Recruitment

The main characters are recruited into the military project unknowing of what awaits them.

This will tell the story of a few friends, who encounter, life, love, death, or a fate worse. We will start with a man called John Farsight, let’s have a look at the background of this man. An overprotective brother, John was originally in the Marines, and soon after he became the god damn best sniper the country never knew, he soon got out of the marines after his ten year service, he earned many commendations as well as a medal of honor, he was well known for rescuing more men than any other soldier in the military, making him well respected by higher ranking officers and recruits alike, his selflessness for others is what made him the man he is today. John was normally seen wearing an old leather jacket of his father’s, dark blue jeans, a clean cut hairstyle, his hair was a dark brown matching his eyes, he had a rough beard, he wore a white shirt, and black as the night combat boots, he always kept his dog tags around his neck. One night, a gal called Octavia, was sat next to him in a bar not far from Texas, he ordered his regular whiskey, Octavia ordered the same. She wore a blue denim jacket over the top of a blood red shirt, blue jeans, and casual dark boots, she had a weird looking necklace, her hair was thick and a light brown. John peered over to her and smiled.

“Where did you serve?” He asked.

Octavia shot a quick look at John and replied.

“I was in the 82nd Airborn 3rd infantry battalion, served three tours in Iraq. Takes one to know one, you?” She asked with enthusiasm. John gave a smile and looked down at his drink and back to her.

“Just got out the Marines, served a couple tours here an’ there.” John had a look of sadness, a sense of regret.

“Go on then, what is it?” Octavia persisted.

“The military was my life, I didn’t really plan this far ahead.” His smile began to fade into his shot glass and he gulped it down and flicked his hand to the bar tender, the tender refilled his glass and moved on.

“I felt the same when I got out, I know the feeling. I found a way to quench the feeling though.” Octavia said this almost as if it was an offer towards John, and it was.

“How?” John replied with curiosity. Octavia slid a card over to John and walked quickly but cautiously out the back door of the bar. The card read “Salvation Recruitment” the card gave a date, and an address, the card also read at the bottom in small print “Study this, memorise it, then burn it”. John slid the card slowly into his leather jackets pocket and drank his whiskey, paid the bill, and walked out to his red 1967 Ford Shelby, he drove to his apartment he had just moved into, the apartment had few cardboard boxes littered around the rooms, there was a couch that was pushed into the corner and no other furniture. Little did he know he would not be staying long…

The first chick, Emily Farsight. John’s little sister, she was in the Marines too, in fact, those two have a lot in common, they both were expert marksman, and each of them are masters at CQC (Close Quarters Combat). Emily, wears a black shirt, a red and black checked shirt over that one, she has dark jeans, and black converse high tops. Her hair, blonde, long and wavy, often seen in a ponytail. She had earned many commendations for her service and was skilled in strategic and tactical planning. Surprisingly, Emily was holed up in the same bar as John, just a little later after he left. She had a pint of Guinness with foam around the top of the glass.

“You are the second one in here I have met today.” Octavia said with a sharp smile towards Emily.

“What do you mean?” Emily asked, giving a confused look towards Octavia.

“Marine, you are the second Marine that has been in here today.” Octavia was tired after the long couple days she had been through, this was her second recruit she had scheduled to get on board that evening.

“Is that right? Well, who was it? Maybe I know em’” Emily asked curiously.

“Ever heard of a soldier called John Farsight?” Octavia continued.

“What? You met my brother?" Emily looked towards Octavia with excitement.

“That's the one.” Octavia said as she took a drink from her whiskey.

“I’ll be damned. He’s my older brother, that son-of-a-b***h, he told me he was back in town but never came home to see me.”

“You two are close?” Octavia asked curiously.

“Close? That’s an understatement.” Emily said with a smile. She lifted up her sleeve and revealed a tattoo which had a marksman rifle and the text ‘My older brother is a Marine’

“John’s got one too, saying ‘My little sister is a Marine.’”.

“You miss the military?” Octavia, slammed her pint down and looked towards Emily.

“Once a soldier always a soldier. Why do you ask?” Emily began to wonder what Octavias intentions where.

“I actually recruited John into my organisation earlier, if you want to say hi then take this.” Octavia slid the card towards Emily and took a sip from her half full pint.

“What is this organisation? Some kind of mercenary deal?” Emily, asked without hesitation, as if she had been searching for one to join.

“Y’know that is the second time someone has said that today. No it’s not, it’s something much more important, all will be explained on the date the card reads.” Octavia finished her drink and put money on the counter and walked out the back again, she gave her a weary look as she left, tapping a table on the way out. Emily peered down at the card and pushed it into her top pocket and sat there for another half an hour or so before leaving.

The third member of the squad is Jason Viviani, a man of English descent. Jason is a very large man at 6’6”, which makes the way he moves even more surprising, He can be found in denim jeans, a blood red t-shirt, black boots with union jacks on the tongue, and a long black trench coat with a red rim. The story is thus; Jason was placed into a rough orphanage after the murder of his parent when he was three, because of this he was always rebellious, even to the point where he had served time in every young offenders facility in the UK. Eventually he found himself leaving England behind and moving to a small town in Texas, where he quickly made a reputation with the American government because of a few petty crimes here and there, putting him behind bars a few times. Which is why, after ten years, he found himself in a bar talking to a woman who would change his life for the better.

Texas, 2015 - Twilights Dawn bar, Silverton.

Octavia walks over to Jason and asks him what he is drinking, Jason picks up his glass and swirled the tar like substance around the base of the glass then takes a sip

“Rum...Vodka...Gin...and...Scotch”

“Sounds….Interesting” Octavia said before ordering the same. She takes a sip and spits it back up “How the hell can you drink this stuff!?”

“American prison food. That s**t kills your tastebuds” Jason says while chuckling to himself “How can I help?”

