I started this just a couple weeks ago. Even in just short space of time I've grown to love my characters. I hope you love them too. :)
Enjoy!
***
I held up my arms pinning my gaze on the target yards away from me. The red circles were beginning to ingrain in my eyes. I felt my fingers slip on the new, shiny black pistol in my hands so I shifted my hold and clutched it until my fingers went white from lack of circulation.
"Concentrate, Agent 4. Just shoot, you've done it plenty times before."
I huffed and tried ignoring the voice coming from my earpiece. Thank you George, like that really helps.
I took a deep breath and, trusting my new pistol with my life, let loose with a loud bang! bang! bang! causing the dust on the ground around the target to unsettle.
I stared at the target and waited for the dirt to fall.
I smiled.
Three perfect, dead center shots.
"Good job, Agent 4. I knew you could do it."
I turned around with a satisfied grin plastered on my face. I looked at the judges table for instructions on what to do next.
"Good work, Agent 4. We'll definitely consider you." One of the judges came towards me with a clipboard in hand. I smiled sweetly.
They'll do more than consider me if I can help it.
"Next!"
The booming voice echoed from a speaker and across the large plain that we used as a combat field. I turned around swiftly, but not before sending a dirty look to Quinn, my not-so-best-friend, who was up next.
"Break a leg, sweetheart." I said in mock kindness, turning my frown to a dazzling smile.
"I'll be sure to break yours." She said. I raised my eyebrows at the pitiful comeback, but kept walking away. If the judges hadn't been watching I would have punched her lights out, but
unfortunately, George, my personal trainer and mentor, says my approach to getting the governments attention is being sweet but deadly.
The deadly I like, the sweet not so much.
Lucky Quinn has a trainer who actually wanted to work with what she's best at: being mean. I watched her from the side field as I was waiting for George to come out of the observer's lab a couple miles away. He'd been watching me practice for the past half hour on a screen monitor giving me tips and pointers, but he usually didn't have to give me too many.
I watched Quinn nervously, hoping she wouldn't do too well. If she did, we'd both probably end up on a squad together, and heavens knows what a piece of crap that would be.
"She's good at those high jumps, isn't she?"
I jumped.
"And who are you?"
The boy smiled holding out a gloved hand," Brett Smith at your service. Or Agent 12 if you like."
I studied his face, deciding he was using some kind of tact to try and get me to like him. I didn't take his hand.
"Well hello then." I turned back over to study Quinn's face and her methods. Maybe I'd learn something about her and be able to use it against her so we wouldn't end up in the same squad.
"Who're you?"
I glared at the guy and took a deep, impatient breath. Usually everyone avoids talking to me because I usually end up getting someone in trouble. I wasn't used to talking to people really.
"Ava Walker. But around here I'm just Agent 4."
I really didn't feel like talking to his guy, he makes me suspicious. Anyone nice makes me suspicious.
"So what training grounds are you from?"
"These grounds actually."
"Ah, so you have an advantage to the rest of us, I guess."
"Not really."
"How so?"
"I grew up here, yes, but I've only trained over near the main building. I've never been on these fields. They're forbidden to anyone in the undertraining levels."
He nodded and didn't say anything.
Thank goodness.
I watched Quinn start her hand to hand combat, laughing out loud whenever she got hit, then remembered I was supposed to be acting nice until the judges left. Curse George and his stupid plans. Speaking of George...
I reached up to my earpiece and clicked on the tiny button.
"Where the heck are you George? You're missing Quinn getting beat up by the combat men."
"I told you not to make fun of her while you're on field. And I'm almost there, my transportation just got delayed. I'm coming up on your right."
I looked over my shoulder and sure enough there was George coming up in his large black hover car. I turned away from the boy and ran over to my mentor.
"Bye, Agent 4." I turned to see the boy wink at me, then walk back over to wait on the bleachers for his turn in front of the judges. I shook my head and turned back to George.
"You did good out there, Agent 4." His short, grey hair moved slightly in the wind, and his bright blue eyes studied me over like a father. He towered over me by a good one and a half feet (I'm a shorty. Somewhere around 5'2) and was naturally taller than any other man around. He was always lean and ready for action, being a retired agent himself.
"You already said that." I waved at my earpiece.
"It's true enough, isn't it?" he studied the field and frowned," Who's the kid you were talking to?"
I turned and saw him gesturing towards Agent 12.
"He said his name's Brett Smith."
George sucked in is breathe and let it out slowly," Just be careful, Agent 4. We're trying to get you to the Hold. The only thing preventing us from doing that is the other agents who want in. Kids like him."
The Hold is the Government. And I'm an agent in training. So it's obvious I want to become a Government agent. Unfortunately, only ten agents get picked every year. And you can be sure I'm not going through another year of torture here at the training fields. I've spent my whole life here-that's long enough thank you very much.
"So what do you need me to do? How can I outshine everyone if they're better than me?" the thought that someone is better than me at anything is hard to swallow; I was raised to think I could do anything. But it's easily a plausible statement when you look around. The kid with the hat over there is a computer genius. The girl with the dark clothes knows how to defeat anything. The girl with blond hair makes bombs in less than twenty seconds; a world record. We're all amazing I guess.
