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in my footsteps. We organized our side into three basic categories. Which category you joined depended on your desires and your aptitude for any one specific role. Frequently, as people aged, they could shift from one category to another. The first category was the soldiers. I had expressed a desire to be a soldier shortly after I went through my age sixteen information session. I thought it would be cool. Soldiers are the front line in the War. The soldiers are the offense. The soldiers meet the enemy head-on and are responsible for beating them. Like the kid said, we kill people.
    Of course, the killing is never as simple as it seems. I couldn’t just go out, find the enemy and kill them. A game plan is needed. First you have to know who among the masses is part of the enemy. Figuring that out isn’t so easy. They come in all shapes and sizes, all ethnic groups, all religions. It’s only if you trace their genealogy back far enough that you’ll find they are all related. It was a strategy at one point in this War’s history, effectively executed by both sides, to try to hide members by diversifying their gene pools. So what do they have in common? A few genes and a common enemy—me, my friends, my family, these kids. So how do we find them? That’s the job of the second group: Intelligence. The Intel group includes guys like Matt. There are lots of different jobs in Intelligence: genealogists, translators, education experts, marketing gurus, military planners, computer experts. The list goes on. The Intel group is the biggest group. They’re the ones who tell me, Michael, and Jared who to kill. Sometimes they tell us why. Sometimes that stays secret. They also work on the training and education. They teach us to kill and then they tell us who to practice on.
    The third group are the deep cover guys. We simply refer to them as breeders. It’s their job to assimilate completely into everyday life, to lay low and to try as hard as they can to raise normal families. They’re the ones who make sure that our ranks are not depleted. The danger for them, of course, is that their defenses will be down, that they will grow soft from years undercover and they will be discovered. If discovered, they’ll be killed. Their defenses are limited. Most breeders spend at least some time in another role. They may start as soldiers or in Intelligence. Then they either burn out, or meet someone they want to settle down with. Then they go deep cover.
    â€œSo how do you know who to kill?” asked one of the kids.
    â€œI get a message from Intelligence. They let me know who my target is, where my target is, and anything special that I need to be aware of about my target. They also give me a window of time to get the job done, usually a couple of days. Sometimes, if the job is more difficult, a week. So I go to the destination. I have a safe house assigned to me. The safe house is always owned by a person on our side, without children, who will let me stay with them while I complete my job.”
    â€œDo they know what you’re there to do?”
    â€œThey know, but I’m not supposed to give them any details. You’ll learn soon that knowledge can be very dangerous.”
    â€œWhat’s it like to kill someone?” It didn’t feel right telling them the real answer. The real answer was that it was easier than you’d think.
    â€œI don’t think of my targets as people. They’re simply the enemy. We’re the good guys. They’re the bad guys.” We were nearing the end of the session. The kids’ parents would be back to pick them up soon. “A couple more questions.”
    â€œBut how can you be sure that the person you’re supposed to kill is one of them?”
    â€œFirst, I trust my Intelligence. These guys are good at what they do,” I said, motioning to Matt. “But it’s not just that. There’s something else, something