Part Ranger: Chapter 2

I don’t know about this, honey! What if something happens during his birth and becomes ineligible to join because of it?”

“He’ll be fine! You just have to believe he can make it.” A man in a UPBS uniform was at the door.

“How is the child growing?”

“He seems to be normal. Once the other boy is ready, we can continue him as planned.”

“Good. I want them to keep it that way. If anything were to happen, then all three of the boys will have to be aborted. Make sure that doesn’t happen.”

 

 

We arrived at a space station about four hours away from the nearest town. There were other cars that children were coming out of. Each child was different from the rest. It was their skin color, race or native language. All of them knew English since it was the only language officers spoke on the station.

The officer that brought us led everyone into the station. Models of ships and space technology seemed to be everywhere. Charles and I stuck together while the others tried to form groups. It was easier for our minds to register a person’s role if we barely knew them and weren’t close to us.

“Are you okay, Ranger? You haven’t said anything about your parent’s feelings about all of this.” We stuck to the back of the group, which was quieter than up ahead. It seemed like the few girls who came were also quiet and self-sufficient.

“It’s okay!  I’m sure they would hate me being in the home I was in.” The sight of seeing that day flashed back. The blood spilled across the floor, the way both of their faces were after the horror ended.

Everyone was guided into a room with almost enough beds. Charles sat on the mattress of the final bed available. I was leaning against the wall right next to him. “What now? Do you plan to sleep on the floor?” My backpack was leaning against my feet. Everyone else was still trying to make a group or find some sort of friend.

“I’m fine with that! Beds are hard to sleep on for me.” Shortly after everyone placed their stuff somewhere, we were brought down for dinner. Again, we tried to stay to ourselves as much as possible. Two of the girls sat at the same table with us. Both of the girls stayed as far away from each other and stayed quiet for the most part.

“What do you think about the others in this group?” We all stopped eating and looked at each other. Everything out eyes looked at was information to use against each other. “We honestly can’t stand them. They want to be the big hero who stops the Unovalitans for good.” The other girl was snarling back towards the boys.

Charles began to explain how we think of having groups around. I noticed there was a single boy being escorted by two officers. He must be important to them  if they need to have people by him. The three at the table seemed to be distracted by the conversation. I got up and brought the empty tray with me. It made it look like I was just getting rid of that, instead of following him.

The men left with the boy into a hallway we haven’t seen before. None of them were talking at all. This made it seem like getting food was a serious job. We went down three hallways before one of them decided to stop. The boy turned around and faced me. His face was emotionless for some reason. All the childish behavior was washed out of him.

“You aren’t needed here. Go back to Charles before he notices your disappearance.” How did he know Charles? Have we met this boy before? “You don’t know me yet. Our meeting and my existence should be kept secret. I’m Matt, by the way.” He reached his right hand towards  me. There was a slight smile that went across his face.

“I’m Ranger. Do you want to tell me how you know Charles now?” I shook Matt’s hand. He didn’t answer my question. All that happened was he disappeared with the two men. I went back to find the hall was empty, besides Charles who looked angry at me.

“Where did you go? One second you were sitting next to me and the next second you were nowhere to be seen. There better be a good explanation for this!” What am I suppose to tell him? Matt might hate me if I told Charles.

“I went for a walk. Do I have to bring you everywhere I go?” My arm wrapped around his neck. We were both smiling and laughing as we went back to the beds.

The next day, all of us children were boarded onto a space shuttle. Rows of seats were lined up and down like and airplane. Most of the seats were full with boys’ bodies. We both sat next to each other in the back row. Charles kept himself composed through all of the commotion.

I kept my mouth shut through the initial take off. Matt seemed to be invisible to everyone else. It was like he doesn’t want to be seen. One boy a couple rows ahead of us started to vomit. I undid the seat restraints and went up into what use to be the ceiling. Zero-gravity came into effect when we left the atmosphere.

