Killers

Chapter 3

The sound of a bullhorn shook me out of my deep slumber. I sat up straight with my eyes wide open to see a huge man standing at the end of the room. He had a military beret on with the camouflage uniform and his posture was so proper it made me readjust my sitting position. "Rise and shine, troopers!" he barked into his bullhorn. I looked at the other squad members hauling themselves out of bed and running towards the bathroom. I didn't understand why.

"New kid" he called out and I snapped my head to look at him. His eyes were emerald green and he had blonde hair. He grinned at me before saying "welcome to hell."

Chuck explained to me that only one member would get to shower every morning. The rest would have to wait until after training. I didn't mind this due to the fact that I just had the most refreshing shower in my life yesterday. Showers, I thought. Where's Rox?

I opened my mouth to ask Chuck but he was too busy zipping up his uniform and raking his fingers through his hair. I decided to look for her later.

Chuck and I hurried to the field along with the other squad members. While running, Chuck explained to me briefly of our duties at the army base. We were to train every day until we were ready to be assigned a mission by the chief commander. Training includes combat, running and shooting. I was not an expert at either one of those, unless you gave me a Grand Theft Auto game then, I'm the fucking master. I had so many other questions for Chuck but I didn't want to attack him this early in the morning. Plus, he's just 10 for God's sake. He shouldn't be burdened with memories that included man-eating monsters in the first place.

We reached the field and I immediately saw 6 year olds being yelled at by their respective squad chiefs. They were running down the track and I noticed a chubby boy falling behind. His cheeks were flushed and I could see the sweat staining the back of his t-shirt.

"What are you doing, cadet? You're far behind, cadet. Better keep up, cadet. Do you think these things will take it easy on you, cadet? Do you think this is a game, a fun game of 'tag-you're-it', cadet? No, they will kill you. You will die. Do you want to die?" his chief kept throwing offensive remarks at him. I could see the tears brimming in his eyes and I felt so angry. I began to march towards the soldier before one of my squad members placed his hand on my shoulder and forced me to look at him.

"You must be new to this" he said and I looked at him, not comprehending.

"Look, it's a tough world out there and you should know, obviously or you wouldn't be here. Anyways, that guy over there, he doesn't want to yell. Of course he doesn't. That kid's, what, 6? It's his job; it's what we have to do. Don't get mad at him. He has no other choice" he explained sagely. I shook my head, it just wasn't fair.

"I know man, I know" he continued. "Hey, my name's Christopher by the way but my friends call me Topher, well, at least they used to." I shook Topher's hand and he gave me a pat on the back before we continued our footsteps onto the shooting range.

I saw a mop of black hair and I knew it was Rox. Why was she here so early? She turned and saw me walking towards her with Chuck, Topher and some other guy. The other guy was really quiet and his features reminded me of a mouse with his grey hair, small and round black eyes with a pinkish button nose. The only thing that was missing was some whiskers. Topher noticed me looking at him and elbowed me in the rib.

"He just arrived here a day before you did and he hasn't said a word yet" he said. I asked him what his name was and get this, his name was Stuart Little. Stuart-fucking-Little. Now it all makes sense. I was merely a foot away from Rox and I thought she was going to greet me with her annoying (charming) antics but instead she completely ignored me. I glanced at Chuck and he didn't seem to notice anything.