Chapter 7
The last scenario hadn't exactly gone smoothly for Joel. His sleep powers were basically useless on the beach, so it took some quick thinking to get the beachgoers to safety. While doing so, he subtly broke his only rule and used one of his moon powers that he was trying to hide. Joel adjusted gravity to lessen size and impact of the tsunami, which left the Top Seed producers wondering if they had mis-calibrated the threat. The kid had sleep powers after all. It must have been some technical glitch that stopped the wave from wiping out the beach and surrounding area. As the wave broke just shy of the huddled mass of beachgoers, It was luck more than anything else that got him out of the trial unscathed, and the points he got reflected that. Joel was going to have to be close to perfect in this next challenge.
Joel was freaking out as he hid from the patrolling drones and robots. When he first entered this scenario, he had tried to use his sleep powers on a drone, expecting it to shut down and fall out of the sky. When nothing happened, Joel realized his stupidity in thinking he could put a robot to sleep with his power, and he flushed with embarrassment. His mind raced through different possibilities: He could turn up the gravity to neutralize whole swaths of cybernetic opponents, crushing them against the ground. Or he could simply use energy beams and blast his way through the challenge. But, during training, Ariella warned against using too many aspects of his moon powers. Joel had to be careful not to expose the dangerous secret that he was the first meta not born with powers. Moreover, he had his powers transferred directly from Eclipse upon his death. So, he must show as little variation as possible to keep his secret safe. He hadn’t trained much with the other aspects of his moon powers anyway. Sleep came naturally to him…Possibly because it was the aspect of the powers he understood the most, or maybe it was because he had used it on his parents nearly every night since gaining his abilities. Silencing their constant bickering was a vital blessing.
He thought about the plane and how much of that had been a gamble. It had been hard to convince everyone that he could fly a crashing commercial aircraft after putting the pilots to sleep. He hadn't felt confident, but he knew he had to fake it til he made it. In reality, he had just changed the gravity around the plane to create a slow descent.
But this moment allowed no time to look back. Joel needed to focus on the here and now. He darted down the hall, avoiding the robot sentries. As he worked his way toward the prison cells, he couldn’t help but feel a bit out of his depth, nearly helpless, a feeling Joel had grown used to. His whole childhood had felt out of control. With his powers, he thought he could make a fundamental change in his life and maybe even the world. But this challenge was another reminder of just how small he was. If Joel had been able to step outside of himself at that moment, he would have realized that this was the ultimate goal of The Culling itself: to find those who could push through against overwhelming odds and succeed when everything was against them. Joel did this instinctively. He was a survivor. His whole life had trained him for this. He just didn't know it.
Finally arriving at the meta cells, Joel peered through the darkness. He noticed about a half dozen small cells with bodies lying inside. He hoped they were still alive, and that he hadn't been too slow. He quietly examined the iron bars and locking mechanisms. As one of the Heralds inside the cell stirred, Joel whispered, “I’m here to break you out.”
“Good!” A gruff voice responded, “You’ll need to go to the second-floor guard room to unlock the doors. It’s the room directly above this cell.”
“Got it,” Joel said as he turned, clearly intending to head towards the stairs, but the voice spoke again.
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“We’re the last Heralds alive on Earth, kid. The fate of humanity rests on you now, young man.” the gruff voice warned.
“No fucking pressure, “ Joel thought as he quickly, silently dashed to the stairwell. A metallic fist met Joel’s face as he turned the corner onto the first step. He staggered back into the prison cell bars and let out a gasp of pain, slumping to the floor as the attacking robot closed in on him. Another punch flew his way, and Joel awkwardly rolled out of the way. “That was a close one!” he thought as he awkwardly bobbed up into fighting position.
Having missed the second foray, the robot bounced off of the metal cell. It turned to face Joel. Joel expected another attack, but instead, the sentry opened its mouth and emitted a nightmarish sound. A clarion call. Joel heard metal scraping from all directions. “Great, more robots to finish me off.” he thought. His determination kicked in. This would not be the end of his challenge. He was not going to lose in this fashion. Joel shifted his feet, as Ariella had taught him, and prepared for an onslaught of steel and pain.
“Look, kid, I don't know what you can do, but you made it this far. Whatever powers you got, you better use ‘em now!” The gruff voice shouted over the cacophony.
Joel knew the voice was right. He couldn’t hold back any longer. The metallic marauders surrounded him within seconds, each robot charging up some sort of arm cannon as their torsos began emitting light. There were so many metallic warriors that their growing luminance threatened to blind Joel, but he dug down deep and summoned every ounce of power he had left. One gravity blast should do the trick! He hoped he wouldn't hurt the other Heralds in the process, but at this point, Joel would feel lucky just to survive. “Okay. Here goes nothing,” But, just as he was about to release the stored energy into one giant gravity blast, everything went white. He had succeeded.
***
Joel awoke back in his original seat in the stadium. He looked around to see that most of the seats in the arena were empty now. He exhaled, super lucky that the hundred and first challenger had failed the trial before he had to expose his real abilities to the world. What once was a massive crowd seemed to be a tiny fraction of what it was. The now empty stadium creeped Joel out. Before the trial had begun, it had been full of life. Now, a quiet dread hung in the air, and for the first time, Joel felt the weight of this competition. He glanced to his right and let out a sigh of relief as he saw Bailey sitting there, but before he could say anything to her, music blared through the stadium, the lights dimmed, and a spotlight hit center stage.
“Congratulations to you all!” Joan’s voice echoed throughout the stadium as tiny flying cameras whirled around her and around the stadium. “You are the top 100 contestants! All other contestants have been eliminated from The Culling. You all have made the first cut. Now it's time to reveal the leaderboard!” On the Jumbotron, a leaderboard appeared with spots ranging from 1 at the top to 100 at the bottom and a point total next to each name.
Joel quickly searched for his name. Dead last at 100. He slid back in his seat and looked over at Bailey. Her presence cheered Joel up quite a bit.
“You will now have a 30-minute intermission until the start of the next trial, which will test your fitness, ingenuity, and strategic thinking.”
Joel stood up and stretched. Every muscle in his body was as sore as if he had been held down and beaten with a meat mallet. He turned to Bailey. “Wanna go grab some food?”
“Oh my god, yes! I’m starving.” With as much melodrama as she could muster, Bailey grabbed her stomach and acted as if she was starving to death. Joel envied how she could operate without a care about how others saw her. He couldn’t help but laugh. After all the horror he had witnessed in the first trial, Bailey’s silliness made him forget the pressure of the contest. Maybe it was possible to make friends in this environment after all. For the first time in a long while, Joel felt like everything would turn out alright.