“God, This is uck, here take this.” Octavia went to the bar to grab a glass of water after sliding a card over to Jason

“Salvation recruitment, huh, sounds fun.” Jason said under his breath “So who the hell are you?”

“Hello, Jason. My name is Octavia and I’m very happy to meet you.” said Octavia with pleasure in her voice

“My guess is you run this Salvation thing. Huh?” Jason replied as he took another sip

“Yes, and you. Should join me...Us. Salvation.” Octavia insisted.

Jason smiles “I’m in...Got nothing better to do” Jason finishes his drink and makes his way out of the bar.

“He will be a pain. I can tell now.” Octavia says going to the bar to order something to wash the foul taste out of her mouth.

Next in the roster is a man who goes by one name. Merik. Merik isn’t the same as the rest of his team, he has no military background, no previous training, hell he wouldn’t have been in salvation if he wasn’t quick on his feet. On a cold winters night Merik was walking home after a night at the pub, car lights passed like planes in the sky, he was dressed in his normal attire for those times, black hoodie, black shirt, black jeans, black shoes, he blended into the darkness around him. Two men twice the size of Merik started walking towards him as three slightly larger appeared from an alleyway behind him, all dressed in black track suits, they started to close in on Merik and stopped right in front of him. Merik looked up and attempted to pass through, the thugs wouldn’t move.

“You really should get out of my way.” Merik snarls with a stern look on his face.

“What you gonna do ‘bout it?” Said the lead thug, pushing on Meriks shoulder “huh.”

One of the thugs behind Merik reaches into his back pocket and slowly pulls out a switchblade and places it against Merik’s face. The blade is cold like the air around them. Merik lets out a dreadful sigh and begins to turn around in a circle counting the thugs out loud as he does.

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I like my odds.”

Merik laughs, looks into the lead thugs eyes and begins to whistle the sith theme from star wars. Merik raises his right arm and hits the thug with the blade in the chest making him drop the blade, before it can hit the ground it is in Meriks hand. He strikes down on the first thugs face leaving a scar going down his right eye, blood gushing from the wound as he fell to the floor in pain, then Merik moves to plunge the blade into the second thugs lung, before turning around to knockout the third thug, the fourth turned to run away but collapsed as the third fell onto him, the final thug, who had just recovered from being hit in the chest, took a few seconds to look around before Merik flipped him over his shoulder onto the cold hard ground. A car pulled up besides Merik, a black bentley ,and a woman got out from the back and walked towards Merik, the look on her face said that she was amazed but the way she walked told a different story, she was wearing a brown winter coat, black heeled boots, and blue jeans. She looked Merik square in the face and said.

“You. You have so much talent. Where did you learn to do that?”

“I didn’t learn, I just figured it out.” Merik replies confused by the unknown intentions of this strange woman.

“Interesting” The woman said “Take this, The names Octavia by the way. Come by tomorrow, we can show you how to improve your skills by tenfold.”

Octavia hands Merik a card reading “Salvation Recruitment”. Walks back to the Bentley, looked back to Merik, smiled, got in the car ,and drove away. Merik gazed into the distance and followed the car with his eyes, the number plate read “S4LV ZER0”

On her way back to Salvation HQ Octavia made another stop, this time not at a bar, or to pick up some random man up off the street. But at what a normal person would deem as an abandoned warehouse, but in reality it was the home to the white knight of Silverton. Nate Mentul. A born again christian with a dark past. Nate is a short man about 5’5”, with short hair dyed white. He can normally be found in a scruffy black suit with light blue trim. Octavia walks into the warehouse, water from leaking pipes drips to the cold dark ground. In the back corner Octavia spots a small, smokeless fire under a hole in the roof, she walks over to find Nate, enjoying a free meal he had picked up from a member of the church.

“Hello ma’am, how can I help you” Nate says standing up and reaching his hand out. “My name is Nate Mental, and yours?”

“My name is Octavia. And Nate, I know all about you.” Octavia says taking Nate’s hand.

“Is that so…” Nate says with concern in his voice “Then you know what I can do.” Nate bends over to pick up a german short sword he keeps by his side.

“Yes, I know what you can do, and that is why I am here.” Octavia says gaining more of a serious look on her face. “Take this.” Octavia says while handing Nate a card reading ‘Salvation Recruitment’... “ I’m sure I’ll see you soon.” Octavia turns and walks to the exit “You know you are still the same man Nate. No matter how much you try to change.”

“Yeah you just might.” Nate says firmly as he sits down and goes back to his meal.

Here we are, the wild card. Kimberley Lamb, she wore a blood red leather jacket, deep black shirt, dark blue skinny jeans, a pair of dark red boots, her hair has shades of the sun with what looked like blood running through it giving her a look of pure beauty, but you know. Looks can kill. Octavia had been observing Kimberley for years, watching her train with her older brother; James, he is a member of the Navy Seals, an over protective brother who felt the need to teach his sister how to fight, he did a good job at that. Each strike James landed, Kimberley landed them quicker and more precise, she was a born fighter. A couple days after her brother, James, is sent off to train with the rest of his unit. Octavia approached with confidence, one swift leg after the other, almost like she was excited, as if she had been waiting for this moment for years; Kim was training in her garage where she usually was with her brother. Kimberley threw several astonishing punches after the other finishing her attacks with a roundhouse kick each time, the last time, in front of Octavia she kicked the punching bag with such power it knocked it off the hinges and it went flying across the room knocking down some old shelves. Kimberley, noticed Octavia was watching, and Kimberley wiped her forehead, removing the sweat from her face, Kimberley stared at Octavia and picked up her water and squirted it into her mouth, and wiped her mouth again.

“Can I help you?” Kimberley said curiously.

“Yes actually, you can.” Octavia replied with an amazing amount of confidence.

“Oh yeah?” Kimberley continued with a bizarre look on her face.

