The N.D.P

Chp.7: The Test

Max woke up in a white room with no one in it. He was on a hospital bed. And that was about it to the room. It was disorienting. Everything was white. The walls were white with absolutely no other color. His bed had no detail to it, it was just white. The ceiling was smooth, and also white. And the light which brightened the room very well was whitened. There was no door, no exit. Max felt his legs. They were normal! He lifted the blanket and looked at them. They looked like the same legs he always had. Max thought it was a dream so he pinched his arm but he didn't wake up. Max got out of the bed and walked fine with no difficulty. He thought it might be a test of some sort that he had to endure or figure out to move on. So he looked around for a secret door or hatch. But to no avail.
He sat in his bed for a minute, examining the room. It was exactly the same, just the bed was a little messy. No secret door, no secret hatch, no anything. It was like a void of pure white that after a while grew to become a lot brighter than before. The room was too bright; he could only squint. The lighting hadn't changed though, it was his head playing tricks on him. He kept touching the walls to see if there was a secret door again. But, there was not.
Max looked around the room and started laughing. It wasn't a happy laugh, but a crazy one. Every laugh, getting stronger. Max got up and punched the wall. Then again and again. The endless white was driving him crazy. By now Max was 18 hours in. He laid in bed kicking and laughing for no reason. Suddenly, he screamed bloody murder and hurt his own ears. He looked around for a second. And then laid back in bed. He realized how stupid he was being.
There clearly wasn't a way out. And they would come back and get him soon. He calmed himself down and managed to fall asleep. Max got about seven hours of sleep, which wasn't bad at all. But that was the least of his problems. He woke up to the same white brain crushing room. But it wasn't the room that woke him up. It was the growling that did. It was a low deep growl that he heard in his sleep. Max shot up out of bed when he heard it the third time. He looked around, ready for something terrible to happen. But nothing did. Then he heard it again. But this time it was something different. It was his stomach! He grasped it, he hadn't realized how little he had eaten. He needed to be fed. He needed a way out to help his sanity.
"Hello, guys! I passed the test right?! You can let me out!" Max yelled annoyingly. Then he waited for a while, but nothing happened. He yelled again.
"Hellooooooo! I'm still heeeeeere! Have you forgotten about me!" Max waited again for a response or SOMETHING that would make him believe he was still being kept an eye on. Max started laughing again, this wasn't only a crazy laugh though, it was also a hysterical laugh.
"I could've just died in the lava hahahahaha. BUT I CHOSE TO DIE OF HUNGER INSTEAD!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! How foolish was I?! HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!" Max cackled. Then he laughed some more and more. He laughed for hours. Until he finally bellowed.
"I. NEED. FOOOOOOOOOOD! GIVE IT TO ME NOW OR I SWEAR! I WILL END YOU! I WILL!" Max looked at the room thinking, knowing someone was listening. Then finally, he heard a click and then a gear noise. And then a trap door in the middle of the wall flapped open. But that wasn't even the best part, inside the tiny trap door. Was food! Max grabbed the plate of food, not even praising that he knew now that people were there watching him. On the plate was a medium well cooked burger with fries and ice cream. Easily the best meal Max has had in the N.D.P. He ate like a monster, a bear who had found honey and was eating at it. Max didn't know how long it had been since he had ice cream, but it felt like ages to him. Then he felt a little click in his brain bringing it back to think mode. Once he finished the beautiful meal, he observed the trap door and saw that it was just a metal box and nothing else. Max punched the back of the box to see if it would come luse, but it didn't. Max thought he might have to sit in this white room forever. But just when he thought all hope was lost, the wall in front of his bed started moving into the left wall opening up to see a tall beefy man with a huge underbite and a weirdly shaved beard standing there. Max scowled at him. He obviously knew it was Java.
"Well done son. You've passed the test. You even scared some of the crew members out of their seats. Come with me, I think you'll find it worthwhile," Java growled. Max was even happy to see Javas face, even though it wasn't a nice sight. Max rolled his eyes and went with him.
"Put on this blindfold. I can't let you see what's in here!" Java commanded. Max snatched the blindfold out of his hands and put it on. "If you peek I will order you killed!" Max took a step back but before he could go any further, Java grabbed his arm with such force, it hurt. "Come now." Then they left the white room. Java pulled his arm the entire way saying nothing to him. Max tried to listen for something but he couldn't hear anything but the sound of footsteps and grunting.
"I thought you were my best contestant, but I guess I was wrong," Java finally spoke. Max changed his look.
"What do you mean?" Max asked awkwardly. Java looked at him for a couple of seconds and then back on the road ahead.
"You were one of the last to escape what we call the white room. And I thought you would be the first," Java admitted, Max frowned, was it just a game to Java! He thought. After a little while Java stopped holding Max with his sweaty palms and let go.
"Take off the blindfold," Java said. Max did as he commanded and took it off. When he did he saw where he was. It was the dorm! Again! There were hundreds of teens still alive as well.
"Take a break young man, you deserve it," growled Java as he walked to the door.
"Java wait!" Max yelled and grabbed his arm. Java slapped his hand off his arm and raised his eyebrow. "Are Gus and Ego alive?" Java smiled and left. Max turned around and saw lots of boys talking while sitting in their beds. Max ran around looking for at least one of them. He traced everywhere the kids were talking but couldn't find them. So he asked around and he got the same answer every time. Until he talked to Cloco.
