Everett: Revised edition

Chapter 12

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They shoved a gun into my hand, and I stood like a deer in headlights in a row of other newbies. The metal felt clammy, and the gun clacked as it settled in the palm of my hand. My fingers loosely folded over the short barrel. I looked up and my eyes started to focus again on my surroundings. We were in the old campus's large courtyard—a replica of the same courtyard where newbies had been dropped off alone at the SchoolYard.

Alis circled back around after placing each newbie with a gun and walked out in front of the row, a gun in hand. "This is a pistol" She raised the boxy weapon in the air. Then she turned to the side and lowered the gun, pointing the tip to the ground. With a click, the bottom of the handle fell out and a shining piece of gold fell into her palm. Alis shifted the round piece of gold between her fingers and showed it to the crowd. "This is what goes into the pistol to make it work". Newbies started to twirl the guns in their hands. "First rule: Don't point it at anyone that you don't intend to kill". Simultaneously, the newbies lowered the weapons. "We're going to learn how to load it." She once again held the pistol in the air, the handle grip out for everyone to see. "On the left side of the grip, there's a lever that opens the handle. Push it."

Each newbie pushed the button, yet the bottom did not release a bit of gold like Alis' had done. They all held the black block from the bottom of the gun with confusion twisted in their faces. Alis' face on the other hand twisted into a smirk. "Couldn't give you bullets yet."

I hurriedly took a step forward as Alis finished the lesson, but she left too quickly and was replaced with a group of burly guards who were in charge of making sure all the guns were secured. A guard looked down at me (sullenly) and held out his palm ready to retrieve the gun. I had forgotten about the gun momentarily in my haste to talk to Alis. After realizing the guard wanted the gun, I handed the gun to the burly guard. The guard only looked to be in his early twenties. The group of young, new recruits was dispersing when I noticed a figure coming my way.

It took me a moment to see that it was Greg who made haste coming over the horizon of the yard. It wasn't time for lunch, I thought. The sun had barely made its own way over the horizon.

Before I could finish my thought, Greg was in front of me pulling me aside with a firm tug on my shirt sleeve.

"Huh?" was all I could grunt.

I looked with big, round eyes at Greg's hard-set frown. "It's time to put you somewhere else. You'll still need to continue to train on weapons, but I understand that isn't your strong point and we need more recon fast."

"Did Alis have anything to say about it?" I asked.

"Arms training is her specialty. She will let me know if there is a major problem with a recruit."

"Knowing the abilities of your army seems to be an important piece of intel," I jested.

"That's why I have Alis to patiently train the new ones, and any major deficits are addressed by higher management. You haven't been training long enough for anyone to need to step in."

"So, it sounds like she'll be training us every day?"

"Unless I take you or one of the others away to work on something else because, let's face it, some of you aren't meant to be fighters."

"See, I told you I'm one of them, aren't I?"

"You don't need to sound so down about it. There are important jobs that the real fighters are too stupid to do," Greg said.

"I thought you would do well gathering intel, but from what I hear from Julian and Alis, you've put yourself in a bad position. We can't send you back to the Community, and we can't send you back to the Schoolyard. We could always try sending you into a neighboring community to whip up some support, but not yet. You need to move up first."

"How do I do that?" I asked.

"Well, actually, we may not have time. Between you and me, we're planning to move soon," Greg said. "The Shadow Council at the SchoolYard will consult with Noah and bring intel to us, the Commanders. This should give us good information on when to strike."

"Noah's not there anymore," I informed.

Greg's frenzied talking and rushed movements came to a stop. His eyebrow lifted and the corner of his mouth twisted. "Wait, why is he not there? How didn't we know?" Greg said. " Of course, I wasn't informed of you attending any Shadow Council meetings after I left the school." Then speaking more to himself: "He was supposed to go back after we overpowered the bus."

"We don't know what happened. The last we saw of him was when he went on the bus with you. Then the fire happened," I said.

"Is it possible that you are wrong?"

"It's possible, but he wasn't at his post the night I escaped."

"They must have gotten him," Greg stewed. But then his eyes grew wide as the horror spread across his face. "They may have seen Shadow Council members. Without someone intercepting the security footage everything could have been seen."

It appeared that the urgency bubbled in Greg's stomach. I saw him softly clutch his stomach. The look in his eyes made me worried. This was important information. It was a terrifying realization. Greg had to tell the Commanders and [elder leaders] that the Old SchoolYard base and the New SchoolYard were potentially compromised.

He rushed me to the foreign intel group. Greg hastily flung open the door of an old classroom in the central building on campus. A bearded man sat at the head of a long table. Greg pushed me through another door, then turned to address the room, "Soldiers, we need you to get in contact with our external members. We may need them sooner than we thought. Do what you can to expedite the warm welcomes and friendships." After snippily commanding his needs, Greg flew out of the room, almost running to get to the tunnels. 

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