Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10: The Plan.

"You're Hope's brother?" Asked Aimee, her tone is in the 'I don't trust you' moment.

"For the third time, I am her brother down to my very DNA..." I said to her, sighing for the fifteenth time. "But if you did look at our DNA, you would find that there's some difference as Im not a hybrid and she's..."

Her face was now filled with annoyance, and with a frown on her face, she said. "I know that, I'm not dumb."

"Right." And with that the conversation ended with Aimee focusing on the Walkie.

I nodded awkwardly and then clasped my hands together while swaying back and forth, then I focused on the injured Jepperd. Good thing I came early, or else how will Aimee carry him all by herself.

"I still can't believe you got him into the back of your truck." I said to her while looking at Jepperd' enormous size.

I heard her laugh quietly and then replied, "It's because I know some science."

"Ahhh, that makes much more sense."

"What about you? Why did you entrusted Hope to the preserve?" Said Aimee curious as to what my reason is in sending my only sister.

I widened my eyes as I realized that she doesn't know my name. So I stood up and faced her as she then faced me. "Right, I haven't made introductions yet." I took a deep breath and spoke.

"My name is Jess Sanchez, and my sister is Hope Sanchez. I'm also known by another name..." I paused to give suspense.

"And that is?" Asked Aimee as I finally got her attention.

"They also call me Wraight of Winter." I said and looked at Aimee, hoping to get a reaction.

Then Aimees face dropped in disappointment and also boredom. "I already knew that when I saw the Wraights simble on your sniper,"

"Oh, well, now that's... anticlimactic. I was really hoping for you to react in shock or awe." I awkwardly said while caressing my neck. as I looked at the symbol that is carved on the scope of my sniper.

A hooded skull figure with a snowflake as its background.

"It's beautiful though I'll give you that." Aimee commented, complementing the work of art that I made.

"Right, thanks." I smiled at her, then I heard a grunt behind me.

I took a sidestep for Aimee to get a view as we both looked behind me, and it's Jepperd who is stirring awake.

Jepperd grunt as he slowly sat up, clutching the bullet wound. "Jess? Who is she? Where am I?"

"Rest Jepperd, you'll need it. We're going to get our kids back." I said to him as I watched him slowly get up.

"He's right, you know." Said Aimee, but her attention is at the Walkie as she writes down where the points are in the new camp of Abbot. Jepperd looked at her in confusion as to who she is. Which prompted me to quickly introduce her.

"Her name's Aimee Eden. She's the one who's taking care of the hybrid back at the preserve before it's overrun by Abbot." I said to him to give him some information about who Aimee is.

Jepperd didn't speak as he slowly walked and gazed out the window while holding Gus' dog plush.

It's 2:00 am, and Jepperd and Aimee are still talking to each other while I clean my sniper. My gaze focused on them while also attentively cleaning my gun.

"What were you before all this?" Aimee asked looking at Jepperd.

Jepperd smiled his eyes lost reminiscing about the old times.

"I... I was a quarterback... I just had my last game before the sick hit, and now they're saying that there's a new strain."

"Yeah, they are calling it the Doomsday strain or something." I spoke up with both of them now looking at me, then to each other, then back at me again.

"What's your story?" They both said simultaneously.

Taken aback and with a shrug I spoke. "I was kid when the first strand struck... my parents decided for us to go to their province then we fell down the mountain, my parents are gone, me and Hope still somehow alive so I took care of us both." Now I'm not looking at them but the ground.

Silence ensued.

Now Aimee approached and hugged me without a word.

"You might leak tears." Said Jepperd abruptly destroying the silence that enveloped us.

"Way to ruin the moment, Jepperd," I said, chuckling ever so little.

"Just call me Jepp." Said the now Jepp with Aimee laughing with how her shoulder moved up and down.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked visibly confused as to why she's laughing for no reason.

"Well... you can just call him Big Man, like how Gus calls him."

I saw Jepp roll his eyes and spoke.

"He's too old for that shit." Then Aimee gasped dramatically, saying that he shouldn't be saying that when a kid is present. I laughed as Jepp and Aimee playfight , and somehow, i got involved with it as well, and somewhere around 3 in the morning, we all tiredly fell asleep.

[-----------------------]

9 in the morning I woke up and drank some warm creamy coffee. I approached Aimee and Jepp who woke up earlier then me.

"At last the princess is awake." Said jepp teasingly while I just rolled my eyes in return while I watch him struggle to apply a new set of bandages to his wounds.

"Be nice to him Jepp, he's still growing up." Aimee spoke up while looking at the layed out map of the preserve.

"..." i wanted to refute but found no use to it. As technically I'm 19 so that makes me a semi adult and I'm turning 20 this winter.

"So... what's the plan?" I asked Aimee, while applying a new set of bandages and whatnot to Jepp' wound.

Aimee took a deep breath and spoke, "Well, infiltrate it by stealing some of their clothes then we'll sneakyly save them and go to a tunnel I'm sure they dont know about. But I need one of you to stay behind and wait at the pickup tru-" Unfortunately, she got cut off.

"Mom? It's Wendy. We're locked up at the pump house, and they took Roy..."

Aimee, her hand outstretched to reach for the Walkie, eager to reply.

"Wait, don't answer it." Jepp quickly said, which made Aimee stop reaching for it and look at him. Before Aimee could speak, Jepp spoke.

"You'll ruin the element of surprise, plus you're promising them something that we ourselves are unsure whether the plan will work."

