(A/N: Hey guys! It's me FanFictionatic. And here's the first chapter of my story. Please continue to follow and favorite. Thanks a lot for the support.)

"General, I found something!" a voice of a man rang in my ears.

"What is it soldier?" the general, a woman, replied.

"It's a sack, and it's got something in it. I think it's an animal or a person, ma'am."

"Very well, bring it ashore, will you."

And then, everything went black.

"Miss…"

I groaned as I heard the soft voice. I tried to open my eyes, but I can't seem to move them.

"Miss?"

This time, I tried my best to open them. A bright flash of light struck them at first. Then, I saw a blurred image of a lady in a strange outfit. She had a light brown leather jacket over a white shirt. She wore skinny, tight pants darker than the color of her jacket. A man beside her was wearing the same thing except his shirt was green. It must have been their uniform.

"She's awake general!" the man said. He had a slight hint of Spanish accent in his English.

"I know Toni. I can see that." The general sat down on the chair placed near me. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I'm fine but… where… where am I?" I slowly sat up straight and looked around my surroundings.

"You're in the infirmary. We found you a week ago between some rocks near a river in Illea. I'm General Ivy. Don't worry, you're safe now." She touched my forehead and then tucked a stray strand of my red hair behind my ear. She had straight black hair that matched her eyes. She looked like she was in her thirties already.

"I've been out for a week?" I asked. She nodded.

"You are actually lucky you're still alive! We thought you were a goner!" the guy, Toni, said as he went beside me as well. He appeared to be the same age as me, maybe only a little older. He had messy brown hair to match his brownish skin tone and grass green eyes. He wore a cheerful expression which made me like him instantly.

"Well, since I'm all better now I might as well get going!" I pushed myself off the bed as I spoke to them. I realized my gown was replaced with a loose shirt and some pajamas. "Thanks for taking care of me but I have a strict schedule to follow and I have an upcoming report and interview this week. So, would you guys ever so kindly tell me the shortest possible way back to Illea, specifically back to the palace?"

Toni and General Ivy just looked at each other. Toni started to laugh loudly.

"Uh… Did I say something wrong?"

"No…" Toni said after a few round of chuckles. "Chica! You must be crazy. We're in Creta!"

"Cre-creta!" I nearly screamed.

Creta, the forgotten country, the land of warriors, the kingdom of bravery and the city of war. As a child, I've heard various stories about how Creta played a big role in the World War, about how many men died to fight and about how they paved their way to victory. But now, I'm here standing on the very sacred ground where battles taken place.

The one we all believed was destroyed because of the war.

"I thought Creta was completely wiped out of the map!" I said while sitting back down to the side of my bed.

"Well that's because you live in Illea. They don't know a thing or two about how we live now." General Ivy sat down beside me. "Your country is too headstrong to join us for alliances. They want to prove that they don't need us to win their war with New Asia. Well, you've seen how it's working out."

"Badly," I confess.

"What is your business in the Illean palace?" Toni suddenly asked.

"Uh…" I didn't really know how to explain it. "I'm one of the girls in the Selection. You know-"

"Yes, the competition in which the prince chooses who to marry, thirty-five girls, so on, so forth. And then?"

"I'm part of the final six, the Elite. Actually right now we're just four ladies left."

Toni stared at me for a long time, trying to connect the pieces. Then, his brain clicked.

"You're America Singer!" I nodded.

General Ivy smiled at Toni's reaction, "Well, I'm a little star struck." I laugh.

Toni though, straightened his uniform, "I didn't introduce myself properly! I'm Antonio Bienvenido, but you can call me Toni!"

"Thanks… Toni." He smiled.

"So…" I stood up and walked around the infirmary. Besides us three and two nurses, it was empty. "This is Creta…"

"Yep, this is Creta." General Ivy stood up and clasped her hand on my shoulder. "Now let's get you cleaned up and dressed. Then after that we can eat breakfast."

Breakfast. The word was enough to make my mouth water and my stomach growl in hunger. I've been in a coma for a week and all I could think of is eggs and bacon, with a side of toasted bread or pancakes.

"Follow us Lady Singer!" Toni said. He led the way along with General Ivy. I noticed that their leather jackets had logos behind. General Ivy's coat of arms was two swords intersecting each other and wrapped with a wreath. Toni's was two torches which also intersected but only lit one big flame. I tried to read the word written below the logo.

BETA

We walked and walked until we reached an elevator which we rode on to go to the second floor.