“I am with an organisation, one of which could use your particular skills.” Octavia had a smug smile on her face, she brushed her hair back behind her right ear and approached again. Kimberley shifted her legs together, and threw her towel over into the old car her brother always works on.

“Organisation? Listen, I have already had you guys asking me to join up.” Octavia was surprised by this, and questioned it.

“That can’t be right.” Octavias smile had dropped from her face and a hint of concern was shown.

“Oh yeah, all you private military contractors are the same.” Kimberley began to grow tired of the conversation as if she had rehearsed these exact lines. Octavias face lit up with another smile, and she lets out a subtle laugh.

“I am not a private military contractor. I am of much more.” Octavias confidence had grown once more and not a single emotion but that showed on her face.

“Tell you what, I will hear you out, if you can beat me in a spar.” Kimberley said this with a swift smile on her face.

“Alright, we can do that.” Octavia took off her jacket where a tattoo was revealed on her arm which read “Fight or flight”. They both moved into position to begin, Kimberley moves her legs apart and moves her hands to her face where they close into tight fists. Octavia stood there, calm, collected, not a single movement. Kimberley swung a quick punch towards Octavias face, Octavia only did a slight movement and the fist moved past her face. Before she knew it, the fists where flying towards her, every single throw, was blocked by Octavia; Kimberley jumped to do a roundhouse kick but Octavia grabbed her leg tightly and twisted it to flip her to the ground.

“You’re good. With the correct training, you could be something more, much more, I am talking super soldier level here.” Kimberley shot back to her feet with haste, no one had ever been able to do anything like that. Every. Single. Fight. She had won quickly, never had anyone managed to block every single breath taking punch she threw, not even her brother. Her face shown she was surprised, like she had just seen a unicorn crossing the street.

“Teach me how to do that.” Kimberley said slowly, as she was still exhausted.

“In time, until then take this card, meet me there.” Octavia gave Kimberley a card which read “Salvation Recruitment” again it had a time, date, and the message. Kimberley immediately got out a lighter and burnt the card. She had already memorised it. Octavia shot her a quick smile, then walked out slowly, grabbing her jacket on the way. She lifts her hand into the air as she was walking away and twisted it into a what looked like a gun, she shot her thumb down as if she was firing into the sky. Octavia opened the door to her Bentley and sat into her seat and drove away. Kimberley's face still was red with shock. She had know idea what she was soon to become…

The next morning. Just after dawn, the sun is low in the sky, snow from the previous day had settled, the tree’s are riddled with icicles, frost had climbed up the side of the Salvation building. Octavia was standing on the roof of the building, steaming hot coffee in her hand while she gazed off into the distance. Octavia took a small sip from her coffee, she flicked her wrist up and checked her silver watch.

“They should be here any minute now.” She said to herself.

All of a sudden, a faint bubbling of an engine is heard from up the road. John is approaching in his 1967 Shelby at moderate speed, the song ‘(Don’t fear) the reaper’ was playing from the tape John had in the car. John pulls up into the car park, John monitors the area, nothing but snow and an old looking building is seen, he takes the keys out of the ignition, looks again, then slowly opens his door and stands out by the side of it. He shuts the door, he slowly walks over to the front of his car, taps the hood three times, and scans the car park once more before leaning on the front of his car, crossing his arms. An old Land rover 110 makes its way into the car park and pulls up alongside John’s Shelby, Merik took the key out of the ignition and stood next to his door.

“Hello, I’m Merik. Do you happen to know what we will be doing here because I have no clue” Merik says while laughing.

“When I met Octavia in the bar she asked me if I missed the military. Guessing we have been recruited into some kind of military program. Names John by the way.” John says this while staring into the distance almost as if he was searching for something. John stands up, and reaches towards Merik for a handshake. Merik takes John’s hand while.

“Military huh?” Merik says as he walks to the passenger side of his 110, goes into the glove box and pulls out a pack of Snickers. “I’m not part of the Military, and I can safely say I had no plans in joining, I beat the s**t out of some thugs who tried to jump me, and Octavia saw it and invited me. Want a Snickers?”

“I’m good, thanks, stopped at a pretty good diner down the way. Their waffles are surprisingly good.” John said with a smile on his face. A motorbike is heard driving up the road. Kimberley was riding a red Kawasaki Ninja, she approached at fast speed, she began to close on the two of them and braked stopping immediately. Kimberley puts the bike into park, and takes off her helmet and shakes her hair free. She flips her leg over the bike and onto the snowy ground.

“Allo boys.” Kimberley says playfully, along with a sinister grin.

“Hey there princess.” John fires back at her with another smile. Kimberley’s smile drops and she looks at John.

“Don’t get used to calling me that. My name is Kimberley Lamb, yours?” Kimberley says agitatedly.

“John Farsight” John’s smile still present.  

Merik opens his can of Coke.

“Hi, I’m Merik, Snickers?” Merik says lifting the packet of Snickers towards Kim, “I’m going to guess ex-military?”

“No no, I am not ex-military, my brother taught me how to fight, must’ve caught someone’s interest. Throw me one of em’.” Kimberley said this as though she had been asked the same question time and time again. Merik throws Kimberley a Snickers.

“Hmm, that makes two of us with no military experience… You’re begging to get out numbered John” Merik says while laughing to himself.

“I look forward to it. By the way, I am awfully too used to being outnumbered.” John says with confidence. Kimberley began to circle Johns car.`

“Nice car, V8?” Kimberley asked with a swift smile.

“Thats right. You a fan of the classics?” John asked curiously.

“Nothing better.” Kimberley said. She began to walk to the back of the car before seeing a metal case in the back seat, while John’s back was turned she took it out and flicked open the case on the roof of John’s car. She whistles with amazement. She takes the rifle out the case and c***s it.

“Whoa! Holy s**t!” Kimberley was amazed by what was in the case. John quickly took notice and snatched the weapon from Kimberley’s hands.

