I Am A Flyer

Just Hurry up and Die Quickly

Even though several minutes had come and gone, Jett still had trouble believing his eyes.  The other boys in the room were quiet, watching each other warily. The very silence tore at his frayed nerves.  Jett pulled his legs up against his chest and buried his face in his knees.

At least he wasn’t the only one confused, for after a long while of tense silence, a brunette with a symbol of circles and lines on his face spoke up.

 "Anybody know what's going on?" He had a strange kind of accent that Jett had never heard before. The others turned their heads to look at the speaker, yet there was no verbal response from any of them. They just stared, as if wondering what to make of him.

"Well," the first boy seemed calm, completely unfazed by the lack of response. It was almost like this sort of thing happened to him every day. Jett found himself wishing he had that kind of courage. "I'm guessing that all of us were taken by a flyer, right?"

Flyer? Jett's head jerked up. What was a flyer? He looked around the room nervously and noticed that everyone else seemed to know, for a few heads bobbed in affirmative nods. Was he the only one who didn't know anything?

Jett frowned a little, trying to make sense of all this. He didn't get much time to speculate, because a sudden rumbling sound shook the entire room. The boys erupted into startled cries and began surging away from the far wall. To Jett's utter shock, the far wall was moving.

All the boys crowded together, watching in a frightened awe as a whole wall slid right up into the ceiling. As it disappeared, it became clear that it was a doorway of sorts, and that it led into another room. This new room was huge, and it too, was missing an entire wall. In place of that wall, there was a gigantic space that led out to the outside.

Jett got to his feet, squirming against the nearest boys packed against him so that he could see. His gaze went straight to that space of outdoors, taking in the rich green grass and the pale blue sky. He was so focused on that little peek of freedom that he didn't notice them until a gravelly voice began to speak.

"Welcome, all of you."

At once Jett's attention was drawn to the doorway of the room he was in. He almost fell back onto the floor - the entire doorway was blocked by huge, intimidating men! Each one looked like they could tear him apart with two fingers, and they all had similar armor and uniforms. Although when he looked closer, he could see that the designs and coloring of the armor varied from person to person. One man stood in front of the others; he was the speaker and older than the rest.

Jett's heart leaped into his throat as he realized something. The stranger that had kidnapped him – he had been one of these people! He staggered backwards until his back pressed against the wall. The boys in front of him shifted, drawing even closer together despite the fact that they had all been suspicious of each other earlier.  Jett was thankful that they created a wall of sorts between him and them. At least this way, he could hide for a bit.

"You are all wondering, undoubtedly, what you are doing here," the older man spoke again. His hair was an iron gray, and he had a small tuft of beard on his chin. Even though his face was rugged and lined, his very presence seemed to fill the entire room. Maybe it was the way his iron gaze seemed to pierce through everything. Even though Jett hid behind the others, he got the feeling that the man was staring at him.

Jett shrunk against the wall. Then started as the older man chuckled suddenly. It was a chilling sound that sent shivers down his spine.

“You are, undoubtedly, wondering what is going on. It’s very simple: You have been recruited into the flyer corps of Troit. For those unfamiliar with us, Troit stands for the Tactical Removal of Illegal Technology, and our main purpose is exactly that.  You will learn more about that later.