Pillars of Glass Read online

  “I will and thank you for the advice sir.” Alex stood up and grabbed his rifle. “Is that all for this lesson?”

  “Sadly,” Tillery said as he stood up. “Yes it will be. I’m not sure you’ll be in need for any more of my help before the games start. I’ll only be able to help you in theory from this point on as you’re the most proficient student in every application in the field. Just make sure you execute to the best of your ability and you’ll walk out of there where you want to be.”

  The instructor reached for the rifle and Alex let him take it. “Just remember, no matter how far the shot is, you have to be confident while executing it, or might night as well not even take it.”

  “I will be.”

  “Now go on, get out of here, and enjoy another evening in what’s left of your last years as a teenager. I’m sure your friends are waiting to hear all about this. Don’t brag too much.”

  He gave a short laugh with his answer “Yes sir, goodbye.”

  “Goodbye Alex.”

  With that the young man took off in the direction of the dorm, hoping to at least enjoy a little bit of fun with his friends before the required 1800 horn sounded for the evening meal. It was after all a Friday, and classes didn’t meet on the weekend. Alex was excited for a weekend that looked like the weather would normally make a great time for a pickup game with his friends in the quad, or even a quick weekend trek in the mountains, but he knew the true importance of what they would eventually endure this weekend. Either way, it was a great start to the weekend.

  Alex waited till dinner to tell his friends about the advice he was given by Mr. Tillery on the range. He felt that sharing the knowledge with them, would, in the long run, help them all uphold their oaths. Though it would be nice to win the games for himself, it was more important that his squad would perform better as a group all around in the events.

  Ryan Kessell, one of Alex’s closest friends, sat next to him absorbing all the knowledge he could realizing the value, while the others poked fun at the table.

  “Would you mind me being your spotter during the games Al?” Ryan tried not to sound anxious, but there was a slight waver in his voice, exposing his excitement.

  “Sure Ryan, hell I was going to nominate you as one of the squad leaders for the games anyways, you’d be a perfect candidate.”

  “I figured everyone would vote for you though.”

  “I think they will vote in the direction that I think is best to win, not necessarily who should be followed. Sometimes you have to follow to lead you know.”

  Ryan smiled. “Thanks Al. If they vote me leader I’ll still want to be your spotter.”

  “And that you will.” He spoke up to get the attention of the people around him. “First of all, I want to nominate Ryan here as a squad leader for this year’s militia games coming this weekend.” This statement made the people around them hoot, shout and applaud. “Secondly, since it’s the weekend, anyone know if there is anything exciting going on in Aurorae?”

  “I believe there’s an Arena game at the Stadium of Light. Those bastards from Tartarus think they are going to come in here and win like they did last year. It’s not going to happen!”

  Alex chuckled, “Is that such a good idea? The first full day of the games is on Sunday morning you know, the selection day of the Squad leaders are the day before, and they have to figure out who they want on their team by noon. Plus, we’ll be out in the open areas past the firing range, not allowed to go back to the barracks for anything. What you pack is what you take when you’re out there.”

  “Well they do have all day Saturday to pack Alex. Heck you just said yourself you wanted to get out of here and into the city sometime this weekend.”

  Alex bit the inside of his cheek. Ryan was right. After all, he did just mention that he wanted to do something worthwhile, even if it was to take the attention off of him for the moment.

  “I guess you’re right. It would be fun to do something tonight and buckle down tomorrow, making sure that everyone gets packed accordingly tomorrow. I wanna win this damn thing, and if one of my team mates didn’t take that part seriously because they spent Friday night having too much fun, I might just get you tagged out in the beginning and save me the time and effort in worrying about when you’re going to do it to yourself.”

  Alex, along with a few of the older Students, asked the Chancellor, and were allowed to chaperone a trip to the Football game in Aurorae. They all watched on as the modern day gladiators fought one another in front of an electric, capacity home crowd. After the game, the school kids went across the parking lot to the ice cream parlor that only stayed open late on game nights. It was a beautiful night for the treat with the temperature was still in the high seventies, and the lack of cloud cover would have made going to the pillar a great cap in a romantic fashion. The glow could be seen over a few of the buildings down the road but the hour was growing late and they only had permission to be out until 2300 and Alex had every intention to keep to that schedule. As much as he enjoyed the tone of the evening and the game, he had his own agenda for the rest of the night and the following day.

  He kept going over mental checklists, reciting the field and operations manual to himself over and over. He wanted to make sure that he simulated any situation that would come up during the duration of the games. Any and all condensed notes for possible weather and terrain were written in a small notebook that he kept in one of the pockets of his cargo pants. It was always in his pocket because he never knew when or where a new idea or point would come from the grey space to the more structured, colored and conscious part of his mind. In fact, he had spent the whole ride home with his nose buried in his small notebook, he didn’t even notice they had made it back to the barracks until Ryan came over to him and politely knocked the notebook from his hands.

