Chapter 1: The Unfeeling Menace

Benton

The time had come where we stood face to face, man to man, and in that moment all I saw in the man’s eyes was fear. “You really want to do this?” I asked him promptly, he stood weapon at the ready with no words “I’ll take that as a yes!” I then extended my baton and took a swing, he ejected his own promptly, defending the blow swiftly and pushing his weight slightly to his right making sure he didn’t lose his footing and directing the swing to his side rather directly above him, he then launched his own strike aiming directly towards the right side of my chest in an attempt to weaken the defence on my left as if I didn’t deflect it he would strike and I would drop to the ground as a surge of electricity would fire through my body. I blocked the shot and he made his attack shifting his balance and weight in order to throw a hard punch just below my left lung, I hit the ground but not without exploiting his weak defence as on the way down I swung hard at his leg sending him also flying to the ground in a shock. We both laid on the ground, but I was in much less pain than he was, I was slightly winded as he was almost paralysed, I then got to my feet not long after “That didn’t take long.” I stated light-heartedly “That’s what she said to you last night!” I heard him groan from on the ground before laughing in pain at his own childish humour. “For fucks sake Troy!” I then extended my hand offering help off the ground “Nah, nah mate I need a moment.” I then grinned “Suit yourself, I’m going to go get something to eat, I’ll meet you there.” Troy then called out to me “Yeah man cool I’ll just lay here by myself.” I then laughed “Yeah fuckin whatever cunt.” I then headed out of the training room of the Battle School and made my way towards the canteen where I was going to get the fattest feed of my life as I hadn’t eaten all day up to this point and the time stood at 3:30pm, I arrived with haste and ordered, not long after Troy caught up and made his order also and waited in the line with me. “I swear I’ve been training in hand to hand combat with you for nearly a year now and I feel like I’m no closer to beating you than I was when I started.” I then chuckled “You have been getting much better trust me, I have been needing to put more effort into beating you over the months, your forms stronger than ever don’t worry.” Troy grinned “Getting some overconfidence their bud.” I look at him with the kind of look that indicated he was being stupid “I’ve been training professionally in every kind of combat for the last 8 years, of course I’m going to be much stronger than you.” Troy smiled “Don’t forget your also a god!” I chuckled “Fuck off!” he always found it amusing to call me a god because I was ‘naturally gifted’ in everything when in reality I’m just a fast learner who likes to pay attention. “There is no point in fighting the truth Benton!” I chuckled at his remark when my name was called out for my meal “I’m going to find a seat, come meet me once you have decided to call me by my actual name!” I was obviously kidding but Troy always assumed that I hated the name so much it bothered me, but it didn’t, I had embraced the joke at that point as it wasn’t just him who made the comparison, normal everyday people would recognise me due to the events that’s transpired nine years ago. I was deemed ‘the man who brought peace to a hated world’ when in reality I was just a boy who wanted revenge for the misdeeds he was dealt, the 6 of us close friends took down an army and stopped a war, but in reality it was John who made peace… god I miss that man, even still to this day his death weighed on me, if he wasn’t with us for this the world wouldn’t be here, we would still be at a constant threat of war, he took the risks and it paid dividends to the future generations. Yet I was the one got credited with saving all of us, nobody ever listened to me when I told them It was not just me but a collective of brave people that took out the villain that was the commander. Everyday made me feel as if I was some kind of celebrity hero but I wasn’t proud of how I handled things come nearly a decade on.

Troy met me at a table not long after I had begun eating my meal, “How’s the tucker tonight?” he asked as he sat down across from me “It’s pretty good, nothing too spectacular but it’s tasty enough.” Troy nodded as he tucked in as if he hadn’t eaten for days, he then looked up after a full mouthfuls to deliver me some news “All my teachers won’t stop complaining about how much your pulling me out of classes.” I stopped and thought for a moment “wait, are you caught up with all your work?” Troy nodded “That’s not the issue though, other students are getting upset because I know so much more than them about well… everything, I’m better in the battles, I have more overall knowledge than them about battle strategy, I have no idea how you manage to cram three years of education into one without breaking a sweat but you did it.” I pondered for a moment “Well then don’t train with me personally anymore, you probably should be spending more time with other students in classes, maybe you can pull them ahead as well.” Troy looked shocked before bursting into a short rant “Wait so that’s it? First sign of conflict and you dip on me?” I grinned at Troy’s fondness to jump to conclusions “Were not done forever, just spend some time in normal classes, it’s best for you socially anyway.” I could still tell that Troy was upset “Why did you even pick me anyway? What did I have to bring to the table.” The answer to his question was simple but I chose to not answer it “That’s a story for another day, the reason I did was very distinct but it’s not time for you to know that yet.” Troy had a face painted with disappointment, he remained quiet and continued to eat his food “Trust me when I say things will be finished, they will be finished, were not done here yet.” Troy opted to keep his mouth shut and just nodded.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

