Toby woke up late at night. It was a common occurrence, there was a lot of stress in that building.
The military was losing its patience, over a decade worth of confrontations were coming to an end, and not a happy one. Marlene knew it, everyone knew it.
No one in Boston wanted to deal with the fireflies anymore, which meant less supplies. The situation was not sustainable.
Toby thought about this as he drifted off to sleep. But he didn't get to sleep, someone opened door behind him , a dim light poured into the room.
"Toby" Ryan called for him. It was probably early in the morning "wake up"
At first, he didn't think there was something wrong with this. Maybe it was a drill or he overslept. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized something was off.
He yawned, standing up to face Ryan.
When Toby saw him, it clicked. The dark blue light coming in through the door was enough to see he was carrying a backpack; and instead of the usual firefly uniform, he was wearing a long sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans.
"Ryan!" He said "I thought you were leaving today"
"I AM leaving today" he responded, turning the lights on, blinding the recently awoken firefly "We had a problem"
"What is it?" Toby said as he looked for his uniform among his belongings.
"So. I woke up a couple of hours ago, barely slept actually. Took some time getting everything ready, it's a long way after all. Went downstairs to the entrance, sat down and waited for the rest" Ryan walked towards the bed and sat down "Jack and Jane joined me soon after, we stayed there for a little while. And we waited, and waited, and waited..."
"Riley"
His superior gave a single clap, apparently happy thay Toby could connect the dots "exactly! I looked around and went 'where the fuck is Riley!?' So I did the only thing I could do, I went to her room"
"She wasn't there?"
"Fucking empty! Poof! Gone" Ryan gave a heavy sigh and looked up at Toby "What I'm basically trying to say; and believe me, there's no easy way of saying this; is... I want you to come with us"
"Eh...?" Toby felt his blood rushing out of his head, blurring his vision and making him stumble.
"Now, please, hear me out" Ryan rested a hand on his shoulder, partly to keep him from passing out. "I need someone I can trust and you are the first one that came to mind"
"Ryan..." Toby took a step away from him and scanned the room, his belongings were scattered everywhere "I... I need time"
"Sure, sure. I can allow myself to lose a couple of minutes" Ryan gave him a pat on the shoulder, walking past him towards the door "I'll be wainting downstairs"
"Ryan..."
"Orders, Toby" Ryan said right before as the door slammed shut.
He was left alone in the room, sweating profusely as he looked around, with his mind completely blank, processing what Ryan told him and what it meant.
The sun was coming out, light pouring into the repurposed building. Right next to the front door, Jack and Jane were waiting for Ryan to come back. While Jane remained still with her arms crossed and leaning against the wall; her brother was crouched next to her feet, taking note of every single item in his backpack, scratching his head.
"The kitchen?" She suggested from above.
"I told you already, everything was here last night" he responded, failing to hide his frustration.
"Books don't grow legs, you know"
"Might as well..." Jack stood up, nothing could go just fine, there's always something "Fucking great"
"You'll find another one, eventually"
"It was my favorite one" He looked down at the backpack, from there he could see part of the cover of 'No pun intended Vol I' and Vol III next to it. Volume II was gone, though. Poof. Gone. "Just fucking fantastic"
"C'mon, cheer up" Jane said "we have a long day ahead of us, we'll need to stay focused"
"Got it" Jack looked at her, finding his sister's grim expression upseting. Remaining silent, both siblings stood still, alone.
Jane broke the silence "We're leaving this place" she was talking more to herself than to him, but either way he nodded.
"You regret anything?"
"Why you ask?" she inquired.
"Well, you've been clear before about the fireflies..."
"Jack" she smiled towards him "if you're fine, I'm fine" but he saw through, she was not fine with this, she's not fine with any of this.
He didn't have time to say anything else.
"Hey, guys" Ryan, with a smirk on his face, made his way towards them "change of plans, Toby's coming with us"
"Marlene approved it?" Jane was quick to ask.
"No... but we'll be far away when she finds out"
"And Riley?"
He dismissed the question with a wave of his hand "That's Marlene's problem to sort out"
"Does she even know?"
He shrugged, not bothering to answer the question.
The room had an orange glow at the moment, Ryan looked outside for a moment and sighed "It's late"
As if those words were his cue, Toby passed through the same door Ryan passed through a moment before. Holding nothing but his backpack and wearing a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, he joined the rest of the group "I'm ready"
Ryan's face lit up for a second, probably relieved things were working as intended this time "Okay, listen up" all eyes focused on him "As you probably know, this is no walk in the park. There are over 700 miles from here to Raleigh, and every single step we take from the moment we leave the perimeter is going to be a dangerous one, so no playing around" he looked at each one of them in the eye, making sure they understood he was not joking around "Okay then, let's go"
Jack, Jane and Toby followed him outside.
Once out, Jack looked up at the men on top of the wall separating them from the city in ruins; one of them, the youngest looking, whose name he couldn't remember, came down the ladder and aproached Ryan.
"You're late, Ryan" The guard said as he wrote something down in a notepad he was carrying.
"I'm aware"
"Okay... there are four of you, gone for good" he made a signal to the other guards, which came down to unlock the gate.
As the men worked, Ryan glanced at the notebook "can I?" The guard handed it over after hesitating for a second.
Jack peeked at it:
2200: SHIFT
2300: NO NEWS
0000 : NO NEWS
0100: NO NEWS (BORING NIGHT? I SAY YES)
0140: BANGING SOUTH (INFECTED BACK AT IT?)
0150: SOUTH CLEAR (EVEN THEM GET TIRED EVENTUALLY)
0200: BACK TO NORMAL
0300: NO NEWS
0400: NO NEWS
0500: RALEIGH GROUP (?)
0510: NOT SHOWING UP, GUYS?
0600: RALEIGH GROUP LATE.
0620: RALEIGH GROUP (4 OUT FOR GOOD)
0700:
0800: SHIFT
"An occupied man, eh?"
"Some have it worse" the loud, grave sound of the gate opening behind him caught his attention "Okay, we don't like to keep the door open for longer than necessary, so..."
"I'm on it" he turned around to face his little group "okay, guys, remember: it's no game out there" one by one, they nodded in agreement "Let's go, then"
Jack didn't feel anxious as he expected. Although he was leaving the only place he'd known, he was no stranger to harsh situations. He spent over a third of his life on the streets, after all, with no food, no water and no shelter. This couldn't be worse than that, not with Ryan in charge. Jane also seemed to have this same thoughts in her mind. Although she was not fond of their new leader, she recognized him as a capable man.
They left the wall behind, and made their way south, away from the headquarters, away from Boston and away from the QZ.
A/N: I've been really busy lately, I'm not writing as much as I'd like. Hopefully there'll not be breaks this long between chapters in the future.