The Story Of Soldiers

Chapter 7

The next Monday wasn't the same. They'd done early morning warm-ups and asked about pronouns, but didn't go to class.
Instead, the different fireteams were brought somewhere on the third floor.

The room was built into the wall, with benches lining the walls outside the room.
The trainees sat on those beaches, all of them looking bored and some of them talking with friends.

"What's going on?" Kaze asked Amber, who's team was sitting right next to their own.
"Oh, we're getting our vaccines," Amber explained, "We get them every first of the month to keep healthy."

Kahsbi's eyes lit up, "Oh! I read this book about a type of person called Karen's! Didn't they used to hate vaccines?"
Amber's laugh bounced off the walls, "Yep! Idiots never got their vaccines and thought the government was trying to track 'em."

"As if the government would even care for them," Aayan remarked, making Kai laugh as well.
"Most of them were just stay at home moms. There's nothing wrong with that, but why would the government need or want to track them?" Kira spoke up.

"I know, right? How stupid of them," Colleen laughed.
"417," a nurse called from the room, leaning out of the door frame, "It's your turn."
"Coming!" Amber yelled back as she made her way to the room.

She came out a few minutes later, and sat by her team again.
"Does it hurt really bad?" Kamlyn asked. He wasn't scared, just curious. Amber smiled again.
"Nah, just a ton of needles."

Kai shivered at the word 'needles', unconsciously rubbing his upper arm.
"You alright?" Jay asked when he felt the other shiver beside him.
Kai nodded, "I'm fine."

"Sure," Colleen said sarcastically, unconvinced.
"888," she called. Kaze left to the room himself, mind wandering to his sister.

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It was done surprisingly quickly.  The team had been done all in order for whatever reason, and then were sent to just sit and talk in their dorms for the rest of the day.
There was no point in having the trainees go to class now. It wouldn't have been fair to the others who didn't have the chance to go to class.

Kamlyn stared at his bed sheets, knees brought to his chest as he rested his cheek on his knee.
Kahsbi came over to him, and sat down, laying her head on his shoulder. He didn't protest.

"What'cha thinking about?" She asked after a moment of silence between the two. The boy only shrugged.
"My siblings," Kamlyn said, almost longingly as if reliving all the pain over again.

"Oh," Kahsbi spoke, gazing at him, "How many did you have?"
"Lots."
"What were their names?" Kahsbi tried, hoping she wasn't prying too much.

"Well, there was Asura. Then Charlotte, Ezra, Destiny, Elijah, and Miara..."
His voice trailed off into a meek whisper, eyes brimming with tears at the memories.

"I'm sorry," Kashsbi said on instinct, assuming the tears had been produced because of her questions, "I didn't mean to...to make you, y'know."
"It's fine," Kamlyn mumbled.

Then they were silent for again. The soft noise of Kai and Kaze talking the only things filling the room.
Aayan had asked for something to read a few minutes ago, and a guard had brought back some books from the library, leaving Aayan invested in the story.

Kira was trying to sleep, her eyes closed tight as she tried to catch up on some of her lost sleep.
"What's up with Kira?" Jay asked, looking from where he'd been looking over Colleen's shoulder at another book.

"I dunno," Kaze said, "She's talked about nightmares. Maybe it's that."
The rest of them didn't push the issue any farther, and all of them went back to what they'd previously been doing.