Clara.
I was over the moon as I left A block. I already had orders, something to actively do, granted it was only moving my stuff into my newly assigned room with the other recruits but it was something, a step in the right direction.
I forced my body towards the rec room, hoping that Matt would be there, it was still lunch time, so classes were out for a while yet and I couldn't wait to tell him.
Every one of my muscles ached and my legs felt like jelly as I forced them to carry me along the familiar corridors but as tired as my body was, my mind was on over drive. This was it. My career. I was in the army. I smiled again, unable to keep it to myself any longer I picked up my pace.
Matt was sat on one of the sofas in the rec room, what had once been a staff room, with his arm around Maddie and a smile of his own on his face. He saw me and excused himself, coming to my side just inside the rooms entrance.
“Well?”
“I'm in.” I smiled wide as he wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me off the ground in a tight hug.
“Congrats, see I knew you could do it. I'm happy for you. Now you just have to promise me that you will be careful.”
“Of course I will.” I smiled.
"Come on then, tell me all about it, I know your dying to.” He smiled leading the way out of the crowded rec room towards one of the inner courtyards.
“It was intense Matt. I'm absolutely knackered.” I smiled lightly. “I spent an hour working out, an hour doing combat, an hour on weaponry and an hour talking to the commander as a sort of informal interview.”
“How did combat go?” He asked having a personal interest in it since he had been the one helping me to train.
“Better than I expected it would, Brad, the guy I was paired with was obviously better than me but I held my own, just about. The commander was impressed anyway, enough that he's accelerating my training.” I smirked.
“No way?”
“Yeah, they are putting me in with one of the advanced recruit classes, so that I should be finished training in about a month.”
Matt had nothing to say to that, his expression was as easy to read as a book, a mixture of pride and worry. I wished there was something I could say to eradicate the worry from his mind but there was nothing, there were no guarantees, no matter how careful I was out there, it was always a risk. A risk of being killed, or worse, a risk of being infected.
“What are you going to tell your parents?” He asked, bringing my mind around to the one thing I was currently worried about.
“The truth. That I cant imagine doing anything else. That I didn't tell them before because I didn't want to risk them talking me out of it. God Matt I'm dreading it. And its not like I have long to tell them either, the commander wants me in my new room by night fall, I start training first thing.” I stated feeling strained. I hated the idea of disappointing my parents but there was no helping it now. I was in, it was done. There was no changing it.
We sat in silence in the cool breeze that drifted in over the high walls surrounding the courtyard, both of us lost in our own thoughts.
“Everything's changing.” Matt muttered.
“Not everything.”
“It is though. Soon enough your going to be off on god only knows what missions and I'm going to be working all hours god send in medical. We're hardly going to see each other any more.”
“Well we will just have to make time. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” I smiled although I felt the worry too. With the exception of the two weeks we spent avoiding each other, Matt and I hadn't gone a day without seeing each other in six years, it was going to be a big change.
We sat in silence until the end of lunch when Matt made his way to his next class and I headed home to start packing up my things. If I got it done now, then when my parents got home from work we would have more time to talk before I had to leave.
It didn't take as long as I thought it would to pack up my things, it wasn't like I owned much. A couple of pictures that had been rescued from one of the rooms in the prison a small wardrobe of clothes, that I doubted I would get to wear very often any more, I would be outfitted with my new army blacks tonight and a necklace that had belonged to my grandmother many years ago. I placed all my things neatly inside a bag and put the bag on the bed.
I took a deep breath and a looked around the room. It had been my room for years, so many years. I shook my head feeling foolish at my sentimentality, it wasn't like I was going far.
I slouched back on the sofa in the living room, picking up a book from the table and flicking through the pages, I had read it before but I needed something to occupy my mind until my parents got back, otherwise I would spend the next couple of hours worrying.
I must have dozed off at some point because my father shook me awake, his face smudged with grease as he leant over my uncomfortable position on the sofa.
“Are you okay Clara? Are you ill?” He asked.
“No why?” My question was punctuated with a frown of worry.
“Because you are home before you should be and asleep on the sofa.” He smiled lightly.
I shook off the sleep and sat up on the sofa, stretching my aching shoulders and neck, oh hell who was I kidding, all of me ached. I glanced at my watch. Three hours before I was due in A block. “Where's Mum?”
“Not back yet. Are you sure you're okay? Maybe you should get checked out at medical.” He suggested and I smiled lightly.
“I'm fine Dad. I just have something to talk to you and Mum about, I must have fell asleep while I was waiting.”
“Oh okay. What did you want to talk about?”
“Can we wait until Mum gets home?” I asked watching as he ran a dirty hand through his blonde hair.
“Sure, I guess. Although I doubt she will be happy to know that you have skipped school.” He said with a raised brow and I just sat in silence. I had lied to my parents enough over the years, without doing it again now.
Dad fumbled with soap in the sink, washing off the dirt and grease that had attached itself to his skin and I sat in the silence that seemed to stretch on and on while I waited for Mum to get back.
With each passing minute the ball of nerves in my stomach grew until I actually did start to feel ill, sick like I would throw up at any moment. How is it possible that I have no fear of walking outside of the compound and facing down the infected, yet I can’t even think of facing my parents’ wrath without wanting to run and hide. Some warrior I was.
