🏆 WATTPAD CREATORS PROGRAM 🏆
🏆 8CC November - December 2023 Completer 🏆
𝘛𝘏𝘙𝘌𝘌. 𝘛𝘞𝘖. 𝘖𝘕𝘌. 𝘉𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯.
Thirteen remembers one thing from the moment he woke up: live on, through whatever means necessary. When he is thrown into a society...
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Thirteen stared at the screens showing him where everyone was. He didn't blink. He might miss something that way. His comms crackled and Eight's voice poured through. "Confirming personnel report. Two pins in eagle eye, east. Three in the sparrow wing, west. I count two more in the star buckle, north."
Of course, all in code. The words corresponded to the coordinates, and they could be anything, so long as the number of letters matched the exact coordinates. Using comms was enough risk, especially when he didn't know if there was someone who knew about these things in Karrel's ranks. Safe. He was playing it safe.
"Confirming," Thirteen answered, eyes flicking through the screens. He frowned. "You sure about sparrow wing?"
A pause. The wind boomed in random bursts. "Affirmative," Eight answered. "It's...a bloodbath here. Only two remain."
Did Karrel beat them to that quadrant? Why would she attack there? She could track the rest of Section M if she wanted to, and they would have to square off blind. They have knowledge of some abilities, and they weren't that impressive. Most of the fighting unit could handle them with their eyes closed.
So, what about that spot?
"Can I get a read around this area?" Thirteen circled a finger on the spot Eight pointed out on his way to turn to Nine.
Nine closed her eyes and laid a hand on the rim of the table. "Affirmative," she said, opening her eyes after a few seconds. "There are masses of bodies interfering with the thermal waves, but only two of them betrayed life."
Thirteen shifted from his seat, a frown pulling at the ends of his lips. The map showed him no pins in that area, so why were Eight and Nine telling him differently? He glanced at the players he dropped into the elaborate board. They could handle it. He just needed to check something.
"I'm going out." Thirteen pushed away from the table, letting the legs of the stool grate against the stone floor. "Keep the command center busy."
Nine whirled to him as she took her seat before he finished speaking. "Where are you going?"
He put a finger to his lips and winked. He slunk out of the room before Nine could ask more. On his way out, he stopped by his old room and opened the cabinet door. The gun Five gifted him from the second or third quarter blinked back at him. The metal mechanisms chinked against each other as he snatched it up.
Turning the gun against the dim lights of the cubical room, he checked the cartridge, the magazine, and the trigger. Nothing would jam. Good. He stuck it into the band of his trousers and ducked out. He made it to the sewers and unlocked a hatch there. Everyone thought he'd closed off this way when he extracted it from Two's mind, but the spies found a better way of moving in and out of the surface. He couldn't pass this up.
The underground functioned both as a toxic sewer and an extensive bunker. Should all else fail, Thirteen could run here and get lost in its tunnels until forever. But first, the sparrow wing. West. He picked his way through the darkness. Arrays of various colored pipes ran across the arched walls, disappearing around corners and protruding towards the surface. Every once in a while, he would pass shafts of sunlight streaming from hatches above. They were too muted, courtesy of the grass roots and tree shades which had overrun them a long time ago.
