Innocence be gone

Chapter 5; the test, part one

“Alice.” A voice chimes somewhere in the distance. “Alice.” It gets louder and louder still but gentle, like a mothers’ hug. “Alice.” It continues. “ALICE!!!!!” the voice suddenly shouts and my eyes bulge wide open! “What was that?” I ask paranoid, I scan the room till my eyes rest on Syrelin standing beside me. “Wakey! Wakey!” She says with obvious glee at my terror. “What time is it?” I ask rubbing my eyes. “It’s three.” She says calmly. She looks like she’s hopped up on meds or something! “In the afternoon? How did I sleep all day?” I ask, worried that I missed my test but I wasn't looking forward to it that much anyway. “Nope. Three in the morning!” she says, yep, she’s definitely on something! “Then why am I awake?” I moan rolling over. “Because it’s time for your test!” “What type of un-earthly punishment is this?” I say sitting up. “If you are sleep deprived it shows how you will act in emergency situations or when under a great amount of stress so it’s better to test you when you are sleep deprived.” She says as jittery as a squirrel on caffeine! “Am I really sleep deprived?” I ask getting out of bed at a zombie pace. “What do you mean?” she asks handing me some camo coloured clothes. “I’ve been asleep for what? 112 years or something stupid!” I say, showing her the holes in her plot. “True, true. But there’s no way we can keep you awake for 112 years without you dying so this will have to do!” she says, leaving the room. “I’ll be back in ten minutes, if you’re not ready I’m taking you as you are!” she yells as she slams the door. That reminds me of what happened last night. I’m sure it was all a dream. It had to be! I mean sure this world is crazy and nowhere near normal but that’s even a bit too crazy for this place!

I pull on a pair of green pants and a brown shirt. A pair of combat boots seems to stare at me from the corner. I’ve never been a tomboy. I loved the colour pink! But I suppose they don’t have combat boots in hot pink. “Oh well, guess I’m dressing as dirt from now on.” I say to no one looking down at my outfit. The shirt is at least two sizes too big and the pants are more holes than material after the knees. “I don’t even want to know which dead body you pulled this off of.” I say as the door opens. “Yeah, you don’t.” Syrelin agrees with me which deepens my fear. “C’mon now or never!” she yells, she's so chirpy I would happily strangle her.

We head out into the corridor and there's no one ti be seen! I have never heard such silence in my life. I think everyone might’ve died in the night! My floppy footsteps stomp on the ground, the boots a size too big! Well, rather too big than too small! I say to myself trying to take the optimistic view of things. We walk for what seems like eternity in silence until I hear the faint sound of somone punching!

We stop at the entrance to what looks like a make shift gym. “First part of the test; physical.” Syrelin says gesturing for me to go in. “There’s more than one part?” I ask worried. I head inside and this place isn't as big as I thought, a few weights lie in the corner, a punching bag directly across them. “You’ll be fine.” Syrelin says, then she remembers I have no athletic ability what so ever! “Well, you wont die!” she rephrases herself and walks in behind me. “Thanks for the love lil’ sis.” I say looking up at her.

“Well, I will have to love and leave you.” She says looking at an imaginary watch. “But you’ll have Freddie here to help you!” she says pointing out a figure I’ve only noticed now. “Hi!” he waves, he has an accent, from where I have no idea! his muscles look like they’re about to explode out of his skin! His skin tone so tan I look like Dracula next to him! “Uh, hi!” I stammer, taken back by how big he is. “Ciao!” Syrelin says rushing out the door as red as ever! “I think she likes you!” I say turning back to Freddie the giant. “If only.” He mumbles under his breathe. I think it’s a dutch accent, maybe even german! “Anyway, let’s get started shall we?” he says clasping his hands together. “Now, have you ever fought before?” he asks leading me to a square area of floor filled with mats. “No.” I reply, getting nervous. “Okay, do you have any athletic record?” he asks, making the questions more and more broad. “No.” I reply, with each no his face gets more sad and confused. “Let’s start with basics then shall we? This,” he says pulling his hands up to his face and bending his knees. “Is the readying stance.” I try it out for myself. “Good! Now this,” he says flicking his wrist out “Is a punch.” He says. I get out of the stance and look him dead in the eye. “I’m not stupid! I know how to punch and kick!” I say betting that was what he was going to teach me next. “Okay, well, if you’re so smart. Why don’t you just warm up quick while I get your test ready.” He says with a devilish grin. I have a feeling I should’ve just punched.

A few minutes later he arrives with what looks like a robot covered in pillows! I giggle, “What on earth is that?” I ask. “This here we call Rudy. He’s a fighting robot that has been programmed to measure the velocity of a punch.” He explains. “So I’m not going to get punched!” I say gleefully. “Oh, I didn’t say anything about that!” that devilish grin comes back. Oh boy, this is going to be a long day!

I throw my first punch and Freddie goes behind the machine to check something. He comes back with his hand on his mouth, looking in awe at the back of the robot. “What?” I ask. “No- um, it must just need some tuning. Hold on.” He says ducking back behind the robot. After a moment or so and an electric whirring sound, Freddie comes back and signals me to go again. I throw my second punch and once again Freddie ducks away. “Holy shit!” he exclaims, this doesn’t sound good. “What? What is it?” I ask getting worried. “No this is impossible!” he yells. “How the hell?” he continues. I walk around to see what it is he’s murmuring about. “What is going on?” I ask getting angry. “According to this you can punch the skull off an Enarik!” he says, looking at some numbers typed into a screen at the back of the robot. “But an Enarik’s skull is in it’s chest.” I say as confused as he is. “Exactly. According to this, if you were to punch it you would be able to make a complete hole in its chest!” he says rubbing his hand through his hair. “You just got a hell of a lot more sexy!” he says looking me up and down, I roll my eyes. “Dude! I’m over 100 years older than you! Back off!” I say, deeply offended. “Okay fair enough, I deserved that.” He says admitting defeat. “But still these records are off the chart!” he says turning back to the computer screen. “Let’s see what you’ll do in a real fight situation.” He says pulling his shirt off. “What? against you?” I laugh “What’s wrong with that?” he asks. “I can punch a hole through a demons chest, you really want to go against me?” I raise my eyebrow at him. “Absolutely.” He says smiling. We step onto the mats and he goes into the readying stance, I copy and lower myself, I have enough fire power to kill a demon in my fist, this should be easy!

“9 seconds.” I say walking to Syrelin with a make-shift ice bag on my neck. “Enough velocity to behead an Enarik and you get taken out by Freddie in nine seconds!” she looks as though she can’t believe it. “Well, sweety,” she says hugging me. “Or should I say sweaty. Maybe you are just out of energy! It’s breakfast time! Come have something to munch on and then you can go have a rematch!” she says trying to make me feel better. “Oh HELL no! I’m not going back! Are you mad?’ I ask making sure I’m the injured one. “Okay okay!” she says and starts heading to the cafeteria, I guess you could call it. “So what’s next on ‘the test’ for me?” I ask, hoping my brain power will out way my absolute lack of fighting capability. “Well, you’ve finished up-close combat so now it’s on to distance combat.” She says simply. “So is that part two of three?” I ask hoping this will be over soon. “Oh sweety! It’s a sub-section of part one! You’ll spend at least a day on each part of the test. You should be done by the end of the week.” She says handing me a wooden bowl. “But it’s Wednesday!” I say, how many parts could this thing possibly have? “I know what day it is!” she says sarcastically. Oh boy, I have a feeling I won't struggle sleeping tonight!