Assassin

III

The gym is a large room that is usually scattered with mats, weights, and weapons. Today there are no mats on the ground and the weights and weapons are on stands by the wall. In the center of the gym, six chairs stand in circle, a computer monitor beside each one. I'm trying to figure out their purpose when I see five other people standing by the far wall. They are dressed in the same black outfit as I am and none of them seem to notice my presence until a boy with black hair raises his hand and beckons me. "Well come in then," he says in a somewhat bemused voice. "No reason to stand by the door all day."

Swallowing the nervous lump that has settled in my throat, I go to join them. I've never been good at making friends. I didn't have any when I went to school. Because of this I'm quieter around kids my age. I've always wanted to have friends... I just don't know how to get any.

I come to stand beside two other girls with brown hair. For a moment, I wonder if something is wrong with my vision because the girls beside me are identical from their brown hair to the freckles that speckle their noses. The only difference between them is that one of the girls has honey-colored eyes while the other's eyes are almost silver. They must be twins; I think to myself.

My eyes fall on the three boys and I notice almost at once that they have dark hair and light colored eyes, a characteristic belonging to the southern reaches of the Western Republic. The black-haired boy has grey eyes and the smaller of the two other boys has dark red hair and blue eyes while the larger has dark skin, brown hair and hazel eyes.

"What's your name?" Asks the black-haired boy.

"Katherine," I reply in a quiet voice.

The honey-eyed girl gives me an encouraging smile and says in a light clear voice that reminds me of bells, "My name is Blair and this is my sister Sloane."

Sloane says a quiet hello and smiles softly.

"My name is Dean," the black-haired boy says walking towards me with his hand outstretched. "Dean Markham."

I shake his hand and looking past his shoulder, I see the other two boys roll their eyes. Smiling at them, I ask their names. The red-haired boy introduces himself as Riley Davis while the darker-skinned boy says his name is Cole Moore.

"So what's your story?" Dean asks as he moves to stand beside me.

Blinking in confusion, I'm opening my mouth to reply when the heavy metal doors swing open. A tall, broad, well-muscled man with blonde hair walks toward us with a stern expression. "Form up assassins," he says in a low gravelly voice. "At attention, now, now, now!" He raises his voice as we hurry to form a line and stand as straight as possible. The man walks up and down the line, his brown almost black eyes taking in everything from our faces to our boots. "My name is Marcus Leland. I am the head trainer and I will be preparing you for the test which you will be taking in two months."

My chest and stomach clench with nervousness at the mention of the test. Out of the corner of my eye I can see a look of trepidation in Sloane's eyes and on my other side Dean swallows nervously.

Leland continues, "For the past week you have been training with your mentors. You will continue to do this every other day when you are not with me. When you are here in this gym you will be trained to complete six missions: capture and interrogation, assassination, retrieval, reconnaissance, infiltration, and rescue. Before we can even allow you near a dagger or gun, we need to know, when and why were the assassins formed." He stops in front of Sloane and looks intently into her silvery eyes.

"The assassins were formed ten years after the end of the World War Three Sir," Sloane answers in strong confident voice. "They were formed to prevent a dictator from ever rising to power within government."