Revolution (Book 3 of POE Chronicles)

Chapter 20 Over the rainbow

"Take aim!" Bradly shouted from the ground and I could hear the gears of every catapult grinding as the students geared them up and make sure they were aiming at the right place. With my heart beating like a hummingbird in flight, I quickly descend from the top of the catapult and attempted to stop my hands from shaking due to the amount of adrenaline that was pumping through my veins. Grace descended swiftly and landed next to me with a light thud. I turned to give her what I thought was a reassuring smile. I had never felt so alive and aware of everything in my entire life, it was like everything was coming into hyper focus, and I was drinking in every detail like I was soaking up water in a desert.

"Load!" Bradly shouted, waving his arm in the air for emphasis and I watched as Aulia loaded one of the exploding bombs onto the catapult. The unassuming little ball was no larger than my fist, yet the glistering liquid inside it could blow the roof off a building.

"Ready." Bradly commanded, and this time, I could hear a quiver in his voice. He wasn't as calm as he looked. I looked down to the ground level and Diego caught my eye. I smiled at him, hoping would comfort him a little in this situation.

Scanning the crowd, I tried to spot any familiar faces and terrified of the idea that I would find my friends among them. But for now most of them were so far away that I couldn't even tell whether they were male or female underneath all those layers of clothes. I focused on the group loitering right outside our walls, of about twenty to forty people dressed in black combat fatigues and wielding some kind of metallic rods. They happened to be directly outside our section of the wall, away from the main gate, and I watched them with a close eye, ready to launch into action as soon as they make a move.

"Are we really going to launch bombs at them?" Orla came up to me and whispered in my right ear. I turned around and could see the fear on her face. She looked like she was both scared and torn, and I understood that because about six months ago I was in her shoes. She wanted to protect her life, her friends, but she was way out of her comfort zone with what we were about to do.

"I can't lie to you, Orla." I started, looking at her right in the face. Delaying telling her the truth was a useless cause, and would only hurt her in the long run. "This is war. They are here to capture us, and for what we don't know. It's either fight them, or face whatever fate they have in mind for us."

Orla's face turned slightly green and I could tell she didn't expect me to say what I had said. After a few second of internal struggle, she smiled at me and nodded.

"Thanks, Gail." She said, wringing her hands together and giving me another smile. "Thanks for being so honest with me. I needed that." With that, she started to go back down as standby next to the catapult wheels with Ivan. I could see her hands were shaking, and her world had probably been rocked to the core by all these. I sighed, feeling the guilt of what I just did and tried to shake them all away, knowing that I did the right thing.

Turning my attention back to the battlefront, I breathed a silent sigh of relief when I noticed that the approaching masses and the group right outside hadn't moved, yet.

"Hey, about what you just said," Grace started, and I saw that she and Aulia had been listening to my conversation with Orla. "I want you to know that you are right. About making a choice."