The Departed (Working Title)

Chapter Three

An enormous head ache was at war in my head. I woke up, after who knows how much time, in the bottom of my bunk. Les was nervously sitting at her bottom bunk, resting her elbows on her legs. She rushed to my side as soon as she saw my eyes peer open.

"How are you feeling?" She asked me nervously.

"Just peachy," I said sarcastically.

"Mmm," she started, "what all do you remember?"

"Pretty much everything, except how I got here," I replied, taking a glance around the room.

"Jax carried you," Les said, leaning back onto her bottom bunk, "He actually seemed kind of worried."

I scoffed at that, that was kind of difficult to believe considering he was the one that switched Reach and Miles. "I'm sure he just wasn't wanting to get in trouble for breaking the rules or something."

Les pursed her lips, as if she was trying to keep from saying something. "What?" I demanded.

She let out a quick sigh before letting everything out. "Honestly? He's going easy on us with everything he's doing. I've heard things about other groups. I'm not sure if it's true, but there are groups who will get trained into the ground. I mean it's not like we can die, so they push us past our limits."

"And that's an excuse for being an ass?" I gritted through my pounding headache.

Les must have seen me wince at my pain because she was up in an instant wetting a towel for my forehead. Not like that would do anything. "We aren't his first group, Shawn."

I still didn't see the point Les was trying to make. So I just rolled my eyes at her to communicate my irritation at the whole situation. What business did Jax have pairing me with Reach in the sparring?

"Shawn," Les wined, "He's lost reapers before."

I winced even further as I shot straight up. This movement officially made me see stars. "He what?"

Les gently pushed down on my shoulders, helping me lay on my back. "Easy there," Les said, "It's not something we need to worry about, so long as we just follow his lead."

How did she even know this? How did anyone know anything around here really? I couldn't just let this go. "Les, our futures lie in this guy's hands. I need to know what happened?"

"Fine," she sighed, "His last group... his very first group of reapers were exterminated during training. Every one of them, apart from one. No one knows by what or who, but they weren't prepared for whatever it was. Jax had to go before the counsel and everything. I guess they gave him one last chance... we're his last chance."

I rolled onto my side to face Les, and watched as she settled back into her bunk... again. "What do you mean they were exterminated in training?"

Les bit her bottom lip. She was super hesitant to tell me something, I could just tell. "Out with it," I demanded.

"Shawn... where do you think we are?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked.

"Because while we are earth side, we are not earth side. We're on a different plane. No one can see us or hear us, and they can't see our camp." Les explained, she started nervously twirling her hair around her finger as if this news was going to totally break me.

I mean... I was shocked, for sure. But I also wasn't totally surprised. What was I going to expect given our current predicament? We're alive and we're not alive, so surely there would be some sort of other plane of existence - heaven and hell. Why shouldn't there be a plan where a neutral being exists like reapers? I nodded my head, encouraging Les to continue.