THE PREPARATION

I was woken up by a loud screech of the alarm, I lay awake thinking of what all we had to do today and the fact that countless things could go wrong today, there was a lot of pressure on us since we were the new people and all of the people had their expectations planted on us. I got up and turned to see that Albus was not in his bed, assuming that he had already gotten up for the day I rolled out of bed. Didn't bother changing since I had already changed into fresh clothes yesterday and had to pick up new gear. I went into the kitchen to see Carly behind the counter brewing up some coffee and Albus sitting on the couch and checking if he had packed everything from the house. We were allowed to pack some extra clothes in a small bag for now, Carly had said that we would get proper bags when we go to the armoury.

The three of us walked in silence to the armoury, I was eating a protein bar since I was not in the mood to eat breakfast. The people who were up at this time greeted us they knew us as 'Carly and the two new boys' some of them even gave us special food requests also. I for some reason had a feeling that they were awake just because of this. The three of us walked down to the armoury to check out the weapons and the gear they had available. We found gran and the general standing by the armoury talking in the nippy morning air.

I walked over to greet them, "Good morning guys!"

The general smiled pleasantly and said, "Call Albus and Carly over I'll brief you three."

I waved the other two over, we followed gran and the general into the armoury he told us that he would let us pick all of the equipment ourselves but there will only be a limited amount of ammo for each. He further told us that we could also pick out some tactical gear such as bags, body armour, shoes and anything we would need. He also gave each of us a handheld radio with an earpiece that went straight in our ears, he explained that line number ten was in case any of us needed to communicate with the base and that we could decide what the personal communication number is. He also told us to trust the instincts and advice of each other he said that he would usually assign a leader or the captain in these kinds of missions but he believed that we would be well coordinated enough to handle ourselves. He and gran then wished us the best of luck and left.

The three of us just went into the armoury and had a look around. It was very dark in here; the light source was just a lone bulb hanging in the middle. We split up and had a look around, I found a black police vest which was thin enough to not be a hindrance to my speed yet protective enough. It also had the place to keep a gun, a flashlight and a pocket for my radio and a couple of other pockets.

I then strolled over to the backpack section where I saw Albus choosing a bag. I looked at the wall full of bags and grabbed a decent sized deep blue bag. I slung it over my shoulder and tightened it to my preference. I went over to check the pistols, I had good practice with a Glock and so, I took two Glocks out and put them in my belt's holster. I also took out a couple of extra mags and put them on my vest. I also walked along to check the other stuff out. There was a section of knives some of them were as long a foot, but I wasn't interested in them, I instead took out a normal eight inch hunting knife and stuck it snugly in a small pocket of my vest, on second thought I also took out a small knife and stuck it inside of my pocket for now, I thought that I would stick it inside if my new shoe, that way I would have a much more readiness in case of an emergency.

I looked in the isles to see if I could spot Carly or Albus before they find me, I snuck into a low crouch and I walked along the shelves keeping close to the shadows, I took pride in my crouches, according to the coach I was the only one who could move that fast that silently. I took careful notice of whether I could see anyone from under the stands, I saw someone's shadow from the centre of the room, I guessed that it was most likely Carly and I headed there, the spring in one of the magazines was making a slight rattle, but I guessed that she would not be able to hear something that faint even in the total silence of the room. I kept my pace without tiring and held my breath when I was at the end of the aisle, I look in there and I see Albus picking shoes out, I was so surprised because I had been expecting Carly I immediately stood up and Albus goes, "Oh crap! When did you get here?" I smirked at least I had gotten a reaction even if it was not from the person, I had been expecting it from.

"Found a nice pair yet?" I asked taking a look around, there were shelves full of shoes sport shoes, running shoes sneakers, military boots you name it.

I looked around and found a nice pair of jet-black ankle-length sneakers with a big tongue, I took a lap around the room with the shoes and my knife tucked in there, the shoes were an instant fit, I still could run full tilt while making nimble turns.

Albus saw me run and picked out a pair of deep green shoes like those. "Let's go find Carly. We should be leaving."

After a bit of searching we found her in the weapons section she was choosing between a shotgun and a rifle. "Hey come on we are late pick one and we will leave." She looked at the shotgun one last time and kept it down with a sigh and slung the assault rifle on her shoulder. The three of us left the building strapped to boot with weapons and gear. We get inside of our vehicle we leave the fort with our spirits high. We travel nearly for an hour on the sunny road, I was in the driver's seat since Carly said that she didn't feel like driving. Carly was sitting shotgun reading instructions from the map, she said that the store was supposed to be just nearby after driving around for another ten minutes we spot in right in the middle of two identical looking residential buildings the three of us get out, Carly and I start walking towards the building when Albus tells us to stop, "Come back very slowly guys, no sudden movements!" he whispered this in a serious voice that did not sound like Albus. I placed a nervous glance towards Carly and I begin to head back slowly extracting my Glock from my vest. When we get back to the truck Albus said in a barely audible whisper, "Can you see them? Look in the windows, beyond the doors they are everywhere!"