“Hey! Don’t touch her! Safety wasn’t even on!” John shouted, snapping the safety on.

“Whoa! Dude, so you were a sniper! and all I came with was this” Merik said with enthusiasm in his voice while he went into the back of the 110, Merik approaches John and Kimberley, and places a metal case on the ground. He opens it and inside is a halbard (with a metal staff that screws together for use), two axes, a cutlass, and a bow and arrows, all of the weapons were custom made to have a chromed finish

“these are my...Toys…” Merik said while he spins the case round so John and Kim can see, “Octavia doesn’t even know I have these.”

“Are you a psychopath?” Kim asks slowly walking backwards.

“I might be.” Merik says closing the case, “Need to get tested.”

A third vehicle is heard coming down the road, a silver Aston Martin emerges, Emily drives up next to Kimberleys motorcycle, and parks the car. She takes the keys out of the ignition and looks about the people. She spots a marksman rifle she was awfully too familiar with in John's hand.

“There’s John, better not keep them waiting.” Emily takes a deep breath and opens the door slowly, stands up and grabs her jacket from the seat. She puts on the jacket with her back turned, she slowly turns and lifts her keys up and presses a button and the car locks. She begins to walk confidently towards the group.

“Hey, I’m Emily. Nice to meet you all.” She says with a smug smile.

“Thank god, another girl. You guys were getting boring. Hi I’m Kim.” Kimberley says with a smile.

“Hello. I am Merik, Would you like a Snickers?” Merik says placing the case back in his land rover and picking up the pack of snickers.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you all. Most of you I don’t know.” Emily says

“Hey sis, you met the shady chick in the bar too?” John asked curiously.

“Yeah I did, you should’ve came to visit me when you got back.” Emily gave off an irritated vibe towards John.

“Yeah sorry, I got distracted, had some things to take care of.” John continued to polish his rifle and fit it back into the case. He flipped the lid down and clicked the locks on it, applying a padlock to the front.

“That won’t keep me out!” Kimberley shouted over to John.

“It damn well better!” John shouted back. He walked to the back of his Shelby and opened the boot and placed the case under the surface of the boot. He takes a container out the back and closes the boot. He brings it round the front opens it, and takes a beer that was surrounded by ice in the container and jumps on his bonnet and opens it and takes a quick swig.

“If anyone wants one, help yourself.” He says as he leans on his windscreen.

Merik walks towards the cooler and takes a beer out “Cheers” Merik nods his head while looking towards John.

“Already started the party!?” Jason shouts as he runs across the car park “Eyy up. I’m Jason.”

“Jason, you are huge, my name is Merik and would you like a Snickers?” Merik looks up to Jason while raising the pack of Snickers up to him.

“Gonna grab a beer.” Kimberley says walking over to the cooler, she takes a beer out of the cooler and leanes on the front of John's car.

“Good to see she is actually running again.” Emily said inspecting the front of the Shelby.

“That was my first job when I got back.” John said.

“I’ll take one of both.” Jason says while laughing “I see you all have some mode of transport, could have given me a lift ya' know!”

“Jason here! Names John, that’s the princess, Kim, at least that’s what she wants to be called, and that’s my sister, Emily.” John says as he reaches for a beer, he grabs one and throws it towards Jason.

“God I hate you.” Kimberley says with a smile.

“You’ll learn to love me, don’t worry.” John says as he lets out a subtle laugh.

“So, Mind filling me in on everyone's background? I was a troubled child, went to a lot of young offenders facilities in my youth back in the home land, Octavia met me in a bar last night and told me to come here.” said Jason.

“I got into a fight with some thugs Octavia watched me take all five down in under sixty seconds, before that I didn’t really do much, other than scare people” Merik explained.

“Me and Em here, are ex-military, Marines to be exact, I’m a marksman, and I know my way around a gun.” John said informatively.

“I am a marksman too. I can hit a target up to 800-1500 meters” Emily said this like she was telling them about herself but really she was attempting to impress her brother.

“I was picked up from my garage, my older brother is a S.E.A.L, over protective as hell, he taught me how to fight, Octavia clearly saw something in me.” Kimberley said as she took a swig from her beer.

Nate is the last one to arrive, still wearing the suit from the night before.

“Hello friends. I am Nate Mentul...” Nate says.

“Hi Nate. Let me handle the introductions. So! Smooth talker over on the hood is John, he is ex military and from what I have heard a f*****g legend. Next to him is his little sister Emily. Another marksman in the military she is also pretty damn good from what I have heard. The ‘princess’ on the far edge is not ex-military but knows how to break your balls in I'm guessing up to one, no two hundred ways. The big guy in red and black is Jason. He looks scary, not gonna lie, he’s been to enough detention centers to make Hitler look like a nice guy. And finally I am Merik, I am here because I kicked the s**t out of five people in under sixty seconds.” Merik says to Nate holding out one of the last three Snickers. “Want one?”

“Please watch your language. I’m not fond of explicit words.” Nate says turning his nose up at the snickers, “I’ll tell you all one thing here and now. None of you can beat me. So theres no point in trying.”

“Did you not hear the Hitler thing? It’s pretty accurate.” Jason says

“Hmpf. You look more like a teddy bear to me” Nate says drawing his sword, Nate swings at Jason rolls out of the way So Nate hits John’s car.

“I swear to god if that left a mark!” John shouts as he runs over, throwing a powerful punch and knocks Nate out cold.

“Note to self. Don’t f**k with the Shelby.” Merik says to himself opening the back of his 110 “Here.” Merik says as he throws John a sticker to put over the scratch for now. “I’ll get that sorted for you later on, just need to get the right paint.”

“Cheers.” John says putting the Blue Oyster Cult sticker over the scratch.

The front doors of the building swing open, Octavia walks slowly out holding a clipboard and a pen.

