~Cathryn

My heart beat with releaf. I didn't have to fight. I didn't have to fight! A smile slowly spread across my face. "But," The Queen continued, her eyes darkning. "You will train. Being the next generation, you are the backup for the older, more experianced fighters. You will tend to the horses, tend to the food and prepair meals for the older warriors, some of you will even be trained as backup-nurses for the wounded. But be warned, if things do come to it, you will fight." She turned to her child behind her. "You will also pose for many photo-shoots we'll hold out in the training camps. You will be cared for like children, and we won't excpect you to be any older then you are." Her gaze sofened at this. "Now, come with me. Trucks are waiting to carry you and the other soldgers to training camps."

Reclulantly, we got up, Barbary's eyes filled with fear. "For a second I thought we weren't going to have to fight. We are Doves after all." She sighed. "But I guess not. We did join a war...what was I expecting?"

"I...don't know." I whispered. "Maybe since we're doves, you expected this to be a debate?"

Her eyes darkened. "Life isn't a debate. War isn't a debate. Death isn't a debate."

With that she walked fowards, running a bit to catch up with nerdy-guy and his sidekick. I stared after her, her words sinking into my chest and making my heart thump faster. Pushing down a set of coughs, I reclulantly followed them, finding myself walking behind Frank.

There was no one behind me, so I couldn't slow down and let them be between us. Instead I looked down, away from him.

But I wasn't really watching were I was going, either. So, I sorrta kinda ran into the wall thinkking it was the door. It was loud too, and as I erupted into a coughing fit, almost everyone's eyes turned to stare at me. "Cat...." Someone sighed, and I saw, through watery eyes, the weird guy's apprintance pushing through the other five kids to stand by me. "Common, are you alright?" 

Hot embaressment flooded my cheeks and my watery eyes decided to become tears. My head hurt from the wall, yes, but my coughing fit had yet to cease and was making my throat hurt. "Do you need some water, dear?" I heard the Queen call back to me.

I shook my head no as my face turned even redder, I could feal the warmth heating my face. I managed to look up and see Franklyn walking fowards, away from me and everyone's gaze. My heart hurt and swelled from all the pressure, and realized, that somehow, I wanted to impress him, to get his attention in a good way, and make up for what happened with Lee. But why would I want to impress him? 

A cooling fealing filled my chest and my couges died down. My throat was raspy from the coughing, but I shook my head and stood streighter anyway. "I-I'm--f-fine." I said raspily.

I took a step fowards, and Catalina by my side gaurded me from the watchfull gazes of everyone else and up to our little make-shift friend group. "Thanks." I whispered absantly as we continued out the building and to the loading trucks.

~Reena

I adjusted my cat ears as I stared at my mother. "Bye." I responded to her heart-felt goodbye that I was barely listening to. If she really cared about me, why was she sending me to a filthy war?

Looking heart-broken, my mom waved us off as the truck started and started driving away. It was one of those with the open backs so you could hang your legs off and watch all the dust fly around you. I was stuck being the one at the end, because my mom held me off till last so she could say her goodbye.

We were to get settled at our camp in the timeline of a week or so before she would come back and start with our pictures and assign us training. It wasn't that long she wouldn't see me for, but she acted like it would be forever. 

I watched as the other ten or more trucks rored past us. They were the ones filled with older men and woman, oly part of the recrutes for this war. Most of them were already waiting at camp. 

I couldn't help watching my mothers figure untill all the dust clogged my vision and I couldn't make her out anymore. Blinking my eyes from the dust, I squeezed into a small gap by the side of the trucks cover where the dust got in less.

I scanned the people around me. Two guys, five girls, not including me. The oldest girl looked to be about 17, the youngest probably 2 years older then me. The oldest boy though, looked like a compleat nerd, eye glasses and all, and looked to be about 16. The youngest was maybe 15. He was huddling in the corrner opposite of me, the space arond him empty but the small contaners of canned foods and water jugs.

I couldn't help but think how strange it was that mostly girls joined. I assumed their parents forced them to, maybe Hawks in hiding, and made them stand for what they belive in.

Sinking into my thoughts, and my eyes sealed shut from the dust, it wasn't long untill Idarkness compleatly sourounded and muffled my thoughts, and I knew I was drifting to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~

I woke to muffled voices and the bumb of the truck. My head had hit painfully on the side, probably what had woken me. 

My brain refused to open my eyelids, becasue my eyelids probably thought I was still asleep, because they felt as if a million pounds were strapped to them. Instead, I let the furryness of my thoughts and noises and muffled talking sharpen to the real world. 

"Are we there yet?" Some girl whinned.

"No. Well, I actually have no clue. They never stated when we would arive at our destination." A higher guy's voice spoke, and I peiced together that he was the older, nerdyer guy talking.

"I don't care what you think." The girl snarled back. "Cat, are we there yet?"

High-pitched girl laughing followed the statment. "No. We have not arrived at our desti-a-natn yet." The girl, Cat, responded.

"I'm soooooo bored." A differnt girl whined. "Do you know and road-trip games?"

"No. But man am I suddenly starving!" Cat's voice responded.

"Than's for reminding me." The other girl who had the prospect of a game on her mind responded.

That's when I realized the own hunger knawing at my stomich. An my numb arm against the wall. I carfully sat up, and rubbed my head with the arm that could feal. As I did, instantly I had a pins and needles sensation go up and down my arm, and I winced.

Peeling open my eyes, I looked around. The group that was talking were stationed in the far corrner, safe from the dust. Another group was in the corrner next to me, away from the dust, and were talking quietly. 

Rubbing my eyes, I almost toppled right out of the truck as it finally came to a compleat stop.