by C. S. Nelson
Anthony dropped Annie’s hand and sprinted down the dirt road, followed by Annie and the rest of the new rangers. His small frame had always allowed him to fly through the air like a bullet, and running was something he had always loved to do. Anthony knew where the base camp was, having no problem leading to the pack, as did everyone else. They had memorized maps of the Shield for years in school, just in case there was ever an emergency and the school needed to be evacuated.
Anthony pulled ahead of the rest of them, even with his broken wrist and swollen ankle, moving so fast that his legs appeared to blur. Annie was behind him, silently thanking all the times that she had played football and soccer with the boys during their breaks. She glanced over her shoulder. Kevin was behind her, followed by her six other classmates.
Suddenly, Kevin pulled past her effortlessly, laughing as he left her behind. Show off, Annie thought in annoyance. He had been conditioning for years to be faster and stronger than the soul suckers, not that it was possible. He wasn’t going to impress her by running faster than she could. Anthony and Annie got to the front gate of the base camp well within the four minutes. Kevin gave them both a pat on the back and Annie held in her need to gasp for air. She didn’t want him to think she had given it all she had.
The others arrived, one after another. The first three made it within the four minutes. The last three all received a gentle slap on the back and a “Laps tomorrow,” when they arrived. Tears started welling up in the girl’s eyes who hadn’t made it in time, but Annie saw her quickly wipe them away before Kevin could notice. Did she ever stop crying?
“Alright, recruits.” He pulled on the chains of the gate. “Welcome to your new home. You share sleeping quarters with the veterans. Don’t let them mess with you, because they’re going to try. You eight will eat, sleep, and train together. You will learn together. We have an important job here and I expect you all to take it seriously.”
How could they not take it seriously? Annie rolled her eyes at his ridiculous statement. No other career in the Shield was even half as dangerous as this one. The creatures that they all feared, that had destroyed Earth as they had known it, were what Annie was going to come face to face with every day. “When does training start?”
“Six AM for breakfast. You’ll have your first lessons at seven. I’ll show you to your bunks, you should all go to sleep early. Big day tomorrow.”
He walked quickly down the dirt path towards a long, broken down building. The school, which Annie had thought had been run down, looked new in comparison. Anthony grabbed for Annie’s hand again as Kevin pulled the doors open to reveal the sleeping quarters.
The other rangers were already in there. Some faces Annie recognized from around school who had been upper years. Some faces Annie had never seen before. One thing that ever ranger had in common though was that none of them could have been older than in their mid-twenties. Annie swallowed hard. The rumors were true; being chosen for a ranger career was a death sentence.
No one smiled at them as they came in. In fact, it was eerily quiet. The rangers were leaning against, or lying on their beds. They looked as though they had been in mid-conversation and the new recruits had rudely interrupted. Annie hadn’t been expecting celebration but she had expected more than this. Kevin pointed each new adult to a bed, identical to the ones they had slept in at the school. “Wanna be my bunk mate, again?” Anthony mumbled. The high from the run had worn off. He was just as down as she was, Annie could hear it in his voice.
He climbed onto the top bunk, and Annie looked around at all the eyes staring at her. She hopped up next to him. “I don’t like this place already,” she whispered. The energy was negative.
“We only have to make it two years,” Anthony said, picking at the bandages around his swollen wrist. He was too small, too innocent to be here. He looked Annie in the eyes, something that he didn’t do often. “Annie, just two years and then we’re out of here.” Just two more years until the ship arrived to save them all. A time frame that to others may have seemed like nothing, but to the rangers felt like an eternity.
Annie slept in the top bunk with Anthony that night. For so many years she had fallen asleep to Barry’s violent snores, but this place was deathly silent. She watched the sky through the holes and cracks in the ceiling. The Shield was clouded and the stars were hidden. It must have been raining on the other side.
She smiled for the first time since she had arrived at basecamp. If there was anything that she was looking forward to about leaving the safety of the Henderson Shield, it was that she would get to feel the rain. Even just wind. Maybe if she was lucky she would survive until winter and get to feel the snow that had left them in awe every year, piling up outside of their reach. One time, from her classroom, she had seen a group of rangers having a snowball fight outside the Shield. It had ended quickly, when suckers began creeping out from the forest and it was no longer safe. But it had looked so fun for the few moments that the outside world had been available to them.
The sun came up and Annie was still staring at the holes in the ceiling, with a mental list full of the things she was excited to see. There was no morning alarm, instead the rangers got up in unison, smacking the beds of the new adults to wake them up. “Breakfast time, young ones,” one of the men laughed in a booming voice as he slapped next the pillow to Annie’s head, causing her to jump.
She nudged Anthony in the side to wake him up. His eyes flickered open, and then he groaned, holding his swollen wrist. Annie was sore too, her back radiating with pain after the tumble from the wall during the obstacle course yesterday. But she could feel the rangers’ eyes on her and didn’t want to show any sign of weakness. She leapt out of the top bunk and held in the need to cry out in pain.
