After the Wars

4

     "Training at 3 a.m. until breakfast at 6 a.m. and after that there's a three mile run, not jog, on the coast." Redge recites over a plate of mush.

     "Oh," I snicker, "A walk on the beach?" He glares up at me from his slumped over position and rolls his eyes back to his plate. "Yeah... something like that." I gulp down my smile and continue to poke at the gray goop.

     "After that," he continues, "you have hacking classes. You learn how to hack computers, pick locks, even how to read people and their emotions."

     "Why emotions?"

     "It helps tell if someone's lying and to determine their weaknesses. You have those classes till 11 a.m. then you go to weaponry. You stay there till 5 p.m. when you leave for dinner. You've got an hour and forty five minutes to clean up. From 6:45 to 7:45 is free time. After free time it's lights out. But let's get something  straight. The whole purpose of your schedule is to train you, to mold you, and to unify us all as one."

     "Got it." I glance from table to table, taking in all the faces around me. All of which are male. I get a few returned gazes and I drop mine back to Redge.

     "So where are all the girls?" I ask spooning a mouth full of mush.

     "When have you seen a female sailor?"

     "What?"

     "The whole reason everyone on this campus survived is because we were all at sea, dumping waste. We had no choice to go to the capital because we were behind on schedule... way behind."

     "So your trying to turn sailors into soldiers?"

     "Well, that and computer geeks. Veanic, as you know, out numbers us now, dramatically. So if we can't beat them by strength, we'll beat them with brains."

     "Ok, so everyone was at sea which is why they survived. But what about the nurse?"

     "Tather? She tried to run away. She figured the boats would be a good place to hide. After all, they stay gone for days at a time."

     "And she just so happened to be a doctor?"

     "Tather isn't a doctor. She just knows the basics. Both her parents were R.N.s and she couldn't help but pick up on their works."

_'_'_'_'_'_'_'_'_'_

     I walk to join the others in a flood of life. I tug and pull at the clothes from Tather that fit a little to snug. The chatter of the crowd fills the room with life and the heavy body heat forms sweat on my forehead.

     As well as I know, we're headed to hacking classes. But everyone stops and the whispers that once held their attention falls dead silent. Their heads are turned towards an over looking catwalk.

     "Brothers," a stern voice rings around the herd of people. "In the mist of you, there stands a newcomer. You all know what this means. They will take the blood oath and become one of us." Everyone yells and lets out cries of joy at the arrival of a stranger. "But it is not a brother we will gain with this newcomer, but a sister."

Nothing but the constant ring of electricity thrives in my ear. I guess that one took them by surprise.