With every step she took, the fear in her walk grew. Unsure of what may lie ahead, she carefully planned every move she made. It was a simple yet complex power that made the test easy. The task was effortless, sense the danger, don't get hit. But in the end, that twas just the bonus of it; the unknowing of her abilities was what scared her.
As she crept around the seamlessly neverending room; she knew the darkness as a friend; but the darkness was a thing, a void of nothingness that served no master, and proved no loyalty. So as it seemed to sweetly dance around her, it also hid its harmfulness. She begged the gods for a blessing of a curse, for if she could use a fragment of her powers. Then maybe she could survive. But blow after blow it proved to be useless.
Once the lights came on and the test was finished, bloodied and bruised were the only words you could describe her. Red and purple covered her body to the point you could no longer see her tiny, fragile body of dark brown skin. Wobbling to stand with every step she took, she cried out in pain. Tripping under her own feet, she held in the tears. She could not show them, him, that she was weak as they watched from a hidden sight. Struggling to once again stand, a man three times her size entered the room with much force.
"121, rise, now!" The man shouted. 121 struggled again and pleaded with her eyes, but was only met with disgust. Pulling her up by the hair, he dragged her out of the testing room and to the main building as her trail of blood marked their journey. Thrown into the dining room, she was soon surrounded by the other numbers. Confronted with the glares of both pity and enjoyment, she lowered her head in shame.
"If you can not be useful as a number, just save us all the heartache," he chuckled, leaving a fading trail of laughter. As silent tears streamed down her face she limped back to her room. As she walked even those who pitied her let it remain as such. No one dared to help those destined for death.
Out of 600 of the 4th generation, only 121 members remained, and there she stood at the lowest number. 121 was born into the remain project, an act created by the government to save what was left of the human race and earth along with it from the emblers, a mutant race of humans who took over earth no more than 20 years ago.
121 and the others were born to be the bridge that connected humans to the emblers, a ray of hope for those powerless. Her mother had been thought to have become infected in the late stages of pregnancy with erlisor, the very disease that started it all. So, even though she was never destined to be a part of the project, fate thought differently.
But When the weak can not provide results and prove to be useless for the very thing they were created for, is there really a means to keep such dangerous things? This question plagued 121 minds for the last 8 years of her life. She was just a child taking on the responsibilities adults would go insane over.
Dragging herself across the hall into the tiny room where she slept she tossed herself on the bed. Sore from head to toe she picked up the tiny medical book she had and began to perform on herself with the best efforts she could. Once finished bloody bandages blanketed the floor as she prepared for the cold showers at 8.
Entering the washroom she was once again met with stares from those around her. The smallest and thinnest of them all, she envied their strength. The last test was still two months from now yet she knew deep down what the results were. Lunch that evening was the loneliest it had ever been. She had never really gotten along with the other numbers but this time they were purposely avoiding her.
Nights were the hardest as sleep became nothing but a passing dream that she could not escape too, no matter how badly she wanted. It felt like her death was nothing more than an unavoidable thing so there was no need to be scared.
With a blink of an eye, she heard the dreaded sounds of the morning bell. Two months had passed and today had once again filled her with dreaded thoughts. She thought nearly scrapping death for the past 4 years had given her a type of comfort with the idea of it, yet she couldn't help but tremble with everything she did as she got ready for the final test.
"Sissy!" A young boy shouted, throwing himself onto her. Startled, she barely caught him before realizing who he was. "Hello, dandy," she said with a smile as she swung her younger brother in her arms. Dandy was the only family 121 had and though she still did not fear death, the thought of leaving him behind was too much for her to bear.
121 had never been close to her younger brother. Realizing her time would soon be up, she did not wish to regret not knowing him, not having him remember her. So instead of training the past few months, she enjoyed the wonders of childhood she had longed for.
Kissing him on the head she sent him off to his father and mother. She couldn't stand to tell him the truth so it broke her heart as he turned and whispered "see you tomorrow," and disappeared into the halls.
The building was quite big with two floors, one for the flowers and the other one for the numbers. Once the numbers had turned ten they were allowed to try their chances of becoming some of the flowers, but even they had very few numbers.
The bell had rung for the last time and 121 quietly left what little she had behind and headed to the arena. There she checked the battle list of the day. Eagerly looking around she saw she was set for the last match. Her heart felt heavy, and with sweaty palms backed away from the board to find her opponent. Number 2. Her mind went numb remembering all that he had done.
She was a sadistic kid who let out her frustration of barely being 2 and not being good enough to be first, out on the battlefield. The two had never really conversed but 121 had already known what type of person she was.
As each battle had begun it quickly ended. Before she knew it 121 was facing yet another walking nightmare. She wished she could say that she was well prepared for the fight but her shaking fists showed differently. Seeing this, number 2 gave a devilish smile that sent shivers down 121's spine. Everyone in the room could already guess the outcome and it was no different for number 2.
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The battle was brutal as blood painted the area floors red. Though barely 121 was still standing. The crowd of her peers shared looks of confusion as to why 121 suddenly had the want to live as she never hid her longing for peace. As number 2 prepared for the final blow, within a split second it was like something in her snapped and she got in one good hit before her body gave out and she collapsed, giving an instant win.
In situations like these it would be expected that the victor would celebrate with all their might, but tasting the blood trickling from his nose, number 2 couldn't help but feel outraged. she couldn't understand how someone like her could even lay a finger on herself, gritting her teeth she left in a hurry as 121 was being taken out.
Waking up to the wobbling of the van and the sobbing of the other numbers 121 knew what had happened. She was heading to her death. Looking around and seeing the other six numbers she didn't know what to say or do. Her mind was blank and she had never had to comfort a crying person before.