I quickly backed it Jepp.

"Yeah, Jepp's right. We need to be careful of our every action like what Newton's third law stated 'For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction' so that's why we need to step carefully like we're on thin ice." I said to her very carefully while lowering my voice to a certain degree where one can say that I'm not screaming.

Aimee, with a look of hesitation, finally agreed, and with a resigned nod, she sat down and spoke, "Right, ignoring what happened just now and back to our plan. One of you will stay, and I can't stay because me and my kids and I are the only one that knows that place through and through."

Jepp and I looked at each other, a wave of understanding burst through. Then we looked at Aimee and said, "I'm staying/He's staying."

Aimee was confused but shook her head and dismissed it and said, "Great, let's go." And went out with us scrambling behind to pick up some necessities for the ride.

Aimee and Jepp went inside while I went to the back.

"Hey Jess?" Asked Aimee through the window.

"Yeah?" I replied as I surveyed our surroundings on the lookout for potential threats or resources.

"Before last men took over, Hope rarely socializes with the others. And if she did, shes only gonna speak to me, Wendy and surprisingly Earl." Said Aimee whilst my eyebrow shot up shock by the new.

"She's not like that when she's with me. She's quite the chatter box." I said, my voice filled with confusion and concern."Do you know the reason why?" I added as I looked at Aimee through the trucks window.

"I was going to ask you that." Said Aimee

I frowned and said, "Then we're at a stalemate."

Aimee said nothing, so I did.

"If we successfully rescue all of them, I'll ask her." With Aimee mouthing thank you.

"Oh, right tell me more about this Earl." I said not knowing that a certain instinct awakened in me.

[-------------------]

We stopped at an empty parking lot near the preserve while both of them were getting ready. I asked Aimee, "Are you sure all the kids, including us, will fit in here?" Aimee put her hand on her chin and posed in thinking and replied,"I'm pretty sure it can, and it will also probably withstand everyone's weight."

"Probably?" I asked as I cast a weary glance at Jepp' figure, which Aimee noticed and let out a small chuckle and said,"Yeah, probably."

Aimee clapped, which made Jepp and I look at her. "Right, everyone knows the plan, right?" She said, looking for our confirmation, which jepp returned with a nod and me replying.

"Yup, I stay here while you and jepp sneak in and split to cover more ground."

"Right, let's go." Said Aimee.

[-----------------------]

Humming, Parkouring, whistling, and napping are all I did as I waited for them to return. Then a sudden a name popped up.

"Earl." I muttered as my eyebrows creased, giving me a feel of suspicion and weariness.

I recalled what Aimee told me about this Earl kid.

"Right, let's see what made him so interesting on my sisters eye." I said as I sat at the back and held up my five of my fingers and counted.

"First, he's an elephant so he's probably strong. Second he's sweet and cudly." I said thinking where to criticized him.

"Maybe he doesn't have ethics, I remember Aimee telling me how he once 'accidentally' spat out water using his trunks."

"Tsk, he doesn't even know how his own body works." I spoke as I shook my head in disappointment then smiled as I felt satisfied from... belittling... a... kid.

I cursed. "Ah, Shit what the hell am I doing? Talking behind someone's back? Let alone a kid that I haven't even met yet." Then I felt a wave of humiliation and embarrassment run through m-

The sound of alarm from where they set of echoed in the distance.

I looked at where they set of and whispered to myself "it's a failure huh? Who would've expect that from happening?" I asked, and no one answered so I did. "No one."

Aimee and Jepp returned, exhausted and frustrated that they didn't manage to rescue everyone. Even I felt anger and dissatisfaction by how things have turned out.

"Come on, we gotta go." Aime hurriedly spoke as she entered the car taking the driver's wheel, followed by Jepp. But before he can do so a strange humming hovered in front of us.

The humm got stronger until it revealed a drone!?

My eyes widened in shock seeing a working drone. "What!? How in the name of Tom Cruise did they manage to acquire alot of em?!"

Then, the curtain wouldn't start.

So I step out and started pushing along with Jepp and luckily it ignited. As the engine revved with life, I went and sat on the passenger seat, and Jepp sat where I was previously.

Ratatatatatta*

The drone fired a rain of bullets down upon us.

"Lose the drone!" I said to Aimee as I looked into the rear view mirror before it was shortly shot of.

"I'm on it!" Aimee replied as she stepped on the gas, and the engine roared in delight. As we are doing our thing, Jepp came up with something.

"I'll shoot it down!" Jepp screamed.

Which made me look behind and see how he will do it. And to my horror he's using something that belongs to me.

"My Sniper!" I watched in great worry as he fired it. Missing not one but three shots.

"The target is so close! How are you missing!?" I shouted hysterically as I saw my saved up bullets go down the drain.

"I'm injured!" Screamed Jepp as he took a deep breath and..

Bang!

The drone went down then another one appeared. Fearing losing more ammo I leaned out the window and pointed my pistol at it.

First shot.

Miss.

Second.

Hit!

"Yes!" I let out in relief as my reserves of ammunition is safe.

But the drone did one thing. Making us exit the city.

TO BE CONTINUED!

Sorry for the late upload. School is taking most of my time (also procrastination). I hope you enjoyed this one!

If there are any concerns where you found some errors like wrong names, pronunciation, spelling, grammatical errors, or you simply don't like how it goes, please do comment. Anyway, Stones...?