Haven's Army

Chapter 1

The rough boar hair of my toothbrush ground across my teeth. My reflection in the cloudy, shattered glass made it look as if I had just risen from the dead. I turned on the scale-covered sink, rinsed, and ran down the long hall, past all the others finishing their morning hygiene routine. I was going to be late for first hour class, whereas the others around me had second hour class.

I hurried out the heavy metal front door of the bunker and grabbed my combat boots off my bunk, labeled with my cadet number and name:

8326-4
CHARLOTTE

I tugged them on, hopping so I could keep my balance but still make my way out. Outside, I joined the back of the line of the others in my class, made up of a few from my age group, the Fourteens (those of us that would be turning fourteen in the next year), as well as the two above, Fifteens and, the oldest, Sixteens. On the day that marks the sixteenth year after the day of your birth, you are sent off to become an Angel, the protectors of Haven.

All of us looked exactly the same. We all had bronze skin. The girls had dark brown hair that was cut short, exactly an inch above our shoulders, and brown eyes, while the boys had shorter hair in the same shade of brown and the same brown eyes. We were all required to wear a white, long-sleeved, button up shirt and black, regular-cut dress pants down to mid-ankle. Those of us in the back still had damp hair from the showers.

I hated all the restrictions, but I knew if I opposed, I would be executed. They didn't bother hiding that they were dragging such traitors, screaming, off the island on a ship. There used to be a boy, back when I was first assigned to Bunker 3. Almost everyone was cold towards those of us that were new. After all, we were all only Eights, while the rest of them were at least a year older. Before that, we lived in the children's home. But this boy (I still remember his name, Elias), who was three years older, was extremely kind to all the new recruits. It wasn't that he was partial to me in any way; I just looked up to him.

But because of the way he spoke about The Halo's evils when he thought no one was listening, I wasn't surprised when he disappeared a year before I was sure he was supposed to graduate. When he never came back to dinner in the mess hall one night, I was the first of the twelve-year-olds that had looked up to him to realize what had happened. We weren't supposed to feel partial to people in any way but I remember not being able to sleep well that night. I already missed the sparkle in his eyes that I had never seen, a brightness of hope and trust.

In an attempt to forget, I began to work harder. I became top of my class until I hesitated on a test and was knocked down, overtaken by a boy a year my senior. Determined to try harder, I beat him again. But I always watched his cadet number on the sheet, 7972-4. Names were not posted. Though we were given them as a child, our given names were only to be trusted with those we trusted ourselves. That was another thing that amazed me about Elias: he didn't give his number in introductions, 4090-4, he gave them Elias.

One day, the boy who fought so hard for the top disappeared as well. I never saw his number on the list again.

Our Veteran appeared and I was shaken from my thoughts. We all straightened, saluted him with a hand to our forehead, palm out, and left hand straight down, like we had been taught. Then, he walked down the lines and made sure we had gotten cleaned up properly, shouted at the few that messed things up, and barked an order. We dropped our salutes and turned. Then we marched in perfectly straight lines, in time with each other. A few short minutes later, we got to the small, brown brick building that was our school.

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I tried to listen as the teacher explained the history of Haven. Rain began pattering on the thin roof.