Chapter 9

 

"They are beating us," Maggot shouts out from ahead.

He wraps the military grade rope around his waist and outruns the rest of us to the large obstacle course wall ahead.  The wall domes over our heads. When we look up and see it I think Jacob Varney just falls clean the fuck over.  

 

  It's been 11 months now.  Graduation from the Military academy would be coming soon.  This was the last practice before we would be scored. We would know soon enough just how impactful 11 months of intense Rainbow Agenda training would be. 

 

 

 

"I'll hoist you three up, we can still catch up to them."

 

Squad B had so many people.  It was the only benefit we had with them on the obstacle race.  Even though they were a strong solid force, there were just too many of them.  We'd managed to outrun them, all except Luis Pantaleo who is standing out in the front barking orders to his group like a true leader.  If we weren't lucky, they'd be able to get two dozen people including my now overweight cousin Marcus past the finishing line.  

 

"You're not strong enough."


I don't mean that he is weak.  He isn't. He was unlike Marcus, who was one of the only ones who hadn't improved physically and mentally from training.  Tanaka had an unbelievable body right now. It rivaled even members from Team A. I would say that my body was a lot tighter too.  I hate to give him the credit but we had to owe all of this to Jacob Varney. He walks out of no where at that moment and taps Tanaka. 



"I'll hoist everyone up..."

 

Varney was shirtless.  He has dried mud on. His camouflage pants hang low from two hours of obstacles that have stripped away at most of our clothing.  It's like the obstacle course was fucking with me in another way. Exposing his hard cascading muscles. His firm, round, butt that pokes out of his pants.  Then there is the sweat dripping down his glistening skin. My dick struggles to get hard at every point.



"We can all climb up.  You don't have to make this about you," I state. 

 

"This is about the team.  I always put the team first unlike you----"



The swipe at me is clear.  It comes out of no where. I almost grab at my chest when it happens.   I look over at Varney. He looks back at me. Our eyes connect. There is this heavy tension between us...ever since my engagement.


I guess an engagement would do that to a budding relationship huh?




"Can you two dumb motherfuckers get it together!"  Maggot fires at us, "I'm not going to lose because you dipshits cant figure out your hormones."




I give Jacob a look.  Jacob might have been responsible for getting the team together and helping us grow but he was also the one who got Maggot cursing like a sailor.  Maggot just has this thing about him now. He's extra harsh. I remember seeing the kids in New Jerusalem with their bullet backpacks. Nothing was quite the same.  Not anymore.


This was what the world has come to.

 

"Comoe on then!"



Maggot goes first.   Tanaka is hoisted up by Jacob right after.  When the two of them are up Jacob looks over at me.  He has these bedroom eyes. Dark, smoldering. I am beyond distracted at him as he licks his lips, takes a second and stops.

"What are you doing?"



"I just threw two people up a 12 foot wall," he says, "Forgive me if I just wanted to take a breathre for a minute."


A breathre.  That's what he wanted?  His chest rises and falls slowly.  He stretches. All the while we have this weird contact.  I look back at the wall. Sure enough Squad B's members were catchinig up to us.  Almost half were over their wall now. We wouldn't beat Squad A but the cameras were wall watching our training. 


The world was seeing whether we would pass or fail. 

 

"Ready?"



"Sure Cicily."



"Don't call me that."



"That's your name isn't it?" He asks. 

I give him a look.  It's crazy how distractions can stop your life completely.  11 months ago I was sure that Jacob Varney was the One. But then I get engaged, become ridiculously popular and get pulled into Basic Training.  Not too many surprises in basic training, as the military mind soon lived up to all of my expectations. The idea of basic training was to suppress any tendency toward individualism and replace it with unquestioning submission to authority.  No surprises there. But in execution the results could be pretty amusing to someone who didn't take the whole thing too seriously. Jacob Varney just happened to be smarter, faster, stronger and more charismatic than Tanaka and I. Guys like him didn't even try.  He wasn't even like the Squad A guys who relished in their greatness. Varney just happened to be great and was doing a hell of a reluctant job at it. 

 

"You wanna talk about this now?" I ask.


I mean it.  No mocking. No bullshit.  We'd avoided each other for  awhile. And he flexes again.  Flexes in a way that makes me regret 11 months ago when he looked at me with something other than complete resentment. 

