The Armor of God

by Diego Valenzuela

  Susan, Kiva, and Alice invited him to stay in the dining hall to kill time. He didn’t have much to do until the next morning, so he stayed with them. Susan binged on coffee for the next few hours, and Kiva had another serving of food. When Ezra made a point of the amount of food he was eating, Kiva said: “You should do the same; you’ll need some muscles now.”

  Their chat was casual and friendly, and made him forget he was sharing a table with three people who outranked him in the army. They purposefully stayed away from talking about Zenith and their training therein—it was probably the last chance they’d have.

  When they were done, Alice excused herself and Susan showed Ezra to the dormitories they’d take that night.

  “This is going to be a good chance for you to get to know the other one better,” Susan said as they came to the dormitory hallway.

  “The other one?” Kiva asked.

  “The fourth new cadet at Zenith,” she replied.

  “I thought Alice was heading back to Zenith,” Ezra said.

  “What? Oh, no. Hold on, here she is.” Susan knocked on the door to the room marked 301B, which was ajar. “Poole? It’s Corporal Higgins. I want you to meet the other ones.

  “Coming,” a voice said from inside.

  When the door swung open, Ezra was face to face with the violet eyes of Shower-Stall Girl.

  Chapter 4

  Zenith

  “There’s four of us?” Ezra said. It was odd; Sergeant Barnes, upon their first meeting, had expressed how rare it was for two C-Compatible candidates to show up in a year.

  “Did I make you feel less special?” she said. She wasn’t being funny or ironic; her eyes were difficult to read, but Ezra could definitely sense unwarranted contempt.

  “Dial it down, Poole,” Susan said. “These are your new mates, so put up that front for someone else.”

  The girl grimaced, wanting to reply to Susan but knowing better. Ezra heard Kiva chuckle behind him, and though he was glad to see Susan reprimand this girl, Ezra was still a bit angered by her unprovoked aggression.

  “I’m Vivian,” she said and shook Ezra’s hand, not even looking him in the eyes.

  “Ezra,” he replied as she also half-offered Kiva her hand. “That’s Akiva.”

  Susan cleared her throat. “Second Private, and Private First Class.”

  “Right. I’m Private First Class Poole, then,” she said, and looked at Ezra and Kiva. “Which one of you is the Second Private?”

  “I am,” Ezra said, and Vivian smiled, unsurprised at seeing the smaller of the two being the lower-ranking cadet. “Right. So, fun as though you seem to be, I think I’m going to turn in. I got some reading to do.”

  With Susan’s permission, Ezra walked away from Poole’s door, hoping Kiva would follow. When he didn’t, Ezra just continued walking away, taking a stand against Poole’s instigations.

  His face felt hot when he suddenly realized he had no idea where his room was, and that he had stormed off blindly. Swallowing embarrassment, he turned around. “Corporal . . . which—?”

  “103B,” she replied. Kiva chuckled again.

  “Right. Good night.”

  The dormitory was not one routinely used by the soldiers of the base, but by guests. It was modest in decoration and amenities, consisting only of two beds separated by a nightstand, a closet and a desk. Ezra was sure these weren’t the sleeping arrangements for the enlisted soldiers—they were placed in long barracks built about a mile south of the base.

  Soon after finding himself alone in the room, sitting on the bed and staring out the window, Ezra realized his bluff in front of Poole had been as stupid as it had been dishonest: he had absolutely nothing to do in that room—not even something to read. Now, he was too proud to go outside and maybe run across that girl. Poole. He wished Jena or Kiva were there so he could at least have a conversation.

  According to a wall-mounted clock, it was barely 9:00 PM, so it was a bit early to go to sleep, despite having had an exhausting day and little sleep the previous night. He tried to remember at what time he had to be up but couldn’t. Had Alice even said something? He could only hope Kiva remembered, and would wake him up when the time came.

  Way to start off a life in the military, Ezra, he thought. Expecting someone else to wake you up.

  Ezra thought about Alice. Like Jena, she was someone he wanted to get to know better. She just seemed to be honest about the beauty she had and the beauty she didn’t have. He looked forward to being her student and her companion. Maybe something else.

