Humayre: The Chronicles of Ronin Wilder

For the first hour the inside of the limo bristled with excitement. Bobby and Rob, the two red heads, turned out to be identical twins, though Ronin never would’ve guessed it because their noses were so different. Bobby apparently had his broken in a bicycle crash when he was younger. Mike hated football, even though he was one of the best offensive line-men in the country at just sixteen. Which Ronin had already learned on the plane but apparently the story was worth telling again. And Kevin, well, he was a fantastic sleeper, truly gifted.

As much as Ronin wanted to let go and have fun, he just couldn’t get his mind off Dr. Storm and what happened at school earlier. The way he grabbed his hand to inspect his fingers and how he stared right through him with those dark inhuman eyes. It was all too strange. And now the guy was driving them. Wasn’t he supposed to be a doctor?

Before Ronin knew it another hour passed. The car was silent. Mike’s head rested on the window, his eyes closed. Kevin looked to be asleep, but for all Ronin knew he could be faking it to avoid talking to anyone. After all, he wasn’t the most social of guys. And the brothers, well they were asleep like everyone else, their heads resting together, both snoring. Seeing them so close, it was more obvious they were twins.

Ronin, despite being bored into exhaustion by the monotonous scenery of the never ending pine trees, wasn’t able to sleep. His emotions were in a flurry. Excitement, fear, excitement, fear. It felt good, it felt like hope. He decided that it didn’t really matter how strange the whole situation was, he was excited to take the ride regardless.

Somehow their car was the first to arrive, even though it wasn’t the first to leave. Their limo stopped in front of a black gate surrounded by concrete-block walls. The walls stood about ten to twelve feet high. Besides the walls and the many pine trees the only thing Ronin could see was a white building about three stories high set back on the property. There wasn’t a single window, which made the building look like a giant white cinder block. It didn’t look like any school he had ever seen.

During the drive Ronin noticed something else strange. For the entire two hour journey there wasn’t a single exit, gas station, or anything that might suggest the road was ever traveled. Two asphalt lanes and an endless array of pine trees. That was it. The perfect beginning to a horror movie. Their apparent destination was the end of the road, literally.

The sound of rolling wheels against metal vibrated through the car.

“We there?” asked Mike, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

“I don’t know,” said Ronin. “We are somewhere. It doesn’t look like a school to me though.”

The car lurched forward. As they passed the gate Ronin noticed a little sign attached to its bottom left corner. It read, Storm Biotech. He wondered if it was the same Dr. Storm driving their car. The driveway curved around into a half circle exiting at a gate on the other side of the property. The limo stopped in front of the white building. From outside the gate it looked like the building had no windows, now Ronin was certain of it. The only entrance was a set of metal doors in the front of the building.

The engine turned off and a car door opened. A few seconds later Dr. Storm opened the metal double doors and disappeared into the building.

“Okay,” said Mike, sarcastically. He wrinkled his forehead in confusion. “I guess that means we get out here.” He shook his head “You’re right, there is something wrong with that guy.”

“See, I told you,” said Ronin, happy that finally Mike could see it too.

The five boys got out of the car. Four more limos pulled up behind them. Shrugging his shoulders Ronin headed for the entrance. The double doors opened. Out came two people. One was a girl the other a scowling boy. They didn’t look much older than Ronin. They were wearing long black trench coats with yellow BW’s embroidered on the left chest. Their shoes were lace-less black boots that looked sort of like slippers. Under their trench coats they wore black tight fitting pants and shirts. All in all they were a very imposing looking duo. Pulling his attention from their strange outfits Ronin focused on the girl. She had long straight blonde hair. Not dirty blonde, but rather a shimmering-yellow, bordering on white. Her eyes were green, their shape slightly slanted. Her nose was perfect, her cheekbones were perfect, what he could see of her body was perfect. His heart ached and he wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because she was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on.

“She can see you staring at her,” said Kevin. “You look like a stalker.”

Mike nudged Kevin who got the hint and continued to the door.

“She’s hot,” said Mike. “But not my type.”

The comment was so absurd it pulled Ronin’s attention away from the blonde. “Yeah right,” said Ronin. “She’s every ones type.” He stared up at the behemoth, wondering what he could possibly be thinking.

“Girls like that don’t like guys like me,” said Mike. “Anyway. We aren’t here to stare at hot blondes.” He motioned with his head towards the door. Kevin was already inside and a line of kids was spilling from the entrance. ”I don’t feel like waiting in line for an hour.” He raised his eyebrows. “Do you?”

