Chapter 9

I starred at Dr. Halsey. She knew, no knows so much. And now I was going to get the 'you should have known better' speech; how to end the relationships with minimum damage to both of their mental state of mind.

Blah, blah, blah, I may hold a level high level of respect for Dr. Halsey. But after a bit to of zoning out her lecture, I began to remember the terrible surgeries, the intense training, the taking us from our home. How we will never see our family again. I remembered all the nightmares from my childhood when I was first taken. All the terrible things they did to us… to make us Spartans.

"LIZ, are you even listening to me?" Dr. Halsey snapped at me. I looked up at her and laughed.

"Sorry ma'am. I suppose I zoned out. What were you saying?"

She met me with an icy glare. I smiled back. I could suddenly remember the first time I met her. It was clear and vivid. My body shuddered and I seemed to be transported to back then.

I was running down the road, James by my side. A strange group of people had come to our home on Earth. My parents were at work and I had just gotten back from school. I heard a knocking on the front door and when I looked through the peep hole I didn't see anyone.

I decided it was James; he wasn't very tall then, even on his tippy toes. I was standing on a stepstool to look though the hole. But the moment I opened it, a group of people in black rushed in and tried to grab me, but I ducked in time.

I didn't know what to do or think, and fled to my parents' room. I ran in and slammed the door shut. Then locked it, and moved the desk in the way. There were no windows or other doors from their room.

I huddled in a ball in the back part of their closet. I heard the banging of the door and the slow rhythmic click of the clock that hung on the wall.

My heart was pounding and I felt blood rush to my ears. I looked around the closet. I knew they would break through, and needed something to defend myself. My father had a drawer in his closet. He didn't know I knew about it, but it held a small arms gun and a pocket knife and a spare clip. I opened the drawer and began to hear the breaking of wood.

The door was almost open.

I fumbled through the drawer until I found the gun, spare clip and the pocket knife. I slipped the knife into the pocket of my jeans. I hadn't used a gun before, but had watched my dad sight it once. I placed the spare clip in my other pocket and held the gun. It was fully loaded, and ready to shoot.

I felt my heart pick up the pace of its frantic pounding as the door was open, and they began pushing against it, trying to move the desk. I took in deep breaths and kept quiet.

They were in.

I waited until they were all in. I had to have a clear break if I was going to get out. They had some kind of gun. It didn't look like the kind my father made. He was a major designer and engineer of military weapons.

I was watching them through a small crack between the door and the wall. Where it hinged on it, the door was barely open. I prayed that it would be a mistake or they gave up and left. Then one started towards the door.

My heart was pounding so hard I feared they could hear it. Maybe that's why he checked the closet. Or maybe because there was no hiding spot they hadn't checked already.

The slow creaking of the door was terrifying. The moment the opening was large enough I bolted. I ran out the broken door and raced down the main hallway. I turned and ran out the door. I heard them right after me. I tried to keep my mind on getting away but I just couldn't. I was terrified, and knew that if I didn't do something right now, I would be caught.

I ran across my large yard and down the street. I saw the big maple tree that my father built a tree house that only we knew about. It was so well hidden and if I could get out of their line of sight I could get into the tree house, and hopefully safety.

I heard the click of their guns, maybe they are tranquilizers, I thought. I saw a large truck parked down the road and ran to it. I slid under it and crawled out the other side and then tugged at the door. It was unlocked, and I climbed in and onto the other side.

The men ran around it and the moment they were all over I jumped out the other side and ran to the maple tree. I ran around it and started climbing up the branches. My hands were met with many splinters from the old tree but I refused to cry out. I climbed higher and higher, until my hands were met with a metal bar. I grabbed it and pulled myself up all the way.

I was maybe ten feet high now, and was sitting in a hidden tree house with a zip line, that appeared to be a power line, that went to James's house. There was another that ran to my house and I was preparing myself to use the one to James's.

I climbed up higher and was careful not to be loud. The men below were searching everywhere for me. The only reason the tree house was hidden so well was that my father changed the paint on it to keep it with the colors of the maple leaves.

During the winter he would put up a canvas mask that made it appear to be nothing but twisted branches. Thankfully it was spring and the leaves were all back.

He made us this tree house to keep us safe from gangs that came sometimes. The men below seemed like a gang enough to me.

James was looking out his window, watching the men run around looking for me. He looked up at the tree house and I waved down at him. He nodded and ran away from the window.

Neither of our parents was home and I hoped he was going to call the police. He came back and shook his head. They must have cut the phone lines! These guys sure are smart! I thought. He pulled up his sling shot and I showed him the pistol.

We were always playing together; we were the only two kids on the block. Everyone else was parents, or teens with jobs. We were the only ones home in this whole neighborhood.

He seemed shocked to see me holding the gun, for he gulped and his eyes grew wide. I saw a few of the men heading towards James's house. THEY THINK I WENT IN YOUR HOUSE! I mouthed and his eyes grew wider with the shock and growing fear.

I decided I would make a distraction to keep him from getting taken or whatever they planned on doing to him. I pointed at the zip line and then down the road. James took a deep breath and nodded, he was ready. I jumped forward and used the pistol to go down the zip line.

I jumped off and rolled on the grass. I saw them, about to open James's front door. "HEY DUMBIES, I'M OVER HERE!" They looked at me and aimed their guns at me.

I watched them carefully, and then dodge the incoming projectiles. One landed in the ground about an inch in front of me. I examined it. Tranquilizers!

I then took a deep breath and aimed the pistol at the one that had obvious importance among them. They seemed dumbfounded at the sight of me aiming a gun at them. I yelled out and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew through the aim and I saw my aim is better than I thought.

