Chapter 5 - Perfect with Imperfections

    We were led into a building, where we were given passes and told to sign them. Then Colonel Turner told the rest of our escort to leave, and took us into a lift, where he pressed a button marked "G-7".

    It dropped us off several levels below ground. Turner took us into what looked like a cloakroom and introduced us to an officer named Charis Rose. She proceeded to give us uniforms.
    "Your ranks?"
    Turner answered for us.
    "This is Matt, our new commander. He'l be a Captain. His second will be Lieutenant"

    Charis diappeared for a few minutes, coming back with two uniforms. Mine had 3 red pips on the shoulder, and Anisha's had 2. Presumably they were significant of our new ranks.
    "OK, you're all done, sir," said Turner. "Do you want to find your quarters or the mess hall first?"
    I looked at my watch. It read 12:47. "Let's go and get something to eat."

Chapter 4 - Perfect with Imperfections

    The 'vehicle' turned out to be a helicopter, painted black with a red stripe down the side. I wondered why I hadn't heard it arrive, and one glance at Anisha told me she was wondering the same.
    We were given headsets with microphones and told to sit down. Over the flight, they told us all the detail of their problem. I also realised why we hadn't heard the helicopter - it was completely silent.
    The international emergency was a virus. A vampire virus. Their commander had succumbed to it and was dead - though it seemed that not everyone who got it died. They had found me for commander because they said I had the right characteristics, and because kids seemed slightly more resistant to the virus. They were taking us to their base to give us uniform, kit and training, then we could take a group of soldiers to wherever we wanted, to try to prevent the virus from spreading. I could appoint people to whatever ranks as well, so I put Anisha second in command.
    After a 1 hour flight, we touched down at Brackens Air Force Base - their base of operations. There was a patrol there to meet the helicopter. Their uniforms were black, with a number of red stripes on the shoulder to indicate rank. They accompanied us across the tarmac to a small building, where a colonel stood. He snapped a salute at me.
    "Sir. I am Colonel Turner, currently 4^th in the unit. Might I ask what I will be within the new command structure, sir?"
    I would have to get used to people calling me 'sir'.
    "Yes, of course, Colonel. You will be promoted to 3^rd in the unit. I am Matt Browning, and this is my second, Anisha."

Chapter 3 - Perfect with Imperfections

    It got interesting 23 minutes in.

    At 22 minutes 59 seconds, everything was normal. At 23 minutes 0 seconds, I heard some screams, cut short, come from downstairs. Then all of us heard the jangling coming up the stairs. Then there was silence - it lasted for 5 seconds.

    Two men, dressed in army uniform and carrying guns, burst through the door. They looked around, then one stepped back into the corridor and looked nervously both ways. The other of them spoke.
    "Matt Browning? Is he in here?"
    I made a confused face and raised a hand.
    "You need to come with us. Bring one person who you want to keep safe."
    I didn't argue. Instead, I turned to Anisha and flicked my eyes at the door. She started packing up, and I followed her lead. Then Mr Whitely spoke up.
    "Where are you taking them? You can't just come into my--"
    "Sir, I am a member of the British Armed Forces and I can do what I wish. I wish these two children to come with me."
    That shut him up. He couldn't easily argue with a soldier. We left, with one of the soldiers walking ahead and one behind. When we got outside, they introduced themselves.
    "Matt, I am Corporal Smith of 42^nd Brigade," said one.
    "I am Sergeant Jones of the same," said the other. "I am now appointing you commander of the 42^nd."
    "Oh. That's nice. Why?" I asked.
    "We'll explain when we get to the vehicle."

Chapter 2 - Perfect with Imperfections

    Our school's called Woodlands. It's in Basildon, and though I've never liked it much, it does get good results. I've always assumed it's educating me.

    When we got there, everything was the normal start of day chaos. We went over to our usual table and sat down by our friends. There were 4 of them there. Across from me sat Sarah - black hair, always there and a hell of a laugh. Next to her was George. He was the clever one - give him any question and he'll usually solve it. Around the corner was his girlfriend, Ellie. Lastly, Zak sat next to her - the shortest of them all.

    I took out my diary and flipped to the timetable. Anisha leaned over my shoulder.
    "Nice day, isn't it?" I said, laden with sarcasm.
    "Yeah. So great."
   We had Physics, English, Geography, Music and Maths. The only good thing about it was the Music. Oh well. I guess it could have been worse. At that point, I had put Anisha's warning out of mind. It turned out to be a bad idea.

    When we got to Physics, it was the usual drill. Get your books out, get your pens out, stop talking Thomas or I'll give you a detention. Our teacher that day was Mr Whitely, and he was generally considered as the 'demon of the school'.

    If I'd known, I wouldn't have thought it was so bad.

Chapter 1 - Perfect with Imperfections

    It was odd how a normal day at school had turned into so much different. One moment I was daydreaming in RS, the next my whole world had changed.

    My name's Matt. Matt Browning. You won't have heard of me before: everyone says I'm quiet and shy, and I've never made any great effort when it comes to meeting new people. Oh well. I'm going to tell you my story anyway.

    The day started off normally enough. My alarm brought me out of a nice long sleep at 6.55am, as per usual. I threw a book at it to shut it up, as per usual. Having got up and trudged downstairs, I aimed some Shreddies at a bowl and poured the mik over the top. After bolting it down, I stuck some shoes on my size 11 feet, yelled goodbye to the silent house, waited for Anisha to leave just in front of me, then slammed the door behind me.

    Before I go any further, I should probably intorduce you to Anisha. She's a girl who now insists on going everywhere with me; she says she doesn't feel safe if she doesn't. Personally, I attribute this to my brilliant performance in a dire situation last year.¹ But anyway, we get on and she does the same GCSE's as yours truly, so the arrangement works.

    So, we walked towards school together, slowly. Then:
    "I've got a weird feeling about today, Matt."
    "Like what?"
    "Like a morning-before-falling-out-of-a-hot-air-balloon feeling."
    Well that cast a shadow on my day before it had even got going. To be fair to her, she had had a bad feeling about the hot air balloon flight, and it turned out to be well-judged - but surely nothing like that was going to happen again. I voiced this thought.
    "Surely nothing like that is going to happen again."
    "You never know Matt, you never know."
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¹: If you want a full explanation, you're going to have to wait for the next story. Suffice to say it was a week with just the two of us, trying to survive in the forest after falling out of a hot air balloon.

Author's Note: This is just a pilot for the story. More to come.

Introductions

Well I came up with a title for the first one... "Perfect with Imperfections". Don't worry, it'll all make sense at the end. In the meantime, some points:

• It is going to be a very long story - as far as I can tell so far anyway. Just keep reading it. That's the advantage of the internet - it can be as long as I like.
• I am probably not going to post in chapters, just when I have a decent amount. Hopefully I can get a new part up every week.

Stories Everywhere

So people, I created the blog - thank you Ellie. Now that I've done that, I can start writing out my stories... Have fun reading!