Drafted

April 17th, 1871

There was a banging at my door. I woke up rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, stumbling over to the steel door in the darkness. I opened the door and there stood a giant guard. "Get up." he said in a deep voice. "And get dressed. No time for a shower." I stretched and gave a yawn. The guard began to walk away as I scratched and tugged at my hair. "And go get a haircut on floor SL3." he yelled back to me. I closed the door and got dressed in the tiny amount of space. I looked over at the night table and put on my helmet, and left the room slamming the steel door.

Outside the door was a lot of us Irish boys walking about to our assigned areas. I went downstairs, all the way to floor SL3, where a man stood behind a stone counter, just like the one Connor was at. But this man held clippers in his hands. They buzzed loudly. "Hop over." he said to me in his English accent. He had blond hair and he had a bold spot. He wore specs, and the candlelight made them glare, so you couldn't really see his eyes. He had a long nose and he wore a white jacket with white pants, so hair wouldn't get on him.

I hopped over the counter, took off my helmet, and rested it on the counter. The candle flickered, casting our shadows on the wall. There was a chair in front of me. Then he told me: "Now sit." I sat down in the cold metal seat as the clippers buzzed loudly. I closed my eyes as I felt all of my hair being cut away.

After a long while, he said : "All done." and then the buzzing ceased when he turned it off. Afraid of what I looked like, I felt my head, only to find nothing more but peach fuzz.

"Hurry on now." he told me. "I've got more heads to do." I hopped back over the counter and got my helmet. I put it on, buckling it around my neck and continuing down the hall.

"Everyone outside to your rightful towns!"a guard yelled. Everyone began to run around the halls, scattering to head outside. I looked out the opening in the wall, where nine lines of boys stood. I the front of each line stood a boy with a flag, representing each town. I headed for the stairs to go outside. I saw my flag. The homeland that I had once lived in and had moved from. Digby. I stood in line and right behind me came my brother behind me. He was still drowsy. He stretched and yawned.

"This is way to early to be getting up."he said in a yawn. A guard paced the back of the lines to make sure that everything was in order. Suddenly his eyes set on us. He approached us saying "Aah, Aah, Aah. We found you in Dinsmore." I gave a sigh as he pointed to his left as a blue flag, a green stripe going through it. Margo gave the guard a very dirty look. Almost saying something back to him smart, but I grabbed him and drug him to the line that he wanted us in. We had walked down about three rows of boys, Margo dragging his feet and slouching over. He was lazy as could be. He rubbed the back of his neck, still looking back at the guard a bit mean. Behind us came Connor his army uniform.

"Eh" he said when we met each other in the line. "I didn't know you were guys were from Dinsmore."

"No."I answered. "We're not. We're actually from Digby. We got captured in Dinsmore. That's where we lost our brothers."

"I see."he said. "I'm sorry to hear that."he said looking down at his feet as he kicked at a rock, showing his sympathy. "So."he brightened up a bit, "Seems we're going to N.A.D.O."

"We are?"Margo said. I gave a loud sigh. Young soldiers held conversations loudly until the general stood on an army tank and said calmly "Attention please!" I looked up, along with my brother and Connor. Most of the young boys still talked on, deafened by their own voices. The general of course has to repeat himself. "I said.......QUIET!!!" The talking then ceased instantly. He cleared his throat "Thank you."he said calmly. "Well, if any of you haven't been informed already, we are journeying off to the ever famous N.A.D.O." Soldiers then chatted among themselves with this newly found information. The general raised his voice over the chatter saying: "You all will grow up in that area and become a soldier in our army" He emphasized our giving the impression that in reality it was the English army. Since me and my brother already knew this information, all we did was give depressing sighs. The other soldiers took it as a joke. However, others took it seriously.

"I'm warning you."the general said. "When I say things, they're usually truthful and serious words leaving my mouth. You remember that as long as I'm in charge."

He opened the lid to the tank and climbed in. He began to drive off. As it moved, he yelled out the tank: "Follow on!" I looked up at the tattered flag in front of us. The guards in front of us commanded the leaders of each line to pull the flags out of the dry dirt and carry them along. We followed behind them. As we walked quietly, farther away from the building, the dry gravel crunched under our feet. "It's going to be a long ways away!"our lead guard yelled to us. "No slackers. We will show you no mercy. There will be no food, only water in your canteens at pit stops so I suggest you ration your water. That'll have to last for at least five days. Tonight we're going to a camp where you'll share tents with the people around you. You'll get your weapons there too. I suggest you keep them at hand." he laughed evilly. I gulped, afraid for our lives. Who knows what would happen next.