“Happy to see you all made it. I see you have become well acquainted with our car park. I believe you all have met each other...” Octavia says as she sees Nate out cold on the snow. “I am not even going to ask… What is that?” Octavia points at Johns cooler with beer inside.

“Erm, beer?” John says nervously not knowing if this was allowed or not.

“Throw me one.” Octavia says giving a smile to John. John throws Octavia a beer.

“Right, now down to business… Riiight… Follow me to your assigned rooms, grab whatever possessions you may have.” Octavia walks back inside. John walks to the back of his Shelby and pops it open, placing the cooler back inside. He lifts up the compartment and takes out his metal case from earlier, picks up a holster and applies it to his upper right thigh where he places an M9 inside and clips the safety over the top. He closes the boot, locks the car and heads inside. Emily grabs her metal case from the back seat of her Aston Martin, she walks inside confidently as she placed an old military cap on her head after putting her hair into a ponytail. Kimberley grabbed a big duffel bag from the side of her motorbike and throws it over her right shoulder and walks inside to meet the others. Merik goes into the back of the 110, Merik picks up his metal case and a small metal brief case. Jason and Nate follow Octavia inside as all his possessions are always on their person. Octavia leads them up a flight of stairs to the second floor.

“Rooms are as followed…. John at the far end in room six, Emily in five, Kim two, Merik three, Nate four, Jason one. Get settled in, make any arrangements you need, bathroom second door on the left, kitchen third door on the right.” Octavia says this quickly and walks back down the stairs.

“Well this is a one up from being homeless. Sorry about earlier, Thought you all might be a bit hard towards me seen as- I- well haven’t changed out of this suit for the past year.” Nate shouts down the hall.

“A dorm huh. Sweet, just like college.” John says as he walks down the corridor to his room, he turns the key in the door and opens it, the room is mostly empty, a bed, chest of drawers, and a wardrobe, the floor is a blue carpet, the walls unpainted.

“This place is morbid. Gonna have to do her up.” John says as he walks in and closes the door behind him, John flips open his metal case then taking out his Marksman rifle, he releases the bipod and sets it down on top of the chest of drawers, he then walks back out of his room back down stairs to his car, grabbing some tools from the boot, and back up again quickly passing many other people on the way up, the corridors seem filled since they went up stairs, like since they went up to their rooms all these people had appeared. Emily walks up to her door and does the same.

“So I am just going to be left to my own devices for a while? Are you kidding? I can’t be trusted on my own!” Kimberley walks into her own room sulking and closes the door behind her, she throws her duffel bag to the front of her wardrobe and falls onto her bed.

Merik unlocks his room, opens the door, walks over to the wardrobe, opens it, closes it, and opens it again

“Damn it no Narnia!” Merik shouts loud enough for everyone else to hear him. “Sorry, I tend to check closets for Narnia ever since reading the books. Got me a life-time ban from IKEA”.

Jason walks into his room and looks around, he sees the bed and his face lights up

“Yes!!” Jason shouts with excitement in his voice

“What is it?” asks Nate walking in to see what was going on

“A bed, A bed that is 8’ long. I can fit in this” Jason explains as a single tear rolls down his face, Nate walks over to him

“Long overdue ain’t it big buddy?” Nate says kindly.

A lot of noise is heard from John’s room, he had began to screw in some extra shelves and tear up the carpet. Emily opens the door gingerly to avoid any wires she may trip over.

“What are you doing?” She asked curiously.

“This place is morbid as hell, gotta do something about it, let’s just say, I ain’t living in a pig sty.” John said with sweat running down his forehead.

“Huh, lemme borrow those tools when you are done will ya?” She asked happily.

“Sure, I’ll let you know when.” John said nicely.

“Thanks.” Emily walked out and John began to make a racket again down the hall where everyone can hear it.

“Hey! John is that you! Shut that crap off! Trying to get some sleep!” Kimberley shouted angrily down the hall.

“Sleep is for the weak!” John shouts back and continues.

Merik bursts into John’s room. and walks over to the wardrobe, he opens it, closes it, and opens it again. John gives him a concerned look.

“Damn it!” Merik shouts while walking back out. “Turn off those tools! you are scaring Narnia away!”

“Alright fine, but I am continuing in four hours!” John shouts back.

“Oh dear god please. wait until noon!” Octavia shouts from the bottom of the stairs.

“God damn it fine!” John shouts unplugging all the tools. John walks out into the hall and closes his door behind him, he sees a door unopened yet, he walks over to it and opens the door.

“Holy hell, we have a recreational room! I got dibs on the couch!” John jumps over the back of the couch and lies down. The room had a couch, coffee table, couple of desks, a games console, and a television. The room like the rest had a blue carpet, but had painted red walls.

“Holy- This place is awesome! Yeah sleep wasn’t working out for me after all.” Kimberley says as she walks into the room. Octavia walks to the entrance of the door and leans on the door with her arms crossed.

“Don’t get too comfortable, training starts in thirty minutes.” Octavia implied with a straight face. Emily walks up behind her, and taps Octavias shoulder.

“What kind of training?” Emily asks with curiosity.

“The kind where you awaken your true capability in combat, your true skill is dormant inside of you, we are here to help you release it.” Octavia said this as though she had rehearsed it time and time again before they met.

“Good, this place was getting more and more dull every time I looked at it.” Kimberley said with a smug smile.

“Nothing is going to please you is it princess?” John said while putting a cap over his face as he lay down on the couch.

“Not while you continue to call me ‘princess’ no.” Kimberley, said this with a passion.

“Great, meet us in the gym at 1130.” Octavia said, then quickly shuffled past Emily and down the hall again, leaving the second floor.

