“You have thirty minutes to answer the questions, the person with the highest marks quality for entry. Good luck!”
It's dead silent save the sound of an enormous ticking clock in the room.
I'm not sure why it's there but it sure does help increase the tension. It always catches my eyes whenever I raise my head.
The first page is a name page with clear instructions.
Rule 1; We see you.
Rule 2; We hear you.
It's a clear threat just in case it crossed my mind to turn my neck.
With deep breaths I brace myself and head for the next page, and then–
“How was it,” mum asks the moment I slam the door shut.
I sigh, murmuring under my breath, “I– don't want to talk about it, please not now.”
Racing straight to my room I crash on the bed, and take a few moments to recount just how stupid I was.
I want to forget it but I just can't.
‘There's absolutely no way I'm getting in.’
*****
Knock!
Knock!!
“Good morning Tad, what is it?” Mother curiously asks, pretty surprised to see our neighbor at our front door at 6am in the morning.
I draw a little close to find out what's going on myself, when I notice a bunch of teenagers running into one direction.
A sense of dejavu hits me, as I rush straight into my room.
“Good morning Mrs Rachel, my mum says I should tell Ande that the results are out!”
The results are out!
“The results are out?” Asks mother worriedly as I dash out of the house.
Mixing up with the crowd, I hurry straight to the town square where the notice board has been places.
The place, flooded with people aspiring to get into the Academy just like myself.
Dammit!
I hate this many crowd, it's one of the reasons I need to leave this damn place.
Pushed-
Crushed-
And stepped on-
I make my way to the front row in search of one thing.
“Ha!
Where's my name?!”
I spend the next ten minutes checking each name on the board, but mine was nowhere to be found, but more disturbingly, no one on the list made it.
“Did you seriously think you were going to get in?
Your name isn't even on the list, you probably didn't write anything at all.”
Ah!
Of course that voice.
Angered and frustrated, I turn around while wearing a fake smile, trying my best to hold back.
It was my biggest interest to not offend him and sarcasm was the only way to handle him as I could never take him down in hand to hand combat.
“Well Zane, whether I did or not has nothing to do with you especially since I believe you also didn't get in.”
“Hey!”
Zane leaps forward barely held back by his minions when an officer walks back forcing him to get his character in check, and giving me time to run of course.
Although disappointed that I didn't get in, everything seemed to be going well, for the time being at least.
Knock!!!
Knock!!!
Knock!!!
“What is wrong with some people!” I yell while waking up from sleep.
I glance at the clock, it's barely six in the morning, why are people visiting around six in the morning?!
“Is this the home of Rachel Deer?” I hear an unfamiliar voice speak.
“Yes,” she nervously answers.
“I have a message for your son, if you don't mind, can we come in?”
Mother goes silent for a while.
I sure hope Zane isn't responsible for this, I don't know how I'd be able to fight off his father's men if either of them is at the front door.
“–of course.”
I hurry down the stairs, struggling to put on my shirt when I'm met with a rather unfamiliar scene.
About seven men are waiting in the living room and they look nothing like our Division, or the Officers.
Seeing as I make my way to my mother's side, they all revert their gaze to me.
One of them suddenly gets in the way between my mother and I and stretches out his hand.
“What for?”
“You don't know what a handshake is?”
“Oh!”
Well isn't that a nice way to call me dum.
“Congratulations Ande, I'm actually pretty surprised to see such excellent grades, I'm sorry if you nearly got a heart attack during the release of the result. We don't usually let the winners know until a week later because they're special,” he says.
“What?
I got in?
I didn't fail? You weren't angry with my answer.”
“Angry? Ha! If anything it made everyone laugh, believe me we needed that laugh,” he responds.”
What a very strange man.
He grins a bit excitedly and then with a snap of his finger the men rush in while carrying some boxes.
“This is everything he would need to get ready for his first day at school. I'm certain he'd like to meet the rest of his classmates, so do well to get him prepared.”
“We will,” mother says.
The strange man chuckles lightly and proceeds to leave when he halts by the door and turns around like.
“Oh and Ande,” he calls out to me.
“...”
“That's quite the spirit you've got, we'd be looking forward to seeing it pretty soon.”
Oh shit, I knew I pissed em off.
“Ande, what's she talking about?”
“Oh it's nothing.” I laugh.
‘To think I also got in!’
I can still remember pretty clearly how I felt after finding the first question.
Stupid.
Not because I was stupid but because they wanted to show me how I stupid they saw me as or rather us.
That's just how low they thought of us, fortunately for me, I inherited countless books and a nice memory from my father before his passing, there was no way I was going to fall for this.
I smiled at the papers and wrote boldly on the paper, “I'm not stupid!”
