Hear No Evil . . . (6)
PART TWELVE: Freshmen and Fresh Meat
TWO YEARS AGO, WARREN COUNTY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Streamers and disco balls cluttered the ceiling. Paper cut-out snowflakes and snowmen were
plastered to the walls. The cheesy Christmas music faded from the speakers and the main lights
of the stage turned on.
The participants of the Warren Defenders Freshman Winter Dance/Recruitment all turned toward the stage to figure out this interruption.
The commander of the Warren County Defenders calmly stepped onto the stage. The crowd of
Freshmen hushed themselves and waited.
Tom kicked some blue and silver balloons out of the way so he could reach the podium. The
microphone activated with a crackle and feedback and he began speaking in his trademark way of
fragmented sentences.
"New faces. New prospects." He raised an eyebrow. "New recruits?" he asked, almost pleadingly.
The crowd chuckled.
"Freshmen. You now begin your next step. Into adulthood? Into maturity? I do not know."
He paused. "-and I fear I shall not find out." There were some confused mumbles over this,
followed by rampant "shhush"ing and "quiet already, he's not done!"
"I will be joining the Echo Company Invasion Force this fall. I step down and open the floor to
voting. Enjoy the rest of your Winter Dance. Happy Holidays."
Tom stepped away from the podium, performed a left face and marched back into the backstage
curtains.
Jake, standing guard at the entrance to the gym, shook his head. "Freakin' melodramatics'."
he muttered. "Ya could've given them some warning, Tom." He adjusted his uniform. The thing
was beginning feeling tight around the chest. What was this, thethird new uniform since he
joined? Already he had acquired the nickname "Big Jake". He wasn't even that big yet, just well
known for his tendency to be seen in the supply hall arguing over sizes with the Sergeant there.
He turned away from the crowd and looked out the doors, returning to his duty.
There were some cries in the crowd. Several soldiers, in formal uniforms, began shouting and
calling out their prospects for the next Commander.
"Bones! Somebody get Bones!"
"He's on the john, man!"
"Then get him off!"
A few more WYS pushed away from their girlfriends, racing for the bathroom.
"Kids! Kids, calm down!" Vice-principle Chapman stepped up to the microphone, attempting to
control the kids who weren't going to listen to him anyway. After all, he was only a
vice-principal. The WYS only listened to the WYS.
One soldier running out the door accidentally bumped into Jake. Pausing for a moment,
he apologized. "Sorry, Staff Sergeant." Then his eyes brightened suddenly. "I nominate Big
Jake! Big Jake!" He yelled across the gym. "BIG JAKE!"
Jake laughed and shook his head. The idea was absurd. Jake wasn't Commander material. He'd
have to punish people left and right. He'd never hurt anyone in his life.
Tom was Commander since Jake joined last year. With your brother as a Co, there's not too many
tough assignments handed your way. He'd never had to carry out a punishment or even get close
enough towatch one.
Despite all this, the crowd was catching on. "Big Jake! Big Jake! Big Jake!"
Jake began to get worried. He didn't want to be a commander. He shook his head and waved his
arms, trying to get the crowd's attention.
He felt a slight tug on his sleeve and a female voice yelled over the crowd. "Go to the podium!
They can't see you down here by the doors!" Not bothering to look back to identify the owner of
the voice, Jake pushed through the crowd up to the stage.
They erupted when he reached the podium. Jake felt a sick taste in his mouth. His brother was
gone for five minutes and already they needed a new Co. A new ruler. Dictator.
Did theywant to be ordered and punished? No. They need a kind ruler. One who make things
better. A guy who could-
Jake felt some sort of heavy sensation in his chest. He had never felt this way before. The
crowd was shouting his name, his heart was pounding, he was weak and strong at the same time.
Only he could see what Warren truly needed. No. What the State needed. A supreme commander
who didn't want to reign Supreme. Who didn't want to hurt. Who didn'twant a career in politics.
They need me.
No one else must gain power. It cannot be allowed. I am going to be Supreme Commander here.
Five hours later it was done. Jake was signed up for Officer Training and was slotted as Co
elect.
Leaving the office he saw Vice-Principle Chapman run up to him, raising his arm to get Jake's
attention. "Mister. I think we need a little chat."
"Should we go to your office?" Jake asked, straight-faced.
Chapman shook his head and grabbed Jake's shoulder. "No, no, that won't be necessary. I just
want to give you a little . . . cautionary word."
He leaned in close, whispering horribly "I promised my staff there wouldn't be another member
of the. . . Jewish persuasion at the top of you little organisation again." He pulled back away.
"You see, young man, it's just not fair to everyone else to have the same type of people
running thingsevery year. We need to keep things equal. You understand?"
Jake yanked his shoulder out of Chapman's grasp.
"You can tell your staff that I plan on being Commander this year. And the next. And the next."