Twenty minutes later, John is the first to arrive, wearing a tank top which read “USMC” and sweatpants. He walks into the gym emotionless, he stands in line, legs apart, arms behind his back with thumbs crossed over one another. John wasn’t sure how this training would be, so he just adopted what he learnt in the Marines to be safe. Next in is Kimberley, more or less the same setup as John, a plain tank top, and sweatpants, she had her hair fixed into a ponytail. She walked in smiling and with confidence, as if she was on a casual morning stroll through a park. Kimberley reached into her pocket and pulled out a pack of gum, she took a strip and threw it into her mouth and placed her right arm on her hip with her left leg outstretched to the left side of her.

“What? Is talking illegal to you or something?” Kimberley peered over to John and looked at him with a bizarre look.

“Not entirely sure if this place has protocols so I am playing safe.” John doesn’t release an emotion on his face nor does he move a muscle on the rest of his body. Kimberley raises an eyebrow at John then returns to her stance. She lifts her arm and checks her watch, she lets out a dreadful sigh and begins to tap her left foot. Nate walks into the gym wearing the same suit as he had on the previous day. Next to enter is Merik, donning grey cargo pants, and a grey t-shirt with ‘Apple sucks’ on it. Emily walks through the doors wearing sport shorts and a normal shirt.

“What’s with my brother, why is he doing parade rest?” She says while pointing at John with one eyebrow lifted.

“He hasn’t moved, he said he isn’t sure if there is protocol so he is being safe apparently…” Kimberley said, she peered towards the door.

“Where’s biggen?” She said with enthusiasm.

Jason walks into the gym, wearing a red shirt, and jeans.

“This is all I had, I don’t really get the chance to work out.” Jason says quickly and as if they were going to judge him if he didn’t explain himself. “I see Nate doesn’t have much either.”

“Same suit for the past year, Should look into getting more, and well cleaning this one… Sorry about the smell” Nate says looking shy and timid over what had happened the previous day.

Suddenly, the doors swung open and Octavia had John’s rifle and everyone else's cases, she came sprinting in.

“Scratch training! We have bigger problems, consider this you proving yourselves in the field! The White House has been given a top secret document from someone who found out about our organisation, you need to get in there and burn the file. Try to limit casualties, only go loud if you have to. I need someone on over watch.”

“I’m up for it. John I am gonna need to borrow your rifle, I haven’t got mine anymore.” Emily said facing John.

“What’s mine is yours, take care of it, the scope is custom, use the side to change the scope, second dial is to magnify, first it to set the range, red dot sight on the left side of the rifle.”

“Alright, I won’t miss.” Emily says with confidence.

“Do we get to change before we go?” Jason asks. “I want my jacket if anything”

“Yes, Jason, you can change, but first you all come with me.” Octavia said with excitement in her voice.

“Lucky for you isn’t it Nate” Merik said cheerfully. Octavia lead them into what looked like an armory with all kinds of uniforms from all military presences known but replaced with the Salvation logo where the countries flag would have been.

“Hell yes.” John said moving into the room cycling through the uniforms he picked up a British Armed forces tactical vest and a tactical holster, he decides to stick with his jeans and his boots. He finds a mil-tec Shemagh scarf and puts it around his neck to put to up over his face on mission, he also picked up a pair of tactical sunglasses. Octavia began to give out name tags with velcro on the bottom to place on the uniforms, John was given one which read “North Carolina” and Emily was given one which said “South Carolina”, Kimberley was given the tag “Princess” (hinted by John earlier on, Octavia obviously believed it was accurate to her personality).

“You gotta be kidding me.” Kimberley said to Octavia. “Guess I gotta get used to it.” Kimberley continued. Emily chose the same get up as John but minus the scarf, she took a bonnie hat, she didn’t see the point of concealing her face as she was the marksman for the mission. Kimberley however chose a black tanktop, black tactical vest, black cargo trousers, and black combat boots, she wanted to remain concealed, she picked up two holsters and equipped them to the sides of her thighs, she chose a black cap and tactical sunglasses. Nate insisted on keeping his suit on before Octavia revealed a large amount of identical suits she had made for him. Nate’s eyes light up as he goes to change.

“Can you wash and patch up this one. Got a lot of memories with it. Oh mind the smell…” Nate says hoping he wasn’t imposing too much.

“Nate, you get Angel” Octavia shouts while handing him the tag “Being the born again christian you are, I thought it fit.”

Merik chose black boots, black cargo pants, a long black leather jacket, a dark blue shirt, and a black mask with a skull on the front.

“Merik, you get Death. And who ever is in charge of planning this, remember little to no casualties.” Octavia says while giving Merik the Death tag.

Jason chose to put his coat back on. Insisting that the b******s would know who he was with one look.

“Last but not least. Jason. You will be known as Demon.” Octavia hands Jason the tag saying ‘War’ and he places it under the salvation logo stitched on the the left sleeve of his Coat.

“Right, here is the map of the White House and its outer perimeter, Emily, you had training in this, I’ll leave the rest to you, C-130 takes off in thirty. Good luck.” Octavia leaves the room and Emily walks over and places both hands on the map looking over it.

“Right, I am presuming these positions are the guards placements. I will be set up in this apartment building 800 meters away. John I can cover you from this position, you will be entering through this gap in security behind the outer compound thus gaining you access. In fact, scratch that, you all go in through that security gap and part ways, John and Kim stay on the backside of the White House,  the rest of you cover the rest of the building search for the document, rules of engagement, only fire unless fired upon, you heard Octavia next to no casualties, only kill if absolutely necessary. Any questions?” Emily looks up at the rest of them and raises her eyebrow.  

“Can I make a suggestion?” Nate says while walking to the map, “Merik sits up here, out of the way, any problems arise Merik can….clean up as it were...  I can tell he isn’t good at being quiet, unless he has his ‘toys’ as he puts them and that normally means he will be killing someone.”

“Nate, I may have a better idea, this is a stun gun I found in a box over there. Now the white house is going to have security cameras, that’s just common sense, I’ll take this, go to the security room and take out the bloke on the cameras and give you a constant feed of the guards moving round. Then no one has to be killed by me, and no one finds me being loud.” Merik explains to the group.

