Rains of Heaven & Sprouts of Hell: by Nick Venom (ereader android .TXT) 📕

“Ooh, I know!” One exclaimed, their hand shot up into the air. The dark-skinned hand belonged to a female teen dressed in a thinner version of their armor. “It’s the Assault, Defense, Scavenge, Construct, and Patrol.”

“Good,” Raife said. “The second question is how many threats are there?”

The teen raised her hand again. “I know!”

Raife bit his lip. “Well… I guess you can go.”

Selena elbowed him in his side, glaring at him as if to say, Watch your words. Be nicer to them. He nodded his head in acknowledgment, turning his head to face the recruits. He looked at the teen, motioning for her to start. “It’s the acid rain, roamers, meteor showers, hell plants, and other humans.”

“Good, now the third question. What is the motto of the Scavenge division?”

The teen raised her hand again. Raife pointed at her, letting her speak. “We scavenge for our survival. We scavenge for our future. We scavenge for our lives.”

“Good,” Raife muttered. “What is your name?” He asked the teen participating. The other teens, meanwhile, refused to participate, one of them looking around nervously while another one lazed on the floor and the third one played around with a plushy cube. 

“Yusha Church.” She stated proudly.

“What about you three?” He directed his question to the other recruits.

“Azaan Wicks.” The lazy teenager said.

“Miah Burn.” The bored teenager said.

“Liam Holster.” The teenager playing with a plushy cube said.

“Okay, let’s begin training. Selena, want to take the lead?” He asked her.

Selena nodded her head, taking a few steps forward. She cracked her fingers, staring at the recruits. “You’ll undergo a strict couple of months of physical, mental, and emotional training. We don’t have much time, so the training will be rushed, but I’ll make sure to get everything important in. You will be forced to train from dawn to midnight and free time is now a privilege, instead, of a right. Let’s start with jumping jacks!” She barked.

Mae took a step forward, watching as Selena yelled at the recruits as they completed the physical training. She was stunned by her performance, the picture of Selena in her mind being changed. Raife noticed her expression, grinning to himself. “It never gets old.” He said.

“S-Sorry?” She muttered.

“Selena is very strict on herself and others. She’s been asked to train recruits since she’s so good at it. This would be the fifth rookie squad she’s trained.”

“Woah… Did s-she train…”

“Train me? If so, then yeah. We were in the same squad, but since we’re best friends she decided to take it upon herself to spartan train me.”

“S-Spartan?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s a word from before the world died.” Raife said as he stared at Selena at work. “She is brilliant at what she does… so much so that we don’t have to move a finger. Get comfortable since we’ll be here all day, but, at the very least, we can relax. I’ve been needing some sleep.”

Mae nodded, hesitant to follow Raife’s lead and consider their assignment as a free day. She watched as he sat down on nearby grass, his head facing the sky. He quickly and effortlessly drifted to sleep, leaving her by herself while Selena was busy training the recruits.

Will I be fine here? They… They don’t look like the same person as him. He was serious and charming. They’re… similar. Please God that I was paired with people like him. He was everything to me.

TBC…

“Aight, that’s enough for today. I want everybody back to their dorms instantly. Report in with your Dorm Heads. I don’t want to hear about anybody not returning or… complaining.” She said it more as a threat than a warning. 

The kids nodded before turning around and sprinting off to the dorms. However, one stayed behind for a few minutes, being Yusha Church. She approached Selena, bowing her head.

“Thank you for your instructions, Ms. Whittle.” She said.

Selena nodded, bowing herself. “Keep up your energy and I can assure you that you will pass.”

Yusha picked herself up, nodding. “Thank you, Ms. Whittle.” She said before turning around and heading towards her dorm. Selena watched her until she disappeared from her sight.

“Good girl,” Raife muttered. “Best of the batch?”

Selena nodded her head. “The most willing and energetic, I would say.”

Raife nodded, shooting a glance at Mae who was staring off in the distance. “Well, let’s head back. I want to see if Franklin got any more laps.”

“A hundred, I would guess,” Selena said with a smirk. 

Raife nodded. “I say two hundred.”

“You would be way off,” Amber said, appearing out of nowhere. “Three hundred.”

Raife and Selena both raised their eyebrows, caught off-guard by the total. 

“Anyways,” She started, “I need you to speed up their training to only two months. Do whatever you have to, to have them ready for battle.”

Selena furrowed her brows. “Don’t they usually get a few months to prepare? Most of them aren’t even sure which group they’re going to.”

“Scavenger. See, so simple.” Amber retorted. 

