They Say That In The Army

Chapter 3

For being the first to comment on chapter 2 thank you :)

Ok so here is the third chapter. Please read and give feedback! 

There is a picture of Ilicis on the right ------------------------------------------------->

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"So... would you like to know what you are walking into?" Lt Brant asks.

I look at him in the rear view mirror with an indifferent expression trying to mask the eagerness that is growning inside me. It dawns on me that I had been to devastated with thoughts of the army to even think about the fact that I will finally get to hear about the southern region. You see, while you are growing up in the Northern region of the Earth you are forbidden to hear anything about the Southern region until you are admitted in to the army. Yes, we hear rumors but they get more and more ridiculous each year so I have decided not to believe them.

I fidget in my seat trying to get into a comfortable position so I can hear what he is about to say.

"Alright, great then we'll tell you," says Lt Brad with a sneer.

As the brothers tell their story they continue to take turns speaking.

"About 300 years ago there was an old women named Sicili. A month before her death she decided that she wanted to leave her mark on the world because she hated the thought of being forgotten. She decided to create an exact copy of herself as an adolescent but this clone would live forever.”

“Sicili took a sample of her DNA and cloned it in order to create a new version of herself, that she name Ilicis. Unfortunately Sicili didn’t live long enough to teach Ilicis anything about morals, survival, or the outside world in general.”

“Ilicis was left alone to fend for herself and driven by survival she was corrupted by a horrible thirst for blood. She turned cannibal and killed twenty innocent people in the duration of an hour. When she gave into this thirst she grew two antlers on the top of her head like a deer. We never found the cause for this it was just some kind of malfunction in the clones.”

“Once Ilicis was found the Governor cast her out into the deserted Southern region of the world. They labeled her a Vixen and forbid her from ever crossing the border separating the Southern region from the Northern region otherwise she would be automatically killed.”

“Because of her isolation she began to study the humans in the Northern region by hacking into the camera system that the Governor had created to spy on his citizens. After years of studying each person she was able to create exact genotypes for each human.”

“Ilicis made a Vixen of each person that was born in the Northern region after that and on her 100th birthday she sent them out to attack the Northern region. Humans were entirely unprepared for this attack and many of them died within the first day of the attack. After the first week we had lost half of the human race do to this attack.

“By then though, the humans had begun to fight back but the Vixens had a huge advantage because they had a larger army and with each new person hat turned 16 Ilicis would create another Vixen form their DNA. This is why you become eligible to go to war at 16 since by then you are responsible for making her army larger.”

“Now 200 years later this war is still going on because Ilicis refuses to give up, saying that she will kill, all of the humans no matter the cost.”

“This is why we are still at war and why we are always telling you to prepare for what awaits you.”   

I stare at them with wide eyes and my mouth feels dry from being open for so long. All of this information has made me speechless and I do not know how to react.

I mean yes, I hate the Souther-I mean the Vixens for what they have done to my region, for all of the families they have torn apart but it is hard enough killing a stranger let alone my own clone or worse yet, my family’s. I could never imagine doing that.

“Do you have any questions?” Lt Brant asks pulling me away from my thoughts.

I take a deep breath erasing all the physical evidence of my worry. “No, I get it,” I say in the best bored expression I can muster.

“Great, then be prepared to fight Ytineres,” says Lt Brad totally oblivious to my act.

We drive for an hour in silence and as this time passes I can feel an immense amount of anger welling up inside of me. They should never have kept these secrets from us for so long. They are sending us into this war totally unprepared for what awaits us and I am finally realizing the full injustice of this act.

I am about to confront the twins about this madness when they speak up simultaneously,  “We’re here!”

We pull up to a huge field of brown, dead grass and I am surprised to find that except for a couple of portables a couple of miles off the field is empty.

“Where is everyone…?” I ask confused.

This is a war right? Doesn’t that usually mean kids with gun, dead, rotting corpses, and blood?

The twins look at me incredulously and say, “you don’t watch the news?” I shake my head. They look at each other with sly grins on their faces and nod, then they turn back and look at me still with their sly grins and I sit in fear and anticipation waiting for their answer.

“Well you see Serenity,” Lt Brant starts, “a couple years ago the council decided to host war at night so they could clean up the field during the day.”

“And who needs to see when you are trying not to be killed right?” Lt Brad finishes.

I look at them with wide eyes for a couple of seconds before they burst out laughing and slapping each other’s hands.

“Nah we’re just pulling your leg,” Brant says between giggles.

“The council didn’t decide this-“

“Ilicis did.”

“What? Why?” I ask in udder confusion.

This is just too much all at once!

“Because she thought it would give the Vixens an advantage since they can see in the dark,” Lt Brant says with a shrug.

Okay now my jaw is permanently glued to the floor…  

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So there is is I hope you liked it! Please leave any feedback in the comments good or bad :) Thanks for reading! P.s. just in case there is any confusion Ytineres is Serenity's Vixen and I will have a picture of her next chapter :)