Equilibrium - #ProjectWomanUp

Three

The accommodation was not what I had in mind. It is one large room, lined with bunk beds. There are no windows, only artificial lights. It smells damp and dirty – I turn my nose up slightly, but don't complain.

"This will be your bed" Blake informs me, pointing at a bottom bunk bed. I nod as I look at it, not really sure what to say. "And that's mine" he adds, pointing to the one above. "If you ever get cold at night, I won't mind keeping you warm" he winks.

I laugh slightly, hoping he in joking. But the flirting makes me think of Daniel. One question circles my mind; am I still engaged to be married? Warriors do marry, their wives Civilians that look after the children. But I wasn't sure if I would be able to marry. Or children. What about children?

"So have you put in here as like some kind of test?" Blake asks, snapping me out of my thoughts. I turn at him; I am confused with his question.

"Excuse me?"

"Have you been put in to test our wills? Like to test whether we'll focus on the job or whether we'll get distracted by the pretty girl?" he explains. I snorted unattractively.

"No test. I'm a novice just like you" I inform him with a small shrug. "So rules? Schedules? Ins and outs of this place? Explain it all" I order him, taking a seat on my new bed.

"Alright" Blake nods, thinking for a second before beginning. "So no fighting with Civilians, no disrespecting of Ones, no--"

"Ones?" I cut him off.

"You know the Warrior's with a blue number one of their shirts?" he asks and I nod. "Well at the end of each novices training they are tested. They are scored out of ten; ten being the worst, and one being the best. You want the lowest score possible. If you score one you are offered higher jobs, and are a higher rank than other Warriors" he explains.

"Oh okay" I nod, that made sense. So I had to salute people with a blue '1' on their shirts. Blake offers me a small smile before he continues with his information.

"So we start at six every morning. We train from six until twelve, then have an hour for lunch. We then have training again from one until five. From five until eight we have free time – which we can go outside the centre – but we have to be back for eight. Sometimes we have night drills or training. We have room inspections every seventh day".

I nod along. "Anything else I should know?" I question. Blake thinks for a minute before he answers.

"Don't cross Kane, he'll make your life a living hell" he states. I smirk slightly before I hid it. "Right, let's go and get some dinner" he smiles slightly, "I'm starved".

"I need clothes". I gesture to my heels and bloody dress. He glances at me outfit and frowns.

"Hmm" he strokes his chin as he thinks. "We're not allowed to go out to the village until our next free time. I can lend you a shirt, but pants? You're way too small for mine" he says.

"Let me see what you've got" I say. He nods before going to his bunk and throwing some clothes down.

"I shrunk these in the wash, so they might be better" he offers me some pants. They are still going to be too big, but better than any other options. Not even bothering to hid, I pull my dress off. Blake's eyes widen as I stand in nothing but underwear and heels. I must be quite a sight.

I kick my heels off – losing a bit of height – before I pull on the pants. They are too big, so is the shirt. I sigh, before I get an idea. "You got a knife?" I ask, he nods and pulls one from his boot. I take it from him and get to work.

I make another button hole, further down into the pant fabric. It's slightly better but not much. I then cut the bottom of the pants off. I then do the same to the bottom of the shirt; it cuts off just above the waist band of the newly cut pants.