Endless War (Complete)

Chapter 3 "Meet and Greet"

Meet and Greet

There is nothing special about this room, it is the same grey as the rest of the facility. We are surrounded by four walls and there is a man standing behind a podium up on a small stage. He looks like he is my mothers age and is wearing the same uniform we are, but with more stripes. I suppose that some people are assigned to work the war front, like others are assigned jobs like a teller or sales clerk.

"Ok, nineteen and twenty, everyone is here." The older man looks out over the room and rolls his eyes. I hear him whisper under his breath but cannot make out what was said. "Welcome, platoon June 3rd, 3717. You should know that you will be fighting this war together, and will have one day to get to know one another. You will then watch each others backs as if they were your own. Got it?" He rambles on as if he is reading from a script.

"Yes, Sir!" We say in unison, though I feel as if it is almost against my will.

We walk around the room introducing ourselves to our fellow birthdate sharing platoon and no one truly stands out from the next. I suppose it could be our chips, making us seem insignificant to one another. This is so we don't feel guilty in the field when we loose a platoon member. Why would they say that we are to protect one another if we are swayed at the same moment to think no one matters but ourself?

I feel like I did yesterday with my mom. I feel as if we are being fed alternate stories, as if they are trying to confuse us. "Andrews," I pull her to the side of the group and she looks at me as if we had never met. "Who am I?"

"You are Petrova, you are a member of my platoon." She tilts her head to the other side. "You should introduce yourself to the others." She states then walks away without a second glance.

Ok what the hell is going on here, am I the only one that has any train of thought left? Why me? Why can't I just be brainwashed like the rest of them. Maybe I have a defective chip, and I should go and have it replaced. I shake my head, no that is what the chip is telling me to do. I shouldn't bring attention to this, for some reason I am able to think on my own. I will fight, but will not be controlled as if I am no more than a robot.

I suppose from this point on I should just act like everyone else, indifferent to my surroundings. I take a deep breath to ground my thoughts, standing still I look around the room without moving my head. I watch as the others interact with one another, their movements are almost robotic. I mimic their movement the best I can and make sure to go to each of the other members just to say my name. I stake their hands and move to the next person.

I reach the man who was in front of the room and shake his hand. He looks up at the ceiling then makes eye contact. "Johnson, platoon leader."

"Petrova." I reply.

He turns on his heel and walks away. "Pointless exercise. Let's meet this weeks robots." He mumbles as he approaches the next platoon member.

It is time to go to another room. A random thought runs through my head, taking my attention away from the platoon leader. I follow the rest of the group into a narrow hallway that leads us to a room full of weapons. We form a single file line and are given a canteen followed by a backpack filled with supplies. Finally we are given our weapon, immediately I know what it is and how it works. Ammunition is not needed it fires an energy pulse that overloads the brain of the Fallen, killing them painlessly. If the weapon stops firing there are five replacement batteries in our pack and more in the field.

I shake my head out of the random access memory hold the chip has on me and find that I have already stowed my weapon. I really don't like this chip. Our enemy the Fallen, such a dreadful name. It is as if they have already lost and we are just serving as crowd control. Shit, I blink my eyes rapidly trying to clear my head then follow the rest of my platoon to the plane where we reverse our backpacks and take a parachute.

The noise from the planes engines drown out the constant flow of orders that my chip keeps pumping through my brain and for just a little while it is just me in my head. This is a first, I have never been alone in my own mind, a girl could get used to this.