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Chapter One:
Something I have learnt was that you never know what you had until it's gone. When it's gone you feel a rush of adrenaline just before the pain hits you like a dagger stabbing into your chest, or a gun being continuously shot at you. You feel as if it will never end, as if you can't go on. But for some reason, I moved on, and I survived.
But surviving came at a cost. One I wasn't willing to pay. But I still did. But when I think back now, I don't think I would change it. Yes, there were still regrets about everything and I still cry myself to sleep at times. But that's expected.
What I went through . . . I couldn't wish that upon anyone.
It wasn't just horrific, it was everything. I walked through death, walked through heartbreak, I walked through betrayal, I walked through a city of ruins, I walked through unimaginable tests.
I survived against things you wouldn't even want to know. Things you couldn't even conjure up with your wildest imagination. But I still did.
But you want to know the worst of it all?
I only had one chance.
• • •
"World War II was the most widespread war in history, it directly involved more than one hundred million people from over thirty countries. The war lasted from September the first 1939 to September the second 1945 it although related conflicts that had begun before the actual war. During the six year war seventy three million people lost their lives being killed by rival countries." Mr Gretchen continued to elaborate on World War II but everything he said was a blur for me.
I stared out the window beside me into the empty courtyard where the trees swayed with the wind and leaves were rustled on the ground. It wasn't that sunny today. Everything was mostly grey because of the amount of clouds in the sky. It looked gloomy, like one of those days you wouldn't want to get out of bed.
It really is understandable for today to be gloomy, our lives are at fate for what is going to be decided later on, whether we will live, die, or even lose loved ones.
Mr Gretchen continued to ramble for the rest of the lesson about World War II and I tried paying attention to him but I just couldn't. I was tired and wanted to fall asleep, but when I tried doing so Gretchen had come up to my desk with a pile of books and slammed it beside my head making me shoot up like a rocket and where the class would usually laugh in hysteria to something like this everyone stayed silent.
Gretchen had asked if he was boring me like he does to every student who slightly drifts off, but I just told him no and he backed off reluctantly, even the teachers were on edge.
I hated how everyone was so weary today. Like one move could instantly strike problems which you wouldn't want to deal with.
Gretchen continued lecturing the class on World War II which wasn't really necessary anyways. He kept on pulling up his loose jeans that choked his chubby legs around the shins and thighs, yet was loose around his waist. He had a purple button down shirt tucked into his pants but didn't hide the beer gut which he beheld.
The bell finally rang as Gretchen was in mid word and caused me to escape from my thoughts as the whole class immediately left their seats rushing out to finally have lunch.
Although people rushed out of the classroom I knew they weren't hungry. It was more escaping the lecture waiting to come from Gretchen as he heaves for air as he screams drastically at us to complete the homework which definitely won't ever be seen again.
Not wanting to be the one to deal with the lecture, I quickly packed up my bag placing the ruined scratched up book that laid untouched on my desk into it and the pencil case which was just some old makeup bag from my older cousin that was only on the desk for show.
I headed out of the classroom on the second floor narrowly avoiding beer gut Gretchen, not bothering to wave or say a simple goodbye to Gretchen due to the lack of sleep I had gotten last night and the awaiting lecture.
But as I left the classroom I couldn't help to turn back when I saw Gretchen sitting at his desk, barely tucked into it as his gut wouldn't fully fit in. He had an expression of pure depression sitting on his face as he leant on his hands, his dark oily hair falling onto his forehead, darkness all around him.
I felt my chest tighten together as I watched him silently for a few seconds. He had never been the same since Gracie. Gracie was his niece who came to Redlake High a few years back. She moved in with her uncle Gretchen seeing as he was her only family left after the devastating death of her two parents.
She was all Gretchen had too, his wife had died along with Gracie's parents. If it wasn't for Gracie he would've lost himself an even longer time ago.
I could never forget the look on Gretchen's face as he watched Gracie die. He was completely stricken, tears streaming down his face and a blank look starting to form in his eyes.
He had lost his only family left to the Resdue.
Slowly, I turned around not wanting him to see me with the look of pity which I knew was on my face. I wouldn't want to cause him anymore pain.
Turning around where the chaos occurred, I began walking down the hallway narrowly avoiding the couple making out by the stainless steel lockers which had a large indent in, no doubt from some guy who was probably pissed and a guy with a pile of books stacked on top of the other which made it even taller than himself somehow.
It was when the stench of a football player for the school walked by when I heard the noise of the most annoying person ever screaming my name down the hall as if he was never going to see me again.
"Bryce!"
Not surprised, I turned around to find my best friend Soren making his way through the crowded hallway trying to get to me.
