Disorder

by Martha Adele

  “Wait.” Logan holds up his hand, trying to get Groves to slow down. “How did … when did they start throwing ‘us’ out?”

  “Well, let’s see.” Groves holds up his fingers and starts counting them off. “It was after Meir II, but it wasn’t immediately after … They started using people as bait to draw us out of hiding a few years after Meir II came into power.”

  “Bait?” Mavis queries. Though she sits in between Logan and me on the bed, her silence makes her appear invisible. “What do you mean ‘bait’? I thought they threw us out because we were too ‘expensive’ to take care of?”

  Groves nods. “That was originally the plan, but they decided to use you guys as bait to draw us out so that they could get the upper hand. I am sorry. I want to remind you all that here at Bergland, no one agrees with Bestellen’s ideals and morals. Just because you have something that others have deemed undesirable doesn’t mean that it is. I hope you all realize that. I also hope you all realize that in one way or another, everyone has some sort of disorder. For example, Grayson Andrews, the trainer you bunked next to last night, he has a slight case of OCD.” Groves chuckles. “Every now and then, I will catch him fixing the weights to all face the same way.”

  “Wait, a trainer?” Mavis asks. “How old is he? I was under the impression that he was eighteen or so.”

  Groves stands, pulling his pants up and cracking his knuckles. “Yes, he is twenty. We needed a new trainer, and he was the best person for the job. Here, once you finish basic schooling, you get to choose your career path. Once you choose your path, depending on your choice, you either go directly into training for the career, jump directly into the career, or go to further schooling for your career. Grayson finished schooling when he was eighteen and was ready to start being a trainer by then. He works with the younger people as of right now. Ages ten to fifteen.”

  Everyone follows Yate and stands. We all stretch a bit, and Yate picks up talking again. “Okay, onto my next question. Are you guys ready to come upstairs and eat?”

  “Yes,” I blurt, earning a chuckle from them all.

  Groves leads us through the maze of beds and tells us a little about how our day is going to go. After taking us to the restrooms to wash up, he takes us to a large set of stairs that we climb for what seems like ten minutes. After we finish hiking, Groves leads us to an elevator. Never before have I been so relieved to climb into one of these flying boxes.

  Groves explains that everyone in Bergland, even the newcomers, have to go through schooling. He says, “Even though you guys just got here, you are going to have to go to classes, but don’t worry! Today, you can hang out wherever you feel most comfortable, and then tonight, I can give you guys a schedule.”

  First, we will have to learn some basic history. Then move onto other subjects. According to Yate, every age level goes to one of the training rooms at least twice a week to exercise. After an original assessment of the children when they are younger, they are put with a group of people that are similar in skills as themselves if they choose so, or they could request to be put in with their friends.

  Either way, everyone in Bergland has the opportunity to run, play, exercise, or do whatever they want in there. Every citizen is taught basic self-defense from a young age, when to use it, and when not to. After they finish schooling and basic training, they get to choose whether they want to fight or do something else because Bergland has never gotten to the point where they had to force their people to fight, unlike Bestellen apparently.

  After we make it to the cafeteria, Groves leads us through the tables packed with people to a long line of even more people. The line leads up to the glass casing where Sarah, the food lady, works, scooping each person a scoop of what I can only hope is food. We grab a tray at the beginning of the line and carry it up to her. As soon as she sees Mavis, who is in front of both Logan and me, she lights up with a large and toothy smile. Her dark hair manages to stay in its netted covering and its tied-up position as she jumps. “Oh, honey! Hi! How are you? Mavis, is it?” She looks down the line to Logan and me. “And the boys! Oh, hello! What would you all like today?”

  Groves leans forward to look at the food as he is in front of Mavis in the line. “They will want some beans and mash. A good bit of it too.” Groves gives her a kind smile and scoots forward, away from us. He doesn’t grab a tray, which makes me think he must have already eaten.

