By nightfall the pressure was weighing down on me like a ton of bricks. The room's laughter had turned into breaks of silence between hushed planning. We had no idea what to expect so a solid plan was hard to form. All we knew for sure was: drive as close as we could, send in Isabelle while invisible for recon, and one way or another we’d get into that facility and find out the truth about us. If there were Oddities we’d free every last one. They owed us no explanation or allegiance, they just deserved to be free.

I wasted my time twiddling my thumbs and running over each possible outcome I could think of. I tried to imagine myself in all of these situations, and how I’d respond. I watched Alex and Lucas across the room for a bit. They were intently focused on a map of the area and they were going over possible routes from what I could hear. Isabelle was flipping through her notes, and June was scrolling through social media as usual. Judging by her bored expression she hadn’t found anyone talking about Oddities.

When the time came to leave Alex came over and offered me a hand. He had the holster on his belt and the bag draped over his shoulder. I can only assume it was full with ammo, water, and first aid supplies. Alex was always careful and well prepared. It made me feel a little better knowing I’d have him there with me but I was still terrified. It felt like we were walking right into the lion’s den we’d been running from. Could a few kids really pull this off? We loaded into the car in near silence.

Lucas was driving and had June in the passenger seat for directions. Alex sat behind June for the most leg room, I was in the middle, and Isabelle was squished next to me and behind Lucas. I kept focusing on these small details to keep myself calm. Isabelle had made June and Lucas leave their phones behind so there was no way of tracking them to the site. We were as prepared and careful as we could be, but this was something we had to do. We’d get nowhere by just hiding out in the cabin forever waiting for this hellish nightmare to end. Who knows how many would lose their lives if we did nothing to stop it. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t considered it for a moment. I leaned my head into Alex and took a deep breath. Part of me wanted to be selfish and just burn away our days together waiting for it to be over. Maybe June and Lucas felt the same way to a small degree. But Jake was still out there somewhere. I held onto the hope that I’d find him at the lab.

By the time we neared the quarantine pocket it was late and nearly pitch black outside, just as we’d planned. It was another cold windy night as the Texas weather struggled to make up its mind about the temperature. Spring was always like this in Texas. It could go from eighty degrees to forty as night came through, and storms would nearly always accompany the change. The howling wind would likely help us approach unnoticed, and for once I was grateful for the temperamental weather. The car slowed to a stop just off a dirt road near the edge of the zone. Lucas killed the engine and we sat there for a moment in silence. We couldn’t see a wall, and had no way of knowing if the defenses would be the same here as they were near the edge of the main quarantine zone.

Isabelle sighed and flipped her notebook closed. “I guess it’s my time then,” she said calmly. She slid the notebook in the seat pocket, and retrieved a knife that was hiding there. “Give me an hour tops. If I take longer than that something is wrong,” she said, cracking open the back door.

“Be careful Isa,” June pleaded as she reached behind her seat to grab Isabelle’s hand.

Isabelle promised she’d be careful and closed the door behind her. A second later all traces of her vanished. All we could do now was wait to hear from her. Alex absentmindedly traced his finger along my thigh. He seemed lost in thought. June and Lucas were holding hands over the center console and having a hushed conversation I tried not to listen in on. I snaked my arms around Alex and squeezed him in a tight hug. I wished more than anything I hadn’t been so scared. We’d been dating for just a few hours now. It wasn’t enough time to say anything I’d wanted to say over the years. He wrapped his arm around me and kissed the top of my head.

“It’s gonna be okay,” he whispered softly, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I thanked him quietly and closed my eyes, intent on savoring the moment. After maybe thirty minutes had passed a light tap on the window let us know Isabelle was back. She came back into sight and let herself back in the car with a deep breath.

“The wall is the same, no gaps. There’s four guards outside of the main door to the building, and one guard in a guard tower near the road. Or, was,” Isabelle smiled and held up the knife. Blood dripped from the edge of it.

“Oh my god Isa!” June exclaimed in fear.

“You could’ve been caught. You should’ve waited for us at least,” Lucas scolded.

