Chereads / Children Not Soldiers / Chapter 7 - Boy and his Gum

Chapter 7 - Boy and his Gum

ACE

I looked down the grassland when I noticed that we've been hovering in place for quite some time now. I then saw several people standing on the field. I watched as they harassed the other one vehemently. Even from afar, I knew that the one fighting was a little girl. And she's encircled by girls like her. The sergeant, who is also the pilot, was looking down as well. Slowly, he started to descend. He must've realized by now that the little girl is about to get hurt. Whoever it was that the sergeant will pick up for the Boot camp must come from this place. This is their last 'stop,' the sergeant was talking about.

I watched her use amateurish moves to overwhelm her aggressors. And as I looked down, their physiques grew bigger, and her enemies increased in number. How? How can she take them down with her crude moves? Attacks like hers should be too predictable, and yet she's winning. Are her opponents that weak?

My eyes narrowed when the huge girl threw a ball with a speed unfit to a kid towards the girl. Without looking, the girl caught it with ease.

What in the world was that?

I frowned and raised a brow. A fluke.

Such basic moves, and yet she had never received a blow. At last, they had finally noticed the helicopter. They made way, and we landed. Sergeant Paris jumped off the pilot's seat. I tried my exit, and it opened. I followed the sergeant and approached them.

"I came here to fetch you, but I ended up watching a one against a mob brawl."

The sergeant was looking at the girl who was the one under attack. I looked at her and frowned in disbelief.

She's… odd.

I observed her and noticed the curious air enveloping her. She is definitely not what I expected. I was expecting a ragged-looking girl, harsh-faced and oozing with wrath. She should look like that to take on several enemies, right? No one. No one will get intimidated by her looking like this! She reminds him of the painting of angels at the orphanage. She looked calm, soft, and vulnerable.

It makes you want to break her if you're a sadist and makes you want to protect her if you are…

I heard Sergeant Paris scold her about being oblivious to the helicopter.

"If I were in her shoes, I'd ignore you as well. The immediate threat was before her, not above her." Unless you're planning to trample on her.

Then, she looked at me. Her gray, pale-colored eyes met mine. Her gaze sent shivers down my spine. She looked at me like she saw everything. How can a kid like her do that? She's very peculiar. It's irritating. Don't tell me you're scared? I snorted at my inner voice. Scared of what? Her? I can crush her with my bare hands, and I wouldn't even flinch. They left me behind, and I trot out the last of my bubble gum. I looked around and saw the audience before me. They are a mixture of high school and grade school students, and they're staring at me like hawks. They're probably thinking that I'm some sort of royalty, riding a helicopter such as that. I was about to take a step back when some kids approached me.

"Hey, twerp," said the boy whom I saw use a headlock on the girl. "Who are you, and why are you here?"

I looked at the four bugs hovering before me. I decided to play with them while I waited.

MEOW

I grabbed my bag, and that's all. By the time we approached the helicopter, Sergeant Paris was scowling. When I looked at where he was looking, I frowned. Helga and the rest of the bullies were now lying on the ground. The ones I knocked out a while ago were nowhere to be found, though. The boy was with the sergeant was casually chewing a piece of gum, sitting at the base of the copter a couple of feet away. We passed by students, and they were gossiping about everything they saw. I heard them talking about me than the boy.

"... a strike each, and everyone fell," said a girl.

"… he's far more handsome than Carlos."

"... what a monster.."

"...who is that?..."

"...he devoured Killa.."

"...he destroyed Helga..."

"...Yolly puked after a punch in the guts..."

"That boy," Sergeant Paris growled and hurried to the helicopter. "Faster, kid. We need to set off before the prying Director arrives."

And I scurried after him. For some peculiar reason, I gazed at the boy, and I felt familiarity and belonging. When they called him a monster, a part of me was relieved. I was not the only one branded like that.

Interesting, but not quite.

--

I looked down at my former schoolmates and watched as Carlos waved his hand at me. He was in high spirits. When we had finally disembarked, and on the right altitude, the boy began talking.

"What's your name?" he asked. He faced me and folded his arms. Pop says the bubblegum.

"I would like it very much if you can tell me who you are first," I told him, pushing the manners unto his plate.

He harshly grabbed my hair and grinned. "I asked first. Spill."

What the fudge? Luckily I have a knife with me. I leaned back, and with a swift move, I cut the hair being pulled and pointed the knife at him.

My eyes narrowed in warning. No need to play the oppressed, now that I'm facing another kind of fiend. For the first time since I became one, this was the first moment I could finally fight back whole-heartedly. Being bullied by this kid one on one like this is not on my to-do list. And the sergeant knows what I really am, so no point hiding my fury. I watched the boy's jaw tense. He's trying to suppress himself from responding to stimuli which are, at the moment, my sudden outburst.

"Drop the knife," he whispered and then took a grip of my wrist so fast I wasn't able to counter. The corner of his lips twitched. "I said drop it." He said, and his eyes went cold.