<div style="text-align: center">《 Anise 》
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


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</div></div><br/>Anise had been on time. She was a nondestructive citizen that tried to pull her weight and do what was asked of her. She minded her business and didn't get  get involved with many outside of her brother. She waited patiently at a small table with a cup of tea in her hands. It had grown cold as she waited for her brother, nervous that he would be late. And of course he was, because Ezra could be reckless.<br/><br/>Anise held her breath. She knew it was coming, based on the list of names. She didn't really excel at anything in this new world that was particularly useful. She hadn't aligned herself with any potential suitors that might make her a family woman, like many of the others had. Had they known this was coming, or did they just seek the protection that came with that sort of thing? She took it in stride when they called her name, emotions closed off. It was just another upheaval, and one she could get past if not for the guilt when right after hers, they'd called her brother's name. Like she'd dragged him down and made him less. Ezra certainly brought more to the table, but evidently not enough when tied to her.<br/><br/>They'd gotten comfortable. Tested what safety felt like. Some measure of predictability, but that was her fault for relaxing. Ezra squeezed her hand and she watched as Kennedy made his protests, and was forcefully removed. She worried too much over the violence Hale's guards were capable of. Worse, she worried that they might say one thing and then not allow them to leave with their lives and minds intact. She worried it would disrupt into chaos. Many that were not on the list were removing themselves. Were they too guilty to look them in the face?<br/><br/>"If we are not wanted here, then it is safer that we go," she whispered to Ezra. She'd sooner go quietly. Watching her brother do the very thing she was worried about, she reached for his wrist.<br/><br/>"Don't give the guards a reason to shoot you, please." Her expression was pleading.<br/><br/>Mr Hale was arguing with people but she wasn't really listening. Mostly, she was trying to gather her thoughts, and get an idea of what they were going to do. Were her belongings worth it? Worry ate at her that if she separated from her brother, she might not ever see him again.<br/><br/>"I think we should make a clean cut. Just go. I don't need anything that badly. I don't want to get stuck upstairs." They were on the ground floor now. She squeezed Ezra's hand. "We've had to run with less." The reason they'd survived it before was because they had one another. Mr. Hale seemed as if he was done entertaining objections. This might be the only chance they had, but before they'd had time to consider their options a disturbance had escalated.<br/><br/>Anise's ears were ringing as she stared in disbelief as a man had been shot only a few feet away from their table.<br/><br/>"Oh my god," she said in a mortified whisper. She'd accidentally knocked her tea over when she'd inadvertently jerked at the gunshot. She had been witness to violence but had not grown accustomed to it by any means. Armando turned Brian man over, and she couldn't tell if he was dead or not. Surely, if he hadn't been, Armando would not have been so quick to pierce his temple with a knife on his belt, effectively dispatching him so he would not reanimate. She wasn't certain of anything anymore. She stood slowly, gripping her brother's shirt so tightly her knuckles were pressed white.<br/><br/>Thirty three names to thirty two.<br/><br/>Mr. Hale was swiftly being escorted away. Her eyes darted to the guards standing beside her. She took a step from them her eyes darting to the path that would take them to the exit.<br/><br/>"Please, we'll just go. We don't need anything," she said, looking to Ezra to see if he was on the same page. Several others though, had made a panicked dash for the same exit.