Isabelle rolled her eyes and sighed. “Do you think I’m that stupid? The road is long and winds around, no one could have caught me. I observed him for long enough to ensure that it was safe. He was watching the only way in. I had to kill him,” she hissed bluntly. “You couldn’t approach without him alerting the others if I hadn’t, and this way I didn’t have to waste more time going ahead of you again,” she added, seeming content with her reasoning.

It was cold logic for someone of our age. She was two years younger than me, barely older than my brother, and she reasoned away murder as if it was nothing. She seemed largely unaffected by it, and that bothered me, given how I felt after killing people actively trying to kill me.

“Does it not bother you?” I asked, the words coming out of my mouth before I thought them through.

“No,” she said bluntly, “If there was another way maybe it would bother me, but this is basically war now. You realize we’ll likely have to kill everyone inside, right?” She raised an eyebrow at me, scanning for my reaction.

I had realized it. I wasn’t a fool, but it was still hard to accept. I still couldn’t cope with what I’d done, but a girl younger than me had killed someone who likely wasn’t even aware of her presence, and just reasoned it away because it was logical. I made a vow to myself silently to learn from her actions. If I hesitated to kill I would just end up getting one of us killed. I had to be smart about this, and accept that it really was the only way.

I nodded, “I understand that. I’ll do what I have to, no hesitation.”

“Good, I knew you’d come around after what you must’ve done to get those papers,” Isabelle smiled, content.

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Alex said, opening his door.

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“Let’s do this shit,” Lucas said with a wicked grin as he opened his own door.

Alex helped me get out and once everyone was a few paces ahead he grabbed my hand. “Please be careful,” He whispered softly and squeezed my hand.

I promised him I would be, and made him promise the same. We jogged a few strides to catch up with the others and together we silently followed Isabelle’s lead towards the now unattended guard tower. Once we got there I couldn’t help but look inside at the body slumped over in the chair. There was one clean slice across his neck, and a trail of blood down his front, that pooled around him. He’d died quickly and silently. It was a gruesome sight, but thankfully not as violent as what I’d done. It was easier to look at, and I hesitated to peel my eyes away, feeling the need to familiarize myself with the sight for what was coming. Isabelle was right. This was a war for our freedom, and it had to be fought.

Alex left my side and walked over to Lucas, who was motioning for him to come close. They had been planning some sort of strategy. Earlier in the day they’d snuck outside to ‘test something’ and I guessed I was about to see what that was. The two of them finished talking and told us to wait here, and catch up once the four guards at the door were dead. They said we’d know when to move. We’d walked from the guard tower to the edge of the treeline closest to the door. It was about halfway between the two. We were close enough to see them, barely, but they wouldn’t be able to see us unless we left the cover of the trees. The two of them carefully crawled closer to the guards, using the shadows from the trees to disguise themselves amidst the night.

“Get your wings out, we need to move soon,” Isabelle hissed quietly at me.

I pulled them out on command and whispered an apology in return. We continued watching them, and soon enough they stopped crawling. They seemed to reach a distance they were comfortable with, maybe 200 feet from the guards. It was a miracle they hadn’t been spotted yet. The guards were probably assuming that the walls would ensure anyone coming would alert the man at the gate before they needed to take action, but they were sorely mistaken. I watched in horror as Alex started to form a cloud of fog around the two of them. The guards were quickly alerted to their location.

“Soldiers in position! Oddities on premise!” One of the men screamed. Floodlights flicked on, and an alarm started to blare. I squinted as I struggled to adjust my eyes to the brightness. Bullets pelted the fog and I moved my wings into position to take off but June grabbed my arm.

“Wait, I saw them outside, they know what they’re doing,” she whispered.

The bullets sounded like they were bouncing off something. It wasn’t a noise I’d heard before and I tried to put my thumb on it. Then I realized it was ice. Lucas was using the humidity from Alex’s fog to make ice. Moments later my theory was proven right as I saw large daggers of ice form in the fog, They formed into sharp, threatening icicles, and then launched forwards, acting like bullets in their own right. Within seconds the bullet fire ceased. The guards fell to the ground, all of them skewered by several spears of ice. It was an incredible show of force, and it was blatantly obvious that ice formed by Lucas didn’t act like normal ice. It was too strong, too sharp.

I was in awe until Isabelle broke my concentration. “Now,” she commanded.

