A/N: I decided that in order for me to get motivated to write one story I need to write another so here is my story, I have actually been thinking about this story for a while.
I watch my target fall into the mud, Katniss is her name I think, she starts to draw in the mud. I get ready to throw the poison needle at her; this will easily look like a mutt killing.
"Come back to me."
I look around for the person who said it but the only people here are Katniss and myself.
"I promise" another person says, it takes a while for me to realize that I am hearing a memory. Putting the needle in my satchel I silently climb to the top of the tree and remember. I wasn't always like this.
I wake up to the Chief in Command yelling for all the soldiers to get up. Soldiers, we are only 14 years old and yet the tyrant that is in command of Pandora is making us fight and kill any who opposes him. I get out of bed and quickly make it, hospital corners and all within one minute of starting. I guess that's what happens when you get chosen at the age of six to do this stuff.
"Alec, nice bed as per usual, but you haven't gotten your hair cut yet," a smile creeps onto the Chiefs face, I close my eyes waiting for the pain, it comes swift and hard, the baton stick hits the back of my legs, I try not to groan and stay up at the same time or I will get hit again. I bite down on my tongue drawing blood, the pain from my mouth and legs is blinding but I stay up standing at attention. I open my eyes to see the chief glaring at me, he expected me to fall over, and I silently laugh to myself.
The Chief takes another 30 minutes to go through and yell at the other kids. I get dressed into my uniform after he leaves, realizing I have 30 minutes to get a haircut I grab my satchel and run to the barber.
The barber is a lanky guy, apparently he was a looker before he got chosen to do haircuts for us, he also is a nice guy if you have been here for as long as I have not to mention has all the inside info on what's going to happen.
"Did you hear that the General has picked up a SOS signal from one of those old fashion devices?"
I shake my head at what he's saying.
"You know, the ones from before the Great Wave, the ones that let other places contact their friends?"
"You mean a radio?" He nods his head in understanding,
"Yeah, the chief gets to choose some kid to investigate."
This gets my attention, the Chief gets to choose, might as well start packing my things, everyone in this place knows that he hates me more than anyone else.
I start to think about my goodbyes, there is my platoon, the barber, and of course there is her, my girlfriend, usually we wouldn't be permitted to have them but we managed to keep our relationship a secret. We started to go out just over one year now, we met during mixed training, she was top of her platoon in hunting and I was the best at hand-to-hand combat, we exchanged notes during class and the spark, we didn't know how to ask each other out but we did and we met every week.
The haircut was done and I said my goodbyes and thanks to him, he pulled out a vodka bottle and chugged it down, the thing is he drinks so much that I have never know him to be sober.
"If you really get picked, good luck and remember who was always there to give you a haircut."
I laugh at him and wave good bye before making it back to the house where my platoon sleep, ten minutes before the formal inspection and we get to see who gets the 'honour' of going to see who set it off.
When I get there my bunk mate is there, olive skin and gray eyes, Bailey was the only person with those traits, except her.
"What took you so long, we are going to gets our asses kicked if you take any longer!" I walk over and hit him over the back over the head,
"Get over it, I am here now aren't I?" even though Bailey is the friendliest of them all, he is the most ruthless person on the field.
We take our time cleaning our room in the house, we are known for our good rooms and disrespect to the Chief which gets us into more crap than it's worth.
We are standing at attention for almost two hours before the Chief comes to our room and inspects it.
"How's our room" I taunt him.
"Good, good."
He doesn't seem affected, or even remotely bothered by our disrespect to him, that can't be good. It means that one of us is leaving. At that thought I shuffle on my feet, he sees my discomfort and smiles at me, this gives me the biggest urge to hit him over the head. I resist this urge because as much as I hate the Chief, I hate the beatings even more.
The formal inspection takes around four hours. The Chief stands at the top of the hall, his pride and feel of power is obvious, it radiates off him and he clears his throat.
"Now, some of you may have heard that we received a SOS call in one of our old radios. I have been given the honour of choosing somebody to go on this mission. It was a hard decision..."
"Bull shit," I think to myself.
"But," he continues, "I looked over all of your portfolios of what you can do, and that is how I choose Bailey Fortuna for this mission." My mind goes into overdrive, Bailey is the best in the field and he is the only other person the Chief hates.
My mind goes blank, the only things going through my mind are that this is a suicide mission and I really need to punch something. My mind comes back to the present and I see I am on top of the Chief with his face a bloody mess, broken nose, lips cracked open and eyes swollen. Everyone starts to pull me off. Realizing that my arms are no use I start to use my legs, my target; no man's land. I hit and am rewarded with a scream from him. The other soldiers manage to get me on my knees and I see the General come into view, he shakes his head. I see him raise his hand and see it come down; I black out and feel no pain.
