The Great Awakening

Chapter 12

            Today was firearms training and Jayden sat down at a table in the mess hall, biting down on a breakfast that consisted of granola cereal, a rather large apple, and raisins. He didn’t feel as bad as he did yesterday, mainly because his depression usually hits the hardest at night. He took several bites as Olivia came over and sat down in front of him. “Hey, Jayden.”

            “Hey,” He replied apathetically.

            “Did you hear about what happened?”

            “What?” The question sparked his interest.

            “I guess the new prime minister enacted a new security law. The security is cracking down on the citizens!”

            She seemed so enthusiastic about it that it was almost sickening. But Jayden himself could connect the dots to see how this would affect their training program. Troy isn’t a soulless monster. He could feel emotions and has compassion and guilt, despite his reputation for being a terrible father so far. He would try his hardest not to let people die in his wake. He would give him credit for that. But just because Jayden knew this doesn’t mean he was ready to forgive him.

Taking this into account, Jayden knew exactly how it would affect the Academy. The military assignment training will most likely be rushed at this point.

            Jayden continued to munch on the granola. “What have they done so far?”

            “Rumor has it, they are doing home invasions and the amount of public executions have increased!” She said.

            The spoon that he held dropped onto the metal tray and could be heard through the rustling of recruits, teachers and assistants, but no one paid any heed to the noise. “Typical,” was all he could say.

            “Aren’t you surprised that the government would do this?”

            Not really... he thought. After all, Olivia just had to run away with her father to get to the coup. Melissa and Jayden had their own set of events to deal with. After those events, Jayden understood now that the government would do anything to retain its power. Even if it meant lying to their people and executing them on the grounds that it is for public safety.

            When Olivia received no answer she sighed and continued. “So how do you feel about weapons training?”

            “Im ready for it,” he sighed. “As ready as I can be.”

            “Good,” she gave off a sincere smile and stood up. “See you around Jay.”

            At about precisely 830 hours that morning, Troy gave the announcement about quickening the pace of the training programs to the recruits, confirming Jayden’s previous assumptions. Rather than two weeks of firearms training, as originally anticipated, it would have to be reduced down to just a mere week, and the military training programs would have to be cut down from three months to a month. The other programs, with the exception of Transport, stuck to the same curriculum. But still, it was mandatory to learn how to shoot.

            After the quick announcement, they were directed to the indoor shooting range. The moment Jayden had walked in, he had to bar his nose. It reeked of hot metal, and something burning, as if someone poured dirt into a fire. There were enough stations for all fifteen recruits. On each station was a gun and to the right of the gun was a box with the words ‘9mm.’ Whatever that means.

            Troy was standing at the edge of the room, tapping his foot nervously and tapping his fingers in his crossed arms, as if waiting impatiently for something. He continued to speak. “Recruits! Take your positions up at the range!”