  Sarah returns Groves’s smile and chuckles, “Oh, okay!” She takes Mavis’s tray and plops down a large scoop of a thick yellow fluff and a side of what looks just like parsle beans, the same type of beans that we ate at my house for dinner at least three times a week. “Here you go! Thank you, kiddies! Come back and visit me when you can!”

  We all give her a smile and a thank-you as we walk away with our trays of heavy food over to another woman sitting in front of a computer.

  “Names?” she asks us.

  Groves speaks up. “Mavis Wamsley, Logan Forge, and Samuel Beckman.”

  The woman nods to us. “Got it. Have a good day.”

  We follow Groves past the woman and to the middle of the room. “Every time you get your food, you’ll check in with whoever is at that computer and tell her your names so that she can mark you down. You will receive free food until you finish your schooling, which none of you have to worry about yet. Okay?” He stops and looks down at his little computer watch. “Oh. Okay, guys, I have to go. Before I do, would you like me to help you find a table? By yourselves or with someone you know?”

  We all look around to find that every table appears to be full, and many of the people are staring at us. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a hand shooting up out of the crowd and a woman waving at us. Groves turns around and points at the woman. “Hey, I think you guys would like it over there with them.”

  Mavis gives a slight smile as she adjusts her grip on her tray. “Those are the girls from last night.”

  The woman at the table hops up and walks over to us as casually and yet giddily if possible. “Hello, do you remember me?” the woman asks Mavis.

  Mavis nods. “Yes, ma’am. I do.” She pauses a moment before nodding to the woman. “Hi.”

  “Hello.” The woman smiles to each of us before gesturing over her shoulder. “Do you guys want to come sit with me? It is just the other girl from last night and myself sitting there right now.”

  Logan and I glance at each other and give a shrug. Mavis looks to us, then back to Groves. “Can we?”

  “Of course! You will be in good hands.” Groves pats the woman on the shoulder and thanks her for coming over. He bids us adieu and marches off, typing something into his hologram.

  We follow the woman, and the three of us sit on one side of the rectangular table while the other two sit on the other side.

  The girl who was rummaging through her bag last night is small. Shorter than Mavis and skinny, but not as skinny as Mavis. Her hair is cut short up above her shoulders and has more of a dark purplish tint than I am used to seeing. The shininess and sheen of her hair seems almost unreal in its silkiness and perfection. The woman has longer and lighter brown hair, which looks more like a natural color than that of the girl beside her.

  Logan takes a seat on one side of Mavis while I sit on the other, like we have been doing since we met. We all set our trays down and examine our food for a moment before taking the brave step to try it.

  “Don’t worry, it tastes a lot better than it looks,” the deep violet-haired girl garbles with her mouth half-full of yellow fluff.

  The woman beside her shoots her a jokingly baffled look. “Mandy, you do realize that this is their first impression of you, right?”

  The girl nods and swallows her food quickly. “Yeah, sorry. Hi.” She extends her hand across the table and gives a big smile, even bigger than Sarah’s. “I’m Mandy Horrace.”

  The woman beside her pulls back Mand
y’s arm. “Put your hand down. It isn’t clean.”

  “Well, my bad,” Mandy grumbles. “I was just trying to be nice.” She looks back to us and smiles again and swings her arms into an open and grandiose position. “Welcome to Bergland!”

  The woman chuckles. “Welcome to Bergland indeed. My name is Janice Ludley. I am one of the teachers and coordinators here. It’s so nice to meet you all.” She looks to each of us and gives a slight nod, but once she gets to me, she looks back down at our trays. “Oh my! You guys must be starving! Go ahead! Eat up!”

  I look down at my food and unwrap the silverware, trying to figure out whether or not this is real food. I don’t hesitate for long because at this point, I am hungry enough that I will eat my napkin if I have to. Within seconds, the three of us have our mouths full of the yellow fluff and are loving every bit of it. The parsle beans that we eat after the fluff are just as good, maybe even better because of how familiar they are.

  “So,” Janice says in between bites of food, “it must have been pretty difficult getting through the woods to the mountains. I can’t imagine what you all had to go through.”