He sped towards me in his worn out orange Nike shirt, plain black shorts and signature Michael Jordan's which made a squeaky noise every time he stepped.
I remembered when he first saw them. We were walking towards the food court of the local shopping centre when we passed Rebel Sport where kids went to buy signature sporting clothes to try make themselves believe they were real athletes, when really they spend half their day sitting down after walking a few metres screaming about sweat.
Soren was beside me being his wacky self as I was ready to push him into the up coming pole which knew would make me laugh and him shut up. But just before we reached the pole, he stopped mid stride and stared in awe at the window that was presented before him.
The Michael Jordan's.
I swear the pupils in his eyes changed to the shape of the very shoes as he leaned into the glass and plastered his face onto it like a kid does at the ice cream parlour.
He bought them instantly.
But something that came with those shoes was the slippery sole surface and couldn't help but laugh as it came into action and he bumped into Ms Mae who was a short Chinese old woman who taught the Chinese class in our school. She turned towards him with the crooked red vein in her forehead and yelled at him in Chinese in front of the whole hallway.
No one knew what she was saying, but to say the least it was entertaining. I watched as she whacked him in the side with her oversized alligator skinned handbag and continued down the hallway, hobbling around students and yelling at the same making out couple which made me trail to the other side of the hallway.
Everyone laughed lightly at the sight of Soren rubbing his hand up and down his left side looking in pain, he always had been the one to be over dramatic and everyone knew. Nonetheless, he continued running full speed towards me with some crazy look in his eyes.
"Come on," whined Soren out of breath as he grabbed my arm roughly, "I'm hungry."
I rolled my eyes as he started pulling me down the hallway towards the stairs which lead to the courtyard where we sat.
He bumped into a few people on the way all the while dragging me and didn't bother apologising to half of them which led me to do the job of whispering sorry's. But I couldn't help the smile that slowly crept onto my face because of Soren's usual behaviour.
Soren is my best friend and has been forever, having light blonde hair that was cropped short and had bright hazel eyes that sparkled when excited. We first met when we were five years old and him and his family had moved in next door to which was a white little cottage that had been empty for two years since the neighbours eldest son had died in a terrible car accident and moved away.
I was playing in the front yard with my elder brother Daniel when I had accidentally chucked the ball into Soren's front yard which he somehow happened to be at the exact spot. Soren came next door travelling through the bushes on the side not bothering to go around and onto the footpath and he handed back the ball with the bowl cut which he cussed his mum for giving him as I always tease him about it.
We invited him to play with us and since then there was a click between us and we both instantly knew we were meant to be best friends.
Soren continued dragging me not caring about the people he pushed aside, until we were finally outside and the clouds in the sky had started to clear slightly having rays of sunlight radiate parts of the courtyard.
The courtyard was some large space at the back of the school which was covered in freshly laid out grass. The vivid green grass was cut short as usual and you could tell that Gary the school's keeper had recently ridden his little beat up red mowing truck, cutting the lawn to the short length it was now.
The court was covered with groups sitting on pure recycled wooden tables which were made by the workshop class as a major assignment. The wood was barely rotting and had the look of ease and naturalist in the courtyards environment.
Originally, before the courtyard was put together, an older infrastructure which was known as the school's ancient grey stone building had collapsed years ago, so the school decided to invest in some nice area then waste money on a larger building which was barely used.
Soren finally let go of my arm as I stared at the green grass, breathing in the scent of it, and continued to walk to our table where sat another two of our close friends, Harriet and Sandra.
Harriet and Sandra are close friends of mine and Soren's being friends with us since the start of high school.
Harriet is the perky one of the group, always being very cheerful and being the most optimistic person you have ever met. She always tries to make sure we have a good time and can be very energetic.
Sandra is pretty much the opposite of Harriet, Sandra is more down to earth and is very realistic being very pessimistic but all in all is still a good friend. Despite these qualities, Harriet and Sandra somehow work, I think it has to do with there split personalities that balances them out.
Harriet tied up her long blonde hair in a high ponytail when we approached them and she smiled at us and waved taking off her black jacket that revealed the bright pink shirt she wore underneath.
Sandra was sitting across one of the benches lounging her legs across it and was on her phone typing frantically.
Soren and I sat on the two last seats and opened our bags bringing out the food that we had packed, mine being the left overs of dad's slightly burned, but amazing lasagne before starting to eat.
"Did you hear? Thalia was caught in the locker room with Lanny Lade, and Jake, her boyfriend! Is the one who caught her!" Harriet exclaimed looking at us with a crazy look in her eyes, the one whenever she had heard new gossip.
