Wunderhein Academy: Book 1- Awakening

When her class was over she found Captain waiting for her.

He was leaning against the wall, chewing on the end of a pencil. He didn’t stop when he saw her. In fact, he didn’t say anything, instead he only started walking. It was up to her to run after him and keep up or stay behind with the other students watching her like some kind of freak.

She caved and ran. Laughter from the other boys stung her ears, making her feel even more humiliated.

She nearly lost the Captain a few times in the sea of boys. Like all the other students, he was in a camo uniform and combat boot. She remembered seeing the dog-tag around his neck. She had one too. Only hers had her last name and initial but seemed to mean nothing here since no one cared what her name was. His hair should have made it easy to spot him in the crowd. It was an odd colour grey with flecks of black splashed in it. Part of her wished she could touch it to see if it was just her mind playing tricks on her. She had never seen such course looking hair before in her life before. It was almost wrong.

Then again all the kids seemed to have something wrong about them here.

“Oof.” She bumped into a solid human wall and fall over. Grimacing, she looked up to find the Captain glaring at her.

His eyes were ice blue with thick, dark lashes. A scar marred over the eye into his eyebrow. She didn’t remember seeing that in the Mess Hall. Her mouth dropped open.

What are you staring at?” He growled.

“Nothing.” She lied, quickly closing her mouth and standing up. “I wasn’t staring at anything.”

“Just keep your nose clean.” He warned darkly her as he pushed her into her next class.

Catai slunk into a seat, one of the few meat-bags like her were allowed, but battled to concentrate on the lesson beyond coping the date from the blackboard.

“1938” she whispered as she slowly added the numbers to her book, almost pleased with her self for her unusually neat writing.

“Assholes.” Someone called out behind her, making her jump in her seat as the class laughed.

Even the teacher smiled, nodding his approval of the joke she seemed to have missed. Catai opened her mouth then shut it again, hesitating to ask what they were talking about.

“Is it true they use guns?” One boy yelled out.

“That’s so weak.” Came a hiss before the teacher could respond.

Catai sighed and looked down at the empty page in her notebook, picking up her pencil to start doodling.

“So much for art class.” She muttered.

Finally, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class.

She gathered her things and took a deep breath before walking out, determined not to freak out when she found her Captain waiting.

Only this time it wasn’t him.

“Hi.” A bright smile greeted her from the smallest member of the group. “I’m Boris.”

The youngster wore his black hair cut in a similar style of his team-mates with pride. His front teeth stuck out unusually large and a smear of dirt was ignored across his shirt. A splattering of freckles splashed across his nose and cheeks.

He walked next to her, instead of ahead as the Captain had. It felt a bit strange. Not even back home had kids wanted to walk with her. His smile was so infectious though that she soon forgot to feel uneasy around him.

“How old are you? Are you tall for a girl?” He didn’t wait for her answer, “I’m fourteen.”

“Fourteen?” Catai’s eyes widened, studying his tiny frame.

“Yep.” He placed a hand on his head as if he was measuring himself. “I don’t grow so fast like the others. The Captain says I shouldn’t worry ’cause I can still have a growth spurt.”

“Do you believe everything the Captain says?”

“Yeah. The Captain’s smart.” Boris shuffled from one foot to the other. “Listen, just so you know, don’t ever call the Captain Lexie.”

“Lexie?” Catai blinked. “Is that his name?”

“No, his name is Aleksei. You can call him that or Captain like I do. Otherwise, his tag is Alpha-Wolf.” Boris looked serious for a moment. “But never Lexie. Only Dmitri is allowed to call him that.”

“Dmitri is that’s the scary guy that looks like he doesn’t eat, right?” Catai asked, trying to place a face to the name Boris was giving her.

“Right. He’s our Second in charge. He's just called Dmitri. Or the Winter Shark if you want.” Boris waved a finger at her. “Never Dimi. Only the Captain can call him that.”

“Why?”

“Dunno. Always been like that.” Boris shrugged before leaning closer towards her. “Dmitri goes nuts about it. There’s a rumor Dmitri has a collection of skulls from the guys he tore apart for messing with his and the Captains’ names. Guys from the previous Alpha Pack.”

“No way.” Catai’s eyes widened. “That’s not possible.”

“It’s just what I heard.” Boris added quickly. “I’ve never seen him take them out. I bet they look cool though.”

“You talking about your lame captains again Rat.”

Catai looked over her shoulder at the youths laughing. They reminded her of dogs in some weird way. One had a tattoo over half his face.

