The Human Inside

Chapter 19

Hours Prior to Texas & Seattle bombings.

The Academy.

Location: East of Miles City, Montana. West of Bismarck, North Dakota. North of Rapid City, South Dakota. South of Canada.

    "Hey Audrey!"

    College sophomore Audrey Wright turned around at the sound of her older brother Thomas' praising tone. She was on her way back to her dorm room from a simulation exercise, but because of her brother, she definitely wasn't going to get away. He waved a paper at her.

    "Did you see the results of your simulation?" he said staring wide eyed with a big grin on his face.

    "Of course," she replied. "Why?"

    "Why, she says," Thomas sighed. "You got the highest score! That's higher than mine when I was a sophomore!"

    "It's not a big deal," she shrugged. "You could have done it just like me."

    "Nah," Thomas said. "My brain isn't wired for your kind of multi-tasking. You do know that the officers stationed here will want to see you about this right?"

    "I've already seen so many officers now that I don't want to even think about it," she said grimly.

    "Hey."

    Thomas grabbed Audrey by the arm as she turned to leave and held her back.

    "I was only trying to tell you that you're doing a great job," Thomas said as the smile faded from his face. "That you're moving on fairly well and I'm glad you're putting your skills to work."

    "I don't want anyone seeing me like mom and dad," Audrey sighed as she shook loose from his grip. "Everyone keeps coming up to me to try and say stuff but they don't know what to say. I don't want to talk to anyone and I don't care about education at the moment."

    "What do you want?" Thomas asked. "I seriously doubt you want to be held back a year. Considering your grades are the best in your class."

    "I'm only a good student because it'll help me leave here faster," Audrey said. "I'll be stuck here getting so much unwanted attention if I decided to go a different direction. I just know that now, I don't want anyone to tell me stuff. I want time to myself."

    "You're in the biggest school in the country," Thomas sighed. "You know that might be difficult considering how popular we are."

    Seeing that he wasn't having an effect on her, Thomas smiled warmly and held up his arms in surrender.

    "Alright," he sighed. "I'll let it go this time. I was just really excited to see that you actually did something above and beyond. It almost seemed like you were you again when you first started coming to school here. Mom and Dad would be proud of you."

    "Why am I the big deal here?" Audrey asked. "They're proud of you too. Those test results just prove my point. All everyone sees is my mom when I try to excel nowadays and when they talk to me, it hurts."

    "I know what you mean," Thomas said as he turned to walk away. "I'm your brother remember? But it's been seven months already and even with the way we've adjusted, we got to go on. This sheet of paper only shows me that you still got the motivation to finish what you started."

    As he walked away, Audrey returned to her room. She sat down at her computer and swiped the screen to turn it on. As it booted up, she looked at a portrait of her parents next to the console. Both of them had worn their military uniforms when the picture had been taken. The more she gazed at the photo, she thought for a moment what Thomas had said.