Words Unspoken

Noah and I had left the diner a while ago to wherever he was leading me. Probably the hideout of the rebellion group. We continued making our way down the sidewalk, walking past houses and stores. Noah kept looking around, making sure we weren't being followed or watched. It was just the two of us out late at night now. I looked around as well to make sure no one saw us. We soon ended up near an old factory. It stopped working years ago since the entire staff got laid off, nevet getting replaced. I raised my eyebrow as I watched Noah slowly open the gate and step through. He gestured for me to follow him and I did.

Closing the gate behind us, he locked it and we made our way across the lot and towards the old factory. My eyes scanned the area, there were abandoned cars and trucks in the lot, and lots of old garbage that no one bothered to come get. Noah and I reached the front of the old factory. He looked over at me and smiled before pulling out a key and unlocked the door. We made our way inside, Noah closing the door behind him.

"There's no one here." I whispered, adjusting the strap of my satchel on my shoulder as I looked around the empty building. The pipes and old machinery were rusted completely and the ceiling was broken, now all over the floor, due to years of shit weather. The floors were completely shot from the broken ceilings, dust and rubble everywhere. I glanced over to some of the windows, which were broken as well, smashed in as I might say.

"Follow me." He whispered and made his way across the large room. "Watch your step." He added, gesturing to the floor and I did, making sure not to trip over myself and fall into broken bricks or glass. We soon made it to the end of the building and we were standing in front of a metal door that said KEEP OUT. We both looked at each other and Noah knocked on the door, sort of like a signal knock. He knocked once, waited a second, then knocked three times quickly, waited another second and then two slow knocks. We took a step back, hearing the sound of the door being locked on the other side. The door swung open and revealed a very tall and buff man on the other side. He was super muscular, and was wearing clothes that I haven't actually seen before but rather read about a black beanie hat, a black t-shirt and dark blue jeans with boots. His arms were crossed over his chest as his glare pierced down at the two of us.

"What's up Johnny." Noah said, giving him a head nod and smiling up at him. I looked between the two of them and raised an eyebrow slightly

"Noah, it's late, you could have been seen or caught." The guy said, relaxing his arms slightly.

"Yeah but I wasn't. Don't worry, I'm always careful." He said, shoving his hands in his pockets. The guy, Johnny, shook his head and turned his gaze to me.

"Who's this?" He asked, standing up straighter and kept his gaze on me. I opened my mouth to say something but Noah beat me to it.

"Samantha, she's a new recruit." Noah said with a proud smile. Johnny raised his eyebrow, not taking his eyes off of me and I quickly nodded my head.

"Yeah, I am." I said, giving him a smile. "It's nice to meet you." I added. Johnny looked between the two of us and after about a minute, stepped aside to let us in.

"Come on." Noah said to me with a smile as we stepped inside and Johnny closed the door, the room instantly getting pitch black. I couldn't see a thing, but all I heard was the door lock and a light was turned on. Johnny was holding a flashlight and in front of us were stairs that led to God knows where. Noah started making his way down the stairs, he glanced over his shoulder and motioned for me to follow him. I stood there, frozen, not moving. This was it. I took in a deep breath and soon followed after him. Johnny was behind us as he held the flashlight for us to light the way. Once we got to the bottom of the staircase, there was another metal door in front of us that had an empty rectangular spot on the door, a lighter color than the rest of the door.

"This used to be the storage room for the factory, but we turned it into our operating base, and also our home." He explained to me and I nodded my head. Noah turned the handle and opened the door.

The room that was revealed was fairly big, there were two rows of bunk beds from where we stood to the end of the room, but there weren't that many people to fill those empty beds. There were at least maybe forty or fifty people, but I wasn't too sure. I turned back to see Johnny close the door. I'm guessing he was the look out/security.

"Welcome to your new home." Noah said smiling as he held his arms out, showing me the large room in front of me. A small smile formed on my cheeks, but soon disappeared as guilt washed over me. I left home. What the hell is wrong with me??

