Victory for the People

Chapter 5

Ava's POV

I'm standing there with Griffin, and we are talking about the recruits. I ask him what he thinks of this year's new crop of recruits. He replies with a disgusted look on his face. I've seen that face before, and that can only mean one thing: he is absolutely upset with the new recruits.

"They're weak, none of them even know what their doing! The best one is Aaron and he can't even defend himself!" he angrily stalks around the room. You can tell he is worried about them. To be honest I am too, but that isn't my job here.

"What do you think about that Collin kid?" I ask when I look up as Griffin sits down and looks at his computer. He looks up at me and answers,

"Collin? Oh I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I can not believe how bad he is. He has no defense, I absolutely think he needs to go. We have to kick him out, he doesn't belong here with the rest of us."

"No, we can't kick him out. He may not have many natural abilities, but I can see some potential in him. If I have to, I'll work with him personally. Day in and day out, non-stop. I'll make sure he gets better. When I get done with him, he'll be just as good as me. What do you say?" I plead. He looks at me with a look I've never seen before, it's discouraged. He actually doesn't believe I could train a weak recruit, so I'm going to do just that. "Give him a chance, Griffin. He looks like he could use it too." I say.

Griffin looks like he's having an internal battle, like fighting on both sides of the war. Finally, he looks at me in the eyes and says, "If you can't get him to be able to take a hit at the end of the week, then he's gone. I can't have a kid like that on my base. I won't allow it." I take that and run with it.

Two hours later, I'm in search of Collin. I find him in the dining hall, he's sitting by some kids who I don't recognize. I walk up to him and he sees me and looks terrified, like he wants to run in the other direction. "Collin, will you come with me? I need to talk to you- privately." He stands up from the bench and that's when I notice he's taller than me, but not by much. He follows me down the hallway and into an empty room. "Okay, things around here are going to change a little bit. Any free time you had just went down the drain. You'll spend all of your time with me, and me only. We're going to be working on your skills and improving them. I'm not going to sugar coat it, Collin, but you are worse than any of the other recruits. You haven't done anything right besides get in the training room at the correct time. So, I'm going to train you personally. By next week you will be able to take a hit to the face and not fall down. Now, get back in there and eat. We start tomorrow, so get a good night's sleep." I watch his back as he walks away and leaves the room.