Death's Shadow

Chapter 7

Maxxy quickly jogged back to the clearing after a minute she stood beside General Brooks and gave him a quick nod before turning to look at the line of adults before her.  After a few minutes and all of the kids were in the clearing lined up Jason stepped out to stand in front of the line of instructors and turned to face the kids.

"Welcome to Camp, behind me are your instructors. We are going to lead you to the sleeping tent there you will pick a bed and get assigned a number. Today you are free to wander, meet the kids you will be training with, and talk to the instructors. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Sir," The kids said in unison.

"Any questions?"

"No, sir."

With that Jason turned and waved for us to follow him. We soon reached a tent that looked much like the medic tent but it was much longer. They all followed Jason inside and went to choose a bed. The tent was made of a tan fabric that let in most of the sunlight but you couldn't see through it, there was no windows and the only exit was the one she just came through. Maxxy quickly headed past everyone to the very back of the tent. She went to the far corned and in the shadows was a bed. At the end of the bed was a large chest with the number 26 carved into the top of it. On the bed was a small pillow with a light grey cover and there was a large fleece blanket the same color. 

Maxxy dropped her duffel bag on the bed and then knelt before the chest and pushed the lid open. Inside were extra uniforms folded ad stacked neatly, another pair of combat boots, a large winter coat, a backpack that was filled with all the simple survival gear, and there was still room for more stuff. Maxxy grabbed her duffel and placed it in the chest. She closed it up and headed for the clearing where she had last seen the instructors.

When she reached the clearing she saw that she was the first one of the students to arrive and the instructors were standing around talking. After a quick look around Maxxy saw General Brooks standing to the side surveying the area. Maxxy skirted around the edge of the clearing until she reached him. Turning to face the open area she watched quietly, waiting for the general to speak.

"So will you speak to me now that the kids are not around?" The general asked.

"Yep," Maxxy said and gave him a small smile, "So who should I know?"

"Well I'm thinking you would do well with firearms and I'd like to get you into sniping. The man on the far side of the clearing is Thomas 'Trigger' Atkins, he is amazing with anything with a trigger. You want to get to know him well, I can't tell him who to train he chooses his students and he only takes the very best, he doesn't take anyone's crap. I think you two will get along pretty well."  The general turned slightly and pointed to a large man who was well muscled with dark hair and green eyes. Then he turned and spook again, "You mentioned you wanted to learn more languages so you might wanna talk to Kayden Leigh he can speak over 40 languages. Also I heard you were working on your pilots licences so you can talk to Wing, don't ask his real name he hates it when people do that. There is a bunch more but those should get you started for now."

Maxxy gave him a nod of thanks before she started walking around the clearing slowly. She hadn't gotten to even touch a gun before in her life but she was in the military so that was her first order of business. She nodded to Jason who had just come back from the sleeping tent then finally found herself beside Trigger. She didn't acknowledge him but instead watched the clearing looking for any kids who had come back from the tents. After a few minutes of silence Trigger spoke, "I've seen you around, you stick close to the general."

Maxxy gave a small nod with out turning to him she knew he would see her small movement. The two continued to face the clearing without looking at each other. Trigger again broke the silence, "Have you ever shot a gun?"