by Flynn Eire
“Let me talk to Lynx about bringing my stuff to his room,” Gary offered quietly. “I spend most nights there and, yeah, I get the feeling we need the space.”
“Thanks, yeah,” I agreed. After the first room was cleaned, I brought in the first bunk bed box with the help of the post-trans, Mikal. I opened it and gave them the short version of what they had to do first.
“We can handle all the steps and put it together,” he drawled, rolling his eyes at me as he reached for the directions.
I grabbed the front of his shirt, letting the rest of them see me treat him this way. “We do not have time for egos or bullshit. This is an emergency where they’re evacuating camps. Do you get that? Shit is hitting the fan. I know this stuff well, so hurry and just do what I fucking say.”
“Yeah, got it,” he grumbled when I let him go.
“Lynx said he can spare a few ratchets for our group so we’re not all using Allen wrenches, but if we break them, we buy them,” Gary announced, handing them over to me before hurrying to his room, letting me know he was moving in with Lynx.
I ended up sending two post-trans to handle the drinks and then brought the rest into Mikal’s new room. “This is how you lay out the frame.” I held up the longer screws and then pointed to certain holes. “These go in here, here, and here. Get them in place, two of you holding pieces so nothing gets ruined, and we’ll go from there. Do it fast after the room gets cleaned, and we’ll whip through this.”
Matteo nodded at the idea and took one of the ratchets from me with the correct bit. We hurried through the first steps in no time, gathering them all back up again to demonstrate what came next and honestly, we had over a dozen built in less than a half hour. They were good quality bunks that were secured well with just the T-joints needing to be secured.
It was just before dinner that we got word our invaders had all arrived and were waiting at the cafeteria. I could only imagine how scared they were, confused and several other emotions as well. However, we knew the West Coast camp—or some called it Seattle since it was just outside the city there—to be not the greatest people. Or that was what it was when Rune and then London was there decades later.
And considering he hadn’t transferred to us that long ago, I didn’t think any of us had much faith that we were getting awesome trainees.
“Look, it’s the girl,” a post-trans mock whispered as a bunch of us walked into the cafeteria. I saw the stares focused on London, and it hurt my heart that it hit him hard to be around these dicks.
“Dude, this whole camp is girls,” someone replied.
“You make it sound like that’s an insult when we have female warriors that could kick all your asses and I’ve seen non-warrior females take out Wyrok with their gifts,” I snapped, hating this was the way things were starting. “If you have such a problem with anyone being gay here, you’re free to leave and get eaten by zakasacs.”
“You can’t do that,” he argued with a snort. The shithead actually snorted at me like he was hot shit. “And no way some fucking homo tells me what to do.”
“This homo will and is your fucking boss,” Matteo snarled, getting in the guy’s face. “I’m head of post-trans training, and your ass is mine. And no, I don’t mean sex because you’re not even attractive.” He stepped back from the idiot so everyone could see him clearly in our large cafeteria. “From this moment forward, this sort of shit stops. There is no place for bullies in training, fighting the war we’re in, or anything else we do here.
“I don’t give a shit what your parents have taught you. You survived your transition, and you’re on your own. I don’t give a shit who your parents are. We don’t do politics here. They cannot help you here. You want to run your mouths? Great, we’ve got lots of extra shit to wear you out so you don’t have the energy for that crap. You might get hurt in training if you don’t have time for sleep, but well, you made the choice to be a douche.”
“That goes the same for the pre-trans, which I’m in charge of,” Dimitri cut in, nodding to his friend he was taking over. “We didn’t ask for you. You were sent to us to save and train, and we will do that even if it means training you to be a decent person and someone useful to our society. We will do our best to help you survive your transition or become a warrior if you deserve it. If you don’t. Fuck you. Die. Get eaten. Whatever.
