COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)

Chapter 7: I'm Being Stalked By a Rock (Part 1/3)

-----

Hey readers~ This is a little info dump before you keep going. This book is approximately four years old, and as such, when I unearthed it in the cesspool of random google docs and brushed off some cobwebs, it was dismally written to match my age at the time. Long story short, I've been rewriting parts as I post them, but if you guys ever see a part that sounds so corny a 14 year old wrote it (nothing against 14 year olds, I was just a crappy writer at that age), followed up by acceptable writing, don't be afraid to point out the contrast! I've been slowly scouring it for the hundreds of writing hiccups its infected with, so I'll need all the help I can get ~ bring out your blunt critiques ~. Also, I usually update it for reader corrections once a month, so if you point out an error at the start of a month, then I swear I'm not ignoring you, I'm just hella lazy. <3

-----

          As soon as Káel's group made it through the Silver House door, the guides ditched them in the hands of what they called the Sector Leaders, which summed up to be a lady with a silky and caring personality, and a boot camp commander wannabe that immediately divided the group into girls and boys. The lady took the girls away, and left the boys cringing under the oppressing aura of Sev. 

          At least, that's the name he introduced himself with.

          "No runnin', no killin' each other, no animals taller than your waist, and no creepin' on the ladies dorm." Sev announced. He'd pulled the group to the far left of the lobby room, and up a tight flight of stairs, where he turned around and blocked the exit. "Oh yeah, and don't be cursing your faces off without a good reason, unless ya wanna be singing like a lady during dinner time for everyone to hear."

          Sev led the group into a short, door-lined hall, ending with another door acting as an exit.

          "Righty now, check out your cards if ya have em, if ya don't then you better have em before the end o' today. Top right corner's a number, go look for yer matchin' door."

          There was a diminutive 15 printed in black on the corner of Káel's card, so he trudged to the end of the hall, wondering if they had the same numeric system as Earth, or if the translator was somehow working on it too. 

          He kept his gaze on the odd numbered doors to his right, finally stopping at the very end of the hall with a nervous gulp. 

          There it was, last brown door on the right.

          "You nines and sixes never know what door ya got," Sev boomed, causing Káel to jump at the growling rich voice and stare at a group of boys standing around him. "Well eh, I got a theory! How bout you test which one opens for ya, and if neither does then you can go askin' me about it! Oh yeah, and not to make any of you newbies uncomfortable, but yer all two to a room. Better chances ya won't go sneakin' out past curfew."

          He sighed, his mind still clinging to the fact that he was currently surrounded by aliens, and now he'd have one as a roommate for three months.

          Three months. Those two words alone never failed to twist his heart into an ill discomfort. His uncle hadn't let him go on a field trip for more than three days, and now, with the help of a shifty blonde with more issues than his powerless 'telly', he'd shot well past Armstrong's record. 

          Needless to say, the prospect of being an astronaut had never crossed Káel's mind, he was leaning towards a vet, spending his days caring for kittens and puppies that couldn't go wrong with their permanent states of child-like, blissful ignorance.