A Step In The Right Direction

"Things are looking good for you, hey?", Jason said, giving his little sister a nudge as she watched Riley throw down her cards on the table while yelling about Cody rigging the game.

"Yeah," she smiled, "Things are good."

"You think they realised that Cody has a separate deck, yet?", he asked, eyes twinkling with mirth.

Sabrina furrowed her brows and looked to the blond boy and wouldn't you know it, he had another pack of cards sitting innocently behind his open computer.

"Well played," she muttered just loud enough for her brother to hear, and he snickered.

Her eyes latched onto Archer's figure as he stared at the cards in his hand with his eyebrows furrowed and cradled his head in his other hand.

A loud 'ping' startled him out of his concentration and his cards went fluttering down toward the floor. Riley paused her argument and watched it happen, the disappointment plain on her face.

Cody fished out the device from his pocket and squinted at the screen.

"It's from Sam," he announced to the room. Sabrina glanced at Jason who did the same to her. She'd briefed him on all that happened, so they all knew what this was about.

The rebels crowded around the blue-eyed boy waiting for him to elaborate. They didn't dare get their hopes up when Cody's demeanor brightened tenfold. They held their breaths until Cody uttered the words.

"They agreed."

The room erupted into cheers.

xxx

"You guys live a shop?", Adam inquired, his eyes flickering over said place.

"It sounds really stupid when you put it like that," Riley deadpanned.

Adam waved his arms in front of him in a placating manner. "Sorry! I didn't mean to sound rude. It's just... surprising," he trailed off.

"And really small," Bertha showed up, leaning her elbow on Adam's shoulder, who stood as stiff as board with his eyes wide as saucers and scarlet creeping up his neck.

"I-", Adam tried to apologise when Sam jumped in front of them yelling, "Hello!"

Cody who had been hanging back during that conversation, immediately jumped forward to greet his buddy, almost tackling him in the process.

Sabrina shook her head with a smile on her face as she watched the exchange. Her brother stood beside her, already getting comfortable with the new crowd, trading greetings, jokes and laughter. One thing that she always admired him for was his ability to connect with people and just make the overall atmosphere better with his presence.

It had helped her a lot as a kid. Her curiosity always led her to places where she was usually unwelcome. Some people called it trespassing, but she called it a borrowed path that she would soon return.

That's where her brother came in with his innocent appearance and way with words that could make you believe that you were in the wrong.

Jason was equally curious, but he had that voice in his head that told him when and when not to do certain things. Sabrina had it as well, she just didn't listen to it.

She watched as Helio doubled over, clutching his stomach as he howled with laughter. Honestly, she didn't even hear the joke, but she would bet an arm and a leg that her brother had uttered one of the most ridiculous sentences ever spoken in history to this little group.

Sabrina's eyes wandered over to behind where Garth was hiding a chuckle behind his hand, his eyes twinkling with amusement, and saw none other than Farron sitting with his leg out of the passenger doorway of the truck they arrived in.

Tell-tale signs of a smirk pulled at his lips and Sabrina had to admit that maybe the joke wasn't that stupid.

A warmth settled in her chest. It had been so long since she had felt it, but it was so familiar that she didn't feel like she ever lost it.

A high-pitched chuckle reached her ears.

Sabrina's head whipped around so fast, that she almost got a whiplash, once she realised that two people were missing.

Her eyes landed on Archer, leaning against a light pole, with his arms crossed and then Elina.

Who had her palm on his arm with her head down as her shoulders shook.

The warmth in her chest burned. It was no longer familiar and gentle, but a fire that licked up the trunk of a tree, accumulating until it spread to the unsuspecting branches around it and soon engulfed everything.

She saw red.

Sabrina had no idea that she was walking towards them until Riley stood in front of her, her emerald eyes shining with concern.

The slump of her shoulders was enough for Riley to turn around and understand what was going on.

"Wanna go for a walk?", she offered.

Sabrina glanced back at the two and saw Archer chuckle slightly while Elina just smiled up at him.

His eyes locked with Sabrina's for a moment. Archer uncrossed his arms and stood up straight.

Sabrina didn't see him start to walk towards her because she had already turned away and nodded at Riley.

"I don't understand," she said to Riley when they'd been safely confined. Riley sat next to Clank as Sabrina paced around the room.

