Owwww!

Royale Javany. The ultimate singer. The ultimate dancer. Haze Venters. The ultimate sportsman. The ultimate GKG host. Das Kolen. The ultimate gatekeeper. The ultimate Gate Keeper Games' winner. Epic Kotta. Casey's best friend. Casey's only reason she's still allowed to live...

Casey tucked some of her dark hair behind her ear. She kept staring down at her sneakers while she stood leaning against the cold, brick wall outside her Crest Von Namon apartment. Casey had been rejected for the fifth time in her life by The OFF Units. Her dad had once been apart of the OFF units when he was discovered by the government and sent to hell. Well, not literally. Casey shook her head and blew out a breath. She checked her Land Lover, also known as a watch. It was 8:30, an hour before the victors came out. The Victors were dangerous people, patrolling the streets of Jims City. Basically, war happened between the hours of 9:30 to 10:30. That's when the Officials came out, the government men. Anybody in sight on the street, shot dead within a second. That was the usual time of the Rebels to attack. The rebels were apart of the OFF units. They were the soldiers who came out between 8:30 to 10:30.
It was a dangerous time to be outside at 8:30 anyways, with all the rebels and victors getting ready for war. The government was strong around all the corners of United States, except for this one. This small little city, also known as Jims City is one of the most weirdest places to live. You'll find out soon, why.
Casey turned around to leave and pulled on the gate. It was locked. If it was Klashadin, the huge city where Casey had once lived, the alarm would've went off. This poor little city did't even have enough money for the citizens residence to have security systems during war time. Casey looked up to see sharp, coiled wire coiling around the top. But this little city was smart enough to put up coil on top of the fences. Casey shrugged. There was still the back alley. Casey rounded the corner and bumped into somebody. It was a boy. He was about three inches taller than her. Casey took a step back and then mumbled a sorry. She looked up to see it was a victor. Casey took a step back. "Well, well, well. What a coincidence. I was just coming to get you but you walked right into me. Literally." he said raising an eyebrow and chuckling. Casey took another step back. "Um, I just remembered I have to go somewhere." nodded Casey. The victor took a step closer to her. "C'mon. I'm harmless." he said smiling. Casey took another step back. The victor frowned at something behind her. "Forget it Jokes. She's ours. In fact, she was supposed to meet me tonight but she happened to be in a hurry." said an invisible voice behind her. Casey turned around to see nothing there. She turned back and saw the victor gritting his teeth. "I'm legally allowed to be seen between 8:30 and 9:30, you know. But you're not. Breaking the law again, I suppose." chuckled the voice. Casey felt something move around her. Her eyes weren't quick enough to follow it. She suddenly felt afraid. "Now your turn to be nagged. You're Casey Grews, right?" asked the voice. Casey took a step back. "Am I right?" whispered a voice huskily into her ear. It tickled her eardrums and made her want to smack it away like an annoying fly. Casey nodded. "Well, Casey. You're too pretty for a human... what are you?" Casey felt herself blush. She wasn't used to hearing that from guys or girls. "Well, I don't want it to say it aloud." answered Casey letting her bravery out. If this was one of the OFF officers, she could probably prove herself right. The voice laughed. "I'll find out soon enough." That's when Casey felt the victor go for her. Her pupil in her eye went micro small. Casey dodged it, she saw everything in slow motion. She leaped quickly onto a balcony while the victor was still grabbing for the empty space in slow motion. Then her pupil became big again and everything went in normal motion. The victor crashed to the ground. "Woah. Nice speed." complimented the voice. Her left side of the brain identified the voice. It was an eighteen year old voice. A guy's voice. That's all she could get out. She wasn't purely human or Tenisitis. Tenisitis was the greater creation of humans. Her dad was Tenisitis but her mom was human. "Thanks." she thanked the voice. She wondered when the guy was going to appear. A boy appeared in front of her and pushed her against the wall. Her arms were pinned and so were her legs, with a blink of her eye. The boy had blonde hair and stormy gray eyes. She could tell that he was Tenisitis. He had the looks and the build. "I need a sample of everything." he explained. His eyes froze hers. For full three seconds, she was frozen. Then he smiled. "I need your blood group." he pressed something on his watch and a Burnick, a modern needle came out from the side. He pulled it out. Casey was terrified by needles. Casey saw the Victor stand up. He was in a mood for a fight. The boy followed her gaze to the Victor. The boy had a stupid but cute smile playing on his face. The victor pulled out a gun. Not just any gun, a M78 Fusion with .1234 bullet. Almost as fast enough to hit a Tenisitis. Casey was scared of those things. Her dad had died because of them. "I'll let you handle this one." said the boy disappearing into the shadows. He had gone invisible. Some of the Tenisitis had telekinetic powers. Most of them did. Except for Casey. "Hand her over, Jace. I don't want to go through this again." threatened the victor. So the boy's name was Jace. "What do you mean by 'I don't want to go through this again'? Let me remind you, it wasn't me who shot Haze." reminded Jace to the Victor. Casey straightened up. She saw the hurt look on the Victor's face. "You're right Jace. You didn't shoot Haze. But I didn't either. We can deal with this later, Jace. Just hand the girl over, and I'll be taking my leave." said the Victor. "I don't think so. I mean, the girl won't be leaving with you tonight. I call dibs on her!" shouted Jace. His voice echoed through the town. There was a sound of shuffling and a muffled voice. The victor followed it and shot in the direction. Casey felt an arm around her waist. "Don't speak." whispered Jace in her ear. Casey gulped. She was lifted up, off the ground, into the air. The victor was surprised. "They didn't say anything about you flying." he commented. Jace whispered what to say in her ear. "I know. Nobody else does. Only me. It's my telekinetic power." Casey lied. Jace twirled her and spun her in the air. She could tell that it looked stupid. After a moment of hesitation, the Victor raised his gun and aimed at her. "Jump and run down all the way up to Cambridge. You'll find me there." whispered Jace. Casey was suddenly dropping in mid air. Her pupil went micro small again and everything was in slow motion. She could see Jace invisibly attacking the Victor really quickly at her pace. Casey leaped from building to building. She had never used her ability as much in one night. Jace caught up with her. "Alright, we can slow down now. Our place is quite near now." said Jace. Casey jumped onto the next building and stopped. So did Jace. Casey's eyes went back to normal but she was having a headache. A major one, too. Casey stumbled backwards but Jace caught her in one of his arms. He pulled a shot out and plunged it into her right arm. "Owwwwww!" cried Casey rubbing her arm but she was already drifting away into darkness.

