The Kidnap War

Training

'WAKE UP, LAZY DONKEYS! YOU GOT 3 MINUTES TO GET TO THE CAFETERIA! YOU BETTER REMEMBER WHERE IT WAS!'
James almost fell out of his bad due to the sudden burst of sound that echoed through the sleeping hall. It felt like it was early. Really early. But that might be due to the lack of sleep. Even if the soft sound of a bunch of sobbing kids hadn't been there, your own thoughts and emotions would've kept you awake.
'Morning.' Adam said as he got down from the top bed, his voice sounding horse. He quickly cleared his throat and looked around to see his friends get up as well.
'Morning.' James muttered.
Every single one of them would've preferred to stay in their bed, but they feared what would happen if they didn't do what they were told.
They followed the crowd that apparently remembered what door the cafeteria was. Everyone looked messy. No one could wash themselves, comb their hair or even put on different clothes than they went to sleep with. The cafeteria was a long room with two long rows of picnic tables. James sat down between Jaiden and Rush, on the opposite side of Adam, who sat between Chris and Zalinki. Despite the huge amount of people in one room, it was surprisingly quiet. Everyone was still sleepy and no one really knew what to say. What do you say in these kind of situations? It's not like you're having a chill breakfast at summer camp.

They ended up eating dry bread with nothing else except one glass of water. Once they were done, they just sat there, not knowing what to do. Eventually, officer Wolfkins appeared in the cafeteria. The little amount of talking that was happening, died immediately as he entered.
'Fresh clothes are on your beds! The uniforms that we want to see you wear! After you change, you'll take your own clothes that you're wearing right now and take them to the training grounds! Training grounds are the last door in the hallway everyone not there in 10 minutes is in big trouble!' He called.
James groaned and got up.
'Let's go.' Chris sighed. None of them looking forward to giving up their own clothes.
'They're crazy if they think I'm giving them my hoodie!' Adam complained as they walked back to the sleeping hall. He put his hands in the pocket of his red common sense hoodie and frowned.
'I don't think you have much of a choice.' James said as he picked up the small pile of clothes that was tossed carelessly onto his bed.
'As if they're gonna remember what I was wearing when I hand in my clothes.' Adam said as he took off his hoodie and put it inside his pillowcase.
'Don't say we didn't warn you, when you get caught.' James chuckled as he turned his attention to the clothes he was supposed to wear. They got black pants and shirt, seemingly loose and comfortable. They also got military clothes to wear above the black outfit. A jacket and pants, both in a dark green. They quickly changed and left the sleeping hall, nervously walking over to the last door of the hallway, passing a couple mystery doors in the process. The training grounds were actually a giant room inside rather than actual grounds. They were greeted by a seemingly pissed off officer Wolfkins. He waited patiently for everyone to arrive before he started speaking.
'The room is split in four parts! The shooting stands, the camouflage training, hand to hand combat and the obstacle course! You are free to practice whatever you want! We assume you know and care more about your abilities and chances for survival! All of these are going to help you survive and fight in the war! If you decide to do nothing and be lazy, that's your own chance of survival you're messing with! Before you start, put your clothes in the dumpster over there! You won't need them anymore! Dismissed!'
Officer Wolfkins walked away and the kids slowly started moving towards the dumpster.
'Shooting, obstacle courses, close combat, camouflage. None of that sounds like a good time.' Zalinki muttered.
'As much as I hate to admit it, officer Wolfkins has a good point though. If we don't train, it's only our own survival we're putting on the line.' Jaiden replied.

They didn't have a clock so they had absolutely no idea how much time passed, but they were pretty sure they skipped lunch and it was closer to evening when they were eventually send back to the sleeping hall to wait for dinner. As they entered, James saw a little girl sitting near one of the first beds. He recognized her as the girl that had dared to ask about the bathrooms the day before. She was sitting against the wall and was crying.
'Hey.' The blonde said as he sat down next to the girl.
'Hi.'
James wanted to say something along the lines of "is everything okay?" Or "what's wrong?" But he knew the answer.
'It's gonna be okay.' He said eventually as he gave the little girl a hug, trying to be comforting. His friends had walked over to their beds already, except Adam, who noticed the girl too and sat down on the opposite side of her.
'I was awful at training! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!' She cried.
'Don't worry. I don't know too much about war, but I don't think the camouflage, obstacle course and close combat will be that important. I think there will be mostly shooting and you're pretty small, so they'll have a hard time hitting you.' James said, trying to sound logical though he wasn't sure if what he was saying was even true.
'I just wanna go home! Sooner or later this war will kill me. They're gonna keep us here until we die!' The girl cried, burying her face in the blonde's chest, looking for comfort as she cried.
'It won't take that long. Did you see how many kids were here? If that many kids go missing in such a short period of time, surely they must start a pretty big investigation. They'll find us and when that happens, we can all go home. It'll be okay.' James said.
'You promise?'
Before James could reply, Adam jumped in.
'No!'
James gave him and angry glare and the little girl looked at him with a combination of fear and confusion.
'Don't make promises you can't keep.' Adam said. 'There are too many factors outside of our control. Truth is, we're all scared. No one knows what's gonna happen and no one knows who's gonna survive. No one knows if they'll find us and no one knows how long we'll be here. You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep. But that doesn't mean all hope is lost. They're looking for us, I know they are. Maybe they'll find us. If we lose our hope, those psycho's will win. We can't let that happen. What's your name?'
'Lizzy.'
'How old are you, Lizzy?'
'Ten.'
'Dragging a ten year old in a war... it's disgusting. But listen here, Lizzy. It's not because we have absolutely no control over the situation and can't promise anything, that we're just gonna let you die. Because we won't. We're all in this together and now more than ever do we need to show we're there for each other.'
Lizzy let go of James and wrapped her arms around Adam instead, giving him a hug. She caught the dark haired boy by surprise, but he slowly wrapped his arms around her as well to return the hug, a little smile appearing in his face.

'It's sick! Sick, I'm telling you! We're children! They can't just do this! Did you see how young she was!' Adam said as they joined their friends.
'I know! It's pissing me off! No one should be thrown in a war like that!' James replied.
'We should try to get out of here.' Zalinki muttered as he jumped in on the conversation apparently relieved to talk about something different than they were talking about before, but James and Adam decided not to question it.
'Even if we raided the shooting stands tomorrow, they still got more guns than us. There's no way we can stand up against them.' Jaiden pointed out.
'There has to be something we can do!' Chris complained.
'Let me know if you figure something out.' Rush replied.
'Excuse me.'
They looked over to see Lizzy standing next to them.
'Hey, Lizzy, what's up?' James asked.
'My twin brother Nicky is crying. I tried to help him, but I don't know how. You two made me feel better earlier. Can you help him?'
James and Adam looked at each other before bringing their attention back to the little girl.
'Ofcourse.' Adam smiled.

The following days weren't much different from the first one. Get up early, eat breakfast and train until dinner. Every now and then some of the younger kids would come to James and Adam for comfort, presumably because Lizzy told them. The boys didn't mind though. It was better than sitting around not being able to do anything useful. That and the fact that, they hoped the reassurance they gave others, would make them feel better themselves. It didn't.
Time passed at an alarming rate and at the end of the week, stress levels were through the roof. One more night and hell would break loose. One more night and they would be thrown into an actual battle rather than an obstacle course. One more night and they'd be fighting for their lives.