Tori: No useless babble here! Nope! Not gonna find any in THIS chapter! Nope, nope, nope! Gosh, there's nothing I hate more than when people babble on and on about nothing when all they really have to say is 'Here's the next chapter!'. Moreover…
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Civilians. The word stuck. These were soldiers… I had gotten myself involved in the war despite my best efforts to deny its existence.
"Cassie…? Cassie?" It was the girl this time. Her voice was resonant, soothing. "Cassie, we don't want anyone to get hurt. Please, we need your help or a whole lot of innocent people are going to die."
I blinked a few times and nodded. Looking at them again, neither seemed the fifteen years that I had (correctly) assumed at first glance. They seemed old beyond their years. Old and tired. I wondered how many times they'd done this before.
Nonchalantly, I made my way around tables and chairs to the fire alarm. I was in a daze when I felt the plastic bar beneath my fingers. Snap!
Civilians ran, the braided pair rose, and Table 12 looked bewildered. The bodyguard held a gun to the woman's temple and the four men suddenly reminded me of frightened deer caught in headlights.
"Waitress! Go!" The boy called out to me. I was grateful he didn't call me by name. Still in my dreamlike daze, I wandered towards the restaurant's front doors.
Suddenly, they burst inward and a pack of soldiers in green uniforms poured in. I had a faint idea of someone outside calling my name, but one of the men grabbed my arms and held them behind my back.
"Shit," three people spat collectively, followed immediately by a sound like the ripping of a giant cloth. Machine guns. I jerked my head up and saw the former bodyguard turn over a table to duck behind.
"NO! It's GLASS!" I yelled and he heeded my warning just in time. The tabletop shattered as someone fired their machine gun again. For my troubles I was rewarded with a punch in the gut.
As my mind reeled, it searched for something familiar to anchor it down. I began tallying the damage costs, as inappropriate as it sounds.
Three tables…$1,560
That lamp…$112
All those dishes…$900
The sound of machine guns ripped through the air again followed by the biggest crash yet.
Front window…$1,800
Girl with braid…Worthless, apparently. She had been crouching down and when she stood she was shot off her feet and through the window into the street. Outside, people were scattering in all directions.
"ABORT!" the braided boy cried and tore me from the soldier's grasp. I ran obligingly with him and the former bodyguard through the gaping hole in the glass. He released my arm, scooped up his partner, and we bolted.
The soldiers didn't bother to chase after us, but yet we continued to run. I could hardly keep up with the boys even though one was carrying another person.
When we finally stopped, my lungs burned. I sank to the ground and hugged my knees, too winded to be sad or frightened.
I stopped heaving after a few minutes and looked up. The boy with the strange bangs offered me his hand and I accepted. As he helped me to my feet I noted his strength.
"Here is your choice," he said evenly. His voice was calm, adding to the pacifying effect his deep green eyes. "We need to get out of here and our friend needs help. You can either come with us or risk your neck out there with them. If you come with us we can protect you until this thing blows over."
I nodded, my eyes wide. Just this morning I had a good job, great boyfriend, and an easy life all ready to be lived by your truly. Now I was hiding in a dark alley with three people who had just staged an assassination attempt of five pricks who were hell to wait on. A morbid idea occurred to me that perhaps I should be grateful.
That was the last moment I spent as a civilian.
"Okay… I'll come with you," I whispered. I looked around and noticed the other two had gone.
"They went to meet the transport. C'mon," he said, reading my thoughts. He led me towards the sidewalk and then to the bus stop.
"We're taking the bus?"
He did respond. He didn't need to. No sooner had we sat down than a white minivan rolled casually around the corner and stopped in front of us. The boy pulled the door opened and when we'd climbed inside, he shut it again.
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Tori: Wow, how many times have I used hair references to denote who I was talking about in the chapter?
Kegawa: Would you like me to count?
Tori: Uh, no. That's okay. Actually, I just wrote this off the top of my head because someone reviewed it telling me to write another chapter.