The World As We Know It

The Chosen Ones

I've been sitting in this all white room for 2 hours. I've only been visited once to confirm my information. Yes, my name is Kyra. Yes, I'm 17.  Yes, I'm a black belt in Taekwondo. Yes, I'm the strongest teen girl in Indiana. No, I do not want to be here. I remember the looks on my classmates and friends faces when the news had announced that I had been selected to compete in the country championship for teens. I didn't even try out. But ever since I could walk, my parent put me in Taekwondo to learn self defense. In a world like today, they perceived it to be a necessity. At the age of 13 I became a black belt and have won multiple national championships since then. I also am now a co-sensei to my sensei. I guess I had drawn too much attention to myself that they wanted me to compete in these stupid national games. I guess people got bored of the world cup that they wanted to see teens compete against each other in a various amount of field games to see what talents we each had. When the government issued the statement, everyone started studying and training their asses off to be selected. Me? I could not have cared less. The doors to my room had opened and a man wearing a white lab coat walked in. 

"Pardon the wait miss. Zen will see you all now." he says with a corner smile. He motions his arm to usher me out of the door and I follow. 

When I step out into the hall I see multiple kids walking out from their rooms as well. We all exchange small glances as we follow the men in white through what seems like a maze of nothing. It was all white. So white it hurt my eyes. After what feels like an hour we finally make it to a big arena outside. The sun is hot and beaming down on us, even though it is already 6 o'clock and October. The field seems to be about 3 foot ball fields length and width. There were bleachers surrounding the entire circumference of it. Guards were lining us all up by states alphabetical order. 

"What is this? The Coliseum?" some boy asks. A few guys near him laugh. 

I look over at him and he and the boys laughing with him seem to all be in pretty good shape. One is huge, like a body builder. Definitely a body builder. I shiver. I don't know what kind of games we're competing in, but I hope I won't have to go against him in anyway. 

"Indiana!" I hear. I turn and walk to where the guy with the microphone is standing and the guards grab my arms to set me in place. A girl with light blonde hair put up in a bun arrives over as well. She's placed on the right side of me. 

"Hi!" she says putting her hand out. "I'm Birdie Elanore." 

I almost roll my eyes. I don't hate smart people, but I envy them. So I can't help but to feel slightly annoyed in her presence. 

I shake her hand anyway. "Kyra Becon." I say back. 

She pushes up her glasses with two fingers before pulling a book out of her back pocket that's titled: "You're smarter than them." 

This time I actually roll my eyes. 

"Are they all your stereotypical nerds?" I thought to myself. 

A boy from the Idaho line looks over at her and chuckles. 

"Hey geek." he says and Birdie looks over at him. "Have you studied aerodynamics?" 

 Birdie shakes her head. She looks almost uncomfortable. 

"You may want to look into that, you'll need to know how many feet per second my football will travel to your face." he says with a grin. 

I can't help but to laugh a little. 

"Of course. A football player." Birdie starts. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind as well with your football." she strikes back. 

The boy snickers and turns away. 

They finish Wyoming and the man with the microphone goes a few feet in front of where we're all lined up at and stands on a podium. I take notice of his features, he looks old. In his 60's maybe. His hair has all already turned white and his eye bags have bags. He sets the mic on a stand and taps it before smiling. 

"Good evening my ladies and gents! You all seem to be very tired from your travels today so I won't keep you long and after this you will have dinner and some recreational time. But first I want to introduce myself and explain some things. My name is Zen, that's all you really need to know, I run these field games and you will do as I say. Cameras will arrive a week from today, when our first competition will happen. It will be broadcasted to the entire country, so look your best." he winks. "Tomorrow your training will begin and you will know what the first game will be so you can plan accordingly based on your skills. Some competitions will be difficult to the smarter ones among us, and other competitions will be more difficult to my athletes. But I guarantee that you all have a skill in which you will be able to defeat others regardless of your talents. 

"Not for all of us." Idaho boy says turning to Birdie.

Birdie shakes her head but keeps her eyes forward. 

"There are a few basic rules, lights out is at 10:30 pm, breakfast call is at 8 am. Attendance and room checks will be taken. And punishments will be put to place if those rules are broken. But there is a rule that you must follow with the worst punishment of all. His tone in voice changes from joyful to stern so quick it was unsettling. "Never leave the compounds of this facility, ever." 

Everyone including him is silent. No one dared to even look around to look at each others reactions. We all felt the eeriness in his statement. 

"Okay kiddos! You're dismissed off to dinner. Follow the guards back into the building and they'll show you the way to the cafeteria." 

We all started to disperse. I felt weird. Something about Zen isn't right. It could just be me though. I look back and he's still standing on the podium overlooking at us all. At one moment I feel like he made eye contact with me. I quickly turn around and catch up to the group. 

"I'm delusional." I think to myself.