The Last Wars by Bianca Gray (reading women TXT) 📕

Joe looking straight at me, boring holes into my very existence. The last wars…kept ringing in my mind. Just like what Jane said, but she used it differently. I remembered her giving me a sort of desperate look when she said that. A hint. A sign. I stared back at Joe.
“These are the Last Wars,” I whispered. He nodded.
“But they’re not actual wars… It’s the wars within the children,” I said looking at his daughter.
“Inside every one,” he said nodding.
“But…how? Why?” asked Fayre. Joe looked over at the lady with the moving tattoos.
“Mary?” he asked. She sighed and as she began, her tattoos moved faster and faster into a blur.
“When a child is born, they have a chip put into their heads. The hospital doesn’t tell you this but I did some research on it. They have already chosen which child is going to go. It’s already been decided. And they put a certain chip into them. A chip that makes them waver all the time on good and evil. They’re never peaceful. But they never act out on their own. The Center can insert their own ideas into their heads that might totally contradict what they REALLY think. Now, in people like us who live in the city, our chips just make us obey. We obey all the laws. It’s easier to resist than you would think. Both of the chips are… All you have to do is-,” said Mary.
“Eat a certain type of leaf,” said Venus and Mary at the same time.
“Well…yes. You already know this?” asked Mary. Venus nodded slowly.
“That’s what Zanita said. She fed it to Fawn and Bambi to make them more mellow,” said Venus
“And to stop the urge to kill off the rest of us,” I murmured. Venus gave me a shut-up glare.
“There’s others?” asked Joe leaning towards us.
“They got captured,” said Venus.
“Or died,” said Fayre thinking of Ida and Valora. Venus shot Fayre a glare. We were in front of guests. Be on your best behavior. I could hear what was seeping through that glare. Fayre quickly shut up. Who knew if Venus had that poison lipstick thing.
“Well, you all are probably tired, I’m sure,” said Mary looking at Valentine. Valentine motioned for us to follow her.
“Come, come,” she said. She led the way to one room and looked back at her mother. Her mother nodded. Something felt wrong here… I looked at Terryn and I knew he was thinking the same thing.
“Wait,” I called out standing in front of the closed wooden door.
“What? What is it?” asked Valentine concerned.
“We’re not tired,” I said.
“What?? Yes we-!” said Fayre. I cut her off with a glare. Venus looked around searching with her eyes. She didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.
“I’d like to talk a little more,” I said turning around back towards the living room. Daniel gave me a searching glance as I proceeded to sit down on the couch. Terryn did the same. Venus, Fayre, and Daniel looked so confused.
“Talk about what?” asked Mary, her black eyes widening.
“This,” I said gesturing at my surroundings.
“Who are you working for?” asked Terryn.
“What do you want with us?” I asked.
“Do you just want to turn us in to the Center?” asked Terryn.
“Because we’re NOT going back,” I finished the interrogation. Mary just stared at us in disbelief. I heard a scuffle behind me and turned around. Joe and Valentine were trying to get Venus, Daniel, and Fayre. Fayre twisted a gun out of Valentine’s hands and pointed it at her. Venus took Joe’s rifle as Daniel knocked him out. Then I felt something cold and metallic on my throat. Mary had a knife to my neck. I stared into her cold black eyes.
“Don’t make a move,” said Mary. I heard the footsteps behind me stop. She pushed the knife to my neck harder. I just stared at her. Do it, I thought. Go ahead. Because I wasn’t going to move away from this. I am not a coward. Then I heard a sort of whistling through the air, and then Mary dropped her knife. Her eyes were wide and her veins were bulging. Blood was spurting out of a wound. A bullet wound. It came from behind, I thought as she sank to the ground. I kicked her away from me and stood up. There, behind Mary, was a girl with shining black hair and bright green eyes. She was wearing a camouflage outfit and combat boots. In her hand was a blue gun looking thing but much deadlier as I saw the current go through it. It was a weapon…that was alive.
“Ello refugees. I’m Amelia. So nice to meet you,” she said smiling. She had an accent. British, was what my mind identified it as. We all just stared at her.
“Well, come along then. I’ll explain on the way,” she said; looking behind her, back at the city.
“Who says we should trust you?” asked Venus stepping toward the girl.
“I do. Now are you coming or what?” she said staring at Venus with her green eyes. They stared each other down for what seemed like forever. Then Venus looked back at me and I knew that she has decided to trust this odd girl. I started to follow her and I could feel that the rest of them behind me were following her too. We followed her further away from the city.
“This is it,” she said stopping.
“What? We’re almost to the woods,” said Fayre. Amelia turned and smiled at her.
“Exactly,” she said. Then she disappeared.
“Is this a trap?” I heard Daniel whisper. Then suddenly there was something around all of us. A membrane of some kind and we were sinking into the ground. Then the membrane disappeared and we were in some area. Some control center.
“Where are we?” I asked demanding to know if this was a trap or not.
“Your in our Head Quarters. HQ,” said Amelia smiling. All around us were other people dressed like her, but they weren’t carrying weapons. The whole HQ was made out of metal. There were screens that showed faces. Our faces. They were tracking us this whole time. Then a girl with scars on her face came towards us. Her brown eyes glinting. It couldn’t be, I thought. But I knew who it was when Venus screamed and ran towards the girl. Valora was alive.

