Chapter 0501

“Oh,” I say, stepping aside quickly so he doesn’t bowl me over as strides out the door. And then I quickly follow as he moves down the hall, doing my best to stay at his side even if it means that I have to do a ridiculous little trot instead of a walk. “Where are we going?”

“Outside,” the Captain says, glancing down at me. “I’m making the call, Shrimp. Your training record thus far suggests that you should focus on one weapon and that you can handle it.”

My eyes light up as I glance down again at the bag over his shoulder, thrilled suddenly, dying to know what’s in there.

But the captain’s rich laugh brings my eyes back up to him as he pushes a door open and we step out into the sunshine. “Don’t get too excited, Princess,” he murmurs, shaking his head and beginning to stride across the field with me in tow. “Your training is about to get very, very monotonous.” Desperate to know what he means by that, I follow quickly as the Captain leads us over to one side of the field with what looks like…god, I don’t know, a telephone pole? With a big flat wooden deck on top? As we go, we talk quietly about my missing comrades – both of whom he informs me failed the Chemistry exam, to my chagrin – as well as the need for snipers within our nation.

“As you can thus imagine,” the captain says, slowing his pace a little as we approach the pole. “Your training in this field is very important to us, Clark. I fought hard for Neumann to pass one of the other boys through, but he refused – said he wouldn’t have a dummy in his classroom or up in the blinds.”

I frown, glancing upwards, wondering if that’s what this is – a blind.