Three

More talk of the hurried promotions traveled through the cadets the closer we get to the Mess Hall. Apparently there were four main candidates; Jenzen, whose was clever but was average when it came to fighting, me who was the best in the whole course in fighting but was lacking academically, Arthur Tooley who as far as I had seen was nothing more than a brute, and then there was Samson who was the most unlikeable person on the planet and was my self-proclaimed rival.

I tried my best to ignore the chatter as I went thru the food line in automatic mode. I was too distracted about Jenzen's declining health and the supposed attacks our commanding officers failed to inform us of to care about my food choices and was surprised when I had anything edible on my tray.

I could feel eyes on me when I headed for my usual table. I sat down across from Jenzen and poked at the runny eggs with my fork. "This is getting ridiculous." I grumbled over my tray. "You'd think everyone would have better things to talk about then some random rumor. How do these things get started anyway?" I asked my plate of breakfast stuff.

"How does anything get started?" Jenzen replied.

I sighed in response and dropped the subject. "Do you wanna go a few rounds later?"

"Not today," Jenzen said. "I scheduled a session with Dr. Marcus."

I frowned. I wasn't the world's biggest fan of Dr. Marcus. The guy was opinionated to a fault, but he also had the irritating habit of being a good physician; if Jenzen needed to see Dr. Marcus then things must be more severe than he was letting on. "Okay, should I come find you after?"

Jenzen shook his head no. "I'll find you."

I nodded in response. Now that that was settled I wanted to know more about the attacks. "So, which storehouse was hit?" I asked trying to sound as causal as I could. Somehow I managed to appear calm even though my stomach had tightened at the knowledge that rebel attacks were becoming more frequent. They were getting bolder and it was only a matter of time before they stopped raiding our warehouses and started coming into the city to harm the good citizens of Deluxe. And the chaos and senseless killing will begin again. It was enough to make my blood boil.

Jenzen shook his head again. "I don't know. I wasn't able to find that out. Just that a few guards had been knocked out and that Mr. Kane was furious when he heard the news."

I hummed and studied my food. I should eat; it would be hours before my next meal, but my appetite had left me at Jenzen's words.

After the meal I went through the normal routine of being herded to the auditorium for announcements and the day's schedule. After that Jenzen went to talk to our CO to be excused to see Dr. Marcus.

Jenzen looked back and saw me watching him. He smiled and gave me a thumb's up, which I returned before he disappeared down the hallway.

I didn't see him for the rest of the day.