The Apostate Trials

Chapter 5

      Silence hung over the stillness of the room, broken only by the tapping of cell-phones and very faint gasps. Noah felt a sickness consume him upon finally receiving an objective─his head spun, his stomach churned, twisted and pulled─but he knew it was an anxiousness they'd eventually have to overcome if they hoped to survive for as long as physically possible.

You are being hunted by D-Class, #16.
Survive until the next objective or become the hunters.
If one falls, you all fall.

That was what Noah noticed the screens read on literally everyone else's phones. His was the only message that remained different.

Congratulations on pulling the class together.
You're entitled two gifts.
Think long and hard before asking.

       The NEST contact now had a text icon by it, although Noah had no immediate intention of using it. What really concerned him at the moment was how they knew of the rift that had grown between them. Even now, as they debated over the best course of action to take, were they being watched?

Noah pushed the idle thought to the back of his head. There was no use in questioning it. He knew he'd never get an answer.

"What's your intake on this, Noah," Miles' questioned, dragging Noah into the heat of their scorching debate. "The rain's showing no sign of letting up. Some of the others think that it's perfectly safe here."

Noah took a moment to meet everyone's gazes.

"We have shelter, warmth, and food here," One of the females spoke up. Her name was Poet, if Noah remembered correctly. Her glossy, black hair mixed in almost perfectly with her raven-feathered coat, earning her a certain degree of what felt like importance. She narrowed her eyes onto him. "That storm is too violent. We'd easily get lost out there."

"She has a point," Lilly added. The wind could be heard pushing against the mansion, the soft taps of rain now harsh and forceful. "I'd hate to see anyone here get hurt out there because we were too reckless to consider their well-being."

       Noah took notice of the unconscious Rylan collapsed a few feet away from him, Rosary fast at his stead. He showed no signs of waking anytime soon, which was bad. For this test, the death of a classmate meant the death of them all. Noah, as well as a small handful of others, assumed that both accidental and purposeful deaths, either at the hands of the opposite class, natural means, or even themselves was subject to punishment. They needed him alive, no matter how badly Noah resented the concept.

Hugo flashed Noah a particular gaze. "We can always carry him. If we're quick about it, maybe we won't be out and about the storm for too long."

"It'd be far easier to just leave him," Another commented.

Lilly pouted in protest. "We can't do that! He's one of us!"

"The guy is nothing more than deadweight now. I say we risk it. Hide his body somewhere and high tail it out of here."

Noah exhaled a weary sigh just loud enough to gain the scattered attention of the others, who each had taken matters into their own hands. "It's obvious that, considering our...inconveniences, we're far better off toughing it out here," He noticed a few select glances bitter at his proposal. "But even if the rain does last the entirety of the day, there's still twenty-four hours until the next order is issued. The opposing class's life is on the line. I doubt they'd just sit idly by because of some storm."

"Then what are you suggesting?"

       Noah withdrew the phone from his pocket once more, bringing up the hologram of the area. He played with it a bit until he discovered the last known location of the dot labeled D#16, surprisingly much closer than he anticipated. If they were indeed on the move, and one of their members was in possession of a scan as well, they'd more than likely reach the mansion within the hour. Noah rose a finger to his lips, biting down on it.

"Are you stupid? We can't stay here!"

"But leaving the comfort of all this behind would be wasteful," Poet countered the girl's claims. "Who knows when we'll find another place as suitable as this again?"

Lilly appeared troubled by Poet's focus on the place, an object. "This place doesn't matter. We can't just leave with Rylan in such a condition."

"It can be arranged for him to be carried," Hugo joined the conversation once more. "As long as we're fast and discreet, it won't matter. We can plan our next move once we've settled on another place. One that's far away from here."

Poet gave him a bitter glare. "And I'm telling you, there won't be another place! It could take days for us to find something even remotely similar to what we have now! We don't have that kind of time!"

Noah gave another quick glance around the room before so abruptly continuing where left off. "We won't abandon this place while the storm is still going strong, but we won't stand idly by and wait for them to attack us either. I say we use their proximity and the violence of the storm to our advantage. We can set up a station along the river and use it as a means of cover, launch an all-out surprise attack from there, preferably confuse them with a joint-effort at both flanking and sniping. Wipe them out before they know what hit 'em."

"What if they take notice of us before reaching the river," Miles voiced his concern, to which Noah gave him a small smirk.

"We use the steep slope of the river to our advantage. Guerrilla warfare I believe it was called," Once again, he couldn't quite explain how he knew it. "It's a simple yet effective tactic and will result in no casualties on our side if everything goes according to plan."

"If? You don't sound so certain of it."

"Because I'm not," Noah retorted, not caught off-guard by the question. "With us being ranked the lowest, I'm sure our enemies will underestimate us. In fact, I'm sure we'll wipe them out with little to no problem." And, for whatever vague reason, he felt so sure of himself─of his words. The thought of their imminent battle didn't bother him in the slightest, simply because he knew fate had tilted in their favor. But, "I'm just a little unsure about when─once they're in my sights─will I be able to pull the trigger? To mercilessly kill them without batting so much as an eye?" Silence was the expected and received response.

"I know I spoke some pretty heavy stuff a few minutes ago, which really gives me no right to be doubting myself now, but it's just...kinda hard to accept, you know? From here on out...we're going to constantly stain our hands with another's blood just to ensure we continue to see the sun rise."

       Noah saw a few others shift uncomfortably under his glance, at his words. It was something that had only just now sunk into their brains─the past month in particular, in which they killed without question, never stopping to actually give it much thought. Being forced onto the brinks of starvation, into the abyss of death, it all just came so naturally. Killing became something natural, a primal instinct of sorts. And Rylan's words all of sudden began to make a whole lot more sense.

That month spent caged in the abyss, it was to prepare them for this moment. To make them every bit the ruthless killers they truly were.

Noah felt the slight throb in his chest abruptly quell at the thought.

He killed to survive before. Without question. No hesitation. Today was no different─he'd do it again and again, as many times as it took, as long as it meant he was the one seeing another sunrise, not the one being viciously torn limb from limb by the scourges of nature.

       And as that darkness consumed him, he began to realize that the lives of others didn't really matter. He pictured himself back in that cage, looking out only for himself, thinking of only himself. As long as he remained alive through whatever means possible, nothing else truly mattered. Not hostility. Not comradery. Not even his precious memories of the life before. Those were things that blinded him to the truth, things he tried so desperately to cling onto, things that slowed him down─would eventually get him killed.

He swiftly disposed of them, as well as every other unimportant emotion that inhibited his mind. All that mattered was survival. Survival at any and all cost.

Even if it meant killing...