Training

Casey POV:
I opened my eyes. It was too bright inside the room. My eyes adjusted to the light and I tried to make out where I was. Last night.... there was me, Jace and that Victor. I had gone unconscious because of a shot given to me. The room had stone walls and a heavy metal door. The bolts were 5 inches thick. If I wanted to escape, I couldn't. There was no way out of this. I looked around a bit more, to find a table, with a water jug placed on it. I looked to my right to find a gray recliner. The bed post, too, was gray. The table was gray. Everything in here, in this room was gray. I tried to push myself up but my body felt heavy. Especially, my arm. I looked at the place where Jace had given me that shot. For the first time, I noticed I was wearing something different than my own clothes. I had been changed into a light shade of pink, silk pajamas. It's been years since I've ever wore silk pajamas. I try to get my tenisitis to react up but I'm too tired. There's sounds at the door, when ten of the bolts are turned and the door slams open. It's Jace. "Good morning, Miss Grews! Or should I call you Miss Hawkins?" asked Jace slamming the door behind him and curling up into the recliner beside my bed. I gulped. They found out. Jace raised his eyebrows at me. "First, you tell me your name." I commanded him. "Jace. Jace Willows. Now your turn." he said. "I haven't told anyone my real name, before. But... it's Aella Hawkins or Aella Chambers." I tell him staring up at the stony gray ceiling. "Isn't Aella whirlwind in Greek?" asked Jace. I nodded. Jace stretched. He was wearing training clothes. Clothing hasn't changed much from the early twenty first century. Jace was wearing black loose skinny jeans with a blank white t-shirt. Then at the bottom, black nikes with a white swoosh. Jace has a good sense of style. There was a knock on the metal door and a girl walked in. "Great. Place the clothes on the table, Newman." Jace rolled his eyes. "Thank you!" I added when she walked out the door. She looked back at me and smiled. She closed the metal door and we sat there in silence. "Doc's going to be here soon. He's going to treat you. Just relax. You'll be fine." Jace told me stretching out onto the recliner. "I'll be here watching your every move and his." he winks. I try to sit up again but I don't budge a bit. "Relax. It's Colorone. We've numbed all your nerves. Your body can't move until you take a dose of Katane." laughed Jace. "Would you start off by telling me where I am? I know what happened last night and everything but where I am right now?" I asked him. "You're in the infirmary. You passed out last night in my arms and I brought you here to our little island that doesn't exist according to the American government." explained Jace. The door then opened and a man that was half bald, walked in. He was holding the new iPad 89g. He shot a glance towards Jace who just grinned stupidly. "Welcome, Ms. Hawkins to the infirmary." said the doctor. He had a heavy German accent. "Thank you." I thanked him. "How are you feeling? Any pain, light headiness...." he asked me, typing something down on his iPad. "Numb. I can't move my body around." I told him looking at Jace but he was too busy studying his shoes. "Ahh, yes. Of course. How could I forget that? After your Tenisitis nerves had reacted up, they weren't quite used to their consumer. So the consumption of your nerves had a lack of exercise. Let me guess, you haven't allowed your tenisitis to react up as often?" guessed the doctor pushing his glasses to the bridge of his nose with his pinky finger. I nodded. "And the results here show that you're not fully tenisitis and not quite human, either." continued the doctor. Jace's head jerked up in surprise. "Woah, woah, woah. Wait. So she's half human and half tenisitis?" asked Jace standing up. "Quite precisely." answered the Doctor. I blew out a breath. This was going to be a long day.
