Contender: The Chosen: Book 1

by Taran Matharu

  Eric. He ate alone, and spoke to nobody, not even during rec time. He simply glowered at anyone who came near him, and few did.

  After all, he was a veritable giant, lifting weights in the gym and standing several inches above Cade’s own five-foot eight frame. No one wanted to mess with him.

  At this point, Cade didn’t care. He threw himself into the seat furthest away from the boy. Only, instead of glaring, Eric gave him a level look. Was that sympathy in his eyes? Before Cade could decide, Eric turned back to his reading.

  Cade was glad to have not annoyed him, but even so his hands shook with frustration. King Apu. His new nickname.

  Someone tapped his shoulder. Cade looked up, preparing himself for another barrage of insults, but instead found himself face to face with a short, stout kid with glasses so thick they looked like the bottoms of soda bottles. Cade knew him by his nickname, Spex, though he knew from the teachers calling on him that his real name was Carlos. He held out Cade’s essay.

  Cade took it and stuffed it into his pocket.

  ‘Thanks,’ he muttered.

  Spex sat down next to him. Even the librarians called him that, and Cade often saw him reading the same book: Guinness World Records.

  Cade wondered why he’d come to talk to him. After this, nobody would want to be caught dead with him. But then, he’d seen Finch haranging Spex too.

  ‘You’re really here for grand theft?’ Spex asked.

  ‘Yeah,’ Cade said. ‘Doesn’t mean I did it.’

  Spex nodded contemplatively. Cade hesitated, then finally found the courage to speak.

  ‘My roommate stole a dozen laptops from my school. He must have kept them hidden under my bed, because the school found them during a room inspection. Called the police right away.’

  ‘Did you tell them it wasn’t you?’ Spex asked.

  ‘I did. But my roommate’s family was rich, you know? Donors to the school. Why would he steal the laptops? He didn’t need the money. But me? A poor kid on a scholarship? I got expelled right away.’

  ‘That sucks, man,’ Spex said.

  Cade had loved that school. Then the laptops had been found. Everyone had believed it so … easily. Nobody expressed surprise. Their assumptions about him had been lurking just beneath the surface.

  ‘The police said they found my fingerprints all over them,’ Cade went on. ‘And stupid me, I believed them. You know the police can lie to get a confession?’

  Spex shrugged.

  ‘My parents tried to fight it, but they were in shock. Couldn’t believe I might have done something like this. They told me to do whatever the lawyer said,’ Cade went on. ‘Only that crappy, overworked public defender couldn’t be bothered to take it to court. He said if I pled guilty, the judge would take pity on me.’

  Cade cringed at the memory of it.

  ‘The laptops were expensive – it was grand theft, a felony. So the judge said I had to come here for a year, or he’d send me to juvie.’

  Spex shook his head. ‘Man, you got screwed. But hey, this place is better than juvie.’

  Cade nodded dully. ‘What about you?’

  ‘Forgot to clean my room.’ Spex winked, the gesture all the more noticeable behind his magnified glasses.

  ‘Seriously?’ Cade laughed.

  It felt good to laugh. It felt like the first time he had done so in a long, long time.

  ‘Nah,’ Spex sighed. ‘My parents are devout Catholics, and I’ve been straying from,’ he crooked his fingers, ‘the path.’

  He shrugged.

  ‘They’d been threatening sending me to this place for years. If I missed church, it was “we’re sending you to that bootcamp”. Skip class – “bootcamp”. Bad grades – “bootcamp”. Never thought they’d do it. Then one night they catch me out with a girl, sneaking a beer in the park. And I thought it would be a good idea to run away for a few days after that.’

  Cade groaned in sympathy. ‘Worst. Idea. Ever.’

  Spex nodded. ‘I won’t argue with you. Brazilian families, they’re judgemental, you know? I swear, half the time my parents were more worried about what my grandma would think than what they thought. And when I ran away, the whole family found out. Even back in Brazil.’

  He gave a long sigh and pushed his glasses up his nose.

  ‘I went home when I ran out of money, and that was the last straw.’

  Cade opened his mouth to speak again, but Spex was already on his feet.

