Code of Honor

Winter was settling in fast.

Snow was already settling on the ground earlier than usual. Usually it never lasted long. With the rush of people everyday making their way to work. But now without them it was pristine. A thin layer covered everything. Burying the rubble and remains of the city that lay on the ground. I glanced behind me to see the imprints of my sneakers following me. I wondered absentmindedly if someone would follow them as I pulled the hood of my jumper over my head. I doubted it. They could belong to anyone.

I’d noticed several tracks in the snow before walking past. I could only assume the large groups belonged to soldiers. I avoided them just to be careful. I’d even noted animal tracks heading into the centre of the city. I’d been on enough hunting trips to know they belonged to deer. An animal I never saw much of though I had lived my whole life in this area. The new lack of human life in the area had helped the animal’s populations a lot. The city was as much theirs as it was ours now. Mother nature was taking back the land slowly. Not only the animals but the plant life prospered.

Grass grew in the cracks of the concrete. Trees were sprouting in the strangest of places. Even up through buildings. I wondered what it would look like twenty years from now if things stayed this way. The roads replaced by trees and mindless people replaced by mindless animals. At least the animals would look after the place better than we had.

“It’s fucking cold,” Dimitri groaned wrapped his arms around himself.

“It’s winter,” I muttered mimicking his actions. “What do you expect?”

“I hate winter. Stupid snow.”

I shook my head with a laugh. “You whine like a girl you know?”

He grumbled. “I just hate the cold. Jesus...even if we find nay water it’ll be ice by now.”

“I doubt that, it’s not cold enough to freeze water...yet.”

“Whatever....”

We walked in silence for a bit longer. Occasionally checking spots for clean water. It was never an easy task. Eventually Dimitri broke the silence again.

“Do you think there’s anything with this California thing?”

I shrugged. “Maybe...They evacuating all those people when this first broke out. They had to take them somewhere.”

“Yeah maybe,” He sighed. “It seems a bit out there. Why are they all of a sudden taking people out again?”

“I don’t know. Maybe there sick of fighting with all these people so there trying to get them out. Since when has any of this made sense.”

“Yeah I guess,” He sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t like it.”

“Who knows,” I sighed. “Why bring it up, do you plan on going?”

“No,” He said quickly jumping to defend himself. “I’m not going anywhere...it’s just strange.”
“Is it weird I don’t want to leave either?” I asked sheepishly.

He pondered my question for a moment. Then shook his head. “No. I feel the same. Yeah this isn’t the best situation but we know it. We’re surviving. If we leave god knows where we’ll end up and in what situation. We could be worse of then here. This sucks but we know this.”

He was right. “Since when do you get wise,” I joked trying to lighten the mood.

He poked his tongue out at me and kept walking. I hadn’t noticed we’d stopped. I picked up my pace to catch up with him again. Kicking up snow in my wake. We headed towards the south end of the city. An area we tended to try and avoid but desperate times called for desperate measures. We needed water.

Though I’m sure my father would have something to say if he ever found out we’d been this way. That only made me want to go this way more. I knew I was acting childish. Deliberately acting on things I knew would upset him but it made me feel better to know I was defying him in some small way. We still weren’t on taking terms and I preferred to keep it that way. He had been spending more time with her since my rejection.

She was still sick and isolated in that small room. Which meant I didn’t have to see either of them. This was fine by me. The less I had to see of them the happier I was. They were both as bad as each other as far as I was concerned. I hadn’t of had anything to do with Penny since this had all come out. Having her isolated away from me had helped that. I didn’t know exactly how she would behave around me. I didn’t care either. She has betrayed my mother and me just as badly as he had.

“Think I could hit that can?”

I stumbled to a halt as Dimitri stopped beside me suddenly. He was looking ahead, I followed his gaze. Sitting along a broken shop windowsill was a collection of dinted cans. I frowned. They were so out of place it was almost comical. I had a visual of several men, maybe army, sitting around drinking. Instead of patrolling like they were meant to. I didn’t understand what Dimitri had said until he pulled a handgun from his pocket.

“Where did you get that?” I asked and he smirked. I shook my head deciding I didn’t want to know.

“So do you think I can hit it.”

“No,” I replied simply. His mouth hung open in mock hurt.

“I so can,” he mumbled lifting the gun and taking aim.

I smirked. “This will be funny.”

He glared over at me. “The extra pillow says I can hit it before you.”

“You’re on,” I replied confidently.

