I wish I could participate in missions with Chief Alston, but he’s considered too much of a father for me to be on his team. I only recently called him father for the first time, but it seems like everyone around us has treated him as my father the entire time. I’ve heard stories about him from other corres. I know he’s skilled because we train together, but apparently, he still goes into battle before the corres, putting himself at risk before risking them. He always said it’s important to value the future. He’s the Chief you most want to be on a mission with. On the other side of that coin is Chief Uriah and unfortunately, I’m going to be with him.

  I smack a small rock from the air before it can make contact with me. I turn to where the rock was thrown from, I spot Azad and a few of his friends huddled and laughing in a circle. I know they threw the rock; it’s just another way for them to try getting under my skin. I take a deep breath and exhale slowly, calming myself down. Any other time, I’d head over there to punch Azad in the face and we’d be at the center of another brawl. Some of the senior corres and a few of the Chiefs think it’s good for moral to let loose every now and then, but dad thinks it’s a waste of energy and doesn’t build any trust between teams. I agree with him, punching Azad in the face has never made me trust him more and getting punched in the face didn’t fill me with energy either. For now, I’ll just ignore him, but we’ll come back to the barracks late rand at some point we’ll cross paths on the training grounds. There’s going to be plenty of opportunities to see if he swats away a rock or catches it between his teeth.

  “Line up,” Chief Uriah’s voice thunders over talking corres and even the vehicles being prepared for travel. Chief Uriah is nothing if not a presence in life and in battle. He’s closer to seven feet tall than he is to six, his voice is filled with bass and he wears a trademark bowler hat. He can’t be missed and if you don’t manage to see him, you’ll hear him for sure.

  “Today we're heading to take out a group of bandits,” Uriah begins our briefing. “They've been doing hit and runs on the outer settlements. We finally located their base. We'll be headed there. No prisoners unless they can offer value. Keep your heads on a swivel, pair up and move out.”

  On his orders everyone forms groups and begins moving towards the covered truck for transport. I'll probably end up teaming with the newest person to join the corres. That's how it usually goes unless TK or one of the few others that like me is on the mission. I feel a heavy hand on my shoulder, and turn to see Uriah.

  “Not you, you're riding with me,” Uriah points to the lead car. A four door sedan painted blue and gold, The Oba's colors. Most of the vehicles I've seen are painted black or just have bare rusted metal showing. This one is an odd sight, which makes it a target.

  “Yes sir,” I still do as I'm told and head to the vehicle.

  I give a nod to the driver, but something is off about them. They're too pretty to be a corre. Drivers are usually corres that got injured or live to retire from battles. They usually have some visible scars, but this driver doesn't. I also haven’t seen them before. Maybe Uriah has his own personal driver. I take a seat in back behind where the driver sits as they open the front door for Uriah on the other side. That's also not something I've ever seen done, the whole thing seems odd to me.

  “Tay, let's go,” Uraiah orders the driver. “I wanted to see this son Alston always bragged about in action. He swears you're the future, and I need to see the future with my own eyes to believe it,” I don't have a response to his statement, but it doesn’t matter, he just keeps talking. “You don't look like Alston. I mean you're both bald, but you're a little chubbier than what I'd expect from his seed, and your lips are big,” he laughs.

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  “I'm not actually his flesh and blood. He found me, and took me in,” it sounds kinder than what actually happened.

  “That sounds like the kind of thing he’d do in his younger days. How long have you been with him?”

  “Six years now.”

  Uriah slaps the dashboard and shouts, “Six years,” before laughing again. “I guess the old bastard still has some of that boldness in him. I remember when he was younger. He used to take on missions with the same strategy every time. What was it,” Uriah pauses, for a moment. “Oh, just hands, no plans.”

  “That doesn’t sound like him at all.”

  “It doesn’t because he’s a changed man. You see there was this one mission, and he ran the same plan as always. Just hands, no plans. He thought it was just some bandits in an old warehouse. It was really a chief for another Oba hoping to move in on the territory. You can’t fight a chief like a bandit. Well, Alston can. But the chief wasn’t the problem. When he was beaten, he had the whole place rigged to explode. Your old man barely made it out. Lost most of his team. Since then, he’s been dedicated to planning things out.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “It’s not a story he tells often, if at all.”

  With the new information I watch as we pass through the walls that guard the main settlement and crops. People call it the badlands out here because nothing good ever happens. Small settlements mostly made up of, people who think The Oba’s power doesn’t reach out to them. Religious fanatics, bandits, and even some who think they have their own little kingdoms. We don’t have to deal with them, before you even get through our gates there’s a huge forest on one side and a limestone mine on the other. They’re pretty good natural defenses.

  The truth is I always liked the badlands. It’s peaceful. Sometimes the next settlement is hours away. Sure, sometimes The Oba collects tax out here, even if the people don’t need him and most places don’t have any electricity, but most of the time, it’s quiet. I’ve been on missions where we camped in the badlands, and I could really see the stars. It’s the kind of place I’d want to start my own family at. Maybe we’d have a small farm or become merchants. Something like that. My fantasy comes to an end when I hear Uriah snoring in the front seat.

  “Driver,” I tap him on the shoulder, “what’s your name?”

  “Tayen, but most people call me Tay,” the driver responds.

  “Are you a girl,” the question leaves my mouth before my brain finishes forming it.

  “I’m a woman,” she responds in a tone that lets me know I said something wrong.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean offend you,” I make a quick apology. “I just never met a woman driver before.”

  “It’s fine,” she sighs.

  “How does a woman become a driver? Usually, it’s old or disabled corres.”

  “Well, in my case I caused too much trouble for them.”

  “How so?”

  “Asking too many questions.”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just not every day that a meet a woman driver. I mean, it’s never happened before today. You’re the first I’ve ever met.”

  “You talk way too much.”

  “Sorry, I’m a little nervous.”

  “Women make you nervous,” Tay smiles at me from the mirror.

  “No, I talk to women all the time.”

  “Women that you have to pay, I know what corres are like,” she laughs. It’s a cute laugh and the way she bites her lip is even cuter.

  “Okay, well you know corres, what are you like,” I try to change the subject.

  “I told you; I’m a troublemaker.”

  “They don’t let troublemakers drive.”

  “I make good trouble. I wanted to be a corre, but Oba Renzo doesn't let girls fight in his ranks. I tried so hard that Uriah took pity on me. He made me a mechanic, trained me to fight in his spare time. All the rumors about him aren’t true.”

  “Seems like a nice guy to me.”

  “Yeah,” she gazes over to see if Uriah is really asleep. “He is nice to regular people, but you’re a corre, and he always sends the corres in without him. Sometimes they get hurt and he sees the young ones as disposable. A lot of them get hurt, and die. You seem like a pretty nice guy too. So, come back safe.”

  “Thanks, you’re pretty too,” I lean my head back and close my eyes, realizing what I just said.

  “Did you just call me pretty,” Tay asks in an inquisitive but not angry voice. I don’t respond, I just keep my eyes closed and pretend I’m asleep. Maybe she’ll think I just fell asleep and let my sentence drag off.