“We won’t waste our time on assholes, bigots, or anyone thinking they’re privileged because of what family they were born into. And let me be clear, pre- or post-trans, you are behind where our program is, and we’re behind after a never-before-heard-of attack. So you think you’re so special? Why? Because some of you have big mouths? You like being bullies? That’s great. Try and throw insults at zakasacs, and we’ll send your ashes to your parents.”
It was a good speech. Hell, I was pretty sure the room should have smelled like shit after the amount who looked like they’d crapped their pants.
“We know this whole thing is hard,” Matteo added after letting what Dimitri said sink in. “It’s hard on us too, but we’re doing it to help you, help our people who you will protect one day. So we’re going to start you off easy this first week.”
I had to swallow a snicker because chopping month was anything but easy… They didn’t know that, however.
“We’ll walk you through what we’re going to do first thing in the morning,” he continued. “Warriors are volunteering to help assess you. Do not lie, bluster, or any other bullshit with them because we’re not judging you on how far behind you are. We are assessing to help you get caught up. It’s not about ego or anything else, especially the pre-trans who this will help you survive your transition.”
Alexander nodded to Matteo that he would take over. “I am Alexander, and I’m leader of this camp. I am the law. Dimitri and Matteo are your trainers and are to be treated with respect. Any warriors that aid in your training are to be treated with the same respect. If you disagree or have issues with any of the training, my door is open. If you have problems with anything personal, I don’t give a shit, so don’t bother me.
“If I hear anything slanderous or any hazing or harassing, the punishment is severe and will be exponentially worse than what was done. If you don’t believe me, speak with Xana who has strung up pre-trans by their feet naked in the freezing cold for forcing one of their fellow trainees to do their laundry and assignments.”
He let that sink in, and I didn’t need to be an empath like Marissa to feel the fear in the room.
“We do not fuck around here, as we are focused on keeping you all alive,” he continued, staring down several I would have picked out as problems. “If you don’t like it, you are welcome to quit the program, but understand you cannot transfer to another one. Your councils, the Wyrok have said as much. So if you want the title of ‘warrior,’ you need to earn it here or you’re a washout.
“We have to be harsh on bullshit, but that does not mean we are not here for you. We have an empath that stays with us now and again, working with our trainees and warriors. We have other very gifted warriors you will be learning from. If there is a problem, do not hide it from us so we can help you.”
“And we will,” Dimitri cut in firmly. “No matter who says what or pushes all the right fear buttons. We’ve taken it on before. Son of a council member? Doesn’t matter. Son of filthy rich, egotistical assholes? Been there, don’t care. Got it?” He waited until most nodded. “Tonight, eat a good dinner, we’ll get you settled in your rooms, but if anyone wants to talk to us or alert us to any situations that they feel would have fallen on deaf ears before, we’ll be around, and you can go to anyone at our camp and they will help.”
He gestured for them to go ahead and have at the food before turning to our group.
“We know you’ve graduated from chopping month, but we need the eyes and ears so nothing bad happens when super newbs who aren’t used to our level of workouts are going to go out. The Wyrok have each agreed to take a night guard shift so we can ge
t some rest there, and our post-trans can cover some partial day shifts so more warriors may get more sleep. None of these post-trans coming in have CDLs like you guys do.”
“I need to interrupt,” Marissa said firmly, but with a bit of a slur. “I need to interrupt and then hide. It’s too much from all of them.”
“Mom, what’s up? Too much fear?” Gary asked, his tone worried. She gave a painful looking nod, grabbing her head. “What else?”
“Hope. I want to point out the hope. Something is wrong with them that they’re so hopeful. I mean, off the charts hopeful.”
“Point them out, and we can each talk to one of them,” I offered, scared at how she was acting. Yeah, a room full of dozens of terrified trainees would make an empath go bonkers.
“Good, good,” she sighed and then started pointing them out. The moment she was done, Gary swept her up in his arms and headed out of the cafeteria, Lynx promising to bring dinner for them all to the lounge.