"No.  Come on.  You get up and pull me up."



I nod.  I step back.  I have to clear this.  Why am I so nervous? I turn and realize the reason is right inf ront of me.  Him. Our eyes have connected a million times in the last 11 months. We'd had a million conversations.  We'd spoken a milliion times about things without saying a word to each other. Everytime we were in a room our eyes were connecting to one another.  It was this force pulling us together. It's the only way to describe it. 

I make a run start.  His eyes focus. His muscles flex.  I get to him and take a step up on his prepared palms.  They push me up as hard as he can...with one hand. It's kind of remarkable how high I go.  My body soars through the air like some sort of bird. 

 

I grab for what I can.



But nothing. 

 

I come back falling down, straight into his arms.  He catches me. I look up at him and for a moment like an angel I felt like this was some beautiful moment. 

 

"HURRY THE FUCK UP!"  I hear from behind the wall.

It's Maggot.

"Guys he has a point...we're losing..."



Jacob puts me down.  We're close still though.  He looks at me. At my eyes first and then at my lips but then at my eyes again.  In another day, he would have kissed me. In another day I would have kissed him. Insead of doing either of those things though I just stand there like an idiot not knowing how to react around this boy.

He immobilized me. 

"You didn't grab..." he states.

 

All of a sudden I get defensive, "It's my fault?  You used one hand. Why are you trying to show off?"



"I got you high as I did anyone else with one hand."



"That's not the point.  The point is you're distracting me."



"What about me distracts you?" he asks.

 

"EVERYTHING!"



My face flushes red at that moment.  I'm embarrassed. I'm shocked. My mind floods with embarrassment.  I look back at him realizing that I just showed all my hands and revealed just how weak I am for him.  I don't even realize the camera in my face at that moment. It isn't until I see Lisa Tran standing there giving me a thumbs up that I remember this is all being filmed for the entire world to see. 

 

Fuck. 

 

That's when I notice him still standing there.  It's as though he knows that I'm nervous about the cameras.  I look down and realize that he's holding my hand.



"You OK?"



I'm nervous.  My heart is beating fast.  It's about the camera. It's about me freaking out.  It's about Squad B beating us. It's about training almost being over.  It's about the fact that we are about to go into a REAL war. One none of us were really prepared for regardless of the training they gave us.

 

"I'm fine..." I state.

"I'm not," he states.

My heart is racing.  What was he doing? What the hell was he doing?  I knew I showed my card. I shouldn't have. But this wasn't supposed to be happening now.  We were in a competition. Somehow though when he looks at me my heart ceases in this wear way. 

 

Jacob Varney is still holding my hand, "It's just that..."



I had to stop him.  He was about to say something that would reveal our relationship to the entire world.  And if he revealed our relationship he'd have to reveal the fact that he didn't actually give a damn about Cair.  He was liked Cicily. I was Cicily.  

 

That could mean prison time or worse.

Jacob clearly wasn't thinking and I had to interrupt.

"I'M ENGAGED!" I bark at him.

 

It's the first thing that comes to mind.  As soon as the words leave my lips I reach for them almost literally to grab them and pull them back in.  None of that works though. The words I say hit him and they hit him hard. He looks a little upset when he stands there. 

 

He walks away at that moment.  Not just away from me.



He walks away from the event.

~




Coming last place was a huge embarrassment.   I hear the lesser squards whispering in the mesh hall.  This is the main reason why I am so surprised that when I walk into Lisa Tran's office she seems to be in an amazing mood.  She's not alone. Osiris has joined her as well. When I walk with Tanaka, the two of them seem almost ecstatic.

 

"There goes our hero."




"Hero?" Tanaka asks, "We got clobbered.  Maggot is still in there pacing back and forth.  I literally had to put on the news to get him to go to sleep."



"No one cares if you guys win those stupid military comps,"  LIsa Tran explains, "Everyone expects Bashir's squad to win everything anyway."

I interrupt, "I care.  We need to work as a team."




"Then maybe the two of you should figure out what the hell you have going on,"  Tanaka chides a little bit, "If we were on the battlefield, you and Joseph just basically put your personal feelings in front of the needs of the team."


