Take Cover: section 1

3,000 years in the future, life is very different. Life is merely life and death. Life is war. To me, all I've ever done in my life was eat, sleep, fight. I was forced into this life. I am Ani Demirir, and I live in the world of Kalistu. We are the “good world”. The “bad world” is Aniua. There may be worlds, worlds that don’t fight, worlds that are peace.  Once you are a two yearling, you learn to fight. When you are five and have completed all of your overnight stay training, you fight. And you fight for the rest of your life. You will never stop. Well, not until a side wins. But everyone knows that won’t ever happen. This stupid war has been going on for almost 1,000 years.

            This is what an average day will look like. Everyone wakes up from the sound of the first cannon, which is fired at 7 hour. Then you have a quarter hour to get ready. You have to be with the fighters in your group at 7 and 20 hour.  There are 10 groups. The cannon fires, the archers, the bullet, the messengers, the spies, the gun fires, the nuclears, the caretakers, the watchers, and the testers. I am in the archer group.  I shoot a bow and arrow from dusk till dawn. I shoot those terrible arrows until my hands bleed. I shoot till I’ve hit all the archers from Aniua. Sometimes, I don’t get to go home.