“He is smart. Very smart,” Lefty said. “And very strong.”
“Nobody asked you, boy,” Cumulus said without turning to look at Lefty. He walked back to the door. He placed his hand on the door and then spoke without bothering to turn around. “This is the room where you’ll be taking your test tomorrow morning. You’re sleeping in here.” He slammed the door, locking it from the outside.
Lefty hurried to Zero’s side. “Did you hear that? You’re all good. Nothing to worry about. Not only that, but you’re a shoo-in to be Elite. The good life.”
“What does that even mean—the good life?” Zero shook his head. “I have never met an Elite I can stand to be around, let alone someone I could call my friend.”
“Zero, I just thought of something. What if they give you a chance to choose what profession you want to be? You could choose to be a chemist or a biologist. You’re smart enough to master both studies.”
Zero shrugged his shoulders. “Okay. So what?”
Lefty looked at him with disbelief. “Maybe you’re not so smart after all. Don’t you see? If you’re a chemist and they make me one of the lab rats, then maybe there’s some hope for me after all. Maybe you could make me your assistant or something, instead of sticking me with some virus.”
Zero smiled, but it wasn’t genuine. He knew he would do fine on the scientific parts of the exam, but he had little hope for something like that. He had little hope he could ever convince the other Elites to refrain from being so cruel. “Let’s just concentrate on getting through the test tomorrow, okay?”
Chapter 13
Zero tried everything he could think of to get a good night’s sleep, but the classroom floor was extremely uncomfortable. He bunched up his shirt to use as a pillow, but the linoleum on his skin was too cold. He tried sleeping in a chair with his head down on his arms, but he woke up after a few hours with a crick in his back. When morning came, he felt like he didn’t get any rest at all.
He thought about tomorrow—about the rest of his life. He was terrified of what it would hold. Life without Lefty at his side, the guy who fought his battles, who kept things fun? He had been Zero’s only friend. Even worse than living without him was the thought of what would happen to Lefty once he was handed over to the scientists.
Zero lifted his aching body up off the floor and walked over to the window. Below, he could see the other students walking between their sleeping quarters and the cafeteria. It made his stomach growl. He doubted anybody would bother to bring him and Lefty any breakfast—especially not Cumulus or any of the other Elite.
He looked up at the clock. The written test was scheduled to start in less than an hour. The closer it got, the more stressed he felt. He looked at Lefty and could see clearly by his expression that the test worried him just as much—or even more. Zero felt terrible for him. He wished there was something he could do. He even tried to think of a way to cheat, which wasn’t like him at all. He had never allowed Lefty to cheat off him before, but they had never before taken a test that meant death to those who failed. Either way, every test was different. He couldn’t think of a way to feed Lefty any answers.
Cumulus, in his long purple robe, was the first person to enter the room. He did so with an enormous grin on his face. “Did you boys enjoy yourselves last night? Was the floor soft enough for you?” He beckoned for them to follow after him, and he led them to the bathroom. He stood at the sink with his arms folded until they had both finished eliminating, and then they returned to the testing room.
Lefty chose his seat and Zero sat next to him.
Flea soon entered the room. When he spotted the empty seat directly behind Lefty, he hurried to it. “Good luck on your test, genius.” He laughed.
Lefty sighed.
Other students soon filed into the room. Before long, nearly every seat was filled. All the others seemed just as nervous as they were.
Cumulus stood, his chin in the air, and held up one hand. All the previous mutters and hushed whispers fell silent. “As I am sure you all are aware, the placement exams are of the utmost importance to your lives. They will determine your place in society. Those of you who score well will be placed on a path that could ultimately lead to being one of the Elite, such as myself. It’s not an easy path, and few of you would be up to the challenge. This test is simply meant to discover which of you young ones have the intellect to be given a chance to walk that path. If you’re not smart enough to score that high, don’t worry about it. You can still get drafted—most of you, anyway.” He shot Lefty a snide look. “You’ll be assigned a place where you will be useful to everyone, and in the end that’s what this is about—the betterment of society. So, don’t stress over the test. Wherever you end up in society is the place you fit best.”
Zero glanced over and saw that Lefty had a scowl on his face.
“There are two hundred multiple choice questions, all with ten possible answers.” Cumulus smirked. “Many do not finish the test, but I highly suggest you try.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Zero saw Lefty reach toward him and he felt a small piece of paper slide under his arm. Scribbled there in Lefty’s unmistakable handwriting, it read “Rember that you swor to me you will pass the test. You promisd.”
Cumulus began walking down the aisle placing a thick stack of papers on each student’s desk. “Do not begin until I give the command. You were all given a chance to use the restroom before we began, so there will be no breaks during the exam. You have three hours to complete it.”
With a snort, he took out a small timekeeper and clicked the button on the side. “You may begin.”
Zero breezed through the first page without much difficulty. The answers came quickly and easily to the end of his pencil, but he was sure Lefty was not having the same success. Each time Zero filled in a bubble on his answer sheet, he asked himself whether or not Lefty would have gotten that question right. He had a bad feeling about this whole thing.
The first hour passed, and Cumulus cleared his throat. “Two hours remain.”
