The Academy

Chapter One: Athena

Athena sat silently on the plane, looking out the window. Far below, the ocean stretched for as far as she could see; but it wasn't the endless blue on her mind- it was what was on the other side of it. It was a long flight from Japan all the way to Canada, but she was willing to make the trip. Eager, really. Few kids got asked to join The Academy.

Athena wasn't Japanese. Her skin was pale and her hair a ruddy brown, but that wasn't abnormal. Few people still lived where they were originally from. Athena didn't even know her own ethnicity. Most of the world didn't. Just about everyone had mixed backgrounds. Race was of little consequence today: few things were of consequence. All that mattered for the past fifty years or so was one's ability to survive. Most of Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa was overrun already. There, life was hard and short. The main reason Athena's parents had moved to Japan was because it was an island and therefore safe- for now. The Terrors hadn't yet braved travel by air or water.

The Terrors. The monsters had come when an asteroid hit Earth about fifty years before. It was said that the asteroid shouldn't have made it through the atmosphere without being shattered, but it had because something had held it together. The Terrors. They were shadowy beings that preyed on anything that moved. They would have been eradicated long ago, but they had the ability to trick the human mind. They could take on the form of a human while separately being a shadow. The two bodies, moving as one, could easily take out any human opponent. Athena had never seen a Terror before, but she was sure that she would soon enough. Her future place at the Academy made that everything but certain.

She was startled out of her thoughts as a man sat down in the empty seat beside her. He was small and wiry with huge blue eyes and a piercing gaze.

"Aron Grey, from the Academy," the man flashed an ID, "But you will refer to me as Mister Grey if not Professor Grey. I am here to tell you that your training begins now."

Athena didn't know what to say.

"But I'm not at the Academy yet!"

"And you won't be for quite a while yet. You have to pass the entry exams first."
Entry exams? She'd never been told anything about that! Mr. Grey didn't give her a chance to argue this but shoved a pack into her arms.
"Go to the restroom and change into this. It is your Academy uniform."
Not sure what to say, Athena nodded curtly. She took the pack- a simple green and brown camouflage backpack- and headed for the restroom.

She was not impressed much by the outfit. It was all camouflage.

'Why on Earth will I need this now?'

But she still put it on. She was surprised to find it comfortable. The pants were stretchy and fitted. The top was a green t-shirt and there was a brown leather jacket to go on top. There was also a pair of brown sneakers. They had deep treads and were very flexible. Despite the ugly look of the outfit, she didn't mind wearing it because it fit her so well. Digging deeper into the pack she was shocked to find a belt loaded with a cell phone, a camera, and a pistol with extra bullets.

'I'm sixteen years old! They're handing me a gun?'

That felt ridiculous. She tried to find a way to justify this, since the Academy was so well-respected, but she couldn't. Athena shook her head and moved on.

There was a compact wallet with real Canadian cash and an Academy ID card prepared just for her. Her picture was on it along with her name and birth date and a big long number that was probably her identity code. She stuffed the wallet in her deep pockets. Digging deeper into the backpack, she found plastic bags full of non-perishable foods- dried meats, and crackers, cans of fruits, vegetables, and soups. It seemed as if they were preparing her for some kind of wilderness survival. Athena pushed the thought from her mind. The Academy was a huge facility in Ontario, not a trailer park. It was a campus where hundreds of kids trained to defend the world from the Terrors. They were all between the ages of thirteen and nineteen as studies had shown that teenage minds resisted the Terrors' mind tricks best- better with training. Athena had been chosen because of her grades. She'd worked her whole life- sacrificed so much- because she had always longed for a place in the Academy. Now she was beginning to doubt whether or not it was going to be all she'd expected.