The Insiders

Chapter 32

Chapter 32- Sharlene

"Just tell us the answer!" I shout at Thomas, waving our homework at him. We're all sitting in a circle in the middle of our room wearing our black training clothes. Amy is sitting on Bryce's lap, Coren and I are holding hands and Thomas is off hiding in his bed.

"I can't Shar. That's cheating!" He shouts back. We've been bickering about this for a while. We do everyday actually.

"It isn't really," Coren jumps in. "We're not getting graded on this or anything." Thomas shakes his head and continues with his homework all alone.

"Thomas this has happened every day for the past two weeks; we all know how this ends." Amy tries. He completely ignores her. He's been ignoring her since our conversation in the hallway. It's not a great idea, but I'm not going to tell him that. She frowns at her failed attempt. Bryce puts his arms around her pulling her back into him.

"Fine. We'll do this without you." She spits at him, with anger that doesn't match the hurt expression on her face. I feel bad for them both. Him because he loves her and for her because she doesn't know why he isn't speaking to her.

"How can you discover which way south west is without a compass?" I repeat the question from the homework Steve gave us. Everyone just stares at their paper.

"The way the wind is blowing?" Amy suggests. Coren shakes his head while Thomas laughs. I shoot him a nasty glare which makes him stop.

"The wind could be blowing from any direction." Coren explains ignoring the interaction between Thomas and I.

"Which ever way the animals are going?" Coren suggests. I shake my head.

"There may not be any animals depending on where we are."

"It would also depend on the season." Amy adds. We all let out a frustrated sound.

"What about the way-" Coren tries again.

"POLARIS!" Thomas cries out, jumping out of his bed. He's breathing heavily as if someone was literally holding him back from telling us the answer.

"The North Star, Polaris." He further explains himself. He walks out of bed and into the circle.

"You find Polaris and angle yourself toward south west accordingly." We all begin to smile, knowing our plan worked again.

"Also," Thomas continues his rampage. "You can't build a fire out of wet logs and dry leaves. It has to be thick pieces of dry log." I write down everything he says holding back my laughter.

"Lastly-" Thomas is interrupted by a knock on the door. Coren stands up, letting go of my hand. He opens the door with grace, the kind only he can give off.

"It's time." Steve says. He's wearing a grey shirt with black running pants. He still hasn't shaved around his frown he's been wearing since Kim died. Coren looks back at me with dread but quickly turns back towards Steve.

"We'll be right out." He says shutting the door. We all stand up and put our papers away. This is it. The moment that changes everything. These past two weeks have been making everything better, but today could ruin it all.

"You ready?" Coren says while putting his arm around me. I shake my head.

"I don't think I could ever be ready for this."

When Coren opens the door again, Steve stands up from the wall he was leaning on and begins to guide us to the dining hall. We walk in silence. None of us wanting to talk. Especially when Steve is around. These past two weeks have been good for us, but not for him. He hasn't been the same since the funeral was held for everyone who died in the attack. He hasn't smiled. He talks only in monotone. I've only ever seen him at training. We have all tried helping him, but it seems hopeless. This is his way of grieving and that's fine, but how long is it going to be fine?

The dinning hall arrives too quickly. Steve walks us to our table then disappears into the crowd of trainers. We sit in our normal seating arrangement, Coren and I on one side of the table, Bryce and Amy on the other and Thomas at the head of the table. Even with Steve gone we don't speak. Out of all the groups of children here, none of us speak. I guess it's the surprise meeting about a topic that only the trainers, Coren and I know about. As I look around the groups, I feel as if there's less of us.

'There's about thirty less to be exact.' My evil subconscious chimes in. Liane clears her throat to get everyones attention , even though it's completely unnecessary.

"Good afternoon everyone," She begins. "Today you will be organized into two different groups. The first group will go to the warehouse while the other group will stay here." Steve walks up to her and hands her a list of names. It reminds me of the list Liane was hiding the other day, but it couldn't be, the list I saw had outsider names on it. I listen intently as she calls out the names. I don't recognize any of them until they call one of us.

"Amy Scott." Liane says. She continues the list but I tune out the rest. We all look at Amy. Bryce, Amy and Thomas are very calm. It's Coren and I who panic. Amy going to the other group could be really good or a terrible fate. As Amy makes her way toward Liane, I begin to panic. My breathing quickens and I feel as if I'm going to vomit. Coren grabs my hand, stopping me from going into my dark place. As our fingers intertwine my heart rate goes back to normal and I calm down.

"Those of you standing, follow me to the warehouse. The rest of you stay here and listen for further instructions." Liane finishes. As Amy and her group begin to file out of the dinning hall I realize something, Amy's group is a lot smaller than ours. There's probably only one person going to the warehouse per ten sitting here.

Thomas,Coren, Bryce and I all watch Amy leave. She glances back for only a moment before she is pushed out of the dinning hall by the crowd. Everyone left in the dinning hall chatters about why we're here, but none of them are right. Steve tells us that he will be running the meeting. He makes everyone move as close to the front of the hall as we can. Trainers surround the perimeter of the hall. One of them slams the doors shut causing a quick gasp through the hall. Only then does he begin to tell us what's happening.