Forgotten

Chapter 33

I take another deep breath and looks down at my knees. The pros of regular panic attacks as opposed to jumping, I don’t teleport anywhere. The cons, well, they just plain suck.

Jesse rises to his feet and offers me a hand. His eyes are distant; his gesture is simply something out of habit. I can tell that he is still thinking about the draft. How could anyone really let that go. If it really is a draft then that is huge. The government has been going behind the backs of millions of people. Snatching unwilling soldiers from the minds of those who love them. That didn’t sound like a very American thing to do. Whatever happened to the ‘land of the free’ idea? Was all nobility and honesty dead?

Jesse helps me up and I release his hand the brush away some of my tears that are starting to dry on my cheeks. The thing about these panic attacks is that they turn me into someone that I usually am not. I generally try to keep a positive outlook on life. But the second my thoughts start to travel in the opposite directions it’s like a runaway train. I don’t want to be like that. Who would ever want to be that emotionally unstable? We all walk back to the main room silently, wrapped up in our own thoughts. Although I’m sure I can guess what most everyone is thinking about.

I check the watch on my wrist and find that it is 5:30,

“We need to get our gear and get ready to leave. We have a couple hours of travel to do so we aren’t leaving late. He gives me a pointed look and I self-consciously brush away another tear. More weaknesses for everyone to add to the Neona list. That’s just fantastic. Evan hands me a magazine I pull the holster for my gun tighter around my torso and remove the gun,

“Wow, Neona has upgraded to getting a gun. Congrats.” Curtis remarks sarcastically.

I shoot him an annoyed look, “Careful. I do know how to use it.”

Evan raises his eyebrows at me before unzipping one of the bags Jesse got ready yesterday and places the contents on the table. Due to the fact that I do not have much training in weaponry Evan just gives me four new magazines and a knife that I slide into my boot on his suggestion. Curtis and Jesse work quickly through the other bags. Curtis only holsters one gun because he won’t actually leave the plane while we are getting Trent. But Jesse and Evan hide so many weapons on their person that it’s a wonder they are even able to stand with all that extra weight. Suddenly I feel extremely unprepared. Sure I can shoot a gun and control my jumping on occasion, but that doesn’t classify me as a world-class fighter.

In the end we have a few weapons left to give to Adalie when we meet her. If Sawyer is there he’ll have more than enough weapons. I wouldn’t doubt that for a moment. Evan goes into his office and shuts the door. Jesse, Curtis, and I look at each other uncomfortably and I adjust the magazines in my pockets,

“Neona.” Curtis says,

I look up at him questioningly, “One last thing. If one of us gets captured, we leave them behind. That’s a risk we run on these missions. So if you are captured don’t expect someone to come save you. That’s when you have to learn how to fend for yourself.”

I nod and swallow nervously. Evan emerges from his office and pulls another bag around his shoulder,

“What’s that?” Jesse asks suspiciously,

“I’m not letting these files out of my sight, call it what you will. They are far too important to be left alone. They are the only lead we have right now.”

Jesse shrugs, “Fair enough.”

Evan glances at his watch, “Let’s go, it’s almost six.” I follow Jesse, Curtis, and Evan back out towards the entrance to the warehouse. However instead of climbing up the ladder we go into a door beside it that I hadn’t noticed until now. The smell of sewage is like a slap in the face. I nearly gag as. Step into the dimly lit tunnel. Something drips in the distance and I swear that I can hear the scuttling of tiny feet from somewhere in the darkness. Weak rays of light shine in the grates of each manhole above us. However the light does little to light the space around us.