I didn't want to kill them. I shot him in the foot and he began cussing with pain. He pulled his foot up and pulled the bullet out. I gulped as I felt small to his coming wrath. I quickly aimed the pistol again and shot again, shooting the man next to him in the foot.

I saw James carefully slipping out from his backyard gate. He must have slipped out the back door. He nodded at me and started running towards me as I shot the remaining three men in the foot and took off running down the street.

"LIZ, DO YOU KNOW WHY THEY ARE AFTER YOU!" He asked me as we ran.

"I have no idea. Maybe they are part of a gang and wanted to take me as a ransom."

"Well let's not wait around to find out!" He called out and we ran faster and faster down the road. I only had one bullet left in this clip and I heard the men coming closer.

Then I saw a large van pull up and block the road. A woman stepped out with black hair and blue/grey eyes. She wasn't very tall, but she wasn't very short either.

She looked at us and we froze. Her eyes were cold, and I wanted to scream. I felt my hand shake and then James grabbed my hand. I was holding the pistol in my right and the lady looked at it, as though she was examining it.

I wondered if they could hear my heart again, I bet James could. I pulled the pistol up. "WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?" I yelled, and she smiled faintly at us.

"Put her in the van." She said and I felt hands grab me from behind. I screamed with defiance. I twisted my hand and hit the man who was taking me to the van with the pistol.

He gasped for air and I saw I had hit his gut. The others came at me, and I quickly twirled and shot one in the stomach. I was terrified and felt blood splatter on my face, the man had been close and the bullet went straight threw him.

I didn't think and kicked the man who held James and freed him. James fought them off with me and the lady watch us the whole time.

James used his sling shot and the gravel road to keep them at bay for a few minutes, while I was changing the clip. The moment I had changed the clip I aimed it at one of their heads. I was scared and pulled the trigger. It hit his head and he fell down without a sound.

"DANNY!" One of the remaining three yelled. The man I hit with the pistol looked at me and lunged. I pulled the trigger but it was stuck. NO!

I dropped the pistol and pulled the pocket knife out and then cut towards the man. His hand was sliced down the palm and he yelled with anger and pain. James kicked his feet out from under him and we both heard the breaking of his neck when he hit the gravel.

I felt my hands sweat and the lady's eyes on us both. The last two shot their tranquilizers at us. I pulled James down the gravel with me and we barely dodged the darts. "THIS IS INSANE!" James yelled as we rose again and faced them.

"COME ON JAMES WE CAN DO THIS! WE HAVE TO!" I ran forward with the knife out and sliced one of the men before he could react in time. His side was now bleeding. The other grabbed the back of my shirt and James kicked him 'where the sun don't shine'. I was released.

The lady knocked on the window of the van and five men came out.

We can't fight five more! HOW WILL WE GET OUT OF THIS!

James looked as discouraged as I felt. The two men we fought were fighting us and now five more came at us. I took a deep breath and looked up at them. "JAMES! I DON'T KNOW IF WE CAN DO THIS! BUT I KNOW WE HAVE TO TRY! PROMISE ME YOU WILL TRY YOUR BEST!"

At first there was no reply as he shot his rocks at the men and I sliced at them with the knife. Then he looked at me, and his eyes were somber and his face grim. Then he smiled, cocky, "I PROMISE LIZ!" From that day on he would smile like that…

Then we fought, as best as we could against seven. But there were two of us and I saw one of the tranquilizers on the gravel, blood was splattered on it from where I had shot the man's head.

I fired my pistol at five of them. One in the arm, another in the stomach and he fell down. The other three shots landed in the head of one, the leg of another and the finale shot missed its target and went flying past and through the van window, hardly an inch from the lady's face.

She looked at the hole with surprise and then yelled out an order. "TAKE THEM BOTH AND HURRY, THE POLICE WILL START COMING AFTER SO MANY GUN SHOTS!"

The remaining five yelled with fury and them all of them shot darts at us. I rolled the moment I saw them shoot, but James wasn't so fast. He was hit with three darts and he fell down.

I watched him fall and one grabbed him. I screamed his name and kicked the man's jaw. And then I pulled the knife out. I lodged it into the man's chest. He fell dead. Blood was splattered on my hands and face.

I looked at the four. They looked at me as though I was a demon, or the devil himself. I pulled up the tranquilizer gun and aimed it at them, and pulled. It hit one and he fell down, unconscious. I smiled as they saw my skill. Two eleven year old kids had killed six of them and knocked out one.

Heart pounding, I shot more, another fell down knocked out when three darts got him. The lady grimaced as there was only two left.

I dropped the gun, it was out. I watched them come at me, and I pulled the knife out, it was soaked in blood. My clothes were soaked in blood, the road was soaked in blood and my life was bloody at these moments.

I stabbed at one and kicked at another. Blood fell on my face again as I stabbed his arm. I tried to pull the knife out but it wouldn't come out. It was lodged in his bone. I kicked him away and ran back to James.

"COME ON JAMES! YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!" I screamed but he didn't. I grabbed his sling shot and placed a large rock in it. I aimed it at the lady who had now picked up one of the guns.

She fired.

I fired.

She ducked from beneath the rock but I was hit in the leg.

I started going limp and then another dart hit me.

I screamed with defiance and then one more hit me.

Everything blurred and swirled around me.

It was all strange and fuzzy.

A large pair of hands picked up James.

I was a foot away from him.

I saw another pair of hands coming down on me.

They grew close and my heart raced.

My vision cleared a bit.

I bit the hand.

Then felt a large heavy blow on my back.

It was over now…

James and I were taken away…

Our families stripped from us…

Nothing the same…

We were Spartans now, and known for our skill.

But we are stuck here forever…

James and I were Spartan, and always will be.