NightTide: The Girl With Red Eyes

It was the usual morning, I wake up before Jessica. I decided to watch the sun come up today, it was colder than usual… I put my coat on and stood outside the front door, it was always nice watching it come up. As the sun came up I heard a noise, it was distant. It was a consistent thumping… by the time I realized what it was eight helicopters flew overhead. They were huge. Each one had four propellers on top, I was wondering what they were here for and then I heard alarms going off.

I ran inside and barged into Jessica’s room. “Wake up! There’s alarms going off!”

She got up faster than she was ready, she flung out of bed and sounded angry. “What, what’s going on!”

I helped her up and told her again. “There’s alarms going off, I saw eight helicopters fly by!”

She stood for a second, probably to get her bearings. “Shit! Red there’s a bottom panel in your closet open it and put on what’s in there!”

I nodded and ran to my room. I felt around the bottom of the closet for a minute, I eventually found what she was talking about. I opened it up, there was a pistol, two magazines, a bullet proof vest, and some shin guards, along with a holster. I put it all on. I put my coat on over the vest and zipped it up. I walked out of my room and Jessica was just running out of hers. She had the same outfit but the pistol she was carrying was huge.

I was staring at her for a second and she got irritated. “Red, Come-on we got to go! If were under attack we need to be out there!” I forced myself out of the daze and followed her. We ran outside, I didn’t hear gunfire but the chopper noises were still there. She looked back at me. “Stick close to me, DO NOT wander off!” I nodded and followed her.

I was watching the locator on the watch we ran through the warehouses instead of going around… Once we got the end of them I saw a line of people wearing armor, they all had their guns trained towards the helicopters. I almost ran past Jessica but she stuck her arm out and blocked me.

She looked back towards me. “Don’t move, they might have this handled, just watch.” The helicopters were on the ground, they kept the propellers going but one of them opened. I saw someone wearing white step out… It was the Pathfinder!

It slipped out of my mouth, I don’t know why. “Pathfinder? What are you doing here?”

Jessica turned around immediately. “You know who that is!”

She startled me. “Y-ya, it’s the Pathfinder from the other place, he runs everything!”

She grabbed me by my shirt and dragged me with her. “You know him! Find out why he’s here!” She got up to the line and yelled for them to let us through. “Commander Jessica Kraus, let us through!” They moved just enough for us to get through and she stopped in front of him, he had several guards… One of them was Owen.

He acted shocked when he saw me, “R-Red! You’re alive?!”

I didn’t know what to say. “H-hi Pathfinder…” Jessica was standing there with her hand on the holster, she didn’t trust what was going on…

She sounded incredibly serious. “Why are you here! We have no business with your government!”

He sighed. “I’m afraid you do though. We have found information that you were the ones who attack us several months back. We came here under the impression that you would have been fully hostile but were surprised we weren’t shot at in the sky… Seeing as Red, the girl you took from us is here, this does nothing more than confirm our suspicions… It is uncanny, you two look, so similar?”

Jessica wasn’t humoring him, she kept herself in a stance that screamed aggression. “I have no idea what you’re talking about!” she was lying “We saved her from some raiders!”

He lowered his head. “I do not like being lied to… If you will not admit to attacking us then please tell me this, I personally would like to know. Why do you two look the same? Perhaps you’re twins?” I nodded, Jessica wasn’t going to answer him. I noticed Owen was shaking, was he scared, angry, or happy to see me? “I see, thank you for letting me know Red… But I cannot allow you two remain here, you attacked us. We are giving you two options. Ally yourselves with us, or we will destroy this place.”

Jessica was very clearly angry. “Was that a threat! You can’t waltz in here and act like you own us!”

The Pathfinder looked at me. “Red, you are still one of us. You can come back with us, you don’t need to stay with them.”

What? Why would I want to go back with them? “Why would I go back with you! They saved my life! They cut out the things that were killing me!”

He sighed. “I guess it can’t be helped then, our people don’t like full blooded NightTides… It is unfortunate then, I thought of you as a daughter. May you rest easy then.”

Before I could do anything, he pulled out a pistol and shot me in the chest. It hit me hard, I slammed the ground. I heard Jessica scream and then the line of people opened fire on them, Jessica was ducking below the shots and dragged me behind the line. She was yelling at me; my ears were ringing and I couldn’t breathe.

She was lightly smacking the side of my face. “Red! Red! Can you hear me! Red!” All at once I could breath. I sucked in air, my chest hurt. “Good Red, breath. Just focus on breathing that vest should’ve taken the brunt of it!” I kept hearing shooting but Jessica was carrying me away from it. We were in the warehouses. “Are you ok?!”

I felt around. My chest was tender but I wasn’t bleeding. “I-I think… That hurt!”

She had small tears in her eyes. “I’m glad, if it didn’t hurt that would have killed you!” She hugged me. “We need to get out there and help them… I don’t know if the front lines are for you though…”

They always had me using a sniper. “When I was with them, they taught me shoot something called a Sig 50…”

Her face went blank… “You’re a sniper… That explains so much, no wonder you’re not very strong! You were never meant to be in close quarters combat!” It’s like she was hit with a huge realization… I felt a little insulted. “Follow me, let’s get you something your familiar with.” She helped me up and I guess we started running to the armory.

We made it to the armory. The gunfire had turned to explosions, Jessica had the officer there help her find a gun. “I need a sniper, it has to be a Sig 50 or relatively similar.” I waited for a while, eventually she came out with a gun that was almost as tall as me. “Sorry Red, I can’t find a Sig 50. In fact, I can’t find anything other than these old Barret’s.” She practically threw it to me, I almost feel over; I wasn’t ready for how heavy it was. “Do you think you can handle that?!”

I wasn’t sure, it was heavy… “I’ll try!”

She put a strap on it. “Put it around your shoulder unless you need to use it. Keep that pistol in your hand unless your using that, you likely won’t have a good opportunity to use it though. If you get a chance, shoot that son of a bitch.” The Pathfinder… He shot me so I guess I shouldn’t show him any mercy either. I nodded, she smiled at me. “Let’s go!” We ran out and the officer sealed up the room after we left. For some reason Elizabeth crossed my mind. I was wondering where she was at.