Aerie InternationaL - Missoula County Public Schools

parents,” the one on the left replied.
He stayed quiet, no matter how much curiosity clawed at him. He was
put in an old van containing other children, mainly from the lower class,
all of whom where just as inquisitive and terrified as he. “Do you guys
know anything about this?” he asked.
A skinny boy on the right looked at him. “Do you know about the
Army Expansion Resolve?” he asked. He received only blank stares.
“Well, it is something passed by Jinba, our dictator. He wanted to
challenge other nations, so he decided on building an army twice its
original size. Due to the lack of adult recruits, he resorted to a cruel but,
for him, effective method – an army of children,” he ended, with a solemn
sigh on his face.
“Are you suggesting that he wants to make us part of the army?” the
boy of the left asked. Nimbuk immediately recognized him – Tink was
his charismatic classmate.
“You must be kidding me. I know he’s dumb, but I didn’t know he
was that dumb,” Nimbuk said.
A few hours and a few children later, they reached a debilitated
building complex labeled “Army Training Center.” The 42 kids stared
at the barren gray walls and wondered how long they would remain
inside its parameters. Every muscle in their bodies instinctively resisted
“Are you suggesting
that he wants to make
us part of the army?”
the boy on the left asked.
heading toward the place, but the
atmospheric pressure, shaped by
threats and orders from the angrylooking
men, overruled them. They
took their shoes off at the gate,
following an order from the gate
guard, and continued walking on the hot concrete until they gave up
restraint and ran to their destination to keep their feet from getting
burnt.
The inside smelled of sweat and felt like a stove, most likely due
to the lack of windows. The ceiling allowed in some refracted light
through which objects were given surreal forms, like when one looks
at the sky through 50 feet of water. The new members walked in a
broken up line to their assigned sleeping spots. They found a huge
room assigned to them, the size of an auditorium, piled with thin
mattresses and wispy blankets along the walls, reminding them that it
was heavily shared. Dropping off the little they had there, they joined
everyone else at dinner, observing the food to be just as bad as the rest
of the dreary place. Nimbuk tried to inquire the kids around him, but
received no more answers deviating from what the boy had said earlier.
He eventually gave up. His parents were in god-knows-where, he was
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