Paladin

Paladin
By Josh Silver
Based on the film "The Rescue of Zaitsev Park" by Robert Stark

Prologue

         I was in boot camp the first time I killed another human being. It was in the war of 2016. You may be confused at why I was fighting in a war at thirteen, and if you read my story, you will understand.

         First, I must introduce myself. My name is Fred Dastrin. I am writing this story In the year 2020, in which I am seventeen. It seems at first as though it was a long time ago, but it seems just like yesterday.

         I must warn you that the events in this story are horrible, and unless you are comfortable with the idea of children being forced into war, I must ask that you stop reading. If you haven't by now, then you leave me no choice but to continue.

         And so it begins.

Chapter 2
Saber

         

I, along with my cabin mates, were sitting up in our bunks, waiting for the dragonleader (Leader of the cabin. He was called this because our cabin's name was the dragons.) to speak to us.

         Above the door was a symbol. A rounded rectangle filled with three circles,with black outlines. A red one with a silhouetted fox, a blue one with a silhouetted dragon, and a green one with a silhouetted snake. The one with the dragon was bigger than the rest, because we were the dragons. Above the symbol were the words "WARFARE". This meant that in this particular cabin, the kids were taught mostly about weapons and use of them.

         A very happy looking kid, about my age, approached me. That little half smile told me that he must have known me. His name tag read "SABER ELEC". Elec, the name sounded familiar. Couldn't place it. All I knew was that if I had heard the name, it was in a story that my grandpa told me about his father.

         At first, I wasn't 100% sure he was addressing me. But he stopped in front of me and spoke.

         "Excuse me?" he said.

         I looked up.

         "One of my greats was at Normandy, and he fought alongside a soldier named Dastrin. I saw it on your name tag. By any chance, was one of your great grandfathers named Otto?"

         THAT's where I heard the name. My great grandfather was at Normandy, and he knew a soldier named Elec.

         "Yeah, that's him. My great grandfather." I replied. "Here, this bunk next to me isn't taken, if you want it."

         He sat down. Jeez, for a guy with a name like Saber, he sure seemed cheery.

         "Look, here comes the dragonleader."

         The dragonleader entered. He was a scrawny, scruffy teen, aged at about nineteen, about 5' 2"with clothes that were obviously hand-me-downs-from-a-fatter-sibling. He flipped through his clipboard, looking for our cabin. You'd think they arranged the papers by order they spoke to, but they were probably alphabetical or something. The longer it took him to find our file, the more we could tell that it would be the longest year of our lives.

         Finally, he spoke to us.

Chapter 2

The Dragonleader

         "Alright, you kids," the dragonleader began, "You guys are in the dragon cabins, this particular cabin is the cabin called Paladin. Every cabin group has one of each cabin type. So, the snakes and foxes will also have a Paladin cabin, as well as many other camp types. This particular camp is taught about warfare and such. You kids will mainly learn about explosives and nuclear bombs. You guys will probably be assigned a LOT of missions together, so you guys would probably want to get to know each other, you know, to the point where you can stand being in the same room as each other. Now, I'm gonna leave you guys with your cabinleader, while I talk to other dragoncampers. Pretty soon, The head counselor will be here t talk to you. This is your cabinleader, Eric McFlak. I gotta go now, kids, but... you know, remember the things I said and, uhh... get to know the head counselor and your cabinleader."

         The Dragonleader left, and the Cabinleader began to speak.