Let's Start A Riot

Chapter Twenty-Five - Just A Number

After Agent Hartley leaves, we return to cleaning in silence, getting on with our tasks until finally, around sunrise, we finish up and leave the mess hall in pristine condition. We walk back to the cabin, all exhausted, and lie down to catch an hour's sleep before we need to be up for training.

I don't even bother stripping out of the uniform I have on, don't bother kicking off my boots. I just flop on my bed and close my eyes, hoping for sleep to drag me into its depths before I begin overthinking Hartley's conversation with me as I have been doing since he left.

With luck seemingly on my side, as soon as my head touches the pillow, it's lights out and I fall into a dreamless sleep.

Not so lucky, it feels as though only a moment has passed before I am woken by the shrill of a siren.

I jolt awake, my mind careening back to the memory of my first sleep at camp and the sound of that siren. I quickly shake off the memory and jump off the bed, glad for my laziness of staying in my clothes and grab the hunter's knife from my bedside drawer. I yank open my door and race into the hallway, coming to a halt at the gathering at the front door.

Sarah, Hugo, and Marcus stand in front of the door in a huddle, and I join them. Marcus is holding an official letter, and he reads it aloud, raising his voice above the noise of the sirens. "Candidates, this is not another hostage situation, but the first official test in the newly implemented squad rankings. You are tasked with making it to a rendezvous point before your peers by following the mapped route provided, with the following three items in hand; your personal hunters knife, an item that best symbolises your unique talent, and the victim that you must pick up on your way to the rendezvous point.

"These will be evaluated at your arrival at the rendezvous point and a final score will be given from your instructors that will determine your place in the squad rankings. You have ten minutes from when the siren first sounds to gather any supplies you may need for the day ahead – as this is just the first task of today – before soldiers will raid your cabin. If any member of your squad is captured, the squad is immediately eliminated and will receive no score for this first task. You have four hours from when the siren first sounds to reach your rendezvous point with the three listed items, if you do not make it, or each member does not have their two personal items as well as the victim, the squad is immediately eliminated and will receive no score for this first task. Instructions for the next task will be received upon arrival at the rendezvous point." Marcus finishes the letter and tucks it into his pocket along with the map he had picked up with it, glancing at his watch.

"It has already been four minutes since the siren began, you have four minutes to grab everything you need and put it into your bergen before we leave, do not forget your knife or the representational item." He states and turns on his heel, striding toward his room.

The rest of us follow suit, rushing into our respective rooms to grab our things. I pull my bergen from under my bed, immediately stuffing spare clothes into one of the waterproof dry bags, rolling it up tight. I secure my hunters knife with the strap to my right leg, my only weapon. I chew my lip as I try to figure out what to take as my item to symbolise my unique talent. From what Hartley told me, they believe I have no talent. So, what the hell am I supposed to bring?

I waste a whole, precious minute fretting about it, before I throw the item in my bergen and hope for the best. I rush out of my room and into the kitchen with my two water bottles, finding Hugo chucking food into his bergen.

I fill up my water bottles and place one inside my bergen, the other attaching to a clip on my belt. I also reach up into one of the cupboards and grab as many protein bars and bags of nuts and fruit as I can hold, putting a couple in my cargo trouser pockets, stuffing the rest in my bergen.