They Say That In The Army

Chapter 5

When my eyes finally adjust I find out that the hand that grabbed me belongs to Kerek. We run faster and faster on the open field. I get a mouthful of hair as it blows in the wind and it begins to hide my whole face. I try to wipe it off but it's no use, so eventually I give up. We stop at a tree and Kerek quickly climbs up it. He holds his hand out to me and I quickly take it eager to get off the ground. We sit in the tree, me with my shovel in hand and him with his battle axe, in awkward silence for what seems like forever.

I take a deep breath in and exhale loudly immediately regretting my actions when a pair of footsteps come into earshot. I look over at Kerek and i can see the fear in his eyes as he motions me to slide closer to him. I hesitantly and reluctantly shimmy my way over to him. He leans against the trunk and I press my back into his chest as he protectively wraps his arms around me.

"I could have sworn I heard something," two unmistakably familiar voices say in unison.

I immediately relax and try to shake out of Kerek's grip but he refuses to let go. I look back at him quizzically and see that his eyes are glued to something on the field. When I follow his gaze my muscles automatically tense up again. My heart pumps so hard against my rib cage that I think it may break out of my chest and my breath becomes ragged.

I see two men that hold an unbelievable resemblance to the twins but I know they are not. They have two skinny, beautiful antlers protruding from their sculls that reach 6 feet and delicately spiral out.

The twins look our way and a twinkle fills their eye. "Ah hah" says one of the twins.

"We found you," the other follows.

I freeze as the fear sets in. My heart stops beating and I hold my breath.

This is not happening.

A boy steps out from behind the tree trunk. He is tall, with dark skin and his eyes are almost as black as the night. One of the twins aim their gun at his head but before he can pull his trigger the boy's trident is lodged into his forehead. The twin falls face first and the trident fully penetrates his scull and is now sticking out of the other side of his head. Blood gushes from his head but I can barely see it in the dark. The other twin stares down at his brother in disbelief. He aims his gun in the direction of the boy, pulls the trigger, then runs away as the boys cries ring through the field.

When I can no longer see the twin I shake myself out of Kerek's grip, jump down from the tree and rush over to the boy, who is now lying on the cold ground. The bullet had penetrated his leg, leaving it gnarled and bloody. Kerek runs up behind me, removes his shirt and begins wrapping it around the boy in order to slow the bleeding. The boy moans. My stomach begins to knot with nervousness.

That could have been me, if it weren't for the foliage of the tree.

I crawl over to the boys face getting a closer look at his features. He has thick dread locks that reach his shoulders and stubble covers the whole bottom half of his face. He looks to be 18 maybe 19 and his face is contorted with pain.

I sit there awkwardly not knowing what to do. The more I think about the situation the more I wonder why this boy is still alive.

I mean Vixens can see in the dark and they have killed millions of humans why miss him?

The boy struggles to open his eyes. He looks at both of us. "Thanks guys," he coughs out through cries of pain. "My name is Nolan, by the way." A drop of sweat falls from his nose as he tries to sit up and I find myself admiring his strength.

"My name is Kerek and this is Serenity," Kerek says motioning to first himself then me as he introduces us. He gets up and holds a hand out to Nolan for support. "We better get you to the medical tent though because my shirt won't hold for long."

Kerek and I each take a shoulder and lead Nolan to the medical tent. I grimace at the sight of dead bodies strewn all over the field. Faces scrunched with pain... Limbs twisted in an obnoxious fashion... Blood splattered across their entire body... The sight is horrifying. I lift my head from the ground unable to look at those bodies anymore.

When we reach the medical tent Kerek knocks on the door and we can hear the rustle of feet scurrying to open it. A little slot opens rapidly at the top of the door and two eyes look over us. The door opens slightly revealing a short, stout man with grey hair and a long beard. "Whattya want?" he asks in a high, raspy voice.

"He got shot in the leg," Kerek replies quietly.

The man reaches out his hand, grabs Nolan by the collar of his shirt, roughly tugs him in and then abruptly slams the door in our faces.

I stand there like a fool, mouth hanging open in astonishment because of the rudeness of the old man.

"They're always like that," Kerek says in a whisper. He's looking at the ground drawing figure eights with his foot.

"Who are they?" I ask slightly confused.

"We have to get back to the tree. I'll tell you when we get there."

We weave back through the field of corpses that seems to keep expanding. With each step I can hear the splash of my feet stepping in puddles of blood and feel the squish of wet grass under my feet. I could never imagine getting used to that feeling.

We finally reach the tree and I find myself anxiously awaiting Kerek's story. He climbs up again and holds out his hand to hoist me up. When we are both comfortably sitting on our branch across from each other he starts his story.

" 300 years ago, when this war started there was a huge oil spill that devastated a poor town in the northern region. 20 children were exposed to this oil spill and at first there were no effects on those children.

"As they grew older people started to notice that instead of growing taller they grew out and each of them had grey hair and a 10 inch beard by the age of 12. When the doctors finally got to investigate they found that the cells of these children had been genetically modified to make them grow old 10 times fast then any other human and live 20 times longer. So each of the children had about 2000 years to live. They named these children The Ancients.

"With all of this time on their hands The Ancients all became doctors and decided to help patients in the war. But with each new year of seeing people brutally die they become more and more bitter," he sighs. "I guess it messes us all up"

I stare into his blue eyes mesmerized by the sorrow that is hidden behind them. I completely understand where he is coming from and at this moment I realize that everyone needs somebody in order to get through hard times. Maybe I can let someone in just this once.

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picture of the twins horns on the side -------------------------------------------------------------->

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