Tripwire

Chapter One

I felt the blaring tone of the morning siren ring through my ears as it jolted me awake. The piercing sound of that damned thing still hurts my ears even after all the years I've lived at the Outpost... but it's just something I have to deal with.

Anyways.... I scrambled out of bed, almost tripping myself on the bedframe, and searched the room for my training uniform. As I reached for it, a voice called my name, causing me to panic mid-reach. I spun around to see Zephyr standing in the doorway to my cell, leaning on the side of the doorframe with his arms crossed.

"Sup," he says.

"Hey, princess! You're up early!" I respond, attempting to hide my panic.

"What? I don't wanna miss breakfast!" he retorts. "Also, do not call me 'princess'. Ever."

"You don't even like the breakfast here!"

"Obviously not, but I don't wanna train on an empty stomach!"

"True..."

I turned back around to begin the second attempt of grabbing my uniform.

"Come on, Orion. Get your uniform on!" Zephyr calls out at me.

"You walked in on me just as I was about to grab it!" I hiss.

"Whoa, boy. Calm down!" he replies.

"Okay. Zephyr, could you please get out of my room?" I ask politely.

"I'm not even in your room!"

"Oh my... Just get out of the doorway and shut the door."

"Whatever you say, bluebird."

The door slammed shut and I heard the sound of his footsteps trailing away. I waited for a few moments before whipping back around to grab my uniform and slip it on.

I then sprinted out of my room and made my way through the halls at maximum speed, passing numerous other trainees of varying species and sizes. Not many of them cared, since we've all become numb to the chaos of the Outpost. Honestly, if I saw a skinny blue guy dashing through the halls towards the cafeteria, I wouldn't care either.