Sheltered

Chapter 13

"So basically, you're going to train me-" Savanna began.

"Well, it will be a specific trainer, not me. But like I said before, you may not even need much training. It just depends on what position we need you to fill." Ian explained.
"I want to thank you again for agreeing to help out, I think you'll be quite helpful."

"Don't thank me." Tears started forming in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away.
"This was my decision. I don't want to feel sorry for myself that I don't have a family anymore."

Ian looked into her eyes, his gaze steady.

"I understand. I felt the same way. When my parents died, I knew I had to do something. Something impactful."
He moved slightly closer to Savanna.

"You're tough. You're gonna make it through this easily. Just stay strong." Ian patted her on the shoulder and flashed a small smile.

"Thanks, Mr. Ian." Savanna replied slightly awkwardly.

He jumped back and sighed dramatically.

"'Mr.?' Man, I'm not that old!" He chuckled.

Savanna blushed. "Well, I'm sorry." She apologized sarcastically. "Thanks, Ian."

He chuckled again. His face turned serious, but the warm smile remained.

"We'll do a skill assessment to see what position you would best fit. There are coders, or as someone else may call them, 'hackers'. We prefer not to use that term, though." He smirked.
Savanna noticed then how much he looked like Griffin.
"There are also fighters. But only strong people can have that job." He teased.

"Ha ha." Savanna rolled her eyes playfully.

"There are recruiters, Griff, Olivia, Drew, and Shawn are recruiters. Griff is doing pretty well, so I'll probably give him a different position soon. Anyway, there are also scavengers, we don't really use them often, but their job is to scout out safe, secluded areas for meeting places, building new entrances, setting up camp, or planning an ambush... Stuff like that. There are also trackers, basically if we need to find someone, they're who you'd call. You could call them 'the brains'. Trackers use psychological and intuitive information in order to track someone down, then they let us know the location. Last but not least, medics. Pretty much your basic military doctor, but they happen to make the best assassins. They can make any death look like an accident."

Noticing Savanna's still, pale face, he smiled to lighten the mood.

"They're also in charge of the tattoo parlor."
Ian added.

Savanna grinned slightly.
"You have a tattoo parlor inside this place?"

He nodded.
"It's just one room, but some medics know how to give tattoos and piercings."

"Wow. That's a lot." Sav said, impressed.

"I guess. So, we'll assess you, then hopefully you can get started as soon as you're settled. Housing is an option, since I know that you may not want to stay with your friend. Speaking of, where is Stephanie?"
Ian asked.

"So you heard of her too?" Savanna asked.

"I heard that she did an exceptional job at defending herself in the recruitment test." He replied.

"I agree, she's pretty good... I didn't even know before then. Her father is in the military, so I guess that makes sense." Savanna thought out loud.
"She should be at her house. She was a little... hesitant about joining us. Also, it probably didn't help that we had a... misunderstanding."

"I get it. She'll join eventually, nothing to worry about. Now, we'll start your assessment tomorrow. You can sleep with Olivia tonight, we'll figure out the housing situation later."

Ian picked up a small microphone attached to the collar of his shirt. Savanna hadn't noticed it up until now. As he pressed a button, he said:
"Olivia, please come to entry room number one. Olivia, come to entry room number one, over."
A few seconds later, Oli opened the door.

"Ready for bed, Sav?" She asked, then nodded to Ian.

"Let's go. Thanks, Ian," Savanna smiled.

"No problem." He lazily saluted to her.