"So, who cares?" Sandra replied barely glancing up from her phone before looking back down and started to continuously poke it again.
"What do you mean who cares?" Questioned Harriet completely confused her eyebrows furrowed together. "This is a big deal!" Harriet then turned to Soren and I expectedly to come to her rescue.
"Oh what a dog," said Soren at the same time as I said that it was a shame.
Harriet frowned at us but nonetheless shrugged it off.
"Well Jake dumped Thalia's ass and apparently she begged him to take her back," Harriet nodded knowingly and bit into her ripe red apple.
"Obviously that was a lie," I said, "she probably had another two side bitches other than Lanny."
Harriet gasped in surprise as she also liked to be the one who thought we were ten year olds and believed cussing was a major crime. "Bryce! What did I say about swearing," She proceeded to hit my arm which really annoyed me whenever she did, but nonetheless I rolled my eyes in response and went to eat the mandarin that I had just peeled.
"Anyways ladies, who do you think is going to get chosen?" Soren asked and everyone fell silent in thought, even Sandra turned her phone off and tucked it into her black leather jacket pocket.
The four of us sat in silence for about a minute and in that minute we had all revolved in a very tense atmosphere.
"I don't know," I concluded watching Harriet wring her hands together as Soren diverted his eyes every time I tried to look at him. Sandra was bobbing her leg up and down under the table which was quite obvious by the way the table vibrated in movement. Over the years I had picked up that these were what they did when they were nervous or didn't know what to do.
"Do we even want to know? It's practically suicide!" Harriet frowned and continued to wring her hands together.
Soren opened his mouth looking like he was about to reply when the bell rang signalling that it was time. Time to head down to the gym where the official assembly was being placed.
We silently packed up our things and turned to make our way to the front of the school where the four of us were suppose to help escort families to the gym if they didn't know where to go.
We walked around the main building and watched everyone making their way to the gym, their heads hung low and huddled in close groups like penguins seeking warmth.
The mail building was entirely made of bricks and had windows on all three floors which weren't see through but an actual mirror that projected the gloomy sky as the sun was yet again hidden by clouds.
By the time we were at the front many people had stood some looking around in confusion, but most people knew where the gym was because of many previous years but there was always some who didn't bother showing up or are even just new.
Soren, Harriet, Sandra and I all decided to split up where Soren and I would go together and Harriet and Sandra were together. Soren and I started to escort families to the gym and we were currently on our fifth return to the front.
"I hate how we do this," Soren sighed and looked at me slightly irritated.
"We really don't have a choice," he said exasperated since we always go over this every year.
"It's not fair," I declared, "people die every year, for what, to control population?"
Soren shook his head and put his hand on his forehead dragging it down his face slowly, tiredly. He then ran his hand through his light cropped hair which glisten in the very few rays of sunlight we got and looked at me with defeat in his eyes.
"Bryce, there isn't anything we can do, we can only do what we are told."
He seemed to tell me this every time and I couldn't help but feel annoyed. But like always I brushed it off and tried to think of something else. Anything else to get my mind off of what was running through it.
After that we walked in silence and escorted the rest of the families over as did some other students helping out.
As we were doing one of our last rounds I saw a mother who looked very familiar with three boys and a daughter. The second youngest was talking when all of a sudden his foot twisted on the ground which caused him to stop and scream out in pain screaming shit along with it. The mother looked very angry and turned towards him hitting his arm and told him not to say any bad words. His elder brothers laughed at him and ruffled his hair as the mother stormed off with her daughter. As they did so, I couldn't help the hint of a smile that suddenly graced my lips.
We were doing our last round to the front to make sure that everyone was in the gym when I saw a familiar flop of hair being shaken around. The familiar flop of hair charged towards me where he finally reached me and I was knocked slightly backwards.
"Hi Bryce!" Said a small voice and I looked down to see my younger seven year old brother Thomas at my waist hugging me. He smiled brightly and showed off his two new front teeth which had just recently grew. He was wearing his school uniform which was black shorts and a blue shirt with the school logo Jeiville Public. His light brown hair was whipped across his face as the wind suddenly blew harshly from our right.
"Hey Tommy," said a voice to my left and I saw Soren standing there grinning at the sight of him. "Aren't you gonna give me a hug?"
Thomas immediately let go of my leg and hugged Soren. He eventually let go as our mother called out to him.
"Thomas! You should not run off like that!" She lectured him giving him the mother glare. Thomas simply shrugged his shoulders dismissing what she had said and turned towards me with another grin on his face.
"Guess who made the soccer team today?" He questioned giddily and I pretended to think about it scratching my chin.
"Hmm, I don't know, Tyson Riot?" I replied knowing that it would tick him off.
