Experiment VII

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Test

     A deafening alarm suddenly blares throughout the room making me wince. The intense noise sends panic over me. My eyes dart around trying to find the source of the blaring noise. They soon land on a set of speakers on one of the walls.

"This is a code red, I repeat this is a code red. All necessary personnel report to your stations immediately," a female voice coming from the speaker says. The voice cuts out, allowing the alarm to resume.

     Seeing movement in my peripheral vision my attention jumps to Rychner who whispers something inaudible into Ashley's ear. She merely nods in understanding before they both make a quick exit from the room without explanation.

     Daesung shoots me a wary glance when the alarm's sound suddenly halts. A loud click echoes through the room, getting everyone's attention. The double doors burst open and dark figures with black masks flood into the room.

     One of the figures pulls a gun from its holster, pointing it up to the ceiling. A thundering crack booms, resonating throughout the room. Everyone's heads whip around instantaneously, looking for the source of the noise.

     My hand instinctively rushes to my head at the intensifying pain.

"Everybody get down on the floor!" one of the dark figures yells.

     I immediately down along with everyone else, not wanting to give these people a reason to shoot me. Daesung does not share my worry as he stands perfectly still, unmoving.

"What are you doing? Get down!" I loudly whisper, trying to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.

     My words take no effect on him, he just stands there with his hand occasionally twitching.

"Please don't hurt me!" a feminine voice randomly screeches.

     Light footsteps begin to approach, turning my attention towards them. One of the dark figures storms up to us, gun in hand.

"Hey, you, get on the floor!" they shout, pointing their gun directly at Daesung as they take a few more cautious steps toward him.

     Daesung's hands immediately fly up to his head, "O-okay, I'm getting down, I'm getting down." he stutters out, moving to the floor sluggishly.

     My eyes dart between the two of them. I grit my teeth together, weighing up the situation.

"Hurry up!" they yell, aggressively shoving their pistol closer to Daesung's face.

     I leap up from the ground grabbing the barrel of the handgun, directing it away from my friend's head before yanking it out of the perpetrator's hand completely.

     Stepping behind them I put my arm on front of their neck, holding them in place while using my other hand to point the gun at their head.

"Hey! Put the gun down. Now." One of the gun-wielding lunatics threatens, pointing their weapon at me.

     The grip I hold on the gun's handle tightens, my finger resting on the trigger. My eyes glide across the room, seeing two guns trained on me. Adrenaline pumps through my veins furiously as my pulse quickens I gain a sense of hyper-awareness. I really should have thought this through better.

     Without further thought, I straighten my arm, directing my gun to where one of my opponents is in its sights. My finger resting on the trigger lightly squeezes it. No bang booms throughout the room, no bullet goes flying into anyone. No, nothing, just a gentle clicking sound. The gun is empty.

"What?..." I stammer, furrowing my eyebrows together as I look down at the weapon.

"Why would they have unloaded guns?" Charthrax questions. "...Unless..."

     I glance back up from the unloaded gun in my hand to the mysterious intruders. The person in front of me begins to struggle. I tighten my grip on them, but my eyes continue to look at my other opponents unwaveringly.

     The two men pull their masks off revealing their faces. Rilo and Rychner's faces to be more specific. My eyes widen in shock as I try to keep my jaw from dropping.

"You didn't do half bad. Can't say the same for everyone else." Rychner flatly comments as though everything is completely normal.

"What just happened?!" I demand, pausing for a moment to connect the dots, "Wait, was that a test?"

"Yeah, so you can get your hands off my sister now." Rilo gestures to the person in front of me.

     My eyes gradually widen in realization as I drop my arm down, releasing the person in front of me I now know to be Ashley. Of all the people did it really have to be Rilo's sister?

     Ashley stumbles forward nearly falling over her own feet. She manages to steady herself and regain her composure.

"Wow, you really know how to show a girl a good time," she remarks, sarcasm dripping in every word as she gruffly pulls the mask of her face.

"I am...so sorry." I wince apologetically.

"Meh, don't worry 'bout it." Ashley shrugs, swiftly forgetting her previous annoyance.

     Rychner thankfully saves me from any further awkward interaction by his usual shouting, "'Aight, it's getting late, Rilo's going to show ya where you'll be sleeping for the next few nights. Trust me, you're ta need it, the real training starts tomorrow."

     Real training? That so-called 'test' was definitely real enough for me.

"Hey, you!" Rychner shouts, making his way over to me. I internally sigh, already having had enough action for one day.

"I need you to go down to the storage room and tell Dan to get the Status Identification Cards. He'll know what you mean, just bring 'em up."

"Dan?" I question, remembering the name.

"You know him or somethin'?" he questions, not really seeming like he cares about the answer.

"Yeah..." my voice drags off as do my thoughts, "He was one of my cellmates back at, eh, you know, back at Umbra," I explain.

     Rychner nods, raising his eyebrows ever-so-slightly, "Oh. Well, I'm still gonna need those cards. Storage room's on the bottom floor by the way." he adds in with a curt smile.

A/N: Thank you for reading and I apologise for the fact this update it a week late! Hope you enjoyed it anyway and if you did please leave a comment! Until next time :)

-ѕиιρєявαιт