The World Outside

Chapter 3

I realized I must’ve fallen asleep because I woke up the next morning slumped against the bars. I raised my head to see that 102 was no longer sprawled on the floor but sitting in a corner. His eyes were opened and he had a glare directed at the floor. His cheek was bleeding again, he must’ve reopened it some how. “102? What happened out there?” I needed to know.

His glare snapped up to me, I thought for sure that he was going to retort with something nasty, but he remained silent. I returned his gaze until a door swung open and hit the wall with a loud bang. Not now. I thought. I really wasn’t up to training today. I looked back at 102 to see his reaction but he was glaring at the floor again.

The man from yesterday entered the room followed by the same two Guards. They walked silently. That was another thing the Guards don’t talk. You may go in that room at the end of the hall screaming, but you come out silent. The Messengers do all the talking for them. Each Guard has a Messenger assigned to them. The Messengers are much smaller then the Guards; they’re normally kids who fail most of the physical tests but ace the brain exams.

But anyway back to my predicament at hand. The man walked calmly to the cage and motioned for the Guards to remove me from the cage. I didn’t put up any fight because really that would result in maybe a broken arm and a whipping. The Guard, Ice, gripped my arm and dragged me towards the door. Before I was dragged through I caught a glimpse of 102’s face. Something flashed through his eyes, worry? Nah it couldn’t have been.

The second I was dragged out the door I couldn’t see, and it took me a few seconds to adjust my eyes to the light change. The hallway was a bright white. We were headed down the hallway towards the door on the end… No it couldn’t be. I wasn’t ready. At the last second we turned down a hallway that I hadn’t seen. I sighed in relief but I realized I shouldn’t have when I was shook roughly and a messenger growled out, “What’d you say?” I shook my head, keeping quiet. I didn’t want to be beaten.

At the end of the hall I was thrown into a large metal room. The metal reached from wall to wall, on the ceiling and floor, and from floor to ceiling. Every inch was metal. I didn’t like the looks of this. The only other thing in the room beside me was a heavy-looking metal chair and in the chair was a very large man. He was even bigger than the Guards. I turned just as Ice slammed the giant metal door shut.

I heard an earsplitting screech as the chair slid across the floor and the man stood. He was staring at something. I whirled to see a small chunk of the metal had been removed from the wall and a man was looking through it. “This is your last week of training Number 123. Work hard, and you will be rewarded. Keep focuses, and never let your guard down.” As he said those last words his mouth quirked up into a smirk. Just then the chair whizzed by head, hitting the wall and leaving a dent.

Shit. I thought as I was immediately lifted and before I could react I was thrown across the room. Luckily I thought fast and as I approached the wall I twisted myself so my feet hit the wall first. As I hit I ran up the wall a couple steps and did a back flip, landing on my opponent’s shoulders. His hands flew upwards to grab my ankles but I was faster. I jumped backwards and as I did I pushed him forwards with my feet.

Thank you, genetic engineering. That was probably the only reason I liked being a freak. I landed on my feet in a crouch, and I watched as he fell, almost in slow motion. Before he had a chance to move I was on top of him with my hand on his throat. His eyes glittered with hatred. I froze and my grip loosened, he flipped us so he was on top of me and he had one hand on my throat. Nobody’s ever looked at me with so much dislike. I didn’t like it. Not one bit. Sure I was used to the furious glares because if looks could kill I’d be dead by now. I had never met anyone that really hated me.

By now I couldn’t breathe. His eyes narrowed when he noticed I had started struggling, and he covered my mouth with his hand. He is going to kill me! My mind immediately went into overdrive. I licked his hand and grimaced at the bitter taste. He growled and when he shifted his hand I bit down hard. He pulled his hand away and raised his hand and slapped me. He was furious.

He lifted me and tossed me down hard. I had taken a deep breath when he had released my throat but when I hit the floor it was all knocked out of me. I scrambled up, and I was gasping for breath. I was desperately trying to suck in some air. The guy had a triumphant look on his face. I leaned over and placed my hands on my knees making him think he won. As he walked towards me I darted forward and went for his feet. He fell in his back and I watched as the wind was obviously knocked out of him. I stood on him and put my foot to his throat. I watched as panic settled in his eyes. He was a whole lot bigger than me but with me being just as strong, or maybe stronger, and him not being able to breathe he wasn’t much of a threat.

I didn’t want to kill him but nobody was stopping me. I couldn’t let him back up because he would kill me. I stared at his helpless face as the light began to flicker out of his eyes. He lost consciousness and soon there after his eyes rolled back. I stood there frozen even when the man came out from the little room behind the wall, I had forgotten he was there, and said, “Brilliant job. You are just about ready.”

I walked slowly as I was escorted towards a smaller room. It smelled of bleach, and it gave me a headache. I felt numb. I had just killed a guy, so why didn’t I feel guilty? I was pushed into a chair and strapped down. I just stared at the guy standing in front of me. He wore a long, white lab coat. He sneered at me, and motioned for Jaw to flick the lights.

I welcomed the cool bottom of my cage after the day of tests and fighting (or killing) a man twice my size. I shuddered at the thought of his lifeless body just lying there. The cage was big enough for me to sprawl out across the floor of it and not even come close to touching 102. So I did. The cage was not, however, tall enough for us to stand in. I looked at 102, and really took him in. He was probably about 6’3”, and I assume he weighed about 180lbs-190lbs. He was tall, muscular, but we were all light. We were skinny, from lack of food, and that’s just how we were. 102 had blonde hair and gray eyes. You could probably say he was extremely good looking. “Stop staring.” 102 stated his eyes still closed. I shifted my gaze quickly, and said, “I wasn’t staring nitwit.”

I, on the other hand, was probably about 5’8” and about 130lbs. I had long dirty blonde hair that fell down past my shoulders, and hazel eyes. And at this moment I was starving but really that wasn’t a new feeling. Sometimes I went days without eating, but I knew today was my day to eat. The door flew open. Just on time. I sat up and tried not to look too happy or excited or they would laugh and take the food back with them. Yes they were that cruel.

The skinny man threw in a quarter loaf of bread for each of us, an old apple, and slid in a bottle of water. I ate so slow while I waited for the man to leave it was almost painful. As soon as the door was shut firmly again I ravenously stuffed the bread in my mouth almost choking on it. 102 watched me like I was crazy, but I didn’t give a damn I was starving. I chugged half the water and sat back to enjoy my old apple. 102 ate his bread at a normal speed, and then took a huge bite of his apple.

Suddenly an idea came to mind. We were going to escape. I slowly chewed my bite of apple and looked up at 102. I scooted closer to him. He looked at me weirdly, and asked, “What?” I smiled and said, “I have an idea. It involves our freedom. You in?” He looked at me incredulously, “Depends on if I think your dumb plan will work.”  I frowned, “Don’t insult my plan when you don’t even know what it is and trust me it’ll work.” He looked undeceive but then he nodded, “I’m in.” “Okay. Here’s what we are gonna do…”

So this one's longer. How do you like it? Please comment and vote! Thankyou sooo much!!