Eien had very little to do with Commander Anwen Era when she first arrived aside from that pants-shitting experience in the evening near the mess hall. But she was going through the ranks like a storm.

“Hey, Sho, you heard she beat up Trogun?”

“What? Trogun? Trogun?” Eien rubbed his ears a bit.

“Yeah, he lasted…oh, maybe just short of a week,” replied Axle.

Oren Axle was a sandy-haired boy a bit taller and bigger than Eien. Eien had sat next to him in the truck on the way to the camp, and they quickly became partners, even if not exactly friends. No one really had friends here.

Axle was from the slums like Eien, but he had waited until his thirteenth birthday to be conscripted unlike Eien who conscripted a year early. He was still lanky and tall, not as strong as some of the other boys, but he was smarter than a lot of them. While most of the other boys still had dreams of being soldiers, Axle had already figured out the point of their training was not to prepare them for war.

“It seems like she’s testing them,” Eien replied, “How many is that now of the conscripts?”

“Oh…I think he’s number fifty-six. What a good number, eh? I wonder when it will be our turn to get our heads bashed in,” Axle replied, pulling his pencil out from behind his ear. He started scribbling a sketch onto his pad of paper.

“At fifteen, we are supposed to be assigned to a specialized area. I was really hoping that I could maybe join the military engineers, but I might just be cannon fodder,” he continued, frowning at his latest design.

Axle liked building things. He was always trading for scraps of parts to put things together. Most of what he had were drawings; he was always looking at machinery and making measurements and sketches. It was difficult to get things apart from what was provided in the base, but there were ways if the officers liked you. Axle managed to get quite a few items thanks to a shared love of vehicle engines with a particularly tall officer named Perdue.

Eien thought it was smart that Axle could try to make himself valuable by showing his penchant for engineering. Officers were always watching them, judging and evaluating, but Eien had no chance of sticking out. He wasn’t smart, he didn’t know how to read or write, and he wasn’t strong at all compared to the other boys. His sparring was still subpar, he aimed a gun only averagely, and he was pushed around by the other boys. He had resigned himself to being what Axle called “cannon fodder” a long time ago. It meant he was not going to see his sister again.

He was just going to die.

But at least he was sending his family money. His family got paid for him being in the camp as long as he was alive. With Axle’s help, he was even able to send letters and mail to his family. Axle offered to teach him to read and write, but Eien declined.

Those skills wouldn’t help him when he was dead.

It was depressing that he had given up already, but it was more depressing at the speed at which he had given up. Once he realized how weak he was and how strong everyone else was, it was all he could do to keep up with the lowest rung of the ladder.

“You could still make it out, Sho,” Axle said seriously. Eien shook his head.

“Just promise me you’ll look out for my sister if you get out of here.” Axle grimaced.

“Yeah, man. I will. If I get out of here.”

“You’ll get out just fine,” Eien replied, laying back on the bed in the bunkroom. Axle sighed, shifting his weight on his own bunk next to Eien’s.

The bunkroom was a large room with a double row of bunks in the middle and lines of bunks against the walls. There must be about one hundred people who could sleep here, but it was only for conscripts who managed to be here long enough that a spot opened up. There was always someone either leaving or coming. The rest of the conscripts slept outside in all kinds of weather. Though the weather was never too cold, some still had died from strong wind picking up items and bashing heads in. At least, that was what was explained to Eien when cause of death was announced.

Eien was thankful he had managed to partner up with Axle; they were able to look out for each other. Since both had grown up in the slums, they were familiar with the perilousness of sleeping in an unknown and exposed place. Then again, most of the other conscripts were from the slum, too. They still died.

A pull.

He felt it. Eien looked at Axle who had set down his pencil.

“You feel it?” he asked

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go then.” Axle shoved the items under his pillow

Eien made sure his boots were laced properly and pulled on his jacket. Axle hopped a bit as he stumbled.

“Fuck. What time is it?” he hissed as pain started to hit Eien, too.

“Uhhhhhh. 1400. It’s 1400 right now. What do you think they want? Usually, they leave us alone until after dinner. We already did our morning and afternoon routine.”

Pushing open the door, the pull led them both in different directions. Eien felt a pang of anxiety as Axle grinned weakly at him, pointing towards Commander Aino Era’s complex. Eien felt his own pull go in the direction of the mess hall. It must be his turn to help with cooking and cleaning. And it must be Axle’s turn to get battered by the strange girl who seemed to conquer boys who should be much stronger than herself.

Eien jogged to the mess hall, hoping to get relief from the pull sooner rather than later.

Axle did not return to the bunkhouse that night, so Eien took his sketchbook and pencil into his own possession. Just in case.

He also didn’t return the next morning for the morning drills or in the afternoon for those exercises.

Eien was wanting to send another letter to Mari, to tell her that he was fine and about all the good food he was eating and reassure her that he was fine. He also wanted to talk Axle up a bit.

After a smoke break behind the mess hall in the late evening, Eien found Axle in his bunk, staring up, his head bandaged and arm in a sling, resting against his stomach. Some bruises had blossomed across his face, like morbid tattoos.

“Axle? You okay?” Eien asked, stepping quickly over.

Axle did not respond right away. Eien pulled out his sketchbook and pencils.

“I took these because I didn’t want someone else to get them. Just in case. You can have them back now.” Axle’s eyes slid over to Eien, and his mouth formed a small smile.

“Thanks, Sho,” he replied, his voice a bit crackly, “I guess I am number fifty-seven.” His eyes went back to the bottom of the upper bunk.

“What happened?” Eien asked, eager for some kind of information different from what they already knew.

“She fights hard, man…I had no chance. If Duncan, Trogun, and all of them had no chance, I had no chance for sure. But she told me to come back tomorrow.”

“What?”

“Yeah. She beat me to a pulp, so hard I was knocked out cold. I woke up in the infirmary, bandaged up. She was standing there, watching me. It was creepy. Her flat face watching me, staring at me. I was gonna say something, but then she said to come again tomorrow in the morning.”

“That was this morning?”

“No. I just woke up a few hours ago. Tomorrow morning.”

“You gonna go?”

“I think I have to…” Axle’s eyes welled up a bit, and Eien averted his gaze.

“Oh shit, man, how did the other guys get out of it?”

“I think…she just got tired of them? I don’t know. Oh, hell, Eien, what am I gonna do? I’m no good at this…” Eien shifted his eyes around, looking to see if others were going to bother them. Everyone had to know he had been one of Aino’s punching bags.

“I’ll help. I don’t know…I don’t know. I can go ask Trogun, Lipta, Pim, and the…the other guys. I’ll ask them. Do you remember who the longest was?”

Axle moved his lips, wiggling them up and down.

“Yeah…uhh…the longest was…In…Inchi. And…a few guys only lasted a day. I was hoping I was one of them. I would only…Uhh…Fiver. Fiver. Talk to Fiver and Inchi. I don’t think I can…” Axle stopped talking. Eien kept his eyes focused on the others in the bunkroom.

“Alright. I’ll talk to them.”