by Logan Byrne
“If you’d like, you can go over to your partner there and watch him do his duel. You can’t help or anything, but you could be his cheerleader,” Borgis said.
A cheerleader. That was what I was essentially being demoted to. But even though I wanted to duel, I’d support Liam, because I knew he’d support me if he had the chance to.
I left Borgis, walking over towards Liam, who was in the top right corner of the room. He was paired with an older man from Denver who was holding a staff in his hands. Liam had a sword, though it wasn’t a katana like I had taken. He held it down, the tip touching the mat, as he squared up his opponent, not even noticing me standing close by.
“You may begin!” Borgis yelled out a minute later.
Liam went rushing towards his opponent, the man raising his staff as he closed his eyes, wincing, like he was bracing for some kind of painful impact. Liam’s sword pummeled against the middle of the staff, each of its ends wobbling from the impact, vibrations running through the entirety of its length. Liam grimaced, grinding his teeth, as I saw him putting more and more pressure down, the older man’s hands and staff lowering, though not without a fight.
“You know you can’t win,” Liam said.
“Maybe, maybe not. I know I’m not going to just give up, though!” the older man yelled.
I crossed my arms, watching closely as the older man valiantly pushed Liam back, him stumbling a little, before he flung his staff towards Liam from the side, Liam’s sword blocking it, his strength and speed far too much for the older man. I knew Liam was going to win, both because he mentally needed to, and because his opponent was no match for him whatsoever. It almost wasn’t fair that his opponent had to take him on.
Liam and the older man swapped strikes, Liam not letting up, his opponent starting to slow down a little as time progressed. Liam kept going, though, and I couldn’t tell if it was part of the action, or if he was toying with the man, cutting down his pride and spirit as the match began to dwindle down.
Another three minutes passed by, the older man now sweating profusely and huffing like his lungs were on fire, before Liam went down, sweeping the man’s feet, making him stumble back before falling down, his eyes closed and his grimacing face showing loads about his state of mind before he bounced on the ground.
Liam swiftly attacked, the tip of his sword going on top of his opponent’s heart, the match over, another card added to our collection. Liam, after winning, reached down, grabbing the man’s hand and helping him up, before patting him on the back, showing sportsmanship and actual respect, which I wasn’t sure I would see after the way he’d pummeled the man.
“I hope I didn’t hurt you,” Liam said.
“I’ll be okay. I’ll feel it in the morning, but I’ll be okay. Thanks for letting me at least think I had a chance,” the man said, smiling a little.
“You’ve got a lot of fire in those eyes. Don’t count yourself out just yet,” Liam said, smiling back, before going and taking both his sword and the man’s staff to the weapons rack.
I walked over towards him, his hands on his hips, as a few beads of sweat fell down his chin before dropping onto the floor below. He looked tired, but he had a smile on his face, which was a welcome sign after the sadness he displayed after losing the rifle duel.
“Feeling good?” I asked.
“Feeling great,” he replied.
“We each have four cards, training is coming to an end, and I think we’re going to be pretty well off in there,” I said.
“Yeah, but we still have one more phase, and we have no clue what it is. Don’t get too excited just yet,” Liam said.
“I was happy to see all of you compete today. Dueling can be a challenging phase for most competitors, but I’m happy to say that most of you did a very great job. It will be interesting to see if any of you decide to use your skills in the competition or not,” Borgis said.
“Did anyone get all three duels? What’s the prize?” Jason yelled.
“Your prize? Well, it’s an amazing prize. Everyone who won their three duels today definitely earned it,” Borgis said, smiling.
We all looked on, some of us smiling, some not showing too much emotion, but all of us were a little curious about what it was, especially if we hadn’t, or weren’t able, to win it. I’d be a little jealous of whoever won, especially if the prize was another phone call or a family visit before the competition, but I guessed at the end of the day it would only make me want to work a little harder while I was inside the grid.
“What is it?” Jason asked, his hands together, a smile on his face.
“Your prize is just that…winning all three duels and having the satisfaction of knowing you did an amazing job!” Borgis bellowed out with a hearty exuberance.
“What! That’s crap! You said we’d win a prize!” Jason yelled, his smile now quickly turned snide and angry.
“I said you might win a prize. Besides, I didn’t say what exactly it would be. Anyway, Christian is coming now to take you all to a late lunch. I hope you have a good time!” Borgis said, before hobbling away, his trusty staff clinking against the floor as he left.
“I can’t believe this! I hate this place,” Jason said, his arms crossed.
I looked on, smiling, just like the way he was before the prize was announced. It turned out I wasn’t too jealous of losing out after all. If there was one thing that being in this competition had taught me so far, it was that things aren’t always guaranteed in life, especially not in a place like this. Life and emotions can change in an instant, and if you don’t listen carefully and take caution, you might just find yourself on the business end of some disappointment.
Christian soon came, gathering us up, Jason pouting the entire way towards lunch. As I walked, Liam looked over at me, smiling, both of us as happy as could be, which was saying something considering where we were. These might not be the best or happiest circumstances, but we were making the best out of what we had here.
