Wild Side [h.s au]

Chapter 1

"Alright, you know the drill. No talking, no sleeping, no eating. Your bathroom break lasts maximum seven minutes and you have to make sure someone fills your place while you're gone. You fail to follow those rules, you answer to me." I move my warning glare over each of them. "Is that clear?"

A chorus of "yes sir" rumbles around me and I dismiss them, watching as they take their corresponding places. It's extremely important they keep their eyes open because the enemy could attack at any second. Since Vortex is larger than our base, Hazard, they think they're entitled to get into our territory, kill our men, and kidnap our young trainees. They are the definition of conquerors, especially because most of them are foreigners. Things have only got worse in the past few weeks. It's safe to say Vortex is our sworn enemy and we usually show no mercy to its soldiers.

I'm always ready for a fight - my weapons are loaded, my senses on alert. I rely on no one but myself, despite the fact soldiers are always taught to rely on people in their team. I've come to realise I work best when I'm alone. I can't live constantly wondering if I can trust people around me, I know for certain the only one who will never betray me is myself. Past experiences and mistakes have taught me a few valuable lessons, and I stick to them every day.

I begin walking toward the east side of the patio, tucking the gun into the holster. Women are settled on the east side, and men on the west. It's strictly forbidden for us to associate during the work hours. The exceptions are missions, training sessions, and a few hours a day spent in the mess hall when it's meal time. Sunday is our only day off; we're allowed to interact with each other without worrying about duties.

"Sir!" A soldier, Paul I think, suddenly calls me and I turn around, watching as he approaches me. When he does, I frown and nod, silently giving him permission to speak. "We've caught two. . . well, not sure if they're deserters or soldiers, but they insist we let them see the leader."

I raise my eyebrow. "Where are they now? I sure as hell hope you didn't let them inside." The last time something similar has happened, the intruders ended up with bullets in their skulls. They were Vortex spies.

"Uh, sir. . . they managed to get inside," he says timidly in fear of my reaction.

"What?!" I raise my voice. "How could you let that happen? Send soldiers after them!"

"We've already done that, sir," he quickly says. "Both of them are now near the main building, surrounded by our men."

"Dozens of men guarding the base and someone still manages to get inside? Perfect," I say bitterly before drawing my gun out angrily, quickly returning to the west side. "Lock all the exits and double the number of soldiers on the main entrance, just in case," I order Paul who is following me obediently.

He nods and I send him away as I quickly make my way toward the main building, loading the gun. I can't help but mutter curse words under my breath, annoyed with their incompetence. I hate unexpected situations like this, especially when I thought I've got everything under control. I can't fail again.

As I reach the building, my eyes spot dozen of soldiers circled around the intruders, pointing their weapons at them. A frown takes over my features as I notice a handful of soldiers lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. I quickly make my way toward the group circled around the intruders, a few soldiers immediately stepping aside to let me enter the circle. I can't help but feel powerful as I bite back a smirk.

"Hell yes, action time," Niall comments amusedly beside me, a playful smirk on his lips. When I shoot him a glare, he quietly adds, "don't worry, H, it's only two people."

"Two people who have managed to get inside a heavily guarded base," I snap at him so only he can hear. "Imagine if we get attacked, are those same people who let it happen going to protect us? Bloody fuck."

My eyes focus on the two intruders in front of me. A girl and a boy of my age stare at me, the boy's hands lifted in surrender while the girl's are restrained by two soldiers. "Why isn't he restrained?" I quietly ask Niall, nodding toward the boy.

"Because the girl did that," he says, pointing to the soldiers on the ground. I glance at the boy again, noticing his meek smile as he waves at me awkwardly and overall not so impressive posture. Yup, definitely the girl.

"Who are you?" I demand. The girl's hazel eyes flick at the soldiers then back at me as she realises I'm in charge. That's right, darling.

"I need you," she says. "I mean, I need your help."

My gaze quickly slides down her slender body, noticing she's not wearing any uniform, which means she's probably not a soldier. "Are you a deserter?"

"Yes," she quickly replies. "We need to see your leader."

"We don't let just anyone see him," I tell her, my eyes narrowing. "Especially not armed girls who intrude our base and attack our soldiers." My eyes dart to the soldiers lying on the ground a few metres away. I'm not sure if it's impressive or embarrassing she took them all down by herself.

I mean, I'm in charge of their training, seriously, this is embarrassing.

"They're only unconscious," she defends. "We need to see the leader, it's urgent." Her tone is demanding and it's starting to piss me off. Who does she think she is?

"You're in no position to give orders here," I warn her while I step closer to her and raise the gun, its tip mere centimetres from her forehead. "You were saying?"

"Whoa, easy mate," the boy says.
"Let's talk about this, yeah?" He chuckles nervously.

The girl doesn't even blink as if I can't kill her any second. "Once he finds out who are we, he'll want to talk to us. I didn't go through all this shit to die like this."

A thought that they might have some useful information about our enemies crosses my mind. We've had a few cases where deserters from the East, the South, and the West would offer us information in exchange for our protection and permission to move to the North. Granted, none of them tried to break in and make a mess like they did.

I glance at Niall as he shrugs and nods toward the girl before mouthing, "she's hot."

In any other circumstances, I'd let the soldiers kill them both since we have zero tolerance policy when it comes to people trespassing on our territory. However, my instincts are telling me they're not here to spy on us or kill someone; they're most certainly not armed for that.

Decisions, decisions.

"Lock them up," I finally command to the soldiers. "Make sure to take away all their weapons."

"No, wait!" The girl raises her voice. "Let us see him!"

"He'll decide if he wants to see you, so you better pray he does," I say. "Otherwise, you're dead." My eyes narrow before I turn around, walking away from the scene. "And for God's sake, someone take care of them!" I shout, exasperatedly pointing to the soldiers still lying on the ground.

. . . .

a/n: thank you for reading! Let me know what you think :) x

This story deals with the issues related to war and its consequences. Expect mature scenes such as death and murder descriptions, swearing, and sexual content. There won't be any warning at the beginning of chapters with content like that, so consider this your only warning.

This is my original story and any similarities to other stories on this site or any others are coincidental. Plagiarism is a very serious thing and I would never do it. Thank you for reading and enjoy x