"Friendship, love, emotion...all makes you weak. Loyalty, order and discipline is the way you will defeat the enemy, learn that well."
The greying man paced up and down in front of us, staring at us with his small beady eyes. I tried my best just to look forward and ignore Major Sketch's glare. He scared me in a way I didn't understand, it was like he was a representation of all I hated and loathed. I always tried to banish all my fears to the back of my mind, but they always resurfaced when I was in battle. Overcoming this was hard, but I knew that one day I would master my emotions and become a proper soldier, like Major Sketch said I could be.
I was sandwiched between Cindy and Brinn, we lined up in order of mark number. I wanted to hold Brinn's hand for comfort, but I knew that would be foolish. There was the overwhelming scare that I would be reprogrammed, we were always threatened with it but it was never used, something all six of us were thankful for. Sketch cleared his throat, a sign that he was close to finishing his speech. He said something along the lines of obstacle course tomorrow and then dismissed us.
We marched out of the room left then right then left following an invisible beat. Dennis led the way into our room and the door was locked behind us. I sighed deeply, but was silenced by Zack. He climbed quickly along one side of the walls, and moved the camera so it was angled toward the door. He locked into position, and disconnected the sound recorder.
Brinn and Cindy say down together and held hands, waiting for Logan and Zack to tell them a story of the outside. Dennis and I sat together and I smiled as Logan brushed my hair back slightly. Logan was the oldest, followed by Zack and then Cindy. I came next, then Brinn and finally the youngest, Dennis. He was always in need of a companion, partly the reason why Sketch laid into him so much. In a way Dennis is emotionally weak, but aren't we all in someway?
"Jace? Jace come back to us!" Cindy joked, and prodded me in the side, "Logan's going to start!"
"Yesterday, I was running through the great trees of the forest, when I leapt so high that I saw a bird on a branch, just watching me. I stopped running so I could look at it, and I saw that it had something sticking out of it's wind, so I climbed up the tree, careful not to disturb it otherwise it would try to fly away. I took it gently and climbed back down, and it made a great noise like a 'caw' sound. It was soft like...like the furry leaf Zack found last time we were in Manticore forest. So I placed the bird on the ground, and wiggled the stick out. The bird didn't flinch, didn't fight at all, like it knew I was trying to help it. After ward it flew up and away into the sky, so far into the clouds that I couldn't see it anymore. It made the sun come out, and it shone bright on my face that I had to close my eyes slightly. The sky was blue, and clear, so I could see other birds flying around in it. They were part of a group, just like you and me."
The air was damp the next morning; it had rained for an hour in the night. Dennis and Brinn had gone to sleep but we older people stayed awake. We spoke quietly of the outside, and of escaping from the way of life we lead at the moment. Then a trainer came in, ordered us outside. I woke up the two youngest, and again we marched through the dreary, empty corridors of Manticore. We were taken to the obstacle course, and lined up in an order of turn. Logan, Zack and Cindy had completed the course yesterday, so it was my turn. I felt an excitement in my belly, because this meant a run through the woods toward the end.
A pistol fired, and my feet took off.
I jumped a two-meter high fence and rolled when I hit the other side. My hands grabbed onto the climbing wall that presented itself afterward, and I pulled my body up and over. On a platform three meters up from the ground I jumped, and swung myself on a rope across to the other side. Water rocked below me, and at the end of the opposite platform I dived into the icy waters and swam. A metal cover slid over the water, there was no means of escape until the end. I swam as fast as I could, incorporating streamlined positions and speed into my stroke. My lungs hurt, but I knew that I was reaching the end of the first part. There was a bubble tank halfway, and I gladly in took air from it. I placed my mouth around the nozzle and in took in two-minute worth of oxygen. I pushed off from the side, and kicked my legs to get off again. The water was getting colder more quickly now, so I willed my body to keep on going. I reached the end, and threw my head up into the air above. I climbed out, and ran again to a target course. I picked up the two pistols in front, and shot down the five signs accurately. I dropped the empty guns, and started the agility part of the long course. I jumped sideways, forward and to the other side, in accordance with the tall island-like posts that stood before me. Each got higher as I leapt onto them. I nearly missed the topmost one, but I grabbed on and swung my legs up and over. There was a long set of monkey bars five meters high above the ground, and there was nothing to catch me below. I pulled myself across; hand by hand, until they'd had gone raw. I dropped onto the safety platform and took a running jump onto another a good three meters away. As I climbed up the platform shook, so I dived off that and onto the ground, rolling again on impact. It almost fell on top of me, but I sprinted away into the forest. There I jumped over the odd log that had fallen and crawled under the bushes that had grown from tree to tree. A small hedgehog was underneath one, and it protectively curled up. That was something to tell Dennis, he loved the stories we picked up from the forest. As I reached the last stretch I was out of breath, so as I crossed the finish line I dropped to the ground, my chest heaving in and out. It was over, for another day at least. But tomorrow, it started all over again...
