The Monitors

Chapter 18 - The Ceremony Part Two

As Damon entered the room, he noticed it was dimly lit. The recruits were all lined up in rows. As the door shut behind him, they turned their heads. Many of them had horrified looks on their faces. They were afraid of Damon. How could they not be? The last time he was here he literally murdered some of the Monitors. Damon held his head up. He wasn't going to shy away from what he had done. On the stage was Drill Seargent Reyes. His face went pale when he saw Damon. Damon walked forward and took his place in the row.

Reyes snapped out of it and cleared his throat. "Welcome, all of you." he said loudly, but at the same time calmly. The recruits stood like statues. "You have all been through many trials. You've suffered, cried, and bled together. Today is the day you finish what you started in January. Today is the day you become Monitors!" he yelled. The room stood silent. Behind Reyes came ten senior Monitors. One of them was Lucas. They all stepped onto the stage and stood together in a line with their hands behind their back. Rowen stepped out onto the stage as well and shook Reyes's hand who then walked off the stage. "Listen, all of you." Rowen said with his hands in the air. "On this stage are ten senior Monitors. There are thirty of you graduating training today. It is custom that when a Monitor finishes training, they are placed under the command of a senior Monitor in teams of three. When I call your name, step forward and introduce yourself to your team leader! Then, turn to me and I will gift you with your Monitor necklace. This is scanned to gain access to anywhere in all of our facilities. It also symbolizes your commitment to our cause!" Rowen yelled. The recruits stood silent.

Rowen began to list the names off. One by one, Damon's fellow recruits walked up and were gifted their necklaces. "Team Nine!" Rowen yelled. There were now only six recruits left including Damon. "Callista Berkley! Silas Norgarrd! Damon Archer!" Rowen yelled. Damon looked up ar Rowen who pointed to his team leader. It was Lucas. Damon smiled. It looked like his time with his mentor wasn't finished yet. Damon looked at his fellow teammates who were walking up onto the stage to meet Lucas. Damon recognized them from the marking ceremony all those months ago. Damon walked up onto the stage. He shook Lucas's hand who smiled at Damon. Damon then shook hands with his new squad mates. Callista seemed scared of him, while Silas met Damon with an angry expression. Rowen then put the Monitor necklaces over each of them. "C'mon runts." Lucas said. All three of them followed Lucas. All four of them walked out of the ceremony room and into the hallway. Milena was waiting on the other side and gave Damon a high five. They both smiled at each other.

"Now, most Mentors immediately jump into missions as soon as the ceremony is completed. That's not me." Lucas said. "You've all worked hard to get to where you are now. Before our first mission I want you to establish some comradare. You are hereby given one week of leave. Get to know each other. Find out who your squad mates are. Its important you do this. On a mission in a life or death situation you need to know exactly who has your back." said Lucas. "Meet me here one week from today for the first mission." Lucas said while walking away. Damon turned to his squad mates. He was never a very social person. "So, uh, how are you guys?" Damon said awkwardly. Silas immediately turned away from Damon and started walking. "I can't believe they would pair me with filth like you. You should have been killed the day of the marking ceremony." Silas said as he spat at Damon. Damon turned to Callista "So, what about you?" Damon said. Callista was shaking with fear. Damon sighed. "Well, can we go for a walk or something?" Damon said. Callista shook her head. "Look I know what you probably heard about me. I'm sure you saw what happened. But I truly mean it when I say you have nothing to worry about with me. I have control of the power I used that day. I wasn't even concious when that happened. Please believe me." Damon pleaded.

This calmed Callista down a little. She saw that Damon was human with his own faults, but he didn't seem to be the bloodthirsty monster everyone made him out to be. "Sure. We can go for a walk." Callista said. Damon cracked a slight smile. He and Callista both went to the locker rooms and changed. They met at the elevator to the surface. They both greeted each other and stepped in. When they reached the surface, the both stepped out. They awkwardly walked together on the sidewalk. "This isn't really a good side of town to go for a walk in." Callista said. Damon awkwardly laughed. You know, I thought about that after we started walking but I didn't want to say anything and make it weird." Damon laughed awkwardly. Callista burst into laughter. "You're just like me." She said. "A chronic overthinker." They both laughed and the tension subsided a bit. "I'm not worried. We both have Ryker's mark we can take on anyone who tries to mess with us." Callista said. Damon nodded. "So tell me about yourself Damon." Callista said. "Well, I'm from Arizona originally. I moved up here almost six years ago. I started school last fall. Obiviously I didn't go spring semester." Damon replied. Callista nodded. "I'm originally from a small farming town in southern Minnesota." Callista said. They both walked turned the corner of a block and kept walking. "So, how did you wind up getting mixed in with the Monitors?" Damon asked. Callista looked at the ground and stopped walking. "Woah, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it I totally get it." Damon said . Callista walked ahead about ten feet and sat on a bench. Damon also did. "No, no its fine. When I was a just a girl we lived in a farm house about five miles out of town. It was nice, we had plenty of animals. I loved it." Callista looked back at the ground. "One day my father noticed some cattle were going missing. This slowly turned into him discovering their eviscerated bodies in the fields. My mom was terrified." She paused for ten seconds.