Chapter 14

A Chapter by BrynnaW.

I picked a random table and sat down with my food. No one sat next to me. I saw some groups of people talking but I could tell that they had gotten here earlier than us. They made friends, would I? My eyes fell back to the food on my plate. The food wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either. It was somewhat like normal cafeteria food. As I finished my food, my eyes began to wander around the room again. Finally, to my relief, I saw some women. However, they had their hair up; I didn’t. I always refused to put my hair up, even when my mom begged. Now, even here I would refuse. The hour of the day began to dawn on me. A yawn escaped from me and the man returned.

“First day soldiers! Follow me!” He yelled.

I got up and followed the man along with several others. We reached one of the smaller buildings.

“Newbies, this is your new room. There are seven of these rooms but this one belongs to your group. For the next week, you will be working with each other. Then, you will all be sent to Finland. Now, men in the back, ladies in the front. I will call out by last names to assign you to a bed.

“Starting at the back: Clark, Davis, Evans, King, Lee, Scott, Seymour, Smith, Spolsdoff, Turner, Williams, and Wright. Women starting next to Wright and Evans: Cox, Foster, Kerr, McCarthy, Reed, Rowe, Stone, and Wells. Well then, that’s settled. Lights out at ten; it is nine right now. Training starts as soon as the sunrises. You do not want to be late.” The man left us.

There were a total of twelve men, eight women, and a total of twenty people. My group shut off the lights and went to bed early. I laid on my stomach, faced the other women, and shut my eyes. Someone poked my side. I grudgingly turned around to see one of the men lying in the bed next to mine.

“Hey, I’m Aiden.” The man said in a British accent and it occurred to me that maybe he too was looking out of the jeep’s windows at me.

“Aiden Wright?” I remembered his last name from getting our assigned beds.

He nodded.

“I’m Kristina Cox… You can call me Kit, though.”

“Are you from here?”

“Well, not this state… I live in Washington. You?”

“London. Women can’t be drafted so, you volunteered?”

“Yep. My family needs money. You were drafted?”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly volunteer. I can’t believe you are volunteering for something that can kill you.”

“Really, I can’t believe it either… Goodnight, Aiden.”

“Goodnight, Kit.”

I fell asleep without any further interruptions.