The new generation

Part seven

CHRIS

I quickly decided that I liked Aris best. He was witty, smart and usually very loud. I soon noticed that Hephaisto wasn't too fond of him. Hephaisto was big and broad, not someone you wanted to mess with. His face was constantly creased with worry. The others told me he had a rough childhood and was now constantly worried this all could be taken away from him at any moment. Tiberius and Athanasius were quiet and shy, usually hanging around in the background. They were constantly at each others side, where one was, the other was usually close by. Appius was Aris's sidekick and to Hephaisto's dismay equally loud. Although energetic, Appius struggled to keep up in class and had serious problems multitasking. Augustus on the other hand was quiet and top of every class. He was in other words, brilliant. But there was something about him that made me feel uncomfortable. It was not his stutter, but something about the way he looked at other people and talked to them that made me want to run away from him. When I asked Aris about that he walked away from me without saying a word.

The evening before the mission, we all sat in Finn's office, drinking tea and talking to each other. "Quiet down!" Finn said, clapping his hands. Immediate Silence. "Listen closely," he said, "remember everything I tell you, don't forget, we don't want the same thing like last time to happen." His face contorted as if it pained him to think about it. "Tomorrow morning at two o'clock you will go to Section Two. Wait in the cafeteria for me to pick you up and bring you to a car. In Section Two you will meet one of my best men and he will tell you what to do. The mission should be a quick thing, nothing long or strenuous. I can't tell you what you're going to do because some of you are just too talkative or might tell any random person in exchange for food." He glared at Appius and Aris who had begun whispering. "Go and rest," Finn sighed. Before I left, Finn grabbed my shoulder and said: "remember, Chris, if you don't do what my man tells you, we will kill Lynn. And after we have killed her we will kill you."

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"My name is Crawford, I will tell you what we're going to do," the man standing in front of us said. He was big and bulky and was glaring at us with his arms crossed in front of his chest. We were standing next to a gate in the fence surrounding Section Two, it was almost completely dark and it was freezing. Next to me, Aris had his hands in his pocket, head bent. I nudged him and he startled. "You were falling asleep," I whispered and he groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"I am one of Finn's most trusted men and I would like to keep that position," Crawford said. "So you guys better do what I say or I'll make this mission miserable for you." He opened the duffel bag in front of him and pulled out seven guns. Augustus gasped delighted. "They're not loaded," Crawford said whereupon Augustus sighed.
"They're just for intimidation, only mine's loaded. We will walk through Section Two and make sure everything is okay. Understood?" He barked. "Yes, Crawford!" we said in unison although I was wondering what exactly we were going to do.
A few minutes later we were walking through the streets of Section Two, guided by Crawford who I had noticed, was wearing a bulletproof vest.
I couldn't help feeling a bit excited. I had never been to Section Two before.

After an hour of walking, Crawford suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. A few yards away from us a man had just walked out of a door, by the hand two women. "Wait here," Crawford said and walked over to them. He talked to the man and then returned. "All good," he said and we kept walking. As we passed the women, one of them looked at me and mouthed a word. Help.
I froze. "Did you see that," I whispered to Tiberius who was next to me. "She needs help, we have to help her." "Crawford said it's nothing," Tiberius hissed. "Keep walking. "But you saw her mouth help, I know you did, we have to help her!" I said panicky. Tiberius kept walking. The man with the women had started walking away from us. The same one that had mouthed help, turned around while walking and looked at me. Help. I had to make up my mind whether or not to do something, I was falling behind.

I ran back to the group. "You're a fool, Chris," Tiberius hissed. "Finn is testing you, they were all actors!" I felt sick.
For the rest of the night I kept telling myself that they were all actors. I ignored the man pulling a crying and screaming kid across an empty street, I ignored the woman begging me to help her and the small girl who was being beaten up by a filthy looking old man. Her screams echoed through the night. "It's all part of the test," Tiberius said when he saw me crying. "They're all actors, it's all fake, now keep moving we don't want to get on Crawford's bad side."