EDEN Day 8

Chapter 6

“Hi, it’s Jude, leave a message!”

Dane stood quietly by the receiver, holding the phone in his hand. He had bags under his eyes and looked like he hadn’t slept nearly all week. He had barely eaten, either, and felt like he’d already shed a few pounds in the two weeks he’d been there.

“Um…” he breathed in, “Jude. It’s Dane.” It was hard trying to compose himself, this could potentially be the last time he would be able to talk with her and she was still angry at him and not answering.

“The men in here got drafted… Including me. I’m sorry we--”

“Dane?” another voice picked up on the other end.

Dane blinked, slightly surprised, “Jude?”

He could hear her sad, quivered breath through the phone, “When are you leaving?”

“Today…”

“Oh Dane…” he could have sworn she was crying but couldn’t tell for sure, “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be, you didn’t do anything wrong.”  

“I’m not mad at you.” She said sadly.

“It’s okay if you are.” He replied, “Just know that… Whatever happens…” he paused.

“What is it, hon?”

Dane sat a moment quietly, “I’m really gonna miss you.” He said, tears welling up in his eyes, “Be good, take care of yourself, okay?”

“You too…” Jude said, “Stay safe, please…” she begged.

“I’ll do my best.”

“Attention: Section B report to the front for departure.” The speaker said. Dane looked behind him to see the wall was going down.

“I gotta go…”

“I love you, Dane.” Jude said through choked breaths.

Dane sighed, “I love you too, Jude.”

He hung up, taking a moment before making his way to the exit. Walking out, he looked up at the security hovering around as men filed downwards towards the exit. Across from him he noticed two aids dragging a motionless body out of a cell. Looking closer he noticed the prisoner’s face was burnt to a crisp on the one side, sparks flickering from where the eye socket used to be; he’d burnt himself to death against the electric shield.

He knew that the chances of survival on Eden were slim, that the Yellinste were relentless and took men out left and right without even breaking a sweat, but he’d never thought a Blaco would take his life so soon before even stepping into the fray.

Dane was too caught up in this scene to notice Carl walk by quietly, not his usual chatty self today. “Carl.” Dane said, returning from his daze. They walked together down the stairs to the main floor that was surrounded by guards making sure everybody was filed out in an orderly fashion.

There were several ships marked with the official Shealvolkian army seal lined across the interior of the prison, Blacorite being loaded into each one by one. Carl and Dane looked around for Hans and Al but couldn’t make them out amongst the thousands of colors and sensors in the crowd.

The two stood in line for a ship, Dane’s stomach churning in his stomach. Maybe he was too ill-fit to even be in the army, or enough not put him into a more front-line position at the least.

They boarded their ship, sitting down against the wall and strapping themselves in. Dane rested his head against the cold metal behind him as more men piled in cramming in the space. Carl was still quiet, looking even more worried than Dane felt. The short yellow Blacorite stared off at nothing, bags under his eyes from lack of sleep as well.

When everybody was set and ready to depart, a loud roar of an engine hummed beneath their feet and the craft lifted into the air up and away from the prison. Dane knelt over to a window beside him and looked out; they had already gained a lot of altitude and were soaring through the air. He watched his beloved city and home gradually get smaller and smaller until it was out of site, and then receded from the window to stare at nothing with his friend.

He still wondered where Kurt was, what happened to him. He’d forgotten to ask Jude. He wondered if Kurt was on one of the ships leading them to their demise, or he met his early and didn’t have to suffer nearly as much. He closed his eyes in thought, the majority of the Blacorite in the ship also seemed to keep to themselves rather than be obnoxious and rowdy like they’d been before.

Dane happened to doze off, for when he opened his eyes men were already being filed out, and he had not a clue where they were.

He followed Carl out along with the rest as they began to line up in rows along a long strip of asphalt. It felt cooler than before, and looking at his surroundings he realized they were close to some type of forest with white and silver leaves and black bark. More security surrounded the mass of Blacorite with weapons at the ready for any attempts to escape.

“Welcome, gentlemen, glad to see you could make it.” General Kratt said, stepping off his own smaller private ship in front of the men. He rested his hands behind his back as the rest got into a row. “To break this mass of Blacorite up, we will simply be dividing you all into five sections for the five camps scattered around this base. There’s a mess hall in the middle and various training courses you will be using for conditioning. Once conditioning is done and you are prepped you will be divided into different jobs depending on your abilities and specialize from there, then make your way to Eden in several months’ time.”

Everything the man uttered made Dane uneasy. He was so calm, so used to sending thousands of men to their death every day. He just didn’t understand.

“We will separate each section based off which section they were in back home, to make things easy. If we catch any quarrel between you and your peers you will be removed to solitary confinement and any other misbehaving or fallacy will suffer the same fate.” Kratt continued. “Anybody who tries to escape will be killed on sight.”

When his session was over, several officials stepped up and called for each section and led them to their area of the base. When section B was called Dane and Carl stepped forward and followed their group to a section of the base closer to the surrounding forest.

