MERCENARY

Chapter Three: The Ugly Truth

Aurelia still struggled to break free, by now the other man had to hold both Valentino and Elijah away from her. A syringe was jammed into he. neck, making her movements cease immediately. This only made the two boys more frantic and they soon followed.

They were carried off into the van where there were three other boys. They were strapped in and trapped in dark darkness. the engine roared to life as they made their journey to wherever it was orphans like them went. After what seemed like hours, the van came to a stopped. When the doors opened again there was nothing but tarred road. The collectors took them out of the beds and carried them to the door of a small cargo plane.

It was worse. the plan was filled with had to be at least a hundred children all strapped to beds. when they were set in place the door shut automatically. After a few minutes it took to the skies. Some children spoke to one another in hushed tones, while others remained still and silent.

Hours into the flight, the drug wore off. The three boys had not said anything and nether did Aurelia. She could not understand where such an ancient fear came from.

"Aurelia," Vale called her, turning her attention to him. "What happened back there?" five pairs of eyes turned to her, so the three boys heard her too. She looked at him sadly and told him she didn't know what came over her, and that all she knew was she was terrified of the men before her.

When they felt the aircraft hitting the ground. Silence fell over them once again. The door was opened and there were more soldiers now, but that wasn't all. The sky was covered on colors of orange and pink as streaks of daylight broke through the darkness. They had flown throughout the night.

The children were unstrapped and led outside in a single file. It was a private airfield they were in, you could tell. No one spoke, either due to fear or unrecovered shock. They came to a number of buses which they boarded.

By the time they had reached the gates to they're new lives, the sun was high in the sky. When they got off the bus, they were escorted to the front entrance and met with a giant auditorium on the other side.

At the other end of the room was a huge monitor. Aside from that, there were a series of doors around the room all with different names on them. One door in particular was marked "Engineering" and it was bigger than the rest. The screen brightened and a face came into view.

It was a man, seemingly in his late thirties or early fourties. He had striking green eyes, that shone brightly with mischief. "Welcome and good morning to you all," his voice boomed all across the room. "My name is Xavier Julius." "I'm sure you are all confused as to what is happening, some even scared; truth be told, you have nothing to fear because in a few minutes you will remember nothing of this encounter nor of anything prior."

The were a series of gasps and whimpers all around the room. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what he meant. A cruel smile formed as he continued. "You all have been born and bred to become some of the most dangerous things to walk this earth." "I encourage you to say your goodbyes."

The screen went black.

everyone was stunned.

For many moments, no one moved.

Out of the corner of Aurelia's eye, she saw a girl lose her footing. The boy she came to know as Theodore who was with them at the start, along with Jaden and Mariano looked to her. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Oh Selene," he said, his voice breaking. He started to sob and on cue everyone began running to those they knew. Wails of loss and agony

filled the room, much to the soldiers displeasure.

Elijah grabbed her and Valentino. They too sobbed uncontrollably. "promise me guys, no matter what it takes-" he couldn't even complete his sentence. For what seemed like forever, the children cried bitterly.

"Shut it down." A voice came from somewhere in the room. The soldiers put on gas masks and shortly after, the room was filled with a blue Haze. Bodies started to drop everywhere. A new feeling of panic floated in the air. Aurelia looked to the two boys, "I love you guys," she croaked out as her eyes closed.