"This is the second floor of the building. It's designed to hold new visitors or trainees who haven't been sorted out to their squad."

"What squad are you in Toni?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm in BETA. It's an all boys squad. Our counterpart is DELTA, the all girls squad. As of now, we're the highest in the squad rankings."

"Is there an ALPHA?"

General Ivy looked at me and said, "The ALPHA squad is allotted only for people who have done significantly on their training or on their squad performance. Training lasts for five months or more depends on the level or ranking. To be an ALPHA you must have a total average score of 95 up to a hundred and have contributed something that has done well in Creta."

"What? Nobody has reached that level?"

"My score was 94.87. Pity," Toni said shaking his head.

"All the ALPHA members have been transferred to the Administrator Rank, like me. Until then, nobody was able to reach ALPHA level."

We passed a bunch of rooms until we got to the last one.

"This will be your room for now America."

I opened the door and walked in. It wasn't as big as my room in the palace, but it was bigger than my room in Carolina. It had a single bed with blue covers and one big pillow. Beside my bed was a tall lampshade. The other side had a bedside table. It had a small closet with a chest of drawers on its right. The walls were decorated with flowers hanging on branches.

"I know this isn't as glamorous as your bedroom in the palace but, it'll do well. Until we can contact the king and queen of Illea about your whereabouts, you could stay here."

I faced General Ivy and held her two hands, "Thank you so much for finding me and allowing me to stay."

"Oh don't thank me, thank Toni. Without him, he wouldn't have seen your sack stuck in between a bunch of rocks."

I nodded at her and face Toni with a big smile on my face, "Thanks a lot Toni. I owe you my life."

Toni blushed, "What! No, chica! You're overreacting! It was nothing, really."

"Now," General Ivy said. "Go hit the showers, change into some comfortable clothes and meet us at the cafeteria at nine. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Alright soldier! Let's go straight to the bell to wake the others up!" General Ivy started walking briskly through the corridors.

"Si!" Toni ran to her, trying to catch up.

I did what she told me. As soon as they disappeared, I went into the second floor shower room, which was empty, and took a quick bath. I went back in my room to choose suitable clothing inside my closet. I picked a plain white shirt and a denim pair of jeans. A pair of sneakers was laid out for me, too. I slipped into them and checked the time on the wall clock in my room. It was nearly nine so I decided to go to straight to the cafeteria.

I asked several people where the cafeteria was located. I even heard some faint whispers saying: 'Is that America Singer?' 'Yeah, she pretty much looks like her.'

I finally got a straight decent answer and went down to the first floor. I walked through the big doors of the cafeteria. The place was loaded with people in white shirts that were the same as mine, only they all wore brown pants.

I looked around and saw Toni waving his two arms at me. I passed through the crowd. I kept on saying 'excuse me' or 'sorry' because I either hit someone with my hand or stepped on somebody's foot.

I finally reached their table. They were seated with some other members. They were all boys and had the same logo on Toni's jacket so I assumed they were all from the BETA squad.

"Boys, this is Miss America. She will be joining us for a few short days, just until we could send her home." General Ivy suddenly appeared behind me.

"Wait, wait, wait a minute!" The guy sitting next to Toni stood up. He had sandy blonde hair that almost looked white. His skin was almost pale in color. "That's the America Singer?"

I couldn't do anything but stare and nod.

"Well, Lady Singer, I'm James Tesla." He held out his hand and I nervously shook it.

"Nice to meet you James, I really appreciate it."

I let go of his hand. The others started introducing their names as well. Richard, George, Shaun, Emil, all their names seem to mix up and blur in my mind because there were too many.

After a minute or two, General Ivy told the boys to prepare for squad training. They all left and said their goodbyes to me.

And so, I was left alone at the table.

I didn't have the appetite to even bite a single piece of toast. I thought of the Selection and how it was going without me. I thought of Maxon when he gave me his birthday present, a shiny pin in a shape of a songbird. I thought of my maids, Marlee, Aspen and Kriss. I thought of how Celeste must have been so happy to find out I was gone or dead.

"Yo!" I girl's voice brought me back to the real world. She had black, obsidian hair that was all held in one braid. Her eyes were deep green. She had a mischievous smile on her face, almost like she was up to something. Behind her a boy with the same shade of her hair and the same color of her eyes stood with two plates on his hands holding some eggs, bacon and bread.

"Hey, do you mind if we sit here?"

"No," I said happy to have some unlikely company. "Not at all."