  “You know Al, I’ve seen you read and write in that thing more in the last few weeks than as far back as I can remember. If I do get selected on Sunday to lead a team out there, I know who I’m going to be my First Officer. But, one of these days, you’re going to have to toss that little note book aside and remember we are still a bunch of kids that had sideline seats to a sold out football game.”

  Alex smirked at the notion. “You’re probably right Ryan. I do spend way too much time with that book. I’m sure everything that we will have to face in the games, and the best strategy for overcoming the obstacle is either that little book or locked away in my head somewhere waiting for the right time.” Alex leaned over and picked up him notebook from the floor of the bus. Looking around he realized they were the only two left on the bus.

  “Ryan, I want you to select my little brother in one of the later rounds. He can learn a lot in being on our squad, and I know a lot of the other people are just going to ignore him or toss him behind the fronts if someone else picks him up. We both know he wont get in the way and if he does I’ll send him off myself.”

  He sat for a moment and thought about the idea of having a first year student being on the front with them during the largest event for bragging rights that the school had to offer. If Alex was right, He wouldn’t be a factor in other squads. However if he was wrong, it was possible his brother could be a hindrance to the squad and possibly cost them at some point in the evaluation process.

  “I’ll tell ya what Al. If I get selected for as a squad leader, and I have first pick, and can get you on my squad; I’ll select your brother in a late round under one condition.”

  “And what is that?” Alex asked hesitant about his friends bargain.

  “You teach me to shoot in the rifleman’s contest next year. I don’t want to be a spotter in it again, I want to shoot.”

  Alex smiled and stood up from his seat. “Sounds like a deal to me. But in the mean time take this.” He handed Ryan the small book. “You never know when this will come in handy. Also, on the possibility, that we don’t make it on the same squad tomorrow, you’re gonna need all the help you can get against me an
d my team.”

  The two friends laughed as they moved their way off the bus and towards the bunkhouse. Alex saw Ryan place the notebook in the same pocket in which he had kept it in his own pair of cargo pants. It was the most padded pocket in the pants and was the perfect place to protect the codex that Alex had spent countless hours creating.

  “During the selection tomorrow afternoon,” Ryan matched the pace of his words with that of his steps. “You know you’re going to have to fight off a bunch of the others to nominate me first as a leader out there. Otherwise they will nominate you right away.”

  “And if they do that my friend, I shall pick you as my first commander. But my plan, since I’ve already packed the majority of everything I’ll need for the exercise, is to wake early tomorrow spend an hour or two making sure everything is ready and go out to the parade ground. I should be first in line, and closest to the mic when official selection opens up, I’ll nominate you. You’ll be the first squad leader nominated and then have first pick of everyone.”

  “You even hinted it to everybody today at dinner and no one picked up on it.”

  Alex opened the door to the barracks and let his friend enter first. “You have to think ahead of everybody else when you are the leader. Either that or have a bunch of knowledgeable people to help you figure out what the hell you should be doing in command.”

  Chuckling Ryan agreed. “Obviously, you can tell a vast majority of the Senators who are tenured only their as marionettes for others.”

  “So goes with power my friend.”

  The rest of the walk up to the third floor was in silence as both of them had a lot to ponder over for the next day. Quietly recanting the lists in his mind Alex was visibly nodding while his other half in Ryan, just as inaudibly, questioned if he was ready to come from behind the shadows and lead a group for the first time. The two friends waved goodnight to one another as they opened up the doors across from one another and walked into to their dormitory, the doors closing loudly behind them.

  Day broke quietly over the conservatory, and as it was the weekend, no horn sounded. Even though it was an important one, the instructors did not change the normal routine so they could gage how well their students would prepare themselves unprompted. Their top pupil had already been up for nearly an hour and had his allotted two duffle bags packed and ready to be tossed in the transport before the 1200 deadline. The mess hall opened at daybreak, during the weekends and Alex was the first in the door. He made sure to eat hardy, for he knew that over the next week, he would have be on rations and have to help his team divide their supplies. Growing up on a farm, in the desert, he didn’t always have the luxury to have a large meal three times a day. He and his brother, sometimes only were able to have one or two, due to the work that needed to be done, or the times when the simply didn’t have enough crops produced to make profit. In the latter case, Alex and his brother would have to go out and scavenge or hunt in order to bring back food for the entire family some nights, and he was mentally preparing himself to do the same during the weeklong military exercise.

  Every year since the exercises began, not one commander made it to the end with all of the troops he was given to command. Sometimes it was the younger children who weren’t mentally tough enough for the grueling tests that would tag themselves out, while other times, they were tagged out in the skirmishes. Regardless, Alex was hoping that his squad would be the first one to win the exercise and keep every troop active during it. He knew that the burden of command was an easy distraction for anyone, and felt that although he could lead the troops, an ‘administrative’ position would be best for the squad during the games. It would be relatively easy for him to extend his help to a qualified man in Ryan, while giving him a playbook in his little notebook, and easily assessing individuals instead of the entire squad as a whole, effectively putting him in two places at once.

