Battle Strong by Elizabeth McCready (have you read this book TXT) 📕

He came forward, sitting on the log leaving distance between them. "Don't think we deserve a day off?"

"Well, I didn't think about it that way."

"Our sirens go off once they start in our direction. I watched them one morning. I snuck out, and everyone thought I had been captured or killed.  What I would give to see the terror on their faces again, when they thought they were seeing a ghost." Beth laughed softly, he was good at easing tense situations. He always had been. The two sat in silence, but he looked at her, and she looked back.

"Why did you tell them to choose me, Beth?"

"I don't need to be a leader, it's safer when I'm not. Besides most of what I know comes from you anyway. It would be foolish of me to be captain when my competition was the one person who taught me what I know." she paused, "I also know you'd prefer it to be that way."

"You've always been a leader, I just don't understand."

"You don't need to understand. I decided." She stared at the water waiting for him to say something, but instead he just kept his silent gaze fixed on her. "What?"

"Nothing." He looked away as quickly as he could, but his eyes soon returned and locked with hers.

Suddenly overwhelmed by memories, Beth retreated back to the cabins in a calm manner without uttering another word. Noticing that everyone was still sleeping, she walked to the Commons Building to make breakfast. As she was washing her hands, she noticed Ander out the window. It was difficult for her to grasp that she had just had an actual conversation with him. It was nothing like she'd imagined. For so long, she feared reuniting with him. She thought she would freeze in terror, unable to utter a single word. But it was nothing like that, she felt more at ease when she spoke to him. For once, she felt as though she was safe. Beth turned off the sink, scurried and opened the door.

"Ander!" He looked at her, his eyebrows raised. "Wake everyone up, I've got breakfast in ten!" He smiled and banged on his cabin doors yelling my message to the sleeping teens. Through the windows of the cabins, I could see the boys moseying out of bed as though they were being raised from the dead. Beth laughed to herself as she shut the door and finished preparing a large enough meal to feed seven teenagers. She had finished just in time for all six boys to come barreling through the door. She stood back laughing and watching them act like animals over bacon and eggs, each of them finding some way to mess with her before finding a seat at the dining room table. Noeh and Ander were laughing, as they rushed her way.

"You better eat something, lady. I know you hate breakfast- like most other things- but you hardly ate yesterday." Noeh said as he poked her stomach.

"I guess I am a little hungry." She confessed with a smirk.

"A little? Beth, you can eat more in one sitting than I can in three days. I honestly have no idea how you're so skinny." Noeh teased as he piled more bacon onto his plate.

"Fine, throw me a plate!" And as if he was waiting for a cue, Stievan threw a plate at Beth like it was a Frisbee. She loaded her plate with eggs and bacon and sat at the table with the rest of the boys. "Well, captain," Beth said looking to Ander. "What's our plan?" He glanced at her with an expression she could not identify.

"The plan is to stick together. No man- or Beth- can be alone out there." We laughed a little, "But, seriously, we absolutely cannot risk leaving anyone alone. We are already greatly outnumbered. But, I also think we should make the troop smaller, split into groups."

"Split up? Ander, are you out your mind? There are only seven of us. We will get annihilated. Plus you just said we need to stick together. That doesn't seem very 'together' to me." Chaess whimpered, the boys broke out into loud debate. Beth looked at Ander who was obviously looking for some assistance.

"Guys-" The boys continued their chatter, "HEY!" They immediately shut their mouths and stared at Beth. "Thank you. Ander is right. Traveling in such a large group puts us at higher risk of being seen. We should split up. It will make it easier to hide and follow."

"Idea," Quinn cut-in, "Why don't we divide into three groups with even skill sets. Say one group would be me, Noeh, and Stievan. It evens out strong suits. Another team should be Beth and Chaess, and the last Ander and Peitre."

"That's a good idea, that way we have a better chance." Peitre added.

"Then that's our plan. We head out when that alarm sounds. We all know how to fight, so fight like the life of someone you love depends on it. We need to keep our minds focused, distractions are everywhere, and as I understand this isn't easy for any of us. We are not trained killers, we are trained fighters. You all know there is a distinct difference. I'm sure none of you, prior to coming here, had killed a single person in your life. That's because its not normal to go out and kill. What we are doing here is no easy task. But, that's why they chose us. We are seven of the country's strongest young adults. They need us. And we cannot let them down." There was nodding and mumbling in agreement. Beth stared at him, she couldn't help it. She'd spent so much time trying to forget why she was in love with him, but it was that right there. That was it, she thought to herself, Oh, who am I trying to kid? Was in love with? I still I am. I never stopped.

"We need a name." Stievan suggested.