Bailey's POV
I hear the Chief call out my name, I look over at Alec, he is still for a second and before someone can stop him he spear tackles him and is beating the crap out of him. The soldiers closest to him start to pull him but it doesn't stop there, no. Alec kicks the Chief in the groin causing a scream to escape from his mouth. I start to laugh at the broken figure that is the Chief lying there coughing up blood.
I stop laughing and run up to Alec but am stopped in my tracks when other soldiers block me from getting to Alec, the General comes out and raises his hand, the hand comes swiftly down and knocks Alec unconscious. I break free of the people holding me and run over to Alec. The General looks at me and waves his hands, a bunch of burly guards in their mid-30's grab my hands and tie them behind my back and put a bag over my head.
When the bag is taken off my head Alec is still unconscious but we are both tied to a chair in one of our interrogation rooms, the General is sitting in front of us reading a book. He was roughly 50 with gray hair in the old crew cut style and his body was well built. It looked like he could beat Alec in a hand-to-hand battle any time he wanted and his eyes, they looked like the sea and they were over flowing with knowledge, knowledge that held mine and Alec's fate.
When Alec came to he was still in a daze but a guard by the door pulled the bag off his head and that was when the General put down his book.
"Well I didn't expect you two boys to be this much trouble when you joined up," he says with a flat monotone voice devoid of emotion.
"We didn't exactly 'join' up" Alec replies still recovering.
"That is true. Now back to the situation at hand, Alec will receive multiple beatings and Bailey will go to see who the SOS came from," he pauses, seeming to consider something "or Alec can go in your place Bailey and not receive any beatings," he smiles as I look at him in shock, but before I can reply to him someone in a soft voice say.
"I accept to these terms." I snap my head around to see Alec fully awake and aware of what he is getting himself into.
"NO!" I yell.
"I am so sorry but Alec has already accepted these terms." He nods to the guards by the door and we are forcefully lifted up and taken back to our rooms.
We are told Alec has two hours to pack before he is to set off. As a last goodbye to him I sneak over to the girls dorm and go into her room. With my hand over her mouth I gently shake her awake.
Katrina's POV
I scream at the sudden touch, I look at my attacker to see its Bailey.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"You need to come with me." He looks like he was about to cry, he has never cried. Slipping out of my bed and putting on a singlet and cargo pants and follow Bailey. When we get outside he looks at me.
"I am sorry," is all he says, getting creeped out, I ask.
"Why are you sorry?" He then explains the situation to me and then finishes with.
"He has taken my spot." We are silent before the anger inside me builds up and I punch Bailey in the face, it hardly does anything but cause him to flinch.
"I came to get you so we can say goodbye," his voice full of pity and sadness.
We reach the boat port and sneak into the departure docks. We quickly locate his boat as it is the only one leaving at this hour. Alec is in a cell about ten meters away from the boat, Bailey quickly knocks out the guards and I run into the hut with his cell in it.
"The keys!" I yell at Bailey.
"I know I know" Bailey hisses at me while searching the guards. Bailey then jogs over to the gate and unlocks it.
Alec's POV
I see Katrina walk into the cell, her brown hair is tied up in a braid and her olive skin reflects the light. She comes and kneels down beside me and starts to cry, I lift up her head and wipe the tears away and I just gaze into her grey eyes.
"Don't cry," I say barely above a whisper. We spend the next thirty minutes talking about everything then Bailey comes around the corner,
"We have to go, the guards will wake up soon." Bailey then walks away,
"Come back to me" she whispers and kisses me
"I promise" I say while she walks away.
One minute after they leave the guards wake up and come rushing in to check I am still here.
"Heh, he's too stupid to escape," he says then starts to laugh with his friend.
"Well at least I wasn't the person who got knocked out," I laugh at them as they leave the room with a look of anger on their faces. I stop laughing though when the Chief and General come into the room, I stifle a giggle as I see the damage done to the Chief.
"What the fuck are you looking at kid?" He yells at me.
"Language," I say in a mock toned voice, the General whispers something into the Chiefs ear and he grumbles something and leaves and the General comes and sits on the bed next to me. At the sudden closeness I squirm and shuffle away from him, he sees me squirming and moves away.
"Do you know the reason why you weren't picked in the first place?" he asks with a serious face, his question catches me off guard and I stammer out a sentence.
"I..um...it's because um...I have no idea" I look down at the ground and I look up to see him giving me a stern look. I give him a look of shock; the General and the President are brothers.
"No" I breathe.
"It's true," I start to back up into the wall, memories start to come back, the reason I am here is my parents were killed in combat, I always thought they were part of the rebels.
"They died protecting him, that's why you weren't picked, at the same time the President walks into the cell and finishes the Generals sentence.
"It's because you are our nephew."
A/N: So, what do you think? Thank you Maverick1997 for beta reading my story, you are awesome