The Beginning

Chapter Four

Every morning we have what's called an Allegiance Meeting. Everyone goes to the sunrise room, and the headmaster gives a daily speech. Today's speech was about the history of this place, and how it's important for everyone to pledge their alliance to District State 11. The alliance is supposed to help protect the biodome, and keep it from failing. If someone doesn't pledge their allegiance to it then it will disrupt the entire system they have in place.

"So, what do you think?" W.H. asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Do you think youll pledge your allegiance to the council?"

I wasn't sure how to answer his question. I haven't been here long enough to really like the place. I haven't explored the place enough to have an opinion of it. I wondered if I'll ever like it here. The others haven't been as distant lately, but W.H. and M.H. are the only ones who really went out of their way to interact with me.

"I honestly don't know. I'm not sure how I feel about the place yet," I said.

"I hope you do. I hope you'll like the place soon."

I hoped I would too. I wasn't too sure that would happen. It seems like no one here has any personality. None of the elders smiled, or showed emotion. They supervised everything. They monitored your every move. From the moment you walk into the common hall until it's time to be in your dorm, you're monitored by the staff. The only places youre not monitored is the bathrooms, and your dorm.

The others didn't want to hangout in the dining hall, or in the common hall so we went back to our dorm. Everyone went their separate ways as soon as we got in. I thought they were close, but maybe they're not as close as I thought. I was sitting at my desk doing the therapy my doctor gave me. He told me to write everything in my head down so that's what I do. He gave me a journal back when I was in the hospital. He said that if I wrote everything down then my thoughts won't bother me as much. I was busy writing when the power went out.

My bedroom door opened, and someone came in. I couldn't tell who it was, but someone grabbed me and covered my mouth so I couldn't yell for help. I tried kicking my way out of the persons arm, but their grip was too strong. My eyes started getting heavy. It got harder to keep them open. My head started getting foggy, and my vision became blurry. As my body went limp, my eyes closed too.

I woke up in a strange room. The only light source was from the hanging overhead lamp above my chair. Where are the others? Are they okay? Did something happen to them too? Do they know I'm missing? My hands were tied to the arms of the chair, and my feet were tied against the bottom of the chair. How long was I out? It didn't seem like I was out for a long time. Once my head was clear, I looked around the room. There was an empty chair in front of me. The walls and floor were made of black slabs of concrete.

"He's awake," someone yelled.

I recognized the voice as soon as I heard it. The voice belonged to H.W. Why was he here? Was he a part of this? A door opened, and I heard footsteps coming closer to where I was.

"Will he cooperate?" Someone asked.

"I don't know. I was only told to watch him until he wakes up," H.W. said.

I recognized the other voice. It belonged to J.H. Are they all in on this? I'm starting to think that this is a set up. Why are they doing this? What did I do? I tried thinking back to everything that has happened. I don't think I did anything wrong. The only time I really ever got involved with them was when I had dinner with them the other day. Maybe they didn't like it because M.H. had been nice to me. S.N. sat down in the chair across from me.

"So, you probably want to know why youre here," he said. "There's a good reason for why we brought you here, but in order for you to understand we have to give you the backstory."

"Look, I don't know what I did to upset you guys, but I don't want to join your cult."

They all got confused looks on their faces.

"What makes you think were in a cult?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you guys have your own dark secret lair that you take your kidnapped victims to," I said pointing out the fact that Im tied down to a chair. "Maybe because, you're all acting suspicious and because you were all in on my kidnapping."

I was nervous at first, but now that I know they were all in on it I'm not afraid to show how pissed off I am.

"Okay, it's understandable why your angry, but let me explain why we brought you here," S.N. said. "Out of all seven of us, I was the first person here when the biodome first started rescuing people. I was by myself until J.H. arrived next."

I looked at J.H. but he was looking at the ground avoiding eye contact. I could tell he was listening to every word.

"It had been about three months before someone else arrived. The council was still trying to get the laws and structure established for the place. By the time all six of use were here, the biodome pretty much had a set way of running. Anyway, three months after me and J.H. were here W.H. arrived. The three of us decided to set up rules for the dorm."

"So, where does your creepy cult come in at?" I asked.

"I was getting to that. As we came up with the rules, we agreed that there should be some sort of initiation so that we knew we could trust each other. After all, if you make a promise or take an oath you're bound by loyalty. So, we came up with an initiation that all of us had to go through."

"You want me to go through the initiation?" I asked

"That's entirely up to you. If you want to do it, we start here and then well give you a task you have to complete," S.N. said.

Do I want to go through with this? Did they all actually go through the initiation, or are they just saying that? I don't even really know these guys. They haven't been that nice to me, except for M.H. and W.H. Will they give me time to think about it if I ask? They were all looking at me, waiting for me to answer. Only H.W. wasn't making eye contact.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I went through with it. I want a place where I fit in, and have friends.

"What do I have to do?" I asked.

S.H. smiled and all the others looked at me with shocked expressions. I.M. even had a small smile on his face. Damn, the guy actually doesn't have RBF for once. I thought he never smiled. Maybe I made the right choice after all.

I just don't want to regret my decision. Please, let me have made the right choice to join this group.