Page 50 of Beyond The Maples
"What were you guys doing in there, anyhow? Building yourselves a little something?" Another strike, another desperate wail. I hold my breath as I see a small pool of blood drip between the cadet’s feet, pieces of his jump suit now hanging off his back. A chuckle rumbles out towards us. "You lot are lucky we didn't hand you to the Overseer."
At the mention of the Overseer, I grimace. The leader of the church is notorious for a reason. Said to be as ruthless and demanding as any soldier. He chooses each new clergyman, training them to within an inch of their humanity, so there's no doubt of their devotion to our new world. I'd heard enough whispers about him back in Strayton to know that I never want to cross paths with the man.
Fallon spits on the ground, stepping towards his next victim.This time, the screams curdle in the man's throat. Fallon's chest heaves with exertion as he takes a moment to clean the blood off his weapon. When he steps behind the last person, the girl, something in me breaks. I can't watch this anymore. This is barbaric.
As my feet inch forward, I feel a hand grip my wrist. Berkley is beside me suddenly, a deadly look in his eyes.
"It won't help. You'll just be strung up there beside them. Maybe us too." His words are just above a whisper.
My nostrils flare as my eyes search his, and I know he's right. He squeezes my wrist, in silent demand, or apology, I don't know which.
The first crack rips through the air, and the girl’s sob twists and hollows out something inside me.
Fallon clears his throat, looking us over with cold indifference etched into his features. Daring one of us to question his methods.
"These three were caught in the engineering room, unauthorized,playingwith equipment. Ruining precious material. Like children. Let this be a lesson to all of you. We are one here: against our enemies, and against this type of disloyalty. Follow the rules or suffer the consequences."
Giving everyone one last look, he nods to the officers and saunters away.
Leaving field-stripping class the next day, I look over at Farra as she finds something on the floor overly interesting.
"Hey, I'll grab food and bring it up to the room," I offer. She peeks up at me, giving me a quick nod before scooting down the hall.
Kethler was leading the class again. The shouting was awful, but it was especially awful for Farra. I wanted to stab Kethler with the dull end of my rifle, butFarra did well. She held her own and stayed calm. She may not see it, but it was a win. I wondered briefly why the captain seemed to have it out for her. At first, I thought he just appreciated how she responded to his specific form of cruelty. Pitiful men always love pulling apart strong women. But today I caught him; one glance that was a little too long. Lingering somewhere it shouldn't have. And now I know it's more than that. Farra is beautiful, and he's punishing her because he's noticed.
He is vile.
Heading to the mess hall for food, I feel a familiar shadow step up beside me.
"Hello, did you hear about that crew?" Tarius asks in a hushed voice.
One of the other cadets knocks into him purposefully as we walk past, and I glare.
There's been no shortage of cadet rivalry, and although no one's succeeded with the tower, a few have tried and either been injured or died. The points system the Legion's created has kept things... tense.
Our crew has been hovering around the top five with most of our assignments. Other cadets feel we have an unfair advantage with Berkley, but ironically, it isn't just him that makes our team strong. Apart from tactical and engineering, Farra is at the top for everything. She is highly competitive, and even during combat rotation, she hands men twice her size their asses. Leo is also oddly talented, though maybe not to the same degree as Farra. They seem to thrive in opposing areas, he falls behind a little in combat, yet he's faster than most of our cohort, so he makes up for his lack of viciousness with speed.
Tarius skates by with most things; we have found he's a steady well of information, and he's the sneakiest person I've ever met. He often knows about assignments before they happen, which I will be forever grateful for because I get Farra to prep me the day before. They've even helped me come up with a bit of a studying system that helps me feel less panic in the classroom. Despite Tarius' oddities, we've all started relying on his eager intel and off-handed comments.
I quickly stop walking, suspecting he won't want to chat in a busy mess hall.
"What about a crew?"
Tarius rubs the dark patchy scruff that's started to grow on his face before he says, "An entire unit crew went missing the other day."
I side-eye him, wondering if maybe this is his poor attempt at a joke, but he looks strained.
"Did you hear how?" I ask softly, trying to keep my posture casual. He shakes his head.
"No, but apparently this isn't the first one, either. And they haven't sent out a recovery unit."
My eyebrows shoot up. No recovery? That means they assume the crew is already deceased. I mull it over.
"That is really weird. Thanks for letting me know. Let me know if you hear anything else, ok, T?"
He beams at his nickname. It takes almost nothing to send him into a full blush, and I feel kinda bad. Clearly, people haven't been kind to him throughout his life. We say goodbye; I grab food from the hall and head to our room.
Leo's waiting at the entrance of the building. "What's up?"
