Jakub. "I'm so glad I got to meet your friends." Sam said, kissing Jakub on the cheek. "I'm glad you got to meet them too." Jakub said curling up in bed.
Everybody went to bed happily, glad to be rid of the violence and death. The impossible happened in a story about death and despair. There was finally a happy ending to this sad book. And with that, I bid you ado.