No Sleep

Prologue

A gust of wind smacked Xander in the face as the door slammed in front of him. He was tracking right behind the other boy entering the Ini Administrative Facility, and the boy certainly did see Xander, but the boy let the door close behind him nonetheless. Xander clenched his jaw and hoisted the door open.

He sniffed in the crisp, cool air of the establishment. It was a spacious building with natural lighting streaming through its huge windows. Men and women in decorated uniforms walked with no regard for whoever was in their way, including Xander. He was sure to get out of their way as quickly as possible.

The woman at the reception desk tilted her head when she saw Xander.

"Hello!" she chirped.

"Hi," Xander said. "I'm here for placement? For the Ini Corps training?"

"Mhm. May I see your admission papers?" Xander placed his papers into her hand. She read over the form, looked at him, raised her eyebrow, re-read the form, looked at him again, and handed the form back.

"Did you find it here alright, Alexander?" She asked as she put a checkmark next to his name on her tablet.

"Uh, yep. Yep. Why?"

"You're gonna go to your left into room 135. You're not last, and you're not late, but I advise you hurry."

Xander looked at the huge clock behind the reception desk. He was about 30 minutes earlier than the time listed on the instructions, but he still briskly thanked her and scurried away People in the facility scrunched their faces at Xander as he powerwalked to the room.

The room was filled with teenagers around his age. There were only two seats left, so he realized what the reception lady was trying to say. He took the second to last seat and exhaled. His leg bounced as he surveyed the room. Everyone looked like they were made of pure muscle, or pure metal even. His arm was a twig compared to the brute next to him. The boy who didn't hold the door open for Xander was a few people up in the row somehow. Xander assumed he let the door close because he was simply in a rush, no disrespect intended.

A large, bearded man called a name out of a door in the back of the room. The kid in the first seat hopped up and marched in after the bearded man. One after the other, kids were called in but never came back into the room. There was an equal amount of time in between who was called in that made Xander wonder if there was a specific timeframe the spent in there. It could've been an hour. It could've been five minutes. Either way, his leg still bounced like it was counting down the seconds to his name.

As his row began to file out, a short, stocky girl rushed into the room. She had a prominent pout and strong eyebrows, and she sat down next to Xander in heavy breaths. A locket fell out of her pocket next to Xander's foot. He picked it up and read the name Ulva engraved in it before the girl snatched it out of his hand. The girl mumbled an apology after a few seconds.

Before he could accept her apology, his name was called. He smiled at her as he walked to the bearded man. The other room had a single desk and chair in it. Xander looked at the bearded man, who nodded towards the desk, and sat down in the chair.

"All ya need to do for me," the bearded man started, "is fill out this here questionnaire. You only have a minute ta fill it all, so don't overwork the gears in ya brain."

Xander slid the tablet towards him and glanced over the page. Was his placement based on these ten questions? He shrugged and filled out the questionnaire as fast as he could. The questions were general, and he agreed with most of them, but his stylus hovered over the last two. He filled in his honest response:

The government should take any risk in order to advance the military.

○ Strongly Disagree

○ Disagree Somewhat

○ Neutral

● Agree Somewhat

○ Strongly Agree

I am willing to take any risk in order to advance the military.

○ Strongly Disagree

○ Disagree Somewhat

● Neutral

○ Agree Somewhat

○ Strongly Agree

The tablet submitted the form automatically at the one minute mark. Xander tapped his fingers on the desk as the bearded man examined his admission form.

"Alexander Long?" the bearded man said as he looked down on Xander.

"Yes, sir," Xander answered.

"Son of Kaden Long?"

"Yes, Mr. . . ." Xander trailed off as he squinted at the man's name tag, "Gennaro."

"You got awful fat shoes to fill, boy."