“Alright, that works, the entrance stays the same. Okay we got twenty minutes until wheels up. Grab your weapons. Let’s prove ourselves.” Emily says with a smile on her face she walks over to her weapons for the mission. John walks over next to her.

“Nice plan, never saw it for my own eyes before, you said you were good.” John sits down on a bench and begins to load 5.56 rounds into magazines for his borrowed M4A1. Emily flicks her hair behind her head and looks back at John.

“I had been told my plans were good, from my position I always have a good plan for myself and the people I am covering.” Emily returned and pulled out her M1911, she drags her duffel bag from her locker and pulls out several .45 sized magazines for it, and begins to load her rounds next to John. John fills a magazine, slides it into the sidearm, c***s it, then snaps the safety on and holsters it. He slides the rest of the magazines into the compartments in his tactical vest and flings the M4A1 over his shoulder.

“We should get going.” John says with enthusiasm.

“I’ll meet you on the C-130. Go on ahead.” Emily says back. John walks out of the door, looks left, looks right and walks down the corridor towards the airfield. Emily follows two minutes after John leaves. Kimberley had already left before any of them, she managed to sneak out the door after the plan was hatched. Jason strapped two pieces or red fabric around his wrists and made his way to the C-130. Merik grabbed the stun gun and stun stick, made sure they both worked and waited at the door for Nate who was still worrying over what people thought about him.

“You will be fine.” Merik shouted over after he knew no one else was there “Best be taking one of these eh.” Merik picks up a black parachute, then sits next to Nate.

“I know… I just think it’s a bit strange, two days ago I was a homeless man, getting free meals from old people at church, born again Christian my arse. I tried to. Didn’t work. Stayed for the food. And now I’m about to break into the white house. Old habits die hard.” Nate says with confusion in his voice as he looks up at Merik

“Meh, You’re okay. Just don’t pull anything stupid, yeah?” Merik says patting Nate on the back.

“Yeah. Okay.” Nate smiles, they both stand up and walk to the C-130.

“Gentlemen and women, from here on out you use your assigned names. You can call me Buzzard, I will be your pilot for most missions. Nice to meet you all.” Titus walks back into the cockpit of the cargo plane and preps for take off.

“Hey North, think we will get to meet the President?” Emily asks John and let’s off a short giggle.

“I hope not, otherwise we might be seen as terrorists. Nah, we’ll be fine.” John says reassuring Emily of any worries she may have had. The C-130 begins to take off and takes flight.

“Right, so let me get one thing clear” Merik says as he stand up and walks into the centre of the cargo bay, he points at Kim “Princess” he spins and points at both John and Emily “North and South” he then spins to look at Nate and says “Angel” and finally looks at Jason and shouts “Demon.” An hour and a half later the plane is approaching the drop off point.

“Alright, get your chutes on, we drop in two minutes!” Titus shouts back to the team. John checks Emily’s chute and puts his on. Kimberley walks over and opens the back of the C-130.

“Get ready guys!” Kimberley shouts, struggling to be heard over the wind, and the sound of the planes engines. John turns to Emily.

“Alright, hit it.” John lays his fist towards Emily. Emily punches his fist and moves towards the back of the plane.The light turns green.

“Go, now!” Titus shouts back to the others.

“Bye bye boys!” Kimberley says before she falls out backwards from the plane. John walks over to Emily one last time before jumping and checks her gear once more.

“Alright who’s jumping first?” John says to Emily.

“Umm, not sure. Ooh I know.” Emily lays her fist into her hand, John does the same.

“3.2.1” John counts down, John chooses scissors and Emily chooses rock. John throws his fist down.

“Damn it! Fine.” John said with a smile on his face.

“Alright, we good to go now North?” Emily says to John with a satisfied smile.

“Would seem so, guys we gotta go now, you go, we’ll follow behind!” John shouts over to the other side of the plane.

Merik grabs Nate’s arm and pulls over to the door. Jason walks up behind them, both Merik and Nate stall looking over the drop zone.

“This is daunting” Merik says nervously

Jason lets out a deep chuckle and explains to the two which cord to pull on and how long they need to wait, he then gives them time to ready their masks before grabbing Merik and Nate by the arm and forces them to jump out alongside him.

“Alright, see you on the other side.” John looks back at Emily then to the clouds again. He jumps spreading his legs and arms outwards. Emily follows right after and catches up to John and looks over to him and gives him a thumbs up and dives further down. Kimberley is the first to land, she throws the parachute off her back and throws down an orange smoke to mark where she landed. Jason, Merik, and Nate float down and land about one hundred yards from Kim.

“Eyy up Princess” Merik says while laughing “We still waiting on North and South I take it.”

“Hey, Death.” Kimberley says putting a strip of gum into her mouth. Emily lands and throws off her parachute and John just behind her. John moves his rifle to his hands and c***s it and throws it back again.

“Hey, guys. We should get moving.” John says unholstering his sidearm, and holds it with a firm grip.

“I agree, see you in the scope North.” Emily jogs off around a corner up to the vantage point she had in mind to cover John and Kim inside the building. John pulls out a radio and turns it on.

“Radio check.” He pulls it nearer to his ear.

“Check.” Emily said back to him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Kimberley says while lifting an eyebrow at John and tilting her head.

“Loud and clear North” Jason says as he looks around the landing site

“The voices are back, the voices are back!” Merik says as if he was frightened

“Your fine Death. Loud and clear Jo...North” Nate said.

“Good, we shouldn’t have any problems then. Let’s move.” John begins to jog to an empty street. He pulls out a flashlight and scans left and right. He crosses the street gingerly and reaches the other side and signals it is clear to the others, no civilians in sight, no one was there to see them and their weapons. Kimberley runs over and next to John. A car passes by, Kimberley peers around the corner and signals again. Merik looks down and walks across the street, like a standard thug at night, he continues down the street without drawing attention to himself and makes his way to the final checkpoint before anyone else arrives, he hides in the shadows waiting.