When he says that he seems to almost as though he is attacking.  I can see it in his eyes that he's upset. Really upset. I guess this was coming.  It's the reason that he didn't bring Maggot in here. Maggot was beyond pissed.



"I'm sorry---"

 

"Sorry for what?" Lisa Tran steps in eclipsing Tanaka, "The internet is ablaze.  Everyone is talking. Team Joseph is getting more and more votes."



I'm confused.




"Team Joseph?"  I ask.

Lisa Tran and Osiris look at each other.  They laugh a little bit.  

"So it was my plan," Osiris states, "I figured you and Joseph were all secretly in love with one another but too scared to show it.  So...I took it upon myself to spark things up. Get you two all hot and bothered together."



I'm shocked.

"You never were into Joseph?"



Osiris laughs, "Oh don't get me wrong.  Joseph Varney is one of the sexiest men I ever met.  But my motivation was to get you two together."




"Why?"




Osiris and Lisa shrug, "It's not what you think.  It's not all about ratings. That's what other people want to see having you get with a man you don't love."



I roll my eyes, "Right so this is just about the kindness you feel for me?"



Osiris corrects me, "No.  Not you. Him. He really cares about you.  You should watch this. This was part of last week's show.  The show that started the #TeamJoseph movement. A movement that you weren't even aware of."



Team Joseph?  I knew the shows were playing on television.  I knew that people would be making memes and maybe even picking favorites.  I'd figured with all the people on camera in Squab B and Squad A, that they wouldn't be able to fit much of me in a one hour weekly show.  The fact that people were concerned about my love life in a time like this is...strange.

 

"I'm glad you all think this is a dating show," Tanaka states, slamming a chair, "Maggot and me lost people. Real people.  Not dramatized fake reality you guys cook up in the background..."



He storms up out of the room. 

"Tanaka," I call out.



Osiris and Lisa had cold faces.  Both of them were mostly unmoved by Tanaka storming out of the room the way he does.



"He's wrong.  Reality is too much for people.  Death is too much for people. What they need right now is fantasy.  You can give this to them..." Lisa Tran states.

 

"By doing what?"  I ask.



"We never told you any of what we are doing in the background," Osiris states, slapping his palms together, "Because we want you to be authentic.  So keep being authentic. That's why Joseph loves you."



He kept using that word.  Love. Over and over. 

 

"The President wants me to be with Bashir..."  I state.

 

"Of course he does..." LIsa Tran whispers to Osiris.



They say somethings low amongst themselves.  Things I don't hear or care to hear because I'm taking the opportunity of them being distracted by finding out the president wanted me to be with Bashir while they preferred me open my heart to Joseph.   

 

Right now though, my concern was neither of them.  My concern was Tanaka. He was halfway down the barrack hall right now.  He swings his ruckpack off his shoulders to the ground and looks up at me when I approach. 

"I want love..." Tanaka states...


It's random to say.  But he has it on his mind.  It must mean something to him.

"Me too."



He rolls his eyes, "You have Bashir.  You have Joseph. If you want him. Clearly he cares more about having a conversation with you then the rest of the team."


That's what this was about.

 

"I'm sorry."



"Sorry isn't good enough," Tanaka responds, "Lisa and Osiris are blind.  They are ready to die for this idea. This idea that what we do here will make a difference in this war or in this world.  I'm telling you that it won't, Cair."


"You think I'm stupid?" I ask him, "I know that..."


We sit in silence for a moment.   There were bigger squads. They'd be going into bigger battles.  We were different. Celebrities that they'd march out.  

 

"If one of us dies...it'll probably be better ratings for them," Tanaka states.



I look at him.  We'd gotten close over this time.   It's hard not to.  

 

"Fuckers..." I hear a voice state.

 

I turn and see Maggot walking up.  He grabs up against a crotch and holds it firm.  Then he looks over at a guy walking by and motions at him.  The guy is probably three times age if not more. This is something Jacob has taught him.  Jacob is not too far laughingi his head off at the job he is done while Tanaka attempts to scold him.   

 

Jacob looks over at me.  

 

"Heard the President talking to Bashir..." Jacob says out of no where, "Was all up his ass.  What's that about?"



"Can we not talk about Bashir?" I ask. 

 

He nods for a moment.  AftewardWe don't speak. 

