Kiera
Mei is stronger than I will ever be. His girlfriend just died in his arms and he's ready to lead us again.
He thought it would be best to travel out in large groups instead of one giant group. I was in a group with him and Declan and fifteen or so others.
Our group was in the front and would scope out the entire path to the outside to make sure it was safe for the other groups to follow us. We had to exterminate any Guardians or Supporters working with the Known Families down here. It wouldn't be long until more Guardians found their way under here.
We were all silent as we trudged along. Mei led us with his back straight and head held high.
Mei turned a sharp corner where there was a ladder that looked ready to collapse at any second.
"Okay so we made it here without any interruptions. It's safe to go back for the others," he concluded.
Mei stayed with our group while Declan and I went back to get the other groups. We led each group one by one to the ladder. When every group had finally reached it, we were ready to go up.
Mei climbed up first followed my me and then Declan. We had to make sure only one of us was on the ladder at a time so it wouldn't break under too much weight.
I had no idea which sector we would come out in. The underground tunnels were so long that I couldn't be sure where we were.
I poked my head above ground and took a huge breath of fresh air.
Except it wasn't fresh air. Smoke filled my lungs as I had a coughing fit.
Mei had already climbed out and stood frozen in shock at the landscape.
I climbed the rest of the way out with Declan behind me. We joined Mei and were speechless.
"A-Are we in the Gray Sector?" I stuttered.
"No. This is still the White Sector," Declan said clipped.
Smoke filled the air as buildings were torn apart. Glass rained down from the windows of the tall buildings. The cobblestone streets had massive craters uprooting the stones.
This was a war zone.
By now everyone had made it up the ladder and joined with us. No one spoke. We just stared.
We did this.
None of us could recognize what was left of the White Sector.
The Gray Sector couldn't even compare to the carnage here. Humans don't have powers like Nephilim do so they aren't capable of this destruction.
We had come up in another alley so we slowly walked to the end of it. The buildings on either side of us were destroyed, the roofs caving in and holes in the structure.
Further down the street, shouts rang out.
I looked around the corner to see a four versus two battle. Blue flames, knives, rocks, ice, and just about anything they could get their hands on, flew between the groups.
In a split second, one of the fighters dropped dead. It was so strange. Nothing had impaled the Nephilim. They just dropped.
Now it was four versus one.
Suddenly, the lone fighter was swooped off the ground in the arms of another Nephilim. Three other Nephilim flew in behind and swiftly took out the remaining fighters on the ground.
Then they all fled the scene of the battle.
I couldn't tell who had won. Had it been the Rebels or the Nephilim working with the Known Families?
"It's not safe here or underground. We aren't safe anywhere anymore," I whispered.
A heavy hand dropped on my shoulder. I turned to see Declan standing next to me. He didn't say anything as he looked at the remains of his home.
I reached up and placed my hand on top of his. We stood like that for a while until Mei announced that we had to keep going.
We didn't have time to make a plan at all while we were underground. We were forced out before we had the chance. I wondered what Mei was thinking.
We continued down the unrecognizable streets with solemn expressions. This had been many of the new Rebels' homes. Mei and the other Rebels who had grown up in the Gray Sector could not relate, including myself.
For them, it must have hit home the fact that things were changing and would never be the same again. For me, the destruction symbolized hope. Things needed to change.
I stared at the cracked ground as we walked. I didn't realize the group had stopped walking. I bumped into someone's back and mumbled an apology.
"This place will have to do until we know what to do," Mei said, standing in front of a beaten up building that looked just like the rest, "We will have to take shifts of watch. We also cannot risk staying in one place for too long."
The Rebels picked their way into the building without a peep.
Declan and I found a room on the second floor that didn't look like it would cave in on us.
I could tell this building was immaculate.
Our room had a huge, king sized bed in the middle of the room draped in white cloth. Well, at least it was once white. Now, dust coated the sheets making it a grayish color. There were two walk-in closets filled with expensive clothing. Whoever had lived in this apartment had left it as if they would be coming back. They hadn't taken anything with them.
