Live for Me

Chapter 1

Running. That's all we ever seem to do here. I get on the bus completely out of breath. It was only a 3-mile run today which is a lot. However, it is not the eight miles we are usually required to complete on Fridays. School was only half of the day in order to get us home in time for tonight. My town has been honoured to be the trial run for a new training initiative. Eight of the top teenagers in the county are being sent on a weeklong training program. The eight includes me and my younger sister Charlotte. I'm dropped off by the bus at the base of the hill that leads up to all the government official's houses. My mom is the mayor of our town so our house is at the very end. She also is a retired army doctor, who is highly ranked. My dad was also ranked high in the military and retired to work for the president. That was until he was shot three years ago. Since then my mom has buried herself in as much work as possible to mask her pain. I am lost in thought about my father when suddenly I feel something hit my back interrupting my train of thought. It's Lexa Woods.

"Hey, Griffin. Ready for tonight. Hope you and your sister are ready to take orders from me." She taunts referring to me by my last name.

Lexa is number one in our class meaning she is leading this mission. I am second in command. She doesn't like me and I don't like her. We were friends when we were young but once school started becoming a competition she got mean and I got meaner. She went her way and I went mine but somehow, she beat me to the number one spot. Don't get me wrong she deserves it, her marks are flawless in every category but she has just changed drastically since we were little. Now I avoid her as much as possible even though we have nearly every class together. I'm going to spending the next week listening to her every command and knowing her they are going to be ridiculous, especially for me and Charlotte. Her father, Titus, was in contention for the mayor position but my mother beat him for it because she was more of a people person.

"Just don't get us killed," I say back.

"I'll try my best sweetheart," she says with a wink before entering the gate to her house. I continue you walking kind of confused.

I walk through my gate and see my sister, Charlotte coming up the hill. She probably stopped to talk to the older gentlemen down the street. She says hi to him every day. She runs up the hill when she sees me waiting. At twelve years old she is the filled with nothing but hope and joy. I just hope that after this trip she is still this way. I've been on two missions but they were only for two days. We will be the first youth unit to be put under a seven-day test. It was assigned to us by the president himself. He is coming to see us off when we leave in the morning. It's a huge honor. The country thrives on the military. Every citizen is required to participate in training until at least eighteen. Then they can choose to make it their career or choose a different path for themselves. Those who choose something else are then required to go to a boot camp for a week once a year. I've never even had time to consider another opportunity joining becoming an officer has always been my goal.

"Clarke, you coming in?" Charlotte asks from the door.

"Sorry yeah" I walk in punching her shoulder. "You nervous for tonight?"  I ask as we enter the living room.

"A little but I'll get over it. I just hope no one gets hurt since I'm technically the one responsible for medical needs." That is her position in the unit, medic. She is going to be just like our mom. It's crazy how good she is with that stuff.

"Well, I know a thing or two if needed. But don't worry about it a week isn't that long I promise." I know she is scared to death. She is many things but brave has never been one of them. "Besides you're with me and I'll take care of you."

"Yep, I'm screwed." She jumps away before I can punch her shoulder. But I'm quicker than her so I grab her and tickle her. "Okay okay stop it, Clarke."

"Well don't insult me, child," I say as I let her go both of us remove our backpacks.

"So what did Lexa have to say?" I look, questioning her. "You know like five minutes ago."

"Oh just that she hopes you and I are ready to take orders from her."

"Hope you told her not to get us killed." She rearranges the pillows on the couch.

"That's exactly what I told her,"I say with a small laugh.

"We aren't going to die, are we?"I can sense the fear in her voice.

"No kid. It's only a week, nothing will go wrong."I pull her in for a hug.

"Well, we should probably get ready then. We are supposed to be at town hall in two hours and I plan on taking a long shower because I'm not getting another one for a while."She says once she pulls away.

"Okay dork. Meet me down here in an hour as the second I have to get there early."

"Yes, sir."She salutes me and walks up the steps.

I follow her up but head to my room. The best part about my mother being the mayor is we all get our own bathroom. I grab some clothes and head for my shower. Charlotte was kidding when she said we aren't getting one for a while. We can bathe in a creek or something but that is not the same. The outfit I picked out is nothing special, they will give us new ones when we get to town hall anyways. Once there we will meet to discuss the single item each of us will get.  Other than the eight items the only other thing we get is one bag that Lexa gets to choose from a set of eight. There can be anything in there from a tent to a piece of rope. There is always something useful in there but some items will be more useful than others.

I sit on the couch in the living room reading some pages out of a survival book trying to refresh my memory with the basics. To be honest, I'm a little nervous. I wouldn't normally be but Charlotte with us makes things different, especially since I'm not in charge. Lexa will make a very great leader but she will also try to make my our lives hell if she can. As I begin to skim the section on healing there is a sudden knock at the door.
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Hey guys finally had sometime to edit a story I've been sitting on for a while!! I plan to update at least once a week on Sunday's. Hope you all are doing well!!