Okay, maybe I wasn’t so worried about my gift anymore. Being an empath seemed horrible, and she was an awesome one.
“Before you go to help and want to kill any little shits, we cannot punish what was done at another camp,” Dimitri warned us. “That’s the investigations now, so I’m not saying let it go, but it can’t be a real punishment. Most of what happened will get blamed on the trainers and what they pushed others to do. The moment they pull any of that here, then we can do all sorts of anything. Remember that.”
I was glad he reminded us of that moments later when I spoke with a pre-trans who had horror stories of what some of the other pre-trans had done to him because he was an orphan born of no mentionable family. Like that shit mattered in real life? I bobbed my head and listened before walking over to the guy he told me was the ring leader, flipped over the guy’s tray onto his lap, and got in his face.
“You ever pull any shit like that here and I’ll challenge you. I’ll get a line of friends to challenge you, and we’ll have such a go with you that you’ll be in the infirmary healing on your birthday and won’t make it, you piece of shit. You don’t get to eat the fancy, fancy crab that was sent to me and I shared with everyone here. You want to eat like you deserve it? I’ll take you out to the garbages outside and you can eat from there.
“I can’t punish you for what was done there, but I sure as fuck can bully your puny ass if you’re going to do it to others. I suggest you alter the path you’ve been walking and get on a better one fast, or maybe we’ll just push you off one of the mountains we’re going to tomorrow. Am I in any way unclear?”
“No, I hear you,” he replied, his eyes a bit too wide.
“Glad to hear it. Good chat. Sleep tight because if you don’t heed my warning, it could be one of your last.” And then I went back to the pre-trans I was talking to, handing him a napkin when I saw he was trying to hide the tears in his eyes. “Anyone bothers you, you come talk to any of us, and I promise we’ll make them regret it no matter what threats they might give you to be quiet.”
“I actually believe that here,” he rasped, bobbing his head.
Good. He should. No way would any of the warriors allow that shit.
Some of our pre-trans figured out the ones we talked to would be in jeopardy of retaliation and promised to bring them into their circle, making it clear all they had to do was hit the panic button in their dorm for help to come. No, there really wasn’t a panic button, but given the horror stories we’d heard about the Seattle camp, it was wise to think ahead.
I really hoped most took coming here as a clean slate and did better. I’d grown up around idiots who were bullies just to make their parents proud they were strong or some stupid shit. Sometimes the last thing bullies wanted to be were bullies, and the fact that idiot parents hadn’t caught onto that yet or that it was their fault made me sorry to be a vampire or even a person of this planet. I saw the same from humans too.
All of it made my mood for shit, especially when I saw my friends noticed I didn’t eat any of the crab I’d been so excited to get, instead grabbing a couple of pre-wrapped sandwiches and sports drinks to fuel up for what I was helping with. I was still unsettled once back in my room, trying to ignore the tears that wanted to come for some stupid reason, and instead pulled out my sketch pad.
I didn’t draw like people or landscapes. No, I couldn’t make stick figures to even resemble the most basic cartoon characters. I think in another life I might have been an architect, though, because I loved buildings. I loved how pieces came together even with the beds. I knew it was horrible Nate had burnt down a huge section of an obstacle course, but honestly since the day I’d come to this camp, I’d been sketching ideas.
And maybe now it was time to tell someone. We might need more of them and even the ones still intact Matteo was worried restaining wasn’t enough given the harsh Wyoming weather and the damage it did to outdoor structures. I mean, there was only so many coats of stain that would help against feet upon feet of snow and years of that.
After I added the ideas on my mind, I plugged in my phone to charge, pulled up my favorite YouTuber, and stuck in my earbuds, ready to let his nice voice and sexy accent lull me to sleep. It worked because the bed dipping made me wake. Then I flinched, knowing I’d locked the door.
“You forgot to leave the door unlocked,” Alastair murmured after taking out my earbud.
“No, I didn’t,” I whispered. I felt him tense behind me and sit up.
