Palinoia

Chapter 24

There really was no going back now.

I stared straight ahead as we arrived at our new destination. Never had I ever been so determined in my life nor had I been so prepared to accomplish such a thing.

The exam wasn't going to take place where we had been training. Instead, it was located at the heart of the city where a huge dome resided.

We walked through the main entrance and stood just outside of the dome where we had to line according to our first name rather than our team. That's right. It was every person for themselves. Nobody relied on their team, trainer or point. Everything was solo.

I looked over to see if I Peter was in sight. I found him from afar and he looked directly at me. He gave me two thumbs up and I sent him a nod of good luck.

Turning back, I waited for the instructions to be given out by the examiner. He walked up to the centre stage and began to give the instructions. To his right were all the commanders, including Thomas who stayed relatively calm as usual. Cliff, Tuck and all the trainers stood by the side, watching the exam take place.

"Welcome to the official TSN exam. I'm sure you're all aware of the basic rules: No talking, cheating etcetera. Once you enter inside that dome, you are not allowed to leave until your exam is finished unless you want to be disqualified. The fortunate thing is that the results will be revealed today so you're going to wait a while," he spoke.

"We'll call you by your first name and before you step inside, make sure you have chosen your weapon of choice, your protection and second weapon of choice. I wish you all good luck. There will be hidden security cameras where you will be watched by several different people."

Huh. No timer.

The exam soon begun and I hate to wait for a very long time because my name wasn't exactly in the first ten letters of your everyday abc's. Waiting for so long almost made me forget that it was an exam because I began to grow incredibly bored.

"Sebastian Turner."

I walked over to the front of the dome. Remembering the instructions, there was a screen which displayed three different type of guns: A pistol, sniper and colt navy. They all had the same colour scheme and the navy looked just like the one Mari gave me.

Why were they Demolisher guns?

I shrugged, choosing the navy. I assumed it was for us to obtain a better experience of what we might actually face.

The second set of options were: A vest, gloves and a face mask. I chose the face mask because I didn't really see the point of the protection. The only reason the face mask made sense was in case something would fall into my eye. The other two just looked like accessories.

The last set included: A sword, whip and four star blades. I chose the sword only out of interest. Once I had selected all options, the screen flicked a green tick and the door began to open.

I stepped into the dome, listening to the door quickly shut. As a looked around, I noticed that the area was a simulation of a field filled with withered grassland. In front of me, at the far end, were cages. About a dozen cages were there and I wondered what was inside.

I picked up the weapons which were lying on the ground. I also noticed a small patch of spare bullets beside the gun.

I was too far way to see what was inside so I began to walk down. One cage then lifted open and I saw a faint figure move about.

The further I walked, the clearer the figure became. The figure kept walking about, occasionally sniffing the ground until its eyes met mine. And that's when I saw what it was.