With her mood officially low she crosses the street a couple blocks away from the incident to the store where she works with her hands in her pockets and her head down, she enters the store and starts weaving through the aisles passing through people trying to avoid being seen by her boss on her way to the backroom. As she makes her way down the aisle she spots her co-worker, and childhood best friend, Nathan. She slips past him while he's stocking a shelf whispering, Hi Nathan! Slightly startled not expecting to hear a whispered voice behind him, his head snaps back seeing her going down the aisle. He gets up and follows her,

"Kate! Kate, do you have any idea how late you are?" He asks while keeping a quick pace with her.

"I've got a pretty good idea. I got distracted on my way." Kate replies while looking both at the end of the aisle.

Ugh of course she did!

With slight annoyance in his tone he asks her what was so important that it distracted her from work.

"Little busy at the moment. I'll tell you later." She says as she power walks through a section of the store that holds sandwich meats and other deli-like products.

"Yeah, busy doing everything but your job! If the manager finds out you were late again-"

"He's not gonna find out as long as I get to the back room before he sees me." She says cutting Nathan off as they near the door to the backroom, Nathan signs frustratedly at her near complete disregard for being late.

Ugh she's always been this way but would it kill her to take something seriously? She's my best friend but there's days she just drives me crazy with her antics.

Katlyn slips into the backroom while Nathan signs, shaking his head as he returns to shocking the shelves.

Katlyn smiles slightly, feeling confident that she's in the clear as she enters the staff room, and changes into her. While she does she gets lost in thought about what happened.

Scenes like that are far more common than they should be. Why is it every time there's rebel activity, or a crackdown on them the military comes in like pissed off rhinos? Why punish innocent people? Fucking bullshit! There's only so long the people will tolerate this for before it reaches a boiling point.

Her attitude changes from being confident about getting to work without getting caught to concern for the people who were rounded up, what will happen to them and why the military were detaining them in the first place but her train of thought is interrupted when she hears someone clear their throat: an average height light skinned male with dark brown hair stands there with his arms crossed, it's the manager.

"You're late, Ward! Again!" The manager snaps with a sharp tone, and narrow eyes.

Ah fuck! So close!

Katlyn stops, looks over at him not saying anything because she has nothing she can say thinking she was free and clear.

"I have just about had it with you being late! I'm in the right mind to fire your ass right now! The only reason I'm not is because no one is willing to come in today because of the raids. You're on thin ice, Ward. Very thin ice." He continues with a sharp, frustrated tone. With his arms still crossed he steps aside letting her pass by.

She walks by him and enters the main store again and spots Nathan waiting at the end of an aisle where he can see the door, he walks up to her asking how mad the manager was.

"Mad enough to threaten my job, but not mad enough to actually fire me." She answers with a cheeky smile.

He signs at her but says nothing, despite his silence she knows he has an opinion but it's nothing he hasn't said to her before so much he doesn't even say it anymore. Her smile fades and her head lowers slightly, she stops and looks at him say, I promise I'll be more careful. He simply replies saying, okay.

She's reckless at times but one of the great things about her is she stays to her word. She's never broken a promise to anyone before.

As the shift drags on for what feels like a lifetime the manager decides to let most of the staff, including Katlyn and Nathan, to take an early lunch, underestimating how slow it would be given the raids.

When the two leave the store they are greeted with a blast of wind blowing Katlyn's hair into her face making her gasp, a light rain begins to fall as the two cross the street going back the same direction Katlyn came from earlier. They discuss the early morning raids with Katlyn not saying much on them but wanting her opinion Nathan asks her what she thinks, she asks him if he wants her honest opinion, he says, of course. For a moment she hesitates,

We've been friends since we were kids but I still have to be careful what I say.

"I don't think we're being told the whole story. We only hear the governments, or the military's side of what happens during these raids. They always claim that the rebels refused to surrender, that it was possible to take prisoners. How is it there's no survives?" At first Nathan says nothing, his expression showing that he was deep in thought about what she said.

He asks her if she thinks they are lying, and she gives a very indirect answer.

"I think it's easier to tell a one sided story when there's no one to tell a different version of it." She replies with her tone staying neutral, and her eyes forward as they near the corner of the street.

"So you think they are killing the prisoners?" Nathan asks with a slightly confused tone while looking at her, she stops and looks at him.

"I think fear is a great weapon, and a tool to control people's actions. And if certain truths die with those who know them then who is left to tell them?" She says with a bit more of a serious tone.

She thinks they are killing prisoners so they can't share their story? What story could terrorists have to tell? But still... Why kill them?

She breaks her eye contact with him and continues making her way to the same checkpoint she'd gone through earlier in the day.

She stands behind a light skinned woman waiting to be searched while Nathan is behind her. While the woman gets searched by a female soldier Katlyn waits while an armed soldier watches her.

I know Nathan doesn't agree with me but I'm not wrong. With no one to voice their side of what happens we're left only with what the officials say, and they can say whatever they want.

The woman is cleared and Katlyn is called forward. She patted down, cleared, and sent on her way through while Nathan is called forward. While he gets patted down Katlyn pulls her phone out of her jeans pocket and begins writing a text,

"Hey, work has been slow so we got an early lunch. Just going with Nat-"

A dark skinned woman bumps into the back of her shoulder, Katelyn looks up and turns to the woman.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Kate bursts out looking visibly annoyed.

The woman turns back and locks eyes with Katlyn, her gaze piercing deep, Katlyn feels almost intimidated by the glare she's getting from this woman but what she sees changes her feeling entirely: in the waistband of the woman's jeans is the handle of a gun. Her heart almost stops, her hands go cold seeing the handle of a gun.

"Don't say a word." The woman says with a cold tone before walking causally away into an alley.

What the fuck?! Who the fuck was she? Why'd she have a gun?! Was she-

Her thoughts are cut off when she's suddenly knocked to the ground by a powerful blast from an explosion. Her ears ring with a high pitch while slightly dazed. Yelling, and screaming mix with the sound of a fire crackling as she picks herself up off of her side still holding her phone. She looks down the alley scanning for the woman but she's not there, she turns her head back to the checkpoint: the remains of a Humvee burning, debris scattered across the street and sidewalk. Her legs shake underneath her, mind still dazed as she tries to make sense of what happened.

People begin to gather at an intersection murmuring in shock, and confusion. Soldiers from the nearby areas rush into the area to begin getting the scene under control and push people back while two more Humvees speed down the street towards the checkpoint. The soldiers quickly dismount their vehicles and begin securing the area, two of them looking directly at Kaylin.

"You! On your knees! Hands in the air!" The soldier yells aiming his rifle at her.

"Hands! Show me your fucking hands!" A second soldier yells at her, also aiming at her.

She follows the commands putting her hands up and opening her hands while holding her phone with her thumb and index finger while getting down on her knees, the soldiers being too far away to see what's in her and start yelling at her to drop it and get on her chest. She lays flat on the ground as three soldiers rush over to her, two of them aiming at her while the third took her phone and zip tied her hands behind her back. The moment they restrain her she realizes that they suspect her of being involved.

Wait! Wait, I'm not an Insurgent!" She says frantically as the soldiers yell at her to shut up.

The soldier who retrained her stands her up, and searches her for weapons while a second soldier takes the phone off of him, and hands it to an MP. They load her into one of the Humvees and begin driving back to the Military Police Headquarters.

That woman... She was an Insurgent. No doubt she blew up the Humvee... She must be with...