Verde

Chapter 8: The Third Year Research Task

     Today, the Verde facility was a normal school. 

     Every trainee - and the newly inducted agents - had collectively decided that their promotions were, in fact, a good thing. 

     Now all Cassidy had to worry about for the weekend - today was Saturday - was the Third Year Research Task. TYRT. Not a glamorous acronym, and it had been even worse before - FYRT just didn't have any semblance of a ring to it.

     Every concern about the Pulse had flown out the window - whatever was happening outside the facility, it could wait two days. This weekend was all the Third Years had to write a full report on a unique finding on the history of the Pulse. Due on Monday, the Research Task was infamous for being the biggest reason people were cut.

     It was the trainees' first task. It didn't require much brain or brawn - all you needed to prove was that you had something to contribute. If Cassidy could find something that no one had found before, either on the Pulse or on Quarantine, she had a guaranteed in. 

     If not, she might not make it.

     "Hurry up!" it was Terrance Connelly out in the hallway.

     "Coming, coming!" Cassidy recognized two voices - Jeremiah and Mathias Abramson. The twins.

     "Where are you guys going?" Cassidy asked, popping her head out into the hallway.

     "Library!" Mathias yelled as he ran past.

     "Mat! You're not supposed to tell anybody!" Jeremiah reprimanded his brother as he hurtled after him and Terrence.

     The pressure was on and stress levels were running high in the Third Year section of the trainees' wing. 

     Most of the former Fourth Years were packing up to move to the agents' wing, and they smirked as they walked by. They had just missed the assignment - none of them were going to be cut. 

     On the other hand, they would never get to see just how prepared they were for field tasks - their cuts would come when they made the first little mistake out in the real world. A bit macabre, yes, but this was what it had always been like on Quarantine. 

     Cassidy could deal with the normal amount of disaster that came with living with a terminal virus amongst the population - it was only when variables were thrown in that her nerves frayed.

     But that wasn't the case now. Now, Cassidy was raring to go - this was a class assignment, something she was good at. Especially with Dan to help her.

     Actually, she had been thinking of visiting the library as well.

     "The library is really our best resource," Cassidy explained to Elle as she stepped back into their room.

     "Ugh, are you already thinking about that research task thingy?" Elle was still slumped in bed, her nearly-straight blond hair in a messy halo around her head and her cheeks blushed with sleep.

      It was pretty early. Five o' clock, Saturday morning.

     "Come on, Elle. Everyone else is already up - we've got two days! We need to make this as similar to the real world as possible - out in the field, we won't get nap time."

     "No," Elle argued, "in the field, we won't have all day to finish our tasks. We should simulate that by sleeping in."

     Cassidy rolled her eyes. "Let's get some breakfast. We need to hit library four a couple hours. No arguing."