The Carter Chronicles: World of Adventures

Chapter 4: Unprepared

LILY SAUNTERED across the cafeteria, finding Austin amongst the sea of people that decided to eat breakfast early today. There he was, sitting beside Walt on one table, munching on wheat bread. She quickened her steps, and bumped into another blond. It was Colton, the guy he met on her first day. His hair was combed up, with a few shades of black.

"Hey, Lily! How are you?" he asked, smiling. He was definitely taller than her, probably because of the two-year gap they have in between them.

"Yeah, I'm great. I feel awesome." She replied nonchalantly.

"You wanna sit with us or—" Colton offered immediately, but Lily cut him short and answered, "Not now..."

She rushed past him and sat across Austin. "So? Are we in? I feel wired for training."

"Lily, I really think I should choose professionals..." Austin said hesitantly. "I don't want to endanger your lives. I might lose dad, but I'm not gonna lose you both."

"You don't have a word with my choices. I am going whether you like it or not." Lily spat contemptuously. She scowled at Austin, who looked completely perplexed with his choices, and glanced at Walt, who was grinning at Lily in pride. Austin put his hands on his head and urged out a little fine. Lily smirked victoriously and Walt pumped his fists in the air.

"Walt, I only meant Lily," Austin jested and Walt deflated. Austin laughed, uttering just kidding.

***

The trio traversed the rock path leading to the back porch of the Main House, where they were supposed to meet Nelson. Small horsetails grew by a small boulder. Austin started a conversation, asking the two about their house. Lily snorted and ranted, "It smelled like perfume! It feels like living in a dollhouse. Everyone looked gorgeous, and all of those beautiful but loud people sleep at three in the morning. How 'bout you?"

"God, it was overwhelming...like learning you're the son of a rich man," Austin replied, conjuring visions of the majestic house in his head. "Walt, why are you so quiet these days?"

"Shhhh!" Walt stopped walking and put a finger to his mouth. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what? I don't hear anything," Lily answered, frowning. She looked disturbed and also halted. "Actually, I hear a faint grumble,"

Walt smiled a wide, toothy grin. "That's the sound of my stomach growling." He announced as he laughed at the relieved faces of his friends. "Oh God, I want pizza!"

"Didn't we just eat breakfast? Why didn't you . . ." Lily faltered off, drowned out by a gruff and strident voice. "Good morning, nuggets! First things first, let's get you armor." He treaded past them and headed for the cluster of houses that sat near the forest.

"Where are we going exactly?" Walt asked, raising a brow as he followed Nelson. It was their first normal day at Warrior Home and as they wove their way to the cluster, they saw what these teen warriors do in their everyday lives. Duos kept sparring and feigning fights. On another side, an Astoria descendant kept blasting streams of water at a Vergara descendant who shielded her attacks with a force field. The trio knew that they've just been accepted into an 'elite force', but they knew that they need the ferocity and spunk to keep their hearts beating. They need to yearn for survival, or this life was not for them. There was a reason the ancestors chose them and that was because they embodied potential. They weren't going to let their ancestors down. Life was rough now. They need to learn or they die trying. That's why they're beginning training: to learn.

Nelson jolted them back from their coincidentally same chain of thoughts. "A place without pizza," he said with a smirk and Walt turned red. They ventured into the slightly dark woods, where the tall coniferous trees shielded the sun. Nelson halted in front of the Maradon descendants' back shed, a dingy wooden structure that was as large as a cabin. He knocked on the cracking, wooden door three times, and a teenager with bright red hair opened it. "Sir Nelson, how may I help you?"