Zero looked up from his exam. He was already more than halfway through, but one glance over at Lefty made it clear that he wasn’t keeping up—not even close.
At the halfway point, Cumulus scanned the room and shook his head. “We are halfway to our goal, and I see many of you are lagging behind. I suggest picking up the pace. One and a half hours left.”
Zero found himself staring at Cumulus. There was something in the way he carried himself—something that made Zero very uncomfortable. Even listening to him say something as simple as how much time remained made him loathe the way he talked. Everything about him, from the way his pompous fake smile gleamed brighter than he thought humanly possible, to the way every hair was always perfectly in place—there wasn’t anything genuine about him. Zero looked down at his test. He was two-thirds finished with the answers and he was confident he had answered almost all of them correctly. He looked back up at Cumulus and wondered if this guy was even smart enough to do as well as he was doing. He doubted it. And yet this guy looked down his nose at every one of them, as if he was better than them.
He scanned the room and his eyes locked on Flea. He hated Flea. He had always hated him—every bit of him. And still, he knew he’d rather spend the rest of his life living next door to someone like Flea than with someone like Cumulus. He looked back down at his test. Did he even really want to ace this test? Did he want to end up living in an Elite community next door to someone like Cumulus? He hadn’t been around Elite people a lot, but they all seemed to be like him. Even worse than living next to him was the thought that the “path” to becoming Elite might even turn him into a snide prideful jerk like them.
He looked down at his test again and chewed his pencil. He was two-thirds done. He then looked over at Lefty, whose face was screwed up in concentration. His test was only about one-third completed.
He smiled as an idea formed in his head. He could switch tests with Lefty. He was quick enough with the answers to be able to finish the last two-thirds of it while Lefty enjoyed his, now almost complete.
He looked up at Cumulus, who was pacing the front of the room. When Cumulus stopped at the window to watch outside for a moment, Zero made his move. In one motion he snatched Lefty’s test from his desk and switched it with his own.
Lefty stared at Zero, and then down at the exam on his desk. A flash of determination replaced his look of desperation as he started reading the next question.
“Sir?” Flea yelled. “Lefty—”
Flea wasn’t able to say another word. Lefty spun quickly around in his seat and smashed his right fist into Flea’s mouth before he could make another sound. His left fist soon followed.
Zero jumped up from his chair and grabbed at Lefty to pull him away, but there was no use. Even as strong as Zero was, Lefty had never fought with such ferocity. Fists flew back and forth before Flea wrapped his arms around Lefty’s middle and they both went tumbling to the floor, knocking desks and other students in every direction.
Zero stood over them, circling them with his hands over his mouth. This couldn’t be happening. Not during the most important test of their life. He grabbed at Lefty’s leg, but he was too nervous to get close enough for a real grip.
Cumulus rushed toward the center of the action. By this time, every student had pulled back to form a circle about thirty feet wide with only the three boys inside. Cumulus struggled to push through the spectators. He reached the center and grabbed Lefty by the back of his collar. He jerked him to his feet and wrapped one arm around him from the back.
Lefty kicked, planting the toe of his shoe just under Flea’s chin and causing his head to snap back.
Flea gritted his teeth. He sprang to his feet, cocked back his right fist, and let it fly. Lefty bent at the waist, slipped from out of Cumulus’ arms, and tipped to his left. The punch glanced off the top of Lefty’s head and landed square on the bridge of Cumulus’ nose.
The room went silent.
Nobody moved as Cumulus brought the palm of his hand up to his nose. When he pulled it away, there was a smear of red on both his hand and upper lip.
He stepped toward Flea, who was now crouched partway holding both palms out in front of his face to shield himself. Cumulus raised his right hand and rained a hammer fist down on him. Most of the blow was absorbed by Flea’s hands, but he crumpled to the floor anyway—probably because he expected another one to follow if he didn’t. Cumulus kicked him in the legs twice before Flea pulled himself into a ball with his arms wrapped tightly around his head. He kicked him twice more, this time in the ribs.
“Get up,” he demanded.
Flea untucked hesitantly before raising himself up onto his feet.
Cumulus walked to his desk and pulled a tissue from a box. He held it to his nose. He pulled it away, revealing a small amount of blood absorbed into it. He walked to the door and held it open. “Get out!”
Lefty and Flea began walking to the door, leaving Zero the only person standing in the center of the circle.
“You too!” Cumulus yelled, pointing a finger at Zero. “You’re just as worthless as these other two. Get out.”
Zero followed Flea and Lefty out the door. They stepped into the center of the hall and turned around.
“Go wait outside. Wait for me out by the city gates. I’ll be down as soon as the testing is finished.” He slammed the classroom door shut before his muffled voice resonated through it. “Students. Because of the idiocy of your peers, you have now lost about twenty minutes of testing time, which you will not get back. I suggest you quickly get back to work.”
Chapter 14
Zero sat with his back against the city’s inner fence wondering if his life was over. An hour ago he was contemplating whether or not he wanted to be an Elite. Now he was all but certain that wasn’t even an option. He didn’t know what any of his options would be from here on out, but he knew they wouldn’t be good.