***
My clothes were comfortable, as they were supposed to be. I clambered down the metal steps with my combat boots banging against them. I was wearing a white full sleeve boat neck t-shirt, black jeggings with black, leather stiched combat boots. I still preferred my sneakers, though. I followed Kilera, a woman with dark red hair and lush lips, down the hall. I could hear battle cries and punching and sounds of fighting through the walls around me. Kilera was a trainer- a girl trainer. She was very happy to hear that a girl had joined the forces. I guess she didn't get to train someone much often. We stopped in front of the doors to the training section. "Before we begin your training, we will start off with a little tour of your working areas." explained Kilera with a wave of her hands towards the doors. "As you might know, our building is hidden by a cover of illusions. You won't expect what you see inside to look like that outside." she continued. "There are ten blocks to this building. You only need to know four. The other six are strictly off-limits for soldiers and lieutenants. So, are you ready?" she asked me. I nodded. She opened the doors and we walked into a huge open area of boxing rings, martial arts mats and everything else related to violent sports. "This is Block Andros. AKA Block A. This block is meant for face to face training. You know, like boxing, kick boxing, wrestling and free fist fights and on." we weaved through the area quickly and pushed through the doors at the other end of Block A. "Right now, we are in Hall A2. It connects to Block Canhara. AKA Block C." Hall C was a Victorian replica of a Military Base Hall of Fame. I was surprised at all the medals and sacrifices list up on the wall. They actually cared about their soldiers? Wow. Impressive. We pushed through another set of metal doors and stepped into a glass box. I looked down to see a line of soldiers facing towards a wall full of targets. The huge room was all concrete. The commander's voice echoed through it. When my vision zoomed onto the commander, it turned out to be that the commander was Jace. He yelled out orders and had a machine gun rested on his left shoulder. I could hear his orders through the glass box. "Now, listen me ladies. You've got to shoot the hell outta those targets or you'll be cleaning the crap out of the toilets upstairs. You got me?!" he yelled as he walked down the line facing the soldiers and straightening their machine guns or glaring at them. I certainly didn't want to be the center of attention in front of him. The soldiers responded with a "Yes, sir!". They were some serious soldiers with huge triceps and biceps and abs. Almost like replicas of Jace. The glass box dropped slowly down to the ground like an elevator. We stepped out. Jace turned around to face us even though we were completely silent. He didn't look like what he did this morning or yesterday. Friendly and jerkish, how almost every eighteen year old is supposed to be like. The soldiers stood there aiming at the wall nervously, waiting for Jace to say the words.
"Aim...Hold it....Noodles!" Bullets fired off aimlessly. "You were nervous! What was the first thing I told you when you came here? Never be nervous! I'll kick your asss' if you ever do that again! The second thing we've been taught to is be focused. None of your asss' were focused! Third thing, be confident in your shots. You ain't in my cohort if you can't be confident. No confidence, no bed. Focus. Confident. Anger. Shoot. Those four steps are important to shooting. Can't do any of those, I dunno why the hell you're here! I'll call it a break. Go to Block A. Train. I'll send J.J when I want you to come back. Single File! Gaze Forward! Now get the hell outta of my ass!" I stood beside Kilera watching the whole thing. The soldiers marched out of Block C with stern faces. None of them were smiling as they left. "Why the hell are you here? I've gotta get ready to make them do laps in five minutes." asked Jace rudely. His gaze turned to me and softened. "I was just showing Aella how difficult it is to have a commander like you." said Kilera. "They're fu*** bitc*es." cursed Jace. "You should be jealous of my new soldier. I'll be training her from now on." said Kilera smiling and placing a hand on my shoulder. "Not really. I've got other son of bitc*es who are tough that I trained them from the beginning." bragged Jace. I bit my lip and looked down at the ground. "Will you leave or do I have to literally kick you out?" I mentally kicked myself in the head. That hurt. How would it feel actually getting kicked? I shrugged. Kilera laughed. "Relax Jace! Besides I've got this room booked for the next hour!" Kilera pointed her beautiful, gray fake nail towards the door behind Jace. "Now, your destiny awaits. Go Jace! You know the future isn't patient!" laughed Kilera. I scoffed at Jace's expression. Jace gave me the evil eye. "Whatever. She probably won't make it through her corroboration, anyways." My head jerked up. Jace smirked. "Guess who's in charge of tests this week?" Kilera groaned. "Prepare her for tomorrow night. First Corroboration. I'll be the one who decides if she's in my cohort or Eric's." Jace smirks evilly and walked out the door with his machine gun on his shoulder.

