The Foreshock Project

Chapter Eight

"What?" I said incredulously. I wasn't leading material. There had to be some mistake. I always stayed at the edges of everything because if I got involved I fought too hard for what I believed. I ended up hurting people. If the army had known my clothes size, they surely knew about my temper. Something was off here.

Gwendalynn was dead serious. "Once everyone has finished training, we're going to lead the front line."

Liberty was shaken. She stood, mouth agape, staring at our roommates like they had three heads. "But... but we haven't even been here a day!"

"How're we supposed to lead an army? We're just teenagers!" I added.

Allissia shrugged. "That's what we heard and since they refuse to tell us, we accept it as truth. They only tell you what they want you to know so they can manipulate you. The only way to keep ahead of them is to ignore what they tell you and listen to what they aren't saying."

"Makes perfect sense," I mumbled.

"Just take it slow. It'll be at least a few months before you two are even remotely ready and they've been bringing in new recruits daily," Gwendalynn reassured us.

Desperately trying to understand what was going on, I started pacing. This wasn't right. I could feel it. Something was missing from this whole scheme. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was still nagging at the back of my mind.

A tinny voice from a loudspeaker interrupted my thoughts. "All mutants report to the meal hall. All mutants report to the meal hall." A click signaled the end of the announcement.

Liberty looked at Gwendalynn and Allissia, who were heading for the door.

"Come on," they waved towards us. "Dinnertime."

We followed them out into the now crowded and noisy hallway. Kids my age flooded the small space. I struggled to stay with my roommates as they pushed their way through the stampede to a group of guys. Gwendalynn caught the arm of a tall blond boy, who I assumed was Chanceton. Liberty shyly fell into step beside a shorter boy with light brown tousled hair, probably Talin. Allissia was busy getting to know Libertus. Feeling like a seventh wheel, I followed the group from behind, getting elbowed and stepped on the whole way. The surging mass of teenagers brought us to the meal hall through a set of large double doors.

It opened up considerably inside the doors and I jogged to catch up with the rest of the group. Allissia was currently pushing her way to the front of the line, the rest of the 34's behind her. I caught up with Liberty just as people filled in behind us.

"Thanks for waiting," I panted as I picked up a tray. "I could've died out there."

Liberty shrugged, her eyes on the steaming food ahead of her. "Well, you didn't and I'm starving."

I pretended to be annoyed and tried another angle of conversation. "So, how's Talin then?"

"I...uh...I actually haven't spoken to him yet..." she admitted.

"What are you afraid of?" I taunted playfully. "We are the most powerful ones in this place. Anything you say goes. Pretty much."

Liberty whipped her head around to look at me. "Pretty much?" she asked, faking offense. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were looking too."

My eyes widened. "What? No! He's all yours. You can have him." I could feel my cheeks starting to burn as my thoughts went to Jarek, how he had carefully taken my injured hand into his. I shook my head, trying to dispel the thoughts that brought a strange feeling to my stomach.

"Good," Liberty said cheerfully as we followed everyone else to a round table near the middle of the large room. We all took a seat, which left an empty chair to my left and Liberty on my right. Chatting good-naturedly as we ate, we introduced ourselves and got onto the subject of our abilities.