Raife shook his head. “Recruits don’t have many rights, but they do have one to choose what team they’re going into. You can’t make that decision for them.”

“Unfortunately for them, I can. We just lost two teams to the roamers. All of their supplies are gone. Currently, we now only have less than a dozen teams to work with.”

“Overwhelmed, ego, or bad decision?” Selena asked.

“Unsure, but the Scouts confirm their deaths. We will go over the battle in better detail later, but now we’re in need of some more people to fill those empty slots.”

“Yeah, I get that. But why aren’t we letting them choose? We were given that option… and there were fewer of us back then.”

“You were not part of the First Generation. And when you were training, we didn't suffer a major loss. But your recruits are the most recent and they haven’t decided on their teams yet.”

“Because they only had one day of training. They usually choose after their three months are up.” Selena argued.

“Usually, but we’re in a different situation. Now, as your superior, I order you to train them in two months as Scavengers.” She ordered before turning around and walking away, cutting off the conversation before Selena could think of a comeback.

Raife placed his hand on a frustrated Selena’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, the other recruits will fill the spots. By the time the two months are up, the situation will be different.” He reassured her.

Selena nodded. “... Fine.”

Raife nodded as he took his hand off her shoulder. He then turned around and faced Mae who had been listening to the conversation.

“We’re heading to the dorms. Prepare yourself, you’ll be helping out tomorrow.” Raife told her. “As unfortunate as it is, Selena can’t do all the work by herself.” He remarked. This same remark earned him a kick in his shins by a still frustrated Selena who then walked away, heading back to their dorms. Raife cracked a grin before following her, motioning to Mae to follow. She complied, following them back to the dorms. However, her body was on auto-pilot. Her mind was elsewhere.

I’ll make him proud. He’ll see that I’m not the same little lost girl. I’m taller and stronger than he… was. I’ll do whatever I can to show my strength… as soon as I feel comfortable with my teammates.

Her mind continued to be in a frenzy, shifting from her inner monologue to memories. These memories displayed events in her life, one showing two grown-ups (one of them half-eaten) and another showing a young man extending his hand to her. These two memories, in particular, filled her mind every day and night. Every day and night.

They refused to leave.

TBC…

Later that night, Squad Romeo-Alpha-Sierra gathered in their dorms, waiting until Amber appeared. She entered the living room portion of the dorms, gathering all of the attention in the room. “Let’s get to business.” She said as she reached the middle of the room, turning to face everybody sitting in their chairs. Raife sat near Selena with Mae a curious distance behind them. On the other side of the room were Franklin and Chloe sitting together. Madelyn, however, didn’t sit behind them but some distance from everybody as if she had been ostracized.

Amber cleared her throat, ensuring she had all of the attention, before starting. “We received a report today that two of our Scavenge teams had been wiped out a few days ago. There were no survivors. The supplies they had and the vehicles they were in are both disgraced to hell.” She reported. “The cause behind their deaths are only theories at the moment, but the largest and most realistic is that a Stampede devastated them. Scouts are being sent in to do a complete sweep of the scene and find any clues to validify any theories.” She told them, speaking about Stampedes - a large pack of roamers that move together and have the ability to easily overwhelm small and medium-sized groups. 

“A Stampede? Isn’t it rather easy to figure out if it was that?” Raife spoke up.

“You would think so, but the roamers have been evolving. I wouldn’t be surprised if they talk soon.”

“So what are we going to do?” Selena asked.

“We will always do what we do in emergencies like this. Selena, Raife, and Mae have all been informed about the change, but I will repeat it here. Training of rookies, anybody up to this current point, will be trained to become a Scavenger.”

“Why?” Chloe asked. “Isn’t everybody allowed to join whatever team they want?”

“Selena pointed out that to me earlier, but the situation we’re facing is very dangerous. We are feeding over 100,000 people. We need every Scavenge team possible. The only reason your squad has been pulled back is to fill empty spots and to train the next generation. Once that job is done, you’re being shipped right back out.”

“So we’ll be rushing them to their deaths?” Selena crudely asked.

“No, we’ll be saving Winter Hollow. We’ll be saving the people.”

“At the expense of some?” Raife added.

Amber didn’t respond, simply staring at both of them in turn. She then shook her head before looking away from them. She couldn’t force herself to retort his remark. 

“Selena, Raife, and Mae will be training a greater volume of rookies. We’ve dropped the minimum age down two years, so expect to train full classes. Your job, in addition to training them, will be to get them ready in only two months. As for the others, Franklin and Chloe will remain on guard duty