-Blake-
After almost two days, we've finally made it to California and 5 miles away from our California division's base. We stopped outside of a hotel where, if we were right, we'd be meeting them.
"Nick!"
All of our heads turned and grins spread on our faces as we saw them, the Ottawa division.
We all gathered together and spent a good while greeting each other. We hadn't seen this group in years and it felt amazing to be reunited with our family again. For a moment this "war" of ours was forgotten, there was no hate, no nervousness, and it felt like we were 16 again. It felt like the summer we had met where we spent nights camping, jumping off of cliffs and just having a ton of fun together, less as a gang but more so, as an actual family.
"We're not actually staying in this hotel are we?" Nate, the leader of the division asked Nick with an arm around his shoulders.
"Where would you rather stay?" Nick asked him but I was pretty sure we all knew the answer already.
"Let's camp!"
---
A couple of hours later and we were all set up, everything looks just as it did years ago. The only thing I could have wished was that Dominic was here to experience it with us this time.
"How come you didn't bring your sister, Nick? We were excited to finally be able to meet her in person!" Jane asked. Ottawa's division probably had most of the girls of the gang so it would make sense that they'd want to meet her. I wanted Dominic to be able to meet them too.
Nick's smile faltered slightly when asked this question, the rest of the gang took notice of this too. "She's been taken by Texas already." He replied which made everyone quieten down.
Sofie then lets out an audible breath before saying, "That's probably the worst group to be taken by," which catches our attention.
"What do you mean?" I ask and she turns to the other girls who, after a second, nod back at her, telling her to proceed with whatever she's about to say.
"I think it was around 5 years after you guys went to prison but, Tara got in contact with us." She began.
"Tara? But wasn't the divisions split up by then? We weren't talking to Texas at that point." Nate said and Sofie nodded back at him.
"Which is why we haven't really said anything until now. It was something she was only comfortable telling other girls." She took a sad breath before continuing. "There was a rapist among their group, which is why both of the other female members left their division."
My breath hitched in my throat when she said that. An image of Dominic flashed in my head. An image of what could happen to her. No. There was no way-
"Hold the fuck up, and she didn't specify who?" Zack asked, almost angry at hearing this. They all shook their head negatively at him.
Kayla then explained that "We're groups of people who have done fuck all, killed people, done drugs, whats another crime? Tara, although she was suffering, thought that way and decided to protect whoever it was because he's apart of them-"
"We do what we do in order to protect ourselves, each other and live!" Nick then exclaims, voice louder, probably now also worried for his sister. "In no way will I allow anyone within our gang suffers in that type of way!" He then stood and reached out for his phone but was stopped by Jason.
"Who are you going to call?" He asked,
"I need to find out if Dominic is okay,"
"But that would go against what we planned," Jason argued and he was right. We needed them to think that we were coming after Dominic but unaware of where we are. Getting in touch with them and giving anything away could give them information on what we're planning.
Nick stood looking conflicted for a moment. He looked at me to see what I thought but I couldn't give him anything either. I wanted to check if she was okay but if that meant putting her at risk, I didn't know if it was worth it.
Suddenly, Nick's phone rang instead. "It's London," He says before picking up and putting it on speaker.
"Hey Nick, is everything going according to plan?" One of the guys asked.
Nick calmly replies, "Yeah, we're with Ottawa now. We're ready to fight tomorrow morning." He's been making an effort to control his anger recently, I'm glad to see it somewhat work. He's been a lot more cool-headed than he would be in the past.
"That's great. Before I go though, we received some news from Texas." I tensed at this and I could feel that everyone else was waiting in suspense too. This news couldn't have been more convenient and coincidental.
"Go on."
"Tyler's dead." He states which makes us all look at each other.
"Who killed him and why?" Nick asks with a stern tone. He'd never easily take the death of one of our members. Even now when we were split, I know he cares for everyone-
"Dominic killed him." My eyes widened, my head whipping towards the phone. Did that mean...? "He was going to rape her and she killed him. It's all I know at the moment but I thought I'd tell you."
"Thanks, Sam," Nick says, voice low, before hanging up the phone. Silence consumed us after that.
"This is going to make me sound horrible but I don't give a shit." Kayla suddenly says, "If she didn't kill him, I would have."
She said it before I could.
The thought of another man forcing himself onto her, the pain she must be in and all the more, the fact that I wasn't there to help her. It enraged me.
Nick turned his back on us for a moment, letting out a shaky breath. Again, trying to control himself. He says, "Tomorrow, no matter what, we have to win this fight."
---
We woke up early the next day. Most of us silent and focussed.
I put on my gear, making sure the bulletproof vest was on, I had made sure both of my guns and my sniper rifle was loaded and had refills. There were also other things too from knives to hand grenades and one could only wonder where those were from. The rest had other equipment, depending on what they specialised in.
We went over our new formations, our rout, our spacing. It was already drilled into our minds but as long as we had the time, Nick would make sure we all knew what to do. In between his orders, his repetition, his harsh tone, you could make out clearly that he was trying to say: he can't lose us. That alone was enough to motivate us.
It was 8 am when we got to walking distance to the base. Jane and I slowly made our way towards the left side, splitting from the rest of the group.
"Hey, Blake," Jane says which makes me look at her but she's faced forward, "Are you worried about Dominic?"
I face forward too as I answer her, "I'd like to say that I believe in her strength enough not to be but..." I hesitate and I can tell she glances at me,
"You can't help it." I nod, agreeing with her, which makes her smile. "When I first met you, you were the type of guy who'd hardly smile, kept to himself. Over the video calls, I finally met a different side to you, a more open and happy side. Dominic must be really special."
I smile at that, "She is," I confirm.
"Well, then you better introduce us properly when this is all over." She says, nudging my arm with a wink before going to get in her position.
When this is all over.
It was that lasting thought that I took with me to my position. Why did she make it seem as if we were going to die? God damn it. I shook the thought out of my head. I had to live.
No matter what.