  Eventually, a few more students meandered into the cafeteria. Alex watched each one as they entered to see who they were and how groggy they were. He kept a list in his head of the ones that went to the game last night and which ones had taken care of themselves to get rest and get breakfast at a decent time. Those who showed their actions by taking what he had said seriously would be the prospects that he would advise his friend in taking with his picks. It was their unofficial job interview, and Alex enjoyed that no one knew what he was up to. He got up from his seat and walked to the front of the cafeteria too get a refill on his orange juice and noticed only a few of his fellow classmates were coherent enough to say good morning or even give a friendly wave. He told the server thank you and turned to go back to his seat when he saw his little brother and Ryan both enter the mess hall. Both of them were wide awake and obviously ready to take on the day. Alex smiled at the two of them and started walking back towards his nearly empty tray.

  Ryan intercepted him. “I told your brother that If I’m elected as a squad leader that I was going to pick him late. I also told him if he fouls up at any time even if it’s the number of water bottles we have at the ready, you’d have him tagged out.”

  “I want to win this thing with all the troops if we can, but I appreciate you drawing a line for him.” Alex said with a light chuckle. “I’m finished with breakfast, I’m going to get in line at the parade grounds at 1100. It looks like most of the guys haven’t packed a single sock yet and will be pressing close to the noon deadline.”

  “Surprisingly, your little brother is packed and ready to go. He stopped by looking for you this morning but obviously you were already here.”

  Alex smiled at the thought that his brother was taking everything so seriously, and there wasn’t even a guarantee that he was going to be selected as a fist year.

  “Well that’s good news then. You eat breakfast and tell him to fill himself, I don’t want to hear him whine about how hungry he is later in the day. If our plan works out, and he gets paired up with us, make sure he knows it’ll be like any other day out on the farm.”

  “I will. See you at noon.”

  The two friends shook hands and Alex walked back to his seat, and finished his orange juice by the time he arrived. He picked up his tray and disposed of the dirty dishes at the wash rack. Stepping outside he saw only a small number of students drudgingly move towards the mess hall. It was obvious that only a few had taken his advice, and none of them had been those who Alex would consider as other nominations for a squad leader.

  At 1100 just as Alex had suspected, no one was yet inline at the parade grounds. He tossed his bags to the checkpoint, so the instructors could make sure there was nothing harmful to the other students. After a thorough inspection, Alex’s bags were tagged with a number and placed in an empty truck bed. His, along with the other student’s baggage, would sit in the transports, under watch until their selection to insure no student tampered with another’s equipment. He moved to the front of the parade grounds and waited for others to make their way past the equipment check. Looking at his watch, Alex noticed it was 1125 by the time he had gotten himself situated. For everyone to get their bags to the checkpoint at noon, he was sure there would be a mad dash. Moments latter he saw his prophecy come true.

  A horde of his fellow students came running with their two bags in hand. In the first wave of people, Alex could see his brother and Ryan walking calmly to the checking area. The two of them knew what the plan was and there was no reason to rush, Alex had already laid the groundwork for them, so they had no need to worry where their place in the mob would be for selection.

  The dash continued right up until noon and somehow, every student eligible for the exercises had made it on time. 205 students of the 300 total student body had submitted themselves to a week of intense physical torment; it was a record for participation. It was 1245 by the time all 410 bags had been checked, logged and tossed into a truck. They were running ahead as the itinerary had mentioned that the first nomination would happen at 1300, presumably after all bags had been checked.

&n
bsp; Alex, always looking for the next obstacle, gazed around to see where exactly they would be setting up the various barracks for each squad. Stage left of the microphone, there was a large roped off area that had several piles of different materials. Every year, the barracks would be built in a new location, providing the first difficulty for the newly formed unit to over come. In years past, some of the units had such a hard time building and cooperating with one another that they didn’t finish until the next morning, a problem Alex was hoping to avoid, since points are given based on integrity of the structure as well as time of completion. The flooring was made of moveable sections of a light concrete while the siding and roof were made of a tin like material and the frame was made from metal piping that could be screwed together. Alex and his brother had made similar moveable and short-term storage facilities before during the harvest seasons, and would have a virtual leg up in the assisting in proper creation of the bunkhouse.

  Each building sight had enough materials to complete the building of the structure as well as instructions on how to assemble it. After inspection, the structure would be outfitted with enough bunks, including mattress, for the students to sleep in. Their bedding was their own responsibility. Many of the students only packed one blanket or pillow, while some opted to not pack any into their two allotted bags to save room for things they deemed more important. Alex was one of those few who had packed neither. He had spent many nights in the desert, sleeping on his pack and wearing a few extra layers of clothing, under a cold star filled sky. In checking the extended weather forecast before going to bed the previous night, Alex saw the temperature was not going to drop below 75 degrees and therefore a blanket was not seen by him as a necessity.