Anyway, here is a new chapter of Fallout 16.
Enjoy!
Chapter 2
Training Day
Day One: Training
“ So remember, when infiltrating an enemies’ base to
download any information from the computer. And why is that?”
Raising my hand, I quickly duck my head back to the page of
notes, finding the right one so I could I the correct answer.
“Whitney,” Derek is sitting on the edge of the desk up the
front.
“ So that if you need to go back you have plans and
information that might be helpful, and you never know what might be on a
computer. Better to download it all than to leave it untouched,” I kept my
voice firm and didn’t let it waver or crack.
“ Very good. That’s it for today. You can go. Whitney,
Tristan, Payton, Tom and Tyler, stay behind.” As everyone else left the room we packed up
our book and headed down to the front of the room to speak with Derek.
“What’s up Derek?” Tom asked as he leant up against a wall
by the door. Beside him was Payton and Tyler. Tristan and myself by the desk,
looking at Derek who was still sitting at the edge of the desk.
“ You are all being assigned to a mission. You will get the
rest of the information tomorrow when you go into the meeting with the head
agent in this department of Fallout 16. I hope you know just how great you are
to all be going on this mission so early,”
“ Yeah, that's pretty cool. I mean, Whitney’s only been here
a day and she’s already going,” Tristan must have something against me. I swear if he tells them I will kill him
myself before he even makes it out of the room, I thought to myself as I
turned to glare at him.
“ You’ve been here barely a week. What’s your excuse?” Tom
speaks up moving to come at Tristan.
“ Calm down,” my voice is firm and louder than what I was
wanting but it got everyone to shut up.
“ They knew from the start that I was going to be brought into this
assignment. Otherwise why would they bring me back into the game?”
Payton gives me a look. AS if she is trying to work out
what’s going through my head. Tom grunts and Tristan just glares at the wall
over the other side of the room. Tyler
though hasn’t said a word since being asked to stay back. It was quite weird.
“ What do you mean?” Tyler asks, quietly but loud enough for
us all to hear.
“ I mean, why would they bring in a girl who has finally
gotten her head in the right place, back into this type of world?”
“ Maybe it’s because you deserve to be here,” Payton
suggests walking over to stand beside me and wrap an arm around my shoulders.
“ Or it could be
because your history makes you the most reasonable agent to have,”
Tristan turns, a smirk present on his face.
“ Don’t,” One word and suddenly the air was so thick with
tension that I could’ve ripped through it with a knife.
“ What? What history?” Tyler and Payton look as if there’s
some big mystery going on.
“ It doesn’t matter,” I turn and walk out the room, slamming
the door shut behind me. Taking a deep breath before I start towards my room,
knowing full well that there would be people in the halls. Slowly I start walking, only to have my wrist
caught by someone’s large hand.
“ Don’t think that they deserve to know? What you’ve gone
through, it’s not that different to what a lot of the agents here have,”
Turning around I see Derek’s sorry face.
“ You never know someone’s past. So don’t bother pretending
to know mine as if you were there with me,” I snap back at him.
“Maybe you should tell them your past then,”
“ Derek, I can’t. You know why. You may be my handler but I
don’t feel right telling people about it. Not a loud, and I don’t even feel
right talking to you about this,”
“You have to tell someone,” His reply is short but I could
hear how heartfelt it was. It didn’t make it easier for me to tell people about
my past though.
“No, I really don’t” I turn beginning to walk away again.
“ Why do you think you still get the nightmares?” Stopping I
turn to face him, seeing all the determination in his eyes to make me speak.
“Because I have been living a damned life. Growing up to
kill and slaughter those who opposed me or my mission,” I let my face turn dark
and set my voice to a monotone.
“ If that was true, why are you here?” Derek left, not even
sparing a glance back to look at my shocked face. No one in my whole life had
asked me why I was where I am. People have always told me.
I’m here because I
chose to be. To try and fix everything I did when I was with Hostage Rage. Internally
I answered his question. An answer that was coming solely from me, no one else
contributing to it.
Maybe it is time to
open up, maybe I should tell them who I was. Taking a deep breath I re
enter the lecture room, seeing everyone still there. With the exception of
Derek.
“Whitney, what’s going on?” Payton came up to me and grabbed
my hand looking into my eyes, searching for something.
“ I am going to tell you who I was. My past,”
“ Okay, we’re here for you,” Tyler came and grabbed my other
hand, pulling me over to sit down by the front of the room on one of the long
desks.
“ Watch out,“ Tristan spoke still in his spot up against the
front desk.