  ‘Maybe see you in the library sometime. Take care, Cade.’

  Then he was walking away, leaving Cade to his thoughts.

  Cade didn’t dare to hope Spex would hang out with him, at least not in public. But now Cade didn’t feel quite so alone. Not a friend but … someone.

  Someone who didn’t hate him.

  FIVE

  Place: Unknown

  Date: Unknown

  Year: Unknown

  The passage widened. One minute they were shuffling sideways through a tight corridor of rough-hewn rock, the next they found it falling away. Now they stood in a V-shaped opening, and beyond an expansive plain of flat, white ground lay before them.

  ‘Is this a salt flat?’ Cade said, unable to take his eyes from the shimmering expanse. ‘I saw one on a documentary once.’

  It was almost identical to the one he had seen all those years ago, stretching endlessly into the horizon, the crystals that coated its surface glimmering in the dusk glow. The dry heat seemed to suck the very moisture from Cade’s skin.

  Cade turned as Eric grunted with surprise. They had walked out of one of three identical passages, all converging on the opening they now stood in.

  ‘Look,’ Eric said, pointing at the wall on their left side.

  To Cade’s amazement there was a basin there, carved into the rock itself, protruding from its wall like a shallow bathtub. As they approached, they saw the barest trickle of water seeping into the receptacle from the cliff above and, within, a still pool waited for them.

  Both immediately began slurping cupped handfuls of the lukewarm liquid into their dry mouths, gulping it down until their bellies sloshed full to bursting, then drinking some more.

  It was heavenly, and for the briefest moment Cade could think of nothing else. He hadn’t realised just how thirsty he had been.

  ‘Save some for us, would you?’ a voice called from behind.

  Cade spun, only to find himself looking at the gap-toothed grin of a scrawny ginger kid. He wore the same uniform, and he held a hand-axe.

  ‘I’m as thirsty as a hungover camel,’ the kid continued.

  Beyond, Cade spotted a second kid peering at him from the shadows of the passage they had emerged from, another bloodied hand-axe in his fist.

  ‘Scott,’ the first kid said, giving Cade’s hand a cursory shake before scooping up a handful of water for himself. ‘And this is Yoshi.’ He leaned in conspiratorially and mumbled through a mouthful, ‘But don’t mention Mario Kart, OK? He doesn’t seem to like that.’

  Cade backed away as Scott dipped his head into the basin like a horse at a trough. He watched as the water level fell with each heave of his shoulders.

  Yoshi approached, his face dark with foreboding – a grim contrast to the smiling Scott. Yoshi was new to the school, and Cade knew little about him. His hair was thick, styled in a sweeping wave, with sharp cheekbones and a thin mouth beneath.

  The boy sidled out of the shadows.

  ‘Sup,’ he said, giving Cade a curt nod before joining Scott at the basin. By now, Eric had stepped aside too, and the large boy looked bemused at the new pair. Somehow, everyone seemed a whole lot calmer than Cade felt.

  By the time the two were done, there was barely any water left, and Scott groaned and clutched his distended belly with mock exaggeration.

  ‘So,’ he said, wiping his face with the back of his hand. ‘Any ideas how we got here?’

  Cade looked at Eric, who shrugged, then said, ‘I think we’re dead.’

  Scott
slapped the hulking boy’s back and laughed. ‘The big dude speaks at last.’

  Cade remembered Scott now. Like Yoshi, Scott was a recent arrival at the school. He’d taken a few joyrides, or so Cade had heard. The kid was obsessed with cars.

  But Cade didn’t have time to search his memory for long. A blood-curdling scream drifted from the third passageway, tearing Cade from his thoughts and setting his teeth on edge. A human scream.

  Then, before he could even consider heading towards it, the same glowing wall that he had seen before appeared, blocking the three passages.

  ‘Sounds like someone didn’t make it,’ Eric growled, striding to the wall and pressing his fists against its surface. ‘The vipers got them.’

  Silence.

  ‘You see the monsters too?’ Scott finally said.

  Eric gave him a slow nod.

  ‘So, what’s the verdict?’ Scott asked. ‘Mutants? Monsters that go bump in the night?’

