COMBAT

Chapter 1

       Chapter 1

         He was beautiful. It was undeniable, and unnerving. The very way his face and body were shaped scared her. He looked evil. He looked like he could kill you. He looked like someone who would. And it was impossible to look away. His grey blue eyes held hers as she approached him, blonde hair sticking up at all angles from his angular face. He was well built, and every feature was so intense. On anyone else it would be too much. On him it was…

          Taryn walked into a wall. His striking face was transformed by laughter as he watched, and his laugh mesmerised her once again. He saved her from walking into yet another solid object.

          “I’m Archer,” He said, still laughing as he looked into her bright emerald eyes, “Archer Deceit.”

       “Taryn,” She answered, her voice light despite the way her chest was churning at the sight of him, “Taryn Siena Keane.”

         Archer looked at her acutely, his eyes full of the type of wisdom that brought depression. He looked at her sadly.

          “Welcome to COMBAT, Taryn.”

         It was the most open secret anarchist organization ever. They were located right in the capital city, Poluce, and had a small village which was their base. Archer led Taryn around the village, showing her where everything was.

      “Artillery room, mess hall, boardrooms, mission command,” He said, pointing at what looked like small wooden houses on the outside. On the inside, they were completely different. The houses were just a front, leading to vast underground buildings of steel that were interconnected and seemed much more fitting to the cause.

   “And these are the barracks,” Archer led her to a group of small clustered houses, and opened the door to one. Inside there were two bunk beds, one on each side of the one-room house. “This is where you will be staying.”

     “Oh?” Taryn said. “Who else lives here?”

     “I do,” Archer said, smiling at the shocked expression that filled Taryn. She started nervously playing with her long braid of brown hair.

     “But...you’re a boy,” She pointed out. Archer nodded.

     “One other boy and one other girl live here too. C’mon, we’ll go find them and I’ll introduce you.” Archer moved towards the centre of the room and opened a trap door in the floor. “After you, m’lady,” he said. Taryn walked to the trapdoor and looked down in fearfully. There was a ladder going down about 30 feet into another steel building.

      “Afraid of heights?” Archer asked.

     “No, only falling from them,” Taryn answered weakly. Archer took hold of her left hand.

     “Don’t worry, Taryn. I won’t let you fall.” Taryn looked at him, wondering why her name sounded so wonderful coming out of his mouth, and wondering if it was stupid to completely trust someone she had met only ten minutes ago. She started to climb down the ladder. After making it to the bottom, she looked around. Tons of teenagers were running around, spanning the ages seventeen to thirteen. The wall behind her had ladders going all the way across it, leading up to the small bunk houses. Archer lithely dropped down beside her.

    “This is where all the kids in COMBAT hang out when we’re not on missions,” Archer said, starting to walk straight. Taryn followed him.

     “Thirteen year olds go on missions?” She asked timidly.

     “Yes. We start training when we are five, and when we hit thirteen we move out of the children’s wing and start getting assigned to missions,” Archer explained tonelessly, like it was something drilled into his mind from a pamphlet.