The Farm

Chapter 4

"No!" Was the first word to come out of her mouth as she finally woke. She began to ball, "Not this, not again."

She was surrounded by four cellar walls, but this cellar was different. The air was staler and it was longer with a ceiling leaving only enough room to crouch. There were five others one to her left four to her right all chained to the wall just as she was.

"No! No-No-No-No-No," She was screaming now

"Hey, would you mind keeping it down just a bit," the voice came from a spiky, black haired kid to her right, directly next to her. His voice was dry and harsh but not for the sake of cruelty the harshness was bred from tiredness. It wasn't tiredness in the traditional sense. This tiredness was a result of a miserable existence, everything he had been through up to this point, like maybe he had had a taste of hope right before it was kicked out of him. With only a few words Kiran understood his life story and was instantly depressed by how much it reflected her own. "You're not the only one that doesn't want to be here you know," he continued. The other kids in the chamber began to stir. "Great now you've gone and woken the rest of them."

"And what's wrong with that," Kiran asked genuinely confused and still disoriented by her new situation.

He breathed a sullen sigh, "Wait for it."

As each of them woke up they began to scream and shake and convulse in fear. Watching these people, people just like her, in her situation, show so much fear, fear reminiscent of the fear she was experiencing herself was in its own way much more terrifying than actually being there herself.

Kiran didn't want to cry but she could feel the pressure of hot tears welling up under her eyelids. Just as the tears were ready to ease their way out. The ceiling directly above them raised away on a motorized hinge clattering against the wall behind it which it was now laying flatly against. Kiran watched as some of the kids, obviously still possessing a hope that had long since escaped her, tried to leap from their cage only to realize that they were chained to this floor.

"Nice little try there. Loving the enthusiasm. It's going to be great for this year's hunt." The voice was cool, and level, but undeniably sadistic, and echoing all around them.

Just then the floor underneath theme began to raise, elevating all of them as it came into level with the room above. They were in a sub-terranean environment. The room was large with shear face stone walls. There were tiny rectangular openings in the walls maybe ten feet above. Through them came rays of natural sunlight as well as sand which thickly layered the floor around them. There were multiple tunnels opening into this room but none of them seemed to be as well-lit as the room was.

"Alright contenders, I suggest you listen up for this year's rules," It was that voice again, "In this game there are two factions: Prey and Hunters. You eager bunch are the prey. Your objective is simple, survive." Kiran's heart rate elevated at the sound of that. Survive? Kiran wasn't really sure she wanted to know what that meant, but she had no doubt he was more than willing to explain. "Survive what, you might ask," he continued, "Well evenly scattered through these catacombs are your hunters, each of which will be doing their damnedest to kill at least three of you tonight for the sake of their lives. Now simply hiding from them until this time tomorrow won't be enough to ensure you make it out alive. We wouldn't dream of making it that easy for you."

"Of course not," she barely heard the guy next to her mutter under his breath.

"If you'd all take a look at your right middle finger you'll notice a silver ring," everyone except the boy next to her turned to look at their hands. Sure enough they all found a thick but plain silvery band around their fingers. "Don't worry. They mean nothing. Unless, of course, you don't manage to kill one hunter before the end of the night. Then they'll release a deadly toxin into your veins and you'll die a fairly unpleasant death." He said it so nonchalantly, "Oh, and don't think about trying to take the rings off the poison is released through a chip under your skin not the ring itself and tampering with it is a sure fire way to get you an early death. Now that I think I've covered all the basics let's move on to your abilities, or rather why none of you have been able to use them. The rings also serve as inhibitors. Once you leave the room they'll cease to hinder any of your abilities."

"What the hell are they talking about?" Kiran, obviously a bit shaken, whispered to the guy next to her.

"What the hell do you mean, 'what they hell are they talking about?' Your powers, your abilities. You know the ones they've spent most of your life trying to cultivate for this moment right here."

'Well that was helpful,' Kiran thought to herself sarcastically. She still had no idea what any of that meant, but this guy seemed to know a lot more than she did. She had no idea what was going on but if this really was a matter of life or death she felt it might be best to stick with the smarter guy in the room. With that thought the shackles undid themselves and the announcer spoke his final words to them, "Have fun, kids."

With that everyone got up and began to flee the room all of them chasing after a different tunnel. Kiran on the other hand already knew she had no chance if she did this on her own she needed someone on her side and there was only one person she'd talked to enough already to know he knew a thing or two. Kiran searched for the boy that had been sitting next to her and immediately bolted after him.