A New Era

Three months later

“More power in those Jabs Sam!” Alec yelled out from the across the room. Beads of sweat were dripping down my forehead as I continued to punch and jab into the boxing mitts Noah held up in front of me.

Three months have passed and things have been eerily quiet. Ever since the public speech President Martin made, there were no signs of an attack or to take us down. They had some sort of plan, some sort of strategy. Things have been so quiet that if any one went out, undercover, no one would hear a thing.

President Martin thought he had the upper hand, but what he didn’t know is that our group has been growing and festering underneath the entire capital. The past three months we’ve gathered more people, not a lot but just enough.

I continued to jab and punch into Noah’s boxing mitts, each jab more powerful than the other. I grunted through every punch, before finally throwing one last jab which made Noah almost lose his balance.

“Woah! Slow down there tiger.” He chuckled as he caught himself before he fell down. He shook his arms before taking the mitts off. I raised an eyebrow in confusion as I panted heavily before speaking.

“What are you doing? I wanna go again, come on.” I breathed out. Noah gave me an ‘are you serious’ look. He chuckled as he shook his heads before setting the mitts down on the chair behind him.

“You’ve done enough for today okay?” He said to me as he placed his arms on my shoulders. “You’ve been practicing everyday for two months, you’re good.”

I pushed his arms off my shoulders as I walked over to one of the tables. “Yeah, good, not great.” Grabbing a towel I wiped down my forehead from all the sweat before reaching for the athletic tape and started wrapping up my knuckles.

“Sam..” Noah’s voice spoke up, I could tell he was concerned but I ignored him. I leaned down and ripped the tape with my teeth before setting the tape back down on the table and strided over to one of the punching bags.

“Sam.” Noah followed behind me as he stood on the other side of the punching bag and held it as I started throwing quick jabs.

“Noah.” I said in between jabs. “I’m fine.” My eyes glanced up at him and I could see the concerned look all over his face. I continued throwing punches and jabs, not really wanting to talk anymore. Noah just stood there as he held the punching bag, he stumbled slightly but held his ground as I threw more punches, each one getting more aggressive than the other.

I could feel beads of sweat dripping down my forehead, my breathing was heavy as I continued punching and kicking the punching bag with as much force as I could.

Noah then stumbled back. “Woah, Sam, calm down.” He said to me. I stopped for a second to look at him, panting heavily and trying to slow my breathing.

“Just go okay? I’m fine.” I replied as I wiped the sweat off my forehead with the back of my arm before continuing to throw jabs and punches. I didn’t bother to look at him, but I knew he was looking at me. From the corner of my eye, I watched as he walked off and out the door, slamming it behind him.

I then stopped and held onto the punching bag trying to control my breathing. I wiped my sweat with the back of my hand as I started taking the tape off my hands. I winced at the pain and stared down at my knuckles which were now red and raw. I shook my head and walked over to the table grabbing one of the ice packs.

The door to the training room opened and I glanced up to see Kyle walk in. He gave me a small smile before walking over. His hands slipped in his pockets as he leaned against the table next to me.

We stood there not saying anything for a minute.

“Did Noah send you in here?” I grumbled not making eye contact.

“The truth?”

I raised an eyebrow and this time lifted my head to look at him.

“No, he didn’t send me in here. I was worried about you, we all are.” He explained to me as I let out a small smile.

“Yeah, I know, I’ve been out of it completely these past few months, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me.” He said pointing to himself. I let out a chuckle and nodded my head before setting everything down on the table.

The two of us walked out of the training room and into the main area of the bunker. Kyle made his way towards his bunk as I looked around for Noah. I then spotted him standing next to Alec and Joe who were going over some papers. Noah’s head lifted up and we made eye contact. I gave him a smile and wave before he made his way over to him.

“Hey...” I said as he approached me.

“You okay?” He asked tilting his head slightly.

“Yeah, I’m sorry I snapped at you.” I admitted as I brushed a strand of hair away from my face. Noah motioned for me to follow him and the two of us made our over to our bunk. We plopped down and he turned to look at me.

“So what’s been going on with you?”

A long sigh escaped my lips as I rubbed my face with my hands and thought for a moment before deciding to tell me.

“Just...everything. After all that’s happened to you, your mom, your dad, everyone around us...I don’t know I guess, I took in everything and wanted to put all the burden on me. You’ve been through a lot, and I thought I lost you...and then I started thinking about my family. Kyle, my parents, even though they turned me in and Kyle eventually, I still don’t want to lose them and I just want all this shit to end. I don’t wanna live in a world where we have to do exactly what the president wants and if we don’t do it, we get killed.” I admitted to him and let out a huff. Noah just looked at me as he listened to what I said. He slowly gave a nod before reaching over and taking my hand in his.

“You’re not alone in this, you know that right?” He asked with a raised eyebrow as I bit the inside of my cheek before nodding my head yes.

“And we’re gonna take back the government, all of us, together.” He said to me as he lifted my hand and placed a kiss on my red knuckles. I then rested my head on his shoulder.

“I love you.”

“And I love you.” He said to me as he laid his head on top of mine. We sat there for a minute in silence, just the sound of his breathing and voices of everyone around us can be heard.

Suddenly the doors swung open and Dave walked in with Ben and Krista. Noah and I looked at each other before standing up quickly. Alec, Joe and Linda already making their way towards them.

“What happened?” Alec asked, his voice filled with concern as the three of them looked at one another before Dave spoke up.

“We found out from someone who’s a guard at the White House that President Martin is deciding to take his troops, a good amount of them, out of the city. They’re heading to Jill’s neighborhood.”

“When is this happening?” Joe asked as we waited for an answer.

“The end of the week.” Ben answered as we all turned to look at one another. So, the president finally had some sort of plan, at least we knew where he was going. But why Jill’s neighborhood. My eyes widened slightly and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at Noah, his eyes filled with confusion and worry.

“Sam what is it?” He asked as everyone turned to look at me.

“President Martin is headed into our neighborhood.” I gestured to me and Kyle. The neighborhood where Noah was caught. He’s probably starting off there, to find any more of the rebels. He’s gonna try and lure us there, and if he does and we fall into his trap, we’re all caught.”

The room got quiet as everyone just stood there, mind fucked. If this was his plan, and we didn’t go? Then Jill and the others are screwed. But if we did go, then there was no way we were gonna get out of there alive.

“So what’s the plan?” Joe asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“We go there, tonight, get Jill and the others out as fast as we can before they get there first.” I explained.

Joe gave a nod as he looked at Alec and Dave.

“I know a way we can get out of here, but some of us need to stay.” Linda spoke up. She barely spoke, but when she did she knew what to say at the exact moment.

“We have a few hours to plan, let’s get to it.” Joe said as we all headed over to the table to come up with a strategy and plan for this next rescue mission.ng here…