GLOBAL WARNING

chapter 7

The next test started the day after the plan was made. All they had to do was keep going without raising suspicion so that they can escape. This would be harder than thought but they all had each other to keep them sane.

Last night the trio stayed up for hours on end asking random questions to each other. You know the ones which don't tell you a lot but you just like to know the little details. This included favorite colour, favorite type of music, and even (if the person was still alive) who is your celebrity crush. Hope didn't know how to answer. She couldn't think of any boy she liked. She had never really been attracted to one before. Hope didn't think more of it so neither did the other two. They just took comfort in slowly finding out more and more about the two they were surrounded by.

The morning after proved hard for the three. Getting up early after the late night was a struggle and knowing they had to go straight for testing didn't help either. Today was the IAT. Time for the intelligence part to kick in. Tanya hasn't forgotten the events of yesterday, still scarred from the horror. She was determined today to prove herself to her peers. Show them what she is made of.

Queuing outside the hall was nerve-racking. Everyone was formally lined and in tip-top condition making the three with bed head, yawning the rest of the sleep away stick out like a whale in a swimming pool. Everything was so clean-cut and precise. The white walls glared into your mind, blinding it of your thoughts. That is all that happened here. Losing the will of individuality.

Going into the room with only the patters and squeaks of the shoes on the floor deafened your ears. The only thing to fill the room. Rows upon rows of computers laid out in the hall, all facing a humongous interactive board. All the computers were listed with each name of the army corresponding to them. Computer 1 Alison Amble. Computer two Jason Kenne...

Computer 14 Deshi Wang.

Computer 37 Tanya Holland.

Computer 78 Hope McClain.

Everyone took their seat staring straight forward. No one even flinched at the clash of the door closing. It seemed like everyone had been turned into a casing of nothing. The beep test must have a massive effect the day after. This theory proving right when the guards squinted at the only two girls to react to the loud noise that shouldn't have registered. Deshi knew how to act. He had been at the bunker so long he knew how to block everything out, which proved a good tactic to stop the government from getting within an inch of his mind. The computers flashed on filled with hundreds of quick-fire questions. Ready to go.

"You will answer every question. No skipping. No cheating. Whoever answers them all correctly in the quickest time will receive a reward." It wasn't anything special like the guard had said. It was only a jelly for dessert to praise obedience.

Frost was staring down the hall, his eyes once again landing on Tanya. The events previous today flashed back into my mind. The way he laughed at her and reduced her to dirt. An angered smirk appeared on her face that flowed discomfort through Frost's veins. He hadn't experienced someone trying to challenge him before. The alarm sounded and the quick bangs of the clashing keyboards enveloped the air. Everyone typing so quickly that steam could be streaming from their fingers. Tanya was on a roll. No mistakes were being made. Fifth teen questions down, four hundred and eighty-five to go.

Only ten more questions to go and Tanya had never felt so smug in her life. Just as she typed out the last letter of her answer a massive ring screeched through the hall. A message on the board filling the hall with the winner's name.

Ubeo Henderson.

What the hell! If only Tanya was a fraction quicker that would have been her but the flaring nostrils and straight lipped annoyance Frost emitted when her name appeared second satisfied nicely. She had proved herself in the army of three hundred. She wasn't to be messed with.

Deshi had soon followed after gaining the place of ninety-six which was admirable for the condition they were in, fighting two hundred odd people wasn't just a walk in the park. The test continued way into the day.

Only ten remained. Hope was looking defeated. Everyone else had left but Deshi and Tanya, who stayed for morale support despite the guards trying with every effort to usher them out. Nine more soldiers left leaving Hope surrounded by chairs. Glancing between the empty seat and computer screen a tear dropped from her eyes. The two went over to help her whilst the guards and frost started howling.

Intelligence Acquired Test.

Name: Hope McClain.

Time taken: four hours twenty minutes and thirty seconds.

Answers correct: one out of five hundred.

Seeing the girl break downplayed sympathy within the two. Even though Hope was good at fitness, she wasn't the smartest girl. Some of the choices she made didn't have any common sense but to practically see yourself be branded as dumb by a computer is hard-hitting.

Whilst the howling continued Tanya thought. She thought with her rank two out of three hundred brain, it must be good for something. Then the howling stopped. Tanya was sat down talking Hope through each question, slowly working through the answers.

"You can't do that ..." Frost bellowed only to be cut off by Deshi asking why. If one person knew the rules inside and out it was him. He stated that there was no rule forbidding an individual who had already completed the test from aiding another still working. After saying that the crew was speechless with anger as Deshi sat down with the two girls helping Hope get through it.

With this, it only took another half hour for all of the questions to be done and Hope's name to be showing on the screen. Straight after it had been shown the three were escorted to their room, staying there hidden from the others. The government couldn't have the mindset shown today infecting their guinea pigs. So they stayed locked away from the rest.

"Hope" Tanya whispered to be met with a soft reply of yes.

"It's okay you are amazing."

Deshi then chirped in with "It doesn't matter how long it took, you didn't give up and you got there. That is the next level of intelligence." This put a smile on the girl's face once again, her dark lips widening. The three hugged comforting and congratulating in the events of today.

At least now they only had to wait until after the next test to escape to freedom.

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HEY GUYS,

hope you enjoyed this as much as i did writing it. you can see the bond forming between the trios and i just love it. feel free to comment what you want to see the characters do to be themselves. if you havent already go follow me on insta for short stories and poems.

lots of love

winter <3