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Alliances;

[Online pseudonym: PointlessBlog]

"But," Theodore continued. I listened attentively, catching every word he said. "there is one thing that may boost your chances. You can have allies. They are the people that you can help, and they will help you until you are the last ones standing, then you'll have to kill each other."

I felt Zoe tense beside me. I looked at her, panic overruled her now pale face.

I'll make sure she wins, I told myself. But then my eyes cast to Joe, who was also pale. Zoe wouldn't live with herself if something happened to him.

"I'll give you time to decide who your allies are," Theodore said, eyes sparkling with something I couldn't read. "Then we'll jump straight into training. Remember, there are the strong ones who dominate everyone else. They're called careers."

Zoe and I instantly looked at each other.

"He never said anything about numbers," she said in a low whisper. "Maybe we can form a big, strong group and we'll last longer." Her lip quivered as she spoke.

"Maybe we should join the careers," I suggested, matching her low tone. "We'll have a better chance then. We'll run off when they're not looking."

"What about Joe?" Zoe asked quietly, eyeing her brother. "I can't do this without him."

"He can be our ally. We'll run off with him when the careers aren't looking."

"Like the careers are going to kill anyone," Zoe said, internally rolling her eyes. "Like anyone is going to kill their friends," she said with impulsive anger.

"Theodore might have a way of doing so," I replied. Knowing Theodore, he probably had some tricks up his white suit sleeve. "I mean, they got us here without us remembering."

Zoe's face fell. "Who are the careers anyway?"

My gaze turned to Jim and Tanya, who had a big group forming around them. "I'm guessing that group over there." I pointed to the group of four. "Let's get Joe and go over there; ask and see if they'll let us in."

Zoe nodded and, grabbing Joe, we headed over.

Jim looked at me when I got there, eyes half happy and sad. "Hi, Alfie," he said, a mix of emotions in his voice.

"Hi," I responded. Before I could talk, the guards caught my eye. They were going from person to person, offering something small and white in the palms of their hands.

One came to me, holding out his hand to reveal a small, bullet-shaped pill.

"Want a pill?" He asked blankly.

I studied it for a moment. "What does it do?"

"It helps you, or it doesn't. Depends," he shrugged ignorantly.

I looked at the pill. "No thank you."

He nodded and quickly continued handing out pills to the people who took them. Zoe said no before he even offered. Joe hesitated but shook his head. Jim, Tanya, Jenna, and Marcus, on the other hand, took the pill. I watched them scull it, drawing a breath.

They wrinkled their noses. "Tastes sour," Jim stated, shaking the taste away with a twitch of his head.

I looked around the room. Various people had taken the pill. I saw Gabby Hanna skull the pill down. Cat and Felix took it too. I heard Colleen yelling a Rachel.

"You idiot!" she exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes. "You don't know what they are up to! It could kill you for all we know!"

She was right, we didn't know what Theodore was up to and what the pills could do.

After half an hour, Theodore spoke again. This time instructing us to go into the next room, where stations were set out, with different items to help us sharpen our skills. 

Before everyone left to head into the training room, I stopped Jim.

"Hey Jim," I said, grabbing his arm before he left.

He looked at my arm, frowning. "What?"

"Can we join the careers?" I asked. "Zoe, Joe and I."

"Can you kill?" He asked warily, eyes narrowed.

"W-what?" I stuttered. He had changed drastically in the last thirty minutes. I had a feeling it had something to do with the pill, the rest were acting like it, too.

"I'm pretty sure you know what killing is," Jim said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "But just to make it clear; it's when you end someone's life."

"Oh, um, yeah," I said. Of course, I knew what killing was.

He replied with "sure" and he turned away. I think he took my answer as a yeah to his question of; can you kill?

I looked at Zoe and Joe. "I guess we're in."

"Yeah. Let's go train," Joe responded.