by H. J. Lawson
"Eat up," Aaron says to me as I stare down at my plate. "We don't know how long the trial will last," he adds.
He's right, but it doesn’t make me want to eat it.
The table falls silent, as we have nothing left to say. Sector 105 will be deciding our fate now.
“I can’t take this anymore,” Lakia confesses, slamming her fork down onto her plate. The clinking sound echoes in the silent room; all eyes turn toward us.
“What, it's just what everyone else is thinking, but no one has the balls to say it,” Lakia calls out to the people in the room.
“Lakia,” I say to her.
“Most of us are going to fail. We could just say we will not do it! If we all go against it, there will be no trial.” Lakia spills it out quickly, as if she’s been wanting to say it for a long time.
Ryder opens his mouth and starts to say something. “Don’t,” she snaps, pointing her finger at him as if they have already had this conversation many times before.
No one in the room says anything. They aren’t going to risk not doing the trial and letting their loved ones pay for their decisions.
“Just don’t,” she says as her eyes begin to glaze over with tears.
She places her head in her hands, her long black hair falling forward.
I place my arm around her and she leans her head on my shoulder. “I’m not going to pass,” she says as she breathes in.
“You will if we stick together,” I respond. “If we all stick together,” I say, looking at Kai.
The dining room quickly fills up, and the other people around us notice our group at the table—normally we are the last ones in, using only twenty minutes of the allocated time to eat. When they spot us, sober and silent, they know, like us, that the day has finally arrived. No one is a friend now: we are competing for twenty stops, and between us we want eight of them.
People take their seats, quietly eating or pretending to eat. I’ve followed Aaron’s lead and eaten everything on my plate. We don’t know how long this trial will be.
After thirty minutes pass, I notice that none of the instructors are here, no final guidance from Theo. Then again, why would they be here? If we are ready for the trial it means we no longer need them. That’s the whole point of the training, I guess.
As I stare at the glowing red numbers, it feels like time itself has slowed down as we wait for our fate. Then in the blink of an eye, the number is zero … it is time.
A cracking sound comes from the speaker. The sound fills the room as if it's empty; everyone is holding their breath in anticipation of the words that will come from the speaker.
“Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations on passing the training phase of the trials. Today is the first day of your trial. Remember, only the top surviving twenty will pass. I recommend you do everything possible to be in the top twenty. Please make your way down to the training hangar,” Commander Cheng says flatly, with no emotion, as if she’s reading from a script, with no interest in what will happen to any of us. We are tools in Commander Cheng’s war.
It feels like everyone lets out the breath they were holding as the cracking sound comes from the speaker again, indicating that the message is over.
“Surviving twenty,” I hear a few people mumble.
Aaron’s eyes lock on mine: the only way out of here is by surviving the trial.
Kai’s chair squeaks as he pushes is backwards: he is the first to stand.
Aaron takes a deep breath in, and stands next to him.
“Whatever happens, we stick together. No matter what,” Aaron says, like a commander would as he leads his troops out to battle.
I can feel my clammy hands shaking. I slip them into my pants pocket. I can’t let anyone see I’m terrified.
As I stand, more people follow suit around the room.
Ryder stands up next to Aaron, and only Lakia remains seated at our table.
“Lakia, get up,” Ryder orders,
“Don’t tell me what to do!” Lakia snaps as she punches her hands down on the table, making a noise as her cutlery clicks against her plate.
“There’s my girl. Come on, let’s kick some frigging ass,” Ryder says as Lakia gets to her feet. Her face is red and patchy from emotions.
Chapter Twenty-One
As I walk down the clinical white hall to the training hangar, my stomach clenches with fear, threatening to force my food up at any moment.
I want to run the other way, but I know that will result in death. At least this way, I have a chance of saving my family … and hopefully myself.
I can do this … no, I have to do this.
“Stay by my side,” I say to Aaron.
“I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.” He leans over and kisses me as we walk.
Taking his hand, I pull him toward the wall. People tut as I block their path, but I don’t care.
I kiss him deeply. His hands rest on my cheeks. I block everything, everyone out.
“The door is open,” someone announces from up front, taking me away from my tranquility.
I just need his warm, soft lips on mine once more. Aaron leans in and quickly kisses me.
“I love you,” he says softly.
“I love you too,” I say as I look into his warm brown eyes.
“Now, let’s do this,” he says, gritting his teeth. Adrenaline pumps through my body.
The crowd picks up its pace as we approach the door, no longer running away from the fear … I am going to face my fear.
As we enter the hangar, I see all of the equipment is gone. It’s just a large, empty hangar with its raw metal beams above us, its cold concrete floor, and a chill of anticipation infusing the air. The red numbers begin to count down: this is a timed trial.
Everyone stands still, looking around, waiting for something.
That’s when I spot the doors: there are two at the far side of the room, directly across from where we’re standing—before they were hidden by the firing range.
