Chapter 2 - Know your Enemy

I opened my eyes and found myself lying alone in a bed. The room was dark, although I could see a small light under the door frame. My right eye and cheek were hurting and puffy. What the hell did happen? I couldn't stay here any longer, so I got up, walked to the door and opened it.

It was a huge shed, with high ceilings and lots of cars and people dressed in dark dirty clothes – the same people I saw shooting against the fortress. They were all busy fixing cars or talking to each other. Nobody seemed to have noticed me, so I took a step closer to see further and found more people, more cars and doors to other places.

Then, suddenly I saw Travis walking among the people, hurrying himself to one of the doors. My heart raced - I ran fast towards him and bumped awkwardly in a person along the way.

"Alicia!"

The person I've just bumped was mom! I stopped when I heard her call and went to give her a relieved hug.

"Mom, where are we?! Where's everyone? What happened?"

"Alicia, calm down. Chris was shot in the arm, but he's alright now. Ofelia and Travis are with him. I don't know everything, but I know Nick is in danger. Gosh! Look at your face…"

Touching lightly my own swollen cheek, I stepped closer and lowered my voice to her.

"I saw Strand pushing Nick into that fortress. Mom… who are these people?"

"What? Strand did that?", asked her, surprised. And then, she looked worried to the shed and touched my shoulders. "The leader is calling us for a meeting. I was on my way when you came to me."

"Let's go, Madison", said Daniel, coming towards our direction. "Alicia, you'd better stay here."

"No way! I'm coming with you."

A strong middle-aged man came close to us, carrying a heavy rifle. He looked at me in a grumpy way and nodded to a door beside a huge cabinet. Mom and Daniel walked toward that direction and I followed them.

When we entered, there was a massive squared table in the center with about ten people sitting in heavy chairs around it. The room was dark; there was only a faint light coming from some old candlesticks on the walls. At the table, we could see only papers and maps.

And, standing at the end of the table, there was a blonde woman staring at us. She might've been two or three years older than me. I couldn't see her features well; the darkness was all over her.

"Sit down, please."

She said. There, that accent again. Where was it from? Australia?

I saw mom and Daniel doing as she demanded, managing to sit down next to the others at the table. I had no intention of sitting, though – instead, I crossed my arms and remained still.

"Who are you?", I asked.

Mom looked at me with disaprove in her eyes.

"Alicia, sit down. Now", she quickly whispered.

"So, the name's Alicia", said the woman. She walked slowly towards me until she finally stopped. "Interesting."

I was taller than her by an inch. Now, much closer, I could see her features. She was wearing a leather jacket and a pair of dark jeans. She had golden wavy hair and her eyes were as blue as a deep ocean. I could swear she had been noticing me too, as our eyes met.

"I am sorry for what Noah did to your face", she said softly.

"I've no idea who Noah is and I don't give a damn about why. What happened out there?", I asked, impatiently.

"We are looking for something inside that fortress. They don't want to give it to us."

"I don't wanna fucking know about your war! My brother is inside that fortress and we will get him back.", I was getting pissed, that's for sure.

She came closer to me, so close I could even feel her breath.

"Watch out. I saved your life out there", she said it in a low, but firm tone of voice.

"And why did you do that?", I asked, coldly.

She didn't answer right away. Her eyes flickered to Daniel, mom and to all the others in the room. They were paying too much attention to our conversation, waiting anxiously for an answer.

"As far as I can see, the only way you and your family are able to find your brother is if we join forces", she said, stepping away from me.

Suddenly, everyone started talking at the same time.

"What are you doing, Eliza? We don't trust these people!", they shouted, raising their fingers, pointing at us; one of them even pushed me.

The blonde woman – Eliza - sat down in one of the chairs. She gently raised one hand and the room went quiet again.

"I don't want to know about your complaints", she said sternly, looking at every man in the room. "Whoever questions my decision is free to leave us. I won't say it again."

Nobody said anything. I wondered who was that woman and how she acquired such power. After a long minute, she looked at me, Mom and Daniel.

"I suppose we are your best chance to get the boy back, since we are going to the same direction. Of course, nothing is for free".

After a pause, she continued.

"I want you to help us with our plan and achieve our goal through that fortress. In exchange, we'll give you shelter, meals and a bed to sleep. And, of course, your brother", she said, looking at me.

"How do we know we can trust you?", asked mom. Daniel remained quiet. I guess I know what he was thinking; he had no reason to risk his - and Ofelia's life - to save Nick.