As I walked down the path laid out before my eyes, along with several other students, I grinned ever so brightly.I had only dreamt of this day, but I never thought I would actually be accepted.‘The best chance to turn everything around… the best institute for learning that can guarantee me a better life…'“Tch! To think nobody like you got in as well.”Zane walks out from behind me, and I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed, I didn't think he had anything in that head of his. I chuckle, tapping him lightly on the shoulder, “I’m surprised they now admit failures, this is a real shocker don't you think.”“Hey!”His eyes are glaring at me with death threats, his fist tightly clenched, but all his actions were nothing if he couldn't do them. We were being watched, there was no way he'd be glad to return back to that hell.“You should be careful Zane, you're in Division one, who knows, they might get fed up with you and send you back.”That said I proceed inside the building, allowing
"Alright, so first off is…" Something's off. I'm not sure if the others noticed what it is yet but I could smell a fish cooking. For the past three days after the announcement, it was fair enough to say we lived an abnormally normal life. Having breakfast, going to class. Having lunch, going to class. Having dinner and then bed time. The schedule went on over and over again. Our questions were shunned with a plain response of… 'wait till the weekend,' Which wouldn't be a problem except– We've been in a room without windows for days, and it was hard to tell night from day, not forgetting that there wasn't a clock in any room. The only time we were let out was during classes, just like now, that's how we monitor our time. "Master Zane, your partner will be Master Ande." Dammit, that's one bad idea. It just had to be that guy. I wore my fencing headgear, and swung my sabre to the left and right to massage my joints. Zane guy was emitting a competitive aura even with
"Yes."She answered very frankly. We paused. She's got to be kidding."Every Elite will have to choose a stick, the one who has the longest is the seeker, and the rest will have to hide. If you all succeed in hiding so well that the seeker will be unable to find anyone within five minutes, everyone will be safe and the seeker shall be disqualified from this academy.If you're caught, you go on to hiding, it'll go on until the end of the round, then, the seeker with the littlest catch will be disqualified.I hope you all have a nice time hiding.Yes."Without turning our heads, all eyes turned towards a fellow student, except, it was the other gender. "Then how about the real game ma'am?"She asked. "Ah yes."There was this smile Mrs Baker had that once again irked me like the smile on the headmaster did. I saw a terrifying delightful smirk reeking of pleasure as her lips widened upwards. Ekk! Creapy. "Students, please make your way to the game wheel over there, and when you're
Ha~Did he just say someone died?While I stare engulfed with fear, Ethan frowns and throws a punch at my right shoulder. “Aren't you listening? Someone just died,” he yells. “I know that, I guess not everyone fell asleep then, someone who realized they were the killer must have pretended to pass out like the rest of us,” I told him. “Save your explanation for later, we have to move now!” “Where?”***With Ethan, we both race to the crime scene, the hall. Everyone already gathered, murmuring like flies as they stare at the scene. “I've got Ande, I guess we're all complete then,” Ethan says. I catch sight of a big screen in front of us bearing each of our pictures, a total of sixty students with two crosses out, I guess we're fifty-eight now. There's a timer underneath it, and I'm guessing that's how much time we have left to solve this puzzle. “Okay everyone–” a female calls out to everyone's attention. She looks well defined and carries an authoritative air around her. I d
Well isn't that thrilling. “We checked the body and discovered the reason for her death was drowning,” Felicia reveals, passing around a copy of the report.I took a glance at the report, “she had water in her lungs, and how does one drown when there are no swimming pools?” I ask. “The sink, they could have filled it up with water, I suppose,” Someone answers. “Correct,” Felicia reveals, “the injuries she sustained must have been while struggling to get her head out of the sink, I'm guessing it's because she tried to grab on to the edges of the sink.”“That'll make sense, except what bathroom though?” Another asked. “Excellent question, we've been running some investigation on all the sinks, in search of a clue but to our surprise the sink we found was at the boys locker room.”“What? That makes no sense why would she go there?” Zane yells, for once I'd have to agree with him though. “We're not sure, dead people tell no tales,” she jokes, although everyone found it rather disturb
“Someone must have woken up shortly after her, seen what she was up to, killed her and made it seem like they were the murderer,” Austin says. “Well I guess that changes everything,” I proceed to leave my seat when my path is suddenly blocked by two arms. They didn't look so pleased with seeing me leave. “For now, but you're staying here, and so will the rest of you, the case is merely beginning.”Ugh! This is tiring. I slam the door shut behind me, barely able to remain standing, I crash unto my bed and take a deep breath. I hear the door open and close once again, Ethan walks in, his face staring down at me as he laughs. “Boy, you look like a walking corpse,” he says. Geez, thanks for the reminder. “Of course I do, they kept on interrogating me for hours, I didn't even get to eat dinner,” I tell him. “Sorry about that, but you know what they say, you can't be too careful.”I know he's trying to help but I'm certainly not liking what I hear. Sitting upright I can feel my
