The Symbol-23 Chapter-23 Gage picked up the envelopes and handed me the one that had my name on it. I opened the envelope and read the note that was inside. It said that I was chosen to attend the attack planning and give my input on strategies. "Did you make it too?" I asked looking up from the note. "Yeah." He smiled. I sat down on the bed next to him and laid my head on his shoulder. "When is the meeting?" I asked as Gage wrapped his arm around my waist. I watched him as he checked his watch and opened his eyes wider. "What's wrong?" I asked placing my hand on top of his. "The meetings in five minutes." He replied standing up from he bed, pulling me up with him, "We gotta hurry or we'll be late." We ran out of the room and started sprinting down the hall. "Do you know the way there?" I asked keeping my pace to match Gage's. "Yeah." He replied, "Hang a left up ahead." We ran down the halls and around corners until we came to a stop in front of a large door. Inside, I saw a huge table with a map of Camp laying flat on the center. Around the table I saw Zach, Adam and several other people who I assumed were the heads of the other Skills. I followed Gage who walked up to Zach and did some sort of handshake with him before turning and studying the map. "What was that?" I asked as I walked over to stand next to him. "What was what?" He asked back intertwining his fingers with mine. "That weird handshake you and Zach just did." I replied turning my head to look at him. "Oh, Zach is my best friend." He answered, "He and I came to Camp together two years ago when we both got letters like you did. Even before then we were friends." I nodded and turned back to the map just as Adam walked up to the table. "You all have been chosen to help with the planning of our attack on the militia who took our camp from us." He began, placing both hands on the table. "Zach, you and your two champions are more skilled with strategy than any of us here. What do you suggest?" Zach stared at the map for a while before answering him. "I think we should prepare squads to enter from here and here." Zach pointed at two spaces near the training building. "If we enter there the guards will see us coming from a mile away." I said. "The guards already patrol that side more than any others because that's where they found me and Gage. I suggest that we head in from the other side of the living quarters." I pointed to the edge of the woods near the living quarters. Adam stared at the map for a moment before speaking. "What if we surround Camp and come from all directions?" He asked. After that the boys bickered about who should be positioned where and what they would attack. I stayed out if this because Adam, Gage, and Zach were getting into a huge debate about wether the shape-shifters should be posted behind the cafeteria or near the main gate and I didn't want to get involved. By the end of the meeting, each squad had a even distribution of Skills, had a position, and a main objective to go for. "We will begin the attack at midnight tonight which is in 2 hours. I will see you all at the entrance beforehand To go over the plan one last time if needed. Good luck." Gage and I were the first ones to leave the room and start heading down the hall. Once back in our room, I flopped on my bed and began staring at the ceiling. "If you want to get a little shut eye I can wake you up in an hour." Said Gage as he laid down next to me. "Thanks." I replied curling up next to him and lying my head on his chest. I drifted off as I listened to the strong, steady beat of his heart.

They Symbol-22 My eyes scanned the room and found Mason leaning up against the wall with a smirk on his face. He probably thinks this is going to be payback at me for beating him a few days ago. I made my way towards the center of the circle with Mason close behind. Zach hadn't even told us to begin before Mason threw the first punch hitting me in the face. I put my hand up to my mouth and pulled it back to find blood. I wiped my hand on my jeans right before Mason tried to hit me again. This time I ducked and punched him in the gut. He backed up a little before running at me from the opposite side to the circle. I ran at him too but when we were about to collide I stuck my arm out and made his feet fly out from under him. He landed flat on his back when he hit the floor. I could tell that he was getting extremely frustrated at the fact that he can't land any more hits on me. Mason got up from the floor and put his fists up. I did the same and blocked his next several punches before kneeing him in the gut again. Mason dropped to his knees with both arms on his abdomen. I raised my fist to hit him one last time but was stopped by Zach. "Enough." Was all he said. Mason stood up and stumbled his way back to his spot against the wall. I turned and made my way back to the area I was standing in before the fight. "Now if you will follow me to the firing range, we can begin the marksmanship test." Zach said as he made his way for the door. We all followed him out the door and down the hall. I caught up to Gage who smiled when he saw me next to