  ‘Hell,’ Eric muttered, scooping up a handful of the reddish sand from the ground and letting it trickle through his fingers.

  ‘He’s a cheerful one.’ Scott winked. ‘Yoshi, any thoughts to add?’

  Yoshi gave Scott a level look.

  ‘No,’ he said, taking another sip of water.

  Scott chuckled and turned to Cade, who shrugged and looked out at the salt flats again.

  ‘Someone put us here,’ Cade said. ‘And someone built this place – the layout is identical down each passage. I think they’re watching us. Why else go to all this effort?’

  ‘A military exercise?’ Eric asked.

  ‘Maybe,’ Cade said, squinting at the horizon. ‘Maybe we’re guinea pigs in some kind of experiment.’

  ‘So they knocked us out with gas or something in the dorm rooms,’ Yoshi said.

  ‘I don’t think so. I wasn’t sleeping, I just … appeared here,’ Scott said. ‘And why this? A glowing forcefield, some creatures straight from a lunatic’s nightmares, and putting us in a weird canyon they built to look real. Then giving us nothing but a rock to fight them with? What the hell kind of experiment is that?’

  Cade shook his head. ‘The real question is, what do we do now? There’s water here, but it won’t last us, even with that trickle refilling it.’

  ‘We’ll go hungry too,’ Eric agreed. ‘We can’t stay here.’

  ‘Oh right, let’s go wandering around the desert,’ Scott said sarcastically. ‘Sure to be plenty of water and food there.’

  Cade gritted his teeth, glaring at the endless flats in front of him as if he could force the answer of where to go next. And then … he saw it.

  At first he thought he was imagining things, but then it happened again. A glimmer. Flashing, like a polished piece of glass spinning in the wind.

  ‘There’s something out there,’ he said, pointing at the horizon. If he squinted, he could just make out a few specs of black. Objects of some kind, or a trick of the light.

  Eric appeared by his side and peered into the distance.

  ‘I see it,’ he grunted. ‘Something shining.’

  ‘Whatever it is, it’s miles away,’ Scott grumbled.

  ‘Well, we should finish the water and head for that,’ Eric said. ‘It’s metal, maybe glass. That means civilisation.’

  ‘Or a sniper scope,’ Scott said airily.

  ‘Or a camera, filming us,’ Yoshi added.

  ‘Whatever it is, we leave at sunrise tomorrow,’ Eric said. ‘Soon it’ll be too dark to see where we’re going.’

  ‘It’s already night,’ Yoshi said. His voice was quiet, but the fear in his voice cut through Cade’s thoughts like a hot knife. ‘We can leave now.’

  Cade turned, confused. Yoshi was staring into the sky.

  ‘But it’ll be dark soon,’ Cade said. ‘We need the light to see where that reflection is coming from.’

  Yoshi didn’t respond, only continued to gaze upwards, and pointed with a trembling finger.

  Cade looked up, and suddenly his knees seemed to buckle as he saw what was there.

  A red-orange moon hung in the sky, casting the wan light that Cade had taken for the dim light of a sunset. A second, smaller moon floated in front of it, like a white baseball orbiting a basketball.

  ‘That’s … it’s not—’ Cade began, but his mind couldn’t begin to form a reasonable explanation. He had to be dreaming. This was impossible.

  ‘Yoshi …’ Scott said. ‘I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more.’

  SIX

  Three months earlier

  ‘Turn.’

  Cade turned sideways, and the counsellor leaned closer with his flashlight. They were doing body checks on all the boys, making sure there were no unusual bruises. If they found injury or markings, it was a sign that they’d been in a fight. That meant punishments – if you didn’t rat out who’d done it.

  Cade couldn’t believe that the adults didn’t differentiate between fighting and a beatdown. How was it fair that if some boys jumped Cade, the counsellors would punish him for getting beaten up?

  Luckily, his strategy of keeping to himself had kept him mostly safe so far. He got bullied in passing, which had never happened at his old school, but here nobody hated him enough to risk being punished for attacking him.

  It wasn’t much of an existence, but it would be over eventually.

  The counsellor grunted with approval before moving on. They were in a barracks-style room, among the bunk beds that went wall to wall.