Ethan and I sit in our room, silent, perplexed, and out of words. Fear, entirely consuming us but the best thing to do at the moment was to keep calm. Sigh~I should have just stayed home, this is too much stress, and it's way worse than being stuck in Division Nine. Ding!“All students please prepare for class in one hour.”Once again, this just confirms that they want us to lose track of time, I guess this also means I've been up all night I bet the others are having a hard time as well. With no other option left, I drag myself out of bed, Ethan doing the same as we head straight for the shower room and arrive at the classroom. Everyone looked soulless like a walking corpse, yesterday's event and our near-death experience still fresh on our minds, to think we lost two students already. “Welcome to Robotics class, I will be your teacher for this semester, if there are any questions feel free to ask me I'll be pleased to answer your questions,” he says. The teachers–Now that I
Note:For the sake of better reading, I'd be changing the tense to past tense. “You seriously can't jeopardize your life because of me,” our science teacher yelled in fear. “Who says I care about my life!”Once again, Dale was attempting to go for the kill with a gun aimed at the man's head. Sure he doesn't care about his life, but I didn't come here to die because of him.“Hey, cut it out, if you want to die so badly then go ahead and shoot yourself already,” I urged him. He clicked his tongue, and the gun in his hand began to waver as he seemed to have a change of heart. How the hell did he get a gun in the first place? I'm certain we weren't allowed to leave with our practice guns because they were real. “Perhaps y'all aren't sick of this dump but I am, this place is damn suffocating,” he yelled. “A teacher's life is at stake,” a voice suddenly echoed, “students are requested to neutralize the threat in three minutes otherwise face capital punishment.”Three minutes?Do they
"We're not your enemies. We're students, too. We escaped the school just like you." I hesitated, my grip loosening. "Prove it," I demanded. "How do we know you're telling the truth?" At last they took off the mask from their faces, they looked nothing older than eighteen at most, but I wasn't going to be fooled, definitely not by their appearance especially. We pointed the guns at them, cold sweat dripped all over my face but that wasn't enough to make me tremble, at least I wouldn't allow myself to fall victim to such trickery. “No problem, no problem, I'll prove it, I'll show you that we mean no harm I swear,” the female of the group yelled. “Please, just back off with the gun a bit, that thing's dangerous and I doubt you even know how to hold them properly which makes it more dangerous.” Was she mocking us or what? I couldn't make due with it. I took a quick look at her and her colleagues behind us. They didn't seem to have any sort of weapon on them and they didn't retali
I could hardly believe my eyes at first, but that was the honest truth apparently, and just like that, we had finally escaped the school, but freedom felt like a distant memory as we trudged through the arid landscape. Where we would go from here, that was the next question. Amid the celebration and excitement from my classmates I looked around, something didn't feel right, not in the slightest, but what was it? Suddenly, it occurred to me to look ahead as if I surveyed the land. "Does anyone have a binocular?" I asked. "A binoculars? I think I got one while we were escaping, it was amongst the staff gadgets," someone said. At once it struck me. Why exactly would they need such in the first place? The more I puzzled about this uneasy feeling the more restless I felt. The girl handed over the device with a bothered look on her face. I grabbed hold of the device and peered through. Scanning- Scanning- The coast looked clear, crystal clear however, what was this cloud of dus
(Diego's POV)I dart through the shifting corridors of the maze, my heart pounding in my chest as I try not to lose sight of the others. The disorienting twists and turns of this twisted landscape make it difficult to keep my bearings.And I'm finding it harder and harder to keep on going.As I watch my classmates struggle to cross the swaying platforms, a seed of doubt begins to take root in my mind. Something about this whole scenario doesn't feel right. The way the walls shift and the floors move - it's almost as if it's an illusion, a trick of the mind.I take a step back, studying the maze around us more closely. The patterns on the walls seem to shimmer and distort, and the very air feels charged with an unnatural energy. Narrowing my eyes, I focus my senses, trying to pierce through the deception.Suddenly, a flicker of movement catches my eye, and I whirl around to see a shimmering figure in the distance. It's the teacher, I'm sure of it. A wild surge of anger rises within me
(Ande's POV)We wait patiently for Ethan in the game room, the few of us that are still free, trying to cross check if we have everything. It was almost….. peaceful.Alas, things were not meant to be, as the world around us suddenly shifts and distorts.I grip the railing as the building contorts before my eyes, the once familiar corridors and classrooms twisting and distorting like a kaleidoscope. The floors seem to shift beneath my feet, and I struggle to maintain my balance as the world around me turns upside down. "What's happening?" I shout, my voice laced with panic as I glance at my teammates. Ava clings to the wall, her eyes wide with terror, while Chris braces himself against a doorframe, his knuckles turning white.A sinister chuckle echoes through the disorienting space, and I feel a chill run down my spine. "Did you really think you could escape me so easily?" The teacher's voice, dripping with malice, surrounds us.I whirl around, searching for the source of the sound.
