Chapter Three – Eli
The boy flinched as Eli placed a hand on his back, he quickly withdrew it and smiled in surrender.
Not to self, do not touch.
"It's okay kid, we don't bite,"
"Well Aidan does but as long as you've had your shots, she's harmless," Angelo smirked, nudging Lem.
The boy looked at them, his dark chocolate brown eyes now red raw from crying, assessing the group he had been given.
"How long have you all been here?" he sniffed.
"Well Aidan and I have been here a little over fifteen years. She could probably give you an exact time, it's not like I'm counting months or anything. Frost is pretty much the same, he arrived a couple of months after us. Then we have Lem and Gelo who arrived here together after their town was taken over by locust about five years ago,"
"Where are your parents, haven't they come back for you?"
"My folks were killed," Lem stated matter of fact. For a fifteen year old he pretty much understood his own mortality and the fate of his family. He had stopped denying it the day he had to drag his friend from under the bodies of his own parents.
"Berserker wiped mine out, plus what was left of our town. Lem and I went in search of the only place we heard would give us a chance," Angelo agreed turning to his friend and sending him a look of understanding.
"This is our family now," Eli smiled, slowly making his way towards the sleeping quarters, "let's get you a bunk sorted. Lem can you haggle a bunk from Mike's unit? One of theirs left recently so I know they've got available bunks, we'll just move it into our section, Gelo why don't you give him a hand?"
The pair headed off to the neighbouring quarters, chattering between themselves as they went.
"Everyone hates me," David squeaked, "They're all talking about me."
"We haven't had anyone new here for a while, you have to understand your arrival hits a raw nerve for some." Eli reassured, "Don't worry, they'll come round."
"I didn't ask to be here," the boy plonked himself down on a random bunk and pulled his knees up to his chest, "I'd much rather be with my daddy."
"I doubt that somehow," Eli commented as he sat on his own bunk, "your dad's a Gear, he's going to be on the front line fighting locust. How is he ever going to protect you and himself if you're with him."
"He'll find a way," David retorted, letting the tears slide down his cheek again.
"Maybe he already tried, and this was the safest option,"
The sound of clunking and scraping came down the corridor along with the cursing and swearing of Lem and Angelo.
"Damn this is heavy,"
"Why the hell are you trying to carry it you loon,"
"It makes too much noise if I drag it, ouch pick it up Gelo that hurts my ears,"
"Sissy,"
"Put that down and say that to my face!"
"But you told me to pick the damn bed up!"
Eli let out a sigh and slowly plodded towards the door where the pair were now wrestling over the bed. Lem had grabbed hold of Angelo's hair and yanked on it, whilst the Angelo was pulling Lem's arm back.
"You fight like a girl Lem!" Angelo growled, "You been taking lessons from Aidan again?"
"Guys cut it out, we'll help you now," he called back to the boy, "Hey Dave, you wanna give us a hand before Gelo and Lem break something."
David quietly tiptoed over to them and tried his best to pick up one side by Lem. The rest of the group lifted and they carried the bed into their sleeping quarters and plonked it down by the wall.
"There's a cupboard spare, Mike said we could take it," Angelo said as he headed back out of room.
Eli sat back on his bed to watch Lem pull some spare bed sheets from his own cupboard and handed it over to David.
"Here you can borrow these until we can sort some for you from the Lieutenant," he smiled.
"Thank you," David gave him a genuine smile as he placed his small bag of belongings on his new bunk. Setting himself down he pulled out a photo and looked intently at it before letting out a stuttered breath.
Eli laid his head on his pillow for a moment, closing his eyes to relax. He didn't mind new people coming into Junior Company, it was all the pain the new kids felt each time that got to him. He remembered the distress Lem and Angelo had been in when they barely made it into the courtyard five years ago. They had been quarantined in the medical suite for a few months because they were riddled with diseases and the Lieutenant didn't want to risk passing anything infectious on to the other children.
What hurt Eli most was his sister's reaction to new recruits. She was frosty to people outside her inner circle anyway, but new children were never even acknowledged. He was aware of the jealousy that his sister had frequently experienced, he too had been guilty of it at least once. But it concerned him that her fears were dominating her ability to move on and grow up.
There was only one person who could calm his sister and unfortunately Eli hated the fact that it wasn't him. Ever since they were little Aidan and Washington had been inseparable. He always knew the right things to say to her, whilst Eli always fell short. He had always thought he'd be the only one to understand his twin sister, instead he was the one to step back and let his team leader steal the spot light.
"Seriously guys, why haven't you moved your asses to class," Frost's voice drew him to consciousness. He opened one eye to look at his team leader who was standing with his arms folded looking threatening.
"We're on our way," Eli murmured as he slipped himself off his bed, glancing over to the kid who was looking lost again, "we're just letting Dave settle in."
"Dave can settle in that's fine, but I'm sure you guys have had enough time to settle in." Frost was acting more and more like an adult these days, probably spurred on by his impending call to the front line. Eli hated him for even wanting to leave their little family group, knowing how much it was going to break his sister.
Lem groaned as he stomped down the corridor muttering to himself making it clear that class was the last thing he wanted. Angelo, who had managed to carry a small drawer unit to their sleeping quarters, took a breather before sending Frost a look of contempt and followed after him. Eli slowly plodded up to Frost.
"You coming as well or are you now exempt from educational duties?"
"No one is exempt, I'll come in with David once he's ready to face everyone," Frost responded, not looking Eli in the eye and fixing his stare on the wall behind him.
Insolent asshole.
Eli let out a sigh and made his way down the poorly whitewashed corridor to the school room, where a vast group of children, regardless of age, sat on a mixture of chairs and on the floor. Usually the older kids managed to take priority over the seats so the little ones were left on the stone floor to scrawl on paper, fidgeting to find a comfortable seat and failing. The instructor perched herself on a desk talking to the children about biology. Pictures of cells were scrawled across the blackboard in chalk, sometimes kids had to experience some normality in their life. Even if it was boring class sessions. Eli took a seat beside Aidan, who was looking quite closed off considering she had only just flipped out not long ago.
Here we go again, an eternity of trying to bring Aidan back to the real world.
"Elijah?" The instructor asked, looking at him closely. She rose from the desk placing a protective hand over her bulging belly, it seemed the only women who ever came to Junior Company Compound were in various stages of pregnancy. As if encouraging any interested fertile girls of child bearing age that this was the way to support the war effort. Girls had even been herded off into rooms and told all about these wonderful 'birthing centres' where they would be looked after day and night. Eli was just thankful that Lieutenant Brewer had kept Aidan out of any of these sessions. Luckily with a name like Aidan she blended into the crowd filled with willing Mollies and Daisies.
"Yes Ma'am," Eli responded looking the instructor in the eye. Just because she was helping out with her part of the bigger picture there was no reason not to treat her like a person. After all it wasn't her fault that human kind was basically going extinct.
He had to stop thinking like this. He was sixteen, why did he keep thinking such terrible and morbid things? Surely at this age he should be thinking about dating and flirting with girls. But if that happened surely the COG would probably encourage him to start breeding with them afterwards. But then this wasn't a normal world.
Aidan poked him in the ribs, bringing him back to reality, realising that he'd drifted off whilst being berated by his teacher.
"Elijah is everything alright, you seem distant?" the instructor asked, a concerned look crossed her face.
"Sorry Ma'am, I had a late night last night. I'm not entirely awake," he responded with a half hearted smile, glancing across at his sister who wasn't buying any of his excuses, a smirk on her face in response.
"Well make sure you have an early one tonight," the instructor tutted, "kids your age need plenty of sleep, you can make up for it when you're a Gear."