Thankfully the warehouse was right behind the apartment. Only a few lights were on, which gave it an eerie feeling. The shadows of the guards were stretched out pretty far, making it look as if long, skinny creatures surrounded the warehouse.
I sprinted to the back, nodded at the guards on the way, where Achan was pacing and Anna was sitting by the front tire, clutching Olaf. She looked like a little girl, with her hair split into two braids, and that pink scarf wrapped around her neck. The lighting highlighted her scar, making it glow almost.
"Where have you been? You said it would be a moment- you're bleeding." He was staring at my arm, like he was trying to piece it all together. I watched as it clicked. "That's a bullet wound. You got shot."
"You got WHAT?" Anna got up and yelled. I wasn't sure if it was worry for me and scared that there could be a shooter out there.
"In the truck. Anna, front seat." They didn't move at first, so I said in my most threatening voice, "Now." That did the trick. Achan started mumbling about my arm, and Anna kept looking over her shoulder.
I climbed the ladder into my truck, and swung in. Once everyone was in, I started the engine, turned on all the security systems, and locked the doors.
The force field hummed to life, and the lasers and machine guns were ready to fire; I could hear all the clicking and adjusting from underneath the truck. Like I said before, it was a high tech vehicle. And it fit me like a glove.
After all the security and weapons were ready, the truck itself was silent. And once we were out driving, people really wouldn't see us. The windows were tinted and non-reflective. The truck itself was pretty huge, but completely black, like someone just dipped it in bulletproof black paint.
On the outside it looked pretty normal, just a pitch black truck. But it was built like a tank. The whole exterior was reinforced and sturdy. Weapons were all over, mini missiles, lasers and machine guns, even nets could shoot out. I'm pretty hesitant to use them, since I have limited stock and I don't know where to buy them. But the force field was nice, it ran as long as the truck had gas. The whole truck weighed around 45-50 tons. Sturdy and safe.
Perks of your dad working for the government. Ya know, besides getting killed by them.
But speaking of gas, that worried me. This thing wasn't exactly the most economical, and gas was expensive and hard to come by. We had used a lot of it during the wars and all that, so it wasn't exactly found at every corner. But the announcement had said that all vehicles could run without refueling…so I guess we'd just have to wait and see.
But considering I didn't really have a choice, I just hit the pedal. Achan had opened one of the side doors to the warehouse, and the only sound heard outside was the gravel crunching between the tires.
I was out of practice, but my driving was decent, even in the dark. Good enough for me to press it to 130 mph.
I filled Achan and Anna in as I drove. I left out the part about getting the gloves and the picture, I just said I was doing a last check. I also didn't tell them about my suspicions about who sent Nick. But other than that I kept everything else the same.
"Wow, Nick. I… I was really close to him." Achan sounded pretty upset, so I didn't say anything. Just let him grieve in silence. Besides, I wouldn't know what to say anyways. This wasn't my area of expertise.
Now, if he wanted revenge, that I could help him out with just fine.
Thankfully the truck had a clock, and we made it to the rendezvous point at 5:49. Anna was already asleep in the front seat, but Achan and I were alert. I turned off the gas, but kept all the defenses on.
At 5:52, Gabe rolled up with everyone else. Achan and I slipped out of the truck, guns out with the safeties of. Everyone piled out of Gabe's little van looking thing.
Gabe gave my truck an appreciative once over and whistled. "So I can't drive with you?" He whined.
I gave a small laugh and shook my head. "No. But it you drive close enough behind me, the force field might shield you if there's, you know, trouble."
His eyes got wide. "There's a freakin force field on this thing. Damn Elsa, how did you get this truck?" His question thankfully seemed rhetorical, because he walked past me to get a closer look at my truck. I didn't feel like telling my life story to anyone.
"Don't touch it! The force fields on!" I yelled over my shoulder to him.
"So, what would the force field do?" The guy who I assumed was either Sven or Kristoff, since they were the only ones I didn't recognize, walked up to me.
"Well, I haven't seen a person touch it yet. But I know if you shoot anything at it it'll vaporize it." I said it a little proudly. I mean, I loved my truck. It was pretty badass. Who wouldn't be proud to show it off? And plus all the guys seemed to appreciate it.
Behind me I heard Ben say excitedly, "It's like a black beauty."