"They barely know each other, but they're all cozied up? It took almost a month and a half for Archer to give me short replies that weren't just insults. And most of them were insults!"

"Well, you did jump Cody," Riley tried to justify but it fell on deaf ears as Sabrina went on.

"Not to mention that she's always touching him! Doesn't she know that he hates strangers invading his personal space? He looks so uncomfortable, but he's not even doing anything to stop her!"

"Why don't you tell him how you feel about all this?"

Sabrina stopped short.

"What?"

"Tell him how you feel."

"How I feel?", she tried to clarify, red creeping up her neck, "I don't feel anything."

Riley rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Clearly." She stood up and walked over to the girl having a crisis and crossed her arms.

"If it's bugging you so much, then tell him."

Sabrina let out a disbelieving laugh. "Tell him what? 'Hey, I don't like how this girl is talking to you and acting around you. Please do something to change it.' Fat chance."

She turned around and threw her hands up in the air. "Why is this bothering me so much, anyway?", she asked herself more than Riley, her voice small. She sunk to the floor, cradling her knees and resting her chin on them.

Riley bit back a retort when she heard how dejected and confused her friend sounded.

She sat down on her knees next to her and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know what I'm hoping for," Sabrina continued, "It's not like I can tell him how to live his life. I just thought how much time I lost fighting with him all the time. We could have been like them-wait, no. Not like them, but we could've gotten along at an earlier time than this."

Riley hummed in agreement, her hand moving from Sabrina's shoulder to rubbing comforting circles on her back.

"We're going to go to the hub soon. The risk that we're taking is huge. It'll be a miracle if we all make it."

Riley and Sabrina knew the risk they were taking. They all did. But hearing it out loud made it real. Reality was terrifying. Everyone had managed to subdue the uncertainty that plagued them day in and day out, but that was only because they were fairly conservative, just doing what they needed to in order to survive.

But now? Now, they were putting themselves out there. Some may see it as brave and courageous. Others, however, saw it as stupid. Unnecessary. Their world was so far gone. Nobody knew what was going on across the ocean.

They were trapped. Sheep in a pen, slowly being herded until it was their time to be taken.

"Isn't that all the more reason for you to tell him?", Riley asked gently. Sabrina looked at her, a poor attempt to feign confusion.

"I know you're not stupid, Sabrina. You know exactly what's going on."

"I know, but I can't. Every time we get close, something always happens. He showed-," Sabrina began but cut herself off, eyes wide in alarm.

Riley would be lying if she said that she didn't see this coming, but still couldn't help the sound of surprise that left her.

"He showed you the book, didn't he?"

Sabrina didn't say anything.

"It's okay. I'm not going to ask you about it, and I'm not mad."

Sabrina smiled gratefully, but didn't speak.

Now, Riley had thought about how to go about predicting Archer's feelings towards this girl. It definitely had its ups and downs, and she definitely thought that he was going to show her his journal, but she hadn't expected it to be this early.

This action confirmed everything.

And Riley didn't know whether to be happy or afraid for them.

She bit her lip and contemplated her next words. Sabrina was smart enough to make her own decisions, and she probably already thought about this, weighing each option, and it's consequence.

"I'm not going to force you to tell him. It's up to you to decide when you're ready. I'll be there to support you when that time comes," she offered a smile.

Sabrina sniffed, her voice was thick with emotion when she spoke, "Thank you. I'm so happy that I met you guys."

Riley found herself tearing up and wrapped her arms tightly around the other girl while they both laughed.

xxx

"Hub team," Sam called out. Sabrina, Archer, Riley, Jason, Garth and Bertha stepped forward.

"These are your comm pieces," he said holding out a small silver box. Sam slowly opened it, revealing six, black earpieces. They each took one and secured it in their ears.

Once satisfied, Sam nodded. "Camp team," he called. Cody, Adam, Farron, Helio, Elina and Oliver stepped forward and their earpieces were presented to them in a similar fashion. They placed them in their ears and Sam took one as well.

"Mic check."

A chorus of acknowledgement was heard.

"This is going to work. We'll make sure of it. Everyone knows their tasks?", Sam spoke, his question more like a statement.

His gaze circled around the table in the bunker, meeting each and every pair of eyes, his own being the mirror image of determination.

They all gave a firm nod.

"Good. We leave tomorrow."