Blue

A Drop in the Ocean

Adam and Curtis were not permitted into the rooms that the Ensigns used to track the frenzy, since they had never been on a Hunt and were the most recent Ensigns.

That is, until they found the frenzy.

Life–if Adam's feverish training schedule could be called that–was progressing as normal until then; waking, training, sleeping. He really couldn't afford to concentrate on anything but not getting his ass handed to him, especially now that Fabayo had him training with Anton. Anton had some tricky, dirty little moves that had almost certainly preserved his life over the many Hunts he had survived through, which meant that training with him equaled quite a few cuts and humiliating losses, and as Adam walked with Curtis towards the training grounds, he was going over the last few losses in his head, not particularly paying attention to where he was going, when Curtis suddenly stopped walking. Adam froze too, confused. The two of them didn't have the energy to speak to each other in their short walks to the training ground, so it wasn't like Curtis was offended that Adam wasn't paying attention, or something. Curtis jostled his shoulder lightly, nudging Adam forward just slightly enough that Adam knew to look forward.

Anton was standing before the door, the other Ensigns clustered around him. They were all signing excitedly, making the group of them a waving sea of fingers, hands and arms. Adam didn't bother with the movements of the other Ensigns. Just Anton.

'Calm down, calm down.' Anton lifted his hands into the air. The hands around him stilled.

'There will be no training today. I have great, great news. We've located the frenzy,' Anton said. 'Go, warn the trainees.'

They had located the frenzy? All of this time spent training, with Fabayo, with Anton, it had all built for this moment. And yet, Adam couldn't shake the unease in his stomach, sputtering, clicking, and crawling; a hundred cockroaches of unworthiness. He wasn't ready. He wasn't ready.

It didn't matter how he felt. He had to be ready.

Two Ensigns with armbands peeled off from the group and headed in the direction of the trainee side of the bunker. He could almost see the trainees in his mind. Whooping, hollering, raucous. They were going to gather in the mess hall and, like Alvaro before him, he was going to choose someone to take his place once he died. The unease in his stomach skittered around, its hundred legs pressing and brushing against his stomach lining. He didn't want to choose anyone.

Curtis nudged his shoulder into Adam's, "He wants us to follow him to the rooms where they track the frenzy. They're going to show us how they do it. It's a pre-Hunt ritual. To make sure the knowledge isn't lost.'

Adam nodded. 'Come on,' he told Curtis. They followed the Ensigns down the hall.

Anton walked backwards down the hall, his steps completely sure as he spoke.

'We have three rooms that can be used to track down the frenzy's movement. One of them, the science one, uses their past movements and math in order to track where they could statistically land next. That one's never been my thing, but I know a few of you would excel at that. Io, Curtis, Khalil, Pepper, follow Mohammed into that room. He'll let you know how we go about that. Great. Keep walking. The second room attempts to track heat signatures. This is an iffy room. It's rarely used. Mostly luck, if you ask me. It also uses the same thing as the third room, but Fabayo will tell you all about that once you're in there. Natalie, Gunnar, Vanessa, Yael. Follow Fabayo. And finally, Adam. Come with me.'

He led Adam into the final room, which was mostly empty. An Ensign that Adam had yet to learn the name of was glued to a wide screen, his eyes not moving off of it even as they walked into the room.