The Secret World

Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

When morning came we had all my stuff packed, which wasn’t much since all I had was a few clean clothes from Pete and Rico. I had a pair of black shorts on and my black hoodie. When we got to the Military base (we’ll just call it base) all the soldiers were lined up cheering as I came closer. Some of them I remembered, especially Daren who looked like he was still mad at me for beating him. I walked with the sergeant up many flights of stairs until we got to the 5th floor of ‘base’. From there we walked down dull grey halls that felt like 50 degrees.

“Why don’t you take your hood off?” The sergeant asks me in his rough loud voice.

“I’m comfortable with it on, thank you.” I said, hoping no one will attempt to pull it off and see my eyes.

“Ok.” The sergeant said, but I could tell he didn’t really care. As we walked a little further down the hall, we turned a left into a small room with a bunk bed.

“You’re sharing the room with Lance. He’s called bottom bunk so you’ve got top. Good luck. Lance will be here in about 15 minutes.” The sergeant said and then left the room. The room was barely big enough for the bunk bed to fit in. The walls the color of grey and green, painted as if a toddler did it. The floor was cold cement. As I jumped onto the top bunk the mattress was springy and it would’ve been easier to sleep on rock. I took the mattress and leaned it against the wall, still on the bed. I just lay on the plywood. Then a guy rushes in who I think is Lance and huffs as he falls on his bed. I quickly put my hood back over my eyes… man that’s a pain!

“Wow man, your legend!” Lance says laughing tiredly. Then he quickly jumps up and pokes his head to my top bunk.

“The names Lance Burns.” He says, sticking out his hand and grinning widely. I reach out and shake his hand. Lance looks about 5 foot 11, He is a short haired blonde and by the look of things, very energetic.

“Travis.” He says and then he hops back down and lies on his bed.  Then a loud rumble echoed quietly in the room.

“What the heck was that?” I question.

“… Mt stomach.” Lance replies quietly.

“I’m soooo hungry.” Lance complains.

“When is supper?” I ask.

“I don’t know! Probably in a few minutes.” Lance replied. After about 15 minutes a big buzzer went as Lance leaped from his bed.

“Come-on! You’re gonna miss supper if you are late!” Lance yelled as he ran out the door as I ran after him, not knowing where to go. With Lance out of sight I followed the other soldiers all dressed in sweats and muscle shirts… man, here I am in a hoodie and shorts… a little outta place. Finally we arrived and I joined a huge line of men. Finally I got through with a heaping bowl of what looked like sloppy-Joe meat. I walked around, probably looking like a lost puppy until finally Lance called me over to a table. I sat down in between Lance and some other guy.

“Travis, this is Sam, Joel, Clint, Milt, Tyrone, Axel, Jett and Maddox.” Lance started naming off the people around the long table as each raise a hand or grunted as they continued eating. Sam, had blonde hair, a little more grown out than Lances. A bit thinner than the others, but none the less shoving the meat into his mouth. Joel is almost the complete opposite, he has dark brown hair, cut as a buzz cut and was a little more built than the rest at the table, but not eating much as he slowly scooped the meat into his mouth. Clint looked much like Joel but his eyes are a piercing blue that sent shivers down my spine, and his hair shaggier. Milt, was a black haired buzz cut character that seemed to keep to him-self as others were laughing and talking, he laid back, not engaging in conversation. Tyrone, on the other hand seemed to be the clown of the bunch, jumping up and down from his seat, doing imitations. Tyrone seemed to be the one outside the most because his skin was quite dark. Axel seemed to be one of Tyrone’s friends, laughing along and joining in on the imitations. Axel was a little paler than Tyrone, but not much. His short brown hair was the same as Joel’s but a bit lighter. Jett and Maddox seemed to have their own group, they only talked to each other and didn’t quite acknowledge the rest of the group as they chuckled to their own little jokes I couldn’t quite here. Jett and Maddox looked like total opposites, Jett being blue eyed and dark blonde hair, that was very short, and Maddox being brown eyed and dark brown shaggy hair. I just sit back and eat, trying to memorize the faces. Then Tyrone acknowledges me.

“So how do you shoot like you do? I mean, how long did you train for?” Tyrone said curiously, as the whole table looked at me waiting for an answer.

“Well… I don’t know. I guess the skill got passed on from my family. I only started training, about a couple months ago, maybe a bit more.” I said as I continued to eat. Then I felt every eye on me as I looked up to see, as a matter of fact, everyone at the table staring at me in astonishment. Finally I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“WHAT?” I ask, a little louder than I intended.

“You’re like a pro and you only started a couple months ago?” Axel asks, his eyes wide.

“Umm. Yah.” I say, hoping they would drop the subject because them looking at me like I was a unicorn in a zoo was really starting to freak me out.

“Whoa! Sleep with one eye open, Lance” Axel replies slapping Lance on the shoulder in a joking way. As everyone continued with their supper, I left off getting an early night’s sleep, missing Rico and Pete.