Beth takes a walk in the woods – REVISED AND REMASTERED by Storyman89

PLEASE NOTE: I am reposting this story. I am the original author of the original posting. I had to repost the story as I edited the story on the website post-publishing it. The story has been in “editing mode” for several days and now it has been denied for some reason. ALSO, I have made a few changes to the body of the story, and I have seriously amended the original cliffhanger, so I would strongly recommend anyone who previously read the story to re-read it. ***

Annabeth Lily Moore, or simply Beth to her family and friends, sat alone in the darkened moving vehicle. Her pulse was racing and she could feel her breath coming in raggedly. She had been excitedly looking forward to this day for years, but now that it had arrived, she was terrified. The vehicle started jostling and jumping under her and she knew that they had left the road and was now in rough country.

“Not too much longer” she whispered to herself in an attempt to soothe her tattered nerves. She tried to calm herself by thinking of a happy memory, and her thoughs drifted to her 18th birthday a few months back. She smiled to herself.

***

Beth had grown up in a military family, as did most kids these days. Most of the world had been at war with itself for almost 13 years. The parts of the world that wasn’t either under water or bombed to shit, that is.

Beth had been lucky being born in the relative safety of Cuba to the Commander and his wife, a Captain, in a top secret US military installation. What came to be known as “The War” broke out 3 years after Beth’s birth, in 2122.

The entirety of Cuba had been evacuated by the UN after the radioactive spill in 2072. Nobody officially went to Cuba anymore. What came to be known as Fort Purgatory was established roughly 5 years after the incident by the US Government to serve as an elite training ground for the next generation of soldiers, as well serving as a secret bunker for the Leaders of the US government in the event of an emergency.

When The War broke out, 17 countries, including all of the countries belonging to the United Kingdom, Japan, Iraq, Iran and several US states were reduced to smoking rubble within 6 months.

The Leaders of the US Government became residents in Fort Purgatory a month after The War started, and are to this day.

Fort Purgatory and the entirety of Cuba was unaffected by The War, being declared a no-man’s-land and uninhabitable since the incident. The US government ensured that the UN never attempted to change this status before The War broke out. After War was declared, no one really cared enough to have closer look at the island.

Fort Purgatory was home to the most advanced military technology and the most grueling and exclusive training camp in the world, far away and hidden from the prying eyes of the enemies of the US, as well as Her own citizens.

Beth had been born and had grown up in the concealed underground “fort”. She saw the light of day for the first time when she turned 7.

Her education, which formally started when she turned four, started with literacy, maths, science and daily classes in hand to hand combat. She was one of seven girls in a “class” of 28 children her age. As the children matured, they were introduced to engineering, medical aid and fundamentals of construction. The children’s official weapons training started when they turned 9, starting with staves, long knives, pistols and finally reaching assault rifles by the age of 12. All of the children were required to have mastered all of the standard issue weapons by the age of 14. The children that didn’t make the cut were either enrolled for other military professions such as piloting, engineering or, in extreme cases of failure, reduced to the administrative or maintenance staff of the fort.

Only children with exceptional abilities, intelligence and skills were accepted to proceed, in their 14th year of age, with training for the elite covert ground force simply known as The Xs. The Xs were the only ones ever allowed to leave the fort’s compound, not to mention the island, a measure to ensure that only the most trusted individuals come into contact with the outside world. The secrecy of the installation was the paramount concern of the fort’s command.

Beth’s excellent genes, coupled with extremely demanding parents, ensured that she was ranked first in every single class and course during her education. No less could be accepted or tolerated from the fort Commander’s child.

By the end of Beth’s 13th year all of the children or “recruits” deemed to be unsuited to enter the X program had been transferred to different departments in the installation with the exception of one death. The death of a recruit, although rare, was not mourned, but celebrated by the institution as a death of a “war hero”. Beth found this tradition strange, especially considering that the “hero”, a 10 year old Molly Anderson, died as a result of suicide. It was rumoured that Molly hanged herself because she had lost her knife during outdoor training.

