The Second Siren

Wesley and Andrew stared one another down, and behind each of them, the others began to look at the various members of Andrew's group as well. Jay and John's gaess were locked together, and for a moment it seemed like everyone was waiting for some unheard signal to throw down.

But the signal that came was the sound of the siren, which reminded all of those who were gathered who and what the real threat was. The first to break from the conflict was Wes himself, the young man's gaze moving down from Andrew, his hand tightening into a fist.

"Look," Wes spoke quietly. "We don't like each other. But we can both agree that the real enemy are the Beasts that are outside that Wall right now trying to get in. There are thousands of people that are depending on us to keep them out," Wesley continued, his tone quiet.

"I know. But you're still way too green to be trying to fight against the Beasts, and we both know it. You nearly got yourself killed not once but twice back in the fight with that thing. You can't be serious to think that you'e somehow going to make a difference right now," Andrew returned.

Wes felt his anger leaping up his throat again but he forced it back down, able to feel his nails digging into his palms. He didn't know what to say to that- Andrew was technically right. But so far, Wes had only been given a single day of actual training.

"Can we just drop the macho act?" Sasha demanded, the woman stepping forward and coming to stand near Wesley. "Look, you're both big strong boys who can beat up Beasts. And each of you can do it better than the other one," she continued, gesturing from Wes to Andrew and back again. "Are we good? Can we move on?"

John's gaze moved to her from Jay, and the tall fellow exhaled a sigh. "I suppose we shouldn't waste our energy on fighting with one another. The way that Gustave was talking, it was entirely possible that we may need to go and assist on the Wall."

Andrew snorted, shaking his head. "What the hell do they expect some new recruits to do? They're all experienced Soldiers manning the Wall. I'm sure they'll be-" he began, but the rest of his thought was cut off by the siren.

"That is... very unnerving," Ted spoke quietly, his voice still managing to be heard over the sound of the siren echoing outward through the area. Even if his words were simple, they were very true.

"I think we should head to the Wall," Wes spoke suddenly, glancing at his allies. "Gustave told us to be ready for it, and if it happens, I'd rather be closer to it, rather than too far to help."

Evie grinned, throwing both hands up into the air. "Yeah! We're gonna kill 'em!" the girl cheered, bouncing from one foot to the other. "We'll be ready to beat them up!"

Sasha gave a single nod in response to him, and his brother sighed. "Yeah I mean we might as well. Better to be safe than sorry, dude." He glanced back over his shoulder toward Theodore. "You in, Ted?"

Theodore nodded, moving a hand up to adjust his glasses before he glanced to Wes. "We will... follow your lead," he murmured, a clear indication that he trusted Wesley's command.

"Well, you five enjoy. Until it becomes necessary, we'll go and hunt our final Meal Ticket on our own," Andrew spoke, his eyes narrowed slightly at the rest, as if they'd taken his idea before he could say it. But now that it was said, he couldn't jump on that bandwagon.

He turned smartly on a heel then, beginning to make his way back toward the opening in the large grove of trees. The others moved to follow him, aside from John, who lingered for a moment longer. "I'm sure we'll see you at the Wall," he spoke, nodding slightly to the group before he too followed after Andrew's lead.

"What a stuck up brat," Sasha muttered, before she turned her gaze toward Wesley. "You're sure that you want to go up there? You know that if the second siren sounds, that we're basically going to be right up on the front lines, right?" she asked, before she paused, sighing.

"Of course you're fine with that," she muttered, shaking her head. "I don't even know what I was thinking asking you."

Wesley smirked at that, setting a hand on her shoulder. "What we're doing is to keep everyone else safe," Wesley spoke before he turned to look out toward where the siren went off again. "Killing Beasts is just a bonus on top of that."

That comment caused laughter from both Jay and Evie, and Wesley glanced toward them, a look of determination on his face. "Come on. We'll do the same thing we were doing before. Ted, if you could do the honors," Wesley called, and a nod came from Theodore as he began to manipulate the Time Framework within him.

As he did, everyone began to feel the world around them slow slightly... which only made the echoes of the siren that much more ominous. "Let's go," Wes spoke, using his Space Framework through the Elemental Emulation to utilize the Reduce Distance Skill on the area before them, allowing them to cross it extremely quickly.

While they mostly remembered the way in, a few times they needed Evie and Theodore to point out the way to go. But before too much longer, they exited out from within the forested area, and found themselves a short distance away from where the Life Framework Instructors trained the individuals like Theodore and Evie, who specializesd in that Framework.

The wall was still quite a good distance from where they were, as the Training Camps weren't right up on it. But they knew the path there- they'd just been at the Wall last night, after all.

Wes glanced back at the others and nodded before he activated the Space Framework again, the very fabric of space bending before him: the vast distance between where they stood and where they were going shrinking and folding in on itself.

Under the effects of the Acceleration, the movement was even faster, and the wide open area was crossed in almost no time at all as they could see The Wall now just a short distance away. As they came to a stop after one Space Folding incident, Wesley paused for a moment as the sounds of battle came from up in front of them.

"They sound like they're having a hell of a time," Sasha muttered, frowning. She hadn't expected to come onto a scene of still wild battling. She had somewhat hoped that things would be winding down. That Wes would get to whet his appetite but they wouldn't be needed here.

But a sudden call of retreat from the Wall, leading to more than fifty individuals suddenly appearing back on the top of the Wall, taught her otherwise. "Whatever's on the other side, it's not good, dude," Jay spoke quietly, looking at his brother.

Wesley nodded at both of them, before he turned his attention back to the Wall itself. "Come on. Let's-" he began, when the siren roared to life from the Wall itself. Being so much closer to it than they'd been before, it was near deafening, and the group winced in surprise and slight pain from the sound- but before they could get used to it, another siren came in on its heels.

As it did, Wesley felt his stomach drop down into his feet. This was really happening. Whatever Beast they were dealing with, it was going to need the rest of them to come in and help. "Okay. Let's go," he called to the others.

Evie let out a shout of something mostly unintelligible as they began to use the same method of transportation, appearing right near the Wall after just a few more seconds. A Soldier up on the Wall noticed them right away, and the fellow flickered, vanishing from sight.

He appeared just before them, his dark gaze looking them over. "You're in the new batch of trainees?" he demanded, and before any of them could give an answer, he pointed down to his left. "Command's that way. Here's hoping you don't die," he spoke, before he vanished once more, not even needing to look where he was going.

"Gee, thanks," Sasha muttered scathingly in response, but even then, her normal bite was subdued. The enormity of the situation was upon them in an instant. They'd been just tracking down some Meal Tickets so they could eat in the coming weeks... and then everything had just gone from bad to worse in an instant.

Wes cleared his throat, trying to keep spirits up after that exceedingly dour comment. "Come on. I'm sure they'll put us on some sort of support duty. There's no way they'll put us on the front lines," he spoke, trying to keep everyone's head up as they made their way toward the Command Station.

However as they drew closer, Wes paused as he caught a flash of pastel green up ahead of them. He saw another group of recruits like themselves talking with someone by the indicated command gate... and one of them was the girl he had met on that walk he'd taken the first night.

"Hey! It's you!" the girl called as she raised her hand in a wave, and Wesley could feel the gazes of his allies on him. "Long time no see!"