him. We continued past a few doors until Zach stopped and entered a room that had a sign that had Firing Range printed in large block letters. Inside the walls were lined with stalls that had earmuffs, a pistol, and an opening that led to another wall with a target on it that was shaped like a person. "Everyone find a stall and wait till I tell you to begin." Said Zach as he stood in the center of the room. I made my way to the nearest stall and Gage to the one to my right. I turned around to face Zach as he gave instructions about the test. "This test will determine how well you can fire a 9 millimeter pistol into a still target. You have one magazine and one magazine only to do your best. You may begin and good luck." I turned around and put on my earmuffs. I looked down at the table and saw the empty pistol and the magazine of bullets. I loaded the magazine into the pistol and held the handle with both hands with my right index finger curled around the trigger. I looked down the sights and aimed at the head on my target and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the target right where the forehead would be. I discarded the casing from the gun before firing the rest of my magazine into the chest and head of the target. I placed the pistol back on the table and took off my earmuffs. I glanced around the dividing wall and found that Gage was finished firing his gun too. Zach didn't give anymore instructions until everyone finished firing. "I will take your test scores and choose the two best scorers over all to join me when I go to meet with Adam to make an attack plan. You should know if you are chosen within the next few hours. All of you go and prepare yourself for tomorrow." With that we all filed out of the room and back to our own apartments. Gage and I walked hand in hand when we reached our hall. "Do you think we both have a shot at being chosen?" I asked as Gage opened the door to our apartment. "I think so." He replied as I walked into the room. I turned around and was caught in a huge hug from Gage as he shut the door and kissed my nose gently. Just then a knock came from the door. When Gage opened it there was no one outside, just two envelopes on the ground.

The Symbol-21 Chapter-21 The next morning, Adam called everyone to the main hall where all of the previous gathering were held. "Two nights ago, the scouts that had the late night shift caught sight of what the militia were doing back at Camp. They reported that the militia were gathering up files and documents along with other items of value and will be moving these items out of Camp in about a day now. We need to get those records back otherwise each of us will be in danger."Adam explained. "I have decided that we should fight back and reclaim what is ours!" Cheers filled the room but quieted back down as Adam continued to speak. "I would like for all of you to split based on what your Skills are. Those with healing Skills go to the hospital, fighting and strategy to the weapons center, element bending stay here and those with Skills I did not name go to the training room and I will determine your position." We all began moving toward our designated areas. Gage and I were among the first to reach the center. Once everyone else who was Skilled with fighting or strategy arrived the Supervisors of the group stood in the front of the room. I recognized a few of them but only knew Gage and Kassidy. Everyone in the room became quiet as a boy who had chocolate brown hair and looked about a year older than Gage began to speak. "My name is Zach and I am the head of the people with fighting ad strategy Skills. I will put you all through a two part test: combat and shooting. The top two will join me when I meet with Adam and the heads of the other sections to make our attack plan." I looked over to Gage who had a smirk on his face. "Make a space in the center of the room and we can begin the combat portion. I will call two names from a list. Those two individuals will then face each other in hand to hand combat until one surrenders." Zach called two people from the list. I didn't pay attention to the people or the fights until I heard Gage's name get called along with another Supervisor named Blake. Gage followed Blake into the circle that everyone else in the room formed. I stood in the edge of the circle so I could get a better look at how Gage did. He and Blake began to walk in a circle around each other before Blake made the first move. He tried to punch Gage in the jaw but Gage blocked it and drove his knee into Blake's abdomen. Blake stumbled backwards before charging Gage and tackling him to the ground. Blake began punching Gage in the face until Gage broke free and punched Blake hard in the head. Blake fell to the ground like a rag doll holding his head and moaning. "Enough." Said Zach as someone helped Blake out of the circle. Zach read off more names and the tests continued for about a half hour. I started wondering who I would be fighting as the list of people slowly dwindled down to the final two. Zach pulled the list out of his pocket. "Our last fighters will be Roxie and Mason."

