Ryann - Chapter 1

I feel silly already just remembering parts of this. Remember, soap opera + silly me + young = don't judge. No real title for this one either. Just saved under a characters name.

           She was tired. She was always a little tired these days. She glanced up at her reflection in the tinted office windows. She looked good, different but good. These last few years had warranted a lot of changes in her. She couldn’t even recognize the girl she had been in the woman she was now. She sighed. She was in the best shape of her life, had to be to live up to what she was getting herself into. She couldn’t help but be excited for the new challenge in her life, at least in part. This task had been taken on before but never quite like this.

            Never before to be the type to be on the cusp of technological nor political advances, she was going to be a part of an intense training program with the latest and greatest technological training devices. She was actually going to be training others on hand to hand combat, weaponry, strategy, and what her superior called a leg up on common sense. The most intricate series of war games possibly ever run was going to take place on this base and she was going to be a part of it. She caught the grin on the mirrored face. The biggest factor to this project was not the technology, the intensity, or the longevity, it was the subjects. The trainees were all women.

            Training women for this type of combat and leadership was highly controversial and she had to agree with the slight frown flickering across the window pane, she wasn’t so sure which side of the argument she stood on. For her purposes though, this project was perfect. She flexed her arm slightly and the reflection grinned again. Plus the training had its benefits. (Like I have any idea the politics behind women in combat, especially in the 90s.)

            She turned and faced the group standing spread out through the warehouse. They were the best they could offer. Some had been sought out and the rest were volunteers. The volunteers had gone through an intense sifting process. Problems with health both physical and possibilities of mental were released immediately. A tendency to noticeably stress out was enough for a dismissal. Then they sought out and eliminated extremists. They didn’t need radicals throwing wood on the fire of those who already apposed to their project. On a fitness level, they hadn’t judged strictly on physical ability when choosing for physic but mainly on physical possibility. Most were in decent to good shape now, but soon they would experience the best they had to offer. If accepted, they would be given a specific diet, exercise routine, and knowledge expansion program detailed for each one of them. If these women got nothing else from the experience, they would come out of it in the best shape of their lives.

            The mood was solemn. They had all been informed that their acceptance to this program was not yet insured.  One woman held the yea or nay to their participation and today they would be seen by her for the first time. She was a bit nervous about today. Many of these women were her choice and she wasn’t exactly the best qualified to make that decision. In all truth she had no qualifications in the least for her position. She knew why and how she’d been chosen for the spot and it wasn’t credentials. She knew, even if the person who chose her was not aware of those reasons. Regardless she was going to do her job well.  In fact, she was the only one who could do this job.  She was the only one who could handle the trials to come; the only one who to keep the potentially loose cannon under control.  Though she had no experience or training for this type of lifestyle, she knew without doubt that this project would fail without her. It sounded like overly boosted ego speaking but in actuality it was a sad fact to her. She glanced back to the reflection behind her. The faced looked grim. This was not going to be easy. (I'm pretty sure this reflective insight was added later or at least expanded upon. I have a faint memory of adding it because I was working on being more descriptive and to tie in with the ending. I'm pretty sure when/if we get to the ending there will be another reflective insight.)

            Ten minutes passed before the group was called to attention. “Hello, everyone, my name is Kate Doog. We are not in the armed forces nor are we associated in any way with government training. (This is me telling the reader that I have no idea what the armed forces or government training is like so don't compare and tell me how off base I am. I make up my own rules.) This is a privately funded experiment and as such we have no ranking. For our purposes our called tags will simply be our last names. Here, you are no longer Jennifer Tippens or Hillary Daugherty,” she picked names out of thin air. “You are Tippens and Daugherty. Jen and Hillary have gone into hibernation and what remains after their departures are raw instruments ready for priming. You are now soldiers in an unknown army, fighting in unidentified wars, for imaginary countries.” 

            “Our first goal is to train you on how to use the technology. Once accomplished, we move on to how to use the technology to conquer an enemy force. Many of you already have background in this type of lifestyle. Some of you grew up as army brats and some of you have actually served our nation. I must warn you that even though it will benefit you on one hand; it will hinder you on another. This is an experiment and as such some of the methods will differ from what you’re used to. You must be willing to learn and adapt or you will fail.” 

            “Each of you accepted today will be guaranteed three months. Your progress and attitude will determine if you earn more time. You may choose to quit at any time but once you cross that line there will be no turning back. Your decision will be final.”

            “Your time here could be the biggest adventure of your life. You can learn things here that will benefit you the rest of your lives; whether you leave here to join the armed forces, the working force, and even you aspiring full time moms.” She cracked a smile. “This can definitely prepare you for a ship shape household.” She got a few smiles from the crowd.

            She felt a small chill of electricity crawl down the nape of her neck. She didn’t need to look up into the office window to see that someone was standing there. She took a breath and looked solemnly at the women before her. “Good luck, ladies.”

            Doog stiffened as she heard soft steps come towards her. Her superior stepped up directly beside her. Doog held perfectly still. She stood at attention with her head straight looking forward; she didn’t even turn her eyes toward her superior. Every time she stood next to this woman in a group of people, a strange sensation came over her. There was no one in the world she respected more than the woman standing next to her, but she had to admit, regretfully, that her superior was one cold fish. She felt the nervousness of every woman in the room. Even the mere presence of this woman immediately caused nerves to go on edge. Doog relaxed slightly as the woman next to her stepped away and began to quietly walk through the crowd.

            Her superior was dressed as a though she were going incognito.  She wore a cap that covered her hair so that you could only see small amounts and could not quite make out the color. Her uniform covered her arms and legs completely, so that her physical physique was almost a complete mystery.  One could tell by looking at her that she was in shape but how good of shape was not seen.  She wore sunglasses to hide her eyes.  Not that they were needed, you could never tell what she was thinking just by looking at her face. In contrast, each of these women were dressed in a previously issued workout uniform. They wore shorts of a respectable length, but they revealed enough to show any evidence of physical strength in their legs. The top of their uniform consisted of a sport bra which exposed their abdomen and their arms for further scrutiny. In effect, each of these women were open and exposed; their physical abilities put on display for the scrutiny of one woman. However, as she walked down the rows and studied each one she did not look them over to appraise their physique, rather she looked into each of their faces.