“Whatever is coming in, it's coming from those doors,” I say to Aaron and the others.
The metal door slams behind us.
One of the boys runs toward the door and jiggles the handle up and down. “It's locked,” he says.
My eyes scan the room, but there is nothing.
Then something red catches my eye: it's a red box with an axe in, encased in glass, the type you would use in a fire. It looks out of place, like someone put it there. It's in the far corner of the room, against the same wall as the two doors.
By going over there, I’m setting myself apart from the group. Also if a vampires came out of either door I would be easy prey. I decide it's safer to leave it.
I take in a deep breath and the smell of rotten death drifts up my nose. “They are here,” I call out.
As if my voice is an alarm, all the lights switch off, forcing us into darkness. High-pitched screams from some of the girls cut through the darkness.
I can hear their footsteps; there are four of them. The smell intensifies as they get closer.
A buzzing sound rings out from above us and there is a flicker of ultraviolet white light, illuminating the huge vampires quickly approaching us, their mouths gaping open. Their sharp fangs glisten in the brightness of the light; saliva fills their mouths. They are eager for their kill.
As quickly as the lights came on they go off again, plunging us back into darkness.
“Arrgh!” A horrific scream comes from the far side of us. Then the sound of people running in fear, followed by a buzzing as the bright lights come back on.
My eyes instantly move over to where the screams came from: a vampire is leaning over a girl’s body as a pool of crimson red blood shines in the light. The vampire quickly turns to face the crowd and trails his tongue across his front teeth, dragging a gaudy bloodstain along them.
The light flicks back off, plunging us back into darkness, not giving my eyes time to adjust to the darkness before it flicks back on.
&nb
sp; They are only twenty steps away from us. “Our door is closed; we have to get across the hangar to the doors they came out of,” I quickly mutter; my voice quivers as I speak.
Other people are running for the two doors.
The light flicks back off again, and more chilling screams come from around us.
“They can’t see in the dark either; we have to move quickly and quietly around them,” Aaron say in a low voice to our group.
The light flicks on again, revealing their angry, twisted faces—they are ten steps in front of us and there is a gap between them. That’s my gap!
As soon as the light flicks off again, I quickly move toward it.
Buzz …
The light is back on; Aaron and I are past our vampires. Ryder and the others are almost face to face with theirs.
One of the vampires dives toward Ryder.
Ryder grips hold of Roslin and pushes him directly in the path of the vampire, using Roslin as a shield against the vampire.
The vampire’s mouth arches open, and he plunges his fangs into Roslin’s neck.
The lights flick out again.
Roslin’s alarming pleas for help flood me with sorrow as I sprint for the door.
Buzz … The white lights are on again; Ryder has made it to the door.
I spin around to see if any vampires are near me. There are none; they are surrounding all the people by the door through which we entered; those who were frozen with fear are now prey.
Kai’s fist flies out toward the vampire that bit Roslin, then he quickly pivots around him, with Lakia at his side.
“Get in,” Aaron orders to me as he holds open one of the doors which the vampires came through. There is a bright, clinical hallway, clear of vampires; the bright light shines a path into the bloodstained hangar. Chaos reigns in the vast space, with kids running for their lives away from the vampires, pushing one another in front of the vampires to protect themselves.
“What about the others?” I say frantically.
“We cannot do anything for them,” Aaron says bluntly, and he’s right. If I go back to help them it will be our bloodbath.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ryder runs past Aaron as he stands holding the door. Others are also running down our hallway and on to a second one.
The lights buzz on.
I do what my mind tells me. “Lakia, run through the door,” I yell back to her.
Her eyes bulge out, and she clenches her teeth as she runs as fast as she can, with Kai by her side.
I follow Aaron down the white hallway, which now has bloody footprints staining it. Gone is the disinfectant smell of the hallway. Now there’s a coppery blood smell … the smell of death.
Taking a deep breath in, I can smell their rotting scent all around me … the trial is not over. By the smell of it, it's just begun.
The hallway feels like it lasts forever, every section is the same—it feels like I’m running on a treadmill and not getting anywhere.
“You frigging left her and killed Roslin,” I snap at Ryder.
“Kid was going to fail anyway,” Ryder responds.
Aaron stops running and goes chin-to-chin with Ryder. “He was going to frigging fail?” Aaron barks at Ryder, with his teeth clenched. Ryder steps back in surprise. “You didn’t even give the kid a chance.”
The thumping sound of feet approaching us becomes louder. Lakia’s not among them—she must have gone down the other hallway.
“We are in the middle of a race; we can fight later,” I say as I run past them. “Aaron,” I call out. He shakes his head to break his glare, then carries on running by my side.
A kid in front of us opens the door at the end of the hallway, and the others run through it.
It's another white room, with just an element of disinfectant in the air, but no rotten smell of death.
