Chapter 1: A Celebration
It was the beginning of fall, the wind is Whispering, and the ration department was a little crowded as it bustled with people; who cook, people scavenge food supplies, People who maintain and Secure the Bunker, they were getting ready to finish the preparation to congratulate their new apprentices, that have graduated from the MSAS their performance in MSAS allows them to pick 5 departments, this will determine their social standing and ration portions be given depending on their status they might be able to live in a house-sized bunker rather than live in a "shoe box sized" living space, to these people the department selection is an as integral part of their lives.
***
As Patricia was walking at a steady pace with her heart beating faster than the last 2 steps, she already received her card but never tried to peek inside making it a surprise for herself she was heading to the department of education when she accidentally bumped into someone as she quickly raised her head she noticed a tall slender woman, in a Military camouflage and on her chest is an insignia which Patricia recognized as a rank of a Captain, on her right shoulder a special forces group logo the design of the logo was of an angel with a skull visage under the hood of black with a blindfold while on the hand of the Angel is wielding a scythe on the other hand was 4 heads were placed; Patricia thought it was creepy and unsettling; as her eyes moved upwards she noticed lush dark hair with hints of white strands of hair in a ponytail style and as she met her fierce eyes Patricia Immediately bowed her head and said: "Sorry for...b...bumping into you sir...m...ma'am..."
Sandra looked at her with surprise and confusion Sandra proceeds to pat her head and told her with a tone of motherly love and empathy "Pat... raise your head there's no need for formalities, besides that, how are you doing Pat? is everything alright?"
Patricia replied with a voice so rigid and sentence so formal with a hint of tension that she stutters to reply, that Sandra began to feel worried about her well-being, "N..no ma'am, ev...everything is alright I...I am honored that y...you remember my name ma'am!"
Sandra tilted her head at an acute angle with eyes confused and a perplexed expression with a hint of concern as she replied to her "You...know...It's fine for you to be casual with me r... right...?"
Patricia Replied as stiff as the last conversation she had with her "I am honored that you think highly of me ma'am but I cannot just be casual with a Captain ma'am!"
With a look of defeat, Sandra sighed and proceed to ask her "Where are you going then?"
Patricia replied "I'm headed to the department of education to receive my assigned apprenticeship in a department. Ma'am"
Sandra raised both her eyebrows in surprise while cupping her chin and tilting her head at an acute angle and murmured, "it been that long huh?...."
Patricia looked like she was about to raise a question to Sandra, but Sandra paid it no mind, she asked her "will it be alright for me to take a look at your Education Card?" Patricia looked worried but gave in and handed Sandra her Card.
As Sandra noticed that Patricia looked too tense and anxious Sandra thought "This...The kid is too tense...what's wrong with her, did she get low marks I mean if she did, she can always retry next year or enter the education department in the meantime...."
As she opened her card Sandra's eyes widen her eyebrows raised to their limits while looking back and forth between Patricia and her Card, Sandra yelped in surprise, Sandra immediately hugged Patricia while she murmured in admiration "I knew you had it in ya!"
Patricia looked surprised and couldn't understand what was happening she immediately asked in a meek voice as she was devoured by the Sandras' hug "Wh... What's wrong? Ma'am...."
Sandra removed her arms around Patricia sighed and told Patricia with a composed and yet with a hint of excitement "you know Patty you got a great head over your Shoulders, being confident sometimes can get you anywhere in this world...."Patricia was still confused by Sandra's remarks Patricia was about to ask a question to Sandra,
PA system interrupted and announced, "squad 421-A, please proceed to your respected department to be briefed within 10 minutes....."
Sandra heavily sighed and slumped her shoulder and murmured with a hint of annoyance and exaggerated anger "The moment something good happens in my life it gets interrupted...pfft!"
Sandra proceeded to pat Patricia's head and pinched her cheeks and said with a joking and motherly tone "Well Patty, I gotta go, my CO will probably kill me if I'm late or questions my work ethic, I'll try to visit your room, tonight I might be able to celebrate your apprenticeship and congratulations again...see ya"
she waves at Patricia and Patricia returned the wave...
Chapter 2: Into the mouth of the Dragon
As Patricia arrived at the department of education she gulped her palms were sweaty since she does not know if she was going to retake the final year of her MSAS or if she was going to end up in a good job with a good ration and living conditions, she gripped her father's necklace and murmured to herself "Wish me luck dad…" as she opened the door with false bravado, she saw the 6 long lines and felt like the line was never going to end and felt overwhelmed and dejected but gathered her will to start queueing as she was queuing she looked around and notice a classmate of her however she was too slow to turn back, the classmate greeted Patricia with a smile that would captivate any woman presented by that smile and he said "Hi, Ms, Polvelove Ummm...Today is a wonderful day…yeah? How are you doing?"
