We expect the battle for humanity is about to begin
With in each uprising, a fake sense of safety will ignite in you, and unseen shadow will slip from doubt


Persephone had slept through the night, even though Maggie kicked in her sleep and Perry knew she would probably wake up with her legs covered in bruises. The sun was shining through the curtains and as Perry opened her eyes and looked around, she felt confused at first. Why was she in Maggie’s room and not Reese’s? Oh right-the Wild Ones had come last night. Perry smirked to herself as she sat up in bed and noticed that Mags was already up-she always got up with the sun, no matter what. Perry quickly got out of the bed, rushing towards a small mirror on Maggie’s dresser and she laughed as she looked at herself. Her red curly hair was sticking up and before leaving to get downstairs Perry tried her best to get it under control.

As she left the room and looked around, Perry noticed that she was the last one up-just like normal. She could smell oatmeal coming up from downstairs and her stomach lurched-she was so tired of eating the same thing every single day. Oatmeal for breakfast, bread and cheese for lunch and then the greyest looking food for dinner. Her mother had tried at first to make things taste better, but they quickly learned that food had become very expensive and since her father was no longer a lawyer and her mother now a stay at home mom-money was scarce. They survived, but Perry knew things could be much better.

Her feet hit the steps and immediately Perry could hear laughter coming from the kitchen. Well it didn’t seem like they had killed one another yet and Perry only smirked as she thought of Reese. He had been so insanely jealous last night when Perry was sitting at that kitchen table, but truly he had nothing to worry about. From the sound of things Andy was very happy with the girl he was with and besides, Perry really didn’t feel any connection with any of the guys besides possibly a brotherly one. She only smiled as Perry walked downstairs and noticed that Jake was once again standing by the front door. He smiled at her, his eyes still sleepy and Perry wondered how long he had been standing there.

Following the sound of laughter, Persephone found herself standing in the doorway to the kitchen and what she saw kind of shocked her. Maggie was sitting at the table beside CC and he was making her laugh so hard that her face was beet red. Perry had never seen her sister look like that-she had never seen the serious girl laugh so hard that her head was thrown back and her mouth was wide open. As Perry passed the two, she found that Andy, Ashley, Jinxx and Reese were sitting at the other end of the wooden table, talking quietly to one another. Reese looked fairly relaxed, but Perry could see that he had his fists balled up in his lap.


“Morning Persephone.” Her mother seemed to be the first one to look up and notice her standing in the doorway and Perry only smiled. Andy was now looking at her, his blue eyes staring her down as she walked around the table and took a seat closest to Reese
.
“I missed you last night…” Reese whispered towards her as she sat down and Perry only smiled at him and looked around. Her mother was standing at the stove, stirring something in a big pot, Maggie and CC were still giggling at one another in the corner and the other three guys had their heads close together, still talking about something in secret.

“So what are you guys talking about?” Perry asked as she reached across the table to grab a bowl of oatmeal. Andy looked up, he had a piece of paper sitting on the table in front of him which he quickly covered with a tattooed hand and smiled at her.

“I was telling Andy what my mom and sisters look like.” Reese said as he reached out and grabbed for her hand. Perry just sat there, staring at the four of them with wide blue eyes. When had this happened? Last night Reese looked like he wanted to jump over the table and strangle Andy and now they were smirking at one another.

“Oh. Why?” She asked dumbly and Perry only blushed as Reese squeezed her hand and moved close to her ear. His breath was warm on her face and Perry suddenly realized how much she had missed him the night before.

“Andy said that when they raid the Guard HQ he’ll look and see if he can find my family. I want my family back Persephone…” His voice was so sad and Perry felt her heart break as she moved away and looked deeply into Reese’s eyes. His green orbs were filled with tears as he looked at her and Perry desperately wanted to reach out and kiss him.


It was strange how close Persephone and Reese had gotten in just a little over a month, but deep down it felt like they had always known one another. They fit together-pieces to one another’s puzzles-and it was pretty obvious to those who were around the two every single day. Perry was impulsive, didn’t think things through and loved to cause problems. Reese thought about every little aspect and was often found listing off the pros and cons of each situation before getting himself in to anything. The only time he became impulsive was when his family was involved and when he felt threatened or like Perry was being threatened. He couldn’t help it-he loved her.

It was strange to think about loving someone who he hardly knew, but everything about Persephone made Reese happy. She made him laugh, she lit up whatever room she happened to be in and most of all he could actually see his life being okay with Persephone in it. When his family had been taken, Reese had thought his world was over-there was nothing left for him and he had even thought about just laying where he had been left and just letting his life end. But then he caught site of a girl sitting out on her roof, her long red hair blowing in the wind and he knew-there was more to live for in this life than just family.


“Wow, so you might actually get to see your family again? That’s really great Reese…” Persephone was looking at him, her blue eyes filled with happiness at the thought of his family being rescued and Reese couldn’t help but smile in return.