There is a table of stakes, with a chair pushed behind it, like it is someone’s office desk. Aaron grabs one of the stakes and tosses it to me, then takes one for himself.
“What about me?” Ryder says in disappointment.
Aaron just stares blankly at him, then picks one up and throws it to him.
“We need him,” Aaron says under his breath so only I can hear, like we have practiced for the last few days.
I nod as I look at him.
My hand wraps tightly around the stake; this is our reward for getting through the first room.
“Door’s locked,” a kid says as he pushes down on the only other door in the room.
All the walls are matte white, except for one that is glossy. I run my finger across it; it's soft and smooth like glass.
On the wall opposite the smooth glass wall, there is a big black television. Ryder clicks it on; the small red light flicks to blue as the power surges through the television.
A black-and-white image fills the screen. A quarter of the screen shows our room—the other sections are black. I look around the room for the speaker, then wave. As I look up at the television screen, I see myself waving back.
Other people in the room start waving their hands as they realize that it's them on the TV screen. Then another image appears. It’s a white room with nothing in it.
“Look,” someone in the room says, pointing.
I turn in the direction he’s pointing: the glass wall is no longer white. I slam my hands against the glass. “It’s Lakia and Kai.” No one sees me—it has to be a two-way mirror; we can see into the other room but they can’t see us.
Ryder slams his fist against the window as hard as he can, but there is no reaction from the group on the other side.
I hear other people mumbling in our room; they also have friends in there.
Their room is like ours, except without a television or stakes. Also they have an extra door.
“Don’t open the door,” Aaron roars.
The other images have come up on the television: one of the room Lakia is in, and one of the other room, complete with three growling vampires. Everyone starts screaming and banging on the glass, yelling for their friends not to open the door.
Then I hear a click coming from our door.
I push down on the handle. It opens, and leads into the white room on the screen.
“No,” a kid’s voice calls out, followed by screams. I don’t need to go back into the room to know what just happened … the vampires are in the room.
There is an empty white hallway, and a door handle next to our room.
That’s Lakia room … Do we save ourselves or save our friends?
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Come on,” I order the others as I glance into the other room through the glass window. There are no vampires by the door we will go through—they will not expect us. I grab another stake off the table.
“We can help them,” I inform them as they get into the safe room.
I see people looking from the door which the vampires are behind to the empty hallway.
“For God’s sake,” I shriek. “How can you even question this? We have the guns and stakes. They were obviously put here to help them.” Maybe this trial is not all about the race to the finish, but how we get there. Even if it's not, I’m not letting others die if I can help them.
People in the room just stare at me, but to my surprise, Ryder is already at the door, with Aaron and a few others by his side.
“Open it,” Aaron orders.
Within a split second, Ryder has opened the door to hell, and we run in ready to rid this world of the demons.
“Kai, catch!” I throw my spare stake to him. He grabs it with one hand. No sooner is it in his hand than he plunges it into a vampire’s heart.
Kids start to push past me, running through the door to the safe room.
The vampire drops to his knees as blood pours out of his chest and onto the floor. Then his head arches, and his mouth begins to rip open.
“Lakia,” I scream as she stands staring at the vampire, mesmerized by the sight of the expanding vam
pire, whose skin is paper thin. I know he will soon explode.
I push past the others who are staring, frozen in shock and confusion.
“She’s mine …” says a vampire as he stares at Lakia from a distance. He runs forward toward her, ready for his kills … so am I.
“She’s mine,” I tell him.
I sprint at the vampire, then kick him under the chin, knocking him down to the ground.
Before the vampire can regain his balance I plunge the stake into his heart.
He staggers back as I pull the stake from his lifeless heart.
Piercing screams fill the room as the souls of the dead spill free from the vampires’ mouths and coil around their bodies.
I raise my hands to my ears to block the sound, then quickly drop them. Now is not the time.
Looking around the room, I see all three vampires’ mouths are gaping open. We killed them all.
In the room, it is just my friends and a handful of other kids. Lakia’s arms are wrapped around Ryder’s body; she so easily forgot that he left her.
Some kids have dropped to the ground, trembling and sobbing in fear.
“Get up,” I yell to them.
They shake their heads.
I take hold of one boy’s black sweater sleeves, and pull him up of the floor. “We’re not leaving you,” I say, pulling him toward the door. The kid shuffles forwards.
Aaron does the same, grabbing the kids and forcing them out.
Ryder and Lakia don’t help, instead they head for the door toward the safety of the hallway.
“Time to go,” I say to Aaron.
He nods in agreement. We saved them—now we need to save ourselves.
We follow the others down another white hallway. I’m sick of these hallways with the bloody footprints, knowing that when we get to the end, there is going to be another fear room.
Kids start to run through another door, into a room. This time they look as if they are running through the room and down another hallway.
A few heads glance sideways, others stop for a second as they look in the same direction, then carry on running.
