Young Writers Society

The first group arrived just before lunch. There were only five new cadets, all female. The veterans didn’t seem pleased with the numbers. They muttered uneasily amongst themselves, sizing up the new arrivals. The other group arrived a few hours later. Its arrival took the veterans by storm. The size of the group was nothing special, only ten trainees. Still, the veterans seemed surprised. Caden managed to glean that the cadets from that group were trained by the inner-capital camp. Where all of the young, privileged future soldiers trained. Most of them were top scorers and joined the military police in Fluapt.

The inner-capital was where all of the richest families in Aurren lived. Carved into the mountain itself, the capital was the safest place from the scolopendra. That was why so many had wondered why he didn’t go, even though he had the score to do so. So many trainees had joined up in hopes that they would be able to go to the capital one day. Caden may have considered it too if he had a family to look after. But he had no ties to the world outside the military. He only had Finn and Finn was with him.

Caden would get no letters from home, he would send no money to his family; he had no one outside of the military who cared for him.

In the days following the arrival of the final cadets, Caden began his life as a Scout. In just two weeks, Caden could successfully execute three different fighting formations in any position, peel a potato in under thirty seconds, and name all of the parts of a scolopendra off of the top of his head. (He should have already known how to do the last one, but biology was not his strongest subject).

Finally his skill was going to be put to the test. He was going on a raid. Raids were the easiest way to gain experience as a scout, so they were often the first mission new cadets were taken on. Otherwise, raids weren’t all that common unless a nest nearby began to get too big, therefore threatening the base.

“What do you think it’ll be like?” Finn asked, strapping his leather breastplate on.

“I dunno,” Caden answered, pulling his off-white military issue undershirt on over his armor.

“Are you afraid to see one again?” Finn asked gently. His eyes shone soft with sympathy, Caden hated it.

“As if,” Caden scoffed. “I can’t wait until I finally kill one of the bastards.” He ground his teeth together in anticipation.

Finn exhaled lightly, combing his blond hair back with his fingers. “Be careful,” Finn pleaded. “Don’t be reckless.”

“I know, I know,” Caden huffed. “You be careful too.”

Finn looked up at Caden from lacing his boots, giving him a faint smile. He stood up, grabbing his cloak from where it sat on the bed, “Come on, the commander won’t be happy with us if we’re late.”

Caden quickly whipped on his cloak, fastening the clasp as he followed Finn out the door of their room. After two weeks of living at the base, it took Caden no time at all to navigate the halls so they found their way to the stables quickly.

Once they were on their horses, Commander Schaefer called for them to move out. The nest they were going to raid was only a few miles away so the ride wasn’t very long. It was almost as if the horses could sense the cadets’ excitement. They snorted and pawed at the ground, kicking up snow and dirt behind them. The nest was just inside a forest that sprawled for miles at the base of the mountains.

The commander pulled his horse to a stop, prompting the cadets to do the same. “This raid is for you to gain experience, so don’t be reckless and do not engage until you have my say so. Do I make myself clear?”

The commander was answered with a loud chorus of ‘yes, sirs’. The commander kicked his horse into movement again, and they entered the forest. Though the sun was high in the sky, the evergreens blocked the majority of the light with their snow laden branches.

The entrance to the nest was almost like a cave. The mouth of the hole was enormous and declined gently into darkness. Commander Schaefer’s voice snapped over forty heads to attention, “Captain Rothenberg is going to draw the scolopendra out, with a deer carcass. As you all should know, their sense of smell is very developed and even though it’s daytime, the scent should draw them out.”

A tall man dragged a large bundle into the clearing before the nest. He uncovered it to reveal the bloated body of a half decayed deer. Captain Rothenberg unsheathed his blade with his right hand, covering his mouth and nose with his left. He raised the blade and cut a slit in the body. He coughed, running back to join the company.

The man took his place beside the commander shaking his head, Caden could just hear what he was saying. “Don’t ever make me do that again,” he grumbled. “The stench was just awful.”

The commander flashed his subordinate with a smug grin, “Well I certainly wasn’t going to do it.”

The captain grumbled, but his eyes never left the clearing. Caden saw the antennae first; huge and spindly, roving the air. Then he saw the head and all those legs. Shivers coursed through his entire body and his stomach twisted itself in knots. It was just like he remembered.

The scolopendra’s emergence drew gasps from the inexperienced Scouts. So many of them had only seen drawings, never the real deal. Caden tried to steady his breathing, but still, his breath came out in shudders, blowing out clouds of vapor.

It seemed to Caden that he would never see the end of it. The tail would never come, it would just keep on walking but never fully coming out. Like a magician’s silk scarf. But finally, the end came, the back end looking strangely similar to the head. Caden began to sweat, his breathing becoming more labored.

He looked over at Finn who stared at the monster, his gaze a mixture of fear and awe. More scolopendra followed the first. One of them snapped up the deer in its jaws, crunching it. The others crowded around it, fighting over the scraps.

“They’re going to notice us soon,” the commander whispered, sending ripples throughout the scouts. As if on cue, one of the scolopendra swiveled its head towards them. “Spread out!” the commander shouted. Just as the words left his mouth, the group scattered and the creature charged.