The Drafting

Eyes are the windows to the soul

My body is slammed down into the mud and I block my face with my arms. Damn I think, Cole wasn't lying. I kick my opponent in the stomach and he backs off just enough so I can stand back up again.  He charges me and the rain that falls turns into a downpour making him slip just as I move to the side. He hits the weak chain linked fence head first and the fight is over.

An officer tells me to go to the Nurses Dome since the cut on my forehead will need stitches, great its the first day and I already have a visible wound. I put my hood on to try and keep some warmth in but there is no use I'm already drenched.

I follow the path and signs to the Nurses Dome seeing that it really is a dome. I walk in the warmth from the heaters hitting me immediately. I look around seeing people just like me, soaked to the bone and worn down.  A man comes up to me and leads me to a different room handing me a new stack of clothes.  He tells me to change and to leave my wet clothes in the room and that after I change he'll come back and stitch up my forehead.

He leaves closing the door. I change quickly then I sit down on the white sofa looking around at my surroundings, everything is white,  the rug, the sofa, the coffee table, the cabinets, the sink in the corner. I lean my head back resting my eyes. My head pounds and I assume it's from the loss of blood. There soon is a knock on the door and I say come it. It's the man again he comes in with two trays but I can't see what is on them.

"Here honey" he says handing me a cup of water and I gulp the water down not realizing how thirsty I was. He puts the trays down on the coffee table.

"The first day is always the hardest" he says now handing me a small plate with some crackers on it.

I eat them while he stitches my head.

After my head has been stitched up the man leaves me to rest for awhile saying a should take a couple minuets before heading back out. I ask for some more water and he says he will send someone in with more and a few extra crackers too. I say thank you and then he is gone.

I decide I like the nurses better than the officers and trainers. There is another knock on the door and I am surprised by who walks in.

"Cole?" I question, "What are you doing here?''.

"I train here as well as field training. What happened to your head?".

"I don't really remember, I think I got punched".

Cole pours me another cup of water and hands it to me, placing the pitcher of water and new plate of crackers on the coffee table.

"You look better than your friend that came in here earlier" Cole says.

"What friend?".

"Marvin? Mackson?".

"Mason?".

"Yes, him. Looked like he got quite a beating but I don't think it was his fault".

"Do you think he will be okay?".

"Yeah, I'd be more worried about Cameron".

"Cameron?".

"The shy guy".

"Carl?".

"Yeah, him I'm bad with names".

 "Did Carl get beat up too?".

"Not that I know of,  but he just seems...." Cole trails off.

"Hey, maybe he has a good punch" I say defending Carl.

"True, sometimes its the most unlikely people who are the worst to be in a fight with".

There is a pause and we start to stare at each other again. Cole has ashy blonde hair and hazel eyes with specks of bright green in them, a unique nose that defines his face.  I think back to what my Mom once said to me, a persons face can tell you a lot, but the eyes are the windows to the soul.

I shift how I'm sitting,  leaning back and crossing my legs.

"You're mysterious" I say.

"Is that so?".

I don't answer because someone opens the door, a woman saying that Cole is needed and that I should get back to training.  Even though it has only been,  at tops five minuets that me and Cole have been talking.

"One second" Cole says to the woman. She gives him a look and he nods.

Cole gets up once the woman has left closing the door, he walks to a cabinet saying, "Take off your jacket".

"Why?" I ask.

"When you go back out there you are gonna want a better jacket, newbys are always given the worst".

I take off my jacket Cole walks back over with a navy blue jacket.

"It may be a little big on you but it will be much better than that one, not only is it waterproof but its lined with polar fleece".

I put the jacket on zipping it up all the way.  He helps me off the couch even though I don't need it. Before he leaves I ask, "Why are you helping me?".

He doesn't answer, he just looks at me. He smiles.

"Got to go, see you at dinner" he says walking out leaving me confused and curious once again.

I leave the Nurses Dome after I have stuffed my pockets with the left over crackers and have had one more cup of water.

I see Cole as I leave, at least the back of him. Cole confuses me, he makes me curious, and what makes me the most scared is how much  he consumes my thoughts even though we have just met. I shake my head a little.

I make it back to my troop just in time to see that my troop is heading indoors. I see Mason, jogging over to his side.

"Hey, where have you been? Oh", he says looking at my head a band-aid slapped over it, "Did you see Cole there?" he continues.

"Yeah he gave me this jacket".

"Sweet, a nurse lady gave me these new boots".

"Nice".

We soon enter a big building used for indoor training where it soon gets really quiet because an officer starts to explain what we are doing next. The officer says to find a partner so me and Mason join up, he then tells us that with are partner we will be testing each other on what we learned today.

We get our stack of flash cards and Mason says, "Borrrrrring".

I laugh.

Me and Mason are a good team so when we finish the review before anyone else and breaking the top record the officers are impressed, saying we are the team to look out for and that Sargent X will be hearing about this. The officers then send us off to dinner early.

"Sargent X will be hearing about this?" I repeat to Mason a little confused.

"That we a good team, nothing bad".

"Yeah I knew that but are you sure?  What if he is telling he so that we can never work together again?".

"You over think things sometimes, yeah this place is weird, with some strange ass rules but I still think there after one main thing, making good teams for battle".

Mason is right I am over thinking it. All this place wants is people trained every way possible and sent off to war in a perfect team, and if Mason is in my team why would that be a bad thing?

I remember when I was on the train,  when I didn't want to make any friends for that one reason of when they die they leave you with mourning and loss, and the feeling of being alone. I look over at Mason he has brunette hair sweeped over to one side where it then becomes a quiff and those sharp blue eyes. He won't die I tell myself, your over thinking, but I know I'm not.