“ Watch it Tristan, or I’ll tell them what you did,” His
eyes go wide and he quickly looked down. “ When I was born, my parents were a
part of Hostage Rage. I was born into that part of this life. I grew up
training with them, being taught things, like how to kill someone with a
toothpick. When I was nine, I began my first mission. Its been seven years
since that day. I was told to kill a boy the same age as me, One of the
presidents son’s from another country,”
“ You did that when you were nine?” Payton was covering her
mouth with her hand and holding tightly to Tom’s hand, as though if she held it
tight enough none of what I say would be true.
“Yeah, and it got worse the older I got. By the time I was
twelve I had killed over fifteen people. I hated it, so I started to refuse to
do the killings. So I was… punished,”
“ What do you mean punished?” Tyler’s voice was hesitant, he
seemed scared that by asking I would break or something bad would happen.
I lifted the back of my shirt to show them the scars on my
back. Stab marks, whipping scars and all sorts of others.
“ Oh!” Payton squeaked and curled herself into Toms shoulder
looking away from them. I pulled the shirt back down.
“ Their not the only ones. And it wasn’t just physical
punishment. They took my parents and put them in cells, to be punished infront
of me. Because I refused to kill someone,” I looked down and pushed myself off
the table. “ But it didn’t matter, I never really knew them anyway. But, they
took a dear friend of mine, and well,” I cut off thinking about what I could
say next. The best way to phrase it next. Why
not let Tristan explain, the little voice in the back of my head was
speaking to me once again.
“How about Tristan tells this part of the story,” I turn and
glare at him. He knew full well that I wanted him to explain it, but he turned
and walked out the room. Not looking back to glare at me or anything.
“ He was there?” Tom released Payton and moved forward to go
after him, but I put a hand out to hold him off.
“ Yeah, we both worked for Hostage Rage. He was there the
night they took my friend. He was one of the people who dragged her away to her
death. He didn’t know she was going to be killed though, but I still blame
him,”
“ But if he didn’t know,” Payton took a small step forward,
hands out as if she was surrendering.
“ I begged him not to take her. But he wouldn’t listen. He
also tried to stop me when I was escaping,” I hit the wall with my fist, “ He
was brought up there just like me. But he was never assigned to kill people so
he didn’t understand why I was trying to leave. But he still tried,”
“ I’m sure he didn’t think about it at the time. People
follow orders, and from what your saying, working at a place like that. You
have to follow the orders,” Payton continued.
“It doesn’t matter now. My friends dead, he’s still breathing,
and I’m forced to live with the guilt,”
“ Is that everything?” Tom asked grabbing my water and
passing it to me.
“ Yeah, that’s everything,”
“I smell bull in the air,” Tyler said turning to face me.
“Must be your own, cause I don’t smell a thing,” I retorted
and shook my head trying hard not to laugh, but failing miserably.
“ There has to be more to that story, how you got out of
there,” He finished.
“ If there is, you’ll find out one day. But not today, I’ve
had enough story telling for one lifetime,”
“ Well, I’m glad you told us. We’re here if you ever need a
friend to talk to.”
I smiled and left the room, walking to go and find Tristan.
I wanted him to regret walking out when he did.
* * *
I had been looking around the base for about a half an hour
now, and I was sad to say that I was very lost. I had walked down a hall, one I
didn’t know and from there had gotten turned around and was now feeling
completely out of place.
I had seen a couple of signs and started to follow them back
in the right direction, but I still felt very lost.
Walking down a hall that was made of glass, I could see the
great land outside. A lake and forest just beyond my reach for the moment. But
I would be outside later, to go swimming and climbing those trees. It’s only
then I noticed the person sitting by the lake.
I turned to go out the down that was right behind me so I could go and
see if they were okay, only realising that it was Tristan who was sitting
there.
“ Tristan! Get your butt over here now so I may kick it
thoroughly,” Marching over I see that Tristan didn’t hear me and was actually
listening to music.
How rude, not even
listening to me when I am yelling insults and threats at him! Outraged I ripped the ear buds out of his ears
and slapped him on the upside of his head.
“ What the hell was that for!” He whipped around barely
managing to wipe the tears from his eyes, but they were still puffy and red.
“Why didn’t you stay and face it?! You…” I cut off when he
looked away from me, finally understanding why he must have been crying. “ You
can’t talk about it can you?” I sat next to him and pulled his face so I could
see the look in his eyes. Tristan was fighting back the tears again. He looked
like a scared little boy about to be killed. And trust me, I have seen about
eight of those faces in the past.
“ No,” his voice was soft, barely even there. I began to
regret even hitting him. What is
happening here? The question was ringing through my head,
“Why are you crying? She was my best friend, a sister to me.