 

Life is strange.  You walk through an airport.  You walk into a store. You meet people from all different aspects of lives with all diffent experiences.  And sometimes you share a moment. Sometimes those experiences cross. A clash of souls. And then we go on living our lives until we expire.  

 

That's what we were in that moment. 


Tomorrow was our last event.   

~  

 

 

 

 

Capture the flag.  That was the event.  Simple. Three teams.  The teams would all have their own flag.  The first team to capture the other two teams flags wins.

 

It should have been simple.



"Millions will be watching..."



I don't know if it's Lisa or Osiris who say it.  It doesn't matter. They are all apart of it. The Agenda.  The Agenda wouldn't let this event be simple.   

 

Within 24 hours of arrival we were all shorn of hair, stripped of civilian clothing and personal possessions, and put into new age pods.   My heart is thumping. Scans go up and down our bodies. Each and every piece of those uniforms was to be stamped with an identifying mark consisting of the first initial of our last name and the last four digits of our social security number. 

 

A gust of wind pumps out of the pods handles and opens.  I struggle to see where I am until I turn down and see I'm in some sort of forest.

"Come...come...!"

 

I turn and see Silk Valdez.  Silk is standing there looking like a million dollars even in the forest.  I'm relieved when I see him even in though he has on a shimmering silver duster and platform heels and would probably be completlely in a fight...even a gay war.

 

"Silk thank god..." I state, "I have so much I need to talk to you about."



Silk would know what I needed to do with Jacob.  He'd know what I needed to do about Bashir as well. 

 

The look in his eye is different though, "No time, girl.  They are giving us two minutes. Imagine? Just two minutes.  Then we have to leave you alone here..."



"How am I supposed to find my team?"




He shrugs," I can't help you love. Two minutes.  Here. This is your outfit. They wanted us to give you all violet.  Imagine all that muscle and beauty of Joseph Varney in violet. Violet.  Out of all the colors of the rainbow. Violet never looks good on a man.  Never. I did what I could to make yours special darling."

 

He hands me a duffle bag.  There are clothes in there and a vest and a lazer style sort of gun.

"Easy enough..."



"It'll hurt worse than death if you get shot with one of those," Silk explains to me, "Good luck girl...you'll need it."





I look in my bag when Silk is gone.  There is no map. I look up at the sky and see a floating thing above me hovering.  Camera. All of this was being recorded. I think about what Silk would want me to do in this moment and wave towards the camera flirting a little bit.  If as many people were watching this as I thought then maybe I could send and SOS message or something.  

 

It doesn't take long for me to meet up with the others.  It seems like each of our starting points leads that far.  But once the four of us are together we are lost from there.



"That's the flag," Tanaka states, "Pointing at the tree.  The violet flag. We have to get the green flag and the gold flag."



"We might have to each guard the flag...take turns.  Snipe a couple of them down... and then when we feel we have a good enough chance we go for it," Jacob states.

Tanaka shakes his head, " No.  Three of us protect the flag. Jacob you are the quickest.  You can go. You can get it."



The two of them start going back and forth as usual.  I understand both perspectives. I'm surprised though when Maggot looks up at me.

"I don't want a dick measuring contest with these two again.  So what do you suggest?"





Jacob surprisingly nods and turns to me.  He licks his lips and says, "Actually I wouldn't mind that.   I wouldn't mind us letting Cair decide."

 

"We all go for it," I state.

All three of them look at me like I have three heads.  

 

Jacob rescinds his endorsement, "Actually,  you been trippin a lot lately with your ideas..."



Tanaka and Varney start laughing at each other.  It's part of them kind of getting close that has been irritating me.  I loved Tanaka on his own but when he got with Jacob he always wanted to try to be `cool'.  Maybe it's the fact that Jacob got attention. Maybe it's this whole "Team Jacob" thing that I found out really was a THING in the real world. 

 

"I'm serious..." I state.

Maggot is the one who jumps in, "Go all out."



I nod, "We aren't as many as the Squad B Team.  We aren't as skilled as the Squad A team. It's just us.  We have to get to their flags quick."



"The unexpected..." Jacob states, "I like it.  And I think I know just how we can start..."



~

 

v

 

He grunts.  

  

An hour later I see Jacob coming out of the bushes.  He has something in his hand. He holds it up to the light.  As I look at it I see exactly what it is. It's a green flag. 