"How do we know we can trust you?", Eliza returned the question with a smirk. "We don't know who you are either. We only know that we have the same interest: to enter that fortress and recover something or someone back…"

Mom seemed to think for a moment.

"Ok. I guess we don't have much choice here."

Eliza got up from her chair. All the men in the room did the same. One in specific came to our side and opened the door.

"Good, then we have a deal. Let the others know we have guests", she walked towards us, near the door. "I suppose we weren't quite well introduced. My name is Eliza Lex."

Mom and Daniel introduced themselves as well. I said nothing.

"Lewis will give you instructions. He'll show you everything you have to know about this place and how it works."

And, by saying that, she left the room with all the men by her side, besides Lewis, of course, who stayed to give us our instructions.

•••

We were given our schedules. This huge shed was called "The Lair", and it was filled with people coming from all places, professionals with so many different specialties; The Lair could practically be considered a small town. We were separated and located in different sections: mom and Ofelia were supposed to attend the wounded soldiers at Section-B; Travis went to Section-F, where cars were fixed; Daniel and I were assigned to train with the soldiers and Chris stayed at the infirmary to heal his wounds.

At first, mom didn't agree with my assignment in the guerrilla training, but she couldn't fight against that – Eliza was very unflexible and didn't allow any changes.

I had to wake up every morning, when the sun had not even come up yet, to attend breakfast with all the soldiers. We all wore the same clothes, a black dirty soldiers' uniform with dark boots. Breakfast was served in an immense room with steel walls and three large rectangular wooden tables at the center, where people seated to have their meals. There were men and women from ages ranging from seventeen to fifty. Eliza was sitting on the edge of one of the tables when I arrived on the first day; I chose a chair between two heavy bearded men, about two meters from her. Daniel hadn't arrived yet. The men looked astonished and laughed to the other guys. One of them hit his own plate and shouted.

"Look at this! We have a new pet. Ha!"

I pretended not to hear anything, but it became difficult when they all started to laugh at me, at the same time. I was getting pissed, not to mention ashamed. But, ashamed of what? Who were they to say anything about me? Before thinking, I got up, took my knife and pointed it to the guy's throat, holding his collar with my tight fist.

"Say that again and I'll make you choke on your own words" I said, clearly, so everyone could hear me. He was startled; his eyes fixed on mine. The room went quiet and then the guy sharply moved his arms, taking my knife and grabbing me tightly against him, pointing the blade to my throat.

"Enough", a female voice said. It was Eliza, from the edge of the table. "Let her go."

The guy let go of me after a while. He was frustrated, I could tell, and so was I. My blood was racing so much; I could feel it all in my cheeks. I grabbed my knife and returned to my plate, as if I could eat anything, for God's sake. Soon, they all started speaking to each other again, filling the room with voices and laughter, as if nothing had happened.

"Don't worry. You'll have plenty of time to take your revenge against Rufus."

It was Eliza, slightly smiling at me. I looked at her, flustered, and then to the man, Rufus. He was laughing and talking about something else – it seemed like nothing had happened to him. I took my plate and filled it with soup, taking small sips at a time. Every now and then, I would glance at her and see her doing the same, even when she was talking to someone else. She barely ate; her hands were busy dealing with papers and maps.

After breakfast, I went to my training section. It was an enormous place, like everything else here. The floor was stiff and cold, like the walls. There were twenty dummies spreading over the place, various ropes hanging from the ceiling and a pool with dark water below the ropes. There was a closed chamber with guns and a big mirror to see inside. When I arrived, people already knew what to do: some went to the dummies, others to the ropes, others to the guns. I didn't see Daniel all day.

I went to the dummies, at first. There was a woman teaching how to punch and attack various vital points. I began my training there, went to my own dummy and hit it hard, imagining it was Rufus' face. I was attacking it so fiercely that I didn't see time passing by.

It was almost dinner time when a loud alarm rang. I didn't know what it meant, but everybody around me started running to the door, taking their knives and guns with them. It sounded scary enough for me to start running as well. When I finally got to the hall, I had to make my way through the people to see what was happening. Then, I finally saw what they were all staring at.

There was a corpse lying on the floor. I came closer to see who it was.

It was Daniel. And he wasn't infected.

Thank you for reading! Next week I'll publish a new chapter. I took the liberty of writing a slightly different Eliza Lex from all the Fanfictions I've read so far. Hope you enjoy it. :) Kisses!