The new generation

Part six

OLIVIA

We drove endlessly, only occasionally stopping to get food and go to the bathroom. Carter would make me knock on a farmhouse door and beg for food. The others waited hidden in the car and when the farmer was about to shut the door in front of my face, Firmie would come crawling out from behind a bush with the baby in her arm, covered in filth and blood. Then the farmer would usually curse at us and give us some bread or potatoes.
One time a farmer slammed the door shut on my fingers, crushing most of them. I cried and begged Carter to let me stop but he then threatened to abandon me.
I started to hate him.

After what seemed like forever, Carter managed to rent an apartment in Section Two using all the money he and Firmie had. He had also sold my beautiful silver whale necklace, telling me everyone had to make sacrifices. He changed everyone's name, believing this would help us go unnoticed by KASKADA.
I was now Claire, daughter of Isaiah and Amelie, granddaughter of Katherine and big sister of Grace. We only used our real names when no one else was around. Or at least when we thought we were alone.

CHRIS 

When the men came the next day, my knuckles hurt. I had pounded the walls until they were bleeding, but I put a good face on the matter. They grabbed my arms and pulled me through the corridors until we reached a black door. They pushed me inside, then quickly locked it. Finn was standing in the room, next to a woman who had her head bowed. In front of them was a chair and next to it a tray with scissors on it. "Hello," Finn said. "Did you sleep well?" I didn't answer, I was looking at the scissors. They're going to cut my hair, I just know they will...
"Never mind," he went on. "Sit down." I didn't budge. "What are you going to do?" I whispered. "She's going to cut your hair and you're going to deal with it," Finn said. With tears in my eyes I touched my long brown hair, I was so proud of it.
Finn walked over to me and grabbed my arm. Then he dragged me over to the chair and pushed me into it. He strapped my arms and legs to the chair then barked at the woman. "Get going and make it snappy!" With trembling hands the woman took the scissors. "Please don't cut it off," I pleaded. "Please don't!" The woman stopped and looked at Finn. "What are you waiting for!" He yelled at her. "Don't listen to him, cut it off or you'll regret ever meeting me!"
The woman quickly gathered herself and started cutting. Finn never took his eyes off her. When she was done she bent down and started picking up my hair. Then she threw it away. "Very good, very good, very good," Finn muttered, looking at me. He shooed the woman away and as soon as she was gone six men about my age walked into the room. "Hello, hello, hello," Finn said and smiled at them. "Line up against the wall." They immediately did as told. "Tell Chris here what we do here and why you are all important," he said. "Aris, you start."
"We are going to create a new America," Aris began. He had short black hair and was rather small. His voice sounded very monotonous. "The people living in Sections One and Two are the people that will birth the new generation. Their offspring will be healthy and strong, they will make sure nothing bad ever happens to America again. Therefore we need to protect the people there." Aris stopped and looked at Finn, who nodded approvingly. "We are vital because we are going to protect Sections One and Two from harm."
"Very good, Aris," Finn said. "Introduce yourselves to Chris." One by one they did, trying hard not to look at Finn. They were Appius, Hephaisto, Tiberius, Athanasius, Aris, and Augustus. "Augustus will supervise you for the time being," said Finn. "Everything you do wrong will have a toll on Lynn, okay?" I nodded. "You'll have your first mission in a week, this is your team now, learn to trust them" he said, "you'll train until then, understood?" I nodded again and Aris giggled. Finn gave him an angry glance. Then to me he said, "you are not to nod anymore, answer my questions with: Yes, Finn."
"Yes, Finn," I said.

The next few days were sheer torture. My daily schedule was always the same, it never changed. Every day at four O'clock I was woken up by a shrill bell that practically made me wet my pants everytime it went off. Before I was allowed to have breakfast I was forced to run half an hour. It was a nice enough environment to run in but definitely not a nice time of day. There were several rooms in the headquarters designed to look exactly like a certain piece of nature. A beach, a meadow, a forest and an abandoned village.
After I finished my run I was allowed to have breakfast in the cafeteria. I always sat alone, trying to tune out the monotonous voice of the tv reporter in the background praising KASKADA and everything they had ever done.
Then I usually had a few classes with "my team" which were unpleasant and embarrassing since I was neither capable of memorizing pages of random numbers or doing complex math. After lunch I was forced to train in the gym with my team.
We usually ran around the gym trying to reach our breaking point or played a brutal game called Syrah. Syrah was like wrestling on a ladder, with no rules. Everything was permitted except killing the opponent.
Usually not everyone showed up. Hephaisto, who was ALWAYS there said it was because they hated running and were constantly figuring out new ways to skip sports.