Awakening: Prodigy

11: Between you and me...

"Badge. Number. Now." she repeated with every ounce of command she could muster. Of course, with Seth standing there, it was unlikely she'd deny the session. She could, and there's nothing he or the officers could prove otherwise. Why such an underhanded tactic? Was she really trying to get him kicked out of the Academy? For what reason? Considering she murdered people because she could, his removal was mundane by comparison. Seth felt his panic resurfaced with a vengeance.

"Sergeant Will Noland to you, doctor. Badge number SD173-894." Sergeant? Seth held onto the man's firm voice, clinging to each word like a lifeline, while forcing his mind to think only of the words. He was an active soldier? Here, at the Academy?

The soldier turned abruptly and patted Seth on the shoulder. "Sorry, Sport, this issue has a bit of history and you just got caught in the crossfires. I'm having Paul here take you to Security Station A. As for me, I'm going to make a report, right fucking now," he shot to the doctor, then turned back to Seth, "to the Headmaster to see if we can't get this mess sorted before lights-out. Paul," the sergeant barked at his partner. "Dinners on me next time, okay? You go ahead and take my rations to the kid when you come back out on patrol. He doesn't need any of this bullshit."
Paul nodded and gestured for Seth to come with him as the Sergeant stormed into the administration building with the doctor scowling after him. She didn't even glance Seth's way when she followed the soldier into the building, granted at a controlled and unhurried pace. She'd done this all before, that much was apparent. How many people has she ruined, just because she could?

"Followed your game this past weekend," Paul said, attempting to distract Seth from this growing disaster. He took a leisurely pace down the outer ring of the Academy, not so much as looking at the herd of buggies waiting to be used.

Seth gestured to them in a silent question. His throat had run dry, and words refused to form.

Paul nodded at them. "You want to enjoy the nice evening we got here? I might not be full-time military like Will there, but I served. I'm pretty sure if a demon pops up, I can take him." The grim look on the former veteran's face told Seth a different story. "Honestly, I kind of wish Will was here instead of me. The dark still makes me..."

"It's okay. You don't need to talk about it. No one wants to talk about it," Seth forced himself to say, despite how desperate he was to hear every detail.

"I need this. This is normal," Paul said. "Safest place top-side to work. I was lucky. A pal of mine pulled a few strings. Didn't expect to be put on night patrol, though. But it ain't bad. Nothing has happened. I guess I'm just not used to it. Don't matter anyway, I can't sleep at night anymore. Will's been a huge help, though. Ah, sorry kid, I'm runnin' my mouth. You don't need to hear any of this."

He needed it. He needed to know. This man was recovering, returning to a state of normality. Seth couldn't bear to take that from him. "Would Will tell me?" Seth croaked.

Paul shrugged. "If you ask, he might. Sometimes... well, I shouldn't say."

"Go on."

"Sometimes, kid, I wonder if we ever leave the war. Or if we're just stuck there," he tapped the side of his head. "Stuck fighting those monsters forever. I feel like that now. I wonder if I'll ever be able to just forget it all happened. Part of me doesn't want to forget, you know. I lost a lot of buddies. They should be remembered. But maybe forgetting is healthier, you know? To help me move on. But there are people like Will. Will made a choice to not leave. Not in here," Paul tapped the side of his head again, then his heart, "And not here. It's like those monsters don't even scare him. They scare the shit out of me. Every fucking night..."

Just like Seth. His dreams were filled with monsters.

"I like you, kid, so I'm gonna tell you something that's gonna make you piss yourself. But I need you to keep it together. Will and I know where you are, and I already sent for a guy to keep guard. But the last person we put in holding under that woman's orders, he didn't come out for a week. We were told they went straight home. Didn't think to follow up after his scheduled release. It's just curfew right."
"What did she do to them?"

Paul shrugged. "Nothing. Like literally nothing. She just left them there." The silence stretched for a long moment, implying more. "Including no food. No water. For a solid fucking week. He wasn't even supposed to be in holding past dawn! There wasn't even a fucking log..."

"Wait! Are you saying she killed them?"

"Officially, the kid went home. Unofficially, I'm going to give you a fuck ton of food cubes, and more water than you'll know what to do with. Let's just say the boys in holding didn't care about getting nailed with the blame."

"I think it might have been intentional," Seth admitted.

"Between you, me, and that security drone," Paul pointed to the drone that had passed them by, "me too."

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A word from the Author

Almost all settled into my new place. Sure I still have the storage room to empty out, organize, and repurpose into my actual office. It'd be nice to put up my yearly planner so I can log my wordcount instead of failing to remember to update my spreadsheet. First word problems... Also getting the patio furniture out of the dinning room would be nice. My husband and I try to pretend to be civilized sometimes by not eating at our desks in the living room, but I got to admit the bulky patio chairs turned upside down onto the dinning table has made my side of the table feel a little like a cubicle. I'm sure my husband set it up that way on purpose. He's sneaky with his sense of humour (My husband is British so he gets a U in humour).

Shoutout to my subscribers over on the Patreon! I wanted to do a spiffy little graphic, but I'd have to host it on my site and then link to it, and to be honest with you, I'm not feelin' it at the moment. I mean, graphics yes. Going through the trouble of finding the link to the graphic, not so much. Maybe next week I'll color things up in here!