In the heart of a moment

Some time before noon a classroom is listening quietly to the lecture the teacher is passionately giving. The cold the old autumn nearing its end does not bring many colors to life, but brown and dark shades are present everywhere. The room isn’t that better either, the thick walls, relics from the past are as white as the lack of paint on any well made ones. Time didn’t spare the either, most of the dust accumulated on the boring minimalistic wooden shelves full of strange, often broken equipments is not within normal margin by amount.

The benches are somewhat better, clean as much as they are used. Still, they are remnants of the short communist age that destroyed more than any holocaust could have, but they still do their job remarkably which cannot be said of any of the shiny new equipment other classrooms have.

Many argue about the past, that we still often enjoy the fruits that were left by it, but without question no one would want those times to be repeated again.

In this classroom multiple students, young adults listen to the teacher trying to scribble down as much as they can, as they cannot even think as fast as the greyed haired man is counting in his head. A perfect example of the case when the brightest mind is dumb when they are unable to make others understand them properly.

Among them one person in the furthest in the back freezes for a second until after a quick movement the reflection from a red screen starts to shine from her eyes.

“As I was saying, if you move this vector along the this one you can create a deltoid. Then, we can calculate the area using Alpha. Any questions? None? Also… Hey, Ms. Avialy. May I ask you, what is so important you ignore my class and use your phone?”

The teacher’s question did not reach the intended target by calling her first name, but the audience became much more curious instead of girl in question. She was sitting there staring at the screen with an unreadable emotion, that contained traces of the not often seen mental state of fear.

The teacher started to walk towards her in concern, as it a really unexpected act from the graceful young lady. As far as he knew she had a hard time trying to represent her well known and respected family even if she wasn’t known for any outstanding abilities. She knows many things, is intelligent and beautiful, but she is just not outstanding in any of that. As any child from a rich family she was having troubles fitting in society but at her age this is not unusual. With all that, her unexpected expression was a sign that there must be a reason for all this.

Even with his quick decision, he is not the first to reach her. He only reaches halfway when to door is abruptly kicked in, even though it was open and man dressed in military uniform and guns in hands step in ready to fire. Before anyone could understand the sudden event, one of them starts to rush in the back while to other aims at the teacher.

“Everyone stop and don’t move or I’ll shoot!” He shouts to which everyone complies. The teacher halts mid step, on foot still in the air. “My name is Geldor Viktor, ADF-3 second rank leader. Our mission is to evacuate Ms. Avialy Beata ASAP. Do not intervene or you will be shot without further warning.” He explains and with a gun in his hand his words are quite convincing.

In a country where you have to go through an expensive and long process of examination to own a 9mm pistol, the name of the Avialy Company’s Defence Force is famed. Them holding assault rifles which are outright banned is a proof of their identity, if not their confidence and demeanor.

The people unable to turn even their heads while the second man reaches the girl in the back. He motions to follow him, but she doesn’t move and keeps staring at the red screen.

“Please pardon me but we have no time.” Says the man while putting the weapon on his back and grabs the girl. He lifts her and like a baggage and with a quick jog they leave to room.

“My apologies and good luck.” The leader that stood in the doorway ready to shoot offers a sincere apology then follows them, closing the door as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. The students and the teacher are silently staring at the door unable to comprehend the weight of the events as the footsteps of more than two armed men disappear in the distance.

The teacher starts to sweat in a delayed manner and quickly approaches the last bench still warm from the person that was sitting on it. He reaches for the phone with the red screen that was dropped on the ground when the girl was taken.

On the modern touch-screen phone there are no buttons or openings at all and it’s likely that no other person than the girl could use it. Afterall, it was surely a company phone with important information on it. But this didn’t really matter as the red screen on the front never gone away. It read:

While reading this the old siren remained from the second World War started to cry loudly, announcing the fate of the unaware people of their demise they cannot do against. No one expected a war to start and definitely not this suddenly. In the current world where the internet knows everything before the people, it is strange to even guess that there are people who are not against killing. Better yet, who could ever want to turn against the whole world when there are many other problems left to solve.

A single moment, a number reduced by one. A simple mathematical subtraction. This was enough for the capable man to understand everything. He turned towards his class and started to speak.

“All of you listen to me and don’t panic. We are in danger, it seems bomber planes are headed towards us. I’m not sure what happened but you don’t have to be afraid. The only thing worth wasting ammunition on is the industrial area which is pretty far away from here. But to be sure, we should head down to the basement as rouble and air pressure is still quite dangerous. Stand and line up, calmly walk down the stairs. There is no need to hurry so don’t rush it.”

When all of them are properly line up, he opens the door and leads them. The probability of this place getting attacked is low, but being careful is a must. Panic is more fearful, it can kill many even there is no actual danger. Hundreds of scared youth trying to escape on a stair will result in injuries. It’s really important to keep calm to avoid accidents.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

They exit and slowly walk down the staircase that is right next to them. By luck this room is in the back side of the building and this place is rarely used by others. Other teachers are likely to ignore the siren as it’s normally very unlikely for an emergency situation to happen. Yearly tests of it’s usefulness do happen afterall. He knows that announcing loudly will have an undesired effect and the basement is nowhere near big enough for all the students.

“Hey, Peter. From now on you are in charge. Take them to the room A6. The one they sort used school books before redistribution. You helped last September didn’t you? I’ll be there in a minute, I have something else to do.”

Finishing his sentence he turned away and left towards the teachers office. The student he addressed sighed at the strange man. It’s not like others will listen to him no matter what he says. They all simply continued together down the stairs, albeit the previous organisation disappeared which actually made them faster.

“Just don’t rush and fall down like me last time. I don’t think we can carry you to the hospital right now.”

