The Annex

Chapter 12

The feeling of my head splitting open woke me. My throat felt parched and the sunlight streaming in blinded me. I sat up and found a glass of water on my bedside table. Scrawled on a piece of paper were the words 'Stay hydrated'.

I downed the entire glass and leaned back against the headboard. I groaned as I remembered getting caught by the Commander. I groaned a second time as I realised that I had missed the first part of morning training. Grim was going to kill me. I stumbled to my drawer and dressed quickly. With one boot on, I flew out the door as I struggled to get the other boot on as well. I fell into ranks just as the other soldiers finished their laps. To my surprise Grim gave me a look but nothing more.

"Where have you been," Tomas sidled up to me as we awaited our orders.

"I tried whiskey last night." Tomas burst into a fit of laughter.

"No wonder you look like hell."

"Thank you very much," I grumbled as Grim began to bark orders. We were to head to the forest. Today, we were climbing. It was just my luck that the one day I was trying to not puke my guts up and reeling from a painful headache, we were to do the one thing I was absolutely horrible at. "Tomas, I don't think I'm going to survive."

"Oh come on, cheer up buttercup."

"Tomas, I hate climbing. I'm absolute shit at it. And to top it off I have a throbbing headache."

"Let's just get this over with." Our objective today was to retrieve red daggers that were buried into the swaying tree branches high above our heads. The daggers' stark colors stood out against the brown and green of the trees. Grim handed us each a leather belt with four sheaths.

"As soon as you fill your belt, you'll be done for the day." A round of cheers erupted as the soldiers all shared comments on how easy today would be. Just as everyone began to scatter, a patter of rain started to fall. I turned my face to the skies and threw my arms into the air.

"For fuck's sake!"

"Come on Cara, let's get going or else all the easy ones will be taken." I followed Tomas as we stomped off into the forest. I spotted my first dagger. Tomas coached me up the tree as I made my way to the dagger. I tugged at the embedded dagger until it loosened from the tree. I waved it victoriously when I had finally freed it.

"One down, three to go," I yelled down at Tomas. I quieted when I saw the Commander standing next to Tomas.

"Were you told this was a partner drill?" His voice was soft and low, yet threatening all the same.

"No, sir." Tomas was dismissed and ran off as he threw an apologetic look over his shoulder.

"Back to it, soldier." I was not a soldier, I wanted to yell. But I knew better than to talk back. I crawled down that tree slowly, as I talked to myself.

"You can do this Cara. You're brave. It's just a tree. You're smarter than a tree. You can do it," I muttered to myself, over and over again. The second tree I found was taller than the first and I had to stand underneath the tree for a minute convincing my body to listen to my commands. Climb. Climb. Climb. When I finally reached the dagger and pulled it out, a rumble of thunder filled the air. I whimpered as I trembled in the branches far from the ground. Of course there was going to be thunder and lightning. From my perch in the trees, I could see that most of the soldiers were finished, their belts proudly displaying four red daggers. I looked down at my own half filled belt.

I found my next target in a nearby tree. Carefully I scaled it until I reached the dagger. Pulling it from the tree, I sheathed it in my belt. As I readied myself for descent my foot slipped as a branch cracked underneath my boot without warning. I let out a cry as I grabbed at a branch, any branch. The flesh on my palm dragged across the bark and I felt a gash forming. A brilliant flash of lightning split across the dark grey sky. The clap of thunder that followed surprised me and that moment of shock cost me my grip. I came tumbling down, snagging different branches before I hit the ground. My back had hit several thick branches on my way down and the final thump as I hit the forest floor blew out my vision as I felt the compression of my ribs as I hit the ground.