"Ew! Of course not, he is such a prick!" Thomas exclaimed and mother looked at him horrified at what he had just said.
"I did!" He smiled goofily and I smiled back at him, "nice Tommy!"
"Where did you learn that word Thomas?" Soren asked smiling lopsidedly and Thomas put his finger on his chin as he thought.
"Daniel," he said.
Just as he said that Daniel himself decided to appear along with dad.
"Sorry we are late, there was traffic," said Daniel as he came up to us and he gave me a hug and kissed my forehead before turning to Mum and doing the same thing.
Daniel is my older brother, just turned twenty and can be either very mature or just a very immature eight year old. He is quite tall reaching about five inches over my 5"7 height and has dark brown hair like mine but was pushed to the side and blue eye that shone almost identically as Thomas's and I's.
He gave us a grin playing with his hair while mum stared at him with anger in her eyes.
"What did I tell you about swearing in front of Thomas?"
Daniel looked like a deer caught in headlights and looked down guiltily.
"Sorry?" He replied but made it sound more like a question.
Mum just shook her head and gave dad a light peck on his lips making everyone turn away groaning and dad let out a hearty laugh.
"Come on, let's get inside."
Everyone then made their way to the gym and when we arrived we were to all find seats. Parents and family were to sit in the back while students were to sit in the front. Originally families and students could sit together for this occasion, but after previous years we were advised not to because of the disruptions that had occurred.
The gym was big, made for an inside basketball court, it had bleachers on the sides and also had fit another basketball court sized section next to the basketball court but didn't have any of that.
Usually the gym would be seen as big and you couldn't blame it with its size. But looking at it right now it didn't seem big enough. Families were packed everywhere. There were people on the bleachers and even seats set out all throughout the basketball court and empty section of the hall, yet it had barely any seating room anywhere. There were even families and some staff standing around trying to make themselves comfortable.
Soren, my family and I looked for seats for my family to sit when we were lucky enough to find about a section with ten seats not occupied.
Mum, dad, and my younger and older brother sat down when all of a sudden they were joined by my other four cousins that showed up out of nowhere, Fin, Greyson, Colton and Ruby. Fin and Greyson were brothers from my mum's sister as Colton and Ruby were twins from dads side. We were all very close family and always hung out together.
"Hey guys," smiled Fin slouching back in his chair with the carefree attitude he always had on. He blew some of his golden hair that was in his eyes and gave us a toothy grin.
Greyson next to him had sat down but sat with more decency than his irritable younger brother, "sorry we are late." He said.
Colton and Ruby sat in the row in front because there were not enough seats and Ruby propped her legs on Colton's lap like always. Ruby brushed back her gorgeous raven black hair over her shoulders and gave Soren and I a smile.
"Hey guys," Ruby said and looked slightly flushed before looking down again. Ruby has always had a crush on Soren and whenever she was around him she would always get flushed. A simple hi from him would make her blush for hours. At first when I asked her about it she denied it until about an hour later she full on admitted to it. Since then I have been trying to get the two of them to go out together.
Soren smiled at her, "Hey Rubes."
I could see Ruby faintly blushing as she hid behind her long hair at his nickname for her and I couldn't help but laugh.
Colton looked slightly confused and slightly angry at Soren since he was one of those, 'slightly' overprotective brothers. But really he is full overblown protective.
"Soren," he warned looking at him and Soren put his hands up in defense.
"I didn't do anything," Soren said looking confused but was obviously an act.
Colton grinder his teeth and clenched his jaw when mum found it a great time to but in.
"You kids should go get seats now."
Soren and I nodded and we went a few rows ahead of them where the back of the students sat. We found two seats and both sat in them when the lights started to dim and our school principle along with the town's official had walked onto the stage.
"Good morning guests, families, staff and students, I would like to greet you all and thank you for coming today to Redlake High where we have one of the country's biggest events." Greeted Mr Rogers our principal.
"We are all gathered here today to find out who has been—" Rogers stopped for a bit, noticeably swallowing before continuing, "chose... elected to participate in this years annual Resdue test."
The Resdue test has been occurring for the last thirty years. The Resdue test was basically an acronym for death test. Although it's true meaning is: Remonstrance, Examination, Shibboleth, Determination, Undertake, Elimination. This meant; a forcefully reproachable protest to examine someone from a particular group to find if they belong in society through determining people to undertake a test of elimination.
Our country has become so over populated that our government has had it in himself to declare a new rule where two students from each individual high school in the years either eleven or twelve are picked out by the principle to be sent into the games.