Patricia wanted to escape her mind from overheating because of her constant overthinking so she decided to engage in the conversation and replied with a meek yet a little exaggerated smile "Hi, Mr, Bachmann yes indeed it is quite a wonderful day...I'm doing great how...how about you?"
Bachmann scratched at his left cheek and replied with a hint of embarrassment "Bachmann is too formal…please call me Nikolai, or as my friends call me Niko….right to answer your question, yes I'm doing alright"
Patricia with a look of surprise replied with a tone of confidence "Then call me Patricia since Polvelove is too formal for my taste"
Niko noticed her hand was holding her education card and proceeded to ask Patricia a question "Right…Ms, Patricia do you mind if I ask you what your thoughts are about what department are you getting into?"
Patricia replied, "Sadly I cannot tell you..."
Niko with a perplexed look on his face replied "Why is that? don't tell me you haven't opened your card...." Patricia with a bright red face replied while scratching the back of her ear and mumbled with a tone of surprise and embarrassment "uh.....y...yes I...I…haven't seen it and didn't open my card just yet....I suppose it's a...uh...surprise....yes a surprise for myself.....yeah....." as she thought "crap this is going is quite a drag I don't really wanna open it just yet..." Nikolai with a face of understanding replied "oh….I see, well ill share mine instead...do you wanna look at my card?" he handed his card to her Patricia replied "yes, I'd like to see your card.." she accepted the card and opened it as she was looked at the card display
Name: Nikolai vonne Bachmann
Age: 18 years old
Born in: 2050314
Bunker location: G-class: 523-45-3
Class Batch: F-10420165
Categories:
Military: 68/100...Verified
-Physical training: 60/100.....Verified
-Field command: 50/100.....Verified
-Weapons training: 90/100.....Verified
-Field medic: 65/100.....Verified
-Squad expertise: 75/100.....Verified
=Professors Remarks: Weapons specialist, needs more command-based training....overall a sharp kid.=
Survival: 35/50...Verified
-Instincts 50/50 .....Verified
-Sapper 35/50.....Verified
-Communication 20/50.....Verified
= Professor Remarks: Needs more training in sapping his knowledge for knots is almost there but needs more refinement, Communication is also he needs to work out but 400hr training is recommended for him.=
Academics: 168/200...Verified
-MATH 165/200...Verified
-Science 185/200...Verified
-Communication 90/200...Verified
-Engineering 200/200...Verified
-Technology 200/200...Verified
= Professor Remarks: He's a Genius when it comes to Engineering, technology, Math, and science, with the refinement of his communication skills he's going to be drafted as a Scholar, administrator, or a 3 star general of the black beret. Recommended 600 hours of communications training.
School: 3/3.....Verified
-Art: 10/10
-Ethics and morality: 10/10
-History: 10/10
=Professors Remarks: A child that never falters to strive for what is right and to give justice.=
Combined hours of training: 10,000->Verified
Class standing: top 10
Commendation for the department:
Department of Military -1
Department of Resource and Allocation - 2
Department of Administrators- 3
Department of Science and Academia -4
Conclusion: A-10 student Administrator or Military.
After reading Nikolai's Education Card, Patricia looked at him with admiration and felt a warm feeling in her chest she looked at Nikolai and told him with a hint of amusement and happiness "Wow...I couldn't even get good grades for the life of me...is this what you were doing almost every day? Wow.....I wish I was as brilliant as you...."
Nikolai with a smug look while placing a thumb on his chest with a feeling of pride and assurance replied to her remarks "Of course, I earned those marks hehehehe with my own 2 hands and my brain of course..."
As the head dean of the education department mentioned Nikolai's name, he stood up and said "Well MS, Patricia...I've been called by the fortune teller see ya in the next 4 or 5 years...I...I guess?"
he waves at Patricia as he approached the dean and points him at a door accompanying him were two men in a blue suit with accents of red, and badges belonging to the department of the military specifically the bureau of Military police.
Patricia thought "I wonder…do they also accompany every student for every department? Or is it just for the cream of the crop type of students, I wonder if I get the same treatment as Niko….." her mind wondered again.