"I don't know..." I said softly as Noah turned to look at me, raising his eyebrow.

"You're not having second thoughts are you?" He said as his eyes scanned my face. I kept quiet, not wanting to speak at all.

"You did the right thing." He said to me as he placed his hands on my shoulder.

"But they're my family. I must seem like the biggest disappointment ever and I never wanted to be. I was good." I said letting out a heavy sigh and reached up brushing my hair out of my face.

"Look, I know it's hard leaving your family like this. But you're different, I can see it. You even told me yourself. So don't feel guilty leaving them or them thinking you're selfish. You're doing this to save them. You're doing this to free yourself from this fucked up world we live in." He said with a chuckle before lowering his hands.

"Now say it with me. Fucked up world" he said as he leaned down slightly to get a better look at me.

"F-fucked up world." I mumbled under my breath not making eye contact.

"Uh uh no, say it louder. Shout it. Scream it." He said, smiling at me. I finally looked up at him and sighed, shaking my head.

"Fucked up world." I said a bit louder. "That's it, I'm not screaming it." I said as I adjusted the strap of my satchel. Noah held up his hands as a sign of alright and nodded his head.

"Alright, let's get you a spare change of clothes and find you a bunk." He said and motioned for me to follow. We made our way down the middle of the room, walking passed bunk after bunk. There were some people sitting on bunks, chatting. They stopped mid conversation and looked my way for a split second before continuing their conversation. My chest felt all tightened, nerves shot throughout my whole body. I took a few breaths to calm myself. I knew I was the outsider now. I wondered if I was the only new one. Judging from the looks I was getting, my guess was..I was the only new recruit in a long time.

"Ben! Krista!" Noah called out to the two people sitting on the same bunk. They glanced up mid conversation and I peered over Noah's shoulder. It was the same two people who were at the cafe this morning.

"Guys, this is Samantha or Sam." Noah said as he gestured to me. "Sam, these are my two best friends, Ben and Krista." He gestured over to them.

"Hey, what's up." Ben said as he stood up and held out a hand for me to shake. I reached over, shaking his hand. The girl Krista stood up next to him and smiled at me.

"Finally, another girl in our group." She said with a giggle and placed a hand on Ben's shoulder. I raised an eyebrow and looked around, now realizing there weren't many girls here, the majority of them were guys.

"It's nice to meet you guys." I said with a smile.

"Hey, wait a minute, you're that girl from that coffee shop." Ben said as he pointed at me and then looked over at Noah, a small smirk on his face.

"Yeah, she's the girl from the coffee shop." Noah replied with a chuckle.

"Noah couldn't stop talking about you." Krista said with a slight smirk as her and Ben looked over at Noah, his cheeks a bright pink now. He cleared his throat and glanced at me and then at his friends.

"Shut up.." He said through his teeth. Ben and Krista laughed, making me smile. My eyes gazed around the room for a moment before looking back at them. I had a good feeling I was going to like it here, but of course I still had my nervous thoughts about my family. Noah was right, it was time to stand up and fight. Fight for our freedom again. I took in a deep breath trying to calm myself again when my eyes flickered to behind Ben and Krista. My eyebrows furrowed as I looked over to a woman, her back turned to me. Why did she seem so familiar? She wasn't wearing the usually buttoned down shirt, khakis and black shoes. She had on a light pink sweater with a pair of light washed jeans and sneakers. Her hair was pulled up into a neat bun.

"Excuse me." I mumbled under my breath as I walked past the three of them, not paying attention to their confused looks. I strolled over to the woman, who was talking to a few people about their next 'Plan.'

"Um, hi sorry I don't mean to bother you." I said, interrupting their conversation. The two people looked at me and the woman turned around. We stared at one another in disbelief.

"Oh my god." I muttered under my breath. It was her, in the flesh. My mind was racing with so many questions that I didn't know what to say. All I did was stare at her, my mouth slightly hung open. It was Jill, sweet Jill, my boss.