This started to control our countries population after the government of all countries lost control of society. Because of this and the example of the hooligans who had basically encouraged this test caused over one hundred thousand kids to die each year, after thirty years we have lost up to at least three million worth of people.
The games work by you and your partner actually having to rely on each other. With the first few rounds if one half of the partner cannot accomplish something, both are killed. Every few days, a new challenge is thrown out unexpectedly to the teams, when it comes further on in the competition, you don't get killed if you fail, it's either you succeed because you are smart, or you die trying in the test you are in.
Resdue is horrifying. Everyone around our whole country must watch them, they say it's for moral support but I think it's so everyone knows that it isn't just some silly game. By must watch it, you don't really get a choice, it's mandatory by law to watch. Usually for our area everyone comes to our high school to watch it because the families are always here cheering on there loved ones along with close friends, family and the entire town.
If you manage to make it to the end then the next year your school doesn't have to compete, usually only two thousand, even less survive out of over one hundred thousand.
I remember the first time I had ever watched the testing games which was when I was four years old. Since it was mandatory by law, I had to watch it despite how young I was.
There were two kids going through a series of challenges when all of a sudden when the guy was walking across a wooden bridge which was over a ravine when a wild dog of some sort had charged at him and jumped on him ripping a chunk of flesh off his shoulder and pushed him over the bridge where it showed him falling and him hitting the ground, dying.
It looked like something out of a movie. It was so graphical, you could see his bones sticking out of his skin bloodied, his body bruised and literally was splat on the ground. Since then that was the most horrifying thing I had ever seen and from previous years I had seen many indescribable images.
Because of the image I had saw at four, every night after that I couldn't sleep because of fear and every time I shut my eyes, I could see the lifelessness in the guys eyes and heard the distraught screaming of the girl who was his partner.
She ended up dying the next day.
"We now have a video that has been made by the government to be played for you." Roger said grimly and turned around opening the plugged USB into the projector and someone dimmed the lights when everyone turned to the front which was where the light was being illuminated.
The screen then showed a landscape being filmed and a voice over was heard.
"Our land, peaceful and quite, until our world had became too crowded." The screen split into a new scene of one of our many cities with many people walking around. "Our country became over populated and we had no control over our society. Our world was becoming over populated and it isn't a good thing."
The screen split again two where it was showing video footage of what looked like a security camera and there was a black and white screen with a street brawl starting.
"Male, Female, friend or foe all against each other, fighting over silly things, the most ridiculous." The street brawl lashed out and everyone was chucking things at each other, chairs, tables and there were fists flying everywhere.
"This is an outrage! Our country has been breeding and reproducing and we haven't done anything about it!" The screen had split to our government, Vincent Hughes from thirty years ago, and the screen had shown women giving birth and our population slowly rising.
"Hooligans were the cause of this. They pushed to the limits which should not have been reached and had doomed cities worth of lives. They burned down orphanages and foster homes claiming that they were unnecessary to the economy and had also knocked buildings to the ground as a sign of rebellion to the nation.
"This has gotten too out of control and we are now going to fix this where it should of been prevented years ago!" Shouted Hughes.
The screen showed a new video of tens of thousands of kids standing in pairs and the camera zoomed on some faces.
"A new order had been breached that two kids from either year eleven or twelve will compete in a test bigger than all tests. Resdue. To find who is the smartest compared to the latter and they will fight a series of events to succeed. If they don't, they are eliminated. Our society will be back with an understandable population and we will have only the smartest survive.
"The principle and teachers from each school will decide who goes in. For fairness, and their hope on picking two students who are able to complete this challenge."
The screen showed previous games where a girl had died from being shot through the heart, and only about a thousand coming out victorious.
"With our new system, new life, we will live happily, we will live victorious, we will live better, we will live a new life."
The lights turned back on which made everyone blink continuously from the darkness and I even heard a few people in the front groan.
The projector was wheeled away, the wheels squeaking and Roger stepped up onto the podium which was placed into the gym and everyone fell silent. You could only here his footsteps which were loud and clear when he walked to the centre of the makeshift stage.
My heart was beating ferociously against my chest and it was a wonder how I hadn't passed out.
It was horrible how they seem that the test was a game. They say kids were eliminated when in reality meant that they were killed. Instead of easily ordering a firing squad to rage into a school of major building to shoot everyone dead, they cause so much more trauma in a horrible situation.
Roger cleared his throat even though it wasn't necessary because he already had everyone's attention.
Even Garret Hays didn't call out something ridiculous just to spite Roger.
"The thing I hate most about having this job as the principal . . ." He stopped and looked around pulling at the collar of his shirt. Everything was quite and everyone was leaning at the edge of their seats waiting to hear what he had to say next.
"Is having to make this decision."