This rigorous training is repeated for years. Every single day we repeat the process of being herded off to different training stations. A couple of new reds come along but other than that, it's the same thing every day. Die in training, sleep for a couple hours, and do the same thing all over again.
All of us have become obedient, rigid, and strong soldiers, all of the training going to good use.
So today, we're going outside of our camps fences, we do this to practice some of our fire control abilities, the trainers don't want to risk us setting some of their buildings on fire.
They take us one at a time, still following protocol though they've become lax, knowing we won't try anything.
The trainer is so lax that he doesn't even tie my hands, he simply commands me to follow him out beyond the camp, into an open area about a mile away.
There are some buildings where we are but they're abandoned. The road is muddy and dug up, it always seems to be raining around here, though today is an exception, that's why we come out here.
"Show me," the trainer commands, referring to what they've had us work on these past few weeks.
Once I showed them I could breathe fire, we started training with it, in case we're needed to destroy something.
I call the fire up from my core into my throat. Breathing out, I send the fire from my mouth shooting out. We've been working on range and my goal is one of the buildings.
But before I can get far with training, movement comes from the building I just shot fire at. My trainer doesn't give me another command, so I stand still, waiting.
He didn't bring his gun with him, just his walkie talkie. "Base be advised, movement in one of the buildings. Probably just a trespasser, no need to respond," the man says, clipping the device back on his belt.
"F13, walk in front of me and check out this building. Be prepared to use force to subdue target," my trainer commands.
I go into action, heading toward the building, staying in front.
We make our way towards it, staying vigilant.
As soon as I get close to the broken door, it comes shooting out at us, invisible hands shoving it towards us.
It hits me first and I fall, quickly standing back up.
Three boys jump out from within the building, bags in their hands.
"Attack! Subdue targets!" My trainer yells.
Waiting no further, I create a whip with the fire and hit one of the boys in the leg before they can react to me. He falls.
I focus on the other two while the trainer continues to yell my attack command at me.
One of the other boys comes at me, thinking he can overpower me with sheer strength.
Snapping my fingers, I create a small flame that engulfs my arm. I use the flaming arm to punch the second boy, sending him flying.
The third one comes at me so fast I don't have time to use fire, so we engage in hand to hand.
He's good but I'm better. We go at it for a few minutes before I land a kick which sends him backwards, hitting the building.
I go to finish them, make sure they can't attack anymore but I feel a pulling sensation behind my naval.
I'm picked up by a mysterious force and thrown backward, landing on the ground with a thud.
"F13 get up and finish them! That is an order-" my trainer begins to command but a piece of the broken door is shoved at him, sinking into his neck.
He sputters and coughs up blood before falling, dead.
With him dead and no longer giving commands, I have nothing to do. He hasn't given me anything to do. Obedience.
I stand, turning to the boys, and wait. I wait for a command they give me, something I can do.
They look at me strangely now that I'm not attacking him, nursing their burns carefully.
"Throw a fireball," one with back hair commands me. I obey, creating a flaming ball in my hand and lobbing it a few feet away.
"Woah. She listens to whatever we tell her to do!" He exclaims, seemingly having a good time.
"Come here," I oblige.
"Sit down," I sit.
"Stand up," I stand.
"Dude, this is perfect. We'll totally get on the stage now. Knox has wanted something for initiation and she's perfect. Like a robot who listens to what we want. Hey, you! Follow us!" The boy with red hair commands me, walking backwards to see what I'll do.
I follow. He's obviously in charge now and has given me a command. That's my only purpose, follow commands.
Once the three boys realize I'm following them they turn around and talk amongst themselves.
"Isn't she kinda creepy? Like... her eyes are dead. It's like she's empty. Weird," one of them says, looking back over his shoulder at me.
"Yeah, well, sucks to be her but we need to get on that stage, man. We're starving out here and I don't want to be the next person that gets sent away," the leader of the three says, continuing on the journey.
—
We walk for two hours, entering the woods at some point.
Finally, I see our destination. An abandoned warehouse, a white tent outside and to the side.
Behind the warehouse seems to be a broken-down building. And on the other side of the warehouse, a raging river with rafts sitting next to it.
The boys walk up to a small door that leads into the warehouse, another kid, a girl, is guarding the door.
"Move out of the way, Renae, we have something to show Knox," the redhead commands, smirking.
"What? A new member?" The girl asks, stepping aside.
"Nope. Even better," he says, heading inside with the rest of the boys, me trailing.
When we walk inside, I take a look around, assessing the surroundings.
There are multiple kids laying around in the main room, sunken and shivering. There are buckets of fire next to them, providing little warmth.
Then at the far end is a raised platform, a stage of some sort. And in the middle, is a boy smoking a cigarette, his face periodically disappearing behind the smoke.
Other kids litter the stage, the boy has a girl draped over his lap, she's shivering.
There are boys at the back, leaning on some crates and laughing, contributing to the smoke with their own cigarettes.
The stage is made of old stacked crates with water-warped plywood nailed over them. His chair a metal folding one with a fuzzy blanket draped over it.
"Boys, welcome back! I see you've brought us a guest! Let me get a good look at her," The leader, Knox, I gather, says. I feel the same invisible force pulling me towards the platform.
I stare blankly ahead as he jumps off his chair, leaning down to get a good look.
"Sir I'd be-" one of the boys from the previous group tries to cut in but Knox raises his hand.
"My, you are a hot piece, aren't you? What colour are you, baby? Please tell me you're a blue," he says, a hand trailing from my cheek to my chest. But it's not a command. Not something I can do or a plan I can execute. So I stay quiet.
