No sooner have my feet hit the dirt of the courtyard floor than the assembly horn rings loudly above my head. Immediately, every inhabitant of this island of banishment pours from the sleeping quarters, gathering in the large courtyard and dividing themselves by Element. Our population numbers somewhere around four hundred men, women, and children of all ages. I have been told that the population has grown over the years, but slowly. There are many deaths every year.
Quietly, I join the Aqua's and try to find Chase. His figure blends too well in the crowd of mostly blonde-haired and blue-eyed Aqua's. Each Element has their stereotype, but, I fit none of them. I don't have red hair like a Pyro or brown eyes like a Terra; however, I do have the slight build of an Aero and the fair skin of an Aqua. I am not a typical Aqua, but no one argues that I might be another Element. They know better.
Chase, however, is very stereotypical. With blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin, everything but his lanky build keeps me from finding him, standing beside his brother Ethan, who would be his twin if there were not an age gap of four years between them.
"Chase!" I call out, bumping into a sandy-haired boy who scrambles to get out my way. It barely registers in my mind that I ran into Ian. Chase looks at me with surprise in his blue eyes. "There was a ship on the horizon this morning!" His eyes widen but before I can communicate my suspicions to him, the Commander's voice blares over the loudspeakers.
"Good morning, all!" Commander Carter begins. I turn to face the source of the noise. "I apologize for the early morning, but I have just received a message from a battleship planning to land here in two days." Gasps and whispers filter through the crowd. Somebody nearby me whispers that the last load brought to this island was mine. "They expect complete and total cooperation from us. They're bringing one hundred healthy, uninjured Elemental's to work here with us." That seems a specific description, I think skeptically.
"What do they want in return?" Someone in the Pyro section of the crowd shouts.
The Commander hesitates to answer. "They want forty strong backs from the ages of fifteen to twenty. Ten of each Element." Argumentative shouts ring out across the crowd, Ian's voice clearly audible with more than a few unnecessary expletives. It takes the Commander a minute to regain everyone's attention, but I hardly notice. My mind whirls a hundred miles a minute. "I have tried everything in my power to convince them not to take from us, but they're Easterners." Here, the Commander pauses, as if waiting for someone to request explanation, but we all know what an Easterner is: lawmakers who have no notion of the terrain they wish to enforce their laws upon. "They have not explained their intentions but have made it very plain that they will be cooperated with. They are willing to use lethal force on anyone who tries to resist or escape." No one is speaking now. No one notices the rustle of palm trees in the sea breeze, promising rain tomorrow. We are all enraptured by the Commander's warning. "Please, for all our sake, do not resist or try to escape. Now, today, we plan to continue work as usual. Aqua's will continue purifying water. Pyro's, you'll be cutting firewood and reinforcing the walls. Terra's..."
I stop listening. A sense of unease has knitted my gut into pretzels. Something terrible is going to happen.
"What do they mean by 'lethal force'?" I wonder, turning to walk to my workplace, where we will purify the ocean water for the rest of the day.
"I don't know," Chase says beside me. I realize that I spoke my thought aloud, and try to conceal my surprise at Chase's answer. "Guns, probably." A dark shadow passes over his face. Unlike me, remembers his time before the Island. I remember nothing before being resuscitated on the deck of the ship that brought me here a year ago. "But there are worse things than guns."