I’d been on so many hunting trips and all I’d done was shoot and cans and trees. I may not have been the best shot but I got the feeling I was better than bike boy here. As far as I knew he had never handled a gun before this war broke out. I had experience over him. Even if it was minimal.

“Alright,” He smirked at me. “From here.” He made a marking in the dirt with his foot.

“Which can?”

“The blue one in the middle.”

“Alright you first,” I said leaning back against the wall.

I watched him level the gun out and brace himself. He looked to...stiff. He was trying to hard I realized. He was going to miss. He pulled the trigger and the gun fired loudly. Echoing through the empty street. All the cans stayed standing perfectly.

“Horrible,” I commented. He poked his tongue out at me.

“You do it then smart ass,” He said putting the heavy pistol in my hand.

I smiled sweetly at him. In a mocking way on course and took my spot behind the mark he’d made. Shaking my arms out to make sure they weren’t to tense I lifted my arms and steadied the gun. I took a second to make sure my aim was set before I pulled the trigger. The push back from the gun was more than I expected but I braced for it. My bullet whizzed past the can. It shook with the force of the wind but it stayed standing.

“Ooh so close,” Dimitri mocked.

“Closer than yours,” I laughed and he shook his head taking the gun from me.

I took my spot against the wall again and watched him try again. He took longer to steady his aim this time before he pulled the trigger. But to his dismay all the cans remained standing. Though he had made some improvement. Without a word he gave me the gun with a sullen glance. I laughed and stood behind the mark. I aimed carefully remembering all the advice my brother used to give me. I pulled the trigger. The blue can in the centre went flying. I threw my hands up in the air in celebration and turned to rub it in his face. He was staring intently at the cans. A frown on his face.

“I win,” I announced. “The pillow is mine!”

He shook his head.

“What? I hit it.”

“No you didn’t.”

“You are such a sore loser,” I sighed,

“No Grace. You didn’t hit it. It fell before your bullet got near it. I was watching.”

I frowned. “So you can watch high speed bullets with accuracy now?”

“I’m serious Grace look at the board behind the cans. There’s a hole for my second shot and both of yours. None of them are where the can was.”

Frowning I studied the board behind the cans. He was right I realized with some horror. Three holes adorned the board from our gun. None of them in the right spot to have sent the can flying like it had. It would have to have been a dead on shot. I took a few steps forward and studied the board a bit harder. There was a smaller bullet hole. Right behind where the can had been. It was nothing like ours. There had been another shot. I looked back at Dimitri. We had let ourselves get too comfortable out here. God only knows what attention we’d attracted with our stupid game.

“We should go.”

“Yeah,” he agreed walking closer to me.

A loud bang from above stopped us going anywhere. We both flung around looking at the same area of roof where the sound had come from. My mind was screaming at me to run. I had no idea what was up there but I was sure it was most likely dangerous. But my feet remained rooted the ground. Some morbid curiosity was keeping me from running away. Slowly a dark shape came into view on one of the roof tops.

“Without even a hello? Jesus Grace I knew you were rude but this is pushing it for even you.”

I frowned at the sound of my name and studied the shape as the light of the sun lit up is handsome features. That notorious smirk took his face, dark hair hanging in his eyes. It couldn’t be.

“Aiden?”

“Gracie,” He greeted.

“What...what are you doing here?”

He hiked his long barreled gun over his shoulder. “Helping you as always. Your still a shit shot by the way.”

“Compared to you I always was,” I replied with a shrug putting my hand up to block the sun from my eyes.

“Everyone was a shit shot compared to me. Still are.”

“Nice to see you haven’t lost that ego.”

He gave me that cute confident grin again. The one many girls would swoon for. As far as I knew quite a few had fallen for his cheeky charm. I was one of the expectations. That had always gotten to him. I was that one girl he couldn’t get falling head over heels for him.

“So what are you doing here?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I was positioned here a few days ago.”

I noted the uniform he was wearing. It was similar to the army’s but different. I hadn’t picked up on it at first.

“Army?” I questioned with a frown.

“Always said I was going to join,” He yawned stretching his arms over his head. “This seemed like the ideal time do to it.”

“Why because the dropped there standards?”

He laughed out loud. “Smart ass. Even with their dropped standards I’m sure they still wouldn’t take your shitty shot.”

“Probably not. Not that I’m interested anyway.”

He smirked and walked over to the edge of the roof. He took the edge in his hands before let himself down. Then dropped to the ground in one swift movement. He landed on his feet gracefully and turned to face us. Or me. He had no interest in Dimitri beside me. Typical Aiden behavior. If there was a female in smelling distance he was captivated.