"After you went down, so did everything else," a number beside her said. The way the arena worked was that the loser of each match would fight another loser until it was clear who the weakest is. The stained tears on her face were evidence that she too had been crying.
Looking over everyone It was hard to tell what their injuries were, as they had mostly healed up. regeneration was another ability that 121 was supposed to have yet shown no sign of it. As hours passed the coldness of the west started to settle in and it felt like everyone had huddled in to keep warm.
As the coldness turned her fingers blue 121 began to drift off, as her eyes began to get heavy and her head rocked back and forth she heard a faint humming sound. It didn't seem as if anyone else had heard it so 121 convinced herself it was nothing more than hallucinations from the cold weather. As she closed her eyes one more time to finally rest and fall into a deep slumber she did not wake again till she felt the van lift from the ground and crash.
As quickly as she woke, she soon passed out from the impact of the crash. Waking up she was surrounded by a snowy forest littered with the signs of life. What a beautiful wasteland, she thought to herself, as this had been her first time outside. lifting herself from under the ruble of the van, that had just been engulfed in flames, her moment of awe was ruined when the realization that she was alone set in.
The further she went the more gruesome the mess was; as the dismembered bodies of the guards and the other 5 numbers burned into her mind. Having never seen such a thing before 121 began violently throwing up what little she could stomach to eat the morning before she left. Her hands turned red from the harshness of the snow and for the first time she began to sob like a child.
It wasn't long after that she began to hear that strange humming noise again. The humming was so beautiful that as 121 walked towards it, it was like she was in a trance. She followed the sound of the creature as it shines in the moonlight. It was of anything she had ever seen.
For a moment she thought it may have been an adla, a type of mutant monster that came about that resulted in a little less than half of the infected. But the creature was too tall and elegant to be an adla. Stopping right before its feet it took its hands and wrapped them around 121's face. For a moment her breath stopped, and as her eyes rolled back into her head and her body began to seize it only stopped when the sound of gunfire littered the forest.
The creature was gone just as 121 caught her breath, the flashes from the flowers blinded her as she was dragged back to the van and as the piles of body bags lagged behind.
"On Your Knees!" One of them screamed as 121 quickly complied. Looking around she was surrounded by flowers. To her knowledge, they couldn't be any older than 16, but their faces were of several years older. Sitting in the cold no one dared to speak, or move.
It wasn't long till they dragged out the other survivor and sat her by 121's side. Shocked at the fact that she wasn't the only one, 121 began to scout closer to the girl.
“How did you survive?" she whispered. "I-I don't want to talk about it," the girl replied, star-struck. Tears welled up in their eyes as they started to remember what had happened. Though 121 had met such a strange creature she felt a sense of relief not knowing what happened to the others. Just thinking about it made her queasy
It felt like an eternity had passed till a black van truck finally pulled up, turning to salute. It was very clear that the person stepping out and towards them was a very important person.
"I assume you are the last survivors?" The man asked. Both nodding in agreement they trembled with fear of what might happen.
"So, tell me little ones, what attacked you tonight, hmm?" He interrogated. The two, frozen with fear, could not seem to answer. 121 wanted to ask but thought the creature she saw was nothing more than her losing her mind to the icy forest around her. Frustrated by the man with no response he sighed and began pulling the other girl by the hair.
"Wait!" 121 pleaded, grabbing hold of the man's arm. In doing so her eyes began to roll back in her and she started to seize on the ground. No one dared to help till the girl broke free from the man's grip and turned her to her side to avoid her hurting herself.
"Elegant, a-and tall," 121 huffed between her breaths as she finally came to her senses. "That was what the creature looked like." Catching her breath, the man noticed something was different, he noticed it was like she had just seen something, she knew she wasn't supposed to.
"The only monster's around here are fat and short, there's no way mutants like them can be labeled as eleg-" The man stopped in his tracks, giving a devilish smile that sent shivers down the girls' backs.
"Ok how about this, all of the numbers in that van were headed for death's door, that includes you, number 86," He said, lifting the girl's head. "And you, number 121," He grumbled. It didn't take long for him to revive his condition for one's survival. One must die so the other can prove their lives worth. It was the cruel stuff you read about in books but to the numbers, it was something they expected.
The flowers remained motionless as if the children in front of them were nothing more than a bag of meat scraps and the man was the butcher. After hearing his deal the girls looked at each other. All 121 could think about is If she had never followed the creature would giving her a chance at life even be a question for the man.
Knowing that only one could survive, it didn't take long for the pair to begin fighting. While 86 had the combat sense and the skills that made her a number 121 had battle sense. Besides her last fight, she was always able to survive due to her quick thinking to make up for her lack of combat skills.
Blow after blow 121 looked for a quick way to lessen the punches. Out of the corner of her eye, she quickly picked up a thick stick and began swinging it to keep 86 back. As 86 quickly backed up she began to tumble down the snowy hill with 121 not far behind her.
Just nearly reaching the edge of a cliff 121 quickly climbed on top of 86. "Wait," She whispered. "Listen to me." lowering her head to whisper into her ear she continued to tussle with her to make it appear that they were still fighting. It didn't take long for 121 to wrap her arms around 86's neck and squeezed till she stopped. Emotionless, 121 rolled her body off of her and over the edge of the cliff.
Trembling with the reality of what just happened she composed herself and walked back up the hillside. "Well, looks like we have a new member," The man cheered, wrapping a blanket around 121. Shuffling and hopping to the truck she stared out the window at the snowy forest as they quickly drove off and headed back to the facility.
"So, now that you will be considered a flower when you get back, what are you going to do? He questioned, wondering what a fragile little murderer like her could do more than anything if she could achieve it. Giving it a thought she looked at the man, and went back to watching the window.
"Orlena. My name will be Orlena.