SPOILER ALERT.
SO. I cannot believe the twist with the skitter rebellion and such! Which won't be talked about until about chapter 7.. so I hope you've been up to date. Or you shouldn't have read this since the spoiler alert thing is right there. .
AND WITH RICK. I'm so mad at that! Why are all these people getting killed off!
They're making it especially difficult for me too, cuz first they kill off Jimmy - her brother - then Rick - someone she cared about - and now there's something going on with Weaver? GOSH. She really is gonna be alone. And Ben telling Matt he's gotta go away for a while. And Maggie hurt - I really think her cancer might still be there. /: There's so much for poor Estella. D':
Anyways, rant over, I really didn't know what to do with her. I wanted to make her go a little off the plot - like her be in events that weren't shown on screen but talked about - so bear with me a bit.
Enjoy.(:
I was slowly starting to function. I had become especially attached to Ben now. Not for the reasons people might think. But because he seemed to be the only one who understood the extent of pain I was going through.
We were scouting with Hal trying to find a safe route to the 'safe zone' the girl with the plane told us about. I personally didn't like the idea but I figured I should try not to be too much of a hassle right now.
"How you doing?" Hal was trying to get Ben to talk to him again.
Ben didn't want to talk to anyone though. It was hard to get him to talk to me even at first.
"I'm fine. Let's get back to the mission," Ben was quick to respond.
We found a building with mechs guarding it.
"I wonder what it's being used for," I asked aloud.
" 'Dunno, don't care. It's not any of our concern if it's not causing us any trouble," Hal seemed like he wasn't at all curious.
We began to mark on the map some more when we heard something from behind us.
I turned to watch two kids drive away on our bikes.
"Hey!" Hal went to chase after them but soon realized it was hopeless, "We gotta get back to camp. Get some help."
"Hold on," Ben closed his eyes and concentrated.
I waited and shrugged as Hal gave me a look. He knew I understood what Ben was doing, but it's not like I'd actually tell him.
"They're heading east," Ben seemed almost happy.
"How do you know?"
"I can hear their engines. C'mon, let's go," he started running off in that direction.
"How does he do that?" Hal knew he wouldn't get an answer, so I don't really understand why he asked me another question.
We followed Ben's hearing for a few blocks before finding an abandoned building.
"Are those kids voices?" I questioned, lowering my weapon.
Hal gave Ben and I some signs before heading towards the opening in the building.
Ben and I went around another building and climbed a wall to the roof. When we saw another opening in the building, we went into the room inside and waited.
We were on a type of bridge hanging from the ceiling like the ones people use for plays.
Ben aimed his gun as Hal walked in.
The room was full of kids, and they all held up their weapons when they saw Hal.
"Hey," Hal put his hands up, "I just wanna talk about the bikes."
The oldest looking boy spoke, "Fifteen to one? There's nothing to talk about."
He had a smug look on his face. I didn't like it.
I felt Ben shift his weight in front of me. He was getting anxious. I put my hand on his shoulder to try to calm him. I knew it wouldn't do much, but it did make him hold back.
The boy spoke in Spanish before telling Hal to leave.
"I'd back off if I were you," Hal's voice wasn't very friendly anymore.
"Yah?" the boy replied, his smirk growing.
"Yah," Ben looked down his sights. I knew he wanted to shoot.
"Now if they don't stand down in five seconds, you die," Hal put his hands down, then began counting.
Ben tightened his grip and I sighed.
"They aren't going to do anything," I whispered to him as the boy spoke to the girl behind him in Spanish.
Hal reached to four when the girl spoke to the boy - she said his name - and he told the kids to lower their weapons.
"All of you, put your guns on the ground."
Hal was in control now, which meant Ben wasn't as tense.
We jumped from where we were to the ground and came up behind Hal, both of us keeping our guns up.
It felt wrong talking to a bunch of kids at gun point. Some of them couldn't be 14 years old. But they raised their guns first.
"Diego, that's your name?" Hal confronted the oldest, "Well I'm Hal. And that's my brother, Ben, and 'Stella."
Ben lowered his weapon and waved. I kept mine up. It took Ben pushing the barrel down to get me to loosen up.
Just because I didn't like Ben being tense doesn't mean I wasn't.
"Take the bags and go," the girl seemed anxious. Almost scared.
Hal backed up and came to us. Ben handed him his gun before he spoke again.
"Just you guys here? No adults?"
A boy from the back, maybe 13 years old, spoke up, "We don't need them."
"Adults get us killed," another added.
"We look out for each other," it was the girl this time.
Hal looked over them before walking to Diego again.
"Our people are camped out not far from here. We might be able to spare some bike parts, the very least food and water. You all look like you could use a good meal, no offense."
"Hilary, Sean, Julian, Rob, come to check it out. The rest of you, hold down the fort," Diego spoke. You could tell by his tone of voice that he cared for them, "We'll be back as soon as possible."
Diego picked up his gun, as did the girl behind him and some others.
As they were getting ready to leave, I noticed something.
"Drums?" My eyes practically lit up as I stepped forward, "You have a set of drums that isn't destroyed?"
Diego looked back, "They were here when we came here."