There was a part in the back of the shuttle that had a hole with a ladder going through it. An officer came out of it and looked up at me. He scowled and asked, “What are you doing?” The other children looked like they were having the best time with zero-gravity or the worst because they were sick.

I could see Charles was in the middle of an argument with one of the boys in front of us. Their voices were inaudible to us, but it made him punch the boy and break his nose. The officer flew over to the front of the shuttle. His scowl was still there.

“CAN YOU ALL CALM DOWN? You’re all supposed to be heroes! Not children in a ‘fun zone’.” I sat back in the seat. The officer looked at Charles with a cheerful smile.

I stood in the middle of a hallway that connected the station to any shuttle landing. Charles had to stay behind because an officer had stopped him. My mind threw thoughts I had hidden away years ago out at me. Can he handle what the future would be like? Are the officers telling him about the final test now?

Matt came down the hallway with the same two officers he was with at the Earth station. He looked happier now. “Hey there, Ranger! Are you waiting for Charles to come out?” I nodded. “When you get stronger, find me. A fight with you would be interesting.” Then the three of them left down a different hallway than the trainees.

Charles came out a couple minutes later. He hurried over to my side. “What’s wrong? You seem a bit down.” I started to walk down the hallway. They must be waiting me to tell him. “Could you manage to kill me?” He began to follow me with confusion. “What do you mean? Why would I have a reason to kill you?”

“Only one person can be the commander. I can’t do that job though. My mind isn’t fit enough to think like that.” He stopped. His fists were balled, ready attack. “Then why did you come here? Just to die easier from someone you know?” He stomped up to me. I only stared into his eyes.

“I came to teach you things. Killing me will be your final lesson.” I turned around to where the other children went and smiled.”COME ON! You don’t want to get the worst bed again.” Charles caught up to me and we walked in silence. “Just in there will be where you are sleeping!”

“What about you? Aren’t you going to be in here also?” I looked farther down the empty hallway. “You’ll see why I can’t be in there.” I left him as he entered the door.

The officer that found me a couple years ago led me to a special room. Above the door it said, “The Mind Soldier.” My head began to throb for some reason. There was also an image of a planet that flashed. It wasn’t a planet that they taught us at school. This one had a strange feeling around it.

Everyone that was inside was as weird as you could think. There were no females bunked in this room. I walked past all of the occupied beds examining the humans that slept on them. There was one boy who hung upside down off of his bed. “Do you want to play a MIND game?” Another boy beside him said, “You want to break him this early? We got to wait or else they’ll get suspicious!”

There was only one bed left. It was located on the other side of the room from the door. There were blood stains on the pillow and the sheets. The boy next to me was drawing disturbing images. I thought the sight of both things would make my stomach turn. Charles wouldn’t last long in here if he had to.

“Everyone who has slept in that bed committed suicide a year later. I guess you are next!” The drawing boy started to laugh like it was a joke. Evidence on the bed showed the suicides were real, but why did they laugh at that?

An officer came in after I settled down on the bed. “LISTEN UP YOU BONE HEADS! Now you have a new trainee here. DON’T mess with his mind further! You might just regret your past mistakes then.” The officer left afterwards.

We had some time before lunch to hang around. I took out a book from school I sort of stole. Everyone else was talking to themselves or doing weird things on paper. The boy next to me was still drawing those images. He didn’t have to think much about what the image would be. There was also no erases or scribbles on them. Maybe when he goes back to Earth he could be an artist.

He noticed that I was watching him and looked over. My book was still in my hands. “WHAT IS THAT? How dare such a sane thing be in here!” I ignored him and continued to read.

Lunch came faster than I expected. Everyone in the room ran out into the halls. I thought there were animal noises leaving their mouths. Am I the only sane one out of that entire group?

I found Charles after getting food. He sat by himself with a tray in front of him. The Mind Soldiers had their own table where strange things happened. Trainees also sat at a table with only them. The other squads all seemed to have their own table too. I sat across the table from Charles. “It seems like everyone hates me and wants me to fail.” He was poking the food on his tray with a utensil.