What she was looking for, Doog did not quite know. Her heart skipped a small beat when her superior finally stopped in front of someone. Doog was nervous now. The woman that she had stopped in front of was purely of Doog‘s choice. No one had disputed the choice but neither had they agreed on it. It wasn’t that she was a bad choice; she just wasn’t the best choice. She had the physical ability, though she was not in the best shape of her life at the moment. She had intellect but her attitude showed a problem with authority. That was not a good problem to have in this type of situation. Furthermore it was not certain why she had even applied to the program. Doog had a strange feeling that the girl was hiding or running away from something. That too was not a desirable attribute in a study of this nature. Yet she had been unable to dismiss the girl. There was just something about her that forced Doog to take a second look. That second look grabbed her hook line and sinker and further impelled her to give the woman a chance. Standing there now watching her superior give this same woman a look over was quite unnerving. She was about to find out if she had made a huge mistake or if by some odd circumstance her superior saw the same thing that she did.

            It was a shock when her superior spoke. “Let me guess, you were into sports in high school; perhaps a starter for your basketball team, volleyball, whichever. You did well in college but never had the esteem of the fans like you did in high school. Once out of this program you didn’t see the need to keep up on physical ability.” Doog wished she could see the look on her superiors face. As it was, she could only see the look on the other woman’s face, and hers was not a happy one. Her superior was baiting this girl and Doog was not sure why. “Am I right?”

            Without moving her head the woman broke her stance and looked at her questioner. There was defiance in her face. It wasn’t hard to tell that the statements and questions were not inquisitive but accusatory. “Yes, ma’am.” It was laced with defiance.

            Doog sighed. It appeared that she had made a mistake. Her guess was this girl was on the next transport off this base. She wondered what would be said to her about the whole situation.

            “Do you really think that you can handle the pressure and challenges that I’m going to put on you?” The woman asked, her voice reflecting her doubt at the challenge.

            Doog watched reluctantly as the woman turned to her superior. She wasn’t sure what to expect but it probably wouldn’t be good.

            “I can do anything you,” and the “you” was not a friendly word, “can toss at me.”

            Doog’s superior stood quietly for a moment. She stepped back and continued her walk down each isle of women. She did not stop again. When she was finished she returned to Doog’s side. “Dismiss them, please,” she turned and looked at Doog. “Then come up to my office.”

            Great, Doog thought, this should be fun.  She dismissed the group and told them that they would be receiving word of their acceptance that night before supper. Then she slowly made her way up to the office. She passed her reflection on the way up. It looked nervous. “Pull it together,” she told the reflection. “It won’t be that bad.”

            She tapped lightly on the door and waited for an okay. Once inside she stood silently waiting for instruction. Her superior had taken off the sunglasses, but the black glass which seemed to cover her pupils did the trick of hiding any thoughts or emotions from Doog.

            Finally she spoke. “The group is acceptable, good job.”

            Doog felt relief but it wasn’t over yet. She decided to prompt the issue. “And McCarty?”

            That got her a raised eyebrow. “Know all of their names by heart already, Doog?”

            She swallowed. Uh oh. “I remember her,” she might as well say it; “she was my choice.”

            The woman opposite of her leaned back in her chair. “Is that so?”

            Doog swallowed hard again. “Yes.”

            “Give me your insight then. Why did you choose her?”

            “I have no idea. Something about her just grabbed my attention and held it. I could not tell you what or why.”

            The woman nodded. She seemed thoughtful and Doog would have given anything to get into her head. What was she thinking? “What are you going to do with her?”

            “Who said that I was going to do anything with her at all?”

            She smiled. “You’re to tell me that you spoke to her alone for no reason.”

            The woman leaned forward. “Hand her over to Fox.”

            Doog was startled. “Are you sure?” She hadn’t expected this at all.

            “Yes, begin training immediately.”

            “Forgive me, but why?”

            She sighed. “I have no idea.”

            “You’re going to give her the position of leadership based on no idea?” Doog couldn’t even contemplate this. It was so unlike this woman. “You’ve never done this before.”

            “I’ve never looked to cover this position before.”

            “What position exactly is that?” She had chosen leaders before and always had thorough reasons for each one.

        “Someone who can stand up to our best,” she answered.

        “Kodi?”

        “Yes.” She turned and looked out across the floor where the women had been standing. A few were still lingering in groups talking.

            Doog couldn’t think of anything to say. “I’ll inform Fox at once.”

            “Thank you.”

        From that point on McCarty was put through extra and intense training. She had three different trainers, each of which answered to and received direction from their superior--the one who had hand‑picked McCarty.

        “You can call it a day, McCarty,” Fox hollered.

        “Great,” McCarty sighed in relief, “I’m beat.”

        “You’ll be thankful for it once the games start,” Fox laughed. “You’ll find it comes in handy.”

        “The war games,” McCarty smiled. “When do they start?” she asked, excited that they were finally here.

        “Tomorrow,” Fox answered.

        “Really? Wow, what’s going to happen?” McCarty sat on a bench and rested her legs.

        “A big wig is coming in and she’ll lead the games.” Fox sat beside her. “She’ll really make you girls work for your keep.”

        “As if we haven’t already,” McCarty laughed. “I’ve never worked this hard in my life.”

        Fox smiled to herself. She knew that McCarty had a long hard road ahead of her. “Trust me, down the road, you will long for the good old days like today.”

        “Ha, the only good about today is the long hot soak I’m going to have.”