"How the----" I start off.

He shrugs, buckling up his pants, "I have my ways."



"Slut," Tanaka teases him.



I'm not laughing.  Not like Tanaka and Maggot are.  I hold tight to the gun at that moment and I'm beyond pissed.



"I'm single..."
 

Just at that moment I see a red dot on his forehead.  He's so distracted that he doesn't see it.



"Man I want to be like you when I grow up," Tanaka reaches over to shake Jacob's hand just when the shot goes off.

I shout when Tanaka goes down.  He lays on the ground stuck. His suit had a light on it but that light had gone out completely.

 

I try to lift him but realize how heavy the suit is.



"Damn what are you doing.  Get up Tanaka."




"He's out..."



I turn at that moment to Jacob. 

"

"Captain, Delta seven is out of it." Came the voice of one of the ground personnel from ground B seconds before Jacob Varney swoops out and shoots him.

He squirms a bit. The pain looks intense.  He passes out a second after. Supposedly these vests felt just like death.  I could only imagine. I didn't plan on getting shot and luckily things were going well. 

 

"Captain," Jacob says to us, "I like the sound of that."

 

He swept his eyes across the landscape and saw the burning hulk of the destroyed All Terrain Transport Delta Seven that Squad B had been using. It's littered with Squad B members.  That meant they failed at whatever they were trying to do. If they weren't attacking us they were attacking Squad A. The base was close.  

 

"Why do you have to be the leader?"


"Because I'm naturally the best one on the team. I have the best ideas..."



I give Jacob a look.  Sometimes the cockiness was sexy but othertimes like now he was really startinig to feel himself.

"Fine what do we do now?"


I stare at him, real hard.  After a few seconds its clear the staring works. 

He bites his lip, "I can't concentrate when you look at me like that."


I roll my eyes, "Maggot...Get the ATT's to fall back to higher ground, fire down on them...they are close."




Maggot's eyes get real bright.  Too bright. In a matter of seconds I see the kid throw down his backpack and pull out his ATT.  It's an Automatic Tank Transformer. The transformer was a drone. Maggot specialized in it during training.  The others are shocked at what he can do twisting it in the air in a matter of seconds and able to control the device as it cascades into the trees.   

 

A few seconds pass. 

"I got something," Maggot states.

Tanaka lets out a laugh lookinig over at Joseph, "I dunno...Jo.  Looks like Cair might be winning the Captain Debate."

 

We watch from Maggot's drones.  Squad A is there. They are taking out the remainder of Squad B.   Pantaleo is the only one left against a full in tact group of muscled troops.  He is covering for his other troops who are attempting to retreat. Troops at the front of the formation of Heavy Artillery soldiers began to scatter and orange flames could be seen erupting all over the place.   Andre Jasper and Salvatore Mander are tag teaming them. Their cameras aren't too far behind them watching the massacre.The rear units could hear horrific screams and men began withdrawing their pulse pistols and rifles, even setting timers for thermal detonators. As the men at the front lines began to fall victim to the searing flames huge, almost blimp like creatures spouting a napalm like substance at the defense forces were visible.

 

"Fall back men, fall back." Cried Pantaleo as the living flame-throwers neared, and the units surrounding began to slowly retreat. 

 

That's when I see Salvatore Mander take off.  I'm not sure where he is heading but 

But not too far away was Bashir. 

 

"Fire!" he screamed. All around him carbines and portable mounted plasma cannons erupted with crimson and blue bolts of plasma energy, burning furrows in the ground and speeding toward the bulbous flame eaters. 

 

"Look," I point, "The flag...there..."



I point behind Bashir.  The others look at me. It was now or never.  They would leave it open for us. Halfway through we see Osiris and Lisa.   There camera drones circling us. It was now or never. 

 

Tanaka and I straddle the middle.  Maggot follows from behind. Jacob leads the charge.  That's when we see Bashir. He pops out of no where ready to defend the flag.  The fake gun mimics more flames as he shoots them at us. We duck just in time.  Jacob and Bashir exchange fire afterward. I jump out from behini the rocks and fire.  The burning tracer bolts struck the hide of the rocks we are hiding behind, but all that did was re-direct the creatures flame toward the source of the gunman.