They followed the rangers into the next room, which looked like a smaller and more rundown version of the dining hall at the school. The new recruits had all quickly filled up at the end of the table, as far as possible from the rangers, leaving Annie and Anthony to sit in the two seats that connected the groups.
Breakfast was already placed on the table. Half a bowl of grey mush and some fruit from the trees in the Shield. There had been chefs at the school. Not that there had ever been anything particularly tasty, they had worked with what they had, but nothing that had made Annie feel like vomiting quite as much as whatever was sitting in front of her now. She put a spoonful in her mouth and struggled to swallow. It tasted and felt like wet cement. Annie’s eyes drifted over to the ranger sitting diagonally to her, who was shoveling it into his mouth and smirking at her. “Get used to it,” he said, with chunks of the goo sputtering out of his mouth. “It’s breakfast every morning.”
A couple of the rangers sitting around him howled with laughter. "Just wait until it comes out the other end. You'll think you're dying," one of them joined in.
Anthony was digging around the bowl with his spoon but Annie could tell from the look on his face that he wasn’t planning on putting any in his mouth. “Anthony, you have to eat,” she tried to whisper. She didn't particularly want to eat the mush either, but he was already nearly skin and bones. Starving himself wasn’t going to help.
The ranger that had mocked them grabbed at the bowl. “You gonna eat that?” he asked. He scraped Anthony’s food into his own bowl and continued eating, throwing the bowl back in front of Anthony. Some of the leftover goo splashed up into his face, but he didn't look up. He wiped it off while staring at his lap. The rangers next to the boy were all laughing. Annie looked behind her at the new recruits, who were all staring at them.
“Give that back to him,” Annie said. Kevin had told them not to let the veterans mess with them.
The boy stopped chewing and stared at her. “He wasn’t eating it,” he growled.
“Give him back his food,” she said, a little louder.
“Annie, it’s fine,” Anthony mumbled, wiping the last of his breakfast off his cheek, his face turning red.
“What are you goin
g to do about it if I don’t?” The boy sneered. A couple people chuckled around them and Annie felt her face go red.
Good question, Annie thought. Not only was he twice her size, but they were surrounded by his friends. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Annie looked away, defeated. Excellent first impression.
“You better watch yourself,” the boy said. “It’s me that’s going to be saving your life out there. You don’t wanna piss me off.”
“Shut it, Mitch.” Kevin had stepped behind Annie, his mouth also full. “No terrorizing the fresh meat.”
“You aren’t the commander,” Mitch said.
There were a few moments of awkward silence amongst the rangers. “New recruits finish up and follow me,” Kevin yelled, placing his half-eaten bowl on the table and storming out of the mess hall.
Annie shoved a few spoonfuls into her mouth, swallowing hard, and grabbed an apple off the table, not sure when she would have a chance to eat again. The rest of the recruits followed. They left the building and walked across a dirt path to yet another rundown building, which shouldn't have been surprising but somehow still was.
Kevin held the door open for the new recruits, who hesitantly shuffled into a very dark classroom. Annie stumbled into a desk and took a seat while her eyes adjusted to the dark. “Unfortunately, the president doesn’t feel it necessary to supply electricity to the ranger’s classrooms,” Kevin said as he stepped around the room turning on small gas lamps. Annie could tell from his tone that it was a sore spot for the rangers.
As the room lit up, Annie stared at the graffiti written on the back of the desk in front of her. You will die. Destroy all soul suckers. No hope. She sank into her seat a little. Apparently rangers weren’t very positive people. She looked over at the back of the desk sitting in front of Anthony, which only said, You aren’t going to make it. Anthony was staring at it with tears welling up in his eyes. She wondered what Dustan was doing in that moment.
“I’d like to introduce to you all the most important man in our career. This man has been a ranger for twenty-three years, he still regularly goes out on missions, and he would gladly put his life on the line for any one of us. Please welcome Commander Matthew.” There was half-hearted, awkward applause as an older man entered the room.
He had peppered grey hair, hard lines on his face, and was extremely muscular. He carried himself into the room with confidence, smiling at everyone. “Hello, my new friends. My name is Commander Matthew. I look forward to working with you over the next couple years. I know you’re all scared right now, but I can assure you that my rangers and I will take good care of you.”
Annie let out a sigh of relief. He seemed genuine. He was strong, with a powerful voice and laugh lines on his face. Commander Matthew had made it, despite the great threat that lay beyond the Shield, twenty-three years as a ranger. Maybe they would be okay here, under the watchful eye of this man.
“I’ve got a very busy day ahead of me so unfortunately I won’t be able to stay with you long. We have to watch a short video sent to us by the president. Then Kevin will begin today’s lesson, and I look forward to getting to know you all when you’re ready to leave the Shield.” The commander nodded towards Kevin, leaning on the desk at the front. Kevin placed the palm-sized projector on the desk and pressed the button. Annie had seen these before. The president had sent out a prerecorded message during the panic a few years before, when everyone believed that the Shield had been failing. Hopefully this message would be a little more positive.
