The young man made his way down the side of the road with his bag of belongings slung over his shoulder. He looked like he was in his early to mid twenties and had short black messy hair, a red and yellow shirt, and blue baggy jeans. He approached a pair of large black gates and looked up at the building behind it.

Jake looked down at the map and then back up. So this was the place huh? The Calloway Military school. He walked up and to the gates and looked for a buzzer or doorbell, but found nothing. He looked annoyed and then kicked the gate. "Hey! Anyone home?" He shouted. There was no answer.

He couldn't believe this. He was supposed to be stuck at this stupid place for who knows how long, the least they could do is open the freaking gate for him. "Screw this..." He muttered. He reached up and began climbing the gate. Just as he reached the top the gates suddenly began to open. "What the hell..." He jumped back down and then made his way towards the building.

Once he got to the door he knocked on it a few times. After a few moments the door opened and he found himself staring at a young boy. "Oh... hey."

"Hi." The boy said giving a small wave.

There was an awkward silence. "So... can I talk to Mr. Calloway please?"

"You mean Colonel Calloway?" He asked.

"Yeah, that guy." Jake said. The boy turned around and began leading him down the hall. He entered, closed the door behind him, and followed. As they made their way down the hall he took note of the school. It was clean, organized, and neat. He hated this type of places. Just as they headed for the stairs they heard a loud commotion.

Two boys ran out into the hall. The large fat looking one was chasing after the skinnier curly haired one. "Grunt! Calm down!" The curly haired one shouted.

"I told you not to touch my snack stash! The ONE rule I have around this place is NOT to touch the snack stash!" The larger one yelled angrily.

The two ran past them and a loud crashing sound followed. "Aw crap! The Colonel is going to kill us!" He heard the curly haired one yell.

Jake paused for a moment and looked back and them, but then quickly realized the young boy was still moving. He quickly followed him up the stairs. They entered another hallway and as they walked by he looked in one of the rooms and saw a tall boy doing pull ups on his bed.

The second room they walked by a blonde boy was sitting on his bed listening to music. He noticed them walking past and then took his headphones off. "Hey Baxter." He called. The younger boy stopped and then looked over towards the blonde. "Who he?" He asked.

The young boy, Baxter, simply shrugged his shoulder. "He said he's here to see Calloway."

The blonde sighed and slapped his forehead. "So you just let him in the door? What if he had been an axe murderer or a serial killer or something?"

Baxter once against shrugged and then began heading down the hall once more. Jake looked at the blond and then gave a smirk. "I'm killing you first kid." He said in the most creepy axe murderer voice he could muster. The blonde rolled his eyes and then slipped his headphones back on. Jake continued to tail Baxter down the hall until they reached a door.

"This is Colonel Calloway's office."

Jake reached down and ruffled his hair before opening the door to the office. "Thanks squirt." As he entered he saw a man, who he could only assumed was Colonel Calloway sitting at a desk and going through paper work. "Hello?"

The man jumped up startled and then grabbed his heart. "What the-?! I told you all to knock before you..." He looked at Jake and then raised an eyebrow. "Wait, who are you?" He asked.

Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter. "My name is Jake. Jake Jester." He said before flicking the letter onto the desk. "My dad sent me here."

"Your Mr. Jester's son? Yes, he did give me a call about your arrival." Calloway said before reaching down and opening the letter. He quickly read over it while mumbling to himself. He placed the letter down and looked up at Jake. "So that's the situation huh?"

"Yeah." Jake said bitterly.

Colonel Calloway took his hat off and then set it on the desk. "Well, I'm glad to have you working here Captain Jester." He said holding his hand out.

"Um... thanks..." He said reaching out and shaking his hand. "Captain?"

Calloway nodded. "If you're going to work here you need a rank. It gives you an air of authority for the boys to respect." He said. "Speaking of the boys, I should introduce you the students."

He walked out of the room and Jake reluctantly followed. He'd known this guy for less than five minutes and he had already deduced that he was probably a blowhard. They made their way to the mess hall and then Calloway took a deep breath and shouted out. "Everyone! Report to the mess hall this instant!" He shouted.

Jake could hear footsteps coming from every direction. The boys scrambled into the mess hall and then lined up in front of Calloway. "First of all, who broke the vase in the main hall?" He asked looking at all of them. Both the fat and curly haired boy pointed to one another. "You both had yard duty for a week."

Both of them groaned. "Alright cadets, I want you to meet the new staff member, Captain Jester. He will be in charge of your activities and double as a counselor from this point forward." He said walking back and forth in front of them. Jake looked surprised. Counselor? Did that mean he'd have to talk to this runts about their problems or whatever?

All of these boys looked like they were about sixteen or so, except Baxter of course. The last thing he needed was to be pestered with the emotional problems of a bunch of teenagers. "Now, everyone introduce yourself."

The first to step forward was the tall dark skinned boy he saw doing pull ups earlier. He saluted before introducing himself. "My name is Jamal Williams sir!"

Baxter stepped forward and then saluted as well. "My name is Baxter sir."

"I'm Grunt." The large boy said smirking.

"Miguel." The curly haired boy said.