They approached a large, rectangular metal building with several small circular windows. “These are the sleeping quarters, and are only to be used for sleep.” The official leading their group said. She was a female, strong and muscular with crimson stripes and rings around her eyes, something Dane had never seen before. “I am Captain Misha and you will address me as such, I have been chosen to lead your group and train you for what is to come through basic conditioning before you move on.” She said.

Captain Misha glanced around at her new group of unsettled prisoners to evaluate briefly, “Any questions?” None answered, “Very good. Now give me twenty laps around the base, there’s a trail off to your left, be back here in ten minutes.” She ordered bluntly.

The men looked at one another hesitantly, thrown off by this abrupt request. “NOW!” the captain shouted. Several Blacorite started running, but several others stood where they were, including Dane. “Is there a problem?”

“We don’t gotta listen to you.” One Blaco said towards the front, a rather bulky and tall fellow who towered above their captain, “We don’t even want to be here, why should we do anything?”

“Oh? Good question.” Misha raised an eyebrow, “Why don’t you have a choice, why can’t you just slack off and get out of this the easy way, is that it?”

The man stared her down, not moving a muscle as she stepped before him staring him straight in the eye without missing a blink. “I have news for you, soldier, you don’t have a choice, and that’s all there is to it. You should be honored you were chosen to serve and protect the innocent Blacorite across Shealvolkai and defending those in need on a neighboring planet.”

“Nobody is innocent, fool.” Another man said, “It’s just a ploy to make us feel bad, we’re just being fattened up to slaughter and you know it.”

“Is that so…” Misha said, “I see I’ve picked out my stubborn members of the group. Good news is we have special protocols for Blacorite like you. One hundred laps, fifty minutes, go.” She said, eyeing the two men down angrily and with a grimace of hatred the two got going.

Dane watched intently, Carl still beside him and the other men who refused her first request. He didn’t want to be put in a position like this, being defiant, but the one prisoner had a point. “Anybody else?” Misha called loudly. The men stared at their feet, and Dane became agitated with this prodding question.

“Ma’am, you didn’t answer the man’s question.” He said. The others looked at him.

“Hm?” The captain looked into the crowd for the source of the voice, her eyes resting on Dane’s poorly shaped figure, “aha.”

“What happens if we don’t meet your little ‘requirements’. Just a question, captain.” He said, keeping eye contact with the woman as she approached him.

She smiled, “You all will meet the requirements, soldier. We will push you to your limit and you will sure as hell not give even the slightest hint of slacking off, otherwise you will be put to death.”

“It’s not like it makes a difference.” Carl uttered. The captain motioned her eyes down to the short man, clearly getting tired of these defiant comments.

“I see my words can’t sway any of you.” She said, “So, you will run until I say you can stop. There is a special trail back through the forest you will use just that way. Go now, or you will suffer dire consequences.”

The men hesitated a moment more, but Carl huffed and started running for the forest trial. Dane’s stomach churned, but he complied with this demand and followed his friend slowly while the other men followed after him.

They ran all day, the heat from the sun shining through the trees soaking into their skin and the heat emitting from the black bark of the trees heated their internal systems throughout the trek.

Dane had a hard time keeping up with the rest of the pack in his current physical condition. He hadn’t done anything athletic since college and afterwards he’d stopped caring. He breathed heavily through beats of sweat dripping off the end of his snout and his eyes watered with what little moisture he had left cooling his system. Several times he stumbled and along with a few of the others occasionally let out a load of bile along the side of the bath before continuing. The stress was tremendous, and it was only day one.

The group ahead of him had started slowing down around the evening and he was able to catch up.

“How you holdin’ out, hunky-man?” Carl said between short gasps as he jogged up to join his friend.

Dane couldn’t even talk and he was so fatigued; he simply shook his head trying to look ahead. “Gotcha, buddy.” Carl said, trying to stay light on his toes with his long tail dragging behind him.

The cyan Blaco was definitely feeling his energy dwindle at a rapid pace, and he began to slow down more and more until finally he was on his shaking, buckled knees trying to take in air. Carl stopped a moment, falling back to join him, “You okay, man?”

“No.” Dane gasped, coughing in heaves, “I can’t do this, Carl.”

“Come on!” Carl shouted, trying to grab Dane’s shoulder to drag him to his feet, “You can’t let that bitch Captain get the better of you! You gotta prove to her you can do this, you saw the way she looked at you, ‘hunky-man’.” He said.

Dane sighed through his gasps, wiping his hand on his forehead slowly getting to his feet and the two of them continued onward.

By night the men were leading one another with their glowing stripes, the moon covered by clouds and trees. They reached the end of the trail where their captain stood, her hands behind her back standing straight in posture. “Look who returns.” She said, an amused grin on her face, “Well done, soldiers.”

The group was dismissed to the sleeping quarters, no shower of any sort offered before then, but they were too exhausted to care. Dane stepped into the metal box of a building and stepped over to the nearest bed collapsing onto it and passed out without even straightening himself onto it.

It’s only day one. He reminded himself grimly before slipping into a mini coma.