Mad World

Chapter 6

Isaac Garehart

I jump as I hear the front door slam. It is one in the morning. dangit. He must have been drinking. I hear my dad stumble around the house. This will not end well, it never ends well. Glass shatters down stairs. "Isaac get your freaking ass down here, now!"

I groan and stumble down stairs. "Yes, sir?"

"Clean up that freaking mess, I don't want to bleed out by stepping on one of those."

"Yes, sir," I mumble and then sigh.

"DON'T YOU FREAKING SIGH AT ME! You are a worthless piece of shit. I never wanted you, you were your mother's want. Now she is gone and I have your sorry ass to take care of. Be grateful you bastard!" He walks towards me and grabs my shirt and says coldly, "Or else you will pay." He throws me backwards sending me flying on my ass onto the glass. I bite my lip so I don't yell at the pain of glass slicing my back. I pull myself up and walk into the kitchen to grab a dustpan to sweep up the broken glass. My back stings from the pieces of glass that are imbedded along my back. I start sweeping and I hear a clash from upstairs. "Fuck" I hear my father shout.

"Isaac I swear if you don't get up here and tell me what this mess is I am going to throw you out you ungrateful little shit".

I start walking up the stairs towards my father's room and see it trashed like it normally is. "What is this mess, did you try and steal my money" He shouted in my face he walked up to me and gripped my shirt pulling me closer to him. I was so close I could smell the alcohol in his breath, and the stench of the chewing tobacco he picked up after mom died.

"Did you steal my money"? He breathed at me

"No your room was like this before" I said pulling away from him.

"No it wasn't" He shouted pushing me away.

He raised his hand and walked towards me "If you don't tell me where my money is I'm going to beat the shit out of you" he coldly whispered. It was the kind of whisper that you knew not to mess with.

"I didn't steal your money you drunk go to bed" I sneered back at him.

He started walking towards me at a brisk pace. He raised his hand...

:::

I jolt awake in a cold sweat, I do not understand why he still haunts me in my dreams. He was a sick bastard who thought he was the king of the world. He was just an evil monster when he came home, always finding ways to be degrading and demanding. He claimed that I was nothing but a screw up and a waste of time and money. I knew he didn't love me, I was always a mom's boys. But she died because of my dad. He got really drunk one night and accidently hit her a little too hard. Of course, he doesn't remember doing it, so in her death records it says it was an anonymous killer, most likely a robber. But I know the truth, and I was too scared to speak up.

My dad's harshness and lack of sympathy shows that eh entire government is corrupt. Heck, that one guard who ended up getting fired, and then expected, showed that he was only out for blood. The AI and his heartless appeal. Al of the ones in charge had a thirst for violence. There isn't a way a society can be functional like that. The public needs to know about this dreaded system. Eris, Aiden, and I have been at the rebel base for about a year training for what we know needs to be done. We need to expose the AI to the rest of the people living under the rule of the first order.

My alarm goes off, and I turn it off even though I am already awake. I get out of bed and change my clothes; I put on a long sleeve black Henley, and thin jogging pants, I choose a grey beanie. I choose my form fitting running shoes.

My room is small, about seven by twelve foot. it consists of my bed, a small tv at the foot of it, a closet running from the door to the foot of my bed. A small kitchen on the opposite side of my closet. My kitchen holds a microwave, a pantry filled with various protein bars and other such snacks, and a washer and dryer. Through my kitchen there is my bathroom with all the various toiletries that I require.

I grab my black gym bag walk over to my small kitchen that's tucked away in my temporary living place. I rummage through my pantry and grab three protein bars. I start eating the first protein bar and begin filling my bag the rest of the way. I fill up my water bottle, and slide it into the pocket on the end of my bag. I grab my gym towel from the dryer, and start leaving my room.

I walk through the central area of HQ and walk through the doors to the training center and I see Ryder and Faith. Of course, they are together. I walk over to the "So what terrors are you guys going to make me do today," I ask jokingly.

"Hmm I don't know Ry what are we going to make the sissy do?"

"Ry?" I question her,

"Shut up asshole," she says as she glares at me.

"Isaac go run, NOW!" Ryder yells.

I burst out laughing when I look at both of them because they are both embarrassed as heck. I start to jog still chuckling at the two of them. I find a rhythm and I control my breathing. I run laps around the training center until Faith yells at me to get ready for mock fights. As I walk over to the fighting ring I see Aiden already in it stretching. He is wearing a grey tank top and black basketball shorts. H sees me approach and he straightens up

"Finally you show up" He says

"I'm on time" I snap at him.

He shakes his head and continues stretching his arms. He's heavily built with large bulky muscles. Unlike me, I'd prefer to be lean, and agile rather than heavy muscled. The sparring room in within the same gym that we practiced parkour in. the gym is separated into two parts the parkour track and the regular gym which is being used for our little sparring sessions. This part of the gym consists of a circular sparring ring that is imprinted into the floor, and it's lined with mats. I hear the door open and the faint howl of the cool November wind blowing across the door frame. I Look over and see Eris walk through the door. She is dressed in a red shirt, cargo pants, her recently dyed black hair is pulled back into a ponytail. She walks over and throws her grey duffle bag down next to mine and walks towards the center of the circle. "You finish doing your makeup princes"? Aiden sarcastically asks

"Back off Aiden I haven't even had coffee yet" she sneered back at him

"Oh shut up" I hear Faith from the corner.

She walks out from the side of the wall all dramatically.

"You will each be fighting a training bot, they are programmed to know twelve different fighting tiles, and thirteen different forms."

"Do we get any hints" I ask, "Or is this gonna be like the other trainings"

"Hint one, don't get caught so you don't have to fight them. Hint two, don't get hit, cus it will really freaking hurt. step three, if you have to get hit, block"

"So helpful," I mutter under my breath.

"You think it wasn't helpful" she shouts

"Well it's really not" Aiden speaks up.

"Awe" she said in a voice as if she was talking to an infant, "do I need to hold your hand and walk you through it. Or are you gonna grow a pair".

"Back off" Aiden yelled.

"Now if we can get around to business and stop yelling at each other" Ryder yelled, as he walked into the circle, "we can get around to training your sorry asses how to fight".

I look over and see three fully robotic men walking into the sparring circle. They have a large square head that's slightly rounded at the edges. There is a visor looking thing that wraps around the front of the head area, which I assume is where the vision comes from. They walk up towards us, and stop directly in front of us.

"They will be set on hard for this training session to see your skill", Ryder said, "the next training matches will be at your skill level so you can learn more easily"

"Activate" I Here Faith shout, and the visors of the robot's light up red and they begin walking towards us.