“They’re not lame.” Boris protested, his body jerking from rage. “They beat your Captain on the scoreboard.”

“Only because he didn’t want to be touched by a pair of lame pretty boys.”

“They’re not…”

“Calm down Boris.” Catai reached out a hand, placing it on her new friends shoulder to calm him. “Those guys are just being idiots.”

“Yeah. Listen to your girlfriend Rat.” The laughter grew louder. “What an idiot.”

Catai watched the boys go off.

“I hate those guys.” Boris blurted angrily. “Arrogant jerks.”

“Don’t let them get to you like that.” Catai subconsciously rubbed her arm. “They were just being mean.”

“I know. I’m not allowed to fight them anyway.” The youngsters lip fell. “Alpha pack rules. We don’t start fights. The Captain would punish me forever if I did.”

“Hold on,” Catai turned to him in surprise. “You don’t start fights?”

“We don’t start fights.” He corrected, pointing to her. “Remember that. The Captain says there’s enough problems in this place, we shouldn’t have to make more. We’re better than that.”

“Wow, ” Catai’s mind tried to fumble for the word. “That’s...”

“… us late if we don’t hurry.” Boris squeaked. “He grabbed her arm and pulled her through the rest of the crowd, slipping them both into the class as the last minute bell rang.

The teacher didn’t hide the distasteful look on his face as he watched them find their spots. Boris had managed to find two seats together for them to nearby each other.

“You’re in this class?” Catai whispered when she had a chance.

Boris nodded.

“The Captain saw we had a few classes together so you’re budding up with me a lot.” He whispered back. “Just remember I’m still you senior.”

He shut up as soon as the teacher began walking around the class.

“Your test results.” The man slapped another paper on a table. “Where a waste of paper. As expected.”

Another test was smacked down, then another.

He came closer to Boris and Catai.

“F.” The teacher handed Boris his test, bypassing her.

“Awe man. I’m getting punishment duty for the next week for this.” Boris groaned softly. “You’re lucky. You were in the hospital when we wrote it right?”

“Um…I guess.”

“Captain will go easy on you then. ”Boris sighed heavily. “Although I pretty sure he still studies when his in hospital.”

“Team Alpha.” The teacher interrupted. “Would you like to share what you’re talking about or should I just report you to your captain.”

“We were discussing the outcomes of the test sir!” Boris quickly squeaked, jumping from his seat to attention.

The rest of the class chuckled.

The teacher didn’t look like he believed the story at all but he went back to handing out the tests.

“Never let them report anything to the Captain.” Boris whispered to Catai as he slipped back into his spot next to her.

“Why not?”

“Because then we’re in for it.” Boris shivered.

When class was finally over Catai grabbed her things at a more hurried past.

“Where are we going to now?” She grinned.

“You’re not with me next class.” Boris looked sad for a moment. “I’m at survival 101. You have geography.”

“What? How does that work?” Catai felt sad at loosing possibly the first friend she made in this place. “And how did you even know what lessons I take?”

“The Captain picked up your timetable. He has one for everybody.” Boris grinned cheerfully. “And this time I have a more advance class then you do. Don’t worry. Ivan has you now. He’s nice.”

“Ivan?” Catai began to count on her fingers as she tried to place him amongst the group. “Who is…?”

She stopped her question part way as a hand touched her shoulder, making her jump.

She turned and found the Giant looming down on her.

Catai screamed, shrugging his hand off her shoulder. Her hand tried to fumble for Boris’s. If they ran, maybe this monster wouldn’t catch them and hurt them.

The big ones always hurt you; a voice in her head remaindered her.

“Hey, Hey wait its ok.” Boris tried to calm her down. “Ivan’s friendly.”

Ivan tilted his head, arms folded as he seemed to watch her with small brown eyes that hid what they were thinking. Like Boris, his dirty brown hair had been cut short with military precision. Finally, he picked her up, throwing her over his broad shoulder as he had done before, ignoring her kicking and screaming.

Boris looked torn.

“You’ll be fine.” The youngster shouted at her before scuttling away in the opposite direction, leaving her to her fate.

She kept kicking and hitting the monster carrying her until she ran out of energy. She didn’t care that everyone watched her cry or leave slimy trails of snot over the creatures back.

Even Boris had left her alone in this miserable place. No one cared what happened to her.

“No, no, no, no.” Her eyes widened as she felt herself being lifted off the monsters’ shoulder.