“Is that why you didn’t eat the crab or even look at me?”
“Didn’t you want to give them to Mark?” I drawled, pausing the video and setting everything on the nightstand. He didn’t say anything, which irked me. I sat up and spun around to face him, my heart breaking. “You like him, don’t you? You like my best friend?”
“I do not,” he sighed, scrubbing his hand over his head. I studied him, fully able to see him for the first time when he was so close to me.
“But he’s hotter than me.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I did not think you stupid, Zibon. I said that for subterfuge. If I immediately paid attention to you, people would guess I was the one sending gifts.”
“So? So what?” I asked, thinking he was sort of stupid right then. “Are we hiding that? I thought you would show yourself and then it would be like you told me the secret. Why wouldn’t you tell me once you got here or whatever?”
He opened his mouth but then closed it, studying me. “This truly bothers you.”
“Of course it does. You announced it to everyone you thought my best friend was hot. While I was standing there. What do you think is the first thing anyone will say if they see me eating breakfast with you tomorrow? That Mark turned you down or something? I was second pick?” I waved him to keep quiet when he opened his mouth. “Do you only like me because he’s all bright and shiny and I’m dark? Is that it?”
“You are blowing this way out of proportion,” he sighed, rolling off the bed and standing. “Are you nervous about having sex the first time?”
“You think we’re having sex?” I balked, not hiding my shock.
It was his turn to be surprised from the look in his eyes. Then they were filled with anger. “You said we weren’t having sex until you knew my name. You now know it. I thought that was absolutely what we would be doing tonight.”
I couldn’t get my mouth to work. I tried several times, but all that wanted to come out were shouts, and the walls were too thin for that. Besides, I was talking apples, and he was talking fucking… I didn’t know actually. I got off the bed and walked to the door, opening it. After a few moments, I was able to get out a “Please leave.”
“If I go, I won’t come back. I don’t play these games, young warrior.”
I considered that a few moments and then bobbed my head. “So be it. I’m not playing games, and if that’s how you see it, see me ‘blowing up’ when what you did would upset anyone, then I’m sorry you’re angry and giving ultimatums, but I want you to go.”
> There, that sounded mature and like I wasn’t about to break down sobbing.
He paused at the door, not looking at me, but close enough where all I had to do was lean and touch him. “No one will ever be so wonderful or appreciate you more than I would have. Understand you made that choice tonight. You and whatever issues you have to bring this drama to the fun we’ve had.”
I felt my balls grow or something because I shoved him, and in his shock it worked because he stumbled out the door. We locked gazes as he turned to face me, and I knew he saw the tears in my eyes before the door closed. Of all the things I thought he might say to me, giving some bullshit about no one would want me more or be better to me after he’d been a jerk was too much. It sounded like the worst crap someone gave as an abusive lover.
I locked the door again, not even worrying how he’d gotten in. Someone ancient had to learn to pick locks over his years. I reached over to the notepad by my bed and wrote that down as something I wanted to learn. It had to be a useful skill that someone could teach me.
I wiped my eyes and felt good for not crying any more than that, realizing I deserved better and not sobbing myself to sleep like all the romance novels I loved.
Then I woke with a wet pillow and chastised myself for being judgmental and a jerk. People needed to get emotions out because bottling them up could destroy people. Hell, anyone—male or female—that didn’t cry the first or anytime they got their heart broken was just dead inside, and I never wanted to be like that.
No, I couldn’t go that way, either. I wouldn’t make Wally’s mistake and keep it all inside, though. I honestly didn’t know what to say nonetheless because I’d also lied to everyone. Was a half truth enough?
Or should I come clean and admit I was a total fucking moron for trusting a complete stranger that way when he was spying and… I didn’t even know how to put what he did. Controlling? Was that just lashing out in anger or his real personality?
I wasn’t sure, but I knew my friends saw my puffy eyes when I went to shower. Awesome. What a way to start chopping month.