  To interrupt his thoughts, there was a knock on the door. “Hello?” Susan’s voice. “Blanchard?”

  “Come in, Corporal,” Ezra said, and sat up, hoping she’d summon him for something that would kill some time before he could actually fall asleep.

  She stepped into the room. “Are you busy?”

  “No, ma’am,” he said, trying to get used to the more respectful way of speaking that would be expected of him in Zenith.

  “I hope you weren’t put off by Poole. She’s a nice girl, but she is not good at making friends. She likes to put up a front so you don’t mess with her. She’ll shed the whole thing soon, just give her time.”

  “I thought so,” he replied. The insincere nature of Poole was precisely what made her completely uninteresting to him.

  “She has an interesting story, actually: she was discovered as C-Compatible last year by accident—a blood sample of hers made its way to the army, and boom. She’s been waiting to turn eighteen so she could legally be transferred to Zenith, and has been training here in the army base since. The truth is, she’s extremely excited about tomorrow.”

  He didn’t care. “Ma’am, have you heard from Jena?”

  “She was with her father, but was coming back to sleep here. Ezra,” she said and sat on his bed. “I’m going to tell you—or rather ask you—something, and I’m going to be very frank with you. The Creux Defense Program you are in now is something I’ve always wanted to be a part of—a wish that I’m still hoping to see fulfilled. I’m a military psychologist, and part of my job has been to stay in this base as a counselor, helping the C-Compatible candidates on the interim of their transfer from Roue to Zenith. There’s something I shouldn’t tell you yet: you have some rough times ahead, Ezra. The program is notoriously stressful to the body and mind of you kids.”

  Ezra swallowed. “Corporal?”

  “So much so that every single member of the program is assigned to a Zenith counselor who functions as a teacher and a friend—someone to talk to every week, sometimes more often. No one ever thinks it’s going to be necessary, but it always is.”

  “Are you going to be there?”

  “I want to!” she said. “More than anything I want to, but it’s not really up to me. I really like you, Blanchard, so I’m going to risk my job by telling you this. I have all the requisites I need to be transferred to Zenith—the education, the minimum rank, the seniority: everything. I’ve made appeals to be transferred, but unless the higher-ups at Zenith themselves summon me to work full-time as a counselor in their headquarters, I won’t be able to be there. Unless. . .”

  She paused. “Ma’am?”

  “Unless a candidate makes the request formally, and he and I pass a compatibility test. I know we’ve known each other for only two days, but this is the first time I feel like I’ve met a good enough match to get me into Zenith.”

  Ezra looked at her and saw in Susan’s eyes her very soul. She was being as sincere as she had ever been to anyone, and was putting her future in his hands. “Ma’am, what do I have to do?”

  She smiled. “So you’ll do this for me?”

  “Of course,” he said. “I like you, Corporal. If I’m going to have a counselor in Zenith, I’d rather it be you than a stranger.”

  Ezra saw her eyes water. “Man, that is so good to hear! Oh, man!”

  She got up in her excitement, smiling, and looked out the window. In the short time he had know
n Susan, she had seemed something of a stoic, so seeing her jump in excitement made Ezra smile.

  She sat on his bed again, this time closer to him. “Okay, so: You just need to make a formal request. That’s all, then it’s up to me. The first thing you’ll do once you get to Zenith tomorrow will be what’s called New Member Orientation—a seminar that will outline your life in Zenith in general terms. It will be imparted either by Dr. Eliza Mizrahi, whom you met yesterday, or a skinny man called Dr. Yuri Logan. He’s the center head of the Zenith higher-ups. When you have a chance, just tell either one of them that you’re making a formal request to transfer Corporal Susan Higgins to Zenith as your personal counselor. If they ask you for a reason, make something up: you trust me more than anyone, or something.”

  “Got it,” Ezra said and smiled. “It will be an honor having you there, ma’am.”

  Susan smiled again and hugged Ezra affectionately. Her arms lingered, wrapped around him, for enough time to make Ezra somewhat uncomfortable. “Thank you so much.”

  Several minutes after Susan’s visit, Ezra stripped to his underwear and neatly folded his uniform next to his bed.

