Saving Apt

Chapter 1

Elliot doodled on his page ignoring whatever Miss Mundy is saying. It was probably something he already knew, like how far away Earth is from Apt, or something of that caliber. When he finally noticed that she had stopped talking, everyone's eyes were on him. He swerved his head, looking around at his now silent peers.

"Answer the question, Mr. McGee." Her face was blank, not giving anything away about what she had asked him. There was no point in asking what her question was, the petite teacher would most likely tell him how she got her scar than let him off the hook.

He hesitated. "Um.... I don't know."

"Really?" She lifted her eyebrow. "This is elementary stuff. I thought you of all people would know that the King's name was George Mears, especially since you have the highest grades in this school. Maybe the other teachers were right, you just cheat."

Stifled laughs echo through the class and Richard -the guy beside him- swore at him. He ducked his head and mumbled that he knew that.

"If you knew, why didn't you answer then," She turned around. "Were you not paying attention?"

He glared at her bunned hair. "I was."

Another chorus of laughter. "Quiet class, Elliot come here." Everyone became silent. They all knew what was coming, this happened almost every class. "Stand here"

Elliot sighed. This was so humiliating; this was just what he needed today. Being the only person in the whole school -including the kids in junior high- to lose to Miss Mundy every time they sparred didn't exactly gain him many friends. Even if in private Miss Mundy did admit that she purposely lets the other kids win, it didn't make it any less humiliating in public. He got up from his seat and stood in front of her. He technically didn't have to fight her since she wasn't a gym teacher, but chickening out would be worse than losing. He was a full head taller than her, and the fact that she was wearing her staple baby blue dress didn't make her seem very threatening. He knew better though.

"Now class, I would like for you to take notes of everything Mr. McGee does wrong." She said with a smirk. This was probably the millionth time he had fought her, but this time he was prepared. Every time he had, he had learned something about how she fought. He learned how she prefers to punch with her left and block with her right, how she tended to hesitate using her right foot, and how she always went for the right side of his body when she attacked him. Having a near photographic memory definitely had its perks.

Mundy started it off with a kick to the back of his knee to try to unstabilize him; but instead he caught her foot and tried to spin her. She got up from the ground and used her right foot to kick his face. She punched him in the gut and him her side. This went on for forever until she pulled out a knife from her boot. She swung her arm around, nicking his ear. He grabbed her arm and kept the blade a mere inch away from his widened eyes. When his leg made contact with her gut an ear shattering alarm rang. "Code Red, Code red" it screeched over and over again.

Elliot and Miss Mundy stopped fighting each other and started to smooth out their clothes. "Class line up like we have practiced. Make sure you're quiet, yelling won't protect the Sage from the humans."

He couldn't believe how calm she was acting. Everyone lined up and Elliot took his place in the middle. Someone in the back screamed, when the whole building started to tremble. It was a girl named Kathrine. Miss Mundy told her to calm down, but otherwise said nothing else. No one could really blame her, both of her parents were killed by a bomb when she was younger. Miss Mundy started walking and everyone followed her, grim and deep in thought.

"Miss Mundy! Simeon is gone!"

"Leave him! It won't help anyone if we all die because of that foolish boy." He was surprised, Miss Mundy adored Simeon. There was a very small handful of people that you could claim she didn't hate and he was definitely part of that small percentage, so the fact that she didn't seem to care at all was incredibly surprising.