The Brave, the Few, the Warped ch. 2

            “No!” PeGgy shrieked, crumpling from her chair and onto her knees. HaNnah quickly moved to comfort her, but the girl shoved her away, wailing.

            “Watch?” the man asked in the same disinterested tone after sending PeGgy an annoyed glance. OWen held out his hand, revealing the bright red cut on his forehead that was bleeding horribly. The man scanned the watch, then pointed OWen towards the on-flight medic.  OWen, his eyes a cloudy black, limped to the medic who bandaged his forehead. Then the medic put PeGgy under to stop her hysterics.  They reached the next point for passengers, but no one was there. The helicopter moved on, and the man with the large nose crossed a few codes off his list.

            “What happened?” HaNnah said to OWen, her voice hushed.

            “We were ambushed. He was captured. I couldn’t save him.” OWen held his head in his hands. HaNnah rubbed his back.

            “It’s fine,” she said, “he’s not dead or anything, that’s good.”

            “He might as well be,” OWen snapped, “they’re going to Mind-Weed him.” HaNnah shuddered. Mind-Weeding was when specific memories were weeded out and replaced by other, false memories. Mind-Weeding was the worst fate known to the Warps; a fate worse than death. In death, you were completely useless to everyone. Mind-Weeded, you would be a detriment to the cause. They were silent for the rest of the trip to the safe-house. HaNnah tried not to notice how many empty seats there were; how many stops they made where no one came at all. OWen carries PeGgy inside, as quiet as they shadows in his eyes. Still, he takes the time to squeeze HaNnah’s hand before heading to his room in the barracks.

            “Well,” he says, “we made it back alive.”

            “And alive we’re going to stay,” HaNnah says, “at least for a little while longer.” Customarily, OWen would flash him a grin, but today wasn’t the day for smiling. He walks off, taking PeGgy to the Traumatic Experience Barrack.

            HaNnah was up at six o’clock sharp to weed the gardens. OWen is there too, watering the carrots.

            “Hey,” HaNnah says. OWen glances up at her, his light blonde hair covering the new scar on his forehead, his leg already healed. As he looked up at HaNnah, his eyes lightened slightly.

            “You weed the peas, I’ll weed the carrot?” OWen offers.

            “Let’s see who can finish first,” HaNnah says. OWen smiles one of his rare smiles, his eyes silvery.

            “Everything’s always a competition,” OWen teases, knowing he’s just as competitive as HaNnah. HaNnah smiles, quickly throwing her messy hair into a ponytail. HaNnah and OWen moved through the rows simultaneously. They’d known each other since they were four and in training and had been peas in a pod ever since.

            They spent two hours in the garden, as they did every morning, then went to the Watch Zones to pick up the days’ assignments. HaNnah placed her wrist onto the large black box. The Wrist Watch made several beeping sounds, then was released from the magnetic current of the box. All Warps had Wrist Watches bolted onto their wrists. HaNnah’s schedule for the day prints from the Wrist Watch.

            “Weapons training,” OWen says, reading the first event on his schedule off.

            “I have to go see PeGgy,” HaNnah says, “it doesn’t really say what I’m supposed to do, just see her.” OWen nods, then heads off towards the training area. Most people were annoyed by the way OWen came and went with no introduction or conclusion to his conversations, but HaNnah had become accustomed to OWen, and now she wouldn’t have it any other way.

            HaNnah heads to the TEB and finds PeGgy sitting on one of the sterilized beds, staring out at nothing. HaNnah sits in front of her and takes her hands.

            “How’re you feeling?” she asks. PeGgy doesn’t respond.

            “I know, I know,” HaNnah says, “I’m here to help you.” Again, no response.

            “It was very brave, what your brother did, PeGgy, and at such a young age. And you know he’s not dead, so that should account for something.” The girl looks away. HaNnah pulls her into a hug.

            “You probably want to be left alone, I know, I know,” HaNnah says, “but before I leave, I want to tell you something. Do you know why they chose me to come and see you here?” No response.

            “Because,” HaNnah says, “I had a brother too. His name was LewiS. He was older than me, so he was sent onto the battlefield before me. It was his first trip as well, and he never came back.” Silence. HaNnah took a deep breath. Only OWen knew that. HaNnah stood to leave.

            “I have to find him,” PeGgy says, tears escaping her eyes, “I have to save him.” HaNnah knelt down again so she could look PeGgy in the eyes.

            “No,” she says, “oh, no, PeGgy. You can’t save him. And your brother wouldn’t want you to. He’d want you to stay right here, and carry out your duties. He’d want you to help save your country.” The little girl was sobbing now, but she set her jaw, trying to remain strong.

            “He needs me, HaNnah,” she says, “he needs me.”

            “Your country needs you more.” Silence.

            “PeGgy?” HaNnah asks, but again the girl was unresponsive, “PeGgy, promise me you won’t do anything rash. Take time to think about this.  I’ll request to come back tomorrow, same time. I won’t tell them what you said, but promise me, PeGgy, you’ll tell me before you do anything. Okay?” PeGgy nodded, but her eyes seemed far away and HaNnah wasn’t sure if she’d heard.

            “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she says.

            Once she was outside, HaNnah sighed. She had to talk to OWen about this.