A Teen For Life

Chapter 4

The sun was just starting to rise when they arrived at the camp. Now Acia knew what Danny had meant when he said that they'd know when they were outside of the capital. The capital hadn't been much to look at. Mostly factories, stores, and compounds. But even they had a park with trees and grass. It was mostly there for the upper class, but still. Outside the city it was way worse. She hadn't seen any signs of life other than herself and two companions until they had almost reached the camp. At one point she even asked Danny about it.

"You don't know much about outside the capital do you? Most of the world was raven gedanken by the third world war. Most of it is still in ruins. There are only two other official cities other than Jaylic City and they're not in much better condition."

"I didn't know. I always figured that life was better outside the capital."

"Well it's not."

They had continued the rest of the trip to the camp not saying anything. The only noise had been Fae's voice as she asked Danny questions about the resistance like: How big were they really? And why hadn't they been able to take the Overlord yet?

Most of the time Danny would just remain silent, occasionally responding with, "You'll learn more when we reach camp."

When they reached the camp they were met by two men with make-shift knives. They greeted Danny with a hearty "Sir." Danny just nodded at them and headed in. As soon as the guards were out oh earshot, she placed herself in front of him. Danny stumbled to a stop, almost falling on her.

"What are you doing," he said sounding slightly annoyed.

"What is this? Why do people keep calling you sir?"

"What? Oh, that. It's not a big deal. I'm just-" Just then someone cut them off.

"Alex?" She turned around at the sound of the too familiar voice. Standing a couple feet away, was her best friend Kara. She looked great, better even. Acia had never seen Kara so happy. She still had the same dirty blonde hair, but it was now cut short and was spiked up in all directions. She was fairly small, only five foot three, but she exuded strength and confidence. She ran up and hugged Acia in a bone crushing bear hug. Apparently she had gotten much stronger since she joined the resistance. "It's so good to see you Alex," she gushed.

"Thanks," she said squeezing her back as hard as she could, never wanting to lose her again. Eventually they both let go. "I go by Acia now though."

"Acia? Why?"

"Well... because you left. I thought they did something terrible to you and I'd never see you again. I couldn't handle it. So I gave myself the closest thing I could to a knew life. A identity. A new name."

Kara gave her a sad smile. "I'm sorry Ale- I mean Acia. I didn't even know they were taking me to the resistance until I was here. If I had, I would have gotten to take you with me too."

Acia shook her head. "It's not your fault. And if you want, you can still call me Alex. I only changed it because I couldn't handle losing you."

"Nothing, I'll get used to it. Besides, it's way better. You came up with it yourself and not some scientist who works in the production factory."

Acia smiled. She was glad to have her back. Danny cleared his throat. "I'm glad you to have gotten to see each other again, but I really must get Acia and Fae to Ally before she has to leave."

"It's too late. You just missed her. She had to leave early today."

Danny muttered something under his breath. "Fine. I'll just have to find their mentors myself.

"Uh, Danny sir," Kara said. "If I may be so bold, I would like to request that I be Acia's mentor. I know I've only been here a few months but-"

"Fine." Kara looked surprised by his answer. "You're one of our most promising members. Just make sure you train like you would train anybody else."

"Of course sir." He left with Fae to go find her a mentor.

Acia turned to Kara. "Okay, what is that? Why does everyone keep calling Danny 'Sir'?"

"You mean he didn't tell you? Danny is one of the highest ranking members of the Jaylic City sector of the resistance. His head of our espionage division."

Now Acia had even more questions. "How is he the leader of anything? He's only fifteen! Shouldn't someone older like you be in charge?"

Kara shrugged. "He's good at what he does. Besides, it's not like he's our youngest member. We have members from all three classes. Obviously though the one's from the upper class are on the older. Usually they're ten to twelve."

"Wait, so it's not just teens and people who used to be teens?"

"Nope in fact our leader Ally is and adult in her forties."

"Okay," she said trying to wrap her mind around what she had just learned. "And you said we're in the Jaylic City sector right? Does that mean the resistance is bigger than just this camp?"

"That's right. We have a camp out side all three major cities, as well as members like Danny stationed inside. Now, enough questions for now. I want to show you around. We'll start with my tent and end with the training arena." She grabbed Acia by the hand and a dragged her back towards the beginning of the camp.