Waiting for War

ken

it's finally time. my body pulses with this sense of strangled excitement. all of this waiting to kill again. all of this waiting to be on the right team alongside my friends fighting for something. i don't have to hide anymore. i can just be myself. to be where i belong.

when the buzzer rings out i make my way straight to command.

"what are you doing here?" are the first words that i hear. it's tigris.

"what do you mean? i want to know the plan," i interject.

"look at your watch shrimp," she spits. "and then leave."

i don't get it.

when i look down at my watch it just says front line. i raise my head but she's already mid speech. i would have thought kassie would be here too but she's no where to be found.

i'm dumbfounded as I make my way back down the Corredor. i trudge out of the front doors and make my way onto the lawn leading into the forest. according to the holographic map the front lines are in the middle of the current clump of trees. i pull out my hover board and make towards the center.

how could i be in such a low position? i mean sure i wasn't a part of the team officially until this school year but surely my stats are high from everything i did in the other team. but that's the thing my stats are high. so what's the issue? and then it hits me. they don't know me yet. they don't know what i can do or how to best put me in a position. i have to work from ground level again.

a grin i haven't mustered up in a long time plays on my lips. ground zero. a place without fulfilled or unfulfilled expectations of myself. a fresh start.

a reason not to die.