"Tug Roper." The blonde boy said simply.

Jake looked at all of them and then scratched his head. "Uh... hey. Name is Jake Jester. Nice to meet you guys. Hope we can all get along and all that jazz." He said not sure whether he was supposed to salute or not. This whole army routine thing was pretty much foreign to him.

Callowy nodded and then turned back towards the boys. "Okay, I'm going to finish up some paper work, and I'm sure Captain Jester wants to settle in. While we're busy you all can head outside and do suicides. Dismissed." The boys all groaned and made their way outside.

Calloway showed Jake to his room. To his surprise it wasn't half bad. Bigger than his old room back home, and nearly spotless. He threw his bag in he corner and then jumped onto his bed. It wasn't the softest thing in the world, but he'd slept on worst. He sighed. How did he get himself into this mess.

After taking an hour to unpack all his things he decided to head outside and check out the school grounds. He saw the boys running back and forth doing suicides. "Man, you guys are still out here? It's been like an hour and a half already." He said approaching them.

Jamal looked towards him but kept moving. "Colonel says we have to do suicides until he finishes all his paper work." He explained.

"How long does he usually take to do his paperwork?" Jake asked.

"All day." Tug said bitterly. He stopped and then sat down on the ground. "I'm taking a break."

Miguel and Baxter were quick to join him. Grunt, who was panting heavily, ran a few more feet before falling over onto the ground. Jamal stopped and looked at them. "Guys, we have orders."

"Oh, just stuff it man. He never comes to check on us anyway so it isn't like he's going to find out." Tug said laying down on his back and looking up at the sky. "Not unless Captain Jester over here snitches on us."

Jake scowled. "I could honestly care less what you runts do."

"Exercise sucks." Grunt said breathing heavily.

"Are you sure you're not just saying that because your a little..." Miguel smirked held his hands over his stomach. "You know."

"Hey! I'm not fat. I'm plump." Grunt clarified.

"It's the same damn thing." Tug said chuckling.

Jake sat down near them and crossed his arms. "So is this pretty much what you guys do all day? Run suicides and all that crap." He asked.

"What? Of course not." Tug said, sarcasm dripping off every word. "Sometimes we run laps or do jumping jacks. If we're really lucky then we get to run the obstacle course all day long."

Jake got back up and then headed for the garage. "You guys sure he never comes to check on you right?" He asked. They all looked at each other confused, and clearly caught off guard by this question. They turned back and nodded. "I'll be back." He lifted the garage door and then walked inside. After few moments the garage door opened back up.

The boys watched as Jake drove off with the truck. "Wait, is he allowed to take the truck?" Jamal asked looking towards the others.

Tug laid back and yawned. "Who knows and who cares. It's not like we'll get in trouble for it anyway." They all seemed to accept that answer, except Grunt who was still face down on the ground.

"Water..."

After another half hour they heard the truck coming back and all looked towards the gate. Jake drove up in front of the garage and then excited the car. He went into the back of the truck and then held up a bottle of water. "First, lets get you punks hydrated." He said tossing bottles of water out to them.

They all caught them and began drinking as fast as they could. Usually they weren't allowed to leave during their drills and Colonel assigned them water breaks, but there was technically no rule saying that they couldn't drink water that someone brought to them. Grunt down his bottle in one go and then looked up at Jake. "More!" He shouted.

Jake looked at him as if he were crazy, but tossed him another bottle. He began drinking it down just as fast as the first one. "Now we're going to do some REAL exercises." He said reaching back into the truck. He pulled out a football and tossed it up and down.

"Football?" Tug said surprised.

"Alright! We doing touch or tackle?!" Grunt yelled excitedly. It was like all the energy had jumped right back into this body.

"Touch or tackle-?! Of course we're doing tackle! We're men!" Jake said sticking his chest out.

Jamal rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know. Don't you think we should clear this with the colonel first?" He asked worriedly.

Jake tossed the football to him. "Why should we? It's not like he's coming out to check on you. Besides, I'm the new activities director, and I say a game of football is on the schedule."

They all looked at each other and then began tossing the foot ball around. Jake smirked and sat in the back of the truck watching as they tossed the ball back and forth and tackled one another. It seemed like all the energy that had been zapped away by the suicides was flowing right back.

Amazing. When you told them just to exercise they groaned, complained, and grew tired. But when you told them to 'play', it was a completely different story. The next half hour was just them goofing around and playing. Jake watched as Baxter finally managed to get the ball.

He brought his arm back and threw it, but it only went a few feet before bouncing off the ground. The other boys shook their heads or laughed as Jake slapped his forehead. "Hey squirt, what the hell was that? Didn't you anyone ever teach you how to throw a football?" He asked.

Baxter shook his head no. "No sir."

"Don't call me sir. It's just Jake when the colonel isn't around. Now give me that ball." Jamal tossed the ball back to him and he gave it back to Baxter.

"I'm not sure I can do this." Baxter said.

"Of course you can. It's like this. You hold your arm up, fingers on the laces. Hold the ball near your ear, wind back, and then step forward as you throw." He explained.

