Gallus

/ˈɡæləs/

adjective

bold; daring; reckless

Luke's POV

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The Central Office looked the same as the last time we had been here, the floor being grey carpet with designs inlaid and the front desk being hidden behind a thick wooden fixture. The back wall had cabinets designed at the bottom and a marble counter top slab resting on them, matching the light brown wallpaper on the back wall. A circular ceiling type piece was designed to be suspended off of the ceiling and light fixtures to be settled in between. Dark brown chairs and furniture littered in front of the reception as if they expect guests on a regular bases. The doors had squared windows on either side to give a glimpse inside of the reception desk.

I hesitantly climbed the spiral staircase as I looked down to find my stubborn girlfriend assigning her troops lookout points, making sure another episode like last time did not reoccur. My feet kept moving against my mind as I took in her breath taking form, remembering the way her skin felt against mine not long ago and the heartfelt words she spoke as we kept our promise.

I walked down the hallways of the top floor once I reached it, windows all around, leaving not much drywall beside the columns of it in between the sets of windows. Balconies overlook the downstairs, making my heart even more nervous. Why hadn't I noticed those before now? Those could be a danger to the group on the main level. My head shook at my over-protective nature as I continued to walk the blue tile.

My group and I walked into the office that covered most of the floor. I signaled for everyone to begin searching, which caused them all to split up in search for something that could lead us to the Code.

My heart began to beat irrationally fast as I thought of what could happen to Melissa. Images of her bloodied hair flash in my mind as I remembered the last time she was on a raid. Her beautiful skin had turned a shade of pale that I had never been acquainted with due to her blood loss. I shook my head dismissing the thought.

She would be more careful, she had promised me before we left. Her beautiful words flashed through my subconscious as I remembered her soft touch on my face, caressing it in a way that I had only known her to. It made me feel loved when she touched and held me. She had an effect on me that I couldn't explain.

"I'll be fine Luke," her voice radiated in my brain, sounding like she was right next to me rather than a distant memory that I was envisioning. "I'll be here for you as long as you come back to me."

I chuckled at the thought of her worrying about my safety. Sure I was reckless at some points, but I had been in these situations before and I knew what to do. The thought of her made me smile widely as I zoned out for a moment thinking of her beautiful blonde hair that I loved to run my hands through and the way she could take me back in time to a point in my life that was so much simpler and easier before my life turned upside down in a matter of minutes.

"Hemmings!" one of my men called, causing my attention to shift toward the other side of the room.

"What is it?" I asked, my voice carrying throughout the semi-large room easily.

"We found something." That short sentence caused my heart to pump louder and faster than usual in my body. The monitoring system in my suit went off, causing me to roll my eyes and turn it off, like most of the troops in my division had.

My mind couldn't help but wonder to the thought that this could be the clue that led us to the Code. This could be the clue that led us to where everything ended. A tiny glimmer of hope shot through me that Melissa and I could be in love without having to worry about this cruel and messed up world surrounding us.

I could hold her in my arms without the worry of her being in an accident or being captured. She could finally look at me with a lack of worry in her eyes and her happiness could extend as long as I could make her happy as opposed to her happiness yielding to when I was forced into combat again as it was an expected thing.

The question of me going on a raid or mission wasn't an if anymore, but a when. When would they need me to lead a group of troops out somewhere? When would supplies run out or so dangerously low that I had to go with a group to collect some from the city? Life was no longer hearts and butterflies and I hated that her life had become so awful before she had seen the beauty of the outside.

"I don't know what it is," the young kid whispered beside me when I finally made my way to the back of the room. I glanced at the back wall for a moment, a blue light flashing lightly through the drywall.

"Take down the wall," I stated firmly, taking a step back as two troops begin to cut along the edges of the wall before hitting it with extreme amounts of force behind their weapons, causing it to break. As soon as they were given an access point, hands grabbed the stress torn wall and pulled it off in one piece, leaving only a silver lining behind it and dust filling the air.

The metallic door behind the wall caught my attention from the moment I saw a glimmer of the material. I couldn't wrap my mind around why they would protect something so invaluable as a clue inside of a safe. As more and more was opened to our vision, my eyes widened as I realized this wasn't just a safe, this was the most complex safe I had ever seen in my life.

"Someone get a picture of that and send it to the security team," I ordered, troops hurriedly scurrying to do as I asked. "Ask them to get us in ASAP."

The world seemed to hold a brighter view to it as I realized that this could be my way to freedom. My way to Melissa and her safety. It was no longer a question of where the Code was, but how long it would take us to get to it. I couldn't fathom the perfection of this moment.

That was until a beeping went off in my uniform and brought me back to reality, crashing so hard that I thought the building would feel the impact of my mood shift. The distress call.

