Ailith had been training for 2 months now and was nearly read to take on her role as an assassin. It had been easier for her than others and she had climbed the ranks rapidly almost as soon as she had started. The other trainees who had been there long before her looked at her with jealousy. To those who bothered to do it to her face, she just returned to them a conceited smile.

She had gotten very close to Alex. He practically followed her everywhere, claiming he was lonely and bored. He was Xavier’s replacement. Since they lived in the same dorm, ate together and trained together, they practically were inseparable after a while. Or at least to Ailith it seemed that way. She never fully devoted herself to friendships or relationships of any sort for fear of getting hurt but this time, she decided to risk it all and put her faith in Alexander. She trusted him.

Ailith had not yet received any word from the resistance, or the “red activists” as they liked to call themselves. They had not contacted her again after that night she had visited their base in Dorrance and met with one of their captains. ‘Hmmm, what was his name?... Michael.’ she concluded. ‘His name was Michael.’ She hadn’t seen the man who had approached her on the train that day in Dorrance but, it was very possible that he was stationed at a different location. She toyed with the thought of sneaking out again just to see if they had forgotten her but was quick to dismiss it when Alex showed up behind her.

“Hey!” he said.

“Hey.”

“Where are you headed?”

“The training room...you?”

“Mmm, I think I’m going to head to the dorms and take a break. Those workouts can be really draining.”

Ailith questioned it in her mind. ‘But he does better than everyone else. And the workouts are easier compared to before.’ but she didn’t press further and verbally voice her thoughts. Because that’s what they were. Mere thoughts.

She shrugged her shoulders. “Alright. I’ll see you at lunch then.”

“Sure.”

Strangely, he was less talkative today and didn’t look as cheerful as usual. From the corner of her eye, Ailith watched Alex tread slowly back to the dorms. ‘What’s with him?’

‘291...292...293...294...295...296...297...298...299...300’ Panting, Ailith finished her final set of chin ups. While it was true that some of the workouts had gotten easier, most had gotten harder. For example, now instead of 6 sets of 400 sit ups, they split it to 3 sets of sit ups and 3 sets of crunches.

She gulped down large sips from her bottle and looked to her treker to see if she had any messages. Nope. Other than the always present ads, there was nothing else.

Her muscles aching from the workout, Ailith slowly got to her feet and headed to the door.

BOOM!

Her ears rang from the sudden explosion and she was knocked to her feet with a strong quake of the ground. From outside, Ailith heard people screaming and the sound of gunshots echoed throughout. Weird, she hadn’t heard any alarm go off... Scrambling to her feet, she ran to the door and yanked it open.

Outside in the hallway, the chaos looked even worse than it sounded. Doors lay splintered on the floor and people were frantically running through the halls, most likely headed towards the exit. Some tripped whilst running over dead bodies. This cost them a bullet in their head. Others pounded on the few steel and intact doors around them, trying to get it to open. When Ailith’s wandering eyes finally landed on the attackers, she realized why all these people were so desperate to get away. It was the same group that had attacked Vertlyn just 2 months ago. She could tell by their uniforms. Black with streaks of red. Ailith slammed the door to the training room shut and locked it quickly before anyone noticed. She knew they could just blow it up however, it bought her some time to think over what she could do. She couldn’t tell whether this was the red activists or some other rebel group so it was too risky to just walk out.

She desperately scanned the room, looking for anything that could help. She groaned as she soon realized that there was nothing she could use to protect herself. She was in the workout room. There were no windows, no hiding spots and no weapons, just heavy equipment that would only succeed in slowing her down if she decided to run. Cursing, she backed towards the door, hoping to spot something useful last minute.

No, there was nothing. Her only choice was to run.

She put her ear to the door and listened. When the sounds quieted down a bit more, she would make a dash for the window. Ailith figured she had a better chance of avoiding the rebels if she jumped out a two story window than if she ran to the lobby like everyone else.

After several minutes, the noise died down. Her hands gripped the door handle so hard that her knuckles turned white. Cautiously, she turned the knob, all the while making sure to focus her attention on every hint at sound. Luckily, her door had been the few that they had ignored but if she opened it now and someone saw her, she’d be dead in a matter of seconds. Ailith inhaled a deep breath and pulled the door open. The hallway was empty save for a few dead bodies and broken furniture, the building eerily quiet, as if the rebels had all fled. She took several slow and cautious steps before dashing to the window at the end of the hallway.

‘Just a bit further…’ she murmured to herself.

Ailith was just several feet from the window when a dark figure turned the corner. Her instincts reacted faster than her brain and her fist shot up to punch whoever had gotten in the way.

The figure easily blocked it and tilted his head sideways to get a look at his attacker. The hand holding her fist dropped and a look of confusion filled his eyes. “Ailith?” he said, an obvious question in his voice.

Her tense body loosened at the sight of him and relief danced through her.

It was just Alexander. Harmless, naive Alexander.