The Soldier

CHAPTER TWENTY

 This is it. Today's the day.

I stand next to a bunch of fellow cadets I've never talked to, and my heart is pounding. It's not me I'm worried about; it's Leslie.

She waits by herself, near some other cadets who are frolicking with their guns. She doesn't talk to them either.

I'm so worried about her, that I don't even notice when Commander Blues comes onto the stage platform in front. Apparently, I'm not the only one. He has to whistle to get everyone's attention. Officer Aurelia follows behind, then the soldiers dressed in gray, their cold stares menacing, and their Primors guns loaded and ready. - For anyone who decides to run away. It seems ridiculous for anyone to even try. The camp is watched twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week with drones, hovercrafts, and other security watch. It'd be suicide to escape.

The last person upon the stage: Jacob, who avoids my stare, as if he doesn't remember anything from last night. I turn my head away and just keep my fists clenched tight. I don't need to worry about that right now. I need to get through the Test. Even if I don't go Home, my family will still be put to shame. May as well be a form of being sent Home. I'll still be a soldier, but what will happen to my family? My father; what will happen to him as the President? Most likely, the Lab Division will take him out. I would be left with nothing but cold ashes; at the thought that my family would be starving, and I wouldn't be able to save them. Nothing, but watch them slowly fade away. So, still, I have to pass.

When we all salute to a hologram of our flag. - A gray silhouette of a bird, whose wing are spread apart, and its tail is surrounded by crimson red sparks. The rest of the flag is a royal blue background. I salute, the palm of my hand on my chest, my back in the straightest posture I can jest. I must not fail.

"All right, who's up?" Commander Blue asks.

Jacob's about to answer, but Officer Aurelia interrupts: "Soldier Castor, the President Castor's cadet, sir. We're going in alphabetical order, sir."

I swear I see Jacob body go tense.

Everyone's eyes focus on me. I ignore every one of them except for Leslie. Her head is focused towards the ground, but she's staring at me in the corner of her brown eyes. I see her thumb go up; a sign of good luck.

I turn around and head to the stage. The Primor who seems to be the one in charge comes to me, twisting a needle in her hand.

"Hold out your wrist, Miss Castor." The woman asks, more of a demand.

I remember her. She was the one who shot the dog when she was trying to make an example at Len Learning School when I was five. Twelve years and it looks like she hasn't aged at all.

I obey, holding out my left arm. She brings the needle to my index finger, then

Plunges

It

In.

The world has disappeared and has been replaced with darkness.

The darkness must not be so infinite, because I can spot a light off in the distance.

I head towards it before I even notice who I'm staring at. My home.

All around my glowing home are embers that have not yet sparked. Smoke willows in thick flumes around me, filling my nostrils and making them sting. Burning tears arise up in my eyelids, threatening to fall. I keep them in though, remembering that every Primor, that every officer, even every cadet, are watching me. I cannot fail this test.