Group Z

Chapter 1

It had been a long night of hunting and a whole day spent travelling back through the large forest encompassing the five Sectors, no chance for food or water and having to stay out of sight, not that there's even anyone to see me in the middle of the forbidden, dense woodland.

I'm somewhat glad to finally make it back to the Hub, a large grey building that looms menacingly 20 stories off the ground. It stretches below ground as well, the dark hole we inhabit, rarely having any cause to move beyond the training floor and facilities which make up the bottom levels. Inside a desolate courtyard of iron fences and concrete flooring where even weeds don't grow are large doors, three times my height promising some respite from the frigid temperatures.

My breath fogs as I remove my hood, slide my jacket off my shoulders that immediately become pimply in the brisk air and move my unruly black hair off the barcode tattooed on my shoulder in a Z shape and the microchip underneath. The hidden camera above the doors latches onto the chip and with a quiet beep opens the door a sliver. I slip inside and have to wait valuable seconds for my eyes to adjust as I close the door behind me, sealing out all but the barest glimmer of light.

I know without being able to see that the room is large and circular with a high dome ceiling. The walls are bare, red brick and the floor is concrete. The only thing breaking up the round monotony of the room are ledges. There are five of them in the room, set at even intervals, around 10 feet off the ground. They are large enough to sit in, but seem to serve no real purpose. Their presence is something of a common debate amongst us. There are no windows or lights in here, the gloom hones our eyesight, forcing us to be used to the dark we often hunt in. Anything that makes us better hunters.

As soon as the door closes behind me I hear a faint whooshing noise and instinctively, thanks to years of hard training flick my hand up to catch between two fingers the blade of the knife that had been hurled at my face with blinding speed. Having had the few seconds, I needed to allow my eyes to adjust to the darkness I see Z-2, always the first person I see on my return from a mission. An 18 year old girl like me, with deep red hair that seems to always have her head set in flame, green eyes and a wicked grin on her face, staring at me as she lounges on the ledge directly across from where I just entered the room, playing with another knife in her fingers.

'You missed.' I point out pulling my jacket back over my shoulders, it being too cold in here not to. Although slightly better than outside.

I flick the blade around my fingers before throwing it back at her, she catches it just as easily as I did, lifting it at me in a gesture of thanks before tucking it away beside the multitude of others she no doubt has on her body.

'I won't next time.' She promises hopping off the ledge and sauntering over to me with a swagger that betrays total confidence, where we grasp forearms.

'Need to keep those reflexes sharp, wouldn't want you to get lazy.' She jokes, knowing that we have no choice but to maintain our strict trainings. Well, unless we'd rather die that is.

'Never.' I respond with a smile at my sister in arms. 'Then you might beat me.'

'You know it. So, how was hunting?' She asks casually, looking down and picking at her nails with the knife she'd been fiddling with, as if she didn't wish she was out there instead of me.

'Same old.' I reply. 'It wasn't really a challenge.'

'What did this one do?' She asks.

'Well the Master obviously didn't tell me much, but I think he had kids with someone from another Sector, so he had to be put down.' I respond.

'How did he even get out to manage to do that?' She asks incredulously, shaking her head. 'I just wish I was allowed to go out more. You always get the fun, longer hunts.' She says as we move away from each other.