Finally, Night

I find myself carrying a duffel bag and following Kilera outside into the cold. I feel my body tempura rising and dropping, adjusting to the cold. "Is your tempura okay?" asks Kilera looking back at me. I just smile and nod. I follow her towards to the gate. "Don't take this as if I mean it. I'm going to be preparing you for tomorrow night." she tells me. I keep my eyes focused on her. "Do you know the three sectors?" I bite my lip and nod. The three sectors. I don't know much about them but all I know is that the first sector is Eschewal. The people who wear gray clothing all the time, are mutes and deny happiness. Secretly, I heard that they are prisoners of the government. The second sector is Terminus. They are a civilized group of people who don't have any beliefs but death. They are not allowed to talk to anyone other than their kind. They usually wear dark clothing and hang out in clumps of black in corners. The third sector is Cliste. Another civilization of really, really smart people. They don't live with normal people they have their own little civilization on an island that's about located thirty miles away from United States. I've never met a Cliste, before.
"Good. Tonight's a practice mission. It's not important and not necessary but practice for you." smiles Kilera. I nod slowly.
Kilera gestures for me to follow her through through the huge metal gates as she scans her hand on an invisible square on the gate. A green spot pops up and the metal gate opens silently. We step through the gates and start walking down an empty field. I look back to see an old barn. A laugh builds up in my throat.
"So, this is a Practice Landscape. This practice landscape is programmed to the practice mission I had earlier asked for. In a few minutes we will face a group of kidnappers with no faces. They'll try to kidnap you, you let them, it's over and our results will be sent back to Reporter Base. If we defeat them, the landscape will change and the next part of the mission will start. Got it?" explains Kilera.
I nod.
"One more thing, every time a new part of the mission starts, you will be reloaded with new weapons. The duffel bag was just for more dramatic affect." smiles KIlera. I smile back.
The next thing I know, my duffel bag dissolves into a thousands pixels and it's gone. I feel something heavy in my hand. I look down to see a shark tooth spear. "Last thing, your use of the weapon will add or subtract points from your ranking." adds Kilera. I blow out a breath.
I feel a hand clamp over my mouth and somebody pick me up into their arms. For a second, I'm scared but then I feel my tenisitis taking over. My nerves bringing me to my senses. Another kidnapper with no face pulls the spear out of my hand and snaps it in half. I look to my side to find Kilera gone. I bite down on the kidnapper's hand and slip out of his arms. I spin around to see Kilera disappearing into a white truck. The blank faced kidnappers lunged at me. I feel my nerves picking up and willing myself to move away. I dashed to the right and grabbed one of the halves of the snapped spear. I saw the kidnappers moving in slow motion to where I was standing before. I shoved the stick into one of the kidnappers. I pulled it out and shoved it into the other guy. As my tenisitis calmed down, everything turned back to normal motion and the kidnappers tumbled to the ground with bloody stomachs. I turned back around to see Kilera smiling. The white van behind her exploded. The farm pix-elated. We were standing in black. "Don't worry, the landscape will show up soon." assured Kilera. Soon enough, a new landscape pixelated around us. It was London, England. Old fashioned cars passed us by. My clothing were the same and people were eyeing us funny.
"There!" Kilera pointed towards the London Clock Tower.
