Deviant

My lungs sting as I breathe in the cold air. Holding my gun to my chest I looked over at the rest of my group. We were small and most of us still just children. Looking down I took another deep breath.

"Is something bothering you?" Jeff asked as he held his gun to his chest like me.

"It's just, I don't know," I lied. What bugged me was that we were all still children and we were probably all going to die, and that blood was on my hands.

"Don't worry about it," A younger boy said to my right, I looked at him trying to keep the tears out of my eyes. He couldn't be any older then twelve.

Foot steps could be heard in the distance. I held my breath, the others are waiting for my orders to go. Can I really send them all to their death? I could feel the boy beside me get ready, after all we have been trained for this our whole lives, but for what?

Sighing, I give the order to move. I stayed where I was and just rested my gun on a log I was hiding behind. 1.... I thought in my head. I couldn't see anything yet, but that didn't mean they weren't there. 2... I hold my breath and start to aim. I can faintly see a figure walking down the path. He was dressed in a blue uniform with gold buttons and metals. Not yet, I thought as he continued forward with about five others. Sighing with relief I pressed the trigger. After the bullets flew from rifles and before our enemy knew what was happening they were nothing more then a few dead bodies.

Standing up I creeped down onto the road making sure it was safe for everyone before I called them down.

"That wasn't so bad," a smaller boy with red hair said as he creeped down the dirt hill with everyone else.

"Is everyone okay? No one got hurt?" I asked as I look around at everyone's faces to make sure they were all okay and still here. Thank god that wasn't a big group of them or they would have whipped us out.

"Yes mother we are okay." Jeff smiled as he came to join me in the middle of the group, making the rest of the kids laugh. I'm glad they found this funny cause I sure didn't! "Whats next on the list?" he asked leaning on me. I rolled my eyes and pushed him off. Me and Jeff were close to the same age just I was four months older, reason why I am Captain and he isn't. Not to mention he could have been my brother since we look almost the same, we both have light brown hair, green eyes, the only difference is that he is taller and a little more tanned then me.

"Well..." I look towards the bodies of the Scarlet soldiers. "Time to make like this never happened." I say and the rest of the kids groaned.

After we took what we needed from the bodies we pulled them off the dirt pathway and hid them in the bush, while a few of the smaller children rubbed dirt where ever there was blood. I looked around making sure we were in the clear, I hated being in the open like this. I watched the trees first, as I was trained too. I held up a hand and everyone went silent. I would do this every few minutes so I could hear if anyone was coming or if anything was in the bush. Nothing, good. Smiling to the others I give the order to carry on. Time to walk back to the Deviant camp.

I lead the way as normal and Jeff took the spot behind. This was a way I could insure the safety of the children. "I know I shouldn't ask this but what is your name captain?" A little blond girl asked me, she looked about 13. I shouldn't give her my name; Captains don't give out their name, but I couldn't help it. "Mel."

The rest of the walk was silent, we slid through the trees undetected and without a sound. This was what I loved most about out of camp stack-outs.

A few hours later we are back at camp, we form a single file line, me at the lead jeff at the back and walked through camp to the weapons tent. As we entered a group was coming out, the captain of that group looked at me but kept going. His group was filled with members my age. I wanted so much to go out with them, being stuck at this low rank was dragging me down.

I held the tent open as my members put their guns and knives away, I got to keep mine on me but they were still in training. I looked around camp to see the tents slowly being taken down and people cleaning up, we were going on the move soon. I sighed.

"You are free to go now, good work today." I smile at my group they looked so happy, if only they understood how dangerous this is. I tuned and walked away, hopefully we can all live another day.

I walked to the Princes tent, it was the only one that was red, the rest were a light tanned color. Outside his tent was two guards,who stopped me. "State your business." one of the taller, blond guards said as he stopped me from entering. "Really Bruce? You know why I'm here," I laugh and continue walking again.

"Just giving you a hard time, that's all." He said as I walked inside.

