Monster

Chapter 3: Squad 2-7

Lhen

            I woke up to a weird ringing. I looked over at my bookshelf and saw the device I placed there was vibrating and making sounds. As tired as I was yesterday, thoughts kept me up all night, I was still overly excited to attend my first day at the P.R.I.

            I looked at the vibrating device and saw the word "Stop" on the screen. I decided to press it and the device stopped beeping.

            I went over to my basket with my clothes. Was I supposed to wear training clothes or casual clothes for breakfast? I am going to training afterward...I guess the most logical outfit would be my training outfit. Putting that on, I was surprised that the black, full-body suit was a perfect fit. I took a long time to get dressed, I could tell, but decided to think about the training outfit instead. They must've measured and tailored after my physical. The suit was long-sleeved and had a long turtle neck that stretched up to just under my chin. I looked at myself in the mirror. All set.

            I looked at the device they gave me. The guide said I could strap this thing to a belt. I then put the belt (that had been under my training clothes) on my waist and strapped the device on, I might need this.

            I looked down and saw that I could read the time on this little device even though it was strapped on my waist. Seeing that it was already 8:47, I cursed myself and hurriedly put the shoes that were provided for me without time to admire them at all. I was surely going to be late for class. I need to wake up sooner.

            I took a quick glance at the floor plan posted on my wall before speed walking (or walking my natural pace, just a bit faster) down to the cafeteria. There were a few other students still there, some were eating, some were socializing. I went over to a long metal counter with food.

            Looking up, I could practically feel my mouth water at the sight of food on this tray. There were eggs, and hash browns, and bacon! After pulling myself together, I grabbed a tray, which was surprisingly warm, and scarfed down as much as I could. That ended up being one egg, and a small portion of hash browns. I guess my stomach is used to eating so little and only once a day... I drank as much water as I could, without getting myself sick, and felt the thirst-quenching liquid as it coursed through me with an icy chill. I looked around for a trash can and put the leftover food there. I looked at the time and saw that it was 8:54. Good, I have a little bit of time to head to Session 1.

            I grabbed the device on my waist and saw that there was a red marker on the floor plan saying "Session Grounds 2." It was on the fifth floor. I looked at the elevator. I hoped there wouldn't be too many people there, that's my fastest route. I speed walked over to the elevator and five excruciating seconds later, the doors opened up and I clambered in and pressed the button with the number "5" on it.

            When the elevator opened up, I hastily started following the map on my device while checking the time every now and then. 8:56. I can do this! I turned one more corner and saw the door I was to go through.

            I walked through the door as soon as the time changed to 8:57 and straight into a room that was rounded to match the outside wall's circular shape. The whole outside wall was windows while the floor had mats and workout devices. There was a little chamber that actually wasn't little at all. There was thick glass lining the perimeter of the hexagon-shaped chamber and it was about twenty feet wide. The room was way bigger than that though. Inside the room, there were four people sitting in chairs and an unnerving man standing behind them. He was staring at me.

            When the people had heard the door click open and closed, their heads shot up to look at the stranger who had just entered their session room. I stood there not saying a word.