Gaea [ON HOLD]

Chapter 4

        

        I follow a boy named Luca. He walks towards a small building a few buildings down from the House, where the incident happened. "So, why did you choose to do this job?" He asks.

        "Well, no one else volunteered and I thought that they were pretty important to our... society. And plus, the job sounded interesting enough. So I thought I would give it a try."

Luca stops in his tracks and looks at me strangely. "You don't join the Gatherers just because it sounds interesting. You join it if you think you're ready." His short brown hair blows across his head with the wind.

        "What do you mean, ready?"

        "I mean that you're good with weapons, know how to grow vegetables, and fruits."

By this time, we're already at the small shack. Luca opens the door and goes inside. I follow him. Inside, furniture is neatly arranged in a small U shape. The only other thing in the building is a trapdoor which Luca opens. Dust flies out of the opening.  

        When we are down the trapdoor, the first thing I see is shelves. Shelves filled with weapons, like axes, swords, guns, spears. The whole room is filled with them, and there are rows of shelves. "Take what you want. Anything."

I look around and finally find a set of twin swords. They're perfect. About four pounds, full black, with a leather grip and a nice design. I also pick up a small 9mm gun from a shelf. Luca takes a weapon that has a chain with a scythe-like blade at the end. 

        We head outside and into the afternoon sun. "Now we go to the training center. That is where we go if you want to become a Crop Gatherer."

        "But why do we need weapons if we are just farmers?" I ask, but as soon as the words leave my mouth, I know the answer.

        "Wars." Luca says simply.

                                                                                     .......

        When we arrive at the Training Center, Luca and I split up. I go to the shooting range. When I get there, I see about five people shooting big rifles. I observe that they hit the center every single time. How do they do that? How long have they been practicing for this job? WIll I be this good one day?

        I walk over to an empty shooting lane and pick up my gun. I raise it up and look at the board. I squeeze the trigger with my pointer finger and my body lurches with recoil. I look at the red board and don't see a bullet hole; my buillet hit about five feet to the left. I raise up the gun again, but this time hold it steady with my right hand. My elbow rests against my ribs. This time, when I shoot, the recoil isn't as much and I hit the board. 

        I try over and over again, replacing my bullets about five times, and I look at my progress. I have hit the board all but a few times, and have hit the center once. After I rejoice, I walk over to the field and see Luca wield his chain blade like a pro. He swings it all around his body and rips the bamboo stalk into shreds. Sweat pours down his face when he turns and smiles at me. "Done?"

        "Yeah. What is that thing?"

        "It's a kusarigama, a chain-scythe."

        "How does that work? It looks hard."

He walks up next to me and we walk back to the House. It's evening now, almost time for dinner. "It's used to spin the blade to immobilize the opponent so that the wielder can rush forward with the scythe."

        "Oh, okay."

By this time, we are already at the House, and we walk in. Everyone is eating their dinner, and a few people steal glances at us. I see Leo and jog over to him. "Hey! What're you guys doing here?" Leo asks.

        "Oh, you know, the usual. Hunting elephants." I mutter.

        "Oh, come on. I was just joking. How was the training?"

        "It was fine. I learned how to shoot a gun." I shrug.

        "That's good. Well, you should eat now, because tomorrow you have a long day."

I get my food from the cook, Eddie, eat, and head home. I open my door and go inside. Yawning, I lay down on my bed. In about five minutes, I fall asleep.

OH YEAH!! 2 CHAPTERS IN TWO NIGHTS!! You guys should be proud. No, I'm serious. This is like a once in a lifetime chance. Take it. Thanks so much for helping me reach 200 reads! Oh yeah, and the swords on the side are the swords that Lance has.