I peeked in the attached bathroom to see a marble bathtub and a shower. Two sinks were placed under shattered mirrors. The glass sprinkled the floor around the toilet.
When I looked back into the bedroom, Declan was sprawled across the bed with his eyes shut. We would be taking the second watch shift so it we had to get our rest in now.
I climbed into the bed next to him and made sure not to touch him.
I couldn't have been asleep for long when a crash sounded from downstairs.
Declan and I jumped out of the bed and sprinted down the stairs.
"Everyone out, NOW!" Mei was yelling.
Rebels clogged the hallway as we tried to escape. Everyone was pushing and shoving each other out of the way as the building shook. The sound of explosions kept going off around us. The structure of the building groaned.
Declan picked me up and covered my head with his arm. He barreled through all the Rebels to get to the door. Some of us had already made it outside. I could see Mei waving his arms rapidly outside.
We were almost there. Just a little more and we would be outside.
More and more of us escaped as the building continued to shudder and groan.
The ceiling collapsed behind us with a boom, trapping innocent Rebels underneath. I shielded my face from the flying debris. I could no longer see anything.
Light from the outside shone through my eyelids.
I heard the ceiling overhead crack.
We weren't going to make it.
Declan knew it.
I knew it.
The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air. I opened my eyes to see Declan panting with his hands on his knees. He must have thrown me from his arms when he realized the both of us would never make it.
I flew out the door where Mei caught me. I locked eyes with Declan's intense silver gaze.
The building shook one last time and collapsed.
With Declan and the Rebels still inside.
"No!" I screamed.
I crumbled in Mei's arms and brought us both to the ground.
With tears freely running down my face, I looked up at the remaining Rebels.
My resolve broke with the building. At that moment, I completely lost hope. We had lost at least half, if not more, of the Rebels.
Mei dragged me back up and yanked on my arm to get me to run with him.
I couldn't see where the attacks were coming from because of the dust, smoke, and debris raining down on us.
The ground threatened to split open like an earthquake as we sprinted through the explosions.
Rocks and dirt flew high in the air to come plummeting back down on top of us. Mei held onto one of my arms and with my other arm, I shielded my head.
The remaining Rebels ran directly in front of us. When one fell, someone else was there to catch them or pick them up to keep going.
How were we supposed to go on like this? We had lost so many of the Rebels already and we haven't even done anything yet to change the society.
Things were not going to change at this rate. We had initiated a war instead. A war that did not look like we would be able to win.
I tripped and Mei quickly adjusted his grip on my arm to keep me from falling. His white hair was more black than anything. Ashes from the explosions dusted his head.
We were all struggling to breathe. We were coughing and hacking as we ran.
"Over here!" Someone yelled.
At this point, we had nothing to lose. We ran after the sound of the voice to where a girl was waving her arm.
She held open a door in the ground as we jumped inside. Then she shut it behind her.
"Don't worry, I won't kill you guys. I judged you as fellow Rebels by the way you were the ones running from the attacks. It's definitely not the safest place down here as of right now, but this is our only choice."
The girl with the two long, blond braids brought us to a tiny room with nothing in it.
"We joined with the Rebels for the same reasons you guys did. We hadn't had a clue what was really going on," she said as she gestured to five other Nephilim sitting on the ground in surprise.
"There are more of us out there and under here, you know?" She asked.
"For real?" I responded.
"Mhm. Oh, you're the famous girl who stood up on the water fountain and made that speech. Yeah there's a lot of us out there. Maybe more than those who actually side with the Known Families. I think we may have a chance," she said.
It didn't seem that way to me, but I didn't say anything. I put my back against the wall and slid down it to where I plopped on the ground. I put pulled my knees up to my chest where I laid my head.
Mei sat next to me and gently patted my head.
"Don't give up hope now, Kiera. Do it for them," he said as his voice cracked at the end.
I wiped my eyes and looked into his gold ones. They offered so much strength that I latched onto.
We were all in this together. We have to keep walking forward. We will not stop for anything.
This war is far from over. We will give the Known Families one hell of a fight.