The Night Angel: Chapter 6

The next day was what I'd describe as hell and torture, but none of us were complaining.

Henry had woken us up by 2:00am and thirty minutes later we all prepared and went to the field to set up traps and examine the battle ground.

By the time the others woke up to practice, we were all set and ready for the big day.

Well not fully ready per say.....

"The weapons are all set" Henry said walking into the cell where the girls and I were all resting for a while.

"Carefully hidden Henry?" Chelsea queried with a raised brow and Henry snorted.

"No Chels. I left them in the middle of the field where....oh wait!" he gasped. "Was I supposed to keep them out of sight?"

"Brat" Chelsea murmured, sticking out her tongue at him and he grinned.

I watched their banter with a frown.

I had no reason to be jealous of Chelsea though. But to be sincere I always envied the way they were at ease and playful with each other.

It was hardly that way with Henry and i.

"So this is it." Jo said letting out a breath. "This is our last day of peace in this cell"

"Not our last day of Peace Josie '' Stacie corrected, sitting beside her and wrapping an arm over her shoulder.

"We are gonna survive this Hun"

"Then they are all gonna die," Chelsea whispered, staring out the window absentmindedly. "If we survive, the rest are all gonna die. Our friends, who we grew up with. . People we dined with for five years, after tomorrow won't be alive, because we have to fight only for our survival."

I felt a pang of sadness at Chelsea's words because that was just the truth.

None of them out there were really my friends because no one paid attention to me and I never cared. Yet, I ate with them all every day and night....fought with them for the past five years. Watched them grow, heard them talk about their dreams, watch them practice with zeal with the hope that one day they were all gonna leave this place

Yeah the reality of what tomorrow would bring for us totally sucks. Those of us strong enough to survive will carry the weight of the loss for the rest of our lives.

Bummer

"We can't let ourselves think about that guys. You think about that, you start feeling guilty" Henry said staring at me

"Listen to yourself Henry. What about your friends, the boys? Matthew... Josh, all of them?" Stacie asked, her eyes shiny with tears.

"Well it's not like we have a choice, Stacie" Henry spat out. "We don't have a choice. Am I gonna watch my friends die? Yes. Will it hurt me? Damn yes! I know I have to live with the guilt for the rest of my life if I survive. But I can't let that hold me back. We have zero Choice in the matter, it's either we kill or we die. No extra survival"

"Well what if Joan was still alive?" Josie whispered and I turned to stare at her in shock

We never talk about Joan.

She was the sixth person in our team, she was the one that made the team lively with her sense of humor and she was the most friendly one. Unfortunately two years ago she got sick,very sick and during a training she wasn't strong enough to keep up and we had to watch a soldier shoot her in cold blood

"Josie..." Chelsea whispered

"Joan is dead Josie... Let's not bring her into this"

"We haven't even said goodbyes yet." Josie whispered again.

"We will," I said, speaking up for the first time. "We will say our goodbyes during lunch... Look I understand how you feel Jo Jo. But please get yourself together for our sake"

She stared at me for a few seconds and then nodded.

"Y'all are right. I'm just scared, that's all"

"We all are." Stacie replied m "we are all scared but we have to give in our best and trust our strength and plan"

"I Know" she whispered with a nod.

"Good. Today we need to get proper rest, we deserve that. Plus we can't exactly go into battle all tired and worn out. We rest and refresh., tomorrow is the big day"

Chelsea instructed

Tomorrow is gonna be a big day

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The last lunch was unlike anything Madam M had ever served us before.

"Preparing the cow for slaughter" Henry had teased the moment we walked into the dinning hall to see the table filled with different sorts of food and drinks.

For that little moment it seemed like everyone forgot what we currently faced as they rushed to sit round the table and started digging into the dishes.

There was laughter and chatter all around me.

Henry however was unusually quiet beside me, eating and staring at everyone round the big table with a gloomy face.

I took his hand under the table and gave it a tight squeeze which made him turn to me and those beautiful eyes bore into mine heatedly.

"Attention....." Someone shouted, hitting a glass cup with a spoon.

The chatters died down gradually as everyone turned to stare at Jonah, the oldest and syringes in the group.

He was holding a glass of red wine in his hand with a sad smile.

"This is the last time we will sit together like this and we all know it. In as much as I hate to ruin this moment....I have to do this, because by this time tomorrow most of us will be gone"

He paused to glance at some people's faces...the faces that were instantly filled with grief and sadness.

"I have no idea what to say right now, but let me start by telling y'all how much I've enjoyed this ride. Every single one of you here are like family to me, you all hold a special place in my heart. And till now I still wish...." He paused again and closed his eyes as his face squeezed in pain.

"I still wish that we could all go out and fulfill the dreams we all have. I want to go look for my real family. I wanna see Ella go to school like she always wanted . "

The girl Ella broke into sobs and the boy beside her hugged her, whispering in her ears.

"Jane...." Jonah called turning towards a blonde girl besides him..."You have always wished to explore the outside world. I wish you could have that too. ... But we all know the truth. This fate might not be what we want for ourselves and we deserve, but we were left with no choice in our hands .. It was really fun while it lasted. If I make it tomorrow...I'll definitely remember y'all for the rest of my life. If I don't make it. .." He paused again and exhaled sharply.

"If I don't make it, then I hope the lucky ones also carry me in their hearts forever. So I'd love to make a toast to Fate, who chose to treat us cruelly. And here's to wishing everyone of us goodluck"

He gulped down the content of his cup, threw the glass against the wall and left the dining hall.

One by one, they all left the dining room, abandoning the food, till it was me and Henry Remaining.

"Wanna go inside?" Henry asked as he took my hand in his and pressed my palm to his lips

"No ..not yet. I just wanna stay here with you, just for a little moment. "

I needed him. I just wanted to hold on to the warmth that his presence always brought me.

"We need to rest babe. For tomorrow" He replied

"I wanna kiss you"

"What?"

"Kiss me Henry.... Just for a few minutes. I'm practically about to break down here so just for a little while let me put all this craziness behind me. I just wanna feel you.. just you"

He turned to stare into my eyes and I held his gaze, and bit my lip slowly making his eyes fall to the lips that were yearning for his touch.

Before I could ask him again, he was already crushing his mouth to mine.

I moaned loudly and opened up for him immediately as his tongue engaged in an erotic dance with mine.

I closed my eyes and shut off every fear, worries of tomorrow and I found myself wishing for the time to pause so I could have this moment forever.

This moment of peace and joy.