“So if you’ve only just been positioned here. Where have to been?”

“Around,” he sighed. “Here, there and everywhere. Where ever the army wants me I suppose.”

I frowned. “Really? I haven’t really seen them moving soldiers around here. They all seem to be stuck in the same positions.”

“There cannon fodder,” He replied leaning against the wall. Crossing his arms over his chest. “I told you. You know it yourself. I’m a good shot with a gun. They put me in a task force and I worked my way up here. I get better treatment than most.”

He was right. He was always a good shot with a gun. Aiden was an old family friend and neighbor. We used to live next door to each other. Our dads became good friends over there hunting hobby and soon we were camping/hunting together every Summer and Spring. Aiden was two years older than me and used to aid my brother in my torment.

He looked over me. But it was different to the looks he gave most girls. Even though I knew his eyes lingered on my chest more than they should have. I caught the feeling he still wouldn’t touch me. We’d spent too much time together as kids growing up. It would feel too incestuous. No matter how lonely we got out here.

Suddenly his eyes flickered down to my hand. I barely noticed a flicker of alarm in his eyes. But he controlled it quickly. That was new for Aiden. He had never been one who could control his emotions. Maybe the army had knocked something more than a gun into him.

“So why are you here of all places?” I asked.

“To much conflict here. With the Russians...and all...we’re here to pick them off. One by one.”

He motioned to the gun over his shoulder. It reminded me of my father’s hunting rifle though it was much newer and much more high-tec. A sniper rifle. I knew that much about it.

“I thought the government would have a better use for a task force?”

“You asked a lot of questions,” He smirked. “Still nosy.”

I poked my tongue out at him. Ignoring my question we went on to his own.

“So is it only you out here?” He asked.

“Me and dad,” I replied. I seen a flicker in his eyes.

“Cameron’s alive?” he said. “I thought you were all dead.”

I shook my head. “What about you guys?”

He shook his head in return. “Only me because I ran off to join the army.”

“Speaking of,” Dimitri said from beside me. I jumped, forgetting he was there. “We have to get back or your dad’s gonna...”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “We gotta go,” I told Aiden

“Yeah,” He yawned. “I gotta head back before they start asking questions.”

“Hey before you go. There’s rumour there evacuating to California. Is it safe there?”

He shrugged. “I haven’t heard anything from that way. I only know about where I’ve been other than that we left in the dark.”

I frowned.

“Grace, this is the best place for miles,” He told me. “I don’t know about out that way but when it comes to habitable this side of the world. Your best to stay here. Just be careful.”

“Why?” I asked he shook his head.

“Just watch your back.”

With that he walked off flicking his sniper rifle back into is hands.

“Who was that?” Dimitri asked a jealous tone in his voice.

“An old family friend,” I sighed. “Let’s go. There’s something I wanna check before we go back.”

We started walking in the general direction of home. But with a shot detour along the way. I wanted to check if Riley had left me another note. The curiosity was getting to me. It had prevented my sleep the night before. I noted our location in the back of my mind. I was going in the right direction.

“So why are we going this way?” he asked eventually. I knew he would.

“I have to check something.”

“What?”

“Not your business, that’s what.”

He groaned, I ignored him. We kept walking in silence as we always. There was just something about this dead atmosphere that made conversation harder than usual. That and the constant fear of drawing attention to ourselves. Eventually the small broken newsagent came into sight. I picked up pace without thinking. Dimitri didn’t seem to notice as he matched it. Cautiously I took a glance around. There was no signs of movement anywhere. I kept my eyes peeled though as we walked closer to the building.

“Keep an eye out,” I said lowly to Dimitri. “I’ll only be a second.”

He put his back to the wall with a confused and accusing look at me. I pushed the door open slowly and stepped inside. It looked exactly the way it had when I had last been in here. I hadn’t expected any less. I doubted anyone but Riley and I actually came in here. There was really nothing of worth left in here. I walked over and pulled the red faded box from its spot and lifted the lid slowly. As if a spider was going to jump out at me. Two pieces of paper stared back at me instead.

I picked them both up in one hand. One was considerably larger than the other. I opened the smaller and dirtier piece of paper first. It was written messily and obliviously very quickly in large lettering. I frowned and struggled to read his writing.

Task Force being sent in as of today. Here to deal with Russians and you guys. Watch out. They’ve been given permission to use deadly force. If capture isn’t an option they will kill you on sight.

“What?” I whispered to myself.

