Ascension

Elijah

I run down the hallways to my Supervisor's office. I burst into his office.

"Hello Elijah. Aren't you supposed to be Training our new recruits. That was part of our deal you know." My supervisor chasties.

"I'm sorry Supervisor but I have a more important issue than training. My top Soldier Tomas is missing, Sir." I tell him.

His eyes widen for a second.

"Elijah, are you sure he isn't just sleeping in bed?" He asks.

"Yes sir. I sent one of my Soldiers to check."

"Are you sure he wasn't just skipping training?"

"Yes sir. Tomas always came to all the trainings even when he was vomiting sir. He was always there before me."

That's when the supervisor started actually worrying.

"What about the rest of your group?"

We ran four miles sprinting sir." I told him.

My supervisor nods.

"I will try to find him. We will try and locate his com but he might be to far away." My supervisor tells me.

"Okay."

I look at the clock on his wall. It is 1400. I have thirty minutes until I have to go to the Darkness.

"I should get going sir. I still have to pack." I tell him.

"Make sure to look out for Tomas on your way."

"I will." I assure him.

I feel really bad for when they do eventually find Tomas. I'm sure he just drank to much and forgot he had training today. But as part of protocol I have to report him missing. When I get back to my bedchamber I go through all my drawers and find three freshly washed Military outfits. I make sure to grab my gun as well as extra bullets. I put all these things into a large Military backpack.

I run out to catch the jeep that was leaving the Bunker. I still feel a twinge of sadness when I see the burnt city that used to be my home. I force myself to look forward.

"Hey look we are in the same Jeep together," A familiar voice says.

I look over and see the man from earlier.

"Hey I don't think I caught your name." I tell him.

"August. And yours?" He asks.

"My name is Elijah."

"Oh. You're the fancy Hybrid," August acknowledged.

I sigh.

"Yes. I guess I am the Hybrid."

"Do you not like being Hybrid?"

"No I don't like being a freak of nature." I tell him.

"I don't think you are a freak."

"Well thanks but that doesn't change my squad's opinions." I tell him.

"Wait aren't you only like 17. How are you in charge of a whole squad?"

"I am 16 and they needed someone to train them to fight Brights so why not recruit the Hybrid to teach them how to fight Brights."

"Hmm." August sighs.

I decided I needed to change the subject and fast.

"Have you ever been to Sun's Peak?" I ask.

"What?"

"Sun's Peak. You know, where the Darkness is." I tell him.

"Ohh. No I haven't." He tells me.

"Oh well, I have. It is such a beautiful place. I'm sure anyone would love it."

"Oh. What does it look like?"

I go into a deep description of what I remember Sun's Peak to be like. I even included how it looked with the last rays of sun poking out from behind the mountains. I had decided to pack colored pencils and paper so while we were sitting in the Jeep I was sketching the sunset. August looked over and saw my paper.

"Wow. You are really gifted at art." He tells me.

"Thanks."

"You know my little sister Dakota has an art class you might be interested in. She has been trying to get members but everyone seems to be either not interested or too busy with Army training." August explains to me.

"Sounds fun." I tell him.

I don't really want to explain to him that I am more of a art when I have inspiration kind of guy. I spent the rest of the Five hour car ride talking with some of the Military guys about battle strategy.

They were very intrigued with my stories of the Brights.

"What were they like?" One asks.

"The Brights, I think, are often misunderstood by the way that we portray them. Even with all of our Bright refugees people have a hard time seeing that they are just as complex as we are. I had met several Brights while living there and they as a species cannot be classified as evil. Some of the Brights I met were the most generous creatures I had ever met." I explain.

The people in the car all stopped their conversations to listen to what I was saying about the Brights.

"But the Brights were dissecting humans and keeping them in boxes." Someone disagreed.

"I understand this but listen do we not do the same thing? In our 8th year I remember my teacher bringing out a box of small animals you would find in the desert and we dissected them in the name of science."

"But they made you fight in an arena."

"The Brights didn't know any other way. Some of you are parents right? Now imagine it this way. If you didn't teach your child to not hit people they would hit people and they wouldn't think they were doing anything wrong. Now the Brights were raised to think as humans as just another species and not aware." I explain.

Some of the faces of the Military personnel soften.

"This war we are having is just like the wars we used to have back on Sol Earth. Where neither side of the war is right or wrong. We are just one side and the other." I tell them.

They soften their faces even more.

"Wow." Someone whispers.