Heart of fire: Hoax

Chapter 5: The dummy

I trained for two years. Those nights continued to haunt me. I can't put the amount of pain I felt into words. More fighting. More wounds and bruises. More dreams of Mum. More training. This was all too much. From our first year of staying at the lab, Sir would bring us to a room which seemed to belong to a serial killer. Red stains were all over the walls, a dim LED light that hung for dear life by just a wire and the room was separated by a wall up to my heels. "This is one of the most important pieces of training you will do. I want each of you to use the weapon of your choice and not your powers, understand?"

"Yes sir." We all chanted. There was a table with a variety of weapons. I picked a pistol, Eight picked a dagger, Nine chose a plastic gun that shot toxic darts and Ten chose a Sniper rifle. "Well, we better be doing it. I'll choose... Seven! Why not be the first to volunteer?" I nodded my head and approached the platform slowly. "Seven, any guesses what you'll be doing?"

I looked in front of me. "Target practice?"

"Well, something like that." He pressed a button and my heart stopped beating. A teenager, about the age of eighteen, was tied to a dummy behind him, with sticks attached to his legs and arms to avoid him moving. A towel was stuck inside his mouth but I could hear faint screams for help. His eyes were red from crying, red marks were all over his body.  There were tear stains on his cheeks. He wore nothing but a white shirt and white shorts. He has long, nutty hair that was messy, and his skin was dangerously pale.  "Now, remember target practice? Imagine him as the target."

"I need to kill him?"

"Yes."

"But sir-"

"Not another word. Kill him." I was hesitant. No. No no no. I can't. The orphanage was the last time I did it. I can't do it again. I can't. He hadn't pressed that magic button which turned us to robots. I had my feelings, right then and there. "What are you waiting for Seven?"

My breathing grew faster. "N-nothing Sir."

"Then kill him." I could tell he was pissed. His tone sounded like an angry teacher annoyed that a student isn't listening. The girl was attached to some mechanism that moved her left to right. DON'T PULL IT. My breathing became shallow, my heart was bursting out of my chest. I couldn't kill someone in cold blood, not even a teenager. I've done it. And I don't want to go back there. I'm not a killer. I'm not a killer. I'm not a killer. I'm not a killer. I'm not a- I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, then pulled the trigger. Blood. A loud sound came from it. I slowly opened my eyes. The bullet went through his heart. Blooded escaped quickly, staining the white shirt. His face was still. "AMAZING! First attempt! Even with your eyes closed! Amazing, just amazing!" The girl was just a metre from me and when I shot him, blood splattered all over my face. "Well, Eight, it's your turn." She looked at me. The fear in her eyes made me tear up. I wanted to hug her. She wanted to hug me. But we both knew we couldn't do shit. I was scratching my arms to calm down. She was shaking after throwing the knife right through the man's skull. Nine got a middle-aged woman and Ten got a teenager, a bit younger than my target and each of them killed them. I could tell Ten didn't care, but Eight and Nine, they were both hesitant in killing their targets, but not as much as me. "AMAZING! Everyone did brilliantly! Brilliant!" Sir exclaimed happily. He looked at me and brought me to a corner where no one could hear him or me. He whispered next to my ear, "Seven," He kneeled near me. "No need to be scared. You're superior to them. Greater, better, stronger and more important. They had no life. I let them escape it. Don't be emotionally attached to them. Anyone against you, eliminate them."

"Yes sir." I was still shaking a little, trying to clean my shirt from the blood.

"Remember Sage; you're perfect." Even with him being a complete psychopath, I did smile, for real, when he said that. I'm perfect? "There's nothing I would change about you ok?" I suddenly felt so warm. He patted my shoulder and stood up. I went back to the others.