“I surrender!” Seth announced holding his hands up. “I wish to join the military to protect the citizens with my power!”

The officers looked surprised by this. Liam was about to speak up as well, but Seth stomped down on his foot giving him a look that told him to shut up. Officers took hold of Seth, but didn’t handcuff him.

“Take care of Ash,” Seth whispered to Liam as he was pushed away from us.

He just surrendered himself so we could escape. Liam, however, was not so lucky being a male over the age of 18. Once we got to the shuttles he was asked to go to the military shuttle because he would be drafted. I knew this was going to happen and I was not going to lose Liam now after what Seth did to help us get to safety.

“Wait! Let me join too,” I told the officer that was commanding Liam to go to a different shuttle. The officer almost wanted to laugh, but I used my power to influence his emotions into agreeing with me. He didn’t notice that I was influencing him and seemed to consider my request.

“I guess we do have some women in the military. Got any first aid skills?” He asked.

“Yes. I’m first aid certified and I was studying so I could become a nurse one day.” “Alright, follow that guy to the military shuttle,” the officer said. I followed the officer to the bus and got on. Liam was already on and he looked pissed when he saw me. I sat down next to him feeling proud of myself for getting us to stay together.

“What did you do Ash?” He asked.

“I volunteered to be a medic I think. Our priority now should be figuring out where they are taking Seth and not arguing about this okay?” I stated. The bus was full of young men all around in the age of 18. I was the only girl and I hoped that they didn’t check my age since I was still only 17. “Besides I would never feel safe without you by my side.”

“I hope you realize what we are about to do. We are about to join the military. If the Contractors find out I joined the military I’ll be killed by them,” Liam said in a soft voice for only me to hear.

“Maybe we can be key in negotiating with the Contractors and join forces. We need to focus on the creatures and not fight each other,” I whispered back.

“You make it sound easier than it will be.” Liam leaned back and gazed out the window. I knew he was pissed at my decision, but then he grabbed my hand and squeezed it. He was just scared for me. He looked back at me and mouthed, “I love you Ash.”

I mouthed back the same sentiment and then leaned my head down to kiss his hand discreetly. I didn’t know how people would react if we were kissing on the bus, but I needed some form of contact with Liam.

An important looking officer came on board the shuttle not that it was full. He glanced at me in confusion for a second before beginning his speech. “My name is Captain Beaumont. Welcome to the military. There are 3 different departments and you will be dispersed based on skills. The Scouts are the infantry and fight on the front lines. Anyone with fighting skills or can be trained to use a weapon will join them. The Police are for security within the city so they will help keep citizens calm and safe in this time of crisis. Then there’s the Support team. This team is smaller and requires specialized training. Anyone with any medical or computer training will be assigned to Support. Support officers get dispersed throughout Scout groups in order to help them with injuries or using computers to scan areas and activate the bigger weapons. Any questions?”

Everyone was deathly silent and I could feel that no one actually wanted to be here.

“I heard Powers might be joining the military. Is that true?” Some guy in the back asked.

“That is in the works. They make great weapons, but we are working on the kinks on if we can trust Powers or not.”

“What’s going to happen to the ones that are surrendering?” I couldn’t help but ask since my brother was on that shuttle. “They are being taken to the same compound we are going, but they will enter a special training program to assess their ability to follow orders from commanding officers without powers. If they pass they will join the Scouts.”

The bus started to move and I grabbed onto Liam instinctively to hold on to something. Seth would probably be a Scout. I’m sure Liam would be a Scout as well. I would probably end up in Support, but I needed to get in the same troop as either Seth or Liam. I wonder what the chances of things working out that way were.

I didn’t let go of Liam’s hand the entire ride to the military compound. I was terrified about what was about to happen after we got off the bus. “We’re going to be separated once off the bus. Just stay strong until I can come find you okay?” Liam told me.

I nodded in understanding, but I hated the thought of not knowing where he was. Maybe I could show my skills in fighting and try to get in the scouts as well. Then I’d have a better shot at ending up in a team with Seth or Liam. The compound was big and made up of several warehouse looking buildings. Captain Beaumont was explaining what each of the buildings were. Two of them made up the dorms, then there was a training building with outdoor space as well, a cafeteria, communal showers, and a recreation space. Plus a couple smaller buildings for the people in charge to have offices and for medical treatment too.

“Alright everyone, get off the bus single file,” Beaumont ordered. We obeyed and Liam was behind me in the line. We were led to go through the entrance and check in at a desk set up for us. A power scanner was up there as well and I glanced back at Liam. “It’s going to be fine,” Liam said to me. I got up to the desk and they ask for my documents. I provided them from my pack and the officer looked them over. “These are fake,” he stated in a matter of fact.