"There's a block of gold on the arrow. We have to reach it before the clock turns twelve, or else it's going to slip off and we fail." said Kilera. I nod. I check the time. It's 11:50. Ten more minutes before the clock strikes twelve. And the worst part is that the clock tower is on the other side of London.
"We have ten minutes. We can run there but..." I don't want to ask if she's tenisitis. Some people take it offensively. "Don't worry. You can run there. I'll take the other guys." Kilera gestured towards men in black coats walking towards us. I nod. I will myself to run as fast as I can towards the tower. But nothing happens. Great. I should have asked my dad how to work my tenisitis before he died. My nerves tingled. I knew something was near by. Something I didn't want near by but would probably help my tenisitis react up. As the 'thing' got closer, my nerves got nervous by every second. I turned around to see a hobo (no offense) glaring at me. He had wild eyes and wore clothes that any hobo in the 1900s would wear. I took a step back. He kinda freaked me out. "Jenice is that you?" he asked taking a step closer. "I'm sorry, uh, do I know you?" I asked him taking another step farther.
"I knew you wouldn't remember me. It's Victor, your uncle, remember? I ran away with Ursula!" he cried taking steps closer. I shook my head scared and started jogging away. I only five more minutes to finish this mission. I felt cold hard hands on my shoulders, pulling me back with such great force I had to go back. I jabbed my elbow into his stomach but a younger voice came out. I turned around to see Jace rubbing his chest. "You don't look as bony as you actually are." he mumbled. He still had one of his hands on my right shoulder. "Okay, that's great. Now, lemme go so I can go get the thing." I told him. He grabbed me by my elbows and pulled me closer to him. "Listen, you've got to get out of here." he whispered in my ear. "What? No! I don't have time for this, Jace! Please let me go!" I squirmed in his arms.
"Nop." he said popping the 'p' at the end. I knew what was going on. He was drunk and had somehow escaped into the simulation.
"Jace, what did you drink?" I asked him. Jace pulled me into a hug.
"Nothing much, you know. Like a beer or two." he whispered in my ear.
"Please, Jace. Let me go." I pleaded. I squirmed in his arms. I looked around to find Kilera but she was nowhere in sight. Jace sighed in my ear. "Why is it that every girl other than you smells like strawberries?" asked Jace. "I dunno." I continued to squirm in his arms.
"You know what you smell like?"
"No. What?" I seriously didn't know.
"Like oranges."
"That's great. Now can we stop hugging?"
"Yes. But before you squirm out of my arms, you have to promise me that you won't run away."
I rolled my eyes and a plan formed in my head.
"I promise."
Jace released me but didn't release my elbows.
I looked around hurriedly for Kilera and I thought I saw her on the Hour Arrow.
"Jace, I have to go help her" I told him.
Jace gripped my arms tighter.
"No. Rule number three sixty five point eight. Never stop anyone doing something good or helping the home team."
"So? What does that have to do with her?" I asked him. He was hiding something. I just knew it.
"Tonight's her test. We haven't been sure when she joined that she actually wants to be one of us." explained Jace.
"Talk in simple language." I ordered him.
"We think she's working for the government."
"Who's we?"
"The whole Atlas."
"Atlas?"
"Basically the head organization of our little army."
"..."
"So, if she saves that gold block, she's apart of the government. If she doesn't, she's not one of them...or us."
"What?"
"One of our soldiers the other day saw Kilera on her techno-"
"You mean of those see through iPads?"
"Yeah. And she was trying to access Block 8 information."
That was really hard to believe.

Impressum

Texte: Ramneet Corp.
Bildmaterialien: Google
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 01.12.2012

Alle Rechte vorbehalten

Widmung:
To... I'm sorry, I don't know who to dedicate this book too.