by C. S. Nelson
He sighed, pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. “The following task will challenge your mental stability. We are to emphasize to you that this task will not be time based, but your mental responses will associate with pre-determined times, which we will go over with you after the task is complete. We are also notifying you that what you will see before you is not real.”
Annie swallowed hard. “Okay.”
“This appears to be your last task,” he mumbled, before stuffing the paper back into his pocket. “That’s lucky.”
Annie raised her eyebrows nervously in response.
The man stared at her for a few seconds. “So…take a seat.” He urged her forward. He wasn’t doing a very good job at keeping her calm, if that’s what he was supposed to do.
Annie slowly stepped up towards the chair. It looked like a torture device. “If nothing that I’m going to see is real, do you have to restrain me?” she asked.
The man snorted. “How about no more questions, okay?” That was the second time she had been told to stop asking questions today. Why did they have to be so secretive about everything?
Annie regretted taking the previous administrators’ kindness for granted. She climbed into the chair and watched him as he tightened the restraints around her arms. Annie had never realized that she had a fear of being tied up, because she had never experienced it before. The fear of being tied up is called merinthophobia, Barry’s voice rang in her head. He wouldn’t have made it through the obstacle course, Annie reminded herself. He would have been dead meat anyway.
As he constricted the restraint around her feet, Annie felt so overwhelmed that she swore she was going to dig her nails straight through her palms. She watched as droplets of blood dripped from her hands down to the floor. The administrator must have noticed too, because he glanced up at her quickly. He knew how she was feeling. Yet he said nothing.
He then started attaching sticky patches with wires onto her temples. They were either being used to measure her brain in some way, or to torture her. She didn’t bother to ask what they were for. He wasn’t going to answer.
“Good luck,” he mumbled under his breath. He stood up, dusted his hands off, and left the room.
Annie sat very still for what felt like forever, with nothing in particular to look at but the blood dripping from her hands. It didn’t bother her as much as her bleeding arm had. In fact, it distracted her from the fear of being tied to the chair. This was the last task. Whatever she was going to see wasn’t going to be real. Annie just had to get through this final stretch.
The other door, the one that Annie had not entered through, slowly creaked open. It was dark on the other side; Annie heard shuffling around with what sounded like chains. She let out a big breath of air. None of this was real. It was a scare tactic.
Red eyes reflected the light from the room she was sitting in and Annie lost her ability to breath for a moment. She had never seen one before, only pictures, but she knew exactly what she was looking at from the evil stare. An alien. A soul sucker. But it wasn’t real.
The alien was slow at first, peaking its grey head out into the fluorescent light of the room. It blinked a couple times, looking around timidly. Annie was just focusing on trying to keep her heart rate down. She thought about closing her eyes, avoiding the illusion completely. But she found her curiosity getting the best of her. She had never seen a hologram like this before. And it shouldn’t have mattered if she watched it, as long as she kept her cool.
The alien stepped out fully into the room, revealing it’s thin and lanky body. Completely grey, with black veins webbed across its skin. Their fingers had always been what scared Annie the most, long and thin, with razor sharp claws that could cut through human flesh effortlessly. Annie had seen the injuries. These creatures were killing machines.
Once the alien understood that it was in no danger, that Annie was sitting bait, a sickening smile spread across its face. Its mouth was filled with shark-like teeth. It skulked towards Annie, slumped over. This was amazingly realistic. Annie wished that they had used technology like this in the classroom. It didn’t seem fair that it was reserved only to try to scare them half to death during a test.
It stepped around Annie’s chair, doing a quick perimeter check. Annie could have sworn that she felt the air move as it skulked past her. Then it came back into Annie’s view. It twitched, blinking a few times, before stepping right up to Annie and putting its face close to hers. Then it hissed, and Annie’s heart sunk. She could smell its metallic, decaying breath.
