Phoenix [Joe Keery]

Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Garrett Knows What Our Underwear Looks Like.

Marrick

NEW beginnings always have a caveat. Most of the time you don't realize what's happening until you've already lived through the 'new' part and you're already knees deep in a bog. This time, I realize it's happening, laughing with a kid I just met with our entire bodies strapped down into an airplane seat. The makeshift seat isn't helping my underwear, which is currently digging right up my ass. The weird thing is, I don't care. This blissful peace, like I've finally added another missing piece to the gaps in my heart. Not quite full yet, but the celebration of the said piece added is causing my body to celebrate. I'm elated, and if we weren't hurdling through the air at 560 miles an hour, I would get up from my seat and white girl dance. A true- hands in hair, looking up at the sky smiling, twirling around- white girl dance.

It's ridiculous, just sitting in a freight carrier and letting out a little chuckle is temporarily curing me of all ailments. Taking a reseating breath to calm the laugher, I release one hand off the chest straps to wipe the moisture that's gathered under my eyes. Everything good and holy, please don't make me start crying, it would be incredibly embarrassing. The 180 from laughing to crying is unlikely but not impossible.

Just a few short tail-end laughs bubble up before I sigh and rest the back of my head on the seat to tilt my head up. The roof is curved in a dome, the ribbed panels lining the inside. There are tangles of wires running up and down the surface, with respective wires running along the sides. The walls of the fuselage are lined with folded-up passenger jump seats.

That's weird, there are definitely not enough for all of us, but for at least 50 of us. Why go through all the trouble of putting the probably 10 rows of seats in? None of us are sitting in them, so they must not use this plane for cargo, but transport. The seats are permanently bolted to the base, removing them would be extremely difficult. So I lean over to Luke again, who also just finished his own giggle sesh," I bet they use this for stealth passenger transport."

"What?"

"The rows are bolted to the ground, but there are passenger jump seats along the walls," I throw my head in the direction of them, before continuing," They could've just put us in them. The only reason to use this type of modified plane is for passenger transport, but they could use a passenger plane or military transport."

"So if they want to move detectionless- they use one of these bad boys."

"Do you think they're using these to move us detectionless?"

"Now that you bring it up, 100%. Another thing too- the above-ground compound is big, but not enough for all the people and shit they have."

I roll my eyes and observe him through my lashes, "So you think, they are taking us to the real training compound, instead of the smaller one, which you're saying isn't big enough, so it can't be real."

"Yes. They have to have another one nobody knows about."

He has a point: their compound is placed on the outskirts of the city, closer to the mountains in the east. It hits me, it's not surrounded by water. In fact, there's no water out there at all. The Sector is in a valley between mountains.

We're sitting in the airfield of the Gallant training compound. I think Dad bribed them into letting us come out here. The field is surrounded by a lake on two sides, the blue water reflecting wavy light onto the black building of the compound.

"You're right."

"I am."

"Yes."

"Why the sudden change of heart."