  He woke up some time later when he heard the door of the room open. There was a moment of panic when, in his drowsiness and the darkness, he couldn’t recognize the room, but he regained calm when he heard Kiva’s voice, and the memories of the last two days flooded back.

  “Sorry.” The big kid stepped into the room, quiet as a mouse, without turning on the light, and closed the door behind him. “Where were you?” Ezra said and rubbed his eyes, taking a look at the night outside behind the curtains, afraid to see the first strokes of dawn, as he was still too tired. It was still dark.

  “I was with Jena,” he said and sat on his bed.

  Ezra sat up. “What? Doing what?”

  Kiva laughed, undoing the laces of his boots. “Just talking. Her dad agreed to the transfer to Zenith, so she’s feeling better about leaving with us tomorrow.”

  Ezra didn’t say anything, just stared as Kiva was folding his clothes.

  “Go to sleep, man, you still got like a good six hours or so. Have you been here the whole time?”

  “Yeah,” Ezra said and slid under the covers again, showing Kiva his back.

  He didn’t fall asleep as quickly as he wished. Between the sounds of Kiva preparing himself for bed, and a feeling he didn’t want to brand as jealousy, his mind was too busy. Maybe, if he had been quicker in the shower stall earlier, it would have been him spending time with Jena.

  Several minutes later, the noise of Kiva’s snoring finally forced him to close his eyes and clear his mind.

  The night passed.

  “Ezra, time to get up,” he heard Kiva say beyond the thin veil of sleep. “This is the first day of your new life, my man!”

  The day was bright outside, and when his eyes finally focused, he saw Kiva in full uniform but one that was not the army’s colors they had worn the day before. “What the dusty hell are you wearing?” Ezra said and yawned.

  “Our Zenith uniforms! Check it out,” he said with perhaps too much excitement, and showed him a hard pad on his shoulder that sported two yellow lines. “Private First Class.”

  Ezra looked at the uniform. It consisted of a black jumpsuit with yellow and purple details that had too many bags and zippers. The shoulders were adorned by two small pads you’d expect to see as protective gear in a contact sport. The boots were similar to the army’s, only they reached higher up the shin and seemed heavier. A patch on the chest boasted a large golden Z against a field of black. “What kind of uniform is that?”

  “I don’t know,” Kiva said. “But I like it. I think these spots on the chest and arm are for other patches. They brought them in this morning—yours is right there.”

  A quick glance at the foot of his bed let him know that Kiva had apparently received Ezra’s uniform and put it on his bed, then gotten dressed, all without waking Ezra up.

  “If you want to shower, you’ll have to go to the end of the hallway, and hurry.”

  “Screw that,” Ezra said and got up to check his uniform. The word Blanchard was sewn on the breast, and there was only one yellow stripe on the shoulder pads. He wondered what he’d have to do to get that first promotion to join Jena and Kiva. And Poole.

  Ezra got dressed and, though he didn’t like the uniform—it was a bit too loose—he definitely liked the way it made him look. There was something in the broadness of the shoulder pads, and the heaviness of the boots, that made him feel like a bigger man: like someone who had gone through one life, and was ready for another.

  “How ridiculous do I look?” he asked, and started making his bed.

  “A little bit,” Kiva admitted. “We both do—aren’t they great?”

  “We’re not coming back to Roue for a while, are we?”

  “Not for a while,” Kiva said, putting all his belongings in the army duffel bag. “Time will fly, though; we’ll be too busy. We’ll be able to be back here before you know it, if only to visit. We’re not civilians anymore.”

  That was the concept Ezra was having a tough time grasping. What, exactly, did it mean to not be a civilian anymore? Had they become assets to Roue, and not people?

  Kiva bumped Ezra’s shoulder pad with his own. “We’re gonna be okay. Think about what’s ahead, not what you’re leaving behind. The path will be clear.”

  Ezra and Kiva walked down the dormitory hallway and noticed the base was remarkably empty. It wasn’t until they reached the dining hall that Ezra realized the time, and that Kiva had woken him much too early. Ezra wanted to say something, but Kiva was far too enthused about being awake; the last thing he needed was Ezra’s whining weighing him down.

