Anastasia

"Clearing a half mile in a three minute sprint? That's got to be a record, Miss Deveana." A deep, milky voice chuckled as her eyes fluttered open.

"Whu... What?" She was still breathless. Feeling a sharp sting on the back of her skull, she let out a short hiss and rolled onto her side.

Slowly, Marlee got up of the floor and turned to face a tall, slightly porky gentle man with greased brown hair and a pair of glasses rounder than a kid's pancake.

"I'm Travis, I was alerted to your approach and came down to see you fall back about two minutes ago. Are you alright, Miss Marlee?"

"Oh, uh. I guess. Uhm, I got a knot though."

"Ice packs are upstairs. Follow me." He started up the steps.

She started up behind him, holding the rail. She cold still hear the squish and smell the heavy atmosphere from the tunnel. She didn't look back as her heart rate slowed down with each step away from it.

After ten minutes under an ice pack, Marlee was sent to the locker room with two bags and a key to her locker. The locker room was coed and, although two sets of lockers separated the showers, there was no guarantee that neither women or men would walk in on one another while they showered. Her foot steps squeaked and echoed in the empty room. She counted five showers and ten lockers on each side as she walked. She found her locker, 5B on the back half of the locker
room.

The locker opened with a creak, revealing a white towel and left overs from a hotel supply closet. On the wooden pew and took her muddied shoes off, dropping them into the first bag. A metal clang sent her to her feet and her head spun to the source. A dumbwaiter was behind her. She opened it to find a wrapped uniform and a pair of boots. She sighed in relief and pulled them out, setting them in the locker as she finished undressing and getting cleaned up.

The uniform shirt felt like paper, and the pants were severely starched and felt boxy around her legs. The boots felt warm and heavy. Lacing and tying them off with tangled twine, she stood and tossed her towel into a hamper beneath a worn out sign. She made her way to training with her key on a chain around her neck.

When she got to the room, there were only two other people; Travis and a large woman that had more muscles than a cow had stomachs.

"Sit down, Deveana," the woman had a gruff, sharp voice that sent visible chills down Marlee and Travis's backs. "Why are you here?" Her hands were firmly on her hips as she stared her down, her blonde hair was braided and wrapped around her head.

"To rescue survivors-"

"What was that? I can't hear you!"

"To rescue survivors-"

"I still can't hear you, Deveana. Why. Are. You. Here?!"

"To rescue survivors beyond this wall, sir!"

"What are you fighting for?!"

"Our land, our future, sir!"

"Who's future, Deveana?!"

"The future of Nirvana!"

"Good! Report to room 2-40 in five minutes. Go!"

With the rush of adrenaline, Marlee was out of the room before she even realized what happened. She stopped at the steps and blinked. She started up the steps. "That can't be all the training," she thought as she pushed through the door leading to the second floor.

Symbols covered the walls and made her freeze. The symbols were a deep dark red, close to the color of blood.