"Yeah! Something intimidating, we can leave our mark better!" Chaess said, we all looked at him.

"Chaess, we are basically a group of teenage murderers, I think the whole intimidation thing comes with us." Quinn remarked.

"Hey, hey, hey," She said, "He didn't say anything wrong. That's what we are going for."

"How about the dolphins? Those things are wicked, they fight sharks and win!" Chaess said with overwhelming energy. Everyone stopped and looked at him as if the poor boy had four heads, one eye, and smelled like rotten eggs.

"Okay, now that-" Beth paused,"-that's what we are avoiding. Nice try though." She added trying to support him.

"How about something like 'The Seven?'" Quinn asked.

"Actually, I like that. 'The Seven.'" Ander said. 

*~* 

It was about half-way through the day, when the Seven had all decided to carry on like a normal day. For hours they had been remaining in the Commons Building waiting for the alarm, but nothing happened. They left their suits on, just in case.

"Hey, Beth." Noeh said as he approached her.

"Hey, walk with me?"

"Sure." They started walking towards the stables that they had not yet explored. "I saw him looking at you."

"Who?"

"Ander, he looks like he's afraid of you."

"He's not afraid of anything, especially not me. And trust me that is not his look of fear."

"What happened?"

"Ander and I were, well, simply said we were a thing back when were little."

"Well, obviously genius. Don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that."

"Very funny-"

"Beth, tell me, you've never told me."

"Fine, fine. Ander and I had been best friends for as long as I can remember. But we were just kids, and long story short, just before my thirteenth birthday, also the year I met you, he left. Ander, being the person that he is, just left. He never said goodbye, or told me where he went, or anything and hadn't spoken to me until the second day we were here. I told his mother to deliver him a letter for me, it basically said that no one should ever leave the ones most important to them and that it was better if he stayed away from me. I even wrote it nicely, I could never be harsh to him. But, he never wrote back."

"Wow, so you broke his heart?"

"I might have, but if I did, he had already beaten me to it." She stopped before the sliding door of the stables. "No matter what he thinks, I never meant to hurt him, I was waiting for him to come back to me, and of course he never did." She turned back to the door and slid it open, flipping the light switch and taking in the view of the ginormous barn.

"That's how he broke yours."

"Yes." She said looking in each of the stalls, and the tack and feed rooms at the end. All empty.

"Did you ever fall for another guy?"

"No, I never even thought about them. All I could think of was Ander. I felt abandoned and I haven't let anyone that close to me since."

"Beth, why didn't you ever tell me?" He asked, his dark brown eyes meeting hers.

"I've never told anyone, it still hurts me, and it's a little embarrassing that I am so desperate and heartbroken over a relationship that happened before I even knew what love was."

"You know what love is now-" He paused. "You love him." Beth looked to the ground, then to the ceiling, tears blinding her eyes. She had never realized that another person would be able to analyze that part of her, she thought that she was able to disguise it.

"Everything is different now."

*~*

She sat in that same spot outside of the Commons for hours as the boys had come and gone. But still no siren, fear engulfed every last touch of skin and bone on her body. She thought about the possibilities beyond that siren, what was causing the siren to refuse to blare out its gut wrenching tune. She wondered if they had done something to win, but then again it couldn't have done that quickly, she feared so many things.

"Hey, Princess!" Chaess shouted as he ran to her, his arms dangling and red hair bouncing in the breeze.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing’s wrong. You just looked all dopy and sad over here."

"Well, okay then." She laughed a little.

"Is everything okay?"

"That's a good question. One that I'm not sure I have an answer to." He raised an eyebrow, perplexed by her answer. "I'm worried about why the siren hasn't sounded. Something seems off, and I'm not sure I want to discover what that something is."

"I'm sure whatever it is, we will figure it out. And-" He stopped speaking as he noticed the delivery truck pulling up to the drop off. "Yay! Deliveries!" He shouted as he ran to the truck. Beth watched as the boys helped the delivery men carry boxes into the Commons. She watched Ander the most, the muscles in his arms flexing at the weight of the objects he was holding. The boys were laughing, and carrying on as if they hadn't been there for the past two weeks of murder and destruction. To Beth, it was amazing. She loved to see the boys meander around as if the world were truly a beautiful place. But it's not. And Beth was aware that even the boys knew that.

*~*

Chaess awoke to the familiar sounding of the siren he'd come to hate. In a flash, he was suited and ready to fight with his new partner who was killer. Literally. He'd been observing how she fought in the field over the weeks of battle. He was amazed at how powerful and unstoppable one girl could be. She was the youngest out of all them and yet if she went against even Ander, she would win. Chaess was sure of it. He's was very relieved when they got paired as battle partners. If they ever got into a