The War

Last First Day

After Chance and Amber left the big office they walked into a different elevator on the other side of the building. Amber could still feel the pounding headache she had from her induction and it made her slightly nervous. She expected to feel the pack open up to her, and the feeling of all their minds joined was supposed to give her a surge of energy, power, and a feeling of community. But instead it left her dizzy, and with a pounding headache. Not a good start if you asked her. 

Chance continued to watch Amber out of the corner of his eye and he felt a tinge of sympathy for her when she kept rubbing at her temples. They were already running a little late to her first day at the new training facility they had built, because the induction had taken a little bit longer than expected. He internally sighed as he kept his face forward and continued to lead Amber down a set of hallways and ultimately out of two double glass doors. 

He opened the doors for Amber, and saw her paleness instantly dissipate when she walked outside and in the warm sun. 

When Amber felt the sun on her skin, it brought goosebumps and a shiver down her spine. Her headache disappeared and she felt a surge of energy fill her entire being. She dropped her hand from her temple and looked around outside the building. The sounds of birds filled her ears, and made her mind at ease. The fresh smell of the trees, and landscaping filled her nostrils. She felt a familiarity with the smell, it made her feel at home, but she couldn't necessarily pinpoint why her being outside made her feel alive again. 

When Chance saw her eyes focus and turn into a strikingly vibrant color, and the bags under her eyes disappear he felt a sigh of relief. In the building and up until now Amber had looked exhausted, fried, and on death's door. But now, she looked like a normal young woman, who didn't have a care in the world. He could almost go on to argue that he could see a little smile spread across her face, this made him happy for her. This also reinforced his faith in his Alpha to make the right decisions. Since Amber was now of Warrior class she would spend majority of her time training outside and hunting the pack lines, she just had to deal with Caden. The thought of the Beta made Chance frustrated, he saw the way he looked at Amber, as if she was a prized piece of meat, and it angered him to the core. She was a child. 

Amber walked along the sidewalk with Chance, taking in her renewed energy and the beautiful landscaping around the building. When they rounded the corner of the building Amber felt a fear settle itself deep in her chest. She stood, shell shocked at what she saw before her. 

Chance spooked at her sudden shift of energy and looked around. She must have sensed something in the parking lot that he hadn't. Instantly, he became defensive looking around widely. If he had access to his wolf, he no doubt would have been on edge as well. 

Amber looked around at the paved lot infront of her, large metal things filled the area. All of them in different colors of red, black, grey, blue, white. She hesitated as she waited for them to move. What are these things? She wondered. Is it some type of war machinery? She hesitantly stepped off the sidewalk and into the lot following Chance. She approached one of the objects closer, and her eyes widened when she realized they had a room inside of it, with chairs and a wheel, and buttons!

Chance looked at Amber and saw the fascination on her face. He felt a wave of humor hit him when he saw her curiosity at the car in front of her. He assumed she probably had never seen a car in person before, especially after the fight he had with her to get into the elevator. He shook his head, a small smile across his face. "That's called a car." He stopped and looked at her touch the glass, and pull at the handle. "If you follow me we will be riding in one of those here soon." He turned and kept walking to the all black Tahoe in the corner of the lot. 

Amber quickly jogged to catch up with him. "Ride in it? It moves?" She asked, as she approached Chance who held the door of the Tahoe open for her. "I'm supposed to get in that?" She asked, looking at Chance with wide eyes. 

Chance smiled at her, his patience endless. "Yes, hop in. Sit in the chair, and pull that strap across your lap. There is a little square next to the chair, click it in place. It keeps you safe." As Amber crawled into the car, her body clunky and shaking with anticipation, Chance began to seat-belt her into the car and close the door. He walked around to the other side of the vehicle and hopped in. He cranked the car and drove out of the parking lot and to the training grounds. 

Throughout the ride he couldn't help but feel himself laugh around Amber, her innocence was a breath of fresh air for him. In the facility he worked at with the Alpha and Beta, he was constantly supposed to put on this facade and be professional. He was never allowed to be himself. Let alone now that her position in the pack was secured he could actually become attached to Amber. This was a job where Chance often saw a lot of executions. Prisoners that were taken in, if deemed worthy the opportunity to join the pack got to Alpha Brutus and then wouldn't make it out the door. Alpha was very particular of the people he allowed in his pack, and he must have seen something in Amber that he hadn't in all the others. 