        “Well then be gone with you, go soak.” Fox stood up. “Be in the main building tomorrow at eight sharp. McCarty, don’t be late.”

        McCarty jogged to the baths. She took a quick shower then jumped in the soaker and let the hot water soothe her sore muscles. She reflected over everything that had happened since the day they were all chosen for the project. She had assumed that she would be rejected after her encounter with the un-named decision maker but to her surprise she had been put to work with three different trainers instead. Her favorite and the one she worked with the most was Sheryl Fox. When they split her up from the rest of the group she had been given no idea what the other women had been going through. Maybe everyone was being trained under three different trainers. She supposed that it was possible but not probable. “I guess I’ll find out what’s been going on tomorrow,” she sighed to herself.

        The next morning McCarty showed up at the main building exactly on time. She intended to stand in her normal position but Fox motioned for her to stand front and center. She did as she was told though she did not know the reason for it.

        Everyone was told to stand at attention. A door opened and a woman walked through. McCarty was taken back by the woman. It wasn’t so much her looks, though they were impressive as well. She was around 5’7’ and had dark hair, pulled back out of the way. What was the most impressive about this woman was the way she walked. McCarty had never seen anyone walk with so much supremacy in their step--the way this woman held her head, the position of her hands, the motion of each step. All of these showed or spoke strongly about this woman. She had never seen such authority in a step, intelligence in a set look, or confidence in position. This person before her was someone who seemingly deserved respect.

        The woman stopped a few feet from McCarty and turned to the group. Her eyes swept over the group quickly, not giving McCarty much notice. “I have been put in charge of the War Games,” she told them. “I will take command of one team, the blue team in this case, “she explained and then paused. She turned to McCarty then took steps toward her and stopped directly in front of her less than a foot away. She looked McCarty up and down and cocked an eyebrow as if over all unimpressed. “And you are to lead the red group.”

        Two emotions ran through McCarty. First was the shock of being in command.

Second was the anger at being so obviously put down. This woman before her was not impressed by her, which was fine, but she showed it with open contempt.

        The woman stayed where she was and addressed the group without taking her eyes from McCarty. “You are all going to benefit from the latest technology. I’m no technological genius, so I don’t know how it works but it is quite remarkable. You have already been trained on how to use it but so that I feel confident that you have no excuse for errors, I am going to go over a brief summary of how this will contribute to the logistics of our mission.”

“The clothing you will be wearing throughout the War Games will contain special sensors. These sensors somehow cover the entire region of the body and work as signals to the guns.” She stepped back and held out her hand behind her. Fox put a pistol in her hand. For the most part the pistol looked to be real. It felt the same weight, texture, and etc. “This gun is in effect a mini computer with a laser attached. On top of the gun is a screen and a few buttons. When you are shot, the sensors send a message to the gun. It registers the info and it appears on the screen. It is also sent to the main computer.”

            She held her hand out and received another gun. She turned it around to face herself and held it out to McCarty. “Shoot me in the shoulder, the right shoulder.”

            McCarty took aim and shot with certain amount of pleasure. Already seeds of dislike and anger were forming. Their eyes met for a short moment. McArty was once again taken back. She was looking into the most beautiful captivating eyes she had ever seen-- beautiful, enchanting, and dead cold. These were eyes that showed nothing, yet McCarty had a feeling that behind them was a life full of expression. She had never encountered anyone that came across quite like this one.

            “Okay, if you look at your own gun, it shows that you have been hit. It tells you how badly, what restrictions now apply, and so on and so forth.” She set the gun down and picked up an ear piece. “Now, in battle you don’t have time to keep checking your gun. That’s where this comes in.” She inserted the piece into her ear. “This is how the computer and operators will talk with you. They will continually inform you of your current situation.”

            She picked the gun up again. “Once dead, your gun will no longer work. If someone else picks it up to use it, they will be given three and a half seconds of safe time to punch in their personal code, which you will all receive shortly.” She glanced down at her gun. “Now, back to restrictions. From my shoulder wound, I am not able to move my shoulder so that I am no longer able to lift my arm. A shot from the hip is still allowed, but I may not raise my gun to aim. (Again with the not knowing what I'm talking about. Like I know what a shot in the shoulder would do to you. I do like the idea of the technology though. It's probably surpassed now but laser tag was the best I had to go on then.) The gun will not function if you break the restrictions. It is able to sense how far away from the ground it is amongst many other positions. These restrictions get a little tricky with the rifles, but that’s pretty much how it goes. Even this system is not perfect but it’s the best that there is.”

        She holstered the gun. “Now in the games, if you happen to die, you stay where you lie until someone deals with your body. We’ll get to that later.”

        “Now you’ll split into three groups and will go with one of the three instructors. They will issue your clothing, weapons, team color, and so on. You are now dismissed into those groups.” She split them up and sent them off.

        McCarty stepped up to her with the gun held out. “Your gun”

        “No, McCarty, it’s your gun. You’ll be given another but you will carry this one with you always.” She tossed her a holster. “Now go.”

        McCarty walked out the doors and headed toward her group. Fox accompanied her.         

        “What’s her problem?” McCarty asked.

        Fox smiled, “That I do not know. What I do know is you’d better watch yourself around her. You’re up against the best.”

        “Why’s that?” McCarty asked. “Why am I the leader of the red group?”

        Fox shrugged. “You remember that day in the TR building when you all were being looked over a while back?”

        “Yeah,” McCarty said.

        “That day you were hand‑picked and we were appointed to train you. I don’t really know much more than that. I mainly report to Doog. Doog reports to the big wig,” Fox explained.

        McCarty shook her head. “This is all so strange.”

        “Just do your best. Go get your gear then report to Doog.”

        “Okay.” McCarty agreed. “I will.”

        “What are you up to, Kodi?” Doog asked.

        “What do you mean?”

        “The way you interact with McCarty, what’s the deal with her?”

        “You’ll see in time, just like everyone else,” Kodi answered.