“It’s better than everyone trying to make you commit suicide before the year ends.” Charles sat up quickly. His eyes darted up towards me.

“WHAT” They want you to kill yourself in a year?” I nodded. No one seemed to notice Charles’ sudden reaction. “They’re all insane nut-jobs. You can’t even take out a book without them freaking out.”

“Why do they hate books?” He tilted his head a little. “And how did you get a book in this station?” I shrugged my shoulders. “They say it is too sane to be in there.”

20 minutes later, I stood up. “Can we play a game before I leave?” Charles looked up at me from across the table. “No. I don’t want to play one of your mind games.”

“COME ON! It’s just once.” He glared at me. “I told you no.” I smiled. “I didn’t say no was an answer.” Then I started to laugh. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”

“If you had to choose who you would rather see die in front of you, would it be your family or them?” We both turned our heads towards the other trainees that arrived with us.  “Them. I can’t stand their ways.

“WRONG!” He looked questionably at me. “Okay then, my family.”

“WRONG!”

“Neither?” I could tell he was getting a little annoyed with me.

“Still wrong.” He glared towards me again.

“There isn’t an answer then. They’ll die eventually, but you can’t choose who it is first. Your emotions and strategies have to be focused on what you have.” I grinned. That is the way he needs to start thinking if he is to command fleets.

“GOOD! You got a little understanding from that one. Next question. If you had to die, would it rather be by a blunt or sharp weapon?”

“Sharp.” The way he said it made the answer sound obvious.

“WRONG!” He stood up. The sound of his hands slamming against the table silenced the room. “HOW IS THAT WRONG? Don’t you rather want to die quickly than take forever getting killed?” Everyone, besides the mind soldiers, was looking at us now. The mind soldiers knew exactly what was going on. “You can’t choose how you die in battle. The method comes from where you are in that moment. Would you like an example?”

I had a water bottle that finally froze. Charles nodded and I walked over to the boy who asked me to play a game earlier. I slammed the bottle into the back of his head and he fell backwards. The boy was holding his head where the impact occurred. I attacked him more with the bottle. “A blunt weapon takes longer. He hasn’t died yet though, only minor head injuries.” He tried to get up off of the ground. I, again, started hitting him.

About 20 strikes gave him brain injuries. “Still not dead yet! His brain is only permanently damaged. The process to think and react to anything around him has been destroyed. In this state, all he could do is walk and talk, but never remember anything.”

“So the only logical thing to do would be to kill him.” One of the mind soldiers said. I continued to beat him with the bottle till he finally died. Blood came oozing out from everywhere on his head. The officers in the room dragged his body out. There was a trail of his blood that followed the officers.

I walked back to the table and sat in front of my empty tray. Everyone went back to what they were doing. “Was that really necessary, Ranger? Killing him to show me an example of that?”

“OF COURSE! He deserved something like that anyways.” My head began to throb again. There was a voice that came with it. “He wasn’t like you! You three are special!” Three? I thought there was only two. “He is also one of us.” Us? Who is  us? The pain went away.

Charles was crossing his arms. “Why did he deserve it? You aren’t forgiven yet.” I sighed and stared into his eyes. “He played games with the trainee every year. The games get too much for them and they end up committing suicide. It’s been going on for eight years!”

He thought about it. “So he made eight people kill themselves before now?” I nodded. “Okay! Fine, you’re forgiven. Just don’t end up like that okay?” I got up and left. Classes started immediately after lunch. No one talked to me or looked at me. They all saw what I did to him. Everyone was probably afraid they would receive the same fate.

I ran into Matt again on my way back to the room. He was alone this time. His clothes also seemed different somehow. “Do you like it? They said I had to change my entire body when Charles can see me. So I put these fake badges and uniform on. I can also change my hair and face on queue. We both talked about what we were like before. It felt nice to have a friend that was similar to me.