When I entered I saw a group of people gathered around a table with a map; all were arguing on what move to make next. I cleared my throat and they all looked over. "12 finally, whats the damage?" the prince asked as he stood up, looking a little to eager walking towards me.

Was I the only one who could keep up a formal conversation around here? "We killed five Scarlet's about a days walk from here, I think they were scouts Sr." He nodded and took my hand in his, I wanted so much to rip mine out of his grasp but I stopped myself, that would be disrespectful.
"Why don't you settle down? Have a few children? Fighting must take a lot out of you." he said as he traced circles on my hand. This is what I go through every time I report in. "Sr. I have told you that I would rather fight then have children, my Function needs me to train." I say as I look forewords towards the prince. He smiles and nods like he does every time.

"You will be eighteen soon, you should think about this." He smiles and walks away, I take a deep breath and say "No children were killed, thought you would like to know." I then turn to leave. "That's what I expect from you, Mel." I stop frozen in place, he knows my name? I have always been called by my number, 12; since I joined the war.... But how?

"You are dismissed."

I didn't know if I should fear this or rejoice. Out of all the people the people in the Deviant kingdom he knew my name? A shiver ran down my spin as I continued on my way to my tent. I shared it with a few others my age; Jeff was one of them. I was the only girl, the rest had left to make way for children.

I sat down on my little sleeping bag and took my shoes off, Every ones stuff was already packed up and ready to go for tomorrow. I was too tired to set up for this, besides Jeff wouldn't leave with out me. Laying down I looked up at the small hole in the tent, I could faintly see the world slowly going purple, but that was alright, my eyes slowly close and before I know it I was drifting off to sleep.

***

I woke up to the tent falling on me, sighing I roll over and groan, this isn't the first time this has happen to me before.

"Mel get out of there." Jeff said as he laughed along with the rest of the guys. "Couldn't you have woken me up first?" I ask as I crawl out from under the tanned tent. "That wouldn't be any fun 12." A Young man said as he poked me, I looked at him and rolled my eyes, 17 was always a joker. I couldn't help but smile. I pulled my hair back in a pony tail and helped pull down the rest of the tent.

"6, Do you know where we are going?" I asked, he always knows about everything. "We are heading back to the Capital of Mane. They want to give us a break." He looked up at me, and I knew what this break was going to be about. I rolled my eyes, this next week is going to be hell.

Moving silently through the woods I kept in pase with the children, few girls always did this if any of them where around. Some volunteer to just escort the children from place to place and look after them, I wasn't sure if they did it for the same reason as me but either way it was okay. I did it because secretly I wanted to have children, and this was the closest I would allow myself to be.

When we finally got in view of the Capital a sigh escaped my lips, I always dreaded coming back here, I would rather be out in the woods then in a cramped over populated city. At least we wouldn't have to go inside the walls unless we were visiting people,or it was necessary. Out side the big walls of the city there were farms and military camps where ever you could get one in. The sight were we stood was beautiful. You could see everything, the building structures, the river and even the crops growing.

Smiling I helped the overly excited children down the steep hillside and into the small valley. "12 do you have family here too?" asked a small boy with the biggest blue eyes.

"No." I tell him as he continued on his way. After I had helped the children I continued to Jeffs farm house. That's were I stayed whenever we came back for awhile. The house wasn't the best and it was pretty cramped with all seven of Jeffs brothers and sisters but that's what made it feel like home. The house was one of the only farm houses that was made of wood, the rest were of rock or mud shacks. This house was one of the last standing after the Empty War. The Empty War happen thousand of years ago, it is said in history that a third world war happen that killed billions of people around the world, with one weapon. The reason why it was called the Empty war was because it didn't do anything but almost kill the planet. Thinking of that now, it seems almost impossible, like a old story you would tell your children when you put them to bed. But this house had to be proof of that, right?

I walked up to the house and smiled, it was two stories with a deck. The house looked like it was going to fall apart and some of the roof had caved in, but when you walk inside you forget what the outside looks like.

