Gunpowder

The pure blue of the noon sky shone through Axis’s windows as she entered her quarters. She had only been awake for a few hours, though she still felt exhausted, which was most unusual for her. She was a morning person, and she hardly got tired until the moon rose high in the sky. But, still, her arms and legs ached and she felt as if she had been awake for a year. She flopped onto her bed, feeling her hair spill out behind her. She hadn’t had time to put in her bun that morning.

Axis was not aware of any jobs that she had that day. Crime was very low at the time, and few soldiers were needed to do anything. Some were off working crowd control or doing the regular patrols around the outer wall, but other than that, none of them were needed. There were no battles at the time, no bloodshed. It was the most peaceful time in the war that she had seen in years. The calm in the eye of the storm.

She kept thinking about the things that Poppy had said earlier. Normally when she did an interrogation, she would simply forget about it all after it was over. The conversation was recorded and then used for whatever purpose it was needed for. But for whatever reason, the words from this particular discussion echoed in her mind. How she had seemed so scared when she spoke of her leaders. How she had referred to them as “the boss.” It was all very strange to Axis. Every rebel was in quite friendly relations with their leaders. Fear would only bring about rebellion, and that’s exactly what had happened to the new world order.

The way that the loyals operated had always confused her. There were far more soldiers and underlings than there were leaders. They could easily defeat them, take power. But they didn’t. They seemed brainwashed.

It was extremely rare for a loyal to be captured alive. They were either killed by whatever had made them lag behind the rest of their group, or killed themselves after capture. Because of this, very little was known about the loyals. A handful of surviving loyals and the loyal turncoats were all that they had to base their info off of. Most of the stuff they “knew” was sprouted from rumors and information taken from various documents.

Axis waved her hand at the wall with a gesture that resumed the “OK” sign. The wall panel she waved at buzzed for a moment, then slid back into the rest of the wall. In its place, a mirror.

She pulled her red scrunchie off of her wrist and pulled her hair into a bun. The scar above her eye still stood, standing as a reminder of a fight lost long ago. It was fully healed, but she still winced every time she touched it. She liked to think it was from some ferocious battle, but in reality she had gotten it in a motorcycle accident. She hardly ever rode anything other than her horse, but when it was necessary she would do it.

After she fixed her hair, Axis fitted her helmet onto her head, feeling her bun press against her head. She had no jobs that day, and truly had no reason to be wearing the armor, but it made her feel safe, like a child with a teddy bear.

She laid down on her bed, knowing that it was still to early to go to sleep. She considered going to the grocery store or taking a walk or something, but she was simply too tired. She yawned, laying down on her back.

Then her phone rung.

Well, it didn’t exactly ring. It just buzzed. Loudly. Axis picked it out of her pocket, seeing the ambient wallpaper staring back at her. There was a notification. An urgent one.

Calling her to the hospital.