The Impossible War

Chapter One

It's March 27, 2020. The fourth year of war on this day. I was 14, a freshman here at Montusko High, when war broke out. I am what one would call an Outsider. I was apart of three sports and had straight A's. I had friends that I used to talk to all the time. Now there are some that won't even look at me because I am an Outsider. We don't go by our real names, half of us can't even remember what our actual names are anymore. It's been three years since we've been called by those names. I go by Ekon Cadmar now. No one knows exactly why the war had started anymore. Some think it started because of the rivalry between schools that had grown to be aggressive.

Us Outsiders named the war "La Guerra Adolescente" which is Spanish for "The Teen War". We were our own clan I guess. We didn't necessarily have an emblem like the rest of the clans though. The Artist of Montusko High had created an emblem for the other clans and even for the Lost. The Lost were the kids who didn't belong anywhere. The Lost had the basic school emblem; silver hawk with a sky blue background.

My friends within my Outsider clan were, Hero, Raine, and Amor. Our names were given to us by the seniors three years ago. We don't remember our old names anymore. The four of us became a family after a couple of months. No one knows if our real families are still here in Forksford anymore, nor do we know if anyone else still in town. The last anybody saw of anyone who they weren't fighting was the day all the staff left.

That day was when the war got really bad. With no one to try convince the high schoolers that war wasn't the way to solve our issues, the war spiraled out of control. Before the staff had left, there were only injuries, after they left there was death. I was nearly killed along with several other soon to be Outsiders that day. I would have been dead if the Outsiders clan hadn't came in and saved us. We don't kill unless it's a must. Usually the people just end up knocked out.

One day, I hope that this war will end and we can go live out our lives without the fear of death being with us. But that's just a dream. No one would ever listen to an Outsider like me because in everyone's eyes, even in my own clan, I'm worthless.

At least that was what I use to think.

••••••

It was a stormy day. The city had woken up to a day full of rain and lightning. A brilliant way to wake up 6a.m. especially on a dreadful day is to hear that oh-so-familiar voice over the loudspeaker say, "Battle stations everyone! We band together with the other clans today. Jaunty High has come to invade." Immediately I look for my crew. It took a minute to spot Hero, my best friend. He came to my side and we search for Raine and her twin brother Armor. Once we were together, we went to our gear tent.

Within five minutes we were dressed in our gear and set up for battle. We had biker boots, a baseball cap, thick jeans, and a thick coat with a chainmail armor underneath. Most of this was scavenged by our people from stores during the early days of war. Back when we could afford to send out people.

"Hey Ekon, check my gear real quick." I heard from behind me. Hero was hold a makeshift spear in his hand. "You're seriously doing this now?" I muttered as I hit his chest with the spear. "What? You know I'm lazy and do everything last minute." He said with a grin on his face. We stared at each other for a second and then busted out laughing. Raine and Armor came in with the rest of our weapons and set it on the table. "What do we have?" Hero asked. "Three spears, four daggers, two dart guns with twenty shots each and a handful of flash bangs total." Armor stated without having to check the table. "For supplies we have two things of Top Ramen and two bottles of water for each of us." Raine added. That's when I spotted the object wrapped in cloth leaning on the table. I look back to the twins and realized that they both had a hint of fear and sadness in their eyes. "What is it? What's wrong?" I asked. They looked at each other and nodded in silent agreement. "Ekon," Raine paused, "you've been chosen to be our clans sniper. Which means you have to go ahead of us on your own. I don't know..." Hero cut her off and started yelling at the twins. "You know snipers are the ones at the highest risks of getting shot! Ekon could get captured or who knows what. Especially since we're fighting Jaunty. Jaunty is our biggest rival. She shouldn't be put at risk. A high risk since none of the other snipers are gonna actually get close!" "Calm down Hero, I'll be fine. If I don't return, it has been an honor to be with you all." We hugged, I grabbed my supplies and the rifle then set off to outside of the school where the battle would take place.