Small jokes start to appear along with the usual murmuring. Without someone to watch over them, they are just students who like to take rules as a general direction to avoid. Children in a peaceful world tempt to not understand the weight of things, ignoring the fact they are a danger to themselves. Even the best people do stupid things when they are frightened and they are. But to some, it is also a little bit exciting.

This is a really strange phenomenon. All through history normal people hated fights. Why fight when it’s certain to shorten one’s life? But when there is a reason, there is a cause. People who don’t know the cruelty of war, the danger of weapons and the reality of death tend to be interested in it. This strange innocence often lead those people to start a war in hope of an easy victory, it made people want to fight. Defend your country. Eliminate the threat before it spread and you can’t stop it anymore. These worlds caused more futile deaths with unprepared and halfhearted wars that one can count.

“If there is war, you think we will be drafted?”

“You? You are still 16. The youngest in the class. Maybe Peter will be drafted though, he is already 18. Even then, they will start from age 25, I think.”

“Look at the genius, like you know anything. You are just guessing aren’t you?” At the three talking others also react.

“Don’t jinx it. It could be a misunderstanding.”

“Yeah, and the Avialy Company is just messing around with toys. Didn’t you see them? Those were military, not bodyguards. They took the princess just like that.”

“You still call her Princess? Well, she has the money, but she is actually very nice if you bother to talk to her.” One ot the girls objected to the talk to which she got a few strange stares.

“Talk? Never seen her talk to anyone by herself.”

“If you talk to her she answers.”

The unusual conversation lead nowhere as they reached the door. Peter opened it and waiter for everyone to enter. After looking around he entered and closed the thick fire door behind him.

The basement consists of two corridors that meet parallel at their end. One corridor has all the rooms, 3 fire doored classrooms and a small shelter with a repurposed steel, ship flood-door. As there is no sea connection within the country border, it should be an after war product. Before the lost wars the country were so different we can’t imagine what would it be like if we didn’t participate in the meaningless struggle.

“She certainly is almost as weird as teacher.”

“But there is no person weirder than him.”

“You got it.”

They joke as they walk towards the junction the enter the front corridor which has the rooms. At the corner the front people suddenly stop.

“I guess this should be expected.”

One of them motions at the soldiers standing in front of the door of the room they are supposed to enter. They walk towards them trying to engage in a conversation before they are stopped by their voice.

“Wait. You can’t come here. Enter any other room freely or use the corridor, but you can’t come near this door.”

His refusal is simple and understandable, they are simply doing their job. Just like the teacher, the soldier identified the safest place in the area and to hide. There is not much difference between the room and the corridor, but 1% is a whole lot when you are protecting someone with your life. Unable to refute they settled in another room. This didn’t stop them from bickering though.

“A whole room for one girl. Certainly luxurious.”

“Two standing in the front, I think there are more than three other with her inside. The soldiers are also humans, they want to stay safe to.”

“Not sure, all that genetic manipulation they research must be good for something. I once saw one of them break a car’s door of by hand when they couldn’t get the injured out in an accident.”

“Lies. There is no way. It was probably broken or they used a tool you didn’t see. And don’t call them soldiers, they hate it. It’s ADF. ”

“There are a few thousand of them at least. Think they could defend us?”

“Against a real army? No way.”

“They have all the money and equipment. Why not. They might join the war too.”

“Unlikely. Two thirds of their income is from industry which are the first one to be destroyed during a fight. A war might be the end of them, our country has no way of defeating anyone.”

“Even then-”

As they argue loud enough for those in the other room to hear it, a sudden noise silences them all at once. The sound of explosion, but not any kind, it’s the sound of planes going supersonic. The sound is followed by the loud engines tearing the air up, flying far away in the distance. In the other room more meaningful conversations occur.

“Please don’t fear, Milady, it should be alright. There is no way they would attack civilians.” Says the soldier named Viktor to the girl trembling in front of her. The girl shivering from fear is hugging her legs, not hearing the man. “save me brother” she quietly whispers again and again, while Viktor tries to soothe her. Another man with his ears on the air hole conveys his findings to his comrades trying to not disturb the girl.

“I hear engines heating up. Jets. That should be a sonic boom. I think they glided quietly, but why? It made them easier to spot on the radar. They seem to be leaving. No background noise, they are not turning. They are going away. Good. I only hear one bomb, it should be heading towards the industrial area. Put your ear mufflers in.”

The men obey the command and take small cotton wools which is a simple but good solution for the problem. The girl is another problem. They can’t just push it in her ears as they still fear their lives, but she doesn’t seem to be capable of doing it herself. Instead she is put on an old headphone style ear defender, the one typically used in military vehicles. While having her hair sorted out is still touching her unneeded, the difference is like the one between lingeries and swimsuits. The first covers more but it’s still inappropriate to show to others.

The men adapt to the situation just as expected from them. Even if they never actually fought in a war, they all been through life threatening circumstances which is a must need to be part of the Defense Force. There aren’t many of them but they are certainly well trained and equipped just as the rude kids in the other room say.

They all lay on their bellies except the girl who is surrounded by literal human shields and the bomb explodes into the distance.

The soldier did not make a mistake, it was only a single one, but that one from such a distance shakes the earth and building altogether. The pressure from the great distance easily lifts cars, roofs and even some building parts, even the school with 1 meter thick wall sounds like a part of it is collapsing. It’s hard to imagine what happens to the smaller homes and buildings, but the sounds of bending metal and rubble exploding from impact is serious enough that the soldiers make a thankful prayer towards the Avialy family that taught them the how and allowed them to survive.

“There is no god, thus we can only thrust the Avialy.” Is what leaves Geldor Viktor, ADF-3 second rank leader’s mouth.

Next: Exodus - to a small and simple place to call home