You dragged her away to be shot through the head,”
“ I didn’t know what they were going to do! And worse, they
made me watch it! Don’t you think I was friends with her too? She was my cousin
for goodness sake!” He was yelling now,
leaning over me, making me feel small. His
cousin?
“ No, she never even mentioned you. That can’t be true!”
shaking my head I stood and moved over to a tree and began to hit my head
against it, hoping to pound reality back into place.
“ Why do you think that is? You never mentioned your
parents. We couldn’t talk about family in that place, even if they were there
with you,” He grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me away from the tree.
“ You hate me for what happened to her, but I hate you.
Because you refused to kill someone you got her killed instead. And now we both
have to suffer for it,” He shoved me forward, out into the lake. The rush of
the cold water around me brought me back to a sad little world. The one night
where I lost everything and have been living with it since.
I let myself stay below the water, not feeling the air in my
lungs. I liked it down here, so peaceful and quiet. Time felt as though it was
st and nothing was happening. I could stay here forever if I just stayed
still. But I was pulled up sharply.
“ Tristan go inside and grab a towel for Whitney,” Tyler’s
voice was firm. I looked up to see him and Derek. Derek carrying me up to the
shore of the lake. “ Why the hell didn’t
you come up from the water?!”
“ Because, I didn’t need to,” I answered, my throat was dry
and voice was cracking. The air in my lungs was stinging now.
“ You were down there for almost five minutes!” Derek put me
down and stood over me, glaring in a way that should have made me scared.
“ I could have gotten myself out when I needed to. I have
been trained to do as such, I didn’t need to be rescued,”
“ Really?! Because when I saw you just staying still at the
bottom of the lake, it looked like you were dead!” Derek screamed at me, but I
still held my ground and sat as though nothing was wrong.
“ I was fine,”
“ No you weren’t! Why won’t you admit you needed help?”
Tyler asked, coming and sitting beside me as he spoke.
“ Because I didn’t need you there. And anyway, how did you
know I was in the lake?” I asked looking between the two who were with me.
“ I called out for them, when you weren’t coming up I
panicked and called for help,” Feeling a towel dumped on my head, I began to
dry off.
“ Like you’d care anyway. You blame me for Emily’s death.
You want me dead,”
My voice became a sharp hiss as I turned to look at Tristan.
E looked scared and shocked. If anything else, slightly hurt by my words.
“ I don’t want you dead,” he whispered, barely even there
but I still heard.
“ What?” I asked shocked at what he had just said.
“ I said I don’t actually want you dead, neither would she,”
Tristan turned and walked away again while I sat in shock trying to let what he
said sink in. Turning to face Tyler, his face was as shocked as mine.
“ You should show Whitney back to her room Tyler. It will be
dinner time soon, and she needs to have a warm bath or something,” Derek drew
our attention back to him.
“ Sure,” And with that both of us were up off the floor and
walking back inside.
* * *
I was walking slightly behind Tyler, trying to remember
exactly where to go but so far, I was having no luck.
“ Who was the girl Tristan was talking about? The one who
wouldn’t want you dead?” His head was down, hiding the look on his face. But I
was guessing it was filled with sorrow.
“ His cousin… Emily. The girl I got killed,”
“She was his cousin?”
Shock was filling his voice.
“ I didn’t know either, “
“ Then how?” Tyler grabbed my hand and pulled me back to
look at him.
“ He just told me.
Emily never even told me,”
“ So he dragged his own cousin to her death?”
“Yeah,” I whisper, trying not to let my voice crack. I avoided looking into his eyes. If I gave in
I knew I would fall apart and start crying, and that is something I never do
infront of people.
“ Neither of you could have done anything. From everything
you have told me today, everything you have said about Hostage Rage, they would
have killed all three of you on the spot,” I
don’t want to hear this, I want to go to my room and cry, I shook my head
and tried to keep the tears from coming.
“ Please stop,” My voice is low and quiet. Barely there.
“Okay,” Tyler wrapped his arms around me and hugged me.
Letting go I cried in his arms. “its okay, its okay,” he repeated it, and for
some strange reason I was finally believing that it may actually be true.
“ I need to go back to my room,” I whisper pulling away and
drying my eyes. The hallway was abandoned but that didn’t mean people couldn’t
come and see me crying.
Tyler nodded and held my hand walking a few more meters
until we turned a corner. Recognising the hall, I let go of his hand and speed
walked until I saw the door with my initials on it. Opening the door, I took
one last glance at Tyler and saw him nod his head, I nodded back and went in to
cry.
I cried until I fell asleep in the middle of the room.
No comments:
Post a Comment