After a few moments Patricia looked down while holding her necklace, she thought "Am I really going to fail...I wonder if I will repeat my last year at the Academy.....oh God...I can't take it...I don't want to do it."
As she gripped her necklace tighter tears started to roll out of her eyes she quickly got her handkerchief and wiped at it, after a few moments she assured herself once more and told herself "No! I don't think I failed my subjects...I've made it this far so no more crying...." she thought to herself however she also remembered Sandras positive response to after seeing her EC, and assured herself.
after what feels like ages; Patricia's name is finally called. Patricia thought "this is it...the moment of truth..." as she walk she felt as if each step she took was getting exponentially heavier and slower ...as she was approaching the desk she remembered encouragement from Sandra which embolden her will, for each step she took she exhaled and inhaled, she already arrived at the desk the dean looked at her with a strange look and said "Nervous? Yeah I get young lings like that for 5 years hahaha...brings back memories...also can you hand me your Education Card?"
Patricia replied "Y...yes...o..of course"
As she replied she stretched her arm in the direction of the fortune teller, the fortune teller grabbed the Card inserted in a machine and scanned the code behind it. 5 minutes passed she thought she has failed and was quite worried, however, but moments later the dean signaled, and 2 men this time wearing green camouflage and military suit with what looked like a scarf with a color of light brown and an insignia of 2 chevrons stacked on their chest, she "thought to herself…they're quite an odd entity…they have a low rank for the police but higher than normal military apprentices…." as she noticed a logo with what looks like a bird about to attack an animal with a weird hair bunched up around its neck.
Patricia was quite confused because her Military school didn't remember the logo of any bureau looked or resembles like that, Patricia was confident she can recognize and had successfully memorized all of the logos for each department, and given the bureau, that was thought in her Military school, she knows their function and the jobs they do, who they to answer and why, as she continued to think.
The 2 men approached her and said "Come with us Ms, Polvelove"
she immediately gained her bearings and followed them to a door that was plane white unlike the others , she also tried to poke a little at the men by openly asking them "Where are you guys from, or rather what bureau do you belong to…Where are you taking me? What department do you answer..." She expected them to answer her, but instead, all she got was silence, as soon as they arrived at the door they left immediately.
Chapter 3: I think I'm in the Wrong department.
As Patricia entered the door she was greeted by a class of assorted individuals, she looked to her side she saw Alice a top student in her class, Roy a delinquent, and Sean a nonchalant kid who failed the MSAS twice...she grasped in surprise she thought to herself "What the hell is this place"
she looked around and saw the same look all over everyone's faces, Patricia even noticed Alice's mortified face as if she was confused by the mix-up, they locked on each other's eyes, Alice instigated a conversation and asked Patricia "Hey you!"
Patricia confused pointed to herself and replied in surprise "Ye...yes?"
Alice replied "I know you...you're in the same class as me"
Patricia replied immediately "Yes we are in...uh the same class... it's wonderful seeing you here..."
Alice replied with annoyance and a disgruntled tone "Wonderful are you serious? You must be joking right?"
Alice continued "Arent you concerned that you're in the same department as me? You barely passed your last exam....don't you think it's quite suspicious? Hmmm?"
Patricia's face looked annoyed with the sly remarks Alice made, but Patricia replied in a friendly tone "uhhh yeah....I...I..uhhh, think it's suspicious...Yeah...umm I think I'm in.."
Alice cut her off and replied, "I think you're in the wrong department..."
Patricia's face looked solemn and replied "Right...."
Alice changed her tone from annoyance to shock "Pat...tell me I'm hallucinating, is that Roy? And Sean?"
Patricia didn't want to continue the conversation because Alice keeps giving her a hard time and thought to herself "You're so smart why do you need my confirmation are you retarded perhaps?" Patricia in a soft voice replied, "yes...that is Roy and Sean...."
Alice whose reaction back then was a smug look gradually became a face of disgust and murmured to herself as if Patricia didn't even exist "I think I might be in the wrong department, these bozos can't even hold a candle to my abilities."
Alice continued to make rude remarks toward the people she saw; Patricia already shut her off and continued to ponder "What the hell are we doing here? Why are there black berets surrounding the exits?" As Patricia continued to ponder a door creaked open two individuals entered accompanied by 4 Special Forces units and walked onto the stage.
A few moments a static sound from the mic and a person a stumpy man in a military outfit and a black beret walked to the stage accompanied by a tall woman wearing what appears to be wearing a gaudy dress thought Patricia "Isn't a dress too out of place in this type of occasion? Why is she wearing such an eye-catching dress....?"