Baxter nodded and then positioned his body like Jake showed him. He winded back and then stepped forward throwing the ball. The others looked shocked as they watched the ball fly across the field. "Whoa! Did I do that?!" Baxter asked.

"Holy crap!" Grunt said.

"Look at that air!" Jamal pitched in.

"See, you a natural!" Jake said patting him on the back.

"Uh, guys..." Miguel said pointing upwards.

They all looked up and watched as the ball headed towards a large fence near the end of the campus. "Oh no, please no." Tug said nervously. The ball landed right on the fence and spun for a few seconds before tipping over onto the other side. "Damn it!" He cursed.

All the boys groaned. "Aw c'mon, don't be a bunch of lazy asses. Just go get it." Jake said.

Miguel shook his head. "You don't get it. That's Ghoul School territory. Anything that goes over that fence is as good as lost." He said kicking the dirt.

"Ghoul school?" Jake asked.

"Ms. Grimwood's finishing school for Ghouls." Jamal said.

"Don't you mean for girls?" Jake asked.

"No! Ghouls! It's an all girl school full of monsters!" Grunt explained.

Jake looked at him like they were idiots. "Are you guys serious? You're afraid of a bunch of girls? Get your asses over that fence and get the ball!"

"You don't understand! When we say monster we mean-"

"That their scary, yes! So what?! Your men aren't you!"

"No! We mean-!"

"Look, I paid fifteen bucks for that ball, someone's going to go get it!" Jake snapped.

"Make Baxter do it! He's the one who threw it!" Grunt said pointing at the younger boy.

Baxter looked terrified. "What?! No! I'm not going over there by myself!"

Jake had had enough for this. "You won't have too! We're ALL going over there. we're ALL going to jump the fence, and we're ALL going to get the ball back! And you guys are going to stop acting like a bunch of punk asses." He said. "You got that?!"

"Dude, I'm begging you! Don't make us do this! Crossing into Ghoul School territory is practically suicide!" Tug said pulling on the front of his shirt.

"You have two options. You can man the hell up and go get the ball, or I'll tell the Colonel you guys were out here playing football instead of doing your drills." Jake said.

The boys all looked at each other and then huddled up. Jake couldn't believe this. Were they actually thinking about getting in trouble instead of getting the ball? They all stopped and Tug cleared his throat. "We're going with the second one."

"Okay, well now I'm just going to pull rank. I'm ORDERING you to go get the ball."

"Aw man!"

"Not fair!"

"We are so dead.."

Jake climbed over the fence joining the rest of the boys. He turned around and then looked for the football as the rest of the boys looked around nervously for any sign of the girls. Jake managed to spot the ball near the stump of an old rotted tree. "Okay. Whose ready to man up and go get that ball?" He asked looking at the group.

"I volunteer... Baxter." Grunt said raising Baxter's hand. "To be the guy who gets the ball."

Baxter quickly pulled his hand away. "Well, seeing as he was the one who threw the ball, that seems pretty fair. Go get it squirt."

Baxter looked terrified. He turned towards the ball and stared at it. It was only about twenty or so feet away, but it might as well have been miles away to him. He gulped and then made a mad dash towards the ball. He grabbed it and then turned around and dash back towards the group.

He smiled. He was going to make it! He was really going to make it! Just as he was about to make it back to the group a pair of bandages shot out from the shadows and wrapped around his feet. He fell to the ground and suddenly felt himself behind pulled back. "Ah! No! Help me!"

Jake looked stunned. He quickly jumped forward and then grabbed Baxter's hand. "Don't let go! Don't let go!" Baxter shouted desperately.

"I'm not!" Jake said. He held on as tightly as he could, but then felt himself behind pulled in as well. He looked back at the others. "What the hell guys! Help me!"

The other quickly ran forward and grabbed Jake's legs. They pulled back and proceeded to have tug of war, with Baxter as the prize. With one large pull they managed to pull Baxter back towards the fence. As they did Jake saw the person on the other end of the bandages. It was a... a mummy! A mummy with a pink bow! What in the world?!

The mummy realized it had been pulled out into the open and gasped. It quickly released it's hold on Baxter and then ran back into the shadows. Bater quickly ran back to the fence and began climbing over. "What the hell was that?!" Jake asked.

"That, was Tanis." Jamal said.

"What?!" Jake said clearly confused.

"Did you think we were joking earlier when we said it was a GHOULS school? Every girl in that school is a monster." Tug said. "That was Tanis. She's a mummy. She also happened to be the youngest and smallest monster there."

Jake wouldn't have believed this is he hadn't of seen it with his own eyes. "But- Wha- There are monster living right next door to us! Shouldn't we call the police or something?!"

Jamal waved his hand. "Aw, don't be such a worry wart. They don't eat people or any of that stuff in the myths. But they are really scary. Way scarier than the average girls." He said.

Jake shook his head trying to take all of this in. There were monsters. REAL monsters living next door to them. And it seemed like everyone was fine with it. "What have I gotten myself in to..."

The boys all began climbing back over the fence. "A whole lot of trouble dude." Tug said smirking at him. "Welcome to Calloway Military school."