Battle Scars

Chapter 54: Simulations

A/N: Props to Hannah one of my best friends for being the inspiration for this chapter and many to come ;)
And also if you're a divergent fan you know exactly where the simulation ideas came from ;)

Chapter fifty four: Simulations
It was quite a number of days before Savarna, who had quickly been nicknamed 'Varna', would stop following either Vikk or myself around everywhere we went. I loved the company of the little girl, but I was pleased when she developed a trusting relationship with my sister and mother. The plans for the final attack on The Soviet's capital were almost ready to be put into action, and I would have to leave my new friend and go to fight. The plan was to storm The Soviet by installing soldiers all around the city in groups to ambush them from all sides. Each group would have a particular job to do. My group was, of course, Mitch, Jerome, Preston, and Vikk, and our job was to break into the government house and assassinate President Shard. Which all of us were more than ready to do, having had more than our fair share of his special attention lately. Particularly Vikk.
Any soldier who wanted to be a part of this final mission had to run through a simulation, induced by a serum injected into the person's bloodstream. The simulation targeted the part of the brain associated with a person's instincts, and put them in a series of situations where they would need to make split second decisions. If they instinctively made the wrong decision, they had to continue to go through the simulations with different situations until they fixed the problem. Nobody was exempt from this, even Mitch had to do it.
I made it out of my simulation within four minutes. The others in my group took around the same time, apart from Jerome, who took twelve minutes. When he finally awoke, he looked frustrated.
"Finally," he groaned, half laughing. "I kept doing the wrong thing."
"What was it?" Asked Mitch.
"The dead end one, did any of you guys get that one?" Mitch, Preston, and Vikk shook their heads, but I knew what Jerome was referring to.
"You mean the one where you run round the corner and there's just a wall and you have to stop them getting to you?" I asked.
"Yeah," sighed Jerome. "It seems so real, and I kept turning and running instead of shooting them as they came around the corner. Hopefully I've fixed that instinct." I shrugged.
"Got that one first time. But there was one I had to do three times, where you get a set of directions and then all these distractions try and stop you from going the right direction. I kept getting lost, but I got there finally."
"I got stuck on that one as well," agreed Preston.
The five of us talked a little longer about our simulations, until the head of soldiers came over to us, and with him, two other soldiers around our age.
"Chris? What's up?" Asked Mitch.
"I just wanted to introduce you two these two, Lachlan and Hannah. They're brother and sister, and they'll be working with your team for part of the way. They have the job of clearing the lower floors of The Soviet's government building of Soviet politicians. Not all five of you will need to go up to find the president and destroy him, so decide who is better suited to staying on the lower floors with Lachlan and Hannah to help them." Mitch nodded.
"Thanks Chris," he said. Chris nodded, and wandered off. I looked at Lachlan and Hannah with interest. It struck me that Lachlan's face held familiar features, particularly his fiercely blue eyes, and I wondered who it was he reminded me of.
"Great to meet you guys," smiled Lachlan. "I guess you know I'm Lachlan and this is my sister Hannah."
"Yeah, we figured," smiled Mitch. "I'm Mitch." I elbowed him in the side playfully.
"Pretty sure they know who you are, idiot," I chuckled, and everyone joined in the laughter.
"Yeah, we know who all of you are," grinned Hannah. "Have you guys done your simulations yet?"
"Yeah," said Vikk. "But don't start Jerome off again, he's just spent twenty minutes at least complaining about his." Hannah and Lachlan laughed.
"Why?" Asked Hannah mischievously. "What was there to complain about?" She glanced at Vikk out of the corner of her eye, and I knew she was doing it to annoy him. I chuckled quietly at them. Vikk rolled his eyes at her playfully.
My eyes returned to Lachlan, and I still couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity.
"What's your last name, you guys?" I asked. "You look really familiar."
"Hernandez," said Lachlan. "Same as you, which is kinda weird. Maybe we're related." It was then that it hit me that Lachlan looked like my dad. I shook my head, not understanding.
"It's just..." I paused. They all looked at me. I had stopped mid sentence, not wanting to talk about my dad. "Never mind," I sighed. "It doesn't matter." Vikk tactfully moved the conversation onto something else, but not without throwing me a glance that plainly said 'tell me later'. Mitch also looked at me meaningfully, and I nodded slightly. I wasn't going to get out of explaining this to them, but maybe they'd be able to help me work this out.

A/N: #Vikklan. 'Nuff said. (No that's not actually going to happen in this story :P ) if there was gonna be a sequel (which there's not) these two would be best friends.