Of Angels and Demons: A New Generation

The Recruiter

I try my best to sneak past my parents and get to my room, but Moxi quickly runs through the house and jumps on my dad "What's hangin, my man?" Moxi asks as my dad sighs and pats his head. "You're definitely still a weird child, but Malick, what did you do to get both of you sent home?" he asks as I point to Moxi, who now is rummaging through movies and books. "Ask him, he's the one who got us in trouble." I say with a smile. "Moxi, what on earth could you have done this time?" I hear my mother say from behind me. I quickly turn around to see her looking slightly upset. She seems to be handling this pretty well considering I just got sent home early. I think to myself as Moxi laughs and looks to her.  "I only antagonized one of the members of the DAA." he says as my mom gasps. My father quickly speaks up, "You did what?!" He yells at Moxi as Moxi waves his hand back and forth. "I just brought up some info that I probably shouldn't know, but it's fine. The only disciplinary actions they're taking against us are forcefully conscripting us into the DAHC." Moxi says as my mother covers her mouth in shock. "My little baby might be fighting on the front line?" She asks, almost panicked. "Nothing so extravagant, most likely they'll just put us through typical training for the DAHC. We're still 17, so the worst they could feasibly do is deploy us locally, if it even comes to that." Moxi says, reassuring my mother. My father grunts. "Hmph, well I think basic training would be good for the both of you. Teach you both the difficulties of the military and teach you to respect the people who defend us." My father says in a sour tone. He suddenly jumps, almost in fear. I quickly look towards him. "Everything ok?" I ask as he nods. "I might have just had a nerve in my back get pinched, I think I need to lay down for a little while." He says quietly as he retreats to his room. Moxi yawns as a slight wave of exhaustion runs over me as well. A few seconds later, I see my mother yawn and also walk back to their room. "You remember where to guest room is, right?" I ask Moxi as he nods. "I just feel really tired, I'm going to lay down for a bit." I say as I stumble up the spiral staircase, down the hallway, and into my room. a heavy haze setting over my vision as I drop my backpack on the floor a fall onto my bed. Am I getting sick? I feel really tired. As I close my eyes and start to doze off, I hear a faint voice. I quickly sit up and wipe my stinging eyes. I see Moxi standing in my doorway. "We're going to be late, come on." I stare at him for a moment. "What do you mean we're going to be late?" I ask as he laughs. "It's 6:50 A.M. dude, we have to go to the bus stop." Moxi says as I shake my head. I must've passed out as soon as I touched my bed. But I still feel really tired. "I already have my clothes on, let's get going." I say with a smile as Moxi smiles lightly. "Could I borrow one of your older shirts? I don't like wearing the same shirt 2 days in a row." Moxi says as I nod and point to a dresser filled with clothes, that I got too big for. He quickly goes through my clothes and finds a long-sleeved white shirt and a green jacket. He looks back to me, almost asking if he can have the green jacket. I nod and pop my neck as I stand up. Moxi quickly pulls his sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on. "Why do you always wear sunglasses?" I ask as he smile. "Makes me look cool." He replies simply. I chuckle as he walks out of my room. I follow and shut my door behind me. We hurry to the bus stop and arrive just as the bus is pulling up. The doors open and we quickly hop on. As we get on, the bus becomes dead silent. The ride to the school feels awkwardly silent. Moxi doesn't seem to mind sense he was air drumming the entire way to the school. As we get to the school, everyone hurries off of the bus. Moxi and I are the last ones off, and as we exit the bus, we see a man in a uniform standing next to a jeep. He has dark black hair combed back except for a wisp of hair falling down beside his right eye. "You two must be Malick and Moxi. I've heard a considerable number of good things about you two. But on the same point, I've heard plenty of bad things about you too. Care to go for a ride?" He asks calmly as Moxi laughs. "We don't really have a choice, so yea, let's go for a drive." Moxi says as the man opens the back door for us. As we slide into the back seat, he closes the door and gets in an starts it. He quickly pulls out of the parking lot and starts speeding almost instantly. "We've got a schedule to keep." he says as we drive down an empty road that normally is very busy. "Why is no one on this road right now?" I ask as he laughs lightly. "Because I've had local authorities close off the routes that I'll be using today for the next 30 minutes. Between 7:20 and 7:50 A.M. today, these roads will be off limits to the public." he says as Moxi and I both look at him confusedly. Moxi speaks up. "Why the massive hurry?" He asks as the man laughs lightly. "Because today is the day, we get a new batch of recruits for the DAHC. We were supposed to have 7 new recruits, but now we have 9." He says as I ask another question. "Also, I didn't catch your name, you know ours so it's only fair that we know yours." I see him smile slightly. "I'm not the normal recruiter, but my name is Vale Almot. Lieutenant General Vale Almot."