Praesidium IV

Previously

The lights were on the top of a large building, lighting the building up against the darkening sky. And underneath was something that made James’ heart rise.

There, painted on the side of the building in bright white paint, was a bear.

He’d found it. He’d actually found it. Praesidium. James didn’t dare blink. He didn’t dare to close his eyes for even a millisecond in case it vanished right before his eyes. He stood from the ground like the ground beneath him was on fire. He didn’t bother to check the surrounding area - which was foolish considering that he had recently encountered a beast in the area - before rushing between the two buildings that framed his view of the bear.

As James approached ever closer to the building he noticed that the area surrounding the building was much more secure than he thought. The wall with the bear on was indeed at the edge of their ground but fences poked out on either side. He couldn’t see beyond the fences but he could see that they extended a vast distance on either side. He imagined that at some point the fences turned and ran perpendicular to each other behind the building with the bear so it could wrap around the back. James assumed that that distance was probably quite extensive as well.

The fences were high. James assumed that that was so people and beasts couldn’t jump the fences to get in. The facility was big. Very big. James could just about see the tips of buildings poking out above the fence line. He counted three. No, four, but he assumed that there were more.

The sun had fully set when James reached the building.

James approached the heavy duty double doors that stood just underneath the white bear. As he approached the final few steps towards the door, a loud mechanical groan rang out in the area, prompting him to step back in alarm. The heavy duty concrete doors rolled along the ground, opening.

Bright light shone on James as the doors opened. It was so bright inside in comparison to the outside that James had to shield his eyes. As his eyes adjusted, James could see that he was being approached by a familiar shadow. By the shape of the shadow, James believed it to be the same man that called out to him and Isaac.

As the man stepped forward away from the light room and into the darkness that was falling outside, James was able to see more of him. He was tall and strong. He had a very defined jaw and shoulder line. He had dark skin, short black hair and a well trimmed mustache and beard. He wore all black padded combat gear. He had gizmos and gadgets and weaponry hanging from his belt. Most of which, James didn’t recognize.

'Welcome to Praesidium, Son. I see you found us.' It was the same man. His voice was deep, masculine and authoritative.

James was still in disbelief that he had actually managed to find them and so he wasn’t sure what to say. He squeaked out a simple, 'Yes.'

'Well, come on in lad. It’s getting dark. Best not to keep the doors open for too long at night.' The man told him, stepping aside and waving James in.

James stepped forward, hesitantly stepping through the threshold. As soon as he was through, the doors immediately rolled shut behind him, like they could feel his hesitancy to enter. It was strange. He had spent the last few days searching for Praesidium and now that he was here, all he could think of was Isaac’s hesitance to join them.

He had made the right decision to come here, right? This was safer but why was Isaac so opposed to it? Isaac had been right about the shop. Could he have been right about this as well? No. He’d made the right decision. He couldn’t stay on his own. He needed the support. He needed the shelter. He needed the safety.

'Follow me. We’ll get you tucked away.' The man said, breaking James out of his thoughts.

The man didn’t wait for an acknowledgement. He just turned and walked away. James’ thoughts quickly caught up with him and he dashed after the man. He doubted that standing around when he had been asked to follow the man would make a very good first impression. The man led him through what could only be called a vehicle port. The area that he had originally entered had row after row of vehicles. James wondered where they got the fuel for them all. Were they all used? James did not dare ask that question out loud. Was he allowed to ask questions?

From the large carport, they went into a narrow corridor. They paused briefly to allow another man, also dressed head to toe in back padded combat gear, passed them. The man led James to a small room that was split into two by a desk. Above the desk was a glass panel. Sat behind it was a stern looking woman.

'Name?' The woman asked immediately. No greeting and no hesitation.

'Um. James.' James answered with only a few seconds of hesitation.

'Surname?' The woman asked.

'I don’t have one.' James replied.

The woman glanced up briefly. 'Okay. James Doe. Age?'

'Sixteen.'

The woman placed a tray on the work surface to the far right of the desk and slid it through a large square hole in the glass barrier.