  I try to swallow the food so I can comment on what Janice says, but every time I swallow, I take another bite without any thought. My mouth is staying full, and so is my stomach. After just a few bites of food, I feel sick. I feel like I have just stuffed myself.

  “Yeah,” Mandy forces out, still holding food in her mouth. “What kind of animals did you guys run into? Or did you run into any at all?” Janice narrows her eyes at Mandy, who quickly swallows her food and smiles back to Janice. “Sorry.”

  “We did.” Logan finishes chewing. “We ran into a few things. Even a pack of something we didn’t get to see.”

  Mavis nods her head in agreement with Logan’s statement as she keeps her mouth full.

  Mandy swallows her food loudly and looks back to Logan. “Wait, what do you mean a pack of something? How do you know if you didn’t see them?”

  Logan and I look to each other. Suddenly, the sounds of Charlie’s horrid screams echo through my head. Logan and I look back to our food, waiting for the other to explain so we wouldn’t have to. I guess Logan gets that I won’t be the one who says it, so he does.

  “We heard the animals rip apart another kid.”

  Janice’s jaw lowers as well as her whole expression.

  Logan, avoiding eye contact, swallows another bite and continues, “His name was Charlie. He ran off to get away from us and found the beasts lurking less than half a mile away from our camp.”

  “I’m …” Janice stumbles to find the right words. “I’m so sorry.”

  We nod. I answer, “So are we.”

  After a few seconds of silence, Mandy finishes her food and clears her throat. “Did you run into anything else?”

  Logan nods, still shoveling food into his mouth. He, unlike myself, is taking time in between bites to answer their questions and hold a conversation. “Mainly a pack of giant rats. I ran into them once by myself, and then we all ran into them again.” He chuckles and gestures to Mavis. “That is actually how we met.”

  I manage to stop inhaling my food for a moment and laugh with Logan. “Yeah, Mavis found the pack of rats, and then we found her.” I watch as Mavis scratches her arm for a split second and squeeze her fist closed the next, as if she is trying to keep herself from scratching.

  “Before the rats, Sam said that he had a run-in with a huge cat.” Logan looks to me and nods back to the girls. “Go ahead.”

  “I did.” I set my fork down as all eyes fall upon me. “When I first woke up, I was wandering around, and then I felt something stalking me. Next thing you know, I am being chased through the woods by a giant orange-and-black-striped cat with teeth as long as my arms.” I hold up my arm that was torn apart by the briars and take a look at it.

  I hadn’t yet noticed how much scabbing was going on. I lower my arm and scoop up another fork full of beans. “I ended up getting caught on briars and having the cat slowly approach me. Man, I don’t know why it just didn’t eat me immediately, but it didn’t. The only reason I got away was because someone started shooting at me right before the cat took his chance. After the gunfire started, I ran one way, and the cat ran another.”

  I force the food into my mouth and look up to Mandy, who watches me with awe. Janice, beside her, smiles at me. “Wow. That is crazy. Were you close to the wall? Is that where the bullets came from?”

  I nod, swallowing the last bit of my food as Mandy covers her mouth and chuckles. Mandy looks from me to Logan, earning confused stares from us all. She looks back to me, still covering her mouth as Janice’s eyes follow hers. Janice chuckles as I shake my head and slide my tray forward. “What?”

  Mandy removes her hand from her mouth and points behind us. Logan, Mavis, and I all turn around to see a group of about eight girls piled up at one table, all looking, smiling, giggling, and waving at us. They can’t be more than fifteen years old.

  Baffled, I turn back to the others at our table. Logan and Mavis look just as confused as I do. “What are they looking at?” I ask.

  Mandy lets out one big laugh. “What do you mean ‘what are they looking at’? Obviously you!”

  Janice nods in agreement, but with less enthusiasm.

  “Oh my!” Mandy throws up one of her hands and starts dramatically fanning herself. She mockingly moans, “Look at those cute newbies!”

  Janice elbows Mandy and playfully hisses through her teeth, “Hey, cut it out.”