As she pondered she noticed her male counterparts are gawking at the tall woman, they were already head over heels for her, disappointed she shook her head and refocused on the situation she thought again "Why are there so many of us? Did all of us fail? But why are we so many? statistically, only 4 in 1000 population will fail or retake the exam...why am I thinking about this right now, the stumpy man is about to say something I should focus on what he's saying...instead of pondering in my mind maybe he will answer my questions…"
The Stumpy man slowly held the Mic and announced, with a voice of snotty yet dignified tone "Good day everyone...I am Everard Favreau" he started "I will be your Proctor for this new arm of the department you are all hand picked by the administration" everyone was looking around in even more confusion he continued "As you may have your questions, your questions will be answered by your head proctor..."
he stepped out of the podium and and the gaudy woman stepped forward with confidence and adjusted the mic graciously, she introduced herself with a voice so alluring and filled with sexual tension "Hello, everyone my name is Madeline Michi, I am the head proctor for this branch, as what Mr. Favrue said I will be answering your questions; This branch is called the Pathfinders, you are all hand selected despite your varying grades and what your cards suggested, since this is a new branch, Unfortunately you will have to go through this rigorous training for 4 years, some of you may not make it some of you might succeed, but keep in mind that this is a branch where all of you are expected to go out of the bunker and to explore the world... She begins to announce that the proctors of this pathfinder program will be under the personal supervision of Alastair N. Sims, as she continued she also said "the world you knew from before is not the same, there are plenty of dangerous entities that lurks above ground, the military has already cleared 10 kilometers of woodland and has broken ground meaning we have already sufficient facilities that can house, feed and train all of you."
she continued talking about the Vision and Mission of this program, Patricia noticed that nobody had been listening to her, everyone was talking and murmurs began to fill the room competing to the spokesperson. Patricia murmured "The outside world...." she began to reminisce about her past life when she was still a child helping her mother sell vegetables and haggle for cheaper food in the village market, she began to reminisce about her brothers after going to school, they helped care for their livestock and the crops they grew, she remembered her brothers teaching her how to write, to do arithmetic; everyday she anticipated their return from school because she knows that they'll teach her new things, but most importantly she remembered her father, as she remembered her family her heart began to warm and her face began to heat up. She shook her head and listened back to the gaudy woman.
Everyone looked confused as if they did not understand what the woman said. It was like that buzzing sound in your ear when you're alone. Patricia noticed the black berets and the spec ops around her simultaneously wore weird masks and the stumpy man also wore a mask and poked the Gaudy woman and handed her the same mask, the gaudy lady finished her speech with the final words "This day marks your first day in the new world, I hope everyone survives and I hope that you can adapt quickly.
As soon as she ended her speech, Patricia heard a THUMPING sound followed by a hissing sound accompanied by a cloud of white smoke. After that, screams began to be heard, and the students panicked and rushed to the door. The gaudy woman and the stumpy man just stood on the podium with them observing and accompanied by the Spec-ops. Patricia watched in horror as the guards knocked out the other students attempting to flee, beating them with their shock batons and their shields that covered their whole bodies. Some students were overwhelmed and just stood there.
Patricia saw Alice huddled and crouching, her face full of terror and tears, as she observed everyone panicking. Despite their bitter relationship, something snapped in Patricia that made her want to comfort Alice in this life-and-death situation. But as Patricia began to move towards Alice, she realized that she needed to save herself first. She crouched and covered her nose, looking at all the possible exits, thinking to herself, "HOLY SHIT THEY'RE GOING TO KILL US... I DON'T WANNA DIE! I DON'T WANNA DIE! I DON'T WANNA DIE!"
Patricia's heart pounded as she realized how hopeless everything was and how they were all going to die. As fear overtook her, she readied herself to find an exit, but her legs would not move no matter how much she tried. She began to strike them, willing them to move. Blow after blow gave off a brutal sound like a hammer hitting a piece of meat. Tears rolled down her face as she stifled her sobs of pain. After a few seconds, she began to see vignettes as her body grew heavier and heavier with every breath. She slumped to the floor, and as she was about to lose consciousness, she saw the other students fall one by one, as if they were puppets whose strings were cut. Some were slumped over one another, and some were lying. Patricia, on the other hand, fell asleep slumped over, gradually losing consciousness.
She vaguely saw an insignia of a captain and a logo of an angel and heard Sandra as her tone in an empathetic and motherly "oh no…no…no…patty..." as she said that she wiped the tears from Patricia's eyes and wiped her sweat off her forehead.