        “Yes, Ma'am.”

        Kodi frowned at her associate. “Is she ready?”

        “Yes, I believe so.”

        “Then give her the orders and tomorrow the games begin.” Kodi turned and left the room.

        McCarty entered from the opposite entrance.

        “Doog,” she said.

        “McCarty, come in.” She picked up a file. “This is for you.”

        “What is it?” McCarty asked.

        “Your orders,” Doog sat behind her desk. “You will be the defenders and Kodi’s division the invaders. You are to set up defenses by 0700 hours in which the games will begin,” she told her. “I suggest you take a look at the stats of your team and set up a chain of command within your own group.”

        “Yes, Doog, thank you.” McCarty looked over the contents of the folder.

They gave her more in‑depth orders and details into the scenario. “Is that all?”

        “Yes, you can go.” She watched McCarty walk away. “Oh, McCarty.”

        “Yes.”

        “You’re not expected to win.”

        McCarty looked at her questionably.

        “Kodi underestimates you, use that.”

        McCarty nodded. She would show this Kodi what she was made of.

       

            For all her hope and trying, McCarty did not win her first game.  As she was told she had not been expected to. However, this did not even upset McCarty that much.  No one seemed to care, not even Kodi held it against her; which seemed a feat within itself. What seemed the most important outcome of the game was for McCarty to learn and grow. As long as improvement was seen, she felt as though all was well. 

            As with that first game and each of the following she learned more and more about defending, attacking, and obtaining various goals. Even Doog had said that Kodi did not expect McCarty to win and in a way that was good.  Life was much easier when expectations weren’t high.  It was when Kodi started to expect her to win that things would get a hard, and so they had. Not every game was McCarty against Kodi.  Many times Kodi set up a situation gave instructions to her girls on what their limits and objectives were and then left it alone.  In those cases McCarty almost always made her objectives.  Yet whenever McCarty was up against Kodi personally, somehow she always fell short.  No one held it against her more than she herself did.  Kodi continued to look at her as if she were unworthy of her time and efforts.  McCarty continued to learn more with each passing game. 

Doog sat in her office looking over stats from the material they covered. She sipped her drink and set it down on the coaster on her desk. McCarty was proving herself even to Doog, who despite her choice, still wondered why she had made it. Yet seeing how well McCarty was doing, she felt the choice was in fact a good one. The only problem Doog could see at the moment was the obvious fact that McCarty was not just learning leadership and tactical skills with each game, she was also learning more and more how much she despised the dark figure that lorded over her. Doog stood up, grabbed her cup and threw back the last of the liquid inside. Another game was starting. She had to get to the control center and monitor how McCarty was doing. She knew enough to keep a close eye on this situation. 

            McCarty was amidst an all out battle.  She could almost feel the bullets whirling past her. Occasionally those bullets hit their mark and one by one her unit fell.  It’s surprisingly wasn’t difficult for any member playing to pretend to be wounded.  When you heard over the ear piece that you had been shot you felt it deep down.  You waited to hear if you were alive and wounded or if you were dead.  Those wounded had little problem with the restrictions.  If perchance an arm was out of commission, they weren’t even tempted to use it. In fact they could not because it became so heavy it was a fight to even raise it. Over the months of training they had been brainwashed to feel it even though everyone knew it was in their minds. Everything in these games were designed to make it feel real. So much that they were not even able to take comfort in the fact that they were part of a war game and not the real thing.  As ordered they had to lie where they fell until someone was able to dispose properly of the body.  They were unable to speak or to move.  Each one was given plenty of time to lay and think of what that meant.  They think of the people they will never see again.  They think of the activities they will never again participate in.  Some even go as far as to think of their favorite music they can never listen to again; some the food that will never touch their lips again. It is a sobering thought to dwell on one’s death. 

            McCarty surveyed the scene around her.  The casualties were great on both sides.  It had been set up this way.  This was a lesson for everyone.  It was to teach how bad war could become and how many of your comrades could die.  One thing that this experiment was to teach them was that war should not be taken lightly. It was not about glory, it was about survival.

            A voice called out.  McCarty had been shot, she waited for the verdict.  Approximately two minutes until death.  McCarty had just enough time to look up and see who had killed her.  She watched as Kodi lowered her weapon and looked at her.  A mixed message appeared on Kodi face.  There was a look of satisfaction and even more so a look of affirmation, as if this proved what Kodi had known all along. It seemed to her that she had just allowed herself to prove that all of the signals that she had picked up from Kodi were true. It filled McCarty with a huge sense of failure. She was nothing more that a loser and right now; a dead one at that.

            McCarty walked into the restaurant and straight up to the bar.  She ordered the hardest alcohol substance that was allowed on the base.  She drank the first quickly and ordered another.  The waiter gave her a strange look but did as she asked.

            A man walked in and gave his order to the same waiter.  He turned to McCarty.  “I hear you ate some laser today.” He taunted, knowing it would hit hard. 

            McCarty gave him a dirty look then walked away and sat at the corner table and stared out the window.  The man grabbed his drink and followed her, sitting down across from her.  “Hey, I sympathize.” McCarty ignored him.  “I know what you’re going through.”

"I doubt that.” McCarty snapped back. 

            “I hate the woman just as much as you do,” the man stated, leaving no question of whether his words were true. 

            Doog walked into the restaurant and looked around for McCarty.  She finally spotted the woman in the far booth, talking to Presley. Doog wasn’t sure she liked this at all. Doog didn’t trust Presley and had told Kodi as much. Kodi had no love for the man either.  The problem was that they had no real basis for which to fire him. 

            Not even the incident with Talbert had given her enough of a good reason to fire him.  He had formed a relationship with one of the girls and it was forming a problem.  Kodi corrected the situation with a hard hand.  Presley had stopped the relationship and went about his duties in his job ever sense.  Kodi had reprimanded him and he had yielded to her correction.  For all intents and purposes, Presley seemed no threat.  

