The World We've Set On Fire ■ Wattys 2016

Camp

They took my horse and they shoved me into a tent. There were many tents, lined at the end of the forest. And inside were women, trained and untrained, ready to fight.

"Go to the last one and get your stuff." Barked the general. Her name tag said she was Naomi. General Naomi didn't have an arm... nor a heart.

"Are you trained to kill?"

"I am... but I'd prefer not to." I didn't mention that I'd already killed many innocent people.

"You'll have to." She made a face. "It's easy to spill blood... and you need to learn that this is war against humanity itself. No one is an ally except for anyone from this camp. If you see someone else, you kill. No matter what happens, you kill. You destroy! I don't care if you get hurt, pain means nothing."

"Pain is a distraction." I repeated something I had been told more than often than another general, a man I had murdered a while ago.

"Pain is nothing." She pulled out a shard of glass from the top most drawer in her desk. She lifted it up, and it gleamed in the lamplight. Then, she brought it to her mouth and pressed it into the side of the upper lip. It split and blood trickled down her chin. She licked it off and smirked.

When I left her tent, I went to mine. There were 6 women there, each sitting on a mattress. They looked up when I entered the tent.

The brown girl stood up. She was chewing gum. With a smirk, she held out her hand. I shook it. "Welcome to Hell 1o1. I'm Lara Gonzales."

"Najwa Fatima." A girl with her head and face covered smiled.

"Heidi Lenore." She pushed her red hair out of her green eyes.

"Marigold... Stop." She had a pierced nose and ears. Her arms were covered with tattoos.

"Stop what?" I asked.

She snorted. "That's my name." Her voice was sweeter than expected and her hazel eyes sparkled as she smiled.

The black girl didn't stand up. She just acknowledged me with a tiny nod. Heidi told me that she was Sunita West.

"I am Lee Shan." Introduced the Asian girl. "I'll give you your uniform and guns."

She handed me a package and pointed at the cupboard.

"Thank you... um... so, what camp is this?"

"I told you." Lara looked annoyed. "Hell 1o1."

"No but... who are we fighting against?"

Heidi bit her lip. "Mankind."

"You see," shrugged Sunita. "We are a mixture of races here. I'm African American, you're probably Greek, Lee is Korean, Najwa is Turkish, Heidi is British, Marigold is French and Lara is Columbian. The whole world is mixed."

"Where are we?"

"Somewhere in Europe." Said Marigold.

"There's a reason this camp is Hell 101."

Charlize Theron as Naomi.

Rosie Hunington as Lara.

Zoe Kravitz as Sunita.

Riley Keough as Heidi.

Abbey Lee as Marigold.