"What, are you shy?" He asks, wiggling his eyebrows as his hand goes lower, towards the top of my bra. When I don't answer him a second time, he stops. "Boys, where did you pick her up?" Knox asks, staring at me strangely.
"We picked her up in Nashville. But sir, she's a red," the word echoes throughout the warehouse, everyone stopping their chatter to stare.
"Red? I thought they were all gone... killed off or something? How did you get her?" Knox questions, taking another look at me.
"That's the thing, we got her from a PSF. She was walking around freely with him, doing her fire tricks. He commanded her to attack us and she listened but when we killed him she just stopped... she listens to whatever you tell her to do. Watch. Red, sit down," the boy from before calls out and I follow, sitting down in the ground.
"Stand up," again, I stand.
"So she's a puppet... anything else? Because I've been missing some good entertainment. She's perfect," Knox says, pacing.
"She's am an amazing fighter, sir. She took on all three of us at once, using fire and burning us. If she wasn't like this, she would've killed us. We always talk about initiation, how it isn't fair..." the brown-haired boy says, trailing off, letting Knox feel like he's come up with the idea.
"If we get her to respond solely to me, we can use her for initiation, making it harder and preventing one of us from getting hurt. Fantastic. Michael, you and your boys are kings tonight. Get anything from the storage room you want, you deserve it," Knox says, the three boys jump over each other to get back out of the door we just came through.
"Now... what to do with you, sweet cheeks. Your eyes are so... dull, poor thing. Ah, I know. We have a traitor we need dealing with, one that simply can't be sent away. You, grab the traitor from the basement. Red, you follow me," Knox commands. Something I can follow.
He begins walking and I obediently follow him outside and around back, to the broken building.
Stepping over the broken section of the wall, I see there are a couple more kids inside of this building, huddling around burning trash cans.
"When I whistle, I want you to attack to kill. Whatever it takes. Don't let him leave," Knox commands, walking away from me to make room for the boy being dragged towards the room.
"Knox, I swear it was a misunderstanding! I wasn't trying to leave- what's happening?" He questions as he's shoved in front of me. I look at him, determination behind my eyes. My arm twitches as the fire within grows.
"Oh, don't worry Caleb. I'm giving you a second chance. Fight this young lady. She makes you tap out, you lose. You make her tap out, you win," Knox gives the boy the ultimatum, knowing I won't yield, not after he's given me a direct order.
"Really? If I beat her I can come back?" The boy asks, disbelief written on his face, thinking he has an easy opponent.
"Yep. No questions asked, straight back in the hunting party," Knox sweetens the deal and the boy looks shocked.
"Ok. Let's go," the boy comments, putting himself into a fighting stance.
Knox whistles and my brain switches to attack. I go to the boy immediately, not bothering with fire. His stance is so weak that I easily pick out places to attack and go for it, blocking his sloppy punches and retaliating with my own.
I kick him backward and he lands toward the broken wall to the building. From where I'm standing, I can see the confusion in his eyes.
"You didn't say she was trained!" The boy exclaims, scrambling up as I stalk toward him. Knox stays silent, watching me.
The boy, thinking quick, thrusts his hands toward me weakly, knocking me backward.
He makes a run for the opening, trying to get out. Don't let him leave. Knox's words repeat in my brain.
This time I throw my hands out, grabbing the fire from the nearby cans and making it travel along the floor and climb up the wall to the opening.
I throw my hands up, causing the small fire to become huge, covering the entire opening and making it impossible to leave.
Bringing my hands down, I concentrate on keeping the fire in a wall as I stand, staring at the boy as he turns back to face me, fear in his eyes.
"And she's a fucking fire bomber? Knox, this isn't fair!" The boy cries.
I force the fire down from the wall and use it to push him towards me, forcing him to fight me.
He's too close to use his own powers now, allowing us to go hand to hand. Within a couple minutes, I overpower him easily, putting him in a headlock.
"Ok! Ok! I yield, I yield!" The boy yells, struggling in my arms.
I look to Knox, waiting for his command.
"Oh no, you lost. But do you know what happens to losers," Knox asks, walking closer to us.
"W-what?" He questions timidly, afraid.
"They die," Knox nods his head.
"No! Wait-" I snap his neck and drop him.
Dead.
"Oh! Look at that angle. I think we'll get along real well, angry bird."
—
From then on, Knox decides to use me as their initiation to the tribe.
He outfits me real well in some robes and chains to make me look more menacing, the initiations are at night, and he's made a fighting ring out of burning barrels that also double as a supply of fire for me.
They have a cell in the dark basement of the warehouse, that's where he keeps me.
Knox knows that I'll never turn on him willingly, he's tested that theory enough. He keeps me in a cell in the basement, so I'm a secret to anyone he wants me to fight. But between these battles, he comes down and uses me for entertainment. He gets off on me not being able to say no to him.
One night he has me fight somebody, apparently they rounded up a bunch of colours running from some PSFs and there's a blue he wants me to initiate.
The other blues from the tribe are terrified of me after witnessing a couple initiations. They take me to the ring in chains, a method to intimidate the competition.
After cutting them off, they run as fast as they can.
The girl he wants me to fight is a blond, she has spirit.
Our fight is brutal. She is a good fighter and eventually pushes me out of the ring, determining her initiated, but not after me landing a nasty burn to her face and breaking her leg.
That's my life, my routine. Constantly fighting people Knox wants me to fight, staying in a cage.
And I don't care. He commands me to do it so I do, that's all I can ever do. When there's no command, my mind is empty, not a single independent thought.
—
"Red, Red, Ruby, Red!"