I don’t know why I was worried about how much stuff I was bringing. My two suitcases and a bag were nothing when one looked at the number of bags most others had trailing after them. Even Bert had more things than I did. Knowing him, most of those were some sort of weight or piece of training equipment.

  Then again, how many of the people on the platform could claim to have a drone? Not that it worked. Well, both of my parents say that it passed the tests they gave it, but that wasn’t good enough for me. I needed to see it working outside of a programming test. Sure, most of the tests I wanted to run on it were not quite real-world, but they were a mite closer than some software posing questions to the processor.

  “Platform C departs in ten minutes. Destination: Academy City. With stops in Harvest, Reach, and Marshes. Carriages D through E may now board.” An announcer proclaimed over the platform's speaker system.

  While the speaker was the same, the language changed for the few in the area who still spoke Spanish. A rarity given our distance from any major Mexican settlements, but not unheard of thanks to the population that had chosen to settle down in this city when it was founded all those years ago. “El andén C sale en diez minutos. Destino: Ciudad Academia. Con paradas en Harvest, Reach y Marshes. Los vagones D y E ya están disponibles para el embarque.”

  The idea that a vehicle with multiple entrances had distinct boarding times baffled me. Still, it wasn’t worth the fight with the folks ahead of us. Thankfully, we were in carriage D. It was near the center of the train. While that meant that it wasn’t as well protected as the front, it was also the part that was least likely to be attacked.

  “That would be us,” Bert yelled over the cacophony of voices. His mother squished him against her as she said her goodbyes.

  Before I could get away from the group, my mother decided to do the same thing. “Stay safe and always, always, watch your back.” She whispered the words into my ears before kissing my cheek and releasing me.

  As for our fathers, they were already walking toward our carriage. His dad was loaded down with a few bags and a rolling suitcase. All of which looked to be well used. My father, on the other hand, was lugging around my drone.

  It wasn’t heavy or anything, just awkward and seemed to draw looks from quite a few people. Nothing too bad, just curiosity. Bag strapped to my back and a suitcase in each hand, I charged after the duo.

  Of course, the moment we approached the door, an inspector called for us to present our tickets. “One second.” Even with how fast I was scrambling, the number of people behind us was already growing. And I didn’t even have to look to know that they were getting a bit annoyed at the delay.

  “Fucking newbies.” Someone murmured loud enough for me to hear them.

  “What is the hold up?” Another yelled.

  “Either present your ticket or get out of line.” It had only been a handful of seconds, and the idiots behind me were mad. I mean, sure, I could have had the tickets out before now, but fuck off already.

  With a final tug, I managed to get my pad out of my pocket and tapped it against the one in his hand. Within a moment, my picture popped up along with some basic information. Not that he seemed to care, he simply waved us forward. “Booth 4. Left side. Take a right. NEXT!”

  Surprisingly, while he asked both of our fathers for their pads, he didn’t double-check that they had tickets. Maybe they knew the two of them didn’t have a ticket? Or would they scan their pads as they got off? If they didn’t, maybe they would charge their accounts for the ticket? Honestly, I had no clue, and I wasn’t going to ask.

  My feet carried me to the right and down one of the narrowest halls I had ever seen. How any of the bigger guys were expected to get down this was beyond me. Thankfully, the door to our little booth was the second one down. It was even helpfully labeled.

  The space was a bit cramped, but nothing like the hallway. From the looks of it, the benches on either side of the room could be folded out into a small cot of sorts. Above it all was a metallic mesh. Probably where we were supposed to put our various items.

  Yeah, I wasn’t even going to try to do that. I mean, I could lift each of my bags over my head, but I would still fall a bit short of the goal. The moment Bert stepped into the room, he didn’t hesitate to throw his suitcases up there before tossing mine in right after. The only things that didn’t end up in the meshed space were my drone and both of our backpacks.

  With a sigh and a soft crunch of the aged cushions, I collapsed onto the bench. “Stay safe.” My father called as he started for the door.