The Symbol-20 Chapter-20 Gage picked me up from the hospital later that day after the nurses checked my stitches and changed the bandages. We walked down the hall to our room holding hands. "How's your side feeling?" Gage asked. "It's sore but the nurse gave me some pain killers for when it hurts." I said holding up the small orange bottle. "We should probably head to Adam's quarters so we can notify him of what happened the other night." He said opening the door to the room with his key. I nodded and put the bottle on my dresser before we left again. We walked hand in hand all the way to Adam's door. Gage let go of my hand and kissed my cheek just before Adam opened the door. "Come on in Gage, Roxie." Adam closed the door behind us as we entered the room. "So, Gage, you mentioned that you and Roxie found something interesting during your shift last night?" Asked Adam as he sat down in a recliner. Gage and I sat down on the couch opposite of Adam. Gage was the first to speak. "We found that the militia are gathering up all of the records, supplies and valuables in camp into a huge pile around the flag." He said. Adam's eyes moved to Gage. "If President Riken gets his hands on those records anyone who is Skilled will be in danger. Even the ones who aren't in a Camp. Those records contain the names of every single Skilled person in existence." Adam explained. "Why will everyone who is Skilled be in danger?" I asked. Adam stopped pacing and walked towards me. "Because, Riken wants to wipe the Skilled off of the face of the earth. He feels that the Skilled are abominations because they can manipulate the elements or move things with their minds or are extremely lethal and strategic. He feels intimidated by us because he is normal." Adam replied pacing the room now. "So he's the reason that my family was killed when I was little then. He sent militia to my house because I was Skilled." I said getting up from the couch am facing Adam. "That would be correct." He said putting his hand on my shoulder. "Is this all you have to report?" He asked sitting back down in his chair. "No." Answered Gage, "The commander of the group at Camp said they were moving out in two days." Adam nodded. "Then we better prepare to get our records back. You are both dismissed." We both left Adam's quarters without a word. But it wasn't until we reached our room that I broke down into tears. Gage embraced me in a hug as I remembered the day my family died. "I can't believe that President Riken sent people to kill my family just because of me." I sobbed into Gage's shoulder. "I miss them so much." "I know Roxie." Gage said. We stayed wrapped up in each others arms for about five minutes while I continued to sob. When I finally stopped I looked up into Gage's eyes and was immediately calmed by their bright blue color. Gage brought a hand up to my cheek and wiped away one last tear. He brought my face close to his. I closed my eyes as his lips found mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he wrapped his around my waist. When we pulled away we both had huge smiles on our faces. "I love you Roxie." Said Gage as he kissed me again. "I love you too." I replied.

The Symbol-19 Chapter-19 I put my hand on Gage's cheek and looked into his blue eyes. "I love you too." I murmured. Gage pulled me into a hug. He smelled like the wind. When we both pulled away I felt a sharp pain in my side. I put my hand to my side and found that my clothes were soaked with blood. "Gage..." I whispered as my vision became blurry and I dropped to my knees. "Shit." Gage hissed as he took off his shirt and tied it around my waist. He picked me up and began running trough the woods back to the compound. I blacked out just as he made it inside the shack... When I awoke, I was in lying on a bed in the hospital wing of the compound. I turned my head and saw Gage asleep in the chair next to the bed. I slowly sat up and looked around the room. My side was sore where my bullet wound was. I turned back to Gage and saw that he was awake. "Hey Gage." Was all I could manage to say. He turned to me and I saw his eyes light up. "Hey, how was your nap?" He joked as he got up from his chair and sat on my bed. "How long have I been asleep?" I asked gabbing his hand. "You haven't woken up sine you got in here at midnight last night. And it's noon now." He answered checking his watch. "How long do I have to stay here?" I asked. "Until the nurses say you can leave. You got incredibly lucky that you didn't die by the time you had gotten here." He explained, "You must have been shot when we were running away from the soldiers and lost a lot of blood." He pulled me close to him and I laid my head on his chest. His heartbeat was strong and steady. We pulled away when a nurse came in and checked my vitals. "You seem to be doing fairly well." She said as she looked at the clip board. "You should be able to leave in a few hours if your vitals stay where they are." She injected me with some sort of pain killer and left the room. Gage got up and started walking around the room. "Have you told Adam about last night yet?" I asked. "No. I haven't left this room since you got out of surgery in case something happened." He replied sitting back down on the bed. "I was going to wait until you were released so we could both go together." I nodded as I reached for his hand. He grabbed it and kissed my knuckles. "Get some rest. You'll need it later." He said getting up from the bed. I nodded and laid back down. Gage kissed my forehead. "I'll be back to get you soon okay?" "Okay." I replied as he walked towards the door. "I love you Roxie." He said as he opened the door. "I love you too." I replied before the pain killers lulled me to sleep.