Excerpt 1 A Big sister's love
Sandra stormed out of the briefing room, her annoyance at the irresponsible and inhumane treatment of the initiates boiling over. As she made her way to the medical wing, all she could think about was Patricia's well-being. When she arrived, she was surprised to find Patricia awake, but her heart sank when she saw the tears streaming down her face.
Without a word, Sandra walked over to Patricia's bed and wrapped her arms around her in a tight embrace. Patricia clung to her like a drowning person clutching a lifeline, sobbing uncontrollably.
Sandra's mind flashed back to the briefing room and the anger she had felt towards her supervisor for authorizing the gas. How could they do this to their own people, she thought bitterly. She pushed the thoughts aside for now, focusing instead on comforting Patricia.
"It's okay," Sandra whispered in Patricia's ear. "You're safe now. I'm here with you." She held Patricia close, caressing her head and back as she cried.
For a long time, they stayed like that, with Sandra holding Patricia and Patricia crying out all her fear and pain. Eventually, Patricia's sobs subsided and she fell asleep in Sandra's arms, feeling safe and protected for the first time since the gas had been released.
Excerpt 2 The bellowing Storm
Later that day, Sandra found herself standing in front of her supervisor's office, her anger boiling over once again. She knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter. When it came, she marched in without hesitation.
"I need to talk to you about what happened today," she said, her voice shaking with rage. "Why would you authorize the use of gas on our own people? Do you have any idea what they went through? What they're still going through?"
Her supervisor looked taken aback, but quickly regained his composure.
"I understand that this was a difficult decision," he said, trying to placate Sandra. "But we had to make sure that the initiates understood the gravity of the situation they're in. We can't afford to coddle them."
Sandra seethed with anger at the dismissive tone in her supervisor's voice.
"Coddle them? These are our people," she spat. "They trust us to keep them safe, and we just showed them that they can't even trust us to treat them with basic humanity. I won't stand for this."
Her superior looked at her with understanding and compassion and said
"Look Captain, I don't want to take your emotions fore granted and I know that you have some connections with the apprentices. You've been above ground you saw how the 1st batch of the Jager corp got torn to shreds by those monsters and how many of them succumbed to the Golden eye hell even got infected by those ghouls, we put them down with no honor and like dogs... I know that you know that above Ground and retaking that 10 kilometer stretch of land, you and I had to sacrifice a lot of our people. I'm sure you know that...let me reiterate I did not order that gassing for the sake of gassing and to see those Apprentices to suffer. I want them to understand that gassing is the least of their problems above ground. I will not ask for your understanding and your forgiveness, I know you mean good Captain, it's just for the sake of necessity that we had to go that far."
Sandra with anger replied
"Major, was it necessary to gas them!? I don't understand why you labeled it as a necessity, clearly it was an overuse of force you could've told them that above ground is not a child's play for fuck sake!"
in a fit of rage Sandra smashed the table spilling the tea that the Major had place in front of them.
The major replied with a smile and with a tone of stern determination -
"I don't have to reiterate what I said Captain, if we just told them that above ground its a different place, than what they used to know, you saw them, right captain? just a bunch of kids trying to understand what is going on?" Sandra nodded in agreement and looked at the major to continue "well we did tell them the above ground is different, but instead of listening they were more stocked with the prospect of going above ground now, I agree that these are kids, however they are missing the point in which why we are telling them those. you know me captain" the Major stood and wiped the spilled tea revealing half of his face is disfigured and burnt while his left hand is wearing a glossy leather glove and continued "I dislike to make sugar-coated words, we were there in the battle of 47th street of Urdarcys, you know the price which we paid for...just to earn that little piece of that damned staging ground." The major finished the wiping the tea and sat down and continued "Captain Sandra, while I understand you are passionate and empathetic towards them please do not treat them like kids...." he stared at her and he smiled and continue hinting that both of them went through the same situation in the past and continue "because if you do; you're just hindering their growth" as Sandra was about to say something he raised his hand and said "I know what you're about to say, its the emotions that makes us humans, and I agree but you don't have to coddle them, if you do" he snickered a bit with a melancholic tone and smacked the table but that smack carried a regret and sadness as he smiled and continues "well....you know what will happen."
He stood up and said "Well, Captain I hope I answered your questions, I still have a lot to plan out ill see you at 20:00hrs" after he's done snappily he saluted Captain Sandra
With that, Sandra returned back his salute and said "ill see you later....Mark."