            Yet ever sense the incident, Presley had openly spoken up against Kodi.  He had no problem giving his opinion of her to whoever did or didn’t ask.  He and McCarty had a common bond in that regard.  They both disliked the woman immensely.  This could be a bad combination.  There was nothing she could do, neither of them were doing anything wrong.  McCarty needed encouragement not criticism.  “McCarty,” Doog caught her attention.  She could see the self centered anger on McCarty face. 

            “Well, hello there Doogy.” Presley said in an over zealous greeting.  “How are you this fine day?”

            Doog’s dislike for this man was growing.  “Just fine, Presley.” She turned to McCarty but before she could say anything McCarty spoke. 

            “If you’ve come to give me a lecture, you can save it,” She said quietly but intensely. 

            “Oh, why’s that?”

            “Because I know it by heart already.”

            “Okay then, if I came to give you a lecture, tell me what I would’ve said,” Doog entreated.

            “That I was careless.  I should have kept undercover better.  That by getting myself killed I put my unit in even greater danger.” Her voice dropped to a soft whisper, “that I truly lost.”

            Doog nodded and scratched her chin.  “Good lecture.  I’ll have to remember that.  Course you’re wrong but maybe you’re not interested in what I really have to say.” She turned to go. 

            “Doog, wait.” McCarty turned her body and gave her full attention.  “What did you come to say?”

            Doog gave her an encouraging smile.  “I came to tell you that what happened today was a good thing.  You need to remember and focus on the fact that these games are for you to learn.  I truly believe that it is it important for each and every one of you to be killed at least once.  It makes sure that you keep in mind the stakes that are involved at all times.  It’s a test to see if you’re really cut out for this life and it’s a reminder to you of all that’s important.” Doog forced a smile. “If you make this day all about Kodi and how she got the best of you then you miss the point.  If you miss the point, you die for nothing.” She put her hand on McCarty shoulder and squeezed lightly.  “I’ll talk to you later.” She gave Presley a goodbye nod and left them alone. 

            McCarty turned and stared out the window again.  What Doog said made sense.  She didn’t want to die for nothing.  She couldn’t let Kodi win

            “Doog's right, you know,” Presley said. 

            McCarty glanced over at him the focused out the window.  “You think I should forget about Kodi?”

            “Hey now,” he said in protest, “I think you should learn something from this.” He leaned over intently.  “Now my job here is an arms dealer and an informant.  Both of which I’m good at in real life.  I know and hear a lot more than anyone allowed to in a uniform,” he told her. 

            “What are you getting at?” McCarty asked, interested despite herself. 

            “Revenge,” Presley stated simply.  “Someone needs to take Kodi off that high horse she puts herself on.  We can do that.”

            “How?”

            “There’s a new game coming up.”

            “Yeah, so?”

            “I’ve got a plan for trapping and killing Kodi,” Presley said excited. 

            McCarty thought about it.  She knew about the game.  “One problem, Presley.  Our objective has little to do with Kodi.  It’s certainly not to trap and kill her.”

            “Who cares?  She’ll go along with it.  She hates to lose. She’ll try and win at our game even though it’s not the one on the agenda.” Presley took a large swallow of his drink.  He knew that he had her hooked.  All he had to do was reel her in. 

            McCarty knew that it was wrong, but she let her anger get the best of her.  “What’s your plan?”

            Presley told it to her plot by plot.  “Once captured we hold all her girls in the back room of the restaurant.”

            “Why here, there has to be a better place?” McCarty argued. 

            “No, it has to be in a public place.  Kodi is a safety hound.  She’ll be extra careful to protect civilians which will put her at a disadvantage.  Plus, there’s only one way into that back room.  We’ll wait and get her when she tries to get in,” he explained.  “With her dead and her whole troops captured, she’ll have to admit to utter defeat.”

            Utter defeat. Oh how those words appealed to McCarty. They sang to her a song which overrode every caution and warning sign in her body.  “OK, let’s do it.”

            Everything was going according to plan.  With the use of surprise on their side McCarty and Presley had managed to trap Kodi’s entire force with only a few of McCarty’s girls.  They stayed in a group in the back of the room waiting and wondering what was going on.  McCarty and Presley were staked outside of the room waiting for Kodi to come to the rescue. 

            Too curious to just sit there, Lacey, one of Kodi’s upper level girls, put her hands on her head and approached McCarty’s girls.  They watched her approach with wariness.  They were warned to be on guard for any tricks.  “What do you want?” one of them asked. 

            “We all want to know what is going on.  We were told by Kodi herself that the object of this game was for our opposing team to penetrate a buildings security and recover top secret information.  The building was to have minimal human security but much technological security,” she explained.  “Therefore we want to know under what authority you have captured us.”

            “Kodi told you this?”

            “Yes, and she’s never told us the wrong objective before,” Lacey countered. 

            McCarty’s girls look at each other questioningly.  They had all thought this assignment strange but had followed orders.  “Get back with a group,” one of them ordered. 

            Lacy did as instructed.  She lowered her hands upon returning.  “This is very odd,” she said to another. 

            “Quiet!” They were ordered. 

            Kodi waited until Lacy had rejoined the group.  She had used the distraction to slide over the vent cover.  This building had been made to get extra ventilation and had large vents in the back rooms and the kitchen.  Kodi had entered the vent shaft and made her way to the back.  She quickly folded a small piece of paper into a football triangle flicked down to one of the girls. 

            Surprised the girl picked it up and then looked above her.  Kodi signaled her to be silent and to read the note.  The girl did so and then followed the orders that she found there.  One of the taller girls watched the front of the room and signaled when the coast was clear.  Kodi dropped two guns down which were caught by two of the girls.  They waited for another clear signal and then did the same again.  On the next clear signal Kodi herself dropped down into a clearing made by the girls.  Lying on her belly, Kodi made her way to the front of the room.  The guns followed her as they were passed unnoticed from girl to girl.  By a secret code passed in all directions each of the girls knew that a rescue was in progress.  The front girls pulled in tighter to hide what was going on behind them. 

