The Differents | ✓

T H R E E

The door to my pod slid open silently and I stepped out. The room was empty except for the four of us, emerging tentatively from our pods like this was our first day in the real world. I barely had time to close the door of my pod behind me when Captain rushed at Sniper, shoved him to the ground, and started punching him.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING YOU IDIOT!" she screamed. She punched him again, this time in the chest. "YOU JUST COST US FOUR DAYS OF CONFINEMENT FOR YOUR MISTAKE!"

Sniper's face was getting bloody and bruised quickly, and he was coughing and trying to speak but Captain wouldn't let him. Regaining my senses, a surge of anger filled me and I charged at Captain and knocked her off Sniper. She slid across the smooth floor of the simulation room and hit her head against a pod, knocking her unconscious. Hearing the sound it made, Bear rushed over to her.

I snickered. "Always the captain's best mate, weren't you, Bear?" I ducked as he threw a punch at my head, and jogged over to Sniper, who lay on his back on the floor, groaning in pain. His face was black and blue, and blood trickled from his nose. There were smears of blood all over his face and clothing that I assumed was mostly from Captain's knuckles. One of his eyes was swollen.

I knelt over him. "Can you walk?" He mumbled what I guessed was an uncertain reply and pushed himself to his feet. I held his arm around my shoulder should he pass out and we headed for the door. I looked behind me as we went through the doorframe and saw Bear crouched over Captain, talking to her in low tones.

She'd be alright.

I helped Sniper down the dimly lit hallway, quiet because everyone was busy in their teaching rooms. We went by several doors with rooms full of students who stared as we passed, and then quickly lowered their heads as to not get in trouble for not working. After a short while, I slowed to a stop in one of the halls, realizing I didn't know where I was taking Sniper.

"Where are we going?" he asked weakly.

"Where do you want to go? I can take you to the infirmary," I suggested, turning my body in the direction that we needed to go to get to it.

"No," he mumbled. "I don't want to go there."

"Then where do you want to go?" I asked, a little bewildered. "There aren't many other places that we can go to get you cleaned up."

"I want to go back to my room," he said. "I don't want to go to the infirmary."

"Why?"

"It's too crowded, too many people to ask questions. I don't want the nurses to think of me as the guy who got beaten up by his teammate."

"Sniper, you're bleeding! You'll heal much quicker if we get you help."

"I don't want to go," he said firmly.

I sighed. "Okay."

We started walking in the opposite direction. To get to his room, we needed to cross the courtyard and take the path marked 2 to one of the sleeping buildings. I don't know why Sniper insisted on doing this when he could've gotten the help he needed much sooner. Guys are weird, always letting their pride get in the way.

"I have a medical kit in my room," he mumbled as we approached the doors leading outside. Through the small windows set in the doors, I could see a storm had blown in and rain was mercilessly pelting down onto the once dry, cracked concrete.

"At least the fountain will have some water in it now," I said, referring to the boring fountain in the centre of the yard. It was never filled with water and most of the people who used it used it as a seat or a trash can.

Sniper chuckled to himself softly. "The rain will wash some of the blood off my face. Let's keep going."

I pushed the door open and held it for Sniper. He shuffled out and we closed the door behind us. Luckily, we were under a small sheltered area over the door so we didn't feel the rain as badly just yet, but Sniper was set on getting to his room and shuffled forward into the rain. I kept close to him, making sure to keep his arm on my shoulder. I didn't want him passing out and falling in a puddle. As soon as I stepped out from under the shelter, the rain hit me with such force that I shivered and was a little shocked. It was icy cold and was falling so hard it almost hurt. Sniper shivered against me and we walked forward. Arriving in front of his sleeping building, I was about to turn the doorknob when it turned from the inside and a Mask opened the door. She let out a small exclamation as her green eyes widened in surprise.

"Goodness! What are you two doing? Come, let me take you to the infirmary. What are your names?"

"Uh, actually--" I started.

"No, it's okay," Sniper said drowsily. "We should go to the infirmary."

"Would you like me to get you a stretcher?" the Mask asked Sniper.

"No, it's okay," he replied. "I would like to walk."

Arriving at the infirmary, the Mask handed us over to a nurse. "I found these two outside," she said. "The boy's hurt, the girl seems fine."

The nurse nodded and led Sniper to a place where he could rest. "What is his name and what happened?" he asked me, handing Sniper some ice for his face.

I glanced at Sniper, who nodded slightly as if to say, It's okay, you can tell them. "His name is Sn-- um, 1543," I told the nurse. "One of his teammates punched him."

The nurse inspected Sniper's face. He shone a light into his grey eyes and tested his senses. After Sniper showed that his body was working fine, the nurse cleaned up the blood and gave him some more ice. "He should be fine," he told me. "You can go now."

I nodded, said bye to Sniper, and left. As I was leaving the infirmary, I looked up and saw Bear down the hall, walking in my direction. Captain followed him closely. She lifted her eyes from the ground and glared straight at me, before turning a corner and disappearing. Just that one moment brought up all the anger at her again, and my anger at the stupid simulation, and my anger at my confinement.

Just then the bell rang, signalling the end of our morning classes. Doors started to open and people started walking out, heading to their rooms or to the meal room for the midday break. I realized that after this break I would have to spend the rest of the day confined to my room, only allowed out for walks and meals, and my anger at the Instructors only grew. It was so unfair. I should have headed to the meal room to get myself something to eat before being locked in, but I walked outside into the rain and stared at the sky, furious.

From that day onward, things only went more downhill.

*****

A/N
Chapter four coming next week, thanks for the support! Make sure to vote as well if you liked the chapter, you won't die if you do :)