Annie’s fists tightened in her restraints. She pushed her lips together to keep herself from screaming. No, it must have been part of the simulation. Keep your heart rate down, she thought, that’s all you have to focus on. Then the creature reached out with its pointed claw and lightly brushed her cheek. She felt its claw graze her skin. Annie threw herself back into the chair as hard as she could. She screamed, her voice echoing around the room. There was no one but the alien to hear her.
It chuckled, sounding disgustingly similar to a human laugh. Annie screamed again, pulling for her life on the arm restraints. “Please,” she begged. “Please, please don’t! Please don’t kill me!” But it was futile. She was trapped, a literal sitting target. The sucker pressed its lips against hers and began breathing in. Annie, in that moment, felt what it was like to have her life sucked out of her body. And then the world went black.
◆◆◆
Annie was shaken awake by the same administrator that had delivered her to the room. She tried to get up, to pull herself away, but she found that her body wouldn’t obey her mind’s command. “What happened?” she asked. Her voice was hoarse. The room was spinning. She slowly pulled herself off the floor, sitting up and leaning against the wall.
The administrator gave her a funny look. “You passed out halfway through the simulation.”
“It wasn’t a simulation,” she snapped. “It touched me. It sucked the soul out of me.”
The administrator shrugged, lifting her up from her underarms. “It’s a really good simulation.”
Annie’s heart sunk. She had known that it wasn’t real, but despite her best efforts she had let the creature get to her anyway. “So I didn’t do very well then?” she mumbled. Her legs were shaky, but the man wasn’t going to let her fall.
“I can neither confirm nor deny your status in comparison to your peers.” He began to pull her out of the room. Her legs were slowly regaining feeling, but putting much weight on them was still difficult. “However, it was not the best performance I’ve ever seen,” he added. She tried not to let it get to her. She had done so well on so many of the other tests. He didn't say another word to her as he carried her back towards the sleeping quarters.
“Dustan,” Annie cried, releasing the administrator and running towards him as she stepped through the doors and saw familiar faces. She nearly fell as she approached him, but he scooped her up into his arms before she hit the floor. “I didn’t think I was ever going to see you again.” Her legs were still wobbly. She felt weak. Like she had died and had hardly come back to life. She threw her arms around his neck.
Dustan smiled and kissed her all over her face. “Rough day for you?” He grinned. “How did you do?” He didn’t look tired at all. Had he even gone through the same test that she had?
Annie genuinely didn’t know. The confidence she had built up during the day dissipated with the last test. “Good enough.” She smiled. Good enough to not be last is what she meant.
“Annie!” Anthony came through the door with dirt on his face, and a cloth wrapped around one of his arms and ankle.
Annie pulled away from Dustan and gave her best friend a hug. “What happened?” she asked, licking her finger and rubbing away the dirt.
Anthony held up his arm proudly. “I fell off the obstacle course wall. Had to finish with a broken wrist.” Annie laughed, pulling up her shirt to reveal the deep purple and yellow bruise on her back fr
om where she had landed on the weights. “Battle wounds won’t slow us down.” She said. Her energy had come back, seeing her boyfriend and her best friend. The sense of hopelessness had gone away.
The rest of the students shuffled back into the sleeping quarters. Annie took in every one of their faces as they passed her. Everyone was caked head to toe in mud, but that wasn’t how she wanted to remember them. It was their understanding that this would be the last time that they would all be together. The mood in the room was dark. Annie could see everyone looking around to make sure all of their friends had made it. The only person that was missing was Barry. She found her eyes shifting to his bunk. He was supposed to have been so successful.
The administrators stepped through the door. “New adults.” Every administrator that had been involved came into the room. Annie noticed as everyone around her took a couple of subtle steps back to avoid them. At the beginning of the day, they had all been so full of hope. But now, after going through what they had gone through, nobody trusted the administrators. “You will be separated into your careers. You will have fifteen minutes to say your goodbyes to one another, but please keep in mind that this will not be the last time that most of you see each other so keep goodbyes brief.”