            Kodi moved into the first couple of rows as did the guns.  Four women, Lacey was one of them, took possession of the guns and punched their numbers into them, activating them.  Kodi was about to signal for a distraction, when a natural one occurred.  Kodi signal for them to wait.  One of the women who had just recovered from pneumonia started to cough uncontrollably. The doctor had said that she had a clean bill of health, but if any signs of a fever were to occur that she must be returned to the hospital immediately. McCarty’s girls were cautious of a trick as they came to her aid.  “I need my inhaler, it’s in my bag,” the girl told them.  The doctor had issued it to her just in case of such an emergency.

            One of McCarty’s girls grabbed the bag and tossed it to another, who found the inhaler and tossed it to the girl standing closest.  She bent over and handed it to the struggling girl, who was now on the floor.  She took the inhaler inhaled deeply twice.  McCarty came through the doors to find out what was going on.  She recognized the girl immediately.  She also recognized the fact that the girl was not faking an attack.  Her face was an ashen color and her breathing was highly irregular.  She ran up to the girl.  “Are you all right?”

            The girl went rigid and held her breath.  “I’m fine,” she said coldly. 

            McCarty recognize the attitude.  Never let the enemy see your weakness.  McCarty straightened up.  “Send someone out if she gets worse,” she instructed.  McCarty knew that this could be the one thing to call off the game and lose her chance at revenge.  If someone truly was ill it took president over the objectives.  Presley had assured her that it couldn’t be much longer. 

            McCarty looked at the girl.  “You tell them to get me if you need to go to the hospital, understand?” The girl nodded curtly.  “OK, I will be at my post.” McCarty carefully open the door and slipped out. 

            On the second round of uncontrolled coughing and wheezing, Kodi signaled a go.  At this point McCarty’s girls knew it was a real threat and let their guards down.  When all of them were under the gun, Kodi rose up and walked out of the group.  “Take their guns and tie them and gag them.”

            The girl had taken another deep inhale and was stabilized again.” Kodi swooped down to her level.  She felt her forehead and her glands behind the jaw. “Have you felt sick long?”

            The girl shook her head.  “No, just in the last hour or so.”

            Kodi nodded. She should call off the game. “Your choice, I will take you out the front door right now or we’ll continue. This is not a real objective. Don’t feel as if you’d be letting anyone down.”

            The girl took a breath. “I feel better. I’d like to continue.” She knew that they had been duped and she wanted to win as much as the others.

            Kodi studied the girls face. She had a determined look. Reluctantly Kodi agreed. “Okay, three of you, up the shoot now.” She leaned over and picked the girl up. 

            “I can walk,” the girl said carefully. 

            “I’m sure you can,” Kodi answered, making no move to lower her.  She made her way to the vent.  “Take her straight to the doctor.  The game is officially over for you. Should you run into someone, ignore them.”

            “Yes, Kodi.” They pulled the girl up and headed out. 

            “The rest of you, up the vent,” Kodi ordered. 

            One at a time the girls obeyed the command.  “What do you want us to do?” Lacy asked. 

            “Go back to the barracks,” Kodi answered. 

            When the room was nearly cleared out, Kodi walked up to the girls tied up.  In all reality they were just sitting there quietly.  Their hands were neither bound, nor their mouths gagged.  This part was much like the wound restrictions.  Their position was entered into the computer and they had to remain in that position until released, both by a person and by a computer command.  Kodi walked up to them.  All the girls looked ashamed, feeling that they should have known better.  Kodi squatted down to their level.  "You were taken because you let doubts about your mission, doubts presented to you by the enemy, interfere.  In this case the enemy gave you correct information.  It’s OK to have doubts, but it is not OK to allow them to compromise your orders.  Had this been real, it could have cost you your lives.  Always have at least one person keeping an eye on the group at all times.  If possible even put them higher up so they can see out over the group.”

            The girls nodded in understanding but they were clearly in shock.  They had been told that when Kodi reprimands people for their actions it is not pretty.  These girls had expected be told their errors but were surprised by the gentle way Kodi relayed them.

Both Presley and McCarty were getting bad vibes.  Kodi should’ve been here by now.  Something must be up.  “Let’s go check it out,” Presley said and lead the way. 

            Kodi heard them coming.  She knew she didn’t have enough time to make it out by the way of the vent so she just slunk down beside the door.  Presley walked through.  Kodi grabbed his arm shoving it into the door frame then threw the man back into McCarty.  Kodi could have just fought it out but she wanted to test McCarty and knew just how to do it. She ran past them as they struggle to get their balance. She ran into the dining room area amidst the civilians.  McCarty followed her with gun out and ready to fire but hesitated. 

            “Fire!” Presley yelled, “This is our chance, don’t waste it!” He fired shots next to her.  People began to scream and duck under the table.  The waiter behind the bar grabbed the phone to dial 911. 

            McCarty aimed and pulled the trigger three times. They weren’t sure if they had gotten her or not, they only knew that she kept running.  They quickly continued out after her.  McCarty stepped out the door and then aimed in front of her ready to fire.  She scanned the area ahead of her.  Seeing nothing, she looked to both sides.  There was no trace of Kodi.  Suddenly her ear piece spoke out.  “You have been shot from behind.  It is a head wound which has killed you instantly.” McCarty knew that she should therefore fall forward.  Wounds of this nature never give the intended target time to turn around and see who it is that has killed them.  They are unable to look their killer in the eye.  McCarty did just that.  She turned and looked up at Kodi. 

            Kodi rose up slowly from her kneeling place on the roof.  McCarty saw the anger burning in the woman’s eyes.  Kodi put away her gun and grabbed the railing which allowed her to get on the roof so quickly.  She climbed down as Lacy walked out. 