'Put your bag, jacket and shoes in here.' The woman instructed and James did as he was asked.

'Okay stand on the footprints over there. Press your heels against the wall and pull the lever down till it touches the top of your head.' The woman said, pointing to a yellow sticker on the floor that had two footprints on.

James moved over. He had to push the lever up to be able to fit under it. He stood on the footprints and pressed his heels into the wall, before reaching up and lowering the lever back down.

'Okay, and step out and tell me what it says.' The woman instructed.

James did so. 'Six, five.'

'Okay. Step on the scales over there and read out the number.'

'One. Five. Two.' Thankfully it was all numbers. James could recognize numbers. Isaac had taught him that.

The woman nodded, noting the number down. She then pulled out a red rubber wristband and placed it on the table in front of her. She slid it through a letter box shaped hole in the glass barrier. 'Red squad. Put it on your wrist. Do not take it off under any circumstances.'

James picked it up and slid it on his wrist. It was a one size fits all kind of deal and it sat snugly on his wrist. A small section that sat on the upper side of his wrist was slightly thicker. As James felt around the edge of it, he realized that it had some sort of device inside. He wondered what it was.

The woman then pulled the tray of James’ things to her side of the desk. She moved it aside and used the same hole in the barrier to slide over a set of clothes. The clothes were black in color but had red stripes on the seams. James reached out to pick them up. The woman pointed to a side door. 'Shower and change in there. Leave your dirty clothes and towel in there. They will be collected later.'

James took the clothes into the side room. It was a very small room that was split into two further parts by a glass door. The first section was just large enough for him to move around comfortably in. There was a small bench to one side. James placed the pile of fresh clothes on the bench. A towel had already been placed on the bench.

Beyond the glass door in the second section was a shower. James had never had a shower before. He’d obviously seen them in homes before but James and Isaac had always had to bathe themselves in rain water that they had gathered on the roof of their building.

James stripped down and stepped into the shower. The shower head was set at the perfect height for him, or at least he thought so. There was a panel at stomach height that had a button and dial. James pressed the button and was instantly sprayed with water from the shower head. It was cold to begin with but James was used to the cold. After a few seconds it started to heat up until it was a pleasant temperature.

Fixed onto the side wall was a bottle. James squirted some of the lovely smelly soap into his hand and washed himself down. He didn’t realize just how dirty he was until he saw the dirt wash from his body and down the drain. He really was filthy. He also used the soap to wash the dirt from his hair, cursing a little when the soap ran into his eye. It burned.

As soon as he was washed, he stepped out and dried off. He turned his attention back to the clothes that he had been given. The top was soft. It was a regular tee-shirt. It was black and the red stripes went down the seams at the side and on the shoulder. The collar and sleeves also had a red band on the edge. On the right breast of the tee was the Praesidium bear logo, in white.

The trousers were much the same. They were clearly made of the same fabric. Soft. Black. The red stripe followed the outside seam of the trousers.

As soon as he was dressed, he stepped out to find that the woman was gone but the man that had greeted him remained in the room. He was sat on the chair that the woman had been sat on.

'James, take a seat.' the man instructed, pointing to a chair that had appeared on James' side of the glass barrier. Placed on the chair was a brand new pair of trainers.

James picked up the trainers and sat down. He took the silent que to put the trainers on his feet before turning his full attention onto the man.

'Welcome to Praesidium, James. Do you know what we are?' the man questioned.

'Only what you said before, sir. A safe place where you can train me to survive.' James replied.

The man nodded. 'Yes. That is true. We will provide you with a safe place to sleep and we will train you how to survive. But, Praesidium is also about combating the beast threat. You can see that you have been sorted into a squadron. If you choose to remain here, you will live, train and fight with this squadron. When your squadron is ready, you will join the fight against the beasts. Once the squadron’s training is complete, it will graduate to a hunting squadron. How does that sound?'

