Every fifty years, the competition of a lifetime takes place. The Choosing, granting its winners superhuman abilities, gives an experience like no other. But something is off, throwing the balance of the competition up in the air, along with it's co...
That makes sense. They don't know us, they don't know if they can trust us.
"You may ask questions now." Dawson says.
"How many of us do you estimate will be leaving?" A tall girls near the stage asks slowly and cautiously, like she doesn't really want the answer.
"Ah... a couple hundred."
"What?" A boy screeches. "There are only four hundred of us!"
"We know," Ms Dawson says. "But we only need the very best of you all."
I sigh audibly. I knew this would be tough, but I didn't realize just how tough. I'm not only competing for immortality, i'm competing just to stay here.
"Oh, and another thing. If you're found assaulting or sabotaging another of the chosen, you will immediately be eliminated." Her face becomes very serious, the smile gone completely. "We need accurate results. If you get someone who would be a good candidate kicked out... We will not be happy." It sounds almost like a threat, and sends chills down my spine.
Even though the thought of displeasing them scares me, I smile slightly. Knowing Clair, this will be nearly impossible for her. When she's threatened, she plays dirty; even over the stupidest things. I remember when she had joined gymnastics when we were younger, and I leveled up but she didn't. The next week she had tried to unscrew the balance beam, knowing I would be going first. She's gotten even worse since then, but also more obvious in her attacks against other people.
"We'll give you one week before we start testing you, before eliminations start. As long as you can get through this week without fights, you'll be fine. Have a great week, Chosen. Don't screw up," she says in completion of her speech, handing the mic to someone as she walks from the stage.
"This is going to be so easy," Melody chirps. I didn't even notice her walk up. "I love people."
I tilt my head to the side. "You're amazing."
"Because I like people?" She smiles, clearly amused.
"Yes. People are terrifying."
"People are annoying." Jen corrects me.
"Come on, be nice." I smirk.
"No. Let's go exploring."
*****
I walk absentmindedly through the halls, stopping every once in awhile to peak through open doorways. It's been a few hours since I went around exploring things with my friends. Now i'm going by myself, hoping that i'll be paying more attention to where things are. As I continue walking, I start to hear people yelling. The closer I get, the louder they get. I enter the huge room that they're in and see that about twenty people are crowded around something. I walk to the side and dodge in between people to see what's happening. Two boys and a girl are in the center, fighting. Actually, physically fighting; just hours after we were told that anything like this would not be tolerated.
I look around at everyone else and their wide eyes. No one is stopping the fight. They're just staring like shell-shocked idiots.
I swallow the lump in my throat and scream: "Stop it! Stop!" I'm about to try pulling them away from each other when someone grabs my waist. From the colour of his shirt, I see that he's an Eighteen. "Wha--"
"You can't. They'll think you were fighting too." He shakes his head to further emphasize his point.
I take a huge breath. Of course he's right. I can't risk it. "Thank you..." I realize I don't know his name.
"Jack." He catches on to my trailing off words.
"Thank you, Jack."
Before I can say anything further, two big uniformed guards walk in and pull the three away from each other. They look awful. Bloody lips, scratches all over the boys faces --no doubt from the girl-- and one has a black eye. They're escorted forcefully out the door while we all watch in shock.
And they're never coming back.
* * * * * Hey guys! Here's another rewritten chapter of Infinite, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm loving all your comments! It's always so great to read what someone hears about your work, so keep it up please. :P
What do you think happens when someone is eliminated? Interested to know what everyones opinions on that are!