Dustan took Annie’s hand and she had to breathe deeply to hold in the tears. She had been avoiding thinking about this for so long, but the moment had finally come. They would both have days off, she knew that. But she was so used to seeing him every day. Before today she had held onto some sort of hope that they would make it. Now there was nothing left but fear of the unknown.
One of the administrators began calling people’s names into groups. The room was so quiet that her voice rang. They watched, sizing people up depending on who they were standing beside. Annie cried silent tears as Dustan let go of her hand to move to his group. “I’m sorry, Annie,” Anthony whispered.
Annie heard her name called, and moved over to the spot they gestured towards. Immediately after, Anthony’s name was called. She let out a sigh of relief. This wasn’t going to be as bad as she thought it would be. Her best friend was going to be in the same career as her. She took his hand as he stepped up next to her and squeezed it gently.
The administrator that had escorted Annie to the maze stepped forward to the first group. “Record keepers,” he announced. The group all let out gasps of relief, hugging each other and smiling. Annie looked around the room and could see who had wanted that career in the other groups just from the looks on their faces. It definitely wasn't the worst career you could get, sitting in a room and writing out the history of the Earth. The biggest obstacle, thought Annie as she watched some of the sour faces in the group, would be the odd hand cramp.
The administrator moved on from group to group. Each group clasped each other and cried happy tears when they got the news. Doctors, farmers, administrators, janitors. No one looked upset. Even if it wasn’t what they wanted. At least they were something. New adults with new careers who were going to make a difference in the Shield. The suited man stopped in front of Dustan’s group and looked at his paper. “Breeders.”
Annie heard the words but she didn’t take them in. She watched Dustan as he covered his mouth with joy. He hugged the people around him and grinned. And why wouldn’t he? She slowly began to understand what was going to happen to her boyfriend. Breeder was the best possible career that one could hope for. Dustan would be matched up with only the smartest, most beautiful women. He would help to create the next generation of children. He would never face any sort of danger, any kind of manual labor. He would be relaxed and catered to for the rest of his life.
Dustan locked eyes with Annie. She wanted to be happy for him, she really did. But his career revolved around him connecting with other women. There was a reason that breeders never stayed in relationships. Why would they? Annie looked away from Dustan, watching the administrator continue walking around the room. She was squeezing Anthony’s hand way too hard, she realized.
The man stopped in front of Annie and Anthony’s group. Annie had been so deep in thought that she wasn’t even sure what careers were left. She watched the man eye the paper, holding her breath nervously for her fate to be revealed. “Rangers,” he said. They were the first group that didn’t jump up and down in happiness. There were no hugs or hand shaking. Rangers were the only people expected to leave the safety of the Shield on a regular basis. They had to go out for supplies. They had to go retrieve survivors, although that hadn’t happened in a while. The average life expectancy of a ranger after training was 6 months. Becoming a ranger was a death sentence.
Annie and Dustan exchanged glances again. The smile had disappeared from his face. Dustan, as well as everyone else in the room, was just as aware as Annie was as to the danger that lay ahead of them. She could hear one of the girls behind her begin to cry. She wanted to do the same, but out of respect to everyone else who needed to hear their careers still, Annie held it in. How had this happened? How had she become expendable?
The administrator got to the last group of people, holding the paper down to his side. “You were the testers who scored the lowest overall,” he said. Annie saw faces far more disappointed and afraid than even hers had been. The rumors were true. It was possible to have done so poorly in the test that you weren't capable of managing any career. Annie looked at a couple of faces in the group that she recognized and knew. They weren't stupid people. Nerves must have gotten the better of them on testing day. “All will be explained to you after you say your goodbyes. And with that, you all have fifteen minutes.”