I rubbed my hands as we walked up to the long table filled with all sorts of exotic treats, my mouth watering as I smelled the crispy skin that coated a whole turkey they’d cooked for us. This might not be paradise and the circumstances might be somewhat grim, but as I looked at Liam and thought about my chances, I knew things could be much worse.
Chapter Thirteen
A few days had passed since we had our duels, each and every minute inside this building going slower and slower when we weren’t doing something exciting or competing for cards. I was almost forgetting what the world beyond these walls looked like, only to be reminded when a picture or video came up on the screens in my bedroom or the lobby, like they were there to taunt me, dangling the carrot of freedom in front of my face.
The thing I missed the most was fresh air, or what I would call fresh air, considering the air quality in the city was horrendous and normally too toxic to miss. Still, though, it was better than the recycled, stale air that was pumped through this cold, sterile building. It never filled my lungs with the same vibrancy as the cool air outside.
The only thing keeping me, most of us, going, was the fact that today was the day of our final phase test. None of us had any clue what it was or how to prepare for it, but we all guessed it wouldn’t be easy. Most of us had four cards already, or at least our partners did. Sure, you could find more cards inside the grid, collecting them and using them to your advantage, but there was no guarantee of that happening. The cards we earned out here, though, were insurance policies that allowed us to at least feel like we had some kind of control over the situation.
It was strange thinking that this was the last phase test, that tomorrow would be our final full day before going into the grid.
The trees greeted me as I woke up, the picture never changing, which was one thing that I could control. I got myself ready just like every other day here, the cocoon of luxury that I had been enveloped in all this time not affecting me anymore like it had my first night or two here. I was used
to it, which was a little dangerous, as I knew I would never get to experience luxury like this again. I didn’t want to compare the rest of my life to things like these sheets and towels, no matter how nice and comfortable they were.
I came out for breakfast a little earlier than I usually did, half of the food already gone from the tables as the rest of my competition ate like kings and queens, the sin of gluttony running ever rampant through this room. I grabbed a plate, stacking it to medium height, before sitting with Liam, his plate still fairly full, telling me that he hadn’t been here long.
“Last phase today, huh?” he asked.
“Yeah. I just wish we knew what it was. I’ve tried to figure it out, but I can’t think of what else they’d have us do,” I replied.
“It’s probably some survival thing. Maybe even a combination of strategy and survival. They’ve had us do too much with Borgis to give him another shot at us,” Liam said.
“Unless they’re trying to subconsciously get us to be assassins and gladiators,” I said, popping a chunk of watermelon into my mouth.
“Well, we’re all the sorriest bunch of assassins and gladiators known to man, then,” Liam said, smirking.
“Attention, all!” Christian said, as he walked into the room. “I know all of you are a bit nervous about today, your final phase, and some would argue the most important of them all. This last phase will determine if you will earn the final card, for some of you your first card, others your fifth. The only chance you have after today is to find cards inside the grid, so make sure you really try your hardest.”
Christian looked over his digiboard, humming to himself as usual, his head bobbing just a little as he flicked his finger up and down and side to side, his forearm holding it steady in front of him.
“You’ll all have fifteen more minutes of breakfast, as we aren’t running behind and don’t have as much to do today, so please, take your time. I’ll be back soon to get you,” Christian said.
“What’s the phase today? Can you tell us?” Greg asked.
“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Christian said, with an almost devilish smile.
•••
The bright lights of the retina-burning hallway blinded me as I squinted, my pupils focusing, before I could open them more, the light being heavily reflected off of the lacquered white walls. We were in a line, single-file, like usual, and I started to wonder which one of the massive training rooms they would take us to for the final phase.
I knew most of them by now, each one being used for a specific purpose, usually officiated by one of the three trainers. We had been on this level before, Quinn’s level, so I had a pretty good feeling we would be doing something with strategy, which was good since Liam and I seemed to excel in that area.
We walked past the main room we had used before with Quinn, Christian not even giving it a glance as he walked by. I furled my eyebrows, a confused look on my face, as I kept walking, being stuck smack dab in the middle of the line of competitors.
We walked for another thirty seconds, going into a hallway I had never set foot in, before Christian stopped in front of a silver metal sliding door, a keypad outside of it to keep unauthorized personnel out.
“This is where your final phase will be conducted. Good luck to all of you,” Christian said.
Good luck to all of us? Why was he being so mysterious? There wasn’t a pit of lava in there with some ropes to hang and swing from, was there? I wouldn’t put it past these people, not one bit.
Christian tapped a few numbers, unlocking the door, and it opened, a small breeze of air pushing a few wisps of my hair back, the bright white light inside almost bouncing off the walls and multiplying in brightness as the doors opened more.
The line started to move, all of us being herded inside like scared cattle about to be sent to slaughter, before I walked up, my eyes squinting. The room was fairly small to be anything like the ones we had used before.