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.” Bert’s father shot a look at Bert, as though challenging him to say something.

  Bert, being the idiot he is, took that challenge. “Like what? Remind me why my mother has to use a pair of handcuffs when you two ride the train to visit your suppliers.”

  “Hey! I thought I told your mother that she was never to tell you that story.”

  “Or what?”

  “Or I would tell you about the time she…” A shrill whistle cut the man off. “Just, be safe.” With those words, he made for the platform. “And make sure to call us when you can!”

  “Oh, I cannot wait to give them a call.” Bert's chortle made me happy that the train system was limited to those inside it. The only times our pads would have a connection to the outside world, outside emergencies that is, was at one of the three stops.

  My eyes drifted to get a look at the platform. Unlike in most of the movies, our trains were not on the ground. Every bit of it was suspended on columns a good fifty feet over the city below.

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  Not because it was cheaper or that it was easier. It made it easier to see and take out anything that managed to climb onto the tracks. And, if it came down to it, the tracks could be sacrificed to cut the monsters off. I wouldn’t put it past the designers to have installed explosives at strategic points along the rail line.

  Still, even knowing that the place could be destroyed without warning, the view was spectacular. While I wouldn’t be able to see over the walls until we got underway, I had never seen the city from so high up. Well, most of the city. The monolithic structure near the center of the city blocked out a fair chunk.

  A second shrill whistle cut through the air. The air around me slowly started to hum and crackle as power built. Half a minute of building power, and I almost felt like I was swimming through a soup of mana.

  Suddenly, a sharp crack ripped through the air as the carriage rumbled and surged. Every bit of the mana zipped forward as it was pulled into something at the front of the train.

  While the mana was a bit distracting, the view of the city slowly shrinking as our rail moved toward the top of the wall caught my eye. I watched as the various buildings shrank until my hand could cover even the largest of the structures.

  Without warning, my vision was blocked by a trio of massive barrels. Sure, they were pointed toward the city, but it would only take one command to turn those toward us and destroy the train.

  Thanks to the various breaches, I wasn’t surprised that there were some of the larger guns pointed toward the city. Still, it wasn’t like they had helped during the fight. Whatever that wave was managed to take even these monstrosities down.

  And a moment later, even that massive weapon vanished out of sight as the train crossed the top of the wall. The wind whistled against the window as the train picked up speed. Every bit of it gained as it zipped toward the ground.

  For the first time in my life, I got a view of the world beyond the wall. All that separated me from the chaotic world was a thin pane of glass, some steel, and a bunch of magic.

  I had seen the place through various cameras and pictures, but they were not the same. There was no sense of fear of what might pop out of the ground and kill you. In fact, the photos looked almost peaceful. Like one could pop out of the city at any time and have a little picnic without any worries. Reality wasn’t so kind to those who underestimated its cruel ways.

  Not that I ever would. If anything, I planned on acting like everything was trying to kill me. Hell, given what I knew, it probably was.

  The tree on top of the mountain was a little way off. I was going to assume there was some monster lurking in the branches. Hell, given how little we knew about the various monster species, the tree itself might be a monster. It would explain how it had managed to survive so long in such a harsh environment.

  A soft grinding sound, coupled with the smell of something sweet, yet salty, called for me to pay attention to it rather than the world outside. Bert looked sheepish as he opened a small tin. “My mother made me a few things to eat on the trip.”

  My mouth watered at the thought of his mother's cooking. My dad was great at cooking food, but her desserts were out of this world. Every time I got a piece, I wondered just what she could have done if she had been born before all of this.

  “I will give you one,” oh, god, he was going to get me to agree to do something, wasn’t he? The worst part was that I would probably agree to anything for one of the little cubes in that tin of his. “But, you have to agree to stick by me until at least the first day of classes.”

  I didn’t bother to argue with him. There was no use. Even without the bribe, I would have probably agreed to his demand anyway. I just nodded my head.