The greying man paced up and down in front of us, staring at us with his small beady eyes. I tried my best just to look forward and ignore Major Sketch's glare. He scared me in a way I didn't understand, it was like he was a representation of all I hated and loathed. I always tried to banish all my fears to the back of my mind, but they always resurfaced when I was in battle. Overcoming this was hard, but I knew that one day I would master my emotions and become a proper soldier, like Major Sketch said I could be.
I was sandwiched between Cindy and Brinn, we lined up in order of mark number. I wanted to hold Brinn's hand for comfort, but I knew that would be foolish. There was the overwhelming scare that I would be reprogrammed, we were always threatened with it but it was never used, something all six of us were thankful for. Sketch cleared his throat, a sign that he was close to finishing his speech. He said something along the lines of obstacle course tomorrow and then dismissed us.
We marched out of the room left then right then left following an invisible beat. Dennis led the way into our room and the door was locked behind us. I sighed deeply, but was silenced by Zack. He climbed quickly along one side of the walls, and moved the camera so it was angled toward the door. He locked into position, and disconnected the sound recorder.
Brinn and Cindy say down together and held hands, waiting for Logan and Zack to tell them a story of the outside. Dennis and I sat together and I smiled as Logan brushed my hair back slightly. Logan was the oldest, followed by Zack and then Cindy. I came next, then Brinn and finally the youngest, Dennis. He was always in need of a companion, partly the reason why Sketch laid into him so much. In a way Dennis is emotionally weak, but aren't we all in someway?
"Jace? Jace come back to us!" Cindy joked, and prodded me in the side, "Logan's going to start!"
"Yesterday, I was running through the great trees of the forest, when I leapt so high that I saw a bird on a branch, just watching me. I stopped running so I could look at it, and I saw that it had something sticking out of it's wind, so I climbed up the tree, careful not to disturb it otherwise it would try to fly away. I took it gently and climbed back down, and it made a great noise like a 'caw' sound. It was soft like...like the furry leaf Zack found last time we were in Manticore forest. So I placed the bird on the ground, and wiggled the stick out. The bird didn't flinch, didn't fight at all, like it knew I was trying to help it. After ward it flew up and away into the sky, so far into the clouds that I couldn't see it anymore. It made the sun come out, and it shone bright on my face that I had to close my eyes slightly. The sky was blue, and clear, so I could see other birds flying around in it. They were part of a group, just like you and me."
The air was damp the next morning; it had rained for an hour in the night. Dennis and Brinn had gone to sleep but we older people stayed awake. We spoke quietly of the outside, and of escaping from the way of life we lead at the moment. Then a trainer came in, ordered us outside. I woke up the two youngest, and again we marched through the dreary, empty corridors of Manticore. We were taken to the obstacle course, and lined up in an order of turn. Logan, Zack and Cindy had completed the course yesterday, so it was my turn. I felt an excitement in my belly, because this meant a run through the woods toward the end.
A pistol fired, and my feet took off.
I jumped a two-meter high fence and rolled when I hit the other side. My hands grabbed onto the climbing wall that presented itself afterward, and I pulled my body up and over. On a platform three meters up from the ground I jumped, and swung myself on a rope across to the other side. Water rocked below me, and at the end of the opposite platform I dived into the icy waters and swam. A metal cover slid over the water, there was no means of escape until the end. I swam as fast as I could, incorporating streamlined positions and speed into my stroke. My lungs hurt, but I knew that I was reaching the end of the first part. There was a bubble tank halfway, and I gladly in took air from it. I placed my mouth around the nozzle and in took in two-minute worth of oxygen. I pushed off from the side, and kicked my legs to get off again. The water was getting colder more quickly now, so I willed my body to keep on going. I reached the end, and threw my head up into the air above. I climbed out, and ran again to a target course. I picked up the two pistols in front, and shot down the five signs accurately. I dropped the empty guns, and started the agility part of the long course. I jumped sideways, forward and to the other side, in accordance with the tall island-like posts that stood before me. Each got higher as I leapt onto them. I nearly missed the topmost one, but I grabbed on and swung my legs up and over. There was a long set of monkey bars five meters high above the ground, and there was nothing to catch me below. I pulled myself across; hand by hand, until they'd had gone raw. I dropped onto the safety platform and took a running jump onto another a good three meters away. As I climbed up the platform shook, so I dived off that and onto the ground, rolling again on impact. It almost fell on top of me, but I sprinted away into the forest. There I jumped over the odd log that had fallen and crawled under the bushes that had grown from tree to tree. A small hedgehog was underneath one, and it protectively curled up. That was something to tell Dennis, he loved the stories we picked up from the forest. As I reached the last stretch I was out of breath, so as I crossed the finish line I dropped to the ground, my chest heaving in and out. It was over, for another day at least. But tomorrow, it started all over again...