The president’s face flickered up on the blank wall. His appearance had always made Annie uncomfortable. Three long scars running from his eyebrow down to his mouth, apparently from the days that he had himself served as a ranger. His dark hair was slicked back as it always was, and his face clean-shaven. He looked too young to be in charge of the Shield. His campaign, and the disappearance of the previous president who had been around when Annie was too young to remember, had always been clouded in secrecy.
“Hello, new rangers!” He smiled. “Allow yourself to rejoice at the thought of becoming part of the most important career we have in the Henderson Shield. You will retrieve food, water, and medicine for every person in need. You will protect them from the dreaded monsters that lurk outside of our walls. The career of a ranger is not a long one, however it is the most important one we have.
“You see, rangers train hard. Killing the monsters is not an easy task, as I’m sure you have learned about in your education. I remember this fact every day when I look in the mirror,” The president smiled, gesturing to the scars on his face. “As you also may know, killing five of the creatures offers you all kinds of opportunities. To train, to advise, to lead your own command. Perhaps one of you sitting in this room will become the next president. Listen to your commander, train hard, go for the five kills and make your presence known in the Shield. Your people will thank you.”
The president’s projection disappeared and Commander Matthew stood in front of the new recruits. He sighed, rolling his eyes slightly, evoking a couple laughs from the new recruits. “I don’t have very much advice to give you,” he said. “This is going to be a tough couple of years for you all. I hope, for everyone’s sake, that we all make it to the end. I’m going to do my best to keep you alive. We’re going to train you to adapt to any situation. All I can say is that you mustn't underestimate the enemy. They’ve virtually wiped out the human race. Let your guard down, even for a second, and consider yourself dead.” He nodded at them all, and then left the room. What a warm welcome.
Kevin took a few steps over and clapped his hands together. “So, I have no clue what I’m doing, and have never taught a class before. I didn’t even pay attention when going through classes myself.” He paused, expecting a laugh. When the room remained silent, he sighed in defeat. “Unfortunately, we lost the ranger that really loved to teach new recruits last month. So, as second-in-command, you’re all stuck with me now. How about we go around the room and introduce ourselves?”
The boy in the corner raised his hand. “I’m Dougie,” he said. Annie had been good friends with Dougie when they were younger but hadn’t spoken to him in years, ever since Dustan had determined that he hadn’t liked him. Dougie had always been confident. If he had been upset yesterday with his career, he hadn’t let it show. Sometimes Annie had wondered if she hadn’t been with Dustan, if they still would have been good friends.
The boy next to him went. “I’m Justin.” She had never spoken to that boy in her life. He had always been part of the crowd of idiots that had snuck out of the school regularly, been caught on the other side of the Shield numerous times, and somehow managed to sneak alcohol into the dorms, even though the bottles of alcohol were tightly guarded in the Shield. She wasn’t surprised at all that this was the career Justin had been chosen for.
“Annie.”
“I’m Anthony.”
“I’m Mia.”
“My name is Allison.” Mia and Allison had been part of a group during school that had never been inclusive of Annie. They were both gorgeous but Annie had always found them ditsy and mean. She felt some kind of strange satisfaction that they ended up as rangers. She imagined either of them holding a gun and laughed to herself. There must have been a mix up in the paperwork that had gotten the two of them stuck in this career.
“Name’s Ethan.” He was someone else Annie had never spoken to, one of Justin’s idiot friends.
“Turner,” the last boy said. A know-it-all. Annie’s only memories of him had been him attempting to correct many of their teachers over the years. He must have really blown it on the educational tests if he had ended up here. Annie found pleasure in that as well.
Kevin nodded, cracking his first smile of the morning. “The first day is always the hardest. You’re going to hear things about the soul suckers, and the world outside the Shield, that you never knew. It's going to make you scared and upset. Then you’re going to be put in the simulator. You
won’t like that either.” Annie and Anthony exchanged nervous glances. The rangers sure knew how to give pep talks. If the simulator was anything like the simulation that Annie had faced yesterday, the feeling of the alien’s skin against her own, she wanted nothing to do with it. “After that, everything you do will prepare you for your first time out of the Shield. Understood?”
Justin raised his hand. “When will our first time outside of the Shield be?” he asked. He was excited; Annie could hear it in his voice. An adrenalin junkie. What was wrong with him?
“Well, honestly, it depends on how quickly you learn. At most six months. At least, a couple weeks from now. But don't think you can pretend to be bad in training in order to get out of going outside, because we've all seen it here a million times, and it won't fool us,” he said. Then he pointed to Dougie’s dirty blond hair, which was hanging over his eyes. “That’s got to go.”
Ethan, whose hair was even longer than Dougie’s, turned around and stared at Kevin. “You’re chopping our hair off?” he asked, horrified.
Kevin shrugged. “Of course.”
“Not the girls though, right?” Allison ran her fingers through her long, curly platinum hair. Her pride and joy.
Kevin’s eyebrows rose. “You know it never used to be a policy to cut off the hair of our rangers. Until the soul suckers caught a girl by her pony-tail, pulling her back out of the group and tearing her apart.” Annie swallowed hard, pulling her own hair and tucking it into her shirt. “I watched it happen, blood everywhere. Pretty hair though.”