The Valuable

Chapter 3

"Good morning Joel Barnes. The Leader will see you now. Please proceed to the room immediately.", a prerecorded voice blares in my ear piece the morning after my fight with Anastasia.
I freeze. It's only the second day of the year, and it's my turn in the room; my turn to die. For the 17 -- almost 18 -- years of my life, I expected this. I knew it was coming and I wasn't afraid. But the day it arrives, today, I can barely breath.

The prerecorded voice repeats itself a few times before I can convince myself to climb down from the hospital roof. As I walk towards the room, my mind races. I can almost hear what everyone is going to say after they figure out about my turn in the room. But I know that Anastasia's reaction will be the worst. Anastasia. Suddenly, the thought of our fight yesterday engulfs me and I feel as though I've ruined everything. I have to see her, I have to.
As I turn in the direction of our favourite meeting place, a voice in my ear piece stops me.
"Do not go any further, Joel. You are needed in the room immediately.", the voice says in it's metallic tone. I slam my hand into the side of a wooden building in anger.
"I love you, Anastasia.", I whisper, knowing that she can't hear me. I continue my walk to the room and climb the cold metal steps when I reach the building. Taking one last look at the world around me, I realize that the only thing I am going to miss about living is Anastasia. With that, I open the heavy steel door.

I am greeted by an empty room with a small, metal table in the middle. I look up and notice speakers in each corner of the ceiling.
"Okay, I'm here.", I say expectantly. "Just kill me already."
I wait ten minutes with no reply, before I decide to leave. I grasp the metal door handle and pull, but it won't budge.
"Great.", I whisper.
Twenty more minutes pass, and I finally decide to sit down on the table. A light immediately shines down on the table and a voice blares through the speakers.
"Lie down, Joel.", it says.
"Who are you?", I yell in frustration.
"I am your Leader, Joel.", it replies.
"Show your face!", I yell. "Coward!"
Ever since I was a little boy, I've wanted to see The Leader's face. I guess it's because of my curious intuition, but it's kind of the country's right to see the mass murderer who calls himself our "leader". It isn't until I lie down on the table that I notice six closed compartments in the roof just above the table. I figure that they are probably the death machines.
"Let's start with a few simple questions.", The Leader's voice says.
"What is your full name, age, and date of birth?"
"My name is Joel Barnes, I'm 17, and I was born on March 27, 1998.", I reply.
"Good, good. Now, are you aware of what I have been searching for and my aim in all of these tests?", The Leader questions.
"You're searching for a chip that was implanted in The Valuable's brain by your ancestor right before he passed away. The chip has been passed down from generation to generation. Each Leader has a different way of finding it in this room, and yours is by killing anyone who doesn't have it.", I growl.
"Do you know what is in this chip?", The Leader asks.
"No, nobody does. Not even you. That's why you'd do anything to get your hands on it.", I huff.
"Very good. You have passed the first part of the test. But don't get to excited, most people do.", The Leader says. Suddenly a one of the compartments in the roof opens, and a tool with a tiny camera comes out.
"Now I am going to exam your brain to see if the chip is inside. This might hurt a little.", The Leader chuckles. The camera moves around my head until it stops at my forehead. Another ceiling compartment opens and a large saw-like tool extends towards me. It immediately gashes into my head causing blood to dribble down my face. I grip the side of the table until my knuckles turn white as the saw continues to pry my skin apart. After a few agonizing minutes, the saw backs away and the small camera launches itself into my open wound. Though the camera is only the size of a marble, I can still feel it moving around in my head and the pain in unbearable. In seconds, I black out.