Chapter 9 - Truth Comes to Light

"Everyone get away from the building." Rodney says as he directs everyone to the middle of the yard. "Girls come back now! Forget the flag!" He yells out to Lici and Alyssa.

The shaking lasted for about twenty five seconds. It wasn't strong enough to create any meaningful damage but this definitely was a surprise to everyone. There hasn't been any earthquake activity for fifteen years ever since the San Andrea's incident. There were rumors that a new fault line had stretched across the entire North American plate, and the canyon that cuts through Kentucky and Virginia kind of proves those rumors to be true.

"Stay here everyone, there may be aftershocks. Or even worse, a second wave." Rodney says while running into the school.

As he runs in the first set of people make their way out. Leading them are Nesha, Khiara and the rest of their class. Nesha immediately runs over and hugs Dameer.

"You guys ain't even hiding it anymore. Cute" Lyssa says towards the two.

"What's cute is all the dust on your plywood chest." Nesha replies.

"Ohhhh look who wanna talk 'bout plywood! Girl you flatter than Lici ass." Lyssa says in an exaggerated tone.

"Holon man how my ass get in this." Lici says jumping in.

As people continue to pour out of the doors, thoughts begin to fill my head. It's an earthquake so people should evacuate all buildings and if your already outside you should move into open areas. What's so important that made Rodney run inside? Why would-

"I know searcher training is rough and all that but care to explain why your bare back and cut up like so?" Khiara asked to me.

"Nothing serious just, jumped from one building to a next and went through a window."

"Yeah I'm glad I chose the kitchen." She responded with a smile.

"All I saying is pirates back in the day used Nesha as the plank cause of how flat she is." Lyssa exclaims while everybody laughed.

Ten minutes went by with no other quakes happening. The rookie guards were the last people to make it to the yard and everyone now are just waiting for the all clear. Still no sign of Rodney or even Captain Nash.

"Announcement!" Angie yelled grabbing the attention of everyone. "The director said that we'll be starting lunch early and classes will resume in an hour. Proceed with caution throughout the city."

"Forget a megaphone, she is one." Victor says as he Regine and Angie walk our way.

"Hey what's the name of that kid you came to the city with?" Regine asked. "The other boy that slept at the school with us that night."

"Keily?" Khiara asked concerned.

"Damn, I thought that was his name. It's up on the board for missing persons, we walked pass it coming here." Regine responded.

Me and Khiara looked at each other confused. We haven't seen him since that night but where could he have went.

"I didn't really like him anyway, kid had issues." Says Angie. "Lets get out of here, my old man's inside and I don't feel like hanging around with all these people."

"Captain is in there?" I say starring at the school. "Um Lj was inside and I never saw him came out. Wait in front of the school for us we'll be quick."

"You have five minutes before we leave both of you." Angie replied.

I threw on my shirt and ran through the back entrance of the school. Before I try to find Lj, I need to find Captain Nash and Sergeant. My curiosity is killing me and I have an itching feeling that they know something about that random quake. It would only make sense that they're upstairs in the director's office. A set of stairs are directly to the right of the back entrance and they lead up to the opposite end of the hall from the office. I run up and peak around the corner to make sure the area is clear which it was. The office door was the only door in the hallway that was closed. I take off my tennis and tip toe down the hall in my socks. Anxiety builds in my blood as I near the door. As I got closer, voices began to penetrate the silence of the building and they were definitely coming from the office. I squat down at the door frame and the earlier voices are now very distinct. Captain, Sergeant and the schools director. I move to lay down and listen through underneath the door when the feeling of another presence shadows over me. Before I could react I'm grabbed by the shoulder and pulled to turn around.

"It's about time you fill me in on what's happening." Lj whispers to me as he kneels down next to me.

I signal him to be quiet and point to the door. I then slid to the other side and lay down to hear from underneath the door. Lj does the same directly across from me.

"I still think we could fully prepare the kids before we send them."

"Director Riley it seems our predictions were wrong. The event could be happening much sooner than we thought. I contacted the outer band and they said water levels have continued to rise. The human race cannot afford for these kids to be trapped here."

"So we just cut there training short Captain?"

