Sentinel

The group of friends walked through the white halls laughing and talking. From time to time they passed others like themselves: thin and white as a sheet, usually in groups, sometimes alone. They lived on the ground floor in Base 01 in a sector that did not exist. The humans that came and went were all specialists, and the team knew each of them by name. To get in or out, you needed a security card, and as such, the Sentinels had very little contact with the outside world besides what they were told by those of their kind, and the staff that assisted with their management. They passed a room where a recording of battles was being shown. Other Sentinels sat analyzing the tactics used by the enemy. Linnea looked in as she passed. On the screen was a tall man with black clothing and a red vicar’s collar at his throat. She recognized him as a Rebel commander.
She pondered the strange ways of the Rebels as she passed up the room and continued down the hall. Symbols and talismans and the book: that wonderful, mysterious book that she had hidden away to be hers and hers alone.

The group finally came to the hall that held their living quarters. It was straight and narrow with two rows of white doors without windows. The friends walked down the hallway until they reached a door with the number 35 painted over it in black. Allen rolled up the sleeve on his black shirt and exposed a bar code tattoo on his wrist. This he swiped under a scanner. The red light on the scanner turned green and they entered the room.
The room was sparse. Four white beds sat against the wall, and four white trunks sat at the foot of each bed. One small window that was sealed shut looked out over the yellow desert, There was a sink in an alcove, and in the corner by the window sat one standard issue chair with no purpose whatsoever. To an observer who was used to extravagant comfort, the room would have seemed barren and devoid of all the little pleasures of home, however, the four settled down on their beds quite readily and began to make themselves at home. The boys stripped off their shirts and lay down with sighs of relief. Linnea also changed clothes, swapping her black uniform for a clean one. As she pulled the black long-sleeve shirt over her head, she looked to Seven who was sitting quietly on her bed.

She walked over and sat down next to the small girl, immediately beginning to braid Seven’s brown hair. Allen had quickly dozed off on his bed and his breathing was the only sound in the room. Kai lay on his side watching the girls. Linnea leaned down and whispered in Seven’s ear.

“It’ll be alright Sevie. We love you.”

The girl looked up. “Linnea, what are we?” She asked quietly.

“What do you mean little one?” Linnea responded tenderly. “You and I and the others are the instruments of peace.”

“Then why hasn’t peace come? Can you remember anything from before the war?”
Here Linnea paused. “We were created for the war, little one, there was nothing before.”

“Linnea, I keep having dreams. I am always needed. I tear metal apart with my bare hands. I move rock. I am holding a dying person. I don’t know. The images are always so jumbled, but they feel strange. Like something I have known before. They feel so familiar. I’ve been thinking about it for
some time. I can’t seem to get them out of my head.”

“They’re just dreams, little one. We all have bad dreams at night.” Linnea pulled her close, resting her chin on Seven’s head. Kai got up, and came to sit beside them.

“I’m tired of being an instrument of peace, if all it means is waging war.” Seven whispered.

“Hey, Sevie,” Kai said, reaching out to hold her hand, “You know what I do when I feel like that?”
Seven shook her head.

“I go out and look around. I find stories to bring back about the people who live on the earth. There is suffering, little one. All around us, humanity suffers and dies because of differences in opinion and hatred. I find those people who are suffering and it helps me realize that it is for them that we must destroy ourselves. We must bury our pain so that they might live in happiness. It’s a noble cause, and we have to believe in it. That’s all we can do.”
Seven sniffed a little but looked up at Kai and nodded.

“We’ll be going into the city tomorrow. Take a new perspective with you. Do it for them, Sev.” Kai whispered.

Allen’s snoring had stopped. His back was turned to the group, but the light from the window was reflected in his open eyes. He listened to the quiet conversation. He mouthed the words ‘what are we?’ and then ‘why are we here?’ The questions felt foreign on his lips. He pondered this new perspective on their lives. Kai always had a poetic streak, and Seven was catching on. Allen liked to think of himself as a realist. He never bothered asking himself the existential questions. He only asked himself what he was to do at that moment. He sat up so suddenly that the others jumped.

“Tomorrow we are going to the city.” He said. “We need to get ready.”

“Now?” Linnea asked looking across Allen’s bed toward the window that held the setting sun. “But transport must be hours away.”

“We need to be ready to leave.” He said, standing up. He walked the edge of his bed, knelt on one knee, and began to examine his reflection in the lock on his trunk.

“You look pretty rough.” Linnea grinned sitting down beside him.
He smiled, prodding at his scabbed face. “Yeah, but it was a good game though.”

“Yeah, and I got that snake Anderson.”

Allen laughed. His laugh was smooth and wonderful and rare, but still had, like the rest of their voices, that strange electric quality. “Yeah! you should have seen his face when he realized you were coming for him. He almost shit his pants.”

The two shared a moment of laughter together. Linnea put her head on his shoulder. “He was a bastard though.” She sighed, smiling.

“Can I ask you a question?” Allen asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

“Yeah, anything.”

“Why did that good for nothing rebel get the drop on you?”