CHAPTER 4: New Hello's and Sad Goodbyes
***
As Sandra woke up, fixed herself and her bed, kissed her grandmother on her forehead, and said "Granny…ill go to the rations wing to get our weekly rations kay? Stay where you are…"
As she was about to go to the rations department she accidentally bumped into a young girl Sandra immediately noticed the little girl's lush white hair, she was wearing a dirty white dress highlighted with a Prussian blue and patterned with flowers, her face was plump, with a vertical scar on her left eye and her eyes were in a light purple a hue that only the selected type of genetics that's found in the mountains, this strange girl immediately bowed her head while holding her right hand. Sandra noticed the girl's arm she thought to herself "This kid's arm...is...is she alright?"
As she was thinking the little girl apologized in a meek and soft voice, Sandra replied: "It's okay my name is Sandra T. Rumbo..."
the little girl immediately ran away from her, as if she was chased, Sandra smiled and reminisced about when she was a young kid who was still clumsy and careless...she placed her arms behind her head and started to proceed to that ration wing.
***
The alarm clock sounded, and Sandra woke up, and got dressed prepared her meal and coffee and after that Sandra went to Patricia's bunker; Patricia opened the door and greeted Sandra, as she was about to proceeded in Patricia's bunker she saw letter but noticed it was heavier than usual, so she brought it back and left it on the coffee table.
She sat down at the table alongside Patricia , Sandra looked at her as if she was asking what the letter was about but Patricia paid it no mind, and Sandra told her "Hey, Patty care to open the letter?" Patricia with a look of confusion said "which one?" Sandra was a bit worried that the gas may have affected Patricia's mind, so she picked up the letter from the counter and waved it the letters was sagging hinting that it is heavy and possibly something important was inside, Patricia looked at it and said "ill open it once I'm done preparing my breakfast okay?"
Sandra looking at her and smiled as she thought "I hope the gas didn't affect her mind, if it did I would definitely give Mark a piece of my mind, but he does made sense that we shouldn't coddle them and treat them like adults..."
While Patricia was preparing her table and she was thought "I wonder what the letter is about It was a bit heavy" as she thought that her memories from 3 days ago resurfaced and have her an anxiety which changed her mood and she thought "I really dont know if im the right person to be selected in that bureau...."
Patricia noticed Sandra was smiling and was staring at her so asked with a concentered and expression on her face "S...Sandra? a...are you okay?"
Apparently, Sandra has been staring at Patricia, as Sandra realized she replied calmly to Patricia "hmmm yes, sorry I was just thinking of something" she snickered.
Sandra stood carefully picked the gift she had on her right pocket and said with Pride and enthusiasm "Patty I know that...Ummm" Sandra fake-ly couched and continued "I know that 3 days ago was your apprenticeship however I'd like to formally congratulate you in getting in your bureau."
Sandra stretched her hand with the gift on her palm toward Patricia, Patricia replied meekly "N...No I can't accept that.."
Sandra looked at her as if to convey that it was fine and she should just accept it. Patricia gave in and bowed her head towards her, she slowly opened the gift and saw a red braided bracelet, Patricia was quite shocked that tears slowly rolled down she hugged her and said with a tone of a kid who received their first gift from their parents "I'll take care of this Thank you so much Sandra" Patricia immediately put on the red bracelet on her left hand and tightened it. Patricia thought "this is the first ever gift I had since my father left, I got the necklace which my father wore, and I got a bracelet, these are the 2 gifts ill cherish."
Sandra was caught off-guard and returned the warm embrace of Patricia...A few moments Sandra broke the embrace and asked Patricia "Have you checked the enveloped yet?"
Patricia replied "No...I have no... I actually forgot about it"
Sandra raised an eyebrow with a gentle smirk as she if shes saying "Really what are you waiting for...open it up, dummy..."
Patricia stood up and got the letter from the coffee table, as she was opening it a necklace of 2 oval-shaped pieces of metal with holes in it dropped on the dining table, Patricia was quite curious so she checked the necklace
"Name: Patricia A. Polvelove
Age: 17
Blood type: O+
Citizen ID: F-24320153 "
After reading the engraving of the dog tag Patricia placed it on the table and proceeded to read the letter, as she was reading Sandra took the Dog tag and looked at it...
Patricia held the letter and the letter read as...
"Dear Ms, Polvelove
You are invited to participate in the bureau of scavs, please be present in the first orientation of your bureau at exactly noon now, wear your dog tags and present the blue berets to be given exclusive access to the department of resource and allocation department.