Amber was too engrossed in playing with the radio stations and hearing people talk, playing with the heated seats of the car, and adjusting her seat she hadn't noticed that Chance had parked the car and had hopped out of his side. When the door opened for her, and he unclipped her seat belt she hopped out of the car and looked at the sight before her. Her eyes widened. There was a large building with a metal shiny roof, the building was made of large concrete bricks, similar to her interrogation room. In the front of the facility was a small square patch of grass, but behind the facility were large obstacles. There was an outline of a building made of wood with no walls elevated off the ground, there were zip-lines that swung from tree to tree. There were obstacle courses, and large fields as far as the eye could see. 

Chance saw her take in the training facility before her, a sense of pride in his pack originated within him. "This is where you will train, six days a week. Until you become a wolf-"

Those words triggered something in Amber's brain, suddenly her eyes glazed over and she saw an image before her. There were two young women probably not over the age of 18 all dressed in red gowns. The gowns had gold embellishments on them, and they had beautiful intricate details on their arms and shoulders in a type of ink. On their foreheads they had three dots and an upside-down crescent, something Amber had seen many times before. Their faces looked at each other with worried excitement. They appeared to stand in a clearing of woods, a large amount of people surrounded them. Amber felt a flash infront of her eyes and the image was gone as fast as it came to her. The image replayed over and over in her mind, she felt a familiarity to it, but she couldn't place where the image came from. It made her feel sick to her stomach. 

Chance, noticing his entire shpeal of her being a Warrior fell on deaf ears when he saw her staring off into the distance. "Amber, are you okay?" He asked, watching her intently. 

Amber shook her head gingerly, looking at Chance. Was she supposed to tell him? Would he know who those two girls were? "I'm fine, just a little overwhelmed." She decided to say.   

Chance noticing her tone had changed knew something was up, but wouldn't press the issue. Instead he continued on to the back of the training facility where he knew the Warrior group would be training during this time of day. 

Amber hesitantly followed him  until she saw a large group of people standing in a circle in a wide green field, a man who was graying at the top of his head saw the two approaching and ended his speech early. Taking in the new arrival. The people dispersed and all went different directions, some of the people casually getting a glance at Amber. 

When Chance approached the trainer he smiled at him, and shook his hand. "Aldolfo! It's nice to see you again!" 

Aldolfo gave Chance a large smile before turning his attention on the little girl next to him. He grimaced at what he saw. Chance had called him earlier saying that they had a newcomer to the pack who was of Warrior class, but what he saw infront of him was a little girl who didn't have the stature of a warrior, he couldn't even sense her wolf. 

Aldolfo smiled at the girl, remembering his manners in front of the Delta and held his hand out for the girl. "Hello, my name is Aldolfo I am the main trainer here at the new warrior facility. And you are?"

Amber looked at the well built man infront of her, his cheek bones very strong and his arms heavily built with muscle. "I'm Amber" she said taking his hand and shaking it, "It's nice to meet you." She could feel the callouses in Aldolfo's hands and the strength radiate from him. 

Aldolfo looked at Amber, and felt her frail fingers take his hand. It made him worried for the newcomer. He shot Chance a look of questioning, Chance just smiled and shrugged his shoulders in return. Aldolfo looked back down at Amber, and smiled at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He let go of her hand and began to give the two of them a tour of the new facility. 

He introduced them to the resident warriors on the grounds who would most likely train Amber at one point in time, and to some of the warriors in training that were her age. Amber took all the new names and faces quickly, making sure each one received an honest smile and a quick conversation. He was honestly impressed with her diplomacy. 

When they ended their tour of the facility, Aldolfo showed Amber where she would be staying and all of her clothes and equipment she would need until she turned 18. Afterwards Chance got a phone call from someone of importance and quickly said his "good-byes" then left the two of them awkwardly standing there. Amber began to feel slightly overwhelmed. Last night she was in an interrogation room and now she was training to fight and defend a pack she just joined this morning. 

Aldolfo saw the young girl beginning to struggle to take all the new information in and he decided that now would probably be an appropriate time to let her wander and discover new stuff for herself. So he quickly excused himself, and left her alone sitting on the edge of her cot by herself in her new room that she shared with the others. 

Amber looked around the small army type room she sat in. There were four beds all in the same room, two sets of bunk beds. Each cot was different in the types of sheets. The top cot on the adjacent bunk-bed had navy blue sheets with posters on the wall next to her. The bed across from hers had pretty light cyan sheets, and the one above her had grey sheets. Her cot still had faded white sheets, and she assumed that overtime she might be able to change them somehow. 

In the distance and down the hallway she heard people talking excitedly, and she could only understand bits and pieces of the conversation they were having. She decided that if she was going to make the most of her stay here, she would probably have to start introducing herself to other people around here and getting to know the place. She sighed internally, her introverted self began to grow tired with the thought of it. Still though, she slowly got up off her bed and wandered out the door and down a hallway.