After finishing our food Troy went back to his room and I made my way to the top floor of the main building of the battle school where my new office was built and ready to be used, I wanted a place where I could unwind after the long day of teaching and running this place, I spent my afternoons not wanting to be bothered by anyone as I had just spent the day dealing with everyone’s shit. Everyday became a similar routine of dealing with complaining teachers with students who had the most minor infringements committed, I had to feel for these students who had teachers who held them under a microscope, but it was the same during my time here, teachers watched us like a hawk, they had such expectations of us that sometimes we just couldn’t handle it. We were still teenagers and that meant that we had to goof around sometimes, being serious all day everyday got us a bit down some days so I empathised with the students, it made teachers furious but considering the government gave me full authority to run this place I didn’t care what they thought, the whole point of this place was to focus on getting these kids through Battle School to become peacekeepers not to turn them into unfeeling monsters, the world has become a very different place, soldiers need to play on their empathy and care for others whilst also remaining disciplined and logical, they couldn’t become to be very people that just blindly follows orders, as if that had of happened with my batch we would have never have gotten to this point, it was important to teach the youth to be weary of people but also having enough faith to hear them out.

I Laid on my bed just casually watching whatever was playing on the TV when I got a knock on my door, it could have only been a few select people as my room was restricted from a lot of the personal in the school. I sighed as I hopped up to answer the door, to my shock it was someone who I didn’t know too well but as she was a close member of the school I allowed them to access my area “Kayla, What brings you here at this time of the afternoon?” Kayla smirked as she responded, “Good to see you too Benton.” I then caught my manners “Sorry would you like to come in?” she then smiled “I would love too thanks!” she then wandered past me and gestured me to the table in my room, I sat down. “So, what is this about?” Kayla then pulled a folder from her bag “Unfortunately I bring you something I’m sure your going to hate, the minister is pushing for another appearance on the news tomorrow for the anniversary of ‘the day of peace’ so unless you have a serious injury to contend to you kind of have to attend.” I then sighed deeply “I really need to block you from getting up here.” I then grinned “I mean if you really don’t want to do it I can bottle you if you want?” I then laughed “It honestly might be worth my time.” We then both chuckled “So… are you going to be the one who tells them you going to attend or will I?” I then shook my head and sighed “If they wanted my direct response they could have rang me, they knew I wouldn’t want to do it so that’s why you’re here.” She then looked confused “To convince you?” I then chuckled “No, to put me in a metaphorical corner, your just here to tell me I’m going, there Is no choice here.” Kayla looked at me guilty “I’m just the messenger, don’t have to shoot me.” I then grinned “I know, I’m just letting you tell your boss to go fuck himself but say it in a nice way.” I then tilted my head and presented a beaming smile. Kayla looked shocked “Are you not worried about what they will do if you don’t do it?” I then straightened my face “No, I’m part of the reason that they are able to enjoy the way that they live, my best friend got them into power and I eliminated the one person who caused the conflict in the first place.” Kayla then nodded “Well if you do decide to change your mind you know how to contact me.” She had the look of disappointment on her face that evoked almost nothing in me, her job was to inform people of what the  and minister planned for them, a consequence of that is most of the time the things that the minister wanted wasn’t always a fun time, so Kayla had to deal with a lot of hate, in turn she had to form a defence mechanism, that face was the defence, I had seen it before. She then gathered her things and stepped out of the room without a word, I then spent a moment thinking about how I basically just made this girls day a bit shit and I gave in to nice side and called her back in, she popped her head in through the door “I’ll let him know myself, I’m sorry.” She then smiled “Have a good night Benton.” I then wandered over to my phone and dialled in to the minister, the phone rang a few times before he answered “Benton! How can I help you?” I then sighed “I’m not coming to do your speech tomorrow.” The minister processed this for a moment “Is their something wrong?” I then chuckled “No, no, I just don’t want to do it.” The ministers voice went cold “You have too though.” I then added some fire to my voice “I don’t have to do shit, your just trying to present me no choice and I refuse to be fucking paraded like a show pony, I look after your military academy and that is it!” The minister said nothing for a good 5 to 10 seconds “I don’t want to have to do this but I will revoke your established powers if you don’t concede.” I then grinned “Fucking do it, see what happens!” I then hung up. “Fucking hooligans.” I muttered to myself before leaving my room to go and get dinner.