"I can't speak for the others but my class has shown a lot of promise." Rodney replied. "In only a weeks time they have visibly made amazing strides and progress."

"We should start prep for there exfil. We may still have two or three weeks, so Sergeant I need you to cut down your numbers as soon as possible. I'll inform-"

"Wait Captain... That looks like a shadow."

Me and Lj simultaneously look at each other and acted immediately. We launched to our feet and sprinted down the hallway. As soon as I turned the corner I could've heard the office door blow open. They weren't catching us however, we're the two fastest in the class and we demonstrated it here as we raced through the school to the front entrance. Seconds before we reached the entrance the door opened to reveal Angie and Lici walking inside. We stopped inches in front of them and leaned over to catch our breath.

"Hey hey hey! What's happening?" Angie asked raising her hands to us.

"Ejay. You need to fill me in on everything." Lj said looking over to me.

"Fill you in on what? What did we miss, and who are you guys running from?" Asked Lici.

I hesitated to get out any words at first but I can't hide what I know anymore. This whole thing still doesn't make sense.

"Let's go somewhere private. Only bring those you know we could trust one hundred percent."

"The abandoned building that the flag was on should be good enough." Lj replied.

The four of us walk out and began to round up our group. Searchers, guards, chefs and engineers. A group of sixteen of us made our way over to the flag building with almost no questions being asked. I think everyone could've read the seriousness being emitted from my body language and expression.

"Um Ejay this is Shea, you haven't met her yet I think but I'm sure you could trust her." Khiara says as she walked beside me.

I nod my head in approval and kept walking.

"Also these two are Denny and Johann." Angie added showing me the other new faces. "They're engineers in training and I grew up with them, so I'm sure you could trust them."

Again I just gave a nod.

We enter the building and gather in an empty room at the back of the first floor. Talking amongst each other they formed a circle in the room with me in the center. So many eyes. Angie, Alyssa, Lici, Khiara, Lj, Dameer, Nesha, Regine, Victor, Mali, Liam, Miguel, Shea, Denny and Johann. What if they don't believe me? What if. I'm tired of what ifs.

"I know this is strange that we brought you here and some of you may not trust me because you've only known me for about two weeks. Some of you just met me today. But there's something the higher ups are hiding from us, and the truth should come to light. About a week ago at the introduction meeting I overheard Sergeant Bootle and Captain Nash talking. They mentioned that our class will be the last class produced from this school."

"Last as in something is happening to the school?" Asked Denny.

"Or is something happening to us?" Asked Dameer.

"Maybe the city's moving to a different location." Said Mali.

"I don't know." I replied quieting the room. "They also mentioned talking to my dad. For those that don't know my dad went missing before I even came here. Apparently he found or predicted something that is actually true. Ever since that day I've been trying to find out what they're hiding and today me and Lj got more details. After the quake Rodney ran inside and met with the school's director and Captain Nash. We listened to their conversation and found out they're planning on moving us somewhere. Us being our class. That's why I think they're cutting units so small this time."

"They mentioned an event coming up soon." Lj added. "I assume it has something to do with the quake we felt today. They also mentioned that water levels are beginning to rise at a faster rate."

"So you think they're planning on evacuating the city?" Angie asked.

"No." Lj replied hanging his head. "I think they're just trying to evaluate us."

"That's crazy, what about our parents?" Asked Mali.

"I know it would be difficult to move thousands of people but why only us?" Asked Dameer.

"We don't have enough information to come to that conclusion yet Lj." I responded. "All we could do is wait and make sure we get through these cuts."

"And if we don't we get left here to die?" Asked Alyssa.

"We don't know that, but for now we keep this to ourselves." I replied.

"We deserve to know answers if they plan on moving us." Johann exclaims.

"Answers will come in time." Lj responded. "This situation may be a lot more complex that what we're seeing right now. Until we could get more information, we should try to keep our tongues tied. Not to mention Captain, Sergeant and the Director caught on to us listening in on them. They're gonna be looking for two people so try act normal."

"So keep an ear open but don't make it obvious." I added. "Training may be ending as early as next week so focus on getting through it."

"Sure"

"Yeah"

"Alright"

"Ok then, let's get out of here."