***

Beth sat with the other 9 X recruits in Commander Moore’s briefing room. Today is to be the day they received their briefing for their X Assessment Assignment, or XAA for short (pronounced ‘ZA’).

There was a general buzz of excitement in the room, low murmurs of challenge and bragging. Beth was whispering with the rest of them, the 10 recruits being closer than siblings. They were a Unit.

“I bet all of you a month’s soap rations that I’ll do the best in the XAA” whispered recruit Mills, puffing up his chest slightly with pride. Recruit Jones, a tall dark skinned girl, snorted mockingly at him, whispering “You don’t even know what the XAA is and you’re already confident you’ll beat us all”, ending her derision with another snort, and then a mocking grin. Mills smiled back at her with calm self assurance.

“Beth,” whispered recruit O’Mally, a handsome dark haired boy conspiringly, “hasn’t your father let anything slip about the XAA over dinner or something? Anything that could help us prepare for what lies ahead?”.

Beth shook her head slightly and was about to respond when her father, abruptly marched into the room. The recruits all immediately snapped to attention, transitioning from standing huddled together whispering to a clean line of soldiers in less than a heartbeat.

Commander Moore slowly paced the assembled recruits, not looking at anyone directly, more like an occasional glance that felt like he was assessing the very fabric of one’s soul. He reached the end of the row of recruits, about-faced, pacing back and stopping directly in front of recruit O’Mally.

“I can assure you, recruit, that I have not let anything ‘slip'”, the last word being said with an almost smile, before continuing “I assure you recruit Moore knows as little of the X Assessment Assignment as the rest of you, which I trust is absolutely nothing.”, this time actually smiling, clearly amused by the general panic in O’Mally’s eyes. Commander Moore stared at the unfortunate recruit a moment longer.

He turned around to stand behind his briefing podium, a few feet away from the line of recruits. “At ease recruits. As you all know, you are about to embark on your XAA, upon completion of which you will be formally welcomed into the ranks of the Xs. You may all blame recruit Mills for the assessment being held so late in the year, seeing as we all had to wait for him to turn 18 before we could continue”. Recruit Mills had the decency to blush when everyone looked at him with mock scolding expressions.

“We call the bunch of you ‘recruits’ as a collective term, but be assured that you have all met the standards set to you by this installation, and some of you have been able to so far exceed our expectations by such a large extent that the General himself has looked at your files in admiration”. The Commander was looking down at his watch at this, as if to indicate that this was a regular occurrence, but Beth allowed herself a tiny smile of self-congratulations. She knew he was referring to her and one other recruit, who her mother refused to name but a few days prior.

“Be that as it may, be warned”, his voice suddenly serious, instantly snapping the recruits back to attention, “the XAA is the most grueling and dangerous assignment that you have faced. Many recruits have died in the past, and more still came back not quite the same. Every single skill will be tested, and we expect every single one of your unit to complete it. You are by far the unit with the most potential I have had the pleasure to train”. The recruits all puffed their chests up slightly at the praise.

“You are all too assemble directly following this briefing in the north motor yard. You may speak to no one and take nothing. You are allowed 10 minutes to go to your personal quarters and stow any non-regulation items. When you reach the motor yard you will be wearing your standard issue fatigues, boots and dog tags. The girls and our recruit Watts”, raising a curious eyebrow at the long haired boy, “may take one hair band and two plastic bobby pins. Nothing else.”

He stared at the recruits for an awkward moment, a sentimental shine in his eyes before saying “dismissed” just louder than a whisper.

Ten minutes later found the recruits in the North Motor Yard, strangely bereft of any vehicles. The recruits stood silently, all considering the Commander’s strange look, feeling that it may have underlined just how dangerous this assignment just may be.

The motor yard was gloomy and stuffy, possessing no windows. It did however possess one of the only 3 exits from the Fort. The heavy steel door suddenly started sliding into the floor, illuminating the yard with brilliant sunlight and leaving all of the recruits squinting into the unexpected light, trying to see what was going on outside.