  Only a few soldiers were already up and having breakfast, but they all regarded Kiva and Ezra as strangers. Some even gave them sharp, antagonistic glances. When they sat down and started breaking fast, Kiva noticed it too and mentioned it.

  “What do you think is their problem?” Ezra asked.

  “The uniforms,” Kiva replied, not even a little concerned. “I wonder if there’s some rivalry between Zenith and the Army. Most of them probably didn’t know what we were doing here the last two days.”

  When they were almost finished with their meal, they were joined by Susan and Jena, who wore the Zenith uniform with more grace than either Kiva or Ezra did.

  “You’re early,” Susan said and placed a huge book on the table. “I came to look for you but you had already cleared out your room.”

  “We were excited,” Kiva said with food still being chewed in his mouth.

  I’m sorry, ‘we’?

  Ezra looked at one of the tables at the far corner of the hall: Poole, fully uniformed, was sitting alone, sullenly eating her breakfast.

  “Are you all right?” Jena said, placing a tray of food on the table.

  Ezra didn’t realize she was talking to him until the silence made him look up from the unexpectedly sad sight of Poole eating alone, to see six eyes on him. “Yes, sorry. I’m just a bit tired. Why isn’t Poole having breakfast with us?”

  All four turned towards the outsider. If Susan’s words had been true, then Poole had been looking forward to the day she would be transferred to Zenith for a long time; she shouldn’t be alone and looking so sad.

  “Poole!” Kiva’s roar echoed across the hall, shooting a fresh onslaught of angry glares in their direction.

  Dammit all to hell—had Akiva beaten him to it, again?

  Poole, almost startled, looked at them. Akiva invited her to the table with a curl of his fingers. She didn’t know how to react, but, after a moment that displayed substantial insecurity, she finally picked up her tray and walked toward them.

  “That’s nice of you, Kiv,” Jena said with a smile, which Kiva reciprocated.

  Ezra’s ears went red and hot.

  Poole finally reached their table and pulled up a chair to sit. “Thank you,” she said. “I’ve been eating alone in t
his base almost every meal.”

  “You didn’t make any friends in your time here?” Akiva asked, starting another round of eggs and sausage.

  “I thought I had, but it’s hard to do when everyone knows you’re leaving for Zenith soon. People here thought I thought I was better than them or something.”

  Or maybe you were being a bitch, Ezra thought bitterly, and then regretted it.

  “I saw you in the showers yesterday, giving crap to my boy Ezra,” Jena said and shook Poole’s hand. “So you’re in the program too? I’m Je—I mean: Private First Class Crescent.”

  “Private First Class Poole,” she replied. “But I prefer Vivian.”

  They continued a conversation that he didn’t hear, and didn’t want to hear. At Akiva’s suggestion, Ezra got up and walked towards the counter for another round of food. Maybe he did need to eat more now; he didn’t want his uniform to be so loose forever.

  “Hey, Ezra,” Jena said when he returned with a fresh plate. “If you’re tired, maybe you can catch some sleep on the way to Zenith.” She spread butter on her toast.

  “Oh, I don’t think so,” Susan chuckled, glancing up from the book she was studying. Ezra saw the extremely long title on the spine: The Brain, The Nervous System and Cognition: Teaching and Research Methodology, by Dahlia Mizrahi. Ezra knew that name. Dahlia Mizrahi had been his mother’s friend. She was Eliza’s deceased sister. “I don’t see how.”

  Not five minutes had passed since Ezra, Jena, Kiva, and Vivian boarded the train to Zenith when Sergeant Barnes, whom Ezra had met as a tough but friendly man, appeared from the front cabin, transformed into a horrifying thing.

  His uniform made the already huge man look even larger; the ring he wore on his nose was black and thick, lined with a yellow stripe. His brow was twisted into a scowl, and his eyes didn’t seem to blink. He didn’t speak, but his presence was incredibly oppressive.

  All five of them were on their feet because the train—or at least this car—didn’t have seats: only tough plastic loops that hung from the ceiling like nooses. The car itself was strangely empty; it even lacked windows: the walls were just dull, solid gray. Ezra would later find out that the train track was built several dozen feet underground, as construction in the infected and hostile environment above ground was impossible.