Chapter 278 The Trials

Kate pulled up to the gates of Springfield's new military academy, Ashfield. Her old beat-up car rattled to a stop among a sea of shiny trucks and SUVs. Her adoptive parents wouldn’t give her a new vehicle. This was something she purchased for five hundred bucks at an old garage. Ashfield Academy was a fortress straight out of a war movie. High concrete walls topped with razor wire, floodlights mounted every few yards, and armed guards patrolling the entrance. Kate entered the academy after showing her pass at the gate. Inside, the place teemed with thousands of applicants. Excited youngsters jostled for position in the long registration lines. ‘This is crazy,’ she thought, scanning the crowd. There were guys in tank tops showing off their gym-built muscles, and girls in athletic wear trying to look tough. Everyone here thought they had what it took to join Victor Cromwell's elite military police. However, Kate was here for answers, and not glory. The registration building was a squat,