The administrators left the new adults in the sleeping quarters, but it wasn’t the same in the room now as it had been for so many years. Tension clung to the air. For a few moments, no one said anything. And then conversation erupted among friends. Annie dropped Anthony’s hand and ran to Dustan, wrapping her arms around him. “It’s going to be okay,” He said, his hand gently holding the back of her head. “We’ll both have days off. We’ll see each other. We’ll make it work.”
“How? You’ll be making children and I’ll be leaving the Shield.” He squeezed tighter. “Dustan, I’m going to die.”
Dustan kissed her face. “You aren’t going to die,” he promised.
“The soul suckers are going to get me.” She thought about the feeling of the simulation’s face against hers, sucking the life from her body. She wanted to vomit. How could creatures that vile exist in this world? She was going to have to face them, the monsters that had destroyed their planet, for real.
His smile wavered. “Annie, you can’t think that way.”
She looked into his eyes for a second before looking away. Her heart was breaking. “I don’t think we should stay together,” she mumbled. What was the point? She was going to be dead in six months anyway, and he was going to be with other women.
"We have to at least try," he said. Annie could hear the panic in his voice.
But it was just that easy for Dustan, wasn’t it? He would be living happily, excited to see Annie on the weekends, with all the girls he could get his hands on, while she was out fighting the creatures that had killed almost the entire human population on Earth. Annie wasn’t going to have time to daydream about Dustan. Annie wasn’t going to have time to daydream about anything.
Annie fought to hold back tears. She had feared this moment. She had known that it was going to happen. “Dustan, I don’t think we can do this,” she said.
Dustan squeezed his eyes shut. “Okay,” he sighed. “Okay. Just, how about we wait until the first time we see each other after training? Give you some time to think about it. Maybe it won’t be as bad as we’re imagining.”
She looked away. If that were what would make it easier for him, she would do it. But she knew herself; the jealousy would overwhelm her. Annie nodded half-heartedly, and Dustan grinned, picking her up and twirling her around. But she didn’t feel the same, not even the same way she had felt about him this morning. It was over
, she knew that, she just didn’t have the heart to tell him.
Annie and Dustan separated, hugging their friends and wishing everyone well. The last group that hadn’t been given a career stayed huddled in their corner. They didn’t look for their friends, and their friends didn’t look for them. Nothing was said to them because no one knew what to say. Annie prayed that their fate wouldn’t be to end up like Barry, who, she realized as she looked around the room, most people had already forgotten about. For the first time ever, Annie questioned whether or not the world she lived in was a good one.
◆◆◆
Administrators separated them into different groups to explain how the rest of the day would work. The man who had injected the timer into her arm stepped up to their group, giving them all a shy smile. “Hello, new rangers,” he said. He rubbed his shaved head awkwardly. “I’m not an administrator but I’m going to do the best I can to help you. My name is Kevin, I am second in command back at base camp. Over the next month you’re going to be training to prepare to leave the Shield. You’re going to find out things about the soul suckers that you didn’t know. You’re going to find out about a lot that you didn’t know. It will be hard on all of you.
“Fortunately, after you go through this rigorous training, you will have the single most important career here. You will retrieve food, water, and medicine from outside of the Shield. You will be catching soul suckers for us to do research on, and rescuing people that we find out there. And most importantly, you will keep each other safe, by any means necessary.”
He motioned for everyone to follow him. Annie took one final look at her bunk, her home for the last thirteen years, before following Anthony and the rest of them out of the school. They stepped off school grounds, which was a rarity for students. Kevin stopped in front of them all. “This is a smaller group than I’m used to. But we can work with eight. The reason you were chosen for rangers was because you were all incredibly skilled at physical and decision making tasks. You’ll find that physical ability is the most important trait a ranger has. You must always be ready to fight, or to carry your fallen friends. There will not be a single day that does not tax you physically. The base camp is on the other side of the Shield, just about a kilometer away. You have four minutes, or you’ll be running laps tomorrow.” He checked his watch. “Okay, go.”