James hesitated. He didn’t really come here to fight. He wanted a safe place to stay but going out and fighting the beasts didn’t really sound very safe. Then again, it would have some bonuses. An image of the beast that killed Isaac flashed up in his head. That beast was still out there. James wouldn’t mind putting that Beast down for the count. He could achieve that here. He would have the training and the resources. Yes. Yes. 'Yes'

'Good.' The man replied. 'I am Commander Dextera. I am in charge of the training program here. You and the rest of your peers report to me. I will also be the one that determines when you are ready to face the beasts and when you are ready to graduate.'

James nodded. He understood what Commander Dextera was telling him. Commander Dextera was the boss.

'Good. I’ll give you the tour.' Commander Dextera said, standing from his seat. He pointed to the door that James had entered the room through and said, 'Wait for me out there.'

James nodded and left the room. He stood waiting in the narrow corridor. Commander Dextera appeared seconds later from the neighboring door. He then led James further down the corridor and into Praesidium.

Well, no turning back now.

The first stop on the tour was the outdoor parade grounds. Commander Dextera pointed out three lines of boys and girls, the same age as James. Looking at them, James realized that what he was wearing was a uniform. Everyone his age was wearing a black top with a colored stripe. Each line was wearing a different color stripe on their uniform. Green. Yellow. Blue. All of the adults were also wearing uniforms. Every adult was wearing black combat gear like Commander Dextera.

Before the parade ground, circling around the outside of the campus, was a red race track. The only building on the outside of the track was the building that James and Commander Dextera had just exited.

Commander Dextera and James crossed the track and the parade grounds until they reached the second largest building on the campus. The training quarter. Commander Dextera led James inside. The first door they came to had a sign on it saying 'Sim room'. A triangular light was shining bright red above the door. Commander Dextera looked at the light and then moved beyond the door, saying, 'You’ll learn more about that room later.'

The bottom floor was full of different types of training rooms. One room was a shooting range that had a wall of guns. There were more guns on that wall than what James had seen in his entire life up to that point. They were all different sorts. No two guns were the same. The other side of the room had targets pinned up. The targets were people shaped but Commander Dextera assured him that they didn’t fight people unless those people attacked them first. The rest of the room was divided into five separate sections. Each section had a desk that had a pair of ear protectors on them. Each section was facing a target. The walls themselves were soft and padded to keep the noise retained in that single room.

Another room was a gym. This room was the coolest room. There was a dramatic temperature change between the gym and the corridor outside of it. The air conditioning kept the room cool so the people training on the equipment remained a nice temperature. The room had many different pieces of gym equipment. James wasn’t familiar with any of them but Commander Dextera pointed to each and named it. There was the weight corner with free weights and a press bar. Treadmills. Stationary bikes. Cable pulley machines. Aerobic steppers. Ellipticals. Yoga mat and balls.

A third room was more of a hall and had a high ceiling. It was easily the height of two stories. At first glance it looked like a lot of rubbish had been piled into it but then James realized that it was an obstacle course themed to look like a trashed city. It was very realistic looking and impressive. On the far wall was a set of ropes and harnesses suggesting that people climbed the realistic stone like wall.

The second floor was all classrooms. Strategy. Navigation. First aid. Other topics that would require a more formal learning setting rather than an obstacle course in a hall. The strategy and navigation rooms were filled with maps. Maps covered the walls. The tables had maps strewn all over them. The first aid room had a wall of drawers. Each drawer contained another piece of first aid equipment. In the corner were three fake human busts and heads.

As they looked around the second floor James saw that there were two observation rooms that Commander Dextera didn’t enter but read out what they were called. 'Sim Observation' and 'Obstacle Observation'. The rooms obviously looked down into the mystery room from the beginning of the building tour and the obstacle hall. James summarized that that was where the instructors and Commanders like Commander Dextera would sit while the trainees like James completed those tasks.

James was then led back outside and over to the third largest building. It was a large hall with lots of tables set out. On the far side was a bar where food was served and beyond that looked to be a large industrial kitchen. James surmised that this was the dining hall before Commander Dextera told him so. It’s purpose was pretty obvious. The tables were different colors. Each color had three tables of six.