 

"Someone grenade the bastard!" Maggot shouted from somewhere to his right, and three thermal detonators flew through the air towards Bashir.

 

Two of the three fell at the feet of Bashir created flame-throwers and  exploded in a brilliant flash of light sound and debris. Pieces of fragmented metal shot out in a vast sphere, burying themselves.  

 

"Maggot go! GO!" Tanaka calls out, jumping up high on a platform to see Squad A flag. 

 

The flag was in the distance tucked away in a tree.  It's clearly Squad A. They have managed to dig a ditch arond it. 


Just at that moment I hear him scream hard.  His eyes get wide and then light on his chest flickers a few times.  Someone was approaching though. I turn and see that it's Andre Jasper.  Turning and locating the vessel, he fired behind him four times before running to a better position. Holstering his pistol, he withdrew a larger rifle from it's slot on his backpack. Crouching behind a partly destroyed hover-speeder, he cocked the barrel on his arm and aimed.

 

"Get the flag," Tanaka screams.

 

That's when Tanaka sacrifices himself running at Andre Jasper.  Just as he does that we run for the flag but I hear the fires all of a sudden and I see Maggot scream out in pain.  I turn to Maggot and watch him hit the floor. He's been shot. He shivers with pain as he realizes the lights on his vests are going out.

I try to grab him.  Save him but I can't.  Whoever shot him was not shooting at us.  Jacob and I hide behind a tree stump. Our guns at our side.

"Who the hell is it?"



He takes out a mirror.  I watch him focus it away from us. 



He clears his throat, "Fucking Bashir Ballerina.  Your boyfriend just doesn't want to have us win this...does he."



"Wheres Mander?" I ask.


"Fuck Mander.  Ballerina needs to get taken down."



I nod.  He had a point.  

 

"Only one of us can get to the flag.  The other one has to distract him," Joseph states.

I roll my eyes, "I really don't want to get shot with these things."



He laughs, "Really?"



I sigh, "Fine, Whatever.  You take it from the left and I'll go from the right."


We split.  My heart is racing as fast as my legs.  I'm getting to the side of the building and that's when I see him.  Bashir. He is right there. Facing me. His gun is up. My gun is up. 


I have the ability to do it.  I can shoot right now.

Why am I panicking?



I hesitate and it's the biggest mistake.  Bashir raises his weapon.



"Sorry babe..."



"You're going to shoot me?" I ask.

"It's just a game..."



BANG!



That's when I see Bashir getting shot from behind.  Behind him I see Joseph. It's strange but for some reason he hasn't left me. 


I look at him.

He looks at me.



"You came back for me?" I ask.

He smiles, "Yeah.  Yeah I guess I did.  Hey listen...we can get the flag together---"



"GAME OVER!"



I'm confused.  Joseph is as well when we see the camera lights all go over.  Producers are coming out. It's the end. How ? How was that even possible.

 

But that's see Salvatore Mander.

He has our flag in his hands.



~

 

 

We are quiet for the most part.  Our faces drafted over losing. I'm sitting in the room with the others and honestly I don't know what to say.

"Guys---" I start off.

"You're sorry?"  Maggot asks, "Save it..."



He rolls his eyes.  They were pissed. If Jacob hadn't come back for me we would have lost.   We are waiting on Osiris and Lisa to come tell us what our scores were. How bad we would have lost.  How big of a disappointment we were to everyone.

And looking at Maggot I know that things are weird between us. 

 

"I just did what I had to do..."



"Shut the fuck up while you're ahead man," Tanaka states.

"Don't talk to him like that, "Jacob interrupts.



"Fuck you too.  We are supposed to be a team, idiot..."



Jacob gets up.  He looks like he is about to go off on Tanaka but luckily the door opens and Lisa is there.  She has this big smile on and champagne in her hand. I'm confused why she comes in the room like that and she seems confused on why we are in




"What is happening?" I ask.

 

"We thoroughly impressed the President," she states, "In fact he had a surprise for us.  He was expanding our team."



I look over at Maggot and Tanaka. They were upset.  Surprised now but they were clearly upset. 

 

And that's when the door open.

And we meet our new recruit.

 

A recruit that would change everything.

 

"Hello brother," He says to me.

 

 

To read the next chapter go to www.crushedcrown.com