Chapter 3
1536 Words
LYLA“Lyla- this way!” I turned abruptly; Hunter yelled as I nearly made a wrong turn. “That is the laundry room!”
“Oh sorry.” Me and Gwen laughed as we followed him. I stared around, nothing much, some bookshelves, a navy carpet, cosy lounge area…
“Hey, um, sorry.” A girl whispered.
“Um no, sorry.” I bent down to pick up her documents for her.
“I’m Elene, you?”
“Lyla.”
“Hunter? Is this one of our new girls?”
“Oh, Elene. Yes. By the way, meet Elene, one of your coaches!” Me and Gwen nodded in unison and shot each other a ‘this is confusing’ look.
“I’m Gwen.”
“Nice names.” Elene walked away.
Further on the corridor, there was a similar room to the boys.
“Here, oh, hi?” Hunter entered the room. There were two other girls in there.
“Hi!” A girl popped out from behind the door. “Ooh, more people.”
“Hi.”
“Um sorry, where are my manners, I’m Venus.”
“Lyla.”
“I’m Gwen.”
“Ziara.”
“You girls settle in there; I’ll go check on Luna and Asher.” Hunter closed the door behind him.
“Um, so… Are we supposed to be in the other room?”
Venus nodded. Gwen pushed opened the interconnecting door, which did I mention, was pretty cool. I gave the room a good scan; three neatly made single beds on one side of the room, with three identical sets of wardrobes, shelves and desks. “Why 3?” Gwen stared at me blankly.
“No idea.”
“Anyways, dibs on the left bed.”
“You know I sleep next to the window- so sureeee!” I settled in to unpack, nothing much. Just a few hoodies, notebooks and shirts. The door creaked open.
“Hello, I haven’t properly thanked you girls yet, um I’m Asher, and thank you so much for putting in the effort to save Luna.”
“Um, I’m Gwen- no worries. I was just-”
I cut her off, she was probably going to ask about the bomb and that, I mean talking about a bomb is not the most decent thing to be an icebreaker. “Lyla, um, I guess, I wouldn’t want Luna to die…”
“Yes, I will leave you here to unpack and come down in 10 so I can introduce you to the others.”
I pushed a smile on my face. “It is finally happening!” I squealed as the door slammed shut.
“Yea, yea, whatever, and what is even happening?”
~
Ten minutes passed quick, before I knew it, we were down at the ‘study’ which was surprisingly comfy.
“Since everyone is here, should we start with a short introduction of ourselves?” Asher broke the silence. “I’m Asher, one of your coaches for the period of time you will be in the Lagency, unless there are any changes, I will be teaching you for the following time here.” He paused, and realizing no one would speak up, he said, “What if we go around in this circle. Hunter you’re next.” After we introduced our names in the most awkward way possible, Asher, who by this time, I realized was in charge all the time, spoke up.
“We will start actual training on Monday, but in these few days, you guys will settle down and get geared up and get used to the grounds.” Asher peered at his watch. “You can get going, just come down when I call.” I looked at my watch- Thursday, we still had 3 days till actual training. I went back up to our dorm with Gwen as we left, Hunter handed us a timetable.
Wake-up 07:30 am
Breakfast starts at 07:15 to 08:00
Stretching and warm at 08:00.
Run till 08:30
Short Break and put in Laundry 08:30
Training at 08:45- 12:00
Lunch till and fold laundry 13:00.
Between 13:00 to 17:00 one to two/ one training sessions.
17:15 weaponry training/ relaxing sports.
18:30 supper.
Private training (practice) until 20:30
Relax until 21:45
In bed 21:45
Lights out 22:00
Wednesday and Saturday, training starts at 9:30
No group training on Sunday, but there will be privates!
~“Gwen and Lyla, can you please come to the study now?” Asher’s voice blasted through the microphone on the top of our hallway. I jumped up from folding my clothes.
“Fitting!” Elene’s voice rang through.
I stood there in panic; we were going to be late. We ran down the stairs, nearly tripping all over the place. As we burst into the study, Asher let out a quiet laugh. “No need to rush- um Lyla, you can go get some gear first, Elene can help you.”
Wait what? Gear? I followed Elene into a room with a bunch of messy wires and machines.
“Um just grab this for me?” Elene pushed a gel like stick in front of me. I grabbed onto it, it looked like a g*n, but with a soft handle.
“What’s this for?”
“A personalized gun.”
I raised my eyebrows but didn’t respond.
“Now just go in here…” Elene chewed on her gum.
“Ok…”
Simply putting it, it was a round machine, like the ones you go through in immigration. There were rings of light that lit up as I stood still. It was like some high-tech body scanner. After a shrill ring from the machine. I was asked to step out.
“Now we just wait.” I went back to the study and just sat there.
“Um- so do you do any sports?” Asher asked trying to raise the mood.
“Not really… um I do swim, just that I’m not good at it.”
“Well, you will learn here!”
“Lyla!” Elene’s voice rang from the room. “Come here your gear is done!”
I rushed into the room, wow. “Behold, the one and only – well technically more than one but—Lyla’s exoskeleton.”
“But it’s close to invisible!”
“Well, it made of the best shock absorbing technology…”
“Ok, you mean I get to wear this all the time?”
“No… so introducing you to… the pretty normal looking clothes!”
“Wow the exoskeleton is wayyyy cooler.”
“Yea yeah, but wayyyy weirder, and you won’t wanna train in that- it's different, and just wear exoskeletons when you are outside the campus. You are going to live.” She handed me a pair of glasses, some contacts and jewellery.
“Oo, mints!”
“No, those are more like shockers… Anyways, why not go try on the exo.” I scanned the nearly invisible exo. It was- amazing. I stood in the machine as the exo clamped onto me.
“And the helmet.” I clasped the helmet which clenched to my jawline.
“Wow- I mean this is, just weird! And it feels weightless.”
“There is a boost and powerup too…”
“Wait what?”
“You can jump more than 50% higher, it preserves energy, enhances your movements, you are at least 50% faster, and can lift stuff 25% heavier.”
“Oh my gosh, this is cool!”
“And these shirts are for day-to-day training, bulletproof, shock absorbing, enhanced movement, weight and increases speed by 10%.”
“Wait you are telling me- these, plain shirts and leggings are like booster and protective gears?”
“Try them on for tomorrow. Being in the Lagency means you are exposed to constant dangers. So- just wear these for the time being, oh and the glasses and stuff- glasses are visuals, and jewelleries are like hearing aids and microphones. We usually wear ortho bands and contacts when we are actually working, but don’t worry about that.”
~
We strode down the muddy path, it was Sunday already. I gazed up in the air as a soft breeze spread my hair out freely. As we followed the trial of muddy prints, pushing past ancient, overgrown vines, our chatter filled the air. A week ago, I was just a teenage girl… Now, I’m at a camp where I’m supposed to train and be a someone.
“Come on Lyla!” Venus yelled.
“Coming!” I raced after them as we entered the dining room. I guess this place was fun, but I also guess I misjudged.
- Writer