Clara.The minutes ticket by slowly and I tensed every time I heard footsteps echoing through the block while I waited to see if Mum was home.“Are you sure you are okay Clara? You’re worrying me sweetheart.” Dad asked from his seat on the other sofa. His face was lined with worry as he watched me, and I couldn’t really say I blamed him. I was sure that by now I was green, and God only knows what my face had looked like while my mind had been turning with thoughts of how to even start this conversation.“I’m fine Dad. I promise.”“You’re not pregnant, are you?” He asked and I just about chocked at the thought.“God no! Why would you think that?”“Well, your getting older, and you and Matt are very close these days.” He stated with a shrug of his shoulders and a pink tinge to his cheeks.It took a moment for his words to t
ClaraDays turned into weeks and they all blurred together as my training took hold. The commander hadn't been wrong when he said I was being thrown into the deep end, I was definitely out of my depth the first couple of days, but a week in and I had gotten the hang of things, even if I did go to bed each night feeling as though I had been run over.It took a few days for my fellow recruits to accept me, they had expected me to lag behind and I did in the beginning, but I wasn't one to quit, or one to accept being second best. I pushed myself, harder than I ever had before. I cried, I sweat, I bled, I ate, I slept and I did it all over again.It was three weeks before I saw Matt again, the longest I had ever gone without him and I swear I was starting to have withdrawals, he too seemed overly eager to spend time with me, but we both knew and accepted that that wouldn't really be possible for a while, he had his traini
Clara.Our last day of official training went the same as every other day, if not slightly more intense, something I wouldn't have thought possible. They recapped on everything we had learnt previously and offered us some advice for our final evaluations.Graduation day dawned early and bright. And I spent the first ten minutes of the day staring at the ceiling wishing for Matt or my Mum, which was probably a little pathetic but I could use some moral support. I was just going to have to content myself with the knowledge that they would be there watching.The evaluations would be held in the main courtyard and was open to anyone who wanted to watch, over the years it had become a little like a spectator sport, people even made wagers on the outcomes.With a sigh I stood and readied myself for the day, dressing in my army blacks, attaching the holsters that we were required to wear which would hold the weapons w
Jake.“Six teams, six targets. Keep to ground, don't engage unless necessary, get what you can and get out. We are looking for medical supplies, lab equipment, anything you feel may be of value.” The chiefs voice rang out around the meeting room, a large table with a map separating him from us. “Team one.” He called and I watched the five guys and two girls step up to the table.“This is your target, deploy on readiness.” He stated handing them a sheet of paper and pointing to their destination on the map.“Team one is the only seven man team so the rest of you lucky guys and gals get to be responsible for the newbies, one per team.” He pointed to the wall where I knew that the five newbies were waiting for their orders.I don't know what the hell was wrong with me but I actually kind of hoped my team was assigned Clara. It was weird, unexplainable, She had drove me up the wall
JakeMy eyes flicked from building windows to side streets and cars, ignoring the mess and the destruction I scanned for movement, even the slightest twitch but saw nothing I had been doing this for so long now that I had learnt t trust myself, I got a sense, a gut feeling when shit was about to hit the fan and right now everything felt calm. But we had a newbie in the truck, so I wasn’t about to take any chances, especially not when that newbie was Clara West.“Clara you got anything?” I asked after a second scan on my side of the truck and seeing nothing but not wanting to tear my eyes away from scanning to check on her unless I had to.“One dead in a building window, one walking down an ally, No threat.” She stated clearly, calmly. No panic and I took a second to turn and check her, she was positioned side on as was I, her head on a light swivel as she scanned the area, her shoulders seemed tense bu
Clara.My heart pounded as I listened to the guys talking through the radios, their chatter somehow easing the shit storm of emotions that had gripped me when I pulled the trigger. It had been instinct, as soon as I saw the gun aimed in our direction I fired, not thinking, not caring. Then the blood had rushed through my veins so hard that nothing else mattered, all I could see were the dead, the infected, the danger. It kept me focused, alert so I wasn't knocking it but as soon as the danger had passed I was second guessing myself. I had shot someone. Killed them.I breathed hard, not someone, something. He wasn't human.“We're at the half way point.” Wheelers voice sounded, letting us know that we had another four hours before we would reach our target. Four hours of possible dangers. It was actually exhausting being so alert all the time. I let my eyes close for a second and took a deep breath. Even the
ClaraI watched as Jake holstered his gun and I frowned not understand why he would do that.“Use your knives where possible. Gun fire will attract the dead.” Jake said to me as we jumped down from the truck. “You stay next to me. We will search for the lab first and grab anything there that might be of use then we will do a once over of the building and grab anything else we could use back at the compound.” He informed as we stepped up behind Wheeler and Porter who were waiting for us at the doors, Bubble took up the rear and with a nod to us all Wheeler pushed open the heavy looking door and led the way inside.It was obvious that people had been here, papers littered the ground along all the corridors, graffiti stained the walls and there were signs of a fire in the hall that had been extinguished. We moved quickly through the wide hallways, glancing into empty rooms, no sign of anyone, livi
Clara.I swear my whole body relaxed when we drove through the first set of security gates into the compound, we hadn't faced any trouble at all on the way back though we did see several groupings of dead much to the worry of the guys. The fact that they were all worried had me terrified.“Well rookie you did good.” Wheelers voice called through the walkie as the truck pulled up to the garage entrance and Bubble stuck his head out for the guard there to see him and let us in.“Thanks.” I muttered although I was a little offended that he seemed so surprised.Jake smiled from his seat next to me and I watched as he switched off his walkie. There was no need for them now, we were home, safe.“They will unload all the supplies and inventory, then we debrief with the chief. Then we clock off for the night.” He smiled and I returned it, his happiness was infectious, his smile mouthw