“Coast is clear, you can all get here” Merik says over the radio.

Jason crosses carefully and waits with John, Nate slowly follows behind. They begin to reach the security breach that Emily had noticed and John and Kimberley enter and avoid attention and move to their positions ready to enter the building. A guard making is usual rounds begins to walk towards John and Kim.

“North, guard moving towards your position. ETA 20 seconds.” Emily says over the radio. The guard moves around next to John, John gets him in a headlock and puts him to sleep hiding him in the bush next to them. Kimberley picks up a set of keys from the guard and unlocks a door leading in, she enters first then John closely behind, covering as he goes.

“We’re in, on your own now gentlemen.” John says quietly over the radio.

Nate picks the lock on one of the windows but before he gets chance to open it Jason stops him.

“Alarm.” Jason says quietly “Death, get in via the door North and Princess found, get to the security room as planned, from what I remember of the plans it should be the second door on the left after turning right at the door you enter through”

“Bloody hell Demon, you’re not just the size of an elephant now are you” Merik whispers as he moves round to the door Kim and John went through. Merik makes his way down to the security room and opens the door slowly, its a dark room with the only light coming from the glow of the monitors. There are two guards inside, one sat in the chair, the other pacing around the room.

“Who are they?” The guard who is standing says while pointing to a monitor where they can see John and Kim stood. Merik shoots the guard who is standing with the stun gun and jabs the other in the neck with the stun stick, drags the bodies into the corner and then gets to work disabling the recording feature of the cameras, disabling all alarms, and removing all footage of John, Kim and himself from all cameras.

“Cameras and alarms are down. Two guards sleeping, Princess, North, you two are outside a room with a lot of documents in it. Oh, and smile. You’re on camera.” Merik says over the radio.

“Nice call Death.” John says. Kimberley spots an armed guard patrolling down the hallway they need to get past, her eyes widened and she did a faint whistle to tell John. They both move into a janitor's closet.

“Don’t get any ideas cowboy, I don’t swing that way.” Kimberley said to John playfully.

“Wasn’t planning on it.” He peered out the through a crack in the door. “South, let us know when she comes past, I cannot choke her out, would make too much noise, the other guard is just walking past him. I’ll catch her.”

“Copy that North, be ready…” Emily fixed the rifle to her shoulder and placed her arm curved around where the magazine is holding her wrist to balance the rifle. The guard begins to walk past the janitor closet when she fires a silenced round which pierces the window killing the armed guard, John catches the guard before she falls and drags her into the closet. Kimberley looks down at the guard.

“Damn, she was kinda cute.” Kimberley says sadly.

“Stop that.” John looks at her concerned.

“Stop what?” Kimberley asked John.

“Thats a dead chick.” John looked at her.

“So? She was cute.” Kimberley persisted.

“Nevermind. We gotta move.” John said trying to forget what he just heard, they continued to move down an open hallway where they pass the presidential meeting room filled with people including the big man himself. They move past it and enter the oval office. John lowers his rifle and points over to the other side of the room indicating Kimberley to look over there, he walks up to the desk and starts searching for the document, he checks the drawers and one is locked and no key is seen. John pulls out his knife and breaks off the lock, opening the drawer, he pulls out a file reading “Top secret of utmost importance”. John opens it and see’s the word “Salvation”.

“Got it!. Hey Princess you got a lighter?” John asked holding his hand out towards Kimberley, she throws him a lighter and John lights up the document.

“Death, we clear on the cameras? Can we move?” Kimberley asks over the radio.

“Yeah. You and North are clear to get out, luckily the window across from you is the one that Angel, and Demon are covering, use that for an escape” Merik says across the radio while moving out of the room and back out of the door he came in through.

“You get that North?” Kimberley says.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” John answers. Suddenly a horde of voices are heard approaching the oval office.

“F**k, f**k, f**k, f**k, f**k.” John throws his rifle to his back and grabs a chair, pushing it up against the door handle.

“We gotta leave now Princess.” John whispers to Kimberley. Kimberley opens the window and jumps down into the brush, John follows after her. They leave the way they came in, (the security breach).

“South, cover the rest, when they are out of there rendezvous at the flare West of your position, how copy?” John says over the radio.

“Solid copy North.” Emily replies. Jason closes the window, Nate locks it, and they move out behind Kim and John. Merik is sat waiting at the C-130, in an open field. Emily picks up John’s rifle and moves towards the C-130 linking up with the others there.

“Nice shot sis, swap.” John says to Emily, John takes his rifle back and hands her the M4A1 he used on mission, before getting on board John lifts his rifle, swings the strap around his hand and scans the perimeter and walks up the ramp closing the door. Kimberley walks to the front cockpit where Titus is. She taps him on the shoulder and gives him a nod.

“All accounted for.” Kimberley says.

“Good, we can head back, terrible radio stations in this area.” Titus replies. He starts up the engines and flys them back to Texas HQ airfield. The ramp lowers after landing. Octavia is stood there with a smile on her face.

“That was exceptional, I am impressed. That is not an easy thing to do, believe me. You have more than proved yourselves in the field. Any casualties?” Octavia asks.

“Only one. A guard would have made us, John had to take her out.” Emily says.

“One casualty? That's the lowest we have had on the first mission of recruits, well done. Get some shut eye you lot.” Octavia says scribbling something down on her clipboard.

“Does having to delete and replace the security footage from while we were there count as a casualty?” Merik asks, hoping for some approval. 

“No, it does not count, but one hell of a good job though.” Octavia lowers her clipboard and flicks her wrist up and checks her watch. “Go get some sleep, training at first light.” Octavia walks back inside, Merik following closely behind.

Author's Note

This is the first chapter we have wrote.