Chapman raised his eyebrow. "No one's been re-elected more than once, Tom-junior."
"I will."
Chapman scowled and turned on his heel. He stormed away, but just as he reached the corner of the hallway, he felt compelled to yell over his shoulder: "And have a Merry Christmas, too. Jew!"
Jake smoldered for a bit. Tom was always able to handle the comments with ease. But the whole
thing made Jake's stomach ball up into a knot. Not of anger, but . . . illness. Yes, he felt
nauseas. Why did people have to-
"Happy Hanukkah." That same voice which instructed him to take the podium. But there was no
sarcasm in her greeting.
Jake whipped around. Of all the sweet irony . . .
Melissa Chapman. Smiling at him, uncertainly.
Jake smiled slowly. "Thanks." He said quietly. "You too."
"I'm sorry about my dad, he's . . ." her voice trailed off, embarrassed.
Jake felt the sudden need to reassure her, to not condemn her for her father's actions.
"Nah it's fine." He said, with a warm chuckle. "I get that alot."
Now she grinned brightly, touching his arm . . . "So, I guess I'll see you around, 'Commander'."
She waved to a group of friends passing by behind him, then ran off to join them. Completely
removing Jake's nausea.
PRESENT DATE, THE JANE AUSTIN MEMORIAL RE-EDUCATION CAMP
"Hey! Fresh meat! Let's go."
She rolled off her pallet with what started as a sigh of exasperation and ended as a moan of
discomfort. Rubbing her shoulder blade and giving her "bed" one last, baleful glare, she creaked
the wooden door open.
Rachel squinted her eyes against the dirty sunlight. Through the mist of dust, she could make
out the outlines of a transport truck pulling in.
Fresh meat. New unwanted female.
Clarissa, or Eleven-twenty-six as she was designated, nudged Rachel. "Look at that one!"
Rachel scanned over to where Clarissa was looking. A new girl was struggling against two
Instructors and was actually making some headway . . . well, until one of them hit her in the
knees with his baton.
Rachel could tell right away why this one had been sent here. Her hair was almost completely
shaved off.
"Radical." Rachel murmured with a smirk.
With a quick secretive look to Clarissa, Rachel jogged down the pathway towards the UnWant-16 Labor Construction Site.
The last thing she needed today was a "lesson" for being late.
Despite Cassie's attempts to treat him like an equal, Ethan insisted he carry bothheavy bags of
feed. Scooping them up onto his shoulders, he waited for Cassie to finish her goodbyes to the
counter-jockey and open the front door.
Out into the fresh air, Cassie couldn't help but feel she had lost whatever headway she'd made
earlier. At her house he'd seemed almost happy to be asked to go to the store. However, he had
not spoken to her since they left the driveway.
Venturing shyly, Cassie tried to start a conversation.
"So . . . where are you from?"
A pause.
"The moon." Cassie looked at him as if he was crazy, then noticed the little smirk creasing his face.
So that's how he wants to play.
"The moon? Really? Did you meet any Russians up there?"
"No. Accor-th-ing to the Empire, they didn't really go there. It wath all a hoax."
She nodded knowingly, as if this was a normal conversation.
After a few more moments of silence, Ethan sighed. "I'm from New York, originally. Then I was
movedfth here."
"Moved? By who?"
But Ethan wasn't paying attention. Cassie followed Ethan's gaze. He was staring at the small
group of WYS soldiers hanging out at the road junction up ahead.
Cassie chuckled. "Don't worry, those are Warren, they won't give us any-" She stopped suddenly.
Now that they had walked a little bit farther she could make out the soldiers faces. They were
wearing the camouflage and red stripes of Warren, but she didn't recognize any of them.
No . . . she recognized one. Paul Stubecker. From Wilton. What was he doing in a- Oh yes, the
Wilton now were part of Warren.
What did she think? All of them would suddenly become as kind as Jake's troops? Just because
they wear the uniform?
"Oh, no."
Ethan furrowed his brows, confused. Why was she so scared of these guys? None of them were
even half the size of Ethan. Ethan didn't scare her.
He shook his head. Whatever it was about these guys that riled her didn't matter. Why should
he care about the mistress's problems? So she was nice to him. So what? She was still a
slave-owner.
More importantly, she was HIS slave-owner.
Ethan was compelled out of his ponderings by a quick movement up ahead.
One of the soldiers up ahead was pointing at his mistress. At . . . Cassie.
End of Chapter 12
BEHIND THE SCENES: I figured I should make SOME explanation for why Jake wanted Melissa so bad. I couldn't find a way to write it into the story though. I was thinking, "What do I do? Have Marco say 'Hey Jake, remember how Melissa was nice to you and now you want her body?'" So, I decided to leap back in time.
Think I'm taking too much of an artistic license? Review me with whether you think I should
have left that out of the story and just have kept it simply that Jake likes Melissa without any
explanation.