And so it begins…(Part 1)

The darkness barely hindered CJ’s progress. She knew this area well. She moved silently, effortlessly dodging through the trees, traps, and other items on her path to the compound. Time was short, her scouting had returned results. Dire results that needed to be shared. Anxiety coursed through her as she approached the compound. It had been quiet for so long, they had become lax. Lax enough that this could be bad, so very bad.

CJ looked up at the towering fence before her. She had finally reached the compound. Only one entrance existed now, the others all having been closed off months ago. It sat hidden in some brush nearby, and CJ quickly unlocked and darted inside the reinforced steel door. Locking it behind her, she rushed across the grounds, heading towards the main building.

Please let them be there, CJ prayed as she ran. There was no time to search them out. The few moments they had were already dwindling, even though she ran the miles back to the compound, she was still slower than those that came behind. What would take her an hour would take them half the time at a normal clip, and less than that if they rushed. God, let them be there!

CJ burst into the room, panting from her run. Her eyes looked frantically around before coming to rest on Daf, Mattie, Ty, Jonathan and Faye. Relief coursed through her and weakened her limbs. They were here.

“Thank god, you’re here!” CJ cried out, rushing forward to where the others sat.

“Jesus, what’s wrong?” Daf asked as she jumped up from her seat and grasped CJ by the shoulders.

“They’re coming!” CJ stated breathily, tightly gripping Daf back.

“What?!” Daf gasped out.

“Now?” Ty asked in shock.

“No, next week…Of course now, Ty!” CJ said, shooting him an exasperated look.

“How long do we have?” Faye and Jonathan asked together.

“Maybe half an hour, probably less.” CJ replied as a cold dread slowly replaced her anxiety.

“How many this time?” Mattie asked darting over and typing in a code to unlock and open the door on the other side of the room that led to their weapons cache.

“At least a hundred.” CJ replied as the weapons cache opened and they filed in. “Possibly more, I didn’t want to waste time counting.”

The others paled and Daf paused with her hand halfway to a sword on the wall. She slowly let it fall back to her side as she looked back at CJ. “Well fuck, we’re gonna need all the bullets this time.”

~**~