When you first walk into the house, you are greeted by the staircase that lead to two small bedrooms and and room no one uses, I think it was once called a bathroom, but now its just storage and maybe one of the kids use it as a room, I wasn't too sure. On the left of the staircase was a room filled with places to sit and a bunch of books covered the walls. Then to the right of that was the kitchen, the fire place took up most of the area, it was also what looked newest in the house. Not to fair away from the fire place was a door that lead down to the storage area and some of Jeffs brothers and sisters would sleep down there or out side.

"Mel!" A girl named Rosie yelled as she saw me coming into the house. A huge smile on her face. "Hey." I said as she ran and gave me one of the biggest hugs she could. She was only four years old, thank god. I thought. I wouldn't know what to do if I had to be the captain of the group she would be fighting in, at least she is dedicating herself to the feature of our kind, as the royalty call it. Meaning she has, or more like her mother has chosen the life of kids rather then fighting.

Taking my hand Rosie bounced as she lead me into the room with books, her red hair glowing by the fire light. "Mom look at who it is!" she excitedly yelled. I smiled as Jeffs mom stood from putting wood in the fire. She looked up at me with a huge smile. She had dark brown hair and green eyes, she was the same size as me, but I was built a little bigger then she was.

"How are you my dear?" she asked as she gave me a hug.

"Oh I'm fine, you know, been here, been there." I laugh.

"I see, have you thought about settling down yet? I'm sure Jeff would be more then happy to be, you know," she nudged me in the shoulder. "your husband." she out right and says it, this happens every time. Its not that I don't like Jeff, I do really. Just this isn't the life for me, I can't stay at home I need to be.... Out there.

"You know this isn't the life for me." I say as I take a seat. "You know that."

"I know, I just have to make sure you don't pass up my little boy." She smiles and continues doing what ever it was she was doing in the first place.

* * *

"So you are telling me that this is another one of your mothers tricks to try and get me pregnant?" I asked as I stare at the bed before me and Jeff.

"Well ya, but it isn't like its going to work or anything." Jeff said as he scratches the back of his head and looks away. This was weird for me, I haven't ever slept in the same bed as a man before, If you want to call Jeff a man. "I promise, I wont try to make a move on you, it will make her happy and hopefully she wont try anything else for awhile." I could see that Jeff was embarrassed by his mothers actions, but this was normal. I just didn't see it getting this fair already.

"Fine." I sighed and walked to one side of the bed in the second upstairs bedroom. "Don't look." I say as I start to change. Jeff turns away and changes as well.

"Done?" he asked

"Uh ya." and then we both turn around and crawl into bed, I roll onto my side so that I wasn't facing him. This didn't feel right at all. But I was to tired to say anything and before I knew it I was drifting off to sleep.

Waking up I found myself alone in bed, sitting up I rubbed my eyes. I could smell apple pancakes already and a smile came to my lips. Every time, this was one thing I looked forward to when we came back. Getting up I made my way downstairs where everyone was eating. Hellos were passed around as well as the pancakes.

"Mel, will you go into the market with Jeff today?" Jeffs mom asked all to innocent like. Rolling my eyes I agreed.

Walking in silences was killing me, we were only ever like this when we came back from the camps. "Jeff?"

"Yeah?" he looked at me as we walked.

"Do you want to skip the camps and see if we can actually go into the war?" I asked, it was a crazy idea I knew it, but It was something I wanted to do. Jeff looked forward and smiled then turned to me.

"Last one to sign up is a rotten egg!" He yelled over his shoulder as he started to run down the path, I smiled and ran after him.

There wasn't a big line at the gates to the market so it only took us five minutes to get in, the only thing was it would take us another half an hour to get to the castle from here. My run turned into a walk and soon Jeff was beside me.

"Why does this hill have to be so big?" He complained. I couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Out of breath already?"

"No! I just don't want to waste my energy." He said matter-of-fact like. I link my arm around his's and continued walking in silence. I knew that by doing this what it would look like, but I didn't care. Jeff was my best friend I could almost do anything with him or tell him almost anything. I couldn't see a life without him.

