Scandøva

Kapittel tre

I awoke the next morning to bright sunlight shining in my face. My stomach was full of butterflies, and I knew I was late to the voluntary meeting. I jumped out of bed and got myself ready as quickly as I could. My mother and Zack were still asleep, so I left the house as quietly as possible. I crawled out of the shattered glass door one last time, before checking if the coast was clear and walking down the street.
I walked past the destroyed streets which I walked past the previous day, before reaching the smoggy gateway to town. Town looked surprisingly different, the army truck was still there. The soldiers weren't inside, the guns and weapons had disappeared, and all four glass windows had smashed. Yesterday, a 20ft building stood in front of the truck, and now it was a pile of rubble and dust.
When I finally reached the centre of town, I saw several soldiers with guns standing by a table. There were at least six other people there, sitting in chairs with pieces of paper in their hands. There were also people walking back towards me, with a piece of paper saying 'N/A'. I ignored them and jogged towards the table.

I reached the small, dusty table. There was a soldier sitting behind, and two pieces of paper sitting in front of him.
"You made it just in time. We were about to stop volunteering."
I looked down and apologized. "I overslept, I'm sorry."
"Well there's no such thing as oversleeping if you want to join."
I began to feel extremely guilty and wished that I had never came here.
"Full name, date of birth and region of birth please?"
"My name is Amaris Dolhan, born on 12th October 2113, in The Senter."

The layout of the world is also very different now. What was Europe, is now called Scandova; Crossed between Scandinavia and Europe. The countries are all gone, but Scandova is split into 5 regions: North, South, West, East and the Senter, which was where I lived. The Senter was where the army base was situated, and was the most severely hit. We all however, speak one language; Scanczian, which used to be Norwegian. The cities are still there though, well at least I think they are.

The soldier finished writing and walked away with both pieces of paper. A rush of anxiety shot through me like a bullet. What if they found out that I lied about my age? I was only 19.
After about five minutes, the soldier returned and sat back down behind the desk.
"May you please sit over there with the others. Thank you."
I suddenly became extremely nervous. I hadn't been let down, but I hadn't been approved either. I walked over to the crowd of people and they all stared at me as I sat down. I started to think that this was a big mistake that I was making, but there was no turning back now.

At least half an hour passed, and everyone became restless. I had no idea what was happening, but all of the soldiers were huddled up, talking about something. All of the other recruits were talking amongst themselves, whilst I was sitting alone in the corner. Just as I was thinking of joining the others, a soldier stood upon the small wooden stage in front of us.
"Attention everyone," he announced with his deafening voice, "I am pleased to announce that some have made it through the voluntary meeting. However, the rest have been rejected due to false information that has given to us."
I took a big gulp. There was no way I was getting through now.
"Only two of you have made it through. Can I please have Maxwell Vesper and Amaris Dolhan come over to the truck please."
I became confused. They hadn't caught me out, I was able to join! I slowly rose to my feet and walked over to the truck where several other soldiers were there waiting. They weren't that much older than me or the other boy who got recruited.
"Welcome!" one clapped sarcastically, "You're the lucky ones who got in."
I kept my head down and sat on the floor of the truck. I was surrounded by the soldiers, armed with guns and other weapons. Their uniform was inky black and they wore dark helmets, with a translucent eye mask. No one spoke for the forty minutes that we were travelling. Occasionally I looked out the shattered window. The countryside that was once here, had turned into an overgrown marsh, filled with debris and abandoned houses. As we approached the army base, the landscape got worse and worse.

The truck arrived at the base. The soldiers jumped out first, and then demanded that we followed. Their hands were on the triggers of the guns at all times, just in case anything came.
We walked through the entrance and into a small, dingy corridor with little lighting. We eventually arrived at a large room that was filled with machinery and armour. I became apprehensive as I examined all of the different weapons. Then, the soldier that recruited us came in and told us to sit down.
"I am Sergeant Lister, we appreciate your sacrifice to help us control the invaders."
I gave a nervous smile as I lowered myself to the seat.
"Today we are going to teach you the basics: aiming, shooting, arming up, but first we need to examine both of you."
Me and Maxwell stood up and followed the sergeant to another room, smaller this time, with a wall full of different machines. A small bed lay in the middle, and a soldier sitting next to it. The bed was hooked up with different wires, which were connected to a large metal box. Suddenly, the door slammed behind us and two soldiers dragged me towards the bed. I became frantic and started panicking, but before I knew it, I was asleep