Back outside, Commander Dextera briefly pointed out the Commanders section of the campus. That was where the Commanders and instructors slept. They had their own training building and dining hall. There was also an office block for the higher ranking Instructors and the Commanders.

James noticed, but didn’t point out, that Commander Dextera left out one building. It was a small building in comparison to the buildings around them but as Commander Dextera had explained every single other building, this building going unmentioned piqued his curiosity. The building even had two officers standing outside. They stood to attention with their weapons to hand.

Commander Dextera just led James straight past it to the final building on the campus. The squadron bunks. There was a large receiving area in the center of the building. Of which, several doors came off. Each door was a different color. Yellow. Green. Blue. Brown. Purple. Orange. Pink. Red. White. Black.

Commander Dextera led James straight to the red door.

'This is you.' Commander Dextera commented, 'Press your band against the sensor.'

James did so and the door opened, showing his new home for the first time.

His new squadron.

X - X

James' squadron room was a long and thin room with six single beds on either side. There was a small crate at the foot of each bed and a very small table beside them. The beds were all made from metal with wire frames. Each bed had a very thin mattress with a white bed sheet, white pillows and red and white blankets.

The walls themselves were painted a bright white with red stripes running throughout the room, including the ceiling and the floor. There was absolutely no doubt that this room was for the red squadron.

There were nine people currently sitting or standing around the room.

Two girls were sitting on the bed in the far left corner. They appeared to be related, if their looks were anything to go by. One looked to be the same age as James and she had long red hair that was tied back in a neat ponytail and emerald green eyes. The other was a few years younger. She had short red hair and the same emerald green eyes.

The furthest two beds had a curtain rail in between them and the other beds. The curtain was pulled back on both sides for the moment, but James assumed that they were pulled closed occasionally. Judging by where the girls were sitting and the number of girls in comparison to boys and beds, James assumed that it was to separate the boys from the girls. He also noticed that the curtain rails were on tracks, suggesting that the entire rail could move across the room if more girls appeared.

Stood by the first of the boy’s beds on the right side of the room, were two younger boys. They appeared to be two or three years younger than James. Their age seemed to be the only thing that the pair had in common. One had dark skin, dark short hair and was very skinny. The other had light skin, blond hair, and blue eyes. He wasn’t overweight or chunky by any means. His body shape was just slightly more defined than other boy.

Gathered around the central bed on the left, with one sat down, was a group of four boys. They were the oldest in the room. They appeared to be the same age as Isaac had been. One boy was clearly the ring leader. He was the one sitting on the bed. He had dark hair that was gelled back and dark piercing eyes that contrasted with his pale skin. He was muscular and had a chiseled jawline. He had a very short and neatly trimmed beard.

The boy standing to his left was another pale skinned boy, but he had long brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail. He was also very muscular. The boy standing to his right had dark skin, a muscular shape and dark hair. The third boy, who was standing directly in front of him was of Asian descent. He was pale in color with dark black hair. He was thin but his confidence stance led James to believe that there was a hidden strength.

The final boy was sitting alone on the right side of the room. He was sitting on the second bed from the door. He had a book in his hands, which had his full attention. He had short dark hair and wore glasses. He was also very skinny and seemed to have very little muscle definition in his arms and legs.

All of the members in the squadron were wearing the same clothes as James, signifying their unity as a group.

As Commander Dextera and James entered the room, all of the people inside stood to attention at the end of their individual beds. James saw that there were two empty beds. One between the younger female and the long haired older boy; and the other was the first bed on the right, next to the boy that had been sat alone.

'Good evening red squadron. I’d like to introduce you to James. He is your new squadron mate. Please make him feel welcome.' Commander Dextera said in a kind but authoritative voice.

Commander Dextera gave James a reassuring and welcoming pat on the shoulder, before he turned and departed. James glanced around at the room of people that he was to be sharing a room with.

The ringleader of the oldest group of boys stepped forward. He strutted confidently into James’ personal space and put his hand out to shake. 'Names’ Aiden. I’m the squadron leader.'