(Ande's POV)After washing out the blood from my clothes, I looked down with a heavy sigh of disbelief, I could not believe that this was what I had been reduced to. A monster, perhaps. "We have to go," Chris said to me, his hand upon my shoulder. Yes, there was somewhere we had to be and I refused to let anything come in the way of my freedom, not even myself. Chris and I rejoin the others. The students from the lab are gathered, their faces etched with a mixture of fear and anticipation. They couldn't possibly reject me and I knew that, I was one of them and they were just like me, we had the same substance or whatever it was that was put in me running through their veins, they couldn't possibly bail on me. "Ande," one of them says, her voice tinged with relief. "We've been trying to make sense of what happened back there."As I explain what I found in the lab and the chip I retrieved, their expressions shift from confusion to horror."So they were trying to turn us into desti
(Ande's POV)I shake my head, refusing to believe what they're telling me. "No, I can't have done this. There must be some mistake." I couldn't accept that in the slightest bit, how could everything turn out this way, we had come so far and yet this was supposed to be the result?No, it couldn't possibly be this way. "Ande, listen to us," Ethan says, his tone urgent however I looked away from him, the last thing I wanted on my plate was someone to interfere with how I felt but he was persistent an attribute that I had hated for quite a while now. "We all felt... different, after what happened in the lab. And now, with what's happened here... we can't risk staying any longer. For our own safety, and for yours."I want to protest, to demand answers, but the fear in their eyes gives me pause. I took a deep sigh, surely this wasn't the end of everything, I knew there had to be some sort of way but the opportunity seemed difficult to come by. "I understand but I'm sure there's a cure
(Ande's POV)Ethan's head snaps up, his eyes wide with fear. "No, please, Ande! I swear, I won't do anything like that again. I'm with you, all the way. You can trust me, I promise.," he said, while desperately leaning to us for trust. I hold his gaze, searching for any hint of doubt or deception. After a long moment, I nod slowly. "Alright, Ethan. I'm going to hold you to that promise. We can't afford any more risks, not when we're so close to freedom."Ethan nods, his shoulders slumping with relief. "I understand, Ande. I won't let you down, I swear it."Before I can say more, Jay suddenly interrupts us, his gaze strangely vacant as he clutches the sleeve of my shirt. "Ande," he says, "Ande…""Jay, what's wrong?" I ask, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You seem... different."Jay turns to me, his eyes clouded with an almost otherworldly intensity. "We need to go back to the school," he says, his voice barely above a whisper. "It's important, Ande. We have to leave go back now."I'
I'm in my office when a guard bursts into my office, breathless and wide-eyed. "Sir, there's an urgent joint summit being called. You're expected to attend immediately."I let out a frustrated sigh. These summits always mean more demands and red tape to deal with. "Can't they handle this without me for once?" I grumble.The guard shakes his head. "I'm afraid not, sir. They've specifically requested your presence."I groan in frustration, slamming the files shut. The benefactors - those stupidity wealthy elites who oversee the Games - are the bane of my existence. "Unbelievable. Can't they see I'm up to my neck in work here? We're still recovering from the disastrous events of the last Games."The guard shifts nervously. "I'm afraid they won't take no for an answer, sir. They said it's non-negotiable."I pinch the bridge of my nose, feeling a migraine coming on. "Fine, fine. Tell them I'll be there momentarily." As the guard scurries off, I mutter a string of curses under my breath.
There is a dismembered hand lying on the floor, partially obscured by the doorway. My stomach lurches at the gruesome sight, bile rising in my throat.The skin is pale, the fingers contorted, and there's still fresh blood pooling around it. I freeze, my eyes fixed on the grisly scene.Ethan and the others hadn't noticed it by the looks of things, their focus probably only on getting into the school undetected. But I can't tear my gaze away. Something about the hand catches my eye - it appears to be clutching a small electronic device, a tablet of some kind. Swallowing hard, I slowly approach the severed limb. I need to get a closer look. Crouching down, I carefully pry the fingers open and retrieve the tablet, wincing at the sticky, warm sensation of the blood on my skin. My heart is pounding as I examine the device, realizing it's emitting some kind of frequency. An idea struck. Quickly, I pull out my jammer and connect it to the tablet, grinning as I gain access to the video.