"Get to know them. If you know what they're weakness is, you can use that. And use your own strengths to make yourself better. I'm not saying become best friends with them or anything, just get to know them. And no enemies, Ava." He caught my eyes meaningfully," You know I already hate that rivalry between you and Quinn. It's bad. Say you two got on the same squad? You'd have to work together even though you hate each other. Make yourself allies. Not enemies."
I nodded, because you don't say no to George when he uses your real name.
I don't really have any friends. I mean, I've known all the kids in my group (Quinn, Josh, Reyna, Elise, and Pac) since I was born pretty much, but they're more like allies than anything else. And George knows I'm not one for having 'best friends'. He knows me too well. He has been my mentor since I was brought here after all. He's my father figure, and I will admit, I care about him. So him telling me to make allies was pretty much just telling me 'keep out of trouble, or else.'.
"Okay, well do you want to stay and watch, or go back to your dorm and get in a good nap before dinner?"
I turned and frowned looking over at Quinn's gun target.
She had three perfect shots too.
Drat.
"I think I'll stay and watch the others. I need to start looking over everyone's abilities like you said. I'll be back by dinner though."
"Good. And be sure to make yourself presentable. I want the judges to know you can behave like a human being while you eat, not a wild animal." He tucked a string of hair behind my ear and kissed my dirty forehead. He really wasn't supposed to show any emotion for me according to agent laws. But he was a friend of my parents before they died, and he always said he had a responsibility for me that went beyond being an agent. I watched him park his hover car then walk over to the judges table in the shade to watch the rest of the agents. I went back down to my spot beside the wire fence and watch the rest of the agents perform their best.
__________________________________________
"Ah, there you are." George smiled as I sat down at the long dinner table. I smiled and looked around. Thirty kid agents my age sat all around the table, some talking to each other like friends and some just sitting staring at their food. Or others like Josh, one of the agents from my group (Agent 2) who didn't talk to anyone because he was too busy eating his food like a pig.
Ugh.
I resisted the urge to gag.
"Heya, Agent 4."
I stopped looking around and looked at the agent in front of me. Brett Smith.
"Oh, hi Brett."
"I saw you watching us on the training field. Did you get a good view?"
"Oh, yeah. I got to see what everyone does best. I have say, I'm a little jealous of your bomb skills."
He leaned back in his chair and played with his food," Nah, you shouldn't be. I was just doing my job, like you did yours in combat. I still think you had a better advantage than the rest of us."
I shook my head," Well whatever advantage I may or may not have it won't matter in the end. We're here for a place at the Hold, not in the training grounds."
"I guess you're right..." he picked up his fork again and shoved in a couple bites of mashed potatoes. I looked down at my food for the first time and felt my mouth start to water. Steak and potatoes! The last time I had this was probably when I was about six. And I hadn't even been able to enjoy it that much because I had just been through a poison test and I'd accidentally chosen the wrong antidote. I was throwing up all night.
I quickly picked up my fork and knife and cut in.
I swear I heard the halleluiah chorus.
"Enjoying your food, Agent 4?"
I turned to see a red head, Keri I think her name is, looking at me savoring each bite.
"Yeah, I am. We only have oatmeal, fruit, and salads for meals around here usually."
"Why?"
I was drawn a blank. I thought all agents ate like that? I mean we're not exactly going to be served a three course meal on a mission now are we?
"Well," I started," We were just brought up to be tough is all."
She considered this and nodded," We were brought up differently. If we can find and make it, we can eat it. We're never just served food."
I actually smiled at this. That was brilliant. I almost wished I'd been brought up in her group.
"So where are you from?"
"Gilders Isle. Well, that's where I was trained at least. My parents were from Jasper apparently."
I nodded. I'd heard a lot about Gilder's Isle. It was a tough place to live; it was mostly just a big desert. Sounds terrible if you ask me.
"Are you from here?" she asked.
"I trained here, yes, but my parents died on a mission in Heafron, their home town."
She nodded then opened her mouth to say something, but stopped and looked over my shoulder. I turned to see what she was looking at.
"Okay everyone, enough chit chat." Mr. S, or who we kid agents like to call Mr. HAM (High Agent Man), stood up," We need to discuss the Hold positions."
The room went tense.
"Don't worry," he laughed, much to my annoyance," They haven't actually decided the ten agents they're going to take in yet, but we do know what they're looking for. I'd like you to hear this information and to put it to good use. Try to make it hard for them to pick."
"Is he allowed to be telling us this?" Keri leaned forward to whisper in my ear.
I just shrugged.
"I think it's cheating." The boy next to me whispered. He was the computer genius with the hat.
"Real agents cheat all the time. It's our job to cheat." I said.
"I guess."
"So, today we heard the judges' complaints and complements." Mr. HAM continued, "Here are your tips for tomorrow:
"First, they love fierce. Be good at what you do full heartedly. No secrets, no shame. If you love combat, love combat. If you love computers, love computers. Of you love languages, love languages. Just be yourself.
"Second, always be ready. They don't like agents who aren't prepared to fight. Be sure to be wary at all times, you never know what the enemy may throw at you.
"Third, be a good actor. On missions you need to be able to act well to play a disguise. No one will believe you if you can't act.
"And last of all, be unpredictable. They need someone who they can trust, yes, but our targets should never ever know what you're up to."
He looked around the table and looked everyone in the eye. He smiled again then turned to George," you wouldn't mind calling for some wine, would you?"
George laughed and talked into his own earpiece.
***
please tell me what you think! Feedback would be awesome. :)