It was a classroom, with long rows of desks, one for each of us, lining the room in an exact, orderly fashion, not even a single one out of place. This was our final phase and test…an actual test? It made no sense, it had nothing to really do with the competition itself, and would be in no way helpful to us when we actually entered the grid. The dueling phase was more helpful, and most of the other competitors and myself had no plans to actually fight anyone in the grid.
“Please, take a seat, everyone,” Quinn said from the front of the room, her extended hand scanning the small room from side to side.
We started to sit, Liam behind me, the feeling of the cold, hard seat under me making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge, just like they did every single morning back when I was still in school. I felt my toes curl, my legs crossing, my arms doing the same, as I looked around the room, seeing the looks on other people’s faces ranging from scared, to excited, to annoyed. What could they possibly have us doing here today?
“I know some of you might be a little confused, since this setting is vastly different than anything you’ve done thus far in training. There are no weapons, no simulated ecosystems, and no real strategy games to speak of. You’re sitting at desks, and I know you’re all dying to know why. Your final phase test will be just that, a test. You will be administered an exam, covering everything we’ve done, as well as everything we’ve told you. Some of you will excel, remembering and retaining all of the information that we’ve fed you, while others, the less enthusiastic ones, will suffer miserably if they didn’t give the things we said a second thought. There are no tricks here; it’s only a simple test to let us know which competitors will rise to the challenge when they get inside the grid. Now, at this time I’d like my assistants to pass out the tests to each competitor. I will then go over the rules for today,” Quinn said.
Three assistants, dressed in white, their suits with five buttons on the left sides of their torsos, walked up and down the rows of gray desks, setting down a digiboard for each of us to use. When mine was set in front of me, I could see the image on it was of our nation, the words “Aptitude Test” scrawled along the top. To say I was nervous was an understatement.
I had never used a digiboard before, and it looked quite daunting, though I wasn’t worrying about that, instead trying to keep my head in the game. I had paid attention throughout training, making sure to listen to each and every word that was said, no matter if Christian, Borgis, Quinn, or Petram was the speaker. I hadn’t zoned out, drifted off, or fallen asleep during any of their speeches or instructions, and I had earned every single card so far. I was, for lack of a better term, a perfect competitor and student. I had to do well on this today. It was the only option.
“You will have one hour to complete your exam. Once you are done, please quietly exit the room so that the other competitors still taking their exams can do so without any interruption or distractions. The timer will start once you tap the start button about to appear on your screens. Good luck,” Quinn said, before sitting down at a large desk in the front of the room.
I looked down, seeing a start button already on my screen, though I was sure it wasn’t there before. I took a deep breath, casually looking around the room, seeing a few others doing the same thing, while the rest of the group had already started their exams. I looked back at my screen, pulling the digiboard a little closer to me. My right index finger hovered over the brightly lit screen, almost trembling a little as it floated there. Without realizing it, I tapped the button, and the first question showed up in front of me.
It said there were sixty questions in all, one per minute, and the first one was easy, so I was able to quickly hit the right answer.
“What is the name of the device you will use to modify your cards?”
I clicked skimmer. It didn’t tell me if I was correct or not, though I definitely knew the answer to the question. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
The next question was a little different, harder, but still manageable.
&nb
sp; “What is the best way to sterilize water inside the grid?”
I hesitated, two of the four answers both being possible. One was with the sterilization drops, the other talking about making a fire and boiling the water before letting it cool down. I clicked the sterilization drops, as they were the quickest and didn’t require any sort of fire, which could be harder to come by inside the grid. The next question came, leaving me to wonder if I had gotten the question right or not. I hated that part, wishing that they could just tell me yes or no, even if it flashed on the screen for half a second, so that I could get some kind of idea how well or badly I was doing right now.
I kept pressing on, a little timer in the upper right hand corner of the digiboard letting me know how much time I had as I counted the number of questions I still had left to go, doing the math in my head to see how many minutes I could spend per question. They got harder as I went along, the easy one asking about skimmers long gone as we got into specifics, with questions about the hackers, scenario questions, and even questions about how the cards worked with the skimmers. It was stuff we had gone over before, but some of it was a little hazy, and that didn’t make me feel good at all.
I put my left hand up to my forehead, using it to prop myself up, as I caught myself mouthing the questions, not saying them out loud, but moving my lips like I was. Why was this so hard? The other phases were difficult, but this was borderline cruel. This wasn’t just some simple exam to see if we were paying attention, this was a torture test designed to make it almost impossible for anyone to actually get five cards for the competition. It made sense that they would do this to us. The ratings would be much better if we were all hungry, scared, and vying to win this. We were just pawns, and I knew they were playing us to win.
Twenty minutes roared past and a few people got up, leaving their digiboards at their desks before they quietly exited the room. I was only on the thirty-fifth question, wondering how they got done so fast. They must’ve gotten a bunch wrong. They probably didn’t know the answers and just hit the first answer they saw on their screen to get this over with as quickly as possible. Yeah, that was it…I was sure of it.