            Lacy had come back when seeing that Kodi hadn’t followed them.  When she’d heard the commotion she followed the noise.  “Kodi, people have been hurt.”

            Kodi looked over her.  “How many?”

            “Four,” Lacy answered. 

            Kodi walked into the restaurant without another look at McCarty.  After all, corpses didn’t pose much of a threat. 

            McCarty just stood there.  The ambulances came and took away the four people.  McCarty didn’t get out of their way; she just stayed in place and waited.  Doog walked up to the steps.  She had listened to the entire exercise and felt sick to her stomach over what she had witnessed.  She gave McCarty a sorrowful look and walked into the restaurant. 

            Kodi saw her and stopped what she was doing.  “Are they still out there?”

            "Yes.”

            “I want you to take Presley to his quarters and make sure that he doesn’t leave.  You understand?”

            “Yes, Kodi,” Doog answered in a monotone voice.

            Kodi ignored her.  “Lacey, you will accompany McCarty to her quarters and make sure she remains there.”

            “Yes, Kodi.”

            The two ladies turned to go and complete their orders.  They stepped outside and saw only McCarty.  When she had arrived Presley had been leaning casually against the poll next to the building.  “Where’s Presley?” Doog asked.

            “I don’t know. He just left,” McCarty answered, “He just shook his head after you went in and then left.”

 “Okay,” Doog turned again to McCarty. “You’re to go with Lacy and remain in your quarters until summoned.”

“Okay,” McCarty acknowledged in a small voice.

Doog went off in search of Presley. She’d better find him soon. The longer she looked the more irritated she became. She already wanted to strangle the man. If this didn’t give Kodi enough reason to fire him, she wasn’t sure what would.

McCarty sat quietly still in her room. She had chosen a spot on the wall upon entering and had not taken her eyes off of it since. Lacey’s pager went off. “They want us,” she said quietly, “come on.”

McCarty was filled with fear and shame when she entered Kodi’s office. She approached the desk and remained ever so still. Kodi sat behind the desk staring down at some papers. She sat casually but was obviously irritated and angry. She neither looked at McCarty nor acknowledged her existence. McCarty was sure that Kodi knew she was there. The woman was aware of everything around her one hundred percent of the time. No, Kodi was ignoring her. She was making a loud statement using nothing but silence. Time wore on and there was nothing that McCarty could do about it. She was already way in over her head, she knew not to worsen the situation by speaking out of turn. She lost track of how much time had gone by but with each passing minute McCarty’s fear turned to anger. She would wear her anger like a shield.

Kodi set the papers down an hour later to the second. “I’ve always been of the opinion that it does little good to talk to a corpse. For all intents and purposes it is a waste of time. Yet I find myself without a choice in the matter. I’ve just finished writing a document in which I had to try to explain to the partners why a hand picked, expertly trained, top of the line officer ignored her orders, endangered the lives of her unit, and is responsible for the shooting of four civilians.”

“I only fired three shots,” McCarty piped up in her defense.

Kodi swung around to face McCarty in her swivel chair. “I’m quite aware of the number of shots you fired from your weapon. Yet let’s take a quick review. You are a high ranking officer in the leadership of a troop. It is your troop, is it not? Yet who was leading this troop. Who was the brains, and I use that term loosely, behind this operation? We’re talking about a man with no army and no access to the games. There is no possible way that he could have been in the position to cause this much damage, short of premeditated murder, unless some imbecile gave him access and control of their unit.” Kodi paused, “No, it wasn’t that man who was leading the troop, was it? It was you. You allowed an arms dealer to take control of the lives you were in charge of. You, McCarty, you did this. You are responsible for Presley’s actions today and you are responsible for the lives of the people that he took!”

Kodi leaned back and put her feet on the stool beside her. She did not face McCarty directly but rather sat sideways to her. She reached for a small stack of folders and set them on her lap. Very calmly, yet deliberately, she picked up the top folder. “Now, why don’t we take a look at the people whose lives you affected today, whose lives you were supposed to protect.” She flipped open the file. “Lets see, here we have Sarah Mackenzie, age 24. She is the mother of two small children.” Kodi took out a family picture of a woman with her two children. Both children had blonde hair and blue eyes. The boy looked to be a year or two younger than the girl. They all had goofy smiles. 

Kodi rubbed her jaw with the inside of her fingers, her lips pushed out in a thoughtful expression. “Oh, look, this is too bad.” She tipped the file as if showing McCarty a special artifact she had found and wanted to share. “It seems that Sarah was forced to get a divorce a few years ago.  It seems that her husband was an abusive drunk. It says here that he beat both her and the children. Luckily the court awarded Sarah full custody of the kids. That’s good, huh?”

McCarty stood ridged. She wanted to block out all she was hearing, but was impelled to listen out of her own guilt. She glanced at the picture, and then quickly averted her eyes. Kodi noticed but said nothing of it. She merely went on as she was, talking casually as if all was well in the world; her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Darn it,” she sighed dramatically, “not only do they have no father but their mother was needlessly shot and killed today. Oh but don’t feel bad, McCarty, no big deal for you. It was Presley’s bullet that is sending these children into foster care.” She closed the folder and tossed it on the floor at McCarty’s feet. Kodi then picked up the picture and took a good look at it. Then she turned it towards McCarty. “The life of their mother and their futures was not, is not any of your responsibility.” She ripped the picture in half and tossed it to the floor next to the folder.

“Who do we have next?” she flipped open the next file. “Oh, I guess we don’t even have to bother with this one.” She looked up at McCarty. “This one’s not your fault either. This one was killed by Presley’s bullet.” She started to close the file but stopped. “Oh, what the heck, lets take a look,” she paused, “you know, for fun.”