"Hm." I thought about that for a second. It sounded like a pretty good name.
I turned to Kristoff-and/or-Sven and asked, "So, who are you?" It came out a little rude, but I didn't care. If they were going to be sticking around for up to three years, they should at least get used to me sooner than later.
He gave a nervous laugh and said, "Sven. Kristoff's over there, gawking at your truck. He loves cars," he added.
I gave Sven a once over. He seemed pretty built, and he was around 5'8, maybe 5'9. Around average. He had light brown hair, and some dark eyebrows. He also had a pretty big nose, which somehow fit with his narrow face. He kind of looked like a reindeer, in a weird way.
"Can you fight?" I questioned. I studied him. He looked more like a runner than someone who fought, but hey, I couldn't judge. I didn't look so impressive at first glance.
"Uh, a little. I'm pretty quick, if that helps?" He said it like a question. I sighed.
"We'll work on it later." I called Kristoff over and went over the same routine.
Kristoff was tall. Probably around 6'2. He had this blonde mop on his head, and also a big nose, but in a different way than Sven.
Kristoff wasn't really a fighter either, but he worked in some mines, so he had potential strength wise.
It was probably 6 by the time I finished questioning them. They weren't brothers, just boys orphaned at a young age that found each other. Later they met this huge group (Kristoff's exact words were, "They're kind of like a cult, but they're not a cult. They're… love experts.") that took them in and they were now like family. But at 16 they left to find work, met Gabe and moved in with him. They still visited their adopted family, and they were really close from what I gathered.
They also had a weird tendency to speak for each other. When I would ask Sven a question, Kristoff would answer for him, and vice versa.
"Okay, we need to go." I called, getting everyone's attention. "I was thinking going as far south as we can first, since we're on that half of the country. Then we'll go north if we can't find anything."
Sven raised his hand, then put it down, looking a little embarrassed. "Uh, what exactly are we looking for?"
I sighed. This was the tricky part. I didn't even know if there was anything to look for. "I'm not sure," I admitted. "All I know is that I'm not going to sit here for three years. Constantly moving is just strategically better."
"Plus," Ben added in, "we could find more people. The bigger the group the better, right?"
"Uhh…" I started, but then I heard the door to my truck slam. Anna walked out, rubbing her eyes.
"Soooo, it's 6:07. Elsa, why haven't we left yet? Knowing you we would've left before 6 than after 6." She ended that in a yawn, and when she opened her eyes she looked surprised when she saw everyone. "Oh, hi." She said with a small wave.
"Oh yeah, guys, this is my little sister, Anna. Anna, this is Ben, Gabe, Kristoff, Sven, and you know Achan." I pointed to each guy as I said their name. Anna waved again and Kristoff stepped forward- a little too eagerly -with his hand out.
I stepped in and grabbed his arm, twisting it backwards, making him do this little flip thing and landing on his back.
"Don't touch her." I said threateningly.
"Elsa," Anna nagged. Everyone besides Kristoff, Anna, and I were laughing, but I allowed myself a smirk. I was a good 5'7 and nowhere near as built as Kristoff was, but yet I managed to take him down in a good 5 seconds, not even. It never got old.
"How the hell did you do that?" Kristoff asked while getting up, rubbing his back with one hand and his neck with the other.
"I told you we'll work on this later. Okay, seriously though, Anna was right. Everyone get in your vehicle. I'll lead. If I want to stop, I'll put my taillights on. Blinkers for their designated purpose." And with that, I spun on my heel and jogged to my truck, not wasting anymore time.
I heard Sven mutter, "Is she always that…" He trailed off, and I heard Achan finish with, "Straightforward?"
"I was going to say icy, but straightforward works too." That was the last I heard before I slammed the door to my truck shut.
I wasn't sure how to take that. So I just stored it away. Maybe that could fuel my anger later.
Once everyone was in, I gently pressed the pedal, and turned onto the strange path that all too familiar. I made sure I was going south (my truck has this thing called a GPS, I'm not sure what it stood for, but it tells me where I'm at and all that), and gave it a little more gas.
Once I was on the path and saw that Gabe was behind me, I did what I've always wanted to do.
I just gunned it.
Hey, guess what? … Jack's coming in the next chapter (;
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