CHAPTER 11

Valora laughed as Venus hugged her.
“We thought you were dead!” she cried.
“I know. You were supposed to. I’m sorry,” said Valora giving her a sad look.
“Oh who cares? You’re ALIVE!” cried Fayre hugging Valora. I stood back looking at them hugging each other.
“Why?” I asked her.
“I had to. You guys had to believe I was,” said Valora.
“For what?” I asked giving her a betraying look.
“So you would leave,” she said. We stared at each other for a while. Then she smiled over at Daniel.
“Hey big guy! Thought you were rid of me huh?” asked Valora. He just sniffed and then engulfed her into a huge hug.
“No fair, Valora. No fair,” he murmured into her hair. She laughed and just patted his back.
“It’s okay, brother, it’s okay,” she said. …Brother? They looked completely different. Daniel had copper red hair and steel blue eyes. Valora had brown hair and light brown eyes. They didn’t look anything alike. Then I noticed the faint scars on Daniel’s face. How did I not notice that before?
“They were from the same pack. They’re not literal brother and sister, but they were found together. So, they refer to themselves as brother and sister. It’s not all the time that two children are picked up by the same pack of wolves,” said Terryn. Then I looked at Valora.
“That dream! What about that dream?” I asked her.
“It was sent from here. A figment of imagination but…an idea planted into your brain,” said Valora. Because of the chip she could do that huh? I asked myself. Then a lady who had strawberry blonde hair came up to us. Valora and Amelia bowed their heads in respect for this woman.
“You are the One, yes?” she asked.
“Annika,” I said. She smiled.
“I’m the head of this HQ. Like the President of our failing country, but I’m only her sister,” she said. The President’s sister? Should’ve seen THAT one coming…
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
“No, pleasure to meet YOU. I didn’t think I’d be alive when the One was going to come. I should’ve known better,” she said smiling. I shrugged.
“I see you have met my daughter, Amelia,” she said. Should’ve seen that coming too…
“Yes, she killed Mary,” I stated.
“Mary was going to kill you,” she stated.
“But why? I thought her family was going to help us but then…” I said.
“I know. Her family WAS part of the resistance. But then the Center got their hands on their son, Aiden. They said they would stop torturing him if they surrendered and captured you, Annika,” said the lady. Aiden, I thought. He was that boy that was with us. I felt Daniel stiffen when the lady said ‘torture’. That means they were torturing them all. Aiden, the boy with gold eyes and light brown hair. Aiden, who was so interested in my pendulant. Now his family was dead just because they wanted to save him. I stared at the lady.
“Just to save him? They would kill his friends?” I asked gesturing to Daniel and Terryn. The lady shrugged.
“I don’t know what was going on inside their minds. I just know that they wanted to save their son that they couldn’t raise. That was taken away from them with force,” said the lady.
“Do you think he’s still alive?” asked Daniel.
“I doubt it. If I know my sister, she probably wasn’t happy that they got killed and trust me she knows now. What’s the use of having Aiden still? Might as well kill him off,” she said looking away. Daniel took a sharp, shaky breath. Venus patted his shoulder.
“Devil worshipper,” I heard Fayre say under her breath.
“She most definitely is a monster,” whispered Valora.
“I’ve never met your sister,” I said.
“Good, you don’t want to,” said the lady.
“President Rose,” whispered Terryn.
“And I’m Lilly,” said the lady.
“She has crimson eyes. She’s the scariest person alive,” said Valora shaking uncontrollably. She was staring far away.
“Amelia,” whispered Lilly. Amelia took Valora by the hand and led her away from us.
“What did she do to her?” demanded Venus. Lilly sighed.
“I don’t know. But, they could’ve done a lot to her. Brainwashed her. Tortured her. She was pretty beat up when we got to her. Not only was she walking around without a beating heart, she was glowing. We thought maybe she was the One, but she wasn’t,” said Lilly. Walking around without a beating heart?
“Does she still not have a…a…” Venus said not able to finish the question.
“A heart? No. We got one in her now. Though, she really doesn’t need it,” said Lilly.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“We did some research. Read the prophecy a few times. A few companions of the One have a certain power. Each power is a fragment of the One’s power. The One has many powers. Valora’s power has already shown. Hers is that she cannot die. She’s indestructible. And if she was under