  The place was cramped and smelled like a locker room, and he’d even seen mice scampering about. And the counsellors only seemed to care about getting through the day, and keeping the boys in check. Even the therapy sessions often devolved into sports talk.

  He knew not all therapeutic schools were like this. In fact, he knew many of them were good places, that helped troubled kids learn leadership and disclipline.

  He just didn’t think this was one of them. And he knew he didn’t belong here.

  Cade had almost told his parents about the conditions there. But he didn’t want to worry them, especially since they couldn’t change anything. He didn’t mention it on his weekly calls, or the few times they visited.

  His dad hadn’t visited him for two months. His mom said it was too painful for him, so she came alone last time. Cade had asked her to stop coming so often. After all, when he had been at the private boarding school, he had seen his parents only a few times a year.

  ‘Nice chicken legs,’ said a kid standing behind Cade. ‘You got some spaghetti arms too, damn. Yo, guys …’

  Cade swiftly tugged his uniform back on, and the kid gave up, his friends uninterested in mocking Cade’s body. He’d always been thin, and had already lost weight at the school, in part because Gobbler stole his food several times a week – and what he didn’t steal, Cade rarely finished.

  This was compounded with the exercises they did, seemingly endless press-ups, jumping jacks and assault courses. Despite the exercise, he felt himself weakening. Drifting through the corridors like a ghost, careful not to be seen, not to be heard. He never spoke at their group therapy sessions – but then, few did.

  A shout snapped Cade out of his reverie, and he suddenly saw two kids wrestling further down the room. The counsellor had moved on to the rec room to check on the others.

  It was typical. Scores were always settled directly after the body checks; it gave the best chance of any bruises to heal before the next inspection.

  But this was more than a tussle, he realised. It was two on one, and Cade recognised all of them. Gobbler had pinned someone to the ground, and Jim was helping him, if somewhat reluctantly. And he’d know those glasses anywhere. They had jumped Spex.

  ‘Get him up,’ Finch said, striding into view, a few of his cronies following.

  Cade could see the reluctance on Jim’s face and in his body language. It was like he was trying to hold Spex without actually touching him.

  ‘Heard you’ve been talking shit about me,
Spex,’ Finch said as Gobbler hauled the boy to his feet.

  ‘I didn’t say anything, man. You got the wrong guy.’ Spex’s chest heaved with fear, and his words were choked by Gobbler’s thick forearm around his neck.

  Finch tapped his chin. ‘Maybe.’

  He stared contemplatively at Spex, then his fist whipped forward, thudding into the boy’s stomach. Spex doubled over as the breath whooshed out of him, followed by a mouthful of vomit.

  For the briefest moment, Spex caught Cade’s eye and, despite the pain, he motioned with his head, almost imperceptibly.

  ‘Just in case,’ Finch said.

  Cade knew what Spex wanted. He wanted Cade to get an adult. But that was taking a side. That was making a choice.

  ‘Jim, get over here,’ Finch said.

  Jim went to stand beside him, and Cade could see the terror on Jim’s face.

  ‘Hit him,’ Finch said.

  Cade stayed hidden in the shadow of the doorway. The corridor was so close, the rec room just a few dozen feet away. He could do it. And yet he was frozen by indecision. By fear. He felt sickened with himself.

  ‘He l-looks like he’s had enough,’ Jim stuttered.

  Finch laughed.

  ‘He’s faking,’ he said, lifting Spex’s chin, drool dribbling from the boy’s mouth. Spex was gasping like a beached fish, taking small, shallow breaths.

  ‘Come on. Do you have my back or not?’

  Jim hung his head, and Spex turned his face to Cade once more. Pleading with his eyes.

  Cade knew why they’d picked Spex: he had no real friends to protect him. There would be no retaliation, only a small risk of intervention. Finch was a cold, calculating bastard.

  Now that Cade thought about it, it could easily have been him. They’d just spotted Spex first.

  ‘You’re with us, or you’re with him,’ Finch said, moving closer and forcing Jim to meet his gaze. Now, Finch’s face was but an inch from Jim’s, and Cade saw the boy’s resolve waver.