Smiling we continue up the hill to the castle.

As we got closer I could see crowds of people gathered around the gates, just so happens they are all girls, praying to get a look at one of the princes. Jeff only glared, I think he wants to be drolled over by girls.

We went around the crowd of screaming girls to the booth type set up by the gates. Two guards and a general were sitting having lunch. I let Jeffs arm go as we walked up and got myself a straight face. They have turned down women before, I just hope I wont be one.

"Well, well, what do we have here? A young wife sending her husband off to war?" one of the guards asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Actually," I folded my arms over my chest, "I'm going to, and we arnt together."

"You want to go to the war? You are intitled to kill people, you do realize that right?" the general said, I rolled my eyes. No shit.

"Mel, has been in the camps for years, we both have. We are ready to move on. I'm rank 11 and she is 12. We are more then capable of joining." Jeff said as he leaned on the wooden table.

"Well," The general went through some papers and handed them to Jeff. "You are more then welcome but I'm sorry 12 you need to get permission." Anger flared through me, was this not the accepting Deviants I always knew?

I didn't even notice the girls screams until I heard his voice. "She has mine." The voice of the oldest prince, Alvin says. He's the older brother of the prince that over looks my training, Alvin's going to be king. He leads the actual army. His younger brother, sits on a horse beside him.

Shock overwhelms Jeff and me both, but joy soon took over. If he wasn't on a horse I would have jumped and hugged him!

"Thank you!" I said as I quickly grabbed the papers and bowed.

"It's no problem, my brother has been telling me good things about you, I look foreword to seeing what you can do on the battle field." With that he turned his horse around and started to make his way to the army camps. Followed by his brother and the group of girls.

I looked at the papers with glee and quickly started to fill them out, took me less then a minute and I was now in the army and I didn't have to have the blood of children on my hands anymore. I was free to show my true skills.

"We are gathering everyone tomorrow morning to start our march be ready to go, meet back here at the gates wearing these." the general said as he passed Jeff and I a brown camo uniform and hat to match. I couldn't wait to see what this would look like on me. I wanted to quickly go back to Jeff's and try it on.

"12, yours might be a little big even though its a small, try and fix it to fit right, you wont want to get snagged and let the enemy know where your group is hiding!" One of the guards laughed. I glared at him, I might be small but I'll show him, I'll show everyone!

Walking back to the old house was faster then walking to the castle, I couldn't wait till tomorrow morning.

"So, you arnt scared or anything?" Jeff asked as we just cleared the market.

"No, why would I be?" I really wasn't scared, I was far to excited. I held my uniform closer to my chest and smiled.

"I don't know, it was a stupid question anyways." he said kind of hesitant. I knew something was up, was he scared? But I shrugged anyways and continued to walk back to the old house.

When we got to the house we ate lunch which consisted of bread and a potato soup, after we ate to our fill we got to help out with the farm work. I grabbed myself a hoe and started to break up dirt. It was hard for the children to do it, so when Jeff and I come and help with it they love us.

Dinner was the same at lunch just after we got to have some home made cake and ice cream, which Jeffs mother had been working on all day. Her arms must be hurting, so the kids took the dishes out back and washed them.

"Ready for bed you two? You got an early mornings march ahead of you." Jeffs mother said as she rushed us up stairs hopping for us to make a child. I rolled my eyes and went up to bed anyways, she did have a good point, we had a long march ahead of us.

"Jeff, sweety be safe tomorrow, and look out for your father, I haven't heard back from him since his last letter... Make sure you write all the time." she said as she went out the door. She was going to work she never told us what she did but she always left for days leaving the kids to fend for them self for a little while. Since she was saying her good byes now, she wouldn't be here in the morning.

I let them say their goodbyes and I went up to bed and got changed. My acing muscle loved he soft blankets and the comfy-ness of the bed that I had to go without for such a long time. I drifted into a deep sleep, I didn't even budge when Jeff crawled in.