I leapt up and let my wings propel me forward. The wind was working in my favor. I utilized it to reach them nearly in an instant and landed at their sides not a moment too soon. The doors burst open and more soldiers emerged.

“You’re up, wings,” Lucas commanded, pointing at the fresh wave of soldiers.

Alex maintained the fog, which allowed Lucas to maintain their ice shield. I nodded, barely touching the ground before I took off again towards the group. There were six more already. I steeled myself for collision and built up as much speed as I could. They had eyes on me thanks to the flood lights, and the bullets started to come my way. I adjusted my angle, mentally lining the men up like dominos and then I swooped down, taking their heads with me before crashing to the ground a few yards past the growing pile of bodies. Pain radiated through my arm. I was hit. I scrambled up against the wall and screamed out for Alex.

I realized too late that I missed one of the soldiers. He’d dropped to the ground when I attacked, and came out perfectly unharmed. He was walking towards me, drawing a handgun from his waist after seemingly running out of bullets in the larger gun. I desperately folded my wings in front of me, forming a shield. I was too close to fly off again without him catching me, all I could do was hide behind the wings and wait to be saved. June and Isabelle were too far behind still, I’d cleared the field in less than a minute. I yelped in pain as the bullets started to bounce off my wings. They didn’t hurt the wings, but the impact was enough to move my wounded arm, causing waves of pain to coarse through my body. I closed my eyes and brought the wings in as tightly as I could, prolonging my life.

“Die already bitch!” The man spit out as he approached.

He was close. Two more bullets hit my wing, causing me to cry out again. No one would reach me in time, I was going to die here. I heard another shot fire, but nothing hit my wings, then I heard two more shots, and something hit the ground in front of me, brushing up against my wings. I carefully moved my wings just enough to peak over them, and saw Alex, gun in hand, standing behind the man. He was panting and a look of worry and desperation was painted across his face.

Lucas, June, and Isabelle appeared behind Alex. “Stay here for a minute, we're gonna head inside,” Lucas yelled to us. Alex threw up a thumbs up and holstered the gun as the three of them ran through the doorway.

“Are you okay Angel?” Alex asked desperately. He ran the rest of the way to me and kicked the man's body away from my feet.

I unfolded my wings, tucking them away for the time being, and screamed out in pain from the movement as I sat up straighter against the wall. Alex threw his shirt off and crouched down in front of me as he ripped the shirt into strips.

“Please talk to me, are you okay?” his voice shook. He started wrapping one of the strips of cloth around my arm where the pain was coming from, and tied it tightly.

“Thank you,” I whispered and reached out for his hand, grimacing at the pain as he finished tying the knot.

Alex took my hand and sat in front of me, checking the rest of my body for visible injuries. Once he was satisfied I wasn’t hit anywhere else he took a deep breath. “You scared me,” he mumbled as he kissed my hand. “It just grazed your arm so the bleeding won’t be lethal. I know it hurts like a bitch but you’re gonna be okay. I promise.”

I nodded my head and took a shaky breath. “Thank you,” I repeated. I tried to get up to assist the others, and cried out in pain again. “Lethal or not I severely underestimated how much a bullet would hurt,” I said with a weak laugh.

“You’ve done more than enough, no more fighting for you,” Alex replied with a slight chuckle at my eagerness to stand. Alex scooted next to me and placed a hand under my chin, gently moving my head to face him. I scanned him for injuries, they were under bullet fire for way longer than I was. I checked his arms, and his now exposed chest, and didn’t see any bleeding.

“Are you okay?” I whispered.

“I’m fine, so is everyone else thanks to you. You’re incredible,” he whispered with a smile plastered across his face.

I nodded, relieved to hear that no one else was injured. “Come closer,” I whispered, closing my eyes. Alex leaned in and I could feel his breath on my face. His lips connected with mine. My heart skipped a few beats, and it almost made me forget about the searing pain. “I’m sorry I made you wait for me for so long, I was just scared,” I said softly as he pulled away.

Alex shook his head, “You don’t need to apologize, I know what you went through, and I was more than happy to be there for you as a friend too.”

We sat there for a moment, just looking at each other like love sick fools, in the middle of the battlefield. It was probably the least romantic place we could possibly be, but I could’ve stayed lost in that moment forever.