James took his hand only to find that Aiden was putting a lot of pressure on it as he squeezed it tightly. James tried to reciprocate, assuming it was some kind of test on Aiden’s behalf but Aiden released his grip before James could apply any real pressure. James couldn’t help but clench and unclench his hand once it was free.

Aiden’s eyes zeroed in on the hand and James stopped, choosing to drop his hand to his side and pretend that it wasn’t hurting.

'That’s your bed, there. Dinner’s in ten. Don’t embarrass us in training.' Aiden said like he was bored, as he waved a general hand over to the bed by the door on the right hand side. As soon as he had finished speaking, Aiden had turned and returned to his bed. He retook his seat and his three ‘followers’ gathered back around him.

James turned to the bed closest to the door, on the right. His bed. It was just the same as all of the others in the room, and yet James felt like there was something wrong with it. He glanced it over but couldn’t see anything wrong with it, yet Aiden and his followers were trying to watch him subtly, though they were clearly failing.

He signed, knowing that he would just have to ignore the older boys and hope for the best with the bed. Surely the Commander wouldn’t allow anything serious to happen to it. He sat down on the end of the bed. Well, that was the intention. As soon as his weight went from his legs to his bum, the bed fell in on itself. Thankfully the thin mattress somewhat padded the fall. The frame itself was still standing, as his legs were flung over the bar at the end of the bed. The wire mess that would usually hold the bed up was gone.

James groaned, pointedly ignoring the chuckles and laughter that was coming from the rest of the room. He placed a hand on each of the side bars and tried to lift himself out but it was extremely awkward.

A hand appeared in his eye line. He glanced up to see the boy that had been on his own. James took the hand gratefully and together they pulled him back onto his feet.

'Thanks.' James said gratefully to the boy.

'Your welcome.' The boy replied quietly. 'I’m Ellias. I only arrived last week. They did the same to me. The wiring is under Jennifer’s bed. I’ll help you bring it over after dinner. That’s when the girls have to go and shower.'

The boy, Ellias, pointed over to the oldest girl with red hair, Jennifer, as he spoke. James nodded in appreciation.

'Thanks. Do I need to watch out for more?' James asked.

Ellias just shrugged. 'Maybe.'

'I’ll take that as a yes. How long are they going to be doing that for?' James continued to ask.

Ellias just shrugged again. 'Depends on how you do in training.'

James looked slightly concerned about that. 'What sort of training do you do?'

'All sorts. Navigation. Firearms. Hand to hand combat. First Aid. Anything that might help us fight and kill those beasts out there.' Ellias replied. 'They teach the younger ones Math and English. And they’ll teach those that can’t read how to read. Apparently it's important. Not that I’ve ever needed it out there.'

'No. Neither have I. My brother could read and he taught me a few words. Words that we came across but we didn’t really have the words written down for me to learn.' James replied.

'You can keep me company then in those lessons.' Ellias commented before pointing at certain people in the room. 'Only Allison' The younger red haired girl. 'Aaron' Blond hair, blue eyes and sat with a skinny dark skinned boy with short dark hair. 'And Spencer are in them.' He then waved vaguely in the direction of Aiden and his friends. 'Aiden, Dylan, Thomas and Scott all learnt when they were younger.'

A siren rang out through the room. It was short but loud. It prompted everybody to get to their feet. Aiden moved to the door of the room and James noticed that the squadron lined up in front of him, down the center of the room. Aiden’s friends went at the front, then the girls, Aaron, Spencer and Ellias was at the back. Ellias dragged James with him, placing him at the back of the line.

'What’s going on?' James asked in confusion.

'Dinner.' Ellias whispered back, not even glancing back at him. He remained looking ahead. 'Just follow us and stay close behind me.'

Aiden seemed to scrutinize the line, before turning and leading them out of the dorms. James noticed that every squadron was the same. They all walked in a line. It was mostly the case that the oldest looking were at the front but not always, like Ellias and James being behind three younger kids.

They ‘marched’ to the dining hall. The food was displayed on the food bar at the far side of the room. The individual squadron lines, combined to create one long line at the food bar. Red squadron came in just behind the yellow squadron. Blue Squadron was already sat at the blue table in the room.

