All's Fair in Love and War

The first time I heard there was a war between Austritain and Swedaly I was only seven years old. My dad was recruited and he died not three days later. My mom was confined to her bed and I never actually got to get over his death due to the fact that I was constantly telling her everything would be fine.

I was an only child, so I was always really lonely. We lived in a desolate area, so there weren’t that many children around, and the few that were were all affected by the war in some strange way. I made a vow when I turned eleven that I would one day go off to join the army so that I could avenge my late father. The schools had all closed down because 99.99% of the government’s budget went to the army and the military. This did not stop me from educating myself through reading. When I was not reading, I was training for my future in fighting. The day I turned fourteen would be the day I threw away my life here. But back then, I contented myself with trying to coax my mom out of bed.

So far she’s been out of bed four times, maybe more now, for all I know she could be dead, because like I planned, the day I turned fourteen, I was pulled into the delicate balance of brute strength and logical wit. I tried not to make friends, I knew if I did that they’d probably end up dead, and I couldn’t spare ay tears, not until Swedaly was obliterated, they would pay for what they did to my dad, he was my best friend and no one could replace him, only the satisfaction of seeing the lifeless corpse of Swedaly’s king would fill the empty void inside of me *Growl* oh wait, that was just my stomach. Back to my brooding, when I turned sixteen I began training the newbies, now I’m seventeen and they asked me to join the “secret army” or as we often refer to it as the elites. This means that I’ll be among the best, only used on special missions, such as ambushes, secret missions, or secret weapons for when we lose too many men. We were Austritain’s pride and joy and also the reason that we’d win the war. When I first entered, I was put into G-2, the group that they put the newcomers in until they place them; we take three exams to see which group we’ll fit into. The obstacle course, the test, and the weapons course. Each consisting of their own way of brutally testing you. The ranks were very uniform, there were exactly thirty groups, A-F and 1-5. The letter meant how good you are at what you do, so F’s would be used for easy missions, and A’s would be used for the nearly impossible. Number’s meant what you did on your missions, 1) “secret weapon” 2)ambush 3)secret missions 4)”brains” 5)spys. My hope was to be in A-1, 2, or 3, or at least make it there.

“Rayne, Memory,” I jumped at the sound of my name and stood up, my hands already moving to the respectful salute position.

“Sir?”

“We have your results, please follow me.” I followed him to a small soundproof room, “You could’ve said it out there, I don’t have stage fright,” I said.

“No, this requires that no one else hear it. You are in squad Z-0.”

“Z-0?” I questioned, I’d never heard of such a troop.

“Yes, here’s all the information you’ll need to make it, I assume you know how to get there? And you’re on your way.” He said, shoving a manila folder at me before ushering me out the door. I still had a question, but then I heard him call, “Christyne, Dominick,” On my way to the elevator I scanned the sheet so I knew what I was getting into. ‘Z-0 is an unknown squad within our organization. Only a select few are chosen to be made members within Z-0…’ I scanned the rest of the sheet and it basically said was that I would be able to conduct any mission any time I wanted to and I could use any squad I wanted to. However I would be in constant danger and always at higher risk if I were to put myself in a situation I couldn’t get out of. At the bottom it said ‘your life comes above all others, be safe.’ And then some old guy’s signature. I punched the up button and waited. When it opened I hit the 0 floor. For some reason our keypad was labeled (from top to bottom) 0, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, lobby. I don’t know why. The little bell dinged and my ride momentarily stopped and I got a new elevator buddy. I gave a curt nod. He nodded back and turned to punch in his number, to see I had already hit it.