Chapter 10 - another chapter

I glanced around the room and saw a receptionist’s desk. I walked over to it and seeing nobody there, paused uncertainly.
“Hello?” I called hesitantly.
No answer.
“Hello?” I called louder.
I glanced around on the desk and saw one of those silver bells you are supposed to ring to get somebody’s attention. I reached out a tentative hand and tapped the bell once. The ringing echoed oddly in the silent room.
Suddenly the scenery changed drastically and I found myself in a large grassy field surrounded by frightened soldiers. Men and woman, some on horses, some on foot, all carrying weapons of some kind: swords, guns, bows and arrows...And all were staring at me. Waiting for me to say something. I looked down and found myself clutching the sword I had made under the instruction of Buzz.
“How did I get here?” I asked the nearest person who looked back at me shocked.
“What do you mean?” she asked, shaking her brown curls out of her eyes. “You were about to give a speech.”
“I was?” I asked again, completely confused now.
The woman shook her head in shock, and turned to the man standing next to her and whispered something into his ear. I caught the words: “What does she mean?” and “...she gone crazy?” and “...don’t have that much time...”
A voice shouted out a few yards away, “They’re coming!” We all turned as one to see the green hills become black and red with the on-coming soldiers of Hell.
They got closer.
I could see their faces. Some were normal human faces, but others were twisted by being in Hell for so long that they were hardly recognizable.
They came closer.
They were only a few feet away now, yelling war cries and waving their weapons around.
One almost faceless creature came right up to me and slashed me from my shoulder to my hip, making a huge bloody gash across my chest with it’s red sword.
I screamed and fell to the ground.
The creature from Hell leaned over me, grinning.
“Die. We have won and you can die knowing that it was all your fault.”
It raised it’s now bloody sword over it’s head and plunged it into my chest, killing me immediately.
*************************************************************
“You failed, Allison. Which is fine for now because that is what I am supposed to teach you.”
I opened my eyes to find myself standing in a gray carpeted meeting room with a large oak oval table. Sitting in one of the chairs in a business suit was a man. He ran his fingers through his short blonde hair and stared at me with a small grin on his thin lips.
“Wh-what?” I stammered weakly.
“That was a test...a sort of a pre-test if you will, to see what you knew about leading an army now.”
“And how did I do?”
“Terrible. You died in case you hadn’t noticed.”
I breathed deeply, trying to control my temper. The urge to yell at this guy was unbearable but I knew that wouldn’t get me anywhere.
“Ok.”
“Good, Allison.” He said in surprise. “You controlled your temper very well. If you lose your temper in battle and let your emotions break your concentration, you will get yourself killed and then where would all of us be?”
I gritted my teeth and balled my hands into fists.
“I’m Ted, by the way.” he said, rising, and holding out his hand for me to shake. I did and he sat down again, motioning for me to do the same.
“I’ll be teaching you how to be a good leader and at the end of the next few weeks you will take a similar test as the one you just took. The first things you will learn are the different parts of an army.” He paused and glanced up at me, straightening his bright red tie. “Would you like to start now or do you need a night off?”
It was a challenge. To test my strength of character, I was sure.
“Let’s start now.” I said grimly.
A small smile appeared on his lips.
“Very well.”
He stood up and pulled down a chart from mid air. It hung there on its own. I didn’t even flinch. I was used to all of this by now. And I was too tired to care.
He pointed to the simple chart.
“An Army is made up of Corps.” He gestured to the words on the paper. “Those Corps are made up of different Divisions. The Divisions are made up of different Brigades. The Brigades are made up of Regiments and these Regiments are made up of Companies. Every army is different. Some have two Corps and ten Divisions while others have five Corps and fifteen Divisions. As of right now your army has ten Corps. That’s a lot of people and-What?”
“Nothing,” I sputtered. I had jumped a little at the sentence, “Your army has ten Corps.” That was huge!
“That’s enough for tonight.” Ted said giving me a strange look. “Have a bagel,” he pushed a box towards me. I took one and ripped a chunk out with my teeth. “I’ll show you to your room.” he offered. I stood and he escorted me through the door.

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