Yellow grabbed their food one by one and then took their seats at the yellow table.

James could not see the food from the queue. He could certainly smell it though. It smelt glorious. His stomach rumbled as he caught the scent. He didn’t know what it was but it smelt good. He took a bowl from the display, just as everybody else did. The food was ladled into his bowl when it was his turn. The food was a collection of soft circular tubes with a red sauce. Where the red sauce wasn’t covering the tubes, James could see that they were yellow. A wipe board was above the counter, that said what it was - Pasta with Tomato and herb sauce - though James couldn’t read it. He took a knife and fork and followed Ellias to the red table.

Ellias and James sat at the end of the table. The table followed the same order that they had walked in. Aiden and Dylan sat opposite each other. Scott and Thomas. Allison and Jennifer. Spencer and Aaron. Ellias and James.

James immediately dug into the food. It was delicious and it was warm. It was a perfect temperature. The red sauce tingled his tongue with flavor. He didn’t notice the amused glance that Ellias gave him, nor the disgusted look that Jennifer and Allison were wearing on their own faces.

'Chew' Ellias commented.

James looked up from his already half finished food. 'Huh?'

'Are you actually tasting that food or inhaling it?' Ellias teased.

James looked confused. 'What?'

'You’re eating it as if you’ve never eaten before. It’s yours. It’s not going anywhere. You should savor it.' Ellias clarified.

'Do we not get food often?' James asked.

Now it was Ellias’ turn to look confused. 'What?'

'You said to savor it. Do we not get it often?'

'That’s not what I meant. I mean, uh, we get Pasta once or twice a week but we get food three times a day.'

'This good?'

Ellias grinned and nodded. 'Yeah, man. This good.'

'This place is brilliant.' James exclaimed happily, turning back to his food. He continued to eat, but at a slower pace as before. He slowed to match Ellias’ eating pace.

The walk back to the squadron dorms was done in a similar fashion to how they had walked to the cafeteria, in a single file line in the order of seniority. The evening was rather chilled. James used the quiet time to observe the others in the room from his position on Ellias’ bed.

Some time after dinner, a quieter bell rang. James looked over to Ellias in question but Ellias just shook his head, indicating that it wasn’t for them. It was for Allison and Jennifer. They both left the room.

Ellias nudged James and James followed him to the back of the room where Allison and Jennifer slept. James remembered Ellias telling him that they would get his bed wiring from under Jennifer’s bed when the girls went for a shower. James assumed that that was where the girls had gone.

Together the two boys removed the bed wire from under the bed and carried it to James’ bed where James was able to make his bed up properly to avoid any more mishaps. It wasn’t long after the girls had returned that it was the boys turn to take a shower.

The shower block was at the far side of the dorm building. There was one shower block that had around twenty individual shower cubicles. A towel and soap were provided, both in the color of the squadron.

‘Well, it’s a good thing I like the color red’ James thought seeing the red towel and soap. James washed quickly. He wasn’t sure about whether he had a time limit so he quickly rinsed himself down with soap and dried himself off.

He was the first to step out of his cubicle. He half expected to be able to go back to the dorm room, but no, he had to wait for the rest of the squad. He took a seat on one of the benches on the far side. Ellias appeared next. He took a seat next to him.

'Always beat Aiden out.' Ellias whispered across. 'He’ll never let you forget it if you make him wait.'

James nodded, 'Thanks for the heads up.'

Slowly the rest of the boys exited the shower and joined them at the benches. Aiden left his shower cubicle last and they marched back to the squadron dorm.

Lights out.

James lay on his bed, looking at the ceiling for a long time after the lights went out. How things had changed over the last few weeks. He had lost Isaac. He met Nixie and Noah. He lost Nixie and Noah. He found Praesidium and was one night away from beginning his training. James still pondered why Isaac had been so reluctant to come here. James couldn’t understand. This was brilliant. Okay, he had to deal with boys like Aiden and his followers but he had a bed, warm food and company. He was safe and he was receiving training so even if he did have to leave Praesidium, he would continue to be safe because of the survival skills that he had learnt.