"Oh can I stay here with them until you come back? Please?" I begged Hal. I hadn't played on an actual set of drums since the invasion.
"I don't like that idea," Ben was quick to respond.
"Hal?" I gave him the puppy dog eyes.
He sighed before looking to Diego, "She's been fighting since the first attack. She can help protect them while you're gone. She's a good soldier."
Diego looked me over before nodding, "You seem okay enough. Besides, it looks like you've been dying to play for a while."
I smiled before hugging Hal.
"Thank you both, so much."
When they headed out Ben stayed back for a minute.
"I don't like you being out here alone."
"I'll be fine. Besides, you guys won't be too long."
We were a little away from the kids, but I could tell they were watching us.
Ben put his hand on my arm, "Please don't."
I sighed, "Ben, I'll be fine. Okay? I haven't gotten into trouble in a long while. You've been the trouble maker lately."
He gave me a look of worry before giving up.
"I'll be back soon," he put his hand on the back of my head and pulled my close, touching foreheads before walking off.
"That your boyfriend?" one of the girls asked.
"It's complicated," I stepped over to the set.
"Always is, isn't it?"
I laughed, "Yah, it always is. Hey, do you care if I play 'em?"
The boy who was messing with the drums when we had come in shrugged, "They're not tuned well though."
I smiled, "I can tune 'em, easy."
For a long while I sat and messed with the snare and tom toms as the kids went back to their regular routine. A couple of them were sitting around me watching me though. Mostly the boy and his friends, but the girl that had spoken to me was there too. We talked about a lot of things.
I found out the girl's name was Sarah, and the boy playing the drums was Gavin.
When I actually played, everything felt like it was back to the way it used to be.
Before the attack I was a major drummer. I'd been playing since I was 6 years old. So it felt pretty good to be holding a pair of drum sticks again.
I showed the boy a few things after a while of playing them. He wanted me to teach him things he didn't know yet.
He was a drummer too. But he was only about 12 years old, so he hadn't been playing too long. He was pretty talented for a 12 year old though.
.
This has not been my year. At all.
And to top it all off, I was being led somewhere with the rest of the kids by a group of skitters and mechs.
We had put up a heck of a fight, but there wasn't any chance of winning. It had happened so suddenly and they destroyed the building.
Many of the kids were panicking, others were too stunned to speak.
"It'll be okay," I kept reassuring them, "Both of our groups will have already gone back to find us and see that we're gone. It'll be fine."
I didn't believe what I said, but I was surrounded by mostly younger kids. I had to try to calm them down.
We were sent to the factory we had scouted earlier that day. Once we were inside, we were led around a few hallways and into a room, where the skitters tied us up and left us.
It was creepy being stashed away in a storage room with the rest of the group. We had no idea where we were. We didn't know what lied ahead. I hadn't heard of them doing this. I figured when we were captured it would be like before where we were taken onto a ship and possibly sent somewhere.
Between the cries and the panic attacks, the room wasn't any fun to be in either. I couldn't think. I needed quiet. But it was a stupid thing to ask - them to be quiet. Like that would happen. It was horrifying to be here. They hadn't experienced this before. Not like I had.
"Why is it always me?" I mumbled as I laid my head on the ground.
All I could do was wait.
.
I heard noises outside about four hours later. It was faint, and I couldn't tell what it was because of everyone else.
I shushed them a few times before telling them to shut up.
"Listen!" I yelled in a hushed voice. The room went quiet.
There were panicking yells, footsteps, and pounds. It was like someone was hitting the wall.
There was a huge commotion following that before the door finally opened.
In came Diego and his crew tied up as we were.
But another was with them, and it confused me.
"Matt?" I stood and walked forward as the door shut.
" 'Stella! We have to get out!" he was freaking out, like everyone else.
"Sh, it's okay. We will," I kissed his head and had him sit next to me, "They'll be here any minute. They have to. They must've noticed you were gone."
"So much for keeping them safe," the girl next to Diego said. She was the one from earlier.
"I tried. But I didn't have enough ammo to take out two mechs. And you don't have any bullets to pierce their armor so, I didn't have much luck," I snapped back, "Besides. You should've waited for Weaver and the rest to come instead of come alone, you idiots."
"Yah well, her dad was taking his time getting here," Diego defended her.
My eyes went a little wide, "Your dad? Weaver's your dad?" I looked her over before thinking of his kids, "Gene?"
She seemed confused, "Yah. How'd you know?"
"He's like my father. I remember him telling me of his family. You're the older one. I mean, you couldn't be as young as your sister. Obviously."
"He talked to you about us?"
"Well yah. My little brother and I saw him as a dad after we lost our's."
She seemed to notice the compass around my neck then, "He gave that to you?" She seemed offended. Angry.
"He gave it to my little brother. But.. He died recently," I took a breath, "And so Weaver let me keep it."
She was going to say something when the door opened.
A skitter was holding it open while another came in and looked us over before choosing us. Gene and a few of the younger boys from her group were filed out, then Matt. When he started panicking I stood to try to get them to let him go, but they had already planned for me to go with the group anyways.
We were put into another room before getting knocked out.