She closed her eyes and winced, waiting for the beating to come. Except it didn’t.

The only pain was from her hands and feet hitting the solid wall that had been carrying her and a horse throat from her yelling and crying.

She carefully opened one eye just as he put her on the ground, gentler than last time, in a graffiti-filled passageway.

He held out one massive hand that held out her mis-used second-hand bag of books towards her. She blinked before taking it, still expecting him to lash out at her.

Never trust the big ones, she reminded herself.

He reached out towards her and she winced. He halted, and then seem to re-think his actions before digging in his school bag instead. Then he brought out a cookie.

Her eyes widened and her mouth drooled. She hadn’t had one of those since her mom died. He motioned her to take it. She hesitated, watching for any signs of movements from him as she grabbed it from him.

He seemed to expect her to eat it. She wished she could throw it back at him but it really looked good. She took a small bite, planning on spitting it out when she was out of his sight but ended up swallowing it. It was surprisingly fresh, gooey and really sweet.

“Thanks.” She finished the snack. “That was really yummy.”

He smiled and gave her another one. This one she ate slower, attempting to suck the honey from the middle of the cookie before licking her fingers.

She smiled until she felt his hand on her head.

“No.” She yelled and automatically flinched away. He halted, his hand frozen in the air.

Catai found herself heaving. Her bruises from the blows she received a few days ago painfully foretold what lay in wait for her.

She was going to hurt again. She tried stifling a sob and looked up at him, wondering how badly it would be this time.

He still hadn’t moved.

“Can I go?” She finally begged. “Please?”

He lowered his hand. As it passed her eye she spotted the stitches on his finger. Instantly she reached out and grabbed his hand between her fingers.

“You’re hurt.” She felt him go rigid as she studied the wound.

Ivan merely nodded in silent response but offered no explanation of how it happened.

On impulse, Catai leaned down and kissed the stitching.

“There.” She looked up and found him staring at her in confusion. She blushed and released him before murmuring. “Sorry. My mom always did that. Kiss wounds to make them better.”

Ivan blinked before looking at his finger.

“My Grandma too.” A deep voice responded.

Catai’s jaw dropped. “You can talk?”

Ivan shrugged.

He slipped his bag back onto his shoulder before turning around to leave. He turned back to pointedly look at her.

Catai blinked for a moment before rushing after him. When she was at his side, he pointed to group of kids dawdling outside a classroom door.

She took a deep breath before walking towards them.

“Hey Princess.” One of them laughed as she neared the classroom. “What say you and me skip this class and find something better to do?”

A few of the boys laughed.

A growl came behind them.

Catai turned and found Ivan still standing where she had left him. His eyes narrowed and cracking his knuckles.

“Blyad, it’s the Red-Bear.” A voice called out.

She stared at him for a moment before giving him a smile and turning to enter her class.

Once in her seat, Catai secretly admitted to herself that she was glad not to be missing this class.

The teacher glanced at her; almost as if surprised she had made any team, before he added her details in his daily rooster.

She had a team now. Everything she studied would count from now on. A small thrill shot through her as the realization set in. She wasn’t a ghost anymore coming to classes and ending up without results. They finally had meaning to them.

“On the wall is an example of how a map should be drawn.” The teacher began in a nasal, boring tone. “Given the work turned in last week, the only map you all know how to draw is from here to the mess-hall.” He glared at them. “Which I’m not surprised since that’s likely to be where your brains are. I want new maps of the buildings drawn before the period ends.”

“Awe come on.” One of the students growled. “It’s just stupid buildings.”

“That is the reason you’ll die first in an actual war when you can’t find the medic unit after being shot.” The teacher pointed out. “You won’t know where it is. Now begin.”

Catai began drawing what she knew. The problem was she hadn’t been to every floor of the building and it was more than one floor. The medic floor too. She would guess they were about five floors each since they looked about the same size. The Dorms looked that height too, with ivy creeping up the walls. She had always liked Ivy.

From the right of her room were the bathrooms and Mess hall. The left was the boys’ bedrooms. You also had to go that side to go to the Medic ward. Going to the right of her bedroom would lead to the Classroom building. Behind it was a huge training field with different equipment that she had seen the boys training on sometimes.

She picked up her paper and examined it, noting how the buildings formed a huge U.

What was on the other floors?

When class ended the teacher looked at her work with indifference.

“This will do.” He added the drawing to those he accepted. “You may leave.”

She quickly packed up, wondering who would be waiting for her this time.