Maybe Isaac was paranoid. Isaac had enjoyed being just the two of them. He didn’t trust anyone but James. James wondered whether Isaac would have liked Nixie and Noah. Before the world ended, definitely, but with the world as it is, maybe not. Probably not. Okay. No, he definitely wouldn’t. But Nixie and Noah were good. James wondered what had happened to them.

Thought swirled in his head until finally they quietened and James drifted off into the world of dreams.

X - X

James was lower than usual. Was he lying down? Sitting? No. He was shorter. His eyeline seemed to be half his usual height. He looked around him. He was in a metallic room. His heart beat heavily in his chest. It was pounding against his ribcage. Beasts surrounded him. In front. Left. Right. Behind. Their eyes were larger than normal and familiar.

Nixie? Noah? Two of the beasts had their eyes. What is going on?

James looked at the others around him. Aiden. Scott. Ellias. Jennifer. Aaron. Spencer. Allison. They were all here. Or at least their eyes were.

Suddenly Commander Dextera appeared. He was even larger than he usually was. He stood amongst the beasts, leaning dramatically over James, glaring down at him. 'You failed.' The Commander leaned further into him. 'Failed'

James shook his head. He tried to deny it with a ‘no’ but all that came out was a faint ‘grrrr’. James paused. Commander Dextera vanished and the beasts around him changed and morphed into one giant beast in front of him. Their eyes met. Isaac? No. Isaac was gone. Those were his own eyes. His eyes on a beast.

James’ breathing faltered as he realized something terrifying. He wasn’t looking at a beast with identical eyes. He was looking in a mirror. James hesitantly looked down. He was on his hands and knees. No. He was on all four paws. Paws with claws!

James backed away but as he backed away the beast in front of him simply mirrored his movement. No. No. No. It couldn’t be him.

NO!

James woke abruptly, a hand over his mouth and four different sets of hands holding him down. James struggled but four against one wasn’t great odds. The strength he had in one arm wasn’t enough to face the strength of the person putting his whole weight on James’ arm. Something was stuffed in James' mouth. Some fabric of some sort. It was wet and smelled terrible. Like sweat. Like a sweaty sock.

The grabbing hands lifted him while he was still struggling to get free. They carried him by his arms and legs through the room and to the toilet room at the end of the dorm. James struggled as he was dropped on his legs hard. He tried to break free as two of the captors had let him go to drop him to the ground but the four were one him in a second, pushing him forward and his head down.

James could see the toilet bowl in the darkness as he was forced closer and closer to the water. They didn’t force his face into the water which surprised him. They hovered his head just above it. What was this achieving? James couldn’t help but sneer.

His question was answered as the toilet flushed. The water in the toilet rose as water flooded in from around the rim. James coughed and sputtered as his head was drenched in the water. He had a short reprieve as the toilet tank refilled itself. He used the opportunity to catch his breath and try and struggle free but then the toilet was flushed once again and James was left spluttering.

Flush.

Breathe and struggle.

Flush.

Breathe. Struggle.

Flush.

Breathe. Strug--

The light flashed on. 'What is going on here?' a strong and demanding voice boomed around the small toilet room.

The hands instantly let James go, letting him struggle up to his feet and away from the toilet. James noticed a man stood at the door. He was glaring at all five of them. Aiden, Scott, Thomas, Dylan and himself. He was buff but he had a slight weight to him. He had a greying beard and short greying hair. His face was in a firm frown and it looked so natural on his face that James wondered whether he ever wore any other expression.

'Get back to your bunks!' The man growled.

Aiden and his followers sprinted out first. James hurried out after, not wanting to face his man’s glare alone. He hurried back into their room and to his bed. He ignored the grins from Aiden and his followers, the disgusted looks on the girl’s face and the sympathetic looks from the other three boys.

James tucked himself into bed, turned onto his side so he was facing the wall and closed his eyes, willing sleep to take him away.

To be continued...

in

Praesidium V: Temper! Temper!