Subject 9012

Chapter One, Part Two

Chapter 1, Part 2

She stopped short in front of the door, breathing heavily, her eyes on the knob. Slowly, she extended her hand, resting it on the spherical object, the cold metal beginning to chill her fingers. She let out an exhale of breath before gently turning the handle, slowly stepping into the dark room.

Lights flashed on almost immediately, illuminating the white hallway. Along the shelves were lots of boxes; or rather, indent-like cubbies, that held many materials such as food, clothing, and even bags and containers full of water. I saw a lot of medicinal supplies as well, plus a few other odds and ends. The crackling sound emitted from the speaker once again, causing me to anticipate the same male voice. Before he could begin speaking, however, something began to glow faintly, catching my eye. Startled, I glanced at the golden light emitting from the paper I was still holding as the words wrote themselves onto the page.

“You have officially entered the Supply Room,” the monotone boomed. “Read these words as I read them allowed.”

“You are permitted to take supplies with you on your trip worth a value of points. On each box, you will see a number.”

Looking around, I saw he was right. Each box DID have a number; the apples had a two on them, the jeans a three, and the containers of water a five. I saw one box of medical kits with a number of 75.

“You will be permitted to take up to 100 point’s worth of materials into the Test Zone. If you go over the limit, then you will not be permitted to enter the test zone. Choose wisely; your choices could either severely help you or eventually lead to your death.”

Wait, my death? What…

“There are also clocks in every area of the Pre-Test Zone,” it continued, pausing to allow me to locate a clock on the far wall. It read 28:43, slowly but surely counting down to zero. “When the clocks reach zero, everything will go into lockdown. If you are not in the designated area by then, you will not be permitted to enter the Test Zone.”

That last sentence made my blood run cold. What would happen then? Would I be left to rot in these catacombs? But then again, if I had access to the supply room…wait, I wouldn’t have access to it. Everything would go into lockdown.

“You will find bags in various spots in the Supply Room,” the voice continued. “You can put all of your supplies you may want to take with you here.

“Each bag has a number. You are provided with up to twenty bags to store potential supplies in. The amount of point’s worth in each bag is displayed next to the Countdown Clock on the left-hand side.”

Looking up, I could see the table on the left of the clock (which displayed 27:32, by the way) that was divided up into two columns. On the left side, there was the numbers one through twenty. On the right-hand side, all the numbers read zero.

“When you are satisfied with the contents in your bag and decide on officially using those supplies for your Test, you can put the bag on the elevated platform at the end of this hallway. A chute will quickly open, and the contents of the bag will be counted and transported to the entrance door to the Test Zone. It will be organized into bags that you can easily carry around.”

My gaze was fixed at the end of the hallway, at the metal square. Everything depended on what I put in there…

“You can also put individual or multiple items on the chute that are not in the bag. These will be added to your total as well.

“Your total official amount of points, or value of the items you have put in the shoot, is displayed to the right of the countdown clock. The number of items, type of items and the value of the individual items is also displayed below, in this format: Number of items – type of item – value of one of the type of item – total value of the type of item(s). Start collecting your items now. When you are finished, please exit the Supply Room. Further instructions will be given then.”