"Cloco! Please tell me you know if Ego or Gus are alive," Max begged Cloco. Cloco had a half smile.
"Amigo. Ego is in the bunk bed in the corner of the room." Cloco answered.
"And Gus?" Max questioned. Cloco looked at him sadly.
"He is still in the room blanca," Cloco said. Max remembered what blanca a was in Spanish and it meant white. So what Cloco said was, Gus was still in the white room. Max looked at Cloco for a couple of seconds and then left without a word. Max sprinted toward the corner of the room and spotted Ego sitting on the top bunk with his feet dangling over the edge. Max's heart leaped for joy as he ran straight toward him.
"Ego!" Max yelled in a joyous tone. Ego's eyes brightened as Max approached him.
"Max?" Ego asked as he looked around. When Max finally reached him he gave Ego a big hug.
"You're alive! I can't believe it!" Ego cried as he hugged back. "I saw you go up to the fifteenth floor and then the massive boulder. I thought you had died." Max laughed happily as he took a step backward. He saw a difference in Ego's looks. Instead of having crazy black hair that wasn't combed, he had neatly combed black hair that he parted off to one side. Also he could tell he had cut it into a fade.
"New cut?" Max questioned. Ego looked at him and cringed.
"I tried giving myself a trim a couple hours ago," he began. Ego looked at the ground. "And I accidentally. Because I was using a knife! Cut my hair too much. So I decided to do it all around. I think it looks terrible." Max observed the new haircut even more and thought the opposite. Even Max wished he had the skills to do that.
"I actually think it looks really good," Max complimented. Ego smiled at him and mouthed a thanks.
"On an even higher note, the beds are newer and nicer because less people are here now. Can't you tell?" Ego asked him. Max examined the beds. They lowered still bunk beds but there was a bar on the top bunk preventing you from falling off the edge in your sleep. It was made of wood instead of metal, and the mattresses looked brand new. And the last ones had stains all over them.
"Nice aren't they?" Ego asked again. Max was about to say "Yea I guess," but he was interrupted by a loud commotion coming from the middle of the room. Ego looked at Max quizzically and started walking toward it. It was yelling and laughing and screaming. Weird sounds to be happening at the same time and same place. When they reached the spot, they were met with a lot of teens forming a circle around the middle of the room.
"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" They chanted. Max and Ego weaved through the crowd and when they made it to the middle they saw a horrible sight.
Gus was inside fighting for his life against a teenager that Max knew very well. There in the ring punching, kicking and scratching the poor boy, was Caleb. Gus was screaming in pain as Caleb punched him in the gut. Max turned to the boy behind him.
"Why is Caleb attacking Gus?" Max asked. The teen leaned into his ear to whisper it.
"Gus was one of the people to try and kill him. If you find Max, don't tell Caleb. He'll kill him," the boy said sternly. Ego looked at Max like he knew too. He knew what happened and Ego knew what he was going to do. Max looked at Gus sadly as he was being dominated by Caleb. He had a feeling Caleb might kill him, but he couldn't see Gus like this. Max ran in at Caleb and punched him in the face full force. He fell to the ground hard with a large THUMP! The crowd gasped.
"Stay! Away! From Gus!" Max challenged. Gus took up the opportunity and crawled away. Caleb turned around to face Max. He laughed and pushed himself up.
"You shouldn't have done that mate. I thought you were dead. But now. I know you're not. I will not rest until you die," Caleb growled as he grabbed Max in the shoulder. He looked at him angrily and quenched his fists. Max saw him start to wind up for the punch so he ducked down and Caleb punched the air. Max made a run for it weaving through the crowd hiding himself within.
"Max! Face me like a man! Don't hide!" Caleb yelled. All the teens around Max helped hide him. He saw that Ego was conveniently one of them as well. "Max! Come out and we'll set terms! I will vow not to kill you while we do so!" Ego shook his head. But to Ego's surprise Max got up and exited the crowd into the middle of the room where he met Caleb.
"You vowed. You can't hurt me while we set terms," Max said confidently. Caleb scowled at him and his fists were quenched harder than ever. Max looked unfazed by the strong teenager before him. Then Caleb sighed and unquenched his fists.
"What are your terms?" Caleb asked angrily. Max looked at him sincerely.
"Caleb, I saved you, remember? Sure I was a coward, but you would've done the same thing! The only reason I locked you up there was because you attacked me with a syringe that you clearly used on Gus! I don't see why you would hate me at all," Max let out. All that he had said came from his heart. Caleb looked less mad than he was before and put his hand on Max's shoulder smiling.
"Max. You are 100 percent right that I started it. And you did save me," Caleb began looking lighter than ever. His dark eyes even shined a little. "There is really no motive for me trying to kill you or Gus. But, then again," Caleb started squeezing Max's shoulder really hard. "You did turn on all of us. You even turned on your little friend Gus when you didnt talk to us in the walkie. And, it is fun. You have no idea what I can do to you." At that Caleb punched him in the face so hard he was knocked out. The last thing he saw and heard was the crowd come in and seize Caleb.