Ronin shook his head. As he followed Mike to the line he noticed the scowling boy had something strange attached to his side under the trench coat. Ronin stopped and focused for a moment. When the boy moved the trench coat slipped off his leg. There was some kind of holster attached to his hip. Inside the holster was a black object that sort of looked like a gun. The boy stopped and faced the limos. The trench coat slid back into place hiding the strange gun like thing. Both the blonde and the boy just stood there, like they were guarding the place.

“Come on,” said Mike. He waved for Ronin to join him. “I’m going in. Hurry up.”

Feasting his eyes one more time on the blonde, Ronin hoped he would get to see her again. Not that he thought he had any sort of chance with her, after all, she looked at least seventeen, a girl like that would never be interested in him. But, to see her around would be enough. He hurried to join Mike before he disappeared into the building.

“Woah,” said Ronin. The room was huge. Warehouse huge. The white marble floors glistened as the lights above shone down upon them. Long white tables, four to be exact, were lined up into four rows in the center of the room. At each table five men in white lab coats sat on one side while five kids faced them on the other. In front of the kids lay paper and pens. Standing behind each of the sitting doctors, or who Ronin assumed were doctors, was a well-dressed man. Each of these men wore a suit, carried a tape measure and had a clipboard.

“Next!” shouted one of the doctors.

“Good luck,” said Mike. He went to take his seat in front of the doctor

“Next,” said another doctor. He was skinny and his bald head was almost as shinny as the marble floors. The doctor didn’t look very nice. His face was cold and expressionless. Ronin wondered why everyone who worked for BrightWood seemed disinterested and grumpy. Taking a seat in front of the shiny headed doctor Ronin wondered what was to come next.

“Full name?” asked the Doctor.

“Ronin Wilder.” He picked at the loose end of tape hanging from his thumbnail.

“Ronin Wilder!” shouted the Doctor, as he looked behind him.

A skinny boy roughly the same age as Ronin, wearing a white lab coat with a yellow BW embroidered on it came running to the table. He handed the doctor a single sheet of paper and ran back to a white filing cabinet.

The doctor slid the sheet of paper in front of Ronin and said, “It’s a consent form. We need to take a sample of your blood. We also need you to sign a gag order.”

“Gag order?” Ronin’s eyes scrunched in confusion.

“Yes. Anything you see or hear from this point forward you are not allowed to discuss with anyone off BrightWood property. It is matter of national security. If you sign the document you will be bound to it for life. If you violate the contract you will be prosecuted for treason. In other words. If you talk about anything you see or hear while at BrightWood you can be executed.”

“What kind of school is this?” asked Ronin.

“One that is serious about keeping its secrets.” He handed Ronin the pen. “If you choose not to sign it, you will be immediately sent home at which point BrightWood’s offer will be rescinded and never presented again.”

Ronin read through the document. It was exactly as the doctor said. At the bottom right of the page there was even a U.S. Homeland Security seal. He signed his name, without a second thought.

“Okay,” said the doctor. “This will be quick and painless. Give me your arm.” He took Ronin’s outstretched arm and swabbed it with an alcohol pad. Ronin’s duct-taped fingers caught his eye, but he acted as though he didn’t see them. He opened a rectangular metal box that was sitting on the desk to the right of him. He pulled out something that looked like a fat pen. It had a little vial attached to the back of it. He pushed the tip of the pen into Ronin’s arm. A swoosh sounded as the doctor depressed the red button on top of the pen.

Red liquid filled the little vial on the back of the pen. The doctor was right, it was painless. Ronin never would’ve known he was getting his blood taken if it weren’t for the little vial.

“Why do you need my blood?” asked Ronin.

As the doctor pulled the pen away he shouted, “Next!”

Feeling a little dejected, Ronin stood and looked for Mike. A light touch on his back caused him to turn around. One of the well-dressed men was holding a tape measure to Ronin’s shoulder. The man measured from shoulder to hip then scribbled onto his clipboard.

“What’s that for?” asked Ronin. He wanted to pull away but thought he might get in trouble for refusing to cooperate.

“I’m almost done young man. If you have any questions, you can ask Mr. Wall.” The tape measure whipped up and down like a frenzied humming bird. It was hard to tell what he was faster with, the taking of the measurements or writing them down. Wiping his brow he exclaimed, “We are done here.” He tucked his pencil over his ear and walked off without saying another word.

“Listen up!” shouted, Mr. Wall. He paused until all eyes were on him. “When you are finished, head out the door with the big green glowing exit sign above it.” He held his left hand up. “One more thing. We have a pleasant surprise for you today. Normally we hold a small demonstration for all the new recruits. But today will be different. I just received word that a training session is about to start. Once everyone is finished here we will head to the Colosseum.” His eyes gleamed with excitement. A slight smile formed out of his usual tight-lipped expression. “We are all about to witness something very special.”