"Pack up and get out now!" I yelled orders furiously at my men as I heard the glass ceiling now cracking from bullets raining down. The younger boys ran out as soon as they heard these words; the ones used to combat, however, stayed waiting for orders as to what to do concerning the safe. "Get in there and bring whatever is valuable from inside there with you whenever you get out."

They nodded before getting to work on entering the code the security team sent over only seconds ago and getting into the large safe. My mind raced as I ran out of the room and hurried down the stairwell I had once so confidently and observantly climbed. Before I had millions of thoughts in my mind, now only two remained as glass rained down around me, a few shards ripping my skin open mildly.

Where was Melissa and was she safe?

Melissa's POV

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Before the Distress Call was signaled:

I stood, observing the beautiful carpentry, thinking of how I would love to learn how to make something like it, but knowing that Luke would have something to say concerning my safety. An audible sigh left my mouth as I remembered the beautiful date he had set up only a few short weeks ago before we began this campaign. He was the sweetest person and no one seemed to give him enough credit for how big his heart was.

I closed my eyes slightly, taking a deep breath before letting go of all the amazing thoughts clouding my memory of Luke and I's private moments in the security of his room and non private ones in any setting.

My men were doing well, looking for any potential threat that could come lurking in any direction. Everything seemed to be going smoother than I could hope for until my radio buzzer went off and a soldier told me that suspicious activity was spotted from the North side of the building.

My legs seemed to move before I told them to as I ran over to the place where the sighting was documented. I squatted beside the decorated soldier who called in the activity.

"See that in the distance Jennings," his gruff voice said, sounding as if he smoked many cigars in his years. I nodded my head at him, seeing only a slight rustle in the grass.

"It's the wind, correct?" I asked, unsure about the reason of his call.

"No ma'am," he told me with a straight face going on to explain without another word from me. "The wind right now shouldn't be making the grass sway. So either I'm wrong and there is no army coming or in about two minutes you should see men coming out of the valley and that's when you need to hit that distress signal."

My eyes widened slightly, not knowing whether to believe the old man beside me or tell Luke that he was crazy and shouldn't be going on raids. I kept my eyes peeled and search the horizon line for the next few minutes, which felt like ages until finally, my trained eye caught the shape of a person. Dozens of the same shape flooded my vision as I strained to take in the image in front of me

Panic flooded through me as I pressed the distress signal calmly before rising from my squatting position on the floor, only in time to hear the shattering of the glass ceiling and walls as the familiar sound of bullets whooshing through the air penetrated my ears.

"Everyone get out!" I yelled at my men, covering my head from the large shards falling from the ceiling and ushering my men out the door, trying to calm them as I watched the color flush from their faces.

"Follow the person in front of you to the next van you see, tell the driver to leave as soon as it is full and not to wait around." My voice repeated this so many times that my brain didn't even need to be told what to say anymore.

Scared boys and grown men passed by me, some looking like they had seen a ghost and some holding expressions of anxiety as bullets continued to rain down freely as the only barrier between us and the bullets vanished. Michael passed me, not even bothering to glance at me, too focused on leaving the scene. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards me, noticing the tension filling his arm before realizing it was me holding it so tightly.

"Melissa," he breathed out, embracing me in a tight hug. I hugged him back in a robotic way as my mind is clouded with thoughts of where Luke could be and what could be happening to him. "You're okay?" he asked, his hands holding my face in place, assessing it closely.

"I'm fine," I told him truthfully, half smiling at him, "Where's Luke?" I questioned him, noticing how his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. My eyes took in the lack of people in the building and my heart began to pound in my chest as I saw the only van remaining was the one that Michael, Luke, Calum, Ashton, and I rode in on the way over here.

"I thought he was with you," Mikey's voice faltered slightly as he took in the look of panic washing over my face.

His hands maneuvered in his suit to find his radio before connecting with the van. "Ashton?" Michael's voice slightly quivering into the line.

"Yeah?" a highly accented voice returned, sounding confused as ever over the receiver.

"Is Luke in the van?"

Anxiety filled the air as I heard Calum begin to curse wildly in the background. I felt the color drain from my face as I began to search my suit for my radio absentmindedly.

"No," I heard faintly as I connected with the medic van that was currently heading back to the colony.

"Medic," a clipped tone said into the receiver as I shakily held the radio. My eyes met Michael's as I let out a large puff of air, hoping that they would tell me Luke was injured.

"Is Luke Hemmings in there?" my voice asked, shaking majorly as I gripped onto the last shred of hope I have.

"Yes," the voice spoke monotonously. I let out a sob of joy before Michael grabbed the radio to say a quick thank you before pulling me out of the shattering building being pelted with bullets and over to the van.

Ashton wasted no time in asking what happened as Michael yelled at him to step on it once we made it safely inside, dozens of the troops who were once at the horizon line now coming towards our van at a high speed.

Edited: 14 January 2017