Best of luck...
Administrator General of the Military Alastair N. Sims "
Sandra with a face of concern asked Patricia "Patty are you alright?" Patricia replied," well can you help me get my uh...dog tag on?"
Sandra looked happy and complied and told Patricia "Come here...and turn and around and try to hold your hair in a ponytail"
Patricia did as she was told, Patricia heard slight sniffles, and asked Sandra if shes doing alright Sandra replied with a stoic tone "uhhh yes, why did you ask? are you alright?"
Patricia giggled a little and said "oh... it's probably just my ears again..." Sandra patted her shoulder conveying that she should turn around.
As Patricia was turning around she noticed an emotion Sandra had never displayed towards her she was about to ask Sandra if she was doing alright, but Sandra immediately Asked her to pass her the letter, Patricia Gave the letter that she was holding to Sandra, Sandra looked at the time of her watch, and it was 9:15 am.
Sandra Clapped her cheeks which left red marks and said in an enthusiastic voice which startled Patricia for a split second and said: "Patty you take a bath first then prepare your clothes okay?"
Patricia was confused and thought to herself "why should prepare my clothes, there's no need for me to do so, because Just like Sandra during her Special forces training she returns every night.." she thought of a different reason again "M....maybe Sandra wants to kick me out? but w...why? did I say something w...wrong?"
Sandra clapped her hands and asked Patricia "Patty? do you hear me??"
Patricia quickly went back to her sense fearing that if she made a tiny mistake she might add another reason for Sandra to kick her out,
Patricia quickly replied "Y...yes ma'am!" after she said that she immediately ran towards the bathroom"
Sandra was startled by how Patty replied to her as she crossed her arms while tilting her side sideways in an acute angle and thought to herself "There she goes again....acting like the black berets...what should I do with this child..."
As she thought of it she felt the same feeling again, it was like her heart getting pierced by a needle when she remembered the precious and innocent smile of Patricia...She immediately drank a glass of cold water but the pain still lingers she thought to herself "After I'm done dropping her off at the department...I might go to the clinic to get checked out" she muttered the word "Dropping her off " Sandra chuckled as it left a bitter taste in her mouth...
An hour passed, and Patricia finished taking a bath and folded her clothes, and placed them in a canvas duffle bag Sandra provided. She asked Sandra what she should wear Sandra pondered while cupping her chin and replied "Hmmm well I guess just wear the Academia's provided uniform"
Patricia looked concerned but followed Sandra's suggestion. Patricia wore a white long-sleeved uniform highlighted with a light ultramarine hue and a necktie, she wore the accompanied black slacks. Patricia went out of the fitting room and presented herself to Sandra, Sandra asked in a tone of jest "Patty? are you forgetting something?..." Patty in confusion asked "I...I'm not sure what I missed" Sandra stood up with a gentle smile, and approached Patricia as Sandra was close to her Sandra grabbed Patty's necktie and slowly unraveled it, Sandra remarked, "To make a Good-impression you must look neat and tidy at all times....do you remember the procedure in properly tying your necktie Patty?" Patricia replied "I...I don't remember" Sandra giggled and replied "well ill teach you again...suppose this big piece is the cat and the small piece is the rat..do you follow?"
as Sandra pointed at both ends of the tie, she reminisced the 1st time Patricia came over to her bunker while in tears asking her to help her fix the tie.
Sandra elaborated on the process while continuing the analogy of a cat and mouse
As the Cat naps, the mouse scurries past.
The cat wakes up and a chase ensues
The Cat jumps, over the table
Around the table, not once but twice
As the mouse hides, the cat looks inside.
Wiggle as it might, The poor cat is stuck tight.
As Sandra was tightening the necktie Sandra placed her hands on Patricia's shoulder and told Patricia in a strong yet motherly concern "Patty Promise me no matter what...you have to keep your head above water kay?"
Patricia looked confused and thought to herself "what? are they going to waterboard me or something?" Patricia relied on a confused tone "Y..yes ill keep that in mind."
Sandra looked into her eyes seeing that Patricia was quite confused, Sandra grabbed the duffle bag and told Patricia "it's time to go."
Intermission: A little Crisis.
