Cultivate Peace or Destruction

They got to the top of another hill which wasn't different at all from the rest that they had trekked through, but Leo suddenly stopped and leaned Melissa off of him. Felicity helped Melissa off his back, who was still completely out, and checked to see if she was still breathing.

Setting the backpack under Melissa's head after laying her flat on the grass, Felicity pressed a hand to Melissa's forehead which was burning up despite the heat that was slick on their skin. Felicity ran a hand down her sore legs and looked up at him with a shaky smile.

There was nothing that they could do now, but pray that Mel's fever breaks and help will soon come. But life wasn't a fairy tale. It looked like they were stranded with no one on their way.

Felicity sat down on the ground and buried her head into her hands with her knees up. Leo sat down next to her, and she turned to him with unshed tears in her eyes.

"In circumstances like these where we all meet each other once again, it should be a happy reunion. But why does it have to be this way?" Felicity whispered. "What happened to make those creatures come out onto the earth?"

Leo rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "That's a question that they will never answer for us."

Felicity glanced up from her squatted position with a frown. "Don't you think about it too? How is it even possible? Why are we, those classified as teenagers and young adults even subjected to doing all of this?"

"Of course, I have thought about it. I have thought about it while staring up at the hospital ceiling for so long it made me insane," Leo muttered. "But it's a question that will get us killed if we dig too far. Are you sure you still want to be curious?"

"I have to be curious if I want to protect my life," Felicity yelled.

"It's not like I wanted this either," Leo calmly replied. "I was lucky to have a doctor that was able to answer some of my questions."

Felicity brought her legs up to her chest and thought back to her doctor during the test. Dr. Peters was extremely insightful and helpful in all ways that counted despite only telling a little, but letting Felicity making most of the connections without even saying much.

Felicity didn't want to be skeptical to the point that she misjudged Dr. Peter's kind disposition because she had informed Felicity of classified information as to what the creatures were called and such. She wondered if Leo had the same information or not and decided to pry a bit.

"My doctor who administered all the drugs was kind too," Felicity said slowly. "She talked a lot to get my mind off the tests."

Leo took a sip of water from the water bottle that they had all been sharing inside the backpack that she tossed at him after she turned her attention to Melissa. "I see."

"What did you talk about?" she asked.

Leo lifted a shoulder, and Felicity turned her cheek to him. "Does that mean it's confidential information?"

Leo passed her the water bottle to shut her up, and Felicity lifted it into the air before gladly taking a long gulp. The water washed away her worries only for a second. She swished the water along the edges of the clear plastic and was about to take another sip when Leo lifted it from her hands.

He screwed on the cap tightly and tossed it back into the pack. "And that's enough for you."

Felicity sighed and licked her dry lips. "That's fine with me."

Beating around the bush didn't seem to work, so being direct with her words, as usual, was next on the chopping block. She didn't have anything to hide. It wasn't as if the government would kill her for getting the words engyure and raure out a little early. If Leo was hesitant, then he did have something worth hiding.

"No, seriously, what did the doctor tell you?" Felicity finally asked and grabbed the end of his shirt so that he would face her. "I had Dr. Peters. She had auburn hair and wasn't wearing a mask which I found odd considering that everyone else had their faces covered."

"I had a different person," Leo drawled when he saw that she was serious. "Dr. Chapman. He was younger than I expected. Maybe mid to late twenties? I was told by him that we need to kill the creatures called raures, and the large openings in the world are engyures."

"Anything else?"

Leo frowned. "I don't know much, Felicity. If anything, it is you who should be letting me in since Obrien was focused on you the most."

"What?" she exclaimed. "That's not true. You were acting so suspicious earlier. I didn't hear much from Dr. Peters. That was all that she told me."

"I was lucky considering that Dr. Chapman gave me a heads up about the physical test."

"Really? Isn't that like cheating?"

"Does it really matter if all he told me was that I needed to get to the weapons first?"

She gave him a skeptical glare. "Well, it doesn't matter now. Did you know about the affinity weapons?"

"No, I didn't. I literally just grabbed the first box on the bottom layer."

"You were lucky that you didn't stay to see the carnage that occurred later when everyone who went later. It was horrible, Leo. People didn't know how to use their affinity weapons, and in turn, it only hurt themselves."

"It is a possibility that what they grabbed wasn't their weapon."

"That's true," Felicity murmured. "Obrien is just onto me since he's still trying to break me. Did he try to make you sign a contract?"

"Yes, but I didn't. I said that I was going to think about it."

"Yeah, and I flat-out refused him," Felicity muttered. Felicity pulled the collar of her shirt that was choking her. "I wonder if Melissa signed it."

"How I see it is that, we're going to have to sign it sooner or later if you don't want to fight without no purpose."

"The bottom line for me is that we shouldn't fight at all."

"That would be the best option if it were a possibility."

"I understand that we are missing a ton of puzzle pieces, but I feel like that government is just taking a cop-out if they are pushing such a large task on younger people."

"I hear you, but there isn't much that we can do. I think that we should stick to whatever protection they are offering."

"I see where you're coming from," Felicity murmured. "But I don't believe that we should fight unless we have to."

"Then are you going to wait until the last minute when the world is burning down to finally pull out your blade? That doesn't seem to fit your character," Leo said as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm would rather go more along the lines of peace rather than destruction."