“I did tell him that they may have been taken to another area, but if they’re there then we have a pretty good chance of rescuing them…along with some other’s who we just lost.” Andy said and there was sadness to his usually deep voice.


The morning seemed to fly by rather quickly and soon everyone had left the kitchen table and went about their business. Maggie and her mother cleaned up the kitchen and then disappeared down in to the cellar to continue their organization, but this time they had some help in the form of CC. Perry wasn’t positive, but she could kind of tell that the tall guy with the bright smile had a thing for her little sister. That was fine-it seemed to be making Maggie happy and that’s all that mattered. Everyone else, including Jake who had been guarding the door, made their way up to the attic. Perry had mentioned something about records and Andy was curious to see what exactly she was talking about.

Once they had gotten upstairs and closed the attic door behind them, Persephone could see Andy’s eyes light up just a little bit. Reese and Perry had decorated the room with as many posters, pictures and scarves as they could find and it was a nice change from all of the gray that adorned the rest of the house. Perry quickly went to Reese’s bed and pulled out a small box that held a record player. Andy’s eyes grew wide as she dusted everything off and quickly put on a 45 inch record.

The room was filled with music, something Andy hadn’t heard in a long time and soon enough he was bobbing his head to the beat. Ashley was moving his fingers in the air and Perry cocked her head to one side as she watched. Jake was doing the same and finally Perry had to ask them-what on Earth were they doing?


“Oh, I played guitar when I was a kid before F.E.A.R banned all forms of music.” Jake said as he stood still and Jinxx only nodded his agreement. They both missed music-it was obvious by how their faces seemed to light up whenever a long piece of music played over the player.

“I used to play bass-I fucking miss it more than anything.” Ashley said as he walked around the room, his brown eyes taking in all of the posters. Perry was now sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, Reese on her right and Andy on her left.

“So did you think about my question?” Andy was whispering in her ear and Perry jumped at the sound of his voice. Had she thought about it? No…no she hadn’t given it much thought.

“I um…” Perry blushed and then turned away from the blue eyed Prophet who was still staring her down.


Perry knew she couldn’t give him an answer-at least not the one he probably wanted to hear. She wanted to leave-really she did-but the thought of just running away and leaving her family behind scared Persephone to death. What if they weren’t here should she ever come back? What if she were captured or killed? Could she live life without Maggie and their arguments? Could Persephone be without her mother and her disapproving stare? What about Reese? Perry wasn’t sure, but she really didn’t think he would come along-he was too scared that F.E.A.R would catch him and kill him. No, Perry knew Reese felt safe in their small town of Wickenburg and if he was staying then so was she.

The day seemed to fly by, especially since they all mostly just stayed up in the attic and listened to music and talked about what life before F.E.A.R had been like. Andy remembered a little more than Perry, but Ashley being the oldest seemed to remember the most. He had been fourteen when F.E.A.R had come in to power and he remembered his grandparents being taken from him-most elderly people had been taken and ‘disposed of’ because they weren’t seen as being able to contribute anything to society. Ashley had been on his own after that, moving around from place to place until finally he had met Andy and the two of them banded together to fight F.E.A.R.

Jinxx and Jake also remembered what life had been like and Jinxx even remembered coming to the Jones house for Christmas a few times. The group all spent most of the day laughing and joking, but as the sun began to lower in the sky, they all knew it was almost time for the Wild Ones to leave. One by one they made their way downstairs and Perry could see that her mother and Maggie-along with CC-were all in the kitchen making dinner for the Jones family.

The Wild Ones were offered to stay-obviously her mother had gotten over their being in the house-but they politely declined, claiming they needed to head out and beat the Guards before they appeared like shadows in the night. Perry watched in silence as all five guys thanked her father and he told them that if they ever needed to come back that they could.

Finally they all made it to the front door and as they were saying their goodbyes, Persephone noticed that Andy was hanging back slightly. She walked over to him, smirking as she noticed that he held something in his hands. It was a pendant on a long chain-gold in color and star shaped-and Andy was running his fingers over it as it hung around his neck. As she approached, Perry watched Andy remove the pendant from his neck and then hold it in his palm towards her.


“Persephone I want you to have this-I know you won’t come with us now, but should you ever decide to join us…this will help you find me.” Andy said as he stood up and Perry only took the pendant from him and held it in her hands. It was heavy and as he walked towards the door, Perry looked up and their blue eyes met.

“I’ll see you again someday Andy…” She said her voice sad and as the Wild Ones all ran out the door and off towards the desert, Andy just smirked and called out to her over his retreating shoulder.

“I know you will Persephone Jones! I know you will…”

Notes

Once again the Wild Ones are gone. Perry has stayed behind with Reese and her family, but for how long?

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