A week before the whole ordeal of the allocation of the apprentices, 5 executive members of each department gathered in the Chiefs administrator's round table, each admin are expected to share their thoughts and opinions, as they take a seat at the same time Aldous Barrett Rose the Chief administrator said "let's begin us begin what are your thoughts with the current batch of this year? Administrator General of the Military Alastair N. Sims, Sims replied with a disgruntled tone "To tell you honestly a handful of them are terrible the only person I can say is Ms.Rombout..." the rest of the administrators nodded in agreement Sims continued "I think the new batch is not for the standard of the special operations unit....maybe...next 4 years...maybe" Rose asked the same question to the Administrator of Resource and Allocation Wizard Martin E. Daniels, Daniels replied in a neutral tone "It really isn't that bad....12,000 apprentices and we got 3,000 I think that would suffice for the shortage of arms...." Rose looked at Daniels with his right eyebrow raised giving Daniels a signal to elaborate, Daniels faked a cough "Well...to elaborate the department is full of smart people, and all of you know how intellectually draining my department can be...of course in respect to the administrator's dep...." Rose raised his palm prompting Daniels to stop immediately and Rose with deep concern told Daniels and the rest of the Council with a tone of sincerity "Please, everyone there is no need for flattery I purposely Created this Council for all of the departments to be in equal footing, so please let us not flatter each other because it will only lead of further misinterpretations and further conflict in the future, tell us honestly and truthfully no exaggeration double speak or anything aside from the truth."
after the speech Rose apologized to Daniels, and Daniels in deep respect for Rose tilted his head and nodded at an acute angle towards him, Daniels continues "Well to tell you honestly we need more hands we already have 8 heads now we need 12 hands to help sort the collection of accounting and map collection...." The administrator of Science and Academia Raised her hand and Rose nodded his head in acknowledgment and said proceed Ms, Stannard, Stannard replied with a tone of sincerity "Well if you need 12 arms I got 24 of them my department only has 4 heads, we need 2, would you mind lending us a hand and of course likewise we will do so to yours.." Daniels was quite intrigued with the offer and looked at Rose, Rose was emotionless as if he already expected and predicted this to occur Daniels faked a cough again and replied "well...That is an interesting proposition but I can't lend you my other 2 heads, as I said our department is intellectually draining 2 months of working will lead to a 2-week burnout leave...." Stannard replied with a solemn tone "I see....well...it's also hard for the academia to be able to produce the standard that the Black berets expect us to produce..." Sims raised an eyebrow and was about to reply until Rose clapped his hands with a smile and cool downed the almost heavy atmosphere and said joyfully "What if... we create a new Bureau? to alleviate the lack of manpower for each respective bureau.
the rest of the administrators were quite intrigued by the prospect of it and nodded their heads as if to signal Rose to continued his proposal "This bureau will consist of scavengers, cartographers, engineers, Military, besides we also need to explore the outside world who knows when our supplies will run out, so I think looking in the future, it would be appropriate to create this bureau rather than we wait till we only have 4 days of resources left...don't you agree?" the rooms mood was a stark contrast to itself moments ago everyone in the room was on board with the plan however Sims raised his hand and without a moments of hesitation asked Rose "That is quite an idea, however how do you plan to implement it within weeks of notice?" Rose replied "Simple let's just say that candidacy requirements is M-50, S-20,A-110, and S-1....that's just my idea now that's just the bear minimum for them to pass...bu" Sims smashed the table and pointed to Rose with face red and said with a tone of anger that's about to turn violent "ARE YOU! OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND! YOU'RE SENDING INEXPERIENCED CHILDREN TO THEIR DEATHS! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!"
Rose looked at Sims as if he was a helpless animal, and replied calmly "Sims, I get where you're coming from that's why we will use your military to train the selected candidates....hmmm what should we call these candidates" rose cupped his chin and tilted his head sideways, Sims took the glass of water and drank it, a few moments later he calmed down, and said "Forgive me, I was too ha..." as Sims was about to mutter the last word Rose interrupted him "Ah haa!, let's call them Pathfinders?" Rose looked at Sims and nods his head towards him as if to signal that he understands the outburst and why Sims was quite concerned with the kids.
The Final Department spoke the Overseer looked at all the admins around the table and said "Have you finalized the plan?.... very well then...I expect all of you to finish allocating resources for the new bureau 2 days before the allocation of apprentices...I suppose that's plenty of time to create the syllabus and training regiments, of course, I expect all of you to grind these so-called Pathfinders to a paste, and drill on them that being vigilant and wise will earn them plenty of time. Mr. Sims, I expect you to be harsh on these kids, I know it hurts you." Sims bowed his head and said in a tone of resignation and empathy "Yes, it will but it is also the equivalent exchange for their lives."