They were sending in a Task Force. I didn’t know much about the army but I knew they were special. Of course they’d want the best to help deal with the Russians. But why have them waste their time on us? It seemed pointless but Riley had never lied to me before. If this was true we had to be careful. They were hunting us. I shoved the letter’s into my back pocket and moved quickly back outside.

Cold wind met my face instantly as I opened the door and looked around for Dimitri. He wasn’t there. He had been leaning on that wall when I went inside. Panic instantly settled in my throat. Had something happened while I was in there? Surely I would have heard something. I spun on my heel and looked everywhere. He was nowhere in sight. I resisted the urge to call his name. All I would do was draw the attention to myself and I’d suffer the same fate he had.

“What’s wrong with you?”

I jumped a foot in the air and spun around again. Dimitri stood behind me. Tossing a rock up and down in his left hand. I was extremely tempted to walk over and hit him. Hard.

“Where the hell where you!”

“Just looking around over there,” He defended quickly. “What the hell is wrong with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I took a deep breath to calm my voice. “We have to go.”

“What...why?”

Instinctively I checked our surroundings again. Nothing. “We’re in trouble...there’s a task here. There here for us.”

“What?”

“The army have brought in a Task Force. There here to deal with the Russians and groups like ours...they’ll kill on sight.”

He frowned. “So we’re being hunted...by an army task force?”

“Yeah...is that as bad as I think it is?”

He nodded. “We have to go and warn the others before someone gets killed.”

Without another word he took off running. I was hot on his heels. We didn’t make it far before I had to stop. My lungs refused to let me run any further. They still hadn’t fully recovered from my ordeal with the disease. Jamison said they wouldn’t. Eventually Dimitri noted I wasn’t beside him and slowed to let me catch up. He gave me a sympathetic look. I promptly ignored it. I didn’t want sympathy from anyone.

“Your friend, he was in that task force,” Dimitri said as we walked hurriedly. It was the best I could do.

“Aiden?” I asked. He nodded.

It hadn’t hit me until he’d voiced it. Aiden had been here with a task force. He had said he was here to deal with the Russians and I doubted there was two forces here. There would only be one. Maybe he just hadn’t noticed the bands around our wrists. I had the feeling that it was more like he just pretended he didn’t. I realized his warning to watch my back held more weight than I first thought. Without thinking we picked up pace again. I forced myself to keep going though my lungs screamed in disagreement. I pushed on. This was bigger than my own problems.

Eventually we stormed up through the door and upstairs to the hideout. A few people were gathered doing their own thing. Like most days. All we did was try and kill time. Unable to walk much further I walked over and collapsed into a seat near the burnt out fire. Dimitri went to find whoever was here and deliver the news. It didn’t take long for both Jamison and my father to walk out with him. Both with frowns on their faces. They stopped beside me as they talked.

“How do you know all this?” Jamison asked looking over the both of us.

“Grace’s army connections as usual,” Dimitri said with a side ward glance at me.

Jamison smiled at me. “Lucky we got you hey.”

“Something like that,” I mumbled holding the scribbled note up for them.

Dad took the note from my hand slowly and read it. Jamison read over his shoulder his face morphing back into a concerned frown. I assumed they read it more than once since they stared at it for some time. It was only a short note.

“How do we know this is reliable?” Dad asked looking at me.

“It’s reliable,” I answered simply. They were the first civil words I’d had with him a long time. “And I seen Aiden. He pretty much gave the proof.”

“Aiden?” Dad asked. “Aiden Burns?”

I nodded. He was stunned.

“What was he doing out here?”

“He joined the army. His a part of said task force. Told me to watch my back.”

Dad slumped into a seat beside me. His features down, deep in thought. It took some time before he spoke again.

“No one goes out there alone,” He said eventually. Then looked at Dimitri and I. “You two don’t go out there at all.”

We both went to argue. The stern look he gave us almost stopped me. It stopped Dimitri in his tracks.

“No Grace,” He snapped at me. The stress was getting to him. “Not while this force is here. It’s too dangerous. We’ll be cutting all trips outside. Until they’re gone no one goes out there unless it’s completely necessary.”

“But...” I argued.

“Am I understood?”

“What if...”

“Am I understood?” He said again even louder. A few people glanced over at us.

“Fine...whatever,” I grumbled looking at the floor.

With that he rose to his feet and walked back to the room where Penny was still isolated. I watched him go a deep glare darkening my features. The more he ordered me around the more I wanted to do everything he told me not to.