  Mandy rubs her arm and laughs. “We both know that’s what they are saying. I’m just the only one who would point it out.”

  Janice rolls her eyes. “Sorry about her. She is a little … I don’t know how I would describe it.”

  “Fabulous?” Mandy suggests. “Peerless? Perceptive? Extraordinary?”

  “Crazy?” She looks past us, then to the girls at the table behind us. “And those girls? Don’t worry about them.”

  A semiloud anthem from the overhead speakers interrupts Janice. Everyone in the cafeteria stands and turns to the center of the room, where hologram screens pop up on every side of the large boxlike post. Beside the post hangs a large dark gray flag with their golden two-hammered seal on it.

  The song halts, and a man comes onto the hologram screen. “Good morning, Bergland. I hope you are all doing well. I am General Luke Wilson with your morning announcements. We are all happy to announce that we survived another bombing from Bestellen with no damage to any of our major structures. We do have two windmills down between a few valleys, but other than those two easily repairable machines, we are perfectly fine.”

  The only part of the man that is visible is his torso and his extremely thick head. From the fine and fancy suit he is wearing, with armored shoulders and elbows, he looks to be about two hundred pounds of pure muscle. He has a mean face. Plain and simple. The more he talks, the more he looks like a traditional bad guy. General Wilson goes on to thank the workers who check and make our structures and so many other workers that I lost track. General Wilson looks mean but sounds decent. “Remember to check in with your teachers, trainers, and/or supervisors for any new scheduling or announcements. Thank you for your attention. Now time for the minute of reverence.”

  Everyone raises their right hand and places it onto their hearts. The room grows silent. The three of us follow and place our hands on our hearts while remaining silent.

  We stay quiet for what feels like minutes. I look around to see everyone either with their eyes closed or focused on the flag. The silence is interrupted by General Wilson. “Thank you. Good day and good morrow, Bergland. Work hard and achieve more.”

  The holograms disappear, and everyone goes back to their seats and their chatter. Janice sits across from us and folds her hands. “That minute of silence we just had is what we call ‘the minute of reverence.’ Instead of a
mindless pledge to our flag, we look to it as a reminder of what we fight for and all those who have given their lives in the process.”

  “You do that every day?” Logan asks, returning to his seat.

  Mandy and Janice nod. Mandy smiles and folds her hands too, mimicking Janice. “Yep. We have those little morning greetings from our officials every morning, with the occasional news story.” Mandy elbows Janice excitedly. “Janice here gets to do them sometimes!”

  We all look back to her. Mavis beats me to ask, “You’re an official?”

  “Well,” Janice corrects, “a coordinator. I am the assistant secretary of education to Emily Hash, just like General Wilson is the secretary of defense. But I told them when I accepted the job that I wanted to teach, so they let me.”

  Logan pokes at what’s left of the food on his plate and looks back to Janice. “What do you teach?”

  “History.” Logan and Mavis exchange a look, then shift their focus back to Janice as she continues, “First of all, I absolutely adore history. Second of all, I believe that if you don’t know about past mistakes, you are doomed to repeat them. Third of all …” Janice looks down at the table, then back up at us. She waves her hands. “Nope, I need to stop there. I can list reasons I teach history for hours.”

  The thought of someone listing reasons why they are passionate about their love makes me happy. I can’t help but smile. “Yate told us that we would need to learn history tomorrow. Are you going to be our teacher?”

  Janice returns my smile. “I can request that you guys are put in my History Basics class if you want. It is filled with kids about twelve, thirteen, and fourteen. But I would love to have you guys with me!”

  We all nod and exchange looks of “Sure, why not?”

  “Okay, I will let Yate know when I get to my class. A bell is going to ring in a minute, and everybody is going to leave the cafeteria. This is the last breakfast shift of the day, and it ends in …” Janice checks her watch, the same sort of watch that seems to project holograms, and she looks back to us. “About three minutes.” She stands up and looks around the room. “Okay, guys, I don’t see Yate anywhere. Do you guys know where you are to be going next?”