Carissa finally reunited with Violet, Cynthia, and Bun. Seeing their young faces again made her feel strangely distant, as if lifetimes had passed since they were last together.
They had all entered the new recruit camp and were now going through basic military training. For most new soldiers, the drills were grueling. But for them, it was a little more than light exercise.
While the rest of the recruits collapsed onto their shared bunks at the end of the day, gasping for breath, Carissa and her friends still had the strength to go for a run. Afterward, they would lie on the sand, gazing at the stars above and speaking quietly of their plans.
Bun lay on his back with a stalk of grass between his teeth and his hands behind his head. Still puzzled, he asked, "Cari, I just don't see how we can trust a dream. We've come all this way and joined the army, but we haven't truly seen battle. Do we have to go this far, all for a dream?"
"We have to," said Violet and Cynthia at once.
Cynthia