“What?” I asked nervously. I knew they were fake, but I didn’t think it was that easy to tell. The officer holding the scanner held it up to be and it gave off a small warning on me. It’s because my power wasn’t something that was that powerful so scanners didn’t pick it up as much as others.

“We have a Power!” A soldier alerted others.

“Woah there, if you’re going to take her you might as well take me too. My documents are fake as well,” Liam said casually throwing them on the desk.

A soldier came over and grabbed my arm roughly. Liam grew angry at that and went to remove the officer’s hand from my arm.

“She’s not going to resist so don’t touch her like that,” Liam growled and twisted the soldiers arm until he let go of my arm. A couple of other soldiers aimed their guns at us. Liam let go of the soldier and pushed me behind him so I was shielded from the guns.

“We surrender. We want to join the Scouts,” Liam announced. “Just please don’t harm the girl at the very least.”

Two soldiers approached Liam and then grabbed his arms to handcuff him. They thought he was dangerous because of how he was able to get that soldier off of me with one move. They were right to be scared, but bullets killed him just as much as anyone else does.

A female soldier with short blonde hair and blue eyes approached me. “What power do you have?” she asked me.

“Empathy. I can sense and manipulate emotions,” I told her. “If you don’t use it then I won’t restrain you, understand?” She said and I nodded. “I’m Kristin. Follow me.”

“I’m Ash. Where are they taking my friend Liam?” I asked her as I followed her to a different part of the compound.

“Same place you’re going, but his power seems dangerous so that is why he is being escorted by two soldiers.”

Liam had to hold his hands up and the soldiers had their guns pointed at him the whole time they were walking and that made me extremely nervous. He didn’t look very nervous and when he noticed me looking at him, he gave me his goofy reassuring smile. He was trying to help me feel better, but this was hardly a situation that I could keep calm in.

Kristin went into the entrance of a big building and held the door open for me. There were lots of people inside, but they were all kept in cells and locked away. I was appalled by this. Why were they keeping people like us in cages? I scanned the people and saw Seth. He was in a cell with a group of people, looking like he was on hyper alert. Before Kristin could even speak to me, I ran passed her to get to Seth. I didn’t care that people were yelling at me to freeze. I reached Seth and when he saw me his face lit up in relief.

“Why are you here?” Seth asked confused.

“I was caught. Liam too,” I said. Before I could say anything further Kristin came up and grabbed my arm roughly, pulling me away from Seth. “I thought we had an understanding Ash,” Kristin grumbled. “Now I have to rough you up like all the others.”

She shoved me in the direction where Liam was being led. We ended up in a room that looked like an interrogation room and they shut us in. I didn’t care if people were watching us through the two way mirror so I went to hold Liam’s hand in a comforting way because I was really scared. He smiled at me reassuringly and put his arms around me.

“We will be fine. I will make sure of that,” Liam whispered to me. I nodded letting him know I heard him. As I stood in his arms, I closed my eyes and let the cold surroundings melt away. I imagined we were back in our apartment just holding each other like we had done many times before.

Then the door opened and my fantasy disappeared. Two soldiers came in and grabbed Liam, yanking him away from me and throwing him up against the wall. One held a rifle aimed at Liam and the other soldier restrained him against the wall. He let them do this because I knew he would’ve been able to avoid them easily if he had wanted to. I didn’t understand why he was being treated so aggressively. I was about to say something but Kristin came in and pushed me until my back was against the opposite wall.

“Why are you being rough when we are cooperating?” I asked her.

“We ran the reports and found out that Liam used to be a Contractor and a valuable one at that. We can’t take any chances with what’s happening right now,” Kristin stated.

“I quit the Contractors over a year and a half ago. I promise to be the best soldier in this place as long as Ash and Seth are in my squad. We work best as a team,” Liam said.

“You aren’t in any position to make demands, disgusting Power,” one of the male soldiers holding onto Liam spat.

“Captain Beaumont is very interested in you. Your friends not so much. If he says it’s okay then he has the final say,” Kristin said.

“And what do we have to do to get his approval?” I asked.

“For starters, follow orders. We will put your skills to the test this afternoon. For now, try not to get into fights with the other powers. They are a little testy now that they are all locked up,” Kristin said. She pulled on my arm and led me out of the room. I gave Liam one last glance and I could tell he was holding himself back a lot since he didn’t like that he was being handled in this way.

Kristin took me to the communal showers and handed me a bar of soap and a towel and clothes. “You have 5 minutes and I’ll have clothes for you when you get out. You’re now the property of the US military. Welcome to your new life.”