  His hand was slow as he dipped a pair of fingers into the container. Saliva built up in my mouth, forcing me to swallow as he pulled a piece of gold wrapped in a thin white layer. Still moving slowly, he moved the bribe over to where my hand shook as it waited for its passenger.

  Treat in hand, I had to concentrate on not shoving it into my mouth and swallowing it. I needed to savor the thing. To imprint the flavors into my mind. To enjoy it as much as I could. Who knew when we would get another chance to eat one this year?

  My saliva soaked into the thin sheet of rice paper. As the paper dissolved, the flavor of caramel licked against my tongue. Along with it was a soft, nutty flavor. It wasn’t the typical peanut or any of those things that we managed to get from the southern cities sometimes. It was something with a bit more depth.

  “I don’t know where my mother got whatever it is she added, but damn are they amazing.”

  “I’ll say.”

  “Best save the rest for next week.”

  “What? Why?” Why would he want to save them for later? Surely we could have at least one more? Right?

  “For the entrance exam.” I must have looked utterly confused as he waved his hand as he continued. “It isn’t like what you are thinking.” He reached for his pack and started to dig through it. “Each test is just to see where you are in each area and to see what they can do to help you shore up your weaknesses. Mostly so that we are all on a somewhat even playing field.”

  My eyes would pop out if I rolled them any harder. There was no way we would ever be on an even playing field. To think otherwise was to believe in something like Santa. Sure, it was once a common thing to believe, but not now. Hell, the only reason Christmas was a thing was due to tradition. But to think that I would ever be able to rival someone like Bert in anything strength-related was asking for the impossible.

  Still, I would play along. Though if we were going to stay together for the next while, I needed to let him know about my appointment to get tested. Joy.

  “Hey, Bert.”

  His rummaging stopped for a moment. “Yeah?”

  “Since you want me to stick by you for a while, I need you to come with me to an appointment in the Technical Department.”

  “Why would you already have an appointment there?” Just as he finished his question, he found whatever he was looking for and yanked it out. “Got it!” Whatever it was, it fit into a small box and looked pretty weathered. As though it had been left in the elements for a couple of days and then cleaned off.

  “I have an appointment with my advisor to see about getting my power checked.”

  “You mean the one you keep insisting you don’t have.” His bag slipped to the side as he reached for something near the floor.

  “I don’t have one.”

  Whatever he was doing caused a soft click to emanate from the wall. As he moved to sit back up, a section of the wall followed him. “Yeah, that one. Now, how about a game of cards?”

  Oh, please don’t tell me he brought his cards. If he had, the guy was planning to try to play some games with others. If someone didn’t stop him, he would end up flunking out. If not for my tutoring him in middle school, he would have flunked then.

  “Fine, I will go with you, but you owe me a few games.”

  “Three games.”

  “Ten.”

  “Four.”

  “Ten.”

  “Three.”

  “Oh, come on. You cannot go down.”

  “And you cannot refuse to budge.”

  “Fine, eight.”

  “Four.”

  Bert let out a low growl. “Seven.”

  “Five.”

  “Six and not one less.”

  “Agreed,” I smirked. Sure, it was more than I wanted, but it was a hard number, so there is that.

  “So, up for a game of Gin Rummy?” Of course, he would pick one of the longest games out there. Even if I won the game, he won the war.

  “Fine,” I took the deck and started to give it a good shuffle. “But no cheating.”

  “I don’t cheat.”

  “Oh, bullshit. How else would you explain that ace? Especially when all of them had been discarded?” The fucker managed to use it in a run of ten cards.

  “If I recall, you searched the grave to find only three in there.”

  “Because the other was in your hand.”

  “Still have to prove it.” He was going to cheat again. The worst part was that I had no way to prove how he was doing it. Maybe it was time I tried a bit of cheating myself.

  With that in mind, I dealt the first twenty cards out and set the deck between us. “Since you shuffled, I think I will go first.” With the first card drawn, we were off.