“Hey, Lefty. Caiman sends his thanks,” Flea said. He was lying on the grass with his hands behind his head. “Because of you, he got a chance to show his skills in the cage and now he has already been chosen to be one of the guards at Exile City. He knocked out one of the Remnants. It doesn’t even matter what score he gets on the written test.”
“What in the world is wrong with you?” Lefty asked. He sat on the grass with his legs crossed, shaking his head. “You have no idea how serious this is, do you?”
Flea brushed it off. “For you, maybe. Once the Elite hear my side of the story, they’ll let me finish my test. I was doing great with it, by the way. How was your test going, genius?”
Lefty smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. “You’re even dumber than I thought you were. You punched an Elite—one that is particularly proud, I might add. You think he’ll just forget about that and let you finish your test? You gave him a bloody nose in front of everyone.”
“I only punched him because you ducked. It’s your fault.”
Cumulus stepped out of the building. He shot a quick glance at the three boys sitting on the grass before beckoning them to follow him. He led the way down a sidewalk to where a small brown pickup truck was parked among a dozen other vehicles. “Get in,” he said.
Zero and Lefty looked at each other.
“Where are we going, sir?” Lefty asked.
“I said get in.”
Zero and Lefty climbed into the back of the pickup but Flea didn’t follow after them. He waited until Cumulus opened the driver’s side door before saying, “Sir, if I may… Up there in the classroom I was just raising my hand to let you know that Lefty and Zero—”
Cumulus spun around. Before Flea had time to realize he should probably shut up, Cumulus head-butted him square in the face, knocking him to the ground. Flea placed one hand over his nose and raised the other in front of him to shield any other blows that might come his way.
Cumulus stood over him, staring. “There’s one thing you need to understand about me, boy. I don’t get even. I get ahead. We’re even right now. You bloodied my nose. I bloodied yours. Now it’s time for me to get ahead. Get in the truck.”
Flea waited for Cumulus to climb into the driver’s seat and shut the door before standing up and getting into the back of the truck. With Zero and Lefty sitting with their backs against the cab, Flea chose to sit against the tailgate. He pinched his nostrils shut as they backed up and drove through the city gates.
Within seconds of exiting the outer gates, the truck was moving so fast that it was hard to breathe.
“Where is he taking us?” Zero asked, his voice barely audible in the heavy wind.
Lefty shook his head. “No idea.”
They continued at high speed for about ten minutes before Cumulus stomped on the brakes. Zero and Lefty’s heads slammed backward into the cab.
Flea had already started to look nervous, but he was downright scared now. “Why are we stopping?”
Cumulus stepped out from behind the wheel. He rested one elbow on the side of the truck’s cab. “Last night I told you I wanted to drive you out to the middle of nowhere and drop you off. The other Elites overruled me. They wanted to see how well you would do on the written test.” He pointed a finger directly into Zero’s face. “Obviously we know now how you did on the test. You’re not Elite material. That much is clear. From here on out, I don’t care what happens to you.”
“Sir, what are we supposed to do now?” Flea’s eyes dashed back and forth as if he was expecting something to come busting out of the trees to attack him.
“Did you not hear me, boy? I said I don’t care what happens to you now. Get out of the truck.”
Zero and Lefty jumped out, choosing to do so on the side opposite Cumulus. Flea gripped the sides of th
e pickup bed.
“Don’t kick me out here. I’ll die.” Flea’s eyes were huge—begging. “It’s not my fault. Lefty punched me while I was just trying to take my test. I just—”
Cumulus’ lips tightened and he began to stomp toward the back of the truck. Flea saw the rage in his eyes and scurried out of the pickup bed before he could get to him. He ran twenty feet away before daring to turn around.
Cumulus walked back to the cab. He smiled broadly, making eye contact with each of them individually before sliding back into the driver’s seat. The engine roared to life. He did a three-point turn before squealing the tires on the pavement and driving back toward the testing grounds.
Zero looked at Lefty and then at Flea, who stood mesmerized with his hands dangling heavy at his sides, his shoulders drooped and mouth agape.
Lefty began walking, but not in the direction of the testing grounds.
“Where are you going?” Flea asked, his voice full of panic.
“Now you see how serious this is?” Lefty laughed at him. “You thought Cumulus was going to let you finish your test. You thought he would forgive you because,” he raised the tone of his voice to mock him, “Oh, Cumulus. It’s not my fault. I’m innocent.”
Flea didn’t even bother with a retort. When he saw Zero join up with Lefty, Flea hurried after them.
“So … where are we going?” Zero asked. “Why don’t we go back to the testing grounds?”
“What for? Even if we did make it back in time for the draft, do you really think anyone is going to draft us now that we’re all getting zeros on our written tests?”
“Maybe. I don’t think Cumulus has the authority to disqualify us from the draft.”
“Well, you can go back that way if you want. I know I’ve exhausted all my chances to get drafted, so I’m not going to waste my energy. Last night when we were sitting up on the city wall, I saw the glow of three cities on the horizon. I’m going to keep walking along this road until I find one of them.”
Testing Zero: a dystopian post-apocalyptic young adult novella series (Remnants of Zone Four Chronicles Book 1) Page 9