She looked quickly over the contents. “Oh this was an older gentleman, Bruce Slovac. Well you never know, he was old maybe he would have died soon anyway. Now he wasn’t from here,” she said and sought the paper for an explanation. “Oh, it seems he was here to visit an old friend. How sweet.” She flipped over the page. “It seems that he had exciting news to share.” She nodded, slightly amazed, “exciting news, indeed. It seems that Bruce has spent most his life working on cures for cancer. Witnesses say he walked into the restaurant beaming, saying in a loud voice, arms stretched wide, ‘I did it’.” Kodi looked up, “though no one knew exactly what he was talking about at the time.” Kodi flipped the page again. “It seems that Bruce had a major break through. His friend told us that Bruce claimed to have come up with a solution that would slow down and/or kill certain types of cancer.” Kodi laughed cynically, “Well, if it was only certain types of cancer, no big deal. It’s not like he could have changed the world or anything.” She sighed, “Yet on the other hand, it’s kind of sad. Last we heard, his colleagues were frantically trying to put together his notes. I heard they were having a difficult time. You see Bruce had a great capacity for memorization and organization in his head, he kept very limited notes.”

She closed the folder. “Oh well, someone else is bound to figure out what took Bruce years and years of his life to come up with. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there as smart, or even smarter than Bruce. Hmmn and what of his friend? Well, the world is full of people. I’m sure his sixty seven year old friend will have plenty of time to make a new fifty year relationship with someone.” She tossed his folder at McCarty’s feet.

“Here we come to your personal handy work,” she opened the third file. “Well, you can take comfort in knowing that you’ve left no motherless children nor cheated the world of some great cure. No, you merely killed a single unattached young woman. Trish Carpenters the name. She just recently graduated from high school. She wasn’t even at the top of her class. She was a simple “B” average student.” She flicked the paper with her finger. “It seems she had just started at a community college. She had no major plans as yet. No rocket science, political sights, or biological warfare on this girls minds, as of yet. No, she was reported to have been focusing on two things, getting her generals out of the way and cramming in as much fun as possible.”

“Between tests and studying her friends said that she took every opportunity to hang out and party with them. They all agreed that she never drank nor did drugs. She believed that they only took away from the fullness of the moment. This was a girl who was in for an adventure and believed that life was that big adventure.” Kodi flung the folder towards McCarty, the contents spilling out around her. McCarty glanced down and spotted the picture of the girl. It was a senior picture most likely. It reminded her of her best friend who was killed in a car accident when they were sophomores.

“Last but not least we have Lane Collins. Lane is an active chap. He’s the coach of a high school football team. He loves his job and takes pride that everything he asks of his players, he is willing and able to do himself. He’s worked at the same school for eleven years. They are on their seventh consecutive win at the state championship.” Kodi looked over at McCarty. “I guess he’s taught them the value of being a team to make it that far.” She looked back to the folder. “Let’s see, he’s also the P.E. coach and he volunteers teaching rock climbing after school.” Kodi glanced over a document. “It would seem that Lane is very athletic. He runs at least five miles a day. One of his students told us that they don’t even think he owns a car, he simply runs everywhere he goes. That would explain why he also helps out as assistant couch with the track team whenever he gets the chance. Many of the students reported him to say nearly each day, ‘You’re never quite alive as you are during a good long run.’”

This folder Kodi threw at McCarty’s feet. It struck her ankle and burst open, its contents spilling out all around her. Kodi turned and leaned towards McCarty. “Now, don’t worry. You didn’t deprive this man of his life. His death is not on your hands. He’s merely paralyzed from the chest down.” She made a clicking sound in her mouth. “It’s really too bad that he can’t use his arms but his right hand does move a little. He’ll never be able to feed himself again, though. He’ll require full time nursing for the rest of his life.” She shook her head. “Still, you can take some pleasure in this shot. After all, I was your target and before piercing Lane’s spine, the bullet did strike me. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. It just grazed my arm. It wasn’t even bad enough to give me any restrictions. Had it been a real bullet, I would simply have a small wound that would leave me, in a few weeks, with a scar and the memory that the bullet went through me and changed the life of a civilian forever.”

Kodi picked a pen off the desk. She popped the pen lid off slightly then pushed it back on. She repeated the process numerous times. “What was the next great achievement of our officer? Well, that’s simple; she went out and got herself dead. She failed to check possible hazard spots and was shot in the back of the head. Let us think on this. How often does a person who, after being shot and killed instantly, gets to turn around and stare at the person who has just killed them?” She stood up and walked around the desk. “You’re the first that I know of. You want to know the kicker? I waited five seconds longer than I should have to shoot you. Five seconds that you should have taken to check your back and maybe save your life. You didn’t turn around until you were dead.”

Kodi walked around McCarty, stepping on the discarded lives which lay on the floor. “You ignored an asthmatic attack of a woman under your care.” She stopped at McCarty’s side. “Tell me if it gets worse,” she mocked McCarty. “You knew very well that she had just recovered from a case of pneumonia! How much worse do you want it? Call me when she’s dead.” She began pacing. “Let’s see what else we can dig out of this tragedy--how about the lost trust of your own unit. They now know that you misused them to fulfill your own agenda. You risked their lives for a personal and unjust cause. Why should they ever trust you again? Who in their right minds would follow you into battle now? You clearly care nothing of their lives, let alone this program. You’ve just fueled every fire that believes we have no right to even train these women.” Kodi stopped face to face with McCarty. “Can you think of anything, even one small example of something you did right today? Please, tell me. Give me something to show the partners and everyone else, that all these months of training have not been a complete disaster and waste of time.”

Kodi waited but received no answer but silence. “Fine,” she took a few angry deep breaths, “then you are free to get out of my sight.” With that, McCarty took a stumbling step backwards, slipping slightly on a folder behind her. Regaining her balance she turned and left the room.

I just discovered that I have not split this story into chapters. So this seems as good of place to stop as any. So, a bit over the top? Yeah, that's the way I liked them.