Licensed Apocalypse

*seventeen* With All My Heart

They stood with some other kids their age outside a door. The test was about to begin. They were really nervous. Names were called in pairs. People filled in but never came out. Lucis and Eric both had the same thought. Did anyone fail? Finally two names were called.

"Eric and Oliver!"

Lucis and Eric walked in with weapons in hand. The door slid closed behind them, sealing them in. The room had blocks of metal sitting and random places and there was a big red button that had two hand prints on it at the end of the room.

"So," Eric said to Lucis. "Just get to the other side of the room?"

"It can't be that easy." Lucis said. And he was right. As soon as he finished speaking, robots jumped out of the walls with fake stun guns (basically guns from star wars but that don't kill). So that's what the metal blocks are for. Lucis thought as he and Lucis jumped behind a metal block simultaneously. The robots advanced quickly, shots never wavering. Following after them were robots with metal poles. "You take the ones with the guns." Lucis ordered his friend. "And cover me." Before Eric had time to respond Lucis was out from behind the metal block. Eric had no choice but to start firing at the gun robots. A couple fell and Lucis was able to escape their shots. When he reached the robots with the metal poles they jumped into action. Good thing Lucis knew how to use a sword.

Eric shot a couple more down as Lucis just barely dodged a blow to the head. Eric ran to another block as part of his old block was blown off near his head. He slid out of the way just in time as a gunshot hit right where his head had been. He took a quick glance over at his friend. Lucis was doing alright. Two robots already lay at his feet. Eric was brought back to his reality as a gunshot just missed his turned head. He swiveled around and began firing. He remembered Lucis' training on multiple targets. But this time, they were moving. And getting closer. Eric backed up as he fired, just hitting one in the shoulder, making it fall to the ground. Lucis now had four robots at his feat. Three left. Eric thought, turning back to his robots. Only three left.

Lucis cut down his last robot and looked over at Eric to see he was still fighting. Two left. Lucis gripped his sword and ran at the closest one. It didn't see it coming. Lucis' sword cut through it like butter and it fell to the ground in two pieces. Eric hit the last one.

"Let's go." Lucis said. "There are two handprints on the button, we can press it at the same time.

"Okay." Eric said, standing up. "Let's do this." They ran to the button.

"1...2...3!"

They both slammed the button. Lights flashed green and a door slid open.

"Congratulations boys." A smiling male officer said. He stepped to the side and gestured for them to exit. "You passed!" Lucis and Eric looked at each other with triumphant faces as they walked out of the room. They'd done it. They'd passed. Unlike Oliver.

There was a ceremony.

"All of you passed the test with flying colors!" An important looking officer said to the group of cadets. "That means, you all get immediately promoted to officer!" There was a load of cheering. Officer? Lucis thought. All ready? That was fast. Even though this was the organization trying to hunt him and Eric down, he was happy. He was now an officer. After two days of being here.

Congratulations new officers! Read the banner in the room. Officers were everywhere.

"And soon," An officer was telling a group of new officers. "You might even get a cadet assigned to you." There was no mention of what happened when Oliver and Jack failed. What had happened to Jack? Had he died? Lucis brushed the thought out of his mind. Why would he have died? There's no one to tell that this place exists. Oliver. A while into the party Lucis and Eric were pulled aside by two familiar officers.

"Since you two were the highest ranking test passers," The younger officer said. "We have something to show you." The two officers led the two friends out of the room and down a long hallway.

"We found the other survivor." The older officer said. "Even if you two weren't the highest scorers, you helped the other two. But, they escaped. The ones we found weren't the right ones." They stopped at a door.

"We sent a robot version of the captured survivor to get the others but it failed. It's still out there looking." The younger officer opened the door. The room behind it was empty. Except for something in the corner. Except for someone.

"Cadet!" The older officer barked. The cadet's head shot up. There was something covering its mouth but that didn't stop Lucis and Eric to recognize who it was. Oliver looked back at them with dead eyes and a bleeding gash in Oliver's head. There was recognition hidden in them but it was small. Oliver was too delirious to put names to the two familiar faces Oliver saw. So this is what happened to Oliver after they kicked Oliver to the zombies weaponless. They thought he wanted revenge. But Oliver didn't even remember who they were. "Get up." The older officer hissed. Oliver stood up. There were heavy metal chains baring his ankles and wrists to the floor. Oliver couldn't go anywhere.

"This cadet failed the test but escaped." The younger officer said 'cadet' with such venom Lucis and Eric winced. "We got the cadet a while ago. We got all the information we needed about the other survivors from him." He turned to the two boys next to him. "Coincidentally one of them was named Eric."

"It's just a coincidence." Lucis defended. "There's a decent amount of people named Eric."

"True." The younger officer said, turning back to Oliver. The older officer walked towards Oliver with anger and hate in his eyes. He grabbed Oliver's hair and pulled Oliver's head back forcefully. No sound came from Oliver. No struggle. Lucis met Eric's eyes. We have to get him out of here. They said. I know. Lucis nodded and looked away, the worst guilt he had ever felt filling his body. I did this to Oliver. He thought. Oliver trusted me and I did this to Oliver. I made Oliver like this. It's all my fault. The older officer stepped away from Oliver who's head rolled back. Lucis and Eric couldn't look away from their old friend. Oliver looked dead in body and soul. Oliver's skin had lost its shine and Oliver's hair had darkened. There was dried blood attached to parts of Oliver's face and exposed arms. What did they do to Oliver? Lucis thought.

"We've decided to assign two new officers to Oliver's cell." The older officer said when he walked out of the cell. "We'll tell them about who's inside. We have security cameras everywhere and we'll make them wear face masks to differentiate them from the other officers." Why's he telling us this? Eric wondered. We just became officers! After two days! Well, he doesn't know the two day part. The door closed in on the ghostly Oliver. At least it permitted Lucis and Eric to look away. "Good luck being an officer." The two officers walked away, leaving Lucis and Eric in stunned silence. They looked at each other than at Oliver's cell.

"What's going on?" Eric asked in a shaky voice.

"We were wrong about Oliver." Lucis said. "We were so wrong."