Ascension

Chapter 3: Test 2

  We were all sprawled on the floor when we’ve reached our destination. Among all the other contestants, we appeared to be the youngest. I was sandwiched between Rin and Kai. Rin got up immediately and tried helping me up, but Kai and Airen wrestled underneath me and kicked me in the gut before I could take her hand.

  Those guys really wanted a beating. I rolled away from them and stood up, brushing off my clothes. A few grass hairs were stuck on my clothes, and I plucked them personally off of my body. Stray strands of hair stuck out from my ponytail, so I retied it to have a neater appearance. I wanted to fix the strap of my belt, but I felt nothing except air, and when I looked around, I noticed no one had their weapons. I then turned to the two boys.

  Kai was pushing Airen’s face away as he was locked in between his legs. “This is disgusting! You’re all sweaty!” Kai yelled and managed to squirm out of the shorty’s grasp. He stood up and wiped his face with his sleeve in disgust.

  “It’s not my fault I sweat easily!” Airen, too, jumped up and was ready to pulverize him, but a voice interrupted their fight.

  “My, my. Teams shouldn’t act like this!”

  That high voice. It was coming from the short man walking up to us. Not only was he short, but he had small, mouse-like eyes and stubby features. His clothes were similar to Ocaedien’s but were sage green and on his left shoulder was a black badge with white letterings, stitched:

                                       Test Administrator

                                                     B

  His beard moved as he spoke which was fairly distracting to the eyes. “Welcome, contestants to the third floor! Here, we have a break room and three Tests you must take before proceeding.  But before we can have a break, let’s continue on to Test 2. Again, it’s not as hard as you think, but I can’t tell you what’s going to happen. I will call each team according to the time you came in and each team will enter the door behind me. Once the previous team is finished, I will call in the next team. Simple right? I will now be calling the first group up.” He pulled out a device that fit cozily in his hands and called out names with a squeaky voice. “The team with Lykenrol, Nerie Vanderbuilt, Nina, and Meghan Alvey please step up.”

  The group our Test Administrator called stepped up. Each had their chest puffed out and head held high, but none made eye contact with each other. It was as if they were forced to be together as they walked in a single filed line, leaving gaps in between each other.

  As they walked passed me, I shuddered. There was something about that peculiar group that caused chills to run up my spine. One made eye contact with me and smirked before rolling his eyes to the side in a mocking way. I glared back, but even if my eyes bore onto the back of his head, he never turned back.

  Airen purposefully bumped into me and heaved a sigh, breaking my train of thought. “Why did you take me in?” He whispered as if he was afraid of others hearing him.

  I stared at him for a moment, thinking. He was probably the weakest one in the party, so why would we choose him? I guess it was because we were desperate.

  “Well?”

  “You were the only one there, so I had no choice.” It wasn’t a total lie. In fact, if there was someone else I could trust, I would consider him or her rather than this little runt, but would this strange atmosphere around him be the same with the others?

  “Oh.”

  I stared at him. He may be a child compared to the rest of us, but it was reassuring in a way. At least, I wouldn’t be around such intimidating people all the time. Considering I have never made human contact for the first three years I could remember, except for Ray, I felt somewhat comfortable being with this little guy. “I do like your fiery spirit though,” I informed him, “It’s a lot different from the people I’ve met.” Ray may be kind to me, but he wasn’t as playful as him. After all, Ray was an adult who had a job to take care of. I wasn’t his main priority, but he still treated me well.