Alexia's Arrival

When the war first started, Alexia was living in Moscow, Russia, with her with mother, her older brother, and 2 younger sisters. Her father had gotten killed in the Battle of Hong Kong. She wanted to get revenge on China, but at the same time knew, what Russia was doing, was wrong. She didn't want to fight on either side of the war but was prepared if she had to. On February 23, 2096, she was taking a walk with her sisters, and heard some whispering. She went over to investigate, but they quickly ran away. She thought nothing of it and continued walking. In the next few minutes, she feels someone grab her from behind, and she slowly started to black out.

She woke up in a dark room, that smelled of mold, and rotting food. She tried to get up, but noticed she was tied, and couldn't move. She started to struggle, and then saw a dim light, like a candle in the distance. Alexia tried to speak, but all that came out, was muffled yelling, and struggling. The light slowly started to come closer to her, and she started to yell and try to escape the bonds tying her hands and feet together. As the light was almost touching her face, she saw a boy, maybe a year or so older than her, saying to be quiet, and he will free her. She stopped struggling as he removed the cloth from her mouth.

"We needed to get you here, but we couldn't let anyone notice. Don't worry, your sisters are unharmed, and back at home."

Alexia stayed silent and nodded her head.

"I'm Luke, the leader of the Black Doves. We've been observing you for a while now and wanted to see if what I heard was true."

Alexia smirked, and said "And what have you been hearing about me?"

Luke slyly smiled, "Well... I heard you're strong, and smart, and not too ugly either..."

Alexia started blushing, but just giggled. "Well, I think you're pretty on the nose. By the way, that pickup line didn't work."

They both started laughing, and then Alexia asked, "Why am I here anyways?"

"We wanted to recruit you, but it couldn't be done publicly. There was no other way without getting spied on by anyone."

"So, you kidnapped me? Wow, so subtle." She giggled, and then fell silent.

"What is this cult group thing anyways? Do you guys just go around kidnapping girls so you guys can have girlfriends?"

Luke laughed, "No, we don't. We're fighting against the war."

"On which team...?" Her eyes visibly darkened as her father's death ran through her head.

"Neither. We fight to stop the war, not to make one side prevail victorious. We try to restore world peace, happiness, and love. We all are just kids who want our lives back to the way they were." Luke's smile slowly faded, and he soon fell silent.

"Well, I would be more than happy to help. What do I get to do?" She grinned, hoping to return his smirk.

"You would be the 2nd in command, because no one else is as ready as you are." He untied the rest of her bonds and took her hand and pulled her along.

Alexia soon realized that she was in an underground bunker. She looked around, amazed at the structural integrity of the building.

"How did you guys make this?! It's AMAZING!"

"A years' worth of work... we're still going too. It used to be an underground sewer, but they took all the pipes and stuff out."

"Really? That is insane! It must have been a lot of work... How did you even get an idea for a cult?" Alexia looked around, then laid her eyes back on Luke.

"I don't know, it must have happened after I got put into the middle of the war. I almost was shot, and it was too close for comfort. The rest of my family... well I haven't seen them since then..." His eyes darkened and started to glisten.

Luke went to go show her to the dining hall, and Alexia followed. There were about 50 or 60 people in there, eating what looked like small portions of brown mush, and potatoes. Alexia looked at the food, a bit disgusted, but she didn't show it.

"We don't have much... but it's still better than nothing right?"

"Yeah... better than nothing."

After Luke continued to show her around, she slowly started to feel happy. She always knew she was going to be something more than just a housewife, maybe this was her chance?

Night fell quickly, it was around 10:00 PM when Alexia finally fell asleep. Her and Luke were sitting on the couch, just talking, and she fell asleep on the couch. Luke smiled, and went to his bunk to go to sleep.

Alexia woke up in the late morning and noticed Luke had left her. She slowly got up and started walking around. She went to the dining hall and saw everyone eating. She looked around for Luke but couldn't find him. She then got approached by a random girl, maybe 15 years old, short, and looked strong. She looked Alexia up and down, and then looked her dead in the eyes.

Alexia started looking at her, and finally said "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

The girl smirked, "I like it. I'm Rose, welcome to the Black Doves, Alexia. I hope you enjoy yourself... while you can." She winked and walked to get her food.

Alexia suddenly felt someone tap her shoulder, she elbowed back, then heard Luke grunt.

"Oh my god! I'm so so so so so so sorry! I-"

"It's fine, don't worry about it! My stomach is strong- I mean, sort of." He laughed, then took Alexia to get food.

"What even is this stuff?" She plopped the plastic fork down into it and stabbed at the brown slush.

"I'm going to be honest; I have no clue." He sadly looked down at the pile of soggy brown goop, then took a bite.

Alexia started eating, and they were talking about before the war. Alexia started to talk about how close she was with her dad before he got killed. He always smelt of cinnamon and had one of the biggest smiles you'll ever see. When he grinned, the sun would reflect off his teeth because they were so amazingly perfect. She started to wonder what it would be like if her dad didn't die if he was still here. She started to tear up, Luke pat her back, and said "Don't cry, we're going to fix it." Alexia smiled at the thought, then got up, and left to explore more.

After about thirty minutes, she eventually wandered back to the sitting area. Luke saw her and started walking towards her. He sat down next to her, Alexia smiled and started talking. He smiled, and listened to every word, imagining them in a few years. The war would be over, or at least he hoped. He started to come back into reality because Alexia had finished talking and was giving him a weird look.