Wrong side of Heaven

Chapter 1.

They taught many things that most kids our age in the past would never learn in their lifetime. We learned drill, we did intense physical fitness training, we marched, learned the phonetic alphabet, learned to read 12 figure grid references with ease on a map,but most of all, we learned to shoot. It was our main focus, because the officers here want us to be the best soldiers possible. WW3 had just started, and kids as young as 4 were being taken from their homes by the government. They were desperate for soldiers, and have started teaching them young. They offer large sums of money to poor families to give able children to the war effort, but few do without a little... Gentle persuasion. They would give recruiters permission to use costs necessary to collect children, and if they still refused to give up the child after everything, they would either shoot the parents and take the child, or the parents could go instead, which would just mean they would snatch the kid and take them to a different base from their parents. Of course the parents would never find out, but it is surprising what you can get away with when you run the country. They try and teach you all the basic skills and commands from a young age, and kids young as 8 years old know how to stitch up bullet wounds and navigate dangerous terrain, and those young as 15 are old enough to lead a platoon into battle. Its not as if North america is the only continent using this tactic: every continent other than Europe used child soldiers, (with the exception of Russia) but even they are strongly considering it due to the devastating loss of troops. The year 2095 was not a good year for anyone. I have lived on this base for 6 years, and scarcely remember the outside world. I live here awaiting orders that may never come, and fearing a battlefield I may never see. Prices are through the roof, the population growing at an alarming rate, and there already wasn't enough space to house the current generations. Who would want to birth a child into this horrid world, I do not know. Natural resources are at an all time low, and if we continue to use it up at this pace, it is predicted to run out by the new year.

So WW3 is a war for land, and resources. Countries are expanding, swallowing other countries and adding to its mass, while others are wiped off the map forever. Entire cultures and civilizations gone. Rome may not have been build in a day, but it was taken down in two, Germany in control of that and many of the countries around it as well. I snap out of my daydream and look over to see my attackers, but they have already disappeared into the mess hall for supper. I sigh and follow them, dragging my feet as I go. Once I got to the front of the line, I see that there re three options; and all of them looked equally gross. With the lack of agricultural space for farming, most food is mass produced in a laboratory, and its mainly chemicals. Its enough to get your to your next meal, nothing more nothing less, and taste is definitely not taken into account when calculating nutrition values. To be perfectly honest, I was shocked to see this muc hof s selection. I went with the "steak", which looked more like mush than the hearty steaks we see in history books. I get myself a glass of gatorade as well, which is our main drink now due to most of the water being too polluted to drink. It is basically scientifically modified sweat., so it's the quickest way to rehydrate after a physically demanding exercise. I know it sounds gross, but it's true. It gives back everything you lose in sweat in a good tasting format.

As I look around the mess hall I see that most of the seats are already taken up. I walk towards the back corner near the window, and see that Amelia was waiting for me with someone I didn't recognize. As I come closer I examine the girl: she has long black hair like mine, but it is flowing down her back in luscious locks instead of in the mandatory bun, and she is wearing a pale blue dress. Confused, I asked "who is she?" when I sat down "who?" Amelia replied, looking more confused than me. "The girl sitting right next to y-" I stopped dead in my tracks, because when I looked up again, the girl had vanished, leaving nothing to indicate that the had ever been there. "nevermind." I muttered as I took a bite of my steak. It tasted better than usual, having a rougher, less gooey texture. It was as if it was more than 10% real beef. "They work you to hard?" Amelia asked, concern filling her eyes. "I guess. It's been a long day" I replied, and silence fell once again over the table, like an ominous cloud. Amelia choose the "hamburger" and "fries". The fries looked rock hard, and the hamburger looked like dog food between two slightly soggy buns. We finished our food right on time, and as the buzzer rang for us to head to our barracks to get ready for bed, everyone stood up in unison and filed out of the exist in single file after dropping their plates off. After I showered in the slightly-murky looking water and brushed my teeth, I trudged from the washrooms to my barracks where I collapsed on my bed, and the last thing I heard was the sound of the crickets singing their lullaby.