Unexpectations (Five Realms Series # 1 )

Chapter 2: First Day

I fiddled with the pendant on the necklace. The first time I had left my room after Shira's death, I'd spent an hour working out, only to return to find this on my bed. It hadn't been there before. My curiosity inflated like a balloon. However, there was no note whatsoever to tell me who put it there and why.

Today was the first day of the competition, I was waiting for my turn to come when they did the health checks. So far, I see about 15 women and 50 men, ages running from eighteen to forty. I was the thirty-ninth person to get their check-up, and the cue number was at thirty-eight. Nearly your turn, I repeated in my head, trying to calm my instincts that were on a higher alert than they ever had been before. I was nervous, I mean, a man was found to be sick with the flu that's going around even though he didn't show any symptoms. What if I had to wait another year? I wouldn't be able to live with myself. It was no secret that I wasn't a patient person.

"Number thirty-nine,"' a woman in a white dress called out.

As I walked to the door, a series of cat-calls followed me. Whistling erupted and someone decided to end his life and call out, "Boy would I love to be working with you," with a flirtatious wink.

 I schooled my expression, and turned around, giving everyone who met my gaze an enormous death glare. They shut up pretty quickly at that. Spineless morons.

I had already made up my mind when I decided not to let anything, and I mean anything, distract me from this competition.

I sat down in the largely empty room, and after a few minutes, a guy with a white face mask appeared. He was holding a ridiculously large needle. I had a slight phobia of those things, which Carter often teased me about, but at that moment I just sucked it up and held in a breath as the needle was plunged into my skin. I wanted to scream in pain since it really did hurt but I managed to keep my cool.

After another few minutes of them examining computers and microscopes, the woman in the white dress gave me a key card and my room number.

"This is where you will be staying. If you lose your key, you won't get another one," she warned sternly.

Inside the room was an ordinary bed with a desk nearby. Not long ago, I had learned that all the women had to share a bathroom while all the men were separated and shared three. I looked into the hallway and debated whether to go and shower.

If I do, I have to be extra careful. Over here, it's every woman for herself- just because I'd like a female to accompany me as I cross the finish line doesn't mean I won't hesitate to kill one of them if it comes right down to it. I don't think they'll extend that same courtesy to me either.

That meant that I couldn't show any signs of weaknesses they would be looking for. I needed to act cool and calm and not give anything away. I grabbed my towel and necessities and walked into the bathroom. To my relief, there was no one else there. I quickly got into one of the stalls, trying my best to just get it over with.