I didn't fall unconscious this time, but I didn’t fight back nearly as well as I did yesterday. My face felt like a mass of bruises, I thought I felt a rib crack in the middle of it, and I definitely bit my tongue, still tasting the blood in my mouth.

Lapdog was panting, as were the rest, after the beating they had just given me. I lay on my back, trying to rise with the arm that didn’t feel tenderized, before Fish stood on my back.

“Just stop fighting back! Just stay down already!”

That was probably good advice. I didn't take it though.

“Aw, fuck this. Just remember, Boris, we won't be so gentle the next time you step out of line,” Lapdog panted, straightening, calling the others to walk out with him.

I slowly got to my feet, feeling my leg buckle under me as I collapsed back onto the ground. I rolled onto my back, staring up at the ceiling, spitting the blood in my mouth onto the floor.

“Our Lord, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” I said to the ceiling, starting my prayer.

“God, I did as I said I would. I fought back. I didn’t give up. But it’s hard,” I prayed silently, feeling a tear roll down my face.

“It’s so hard. How can I keep doing this? I can't do this every day. I've been here for two days and had just as many beatings. Not even the township was this bad. Please, give me a sign, something, anything... What must I do? How can I continue like this?” I continued, wiping the tears away so I could stare up at the ceiling.

I just waited, wanting to see if He'd throw me a bone. A flicker of that unnatural light outside. Someone knocking on the door. A whisper, a shift in the air—anything.

The silence stretched. The world just kept moving, indifferent.

I exhaled, long and slow. My ribs ached. My jaw throbbed.

I waited.

Nothing.

“Right then, I guess. Amen,” I said angrily at the ceiling.

But the anger gave me enough drive to stand on my shaky legs and walk out of the warehouse. As I walked out, all the sleeveless were standing there, watching me wide-eyed. Even Richard turned away from me, like he couldn’t stomach the cruelty.

I gave them all a wave, before looking around for the Lieutenant. Even if she was weird, had no idea what she was doing, and I definitely thought she was going to stab me in the back later, she tried. That's far more than anyone else has done in the last... well, ever since the sisters died.

She was sitting by the doors, her head in her hands. Her hair was all messed up, and one sleeve of her uniform was covered in blood and snot, probably where she had been wiping at her face.

She looked up at me as I walked over to her, her eyes full of tears, her one cheek already bruising badly. She looked down again as I stood before her, putting her head back into her hands, like she was waiting for me to chastise her, to list every fault she ever had and throw it in her face.

Instead, I squatted down in front of her, gently grabbing her forearms, pulling her hands away from her face, a miserable expression written into every corner of it.

“Thank you. For trying. I will never forget that,” I said as I looked into her eyes.

I pulled her to her feet, patted her on the shoulder, and walked back to the rest of the sleeveless, getting in line.

She dusted herself off a bit, eyes on the floor. She didn’t speak. Didn’t move. Then, slowly, she straightened her back. Lifted her chin, and walked back in front of us.

“Your ability testing is over. Tomorrow morning, the names of those partaking will be read to you,” she faltered, as her nose seemed to start bleeding again, a tear falling from her eye. She turned, brushing it away before continuing, “The names of the people who are read will be given special privileges and access to the Sector B behind me. The rest of you will receive your tunics and begin the journey of earning your sleeve.” She continued, straightening up, looking like a damn fine leader.

“Remember, I expect the best from all of you. Now, it's dinner time. You will shower and go straight to bed after you have cleaned the dormitories like you were shown last night.” She looked at me now.

“Boris, ask the others what to do. Right then, enough talking, go eat. You have half an hour.” And with that, she turned on her heel and started walking away. Everyone glanced back at me before following, going straight to the mess hall.

On the way there, I saw a light flicker above those same dustbins that I had seen when we'd left the mess hall earlier. I paused at that, staring at them intensely, but they just sat there, uselessly. I sighed, walking after the others.

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None spoke to me at dinner, although Marnus and Kate gave me their dinner silently. I just mumbled a thank you in between mouthfuls, before finishing them as quickly as possible. Even Richard, the prick, did not speak like he had this morning or this afternoon. He just picked at the rice and what I think were beans that glazed over it, like he was thinking.

I heard many whispers where I guess they thought I couldn’t hear.

“Look what they did to him,” a small girl at the end of the table whispered.

“He killed two people. One of them was even Blessed,” one of the boys replied, glancing back at me before looking down at his tray.

“Yeah, but the Lieutenant didn’t. Look what they did to her, just for defending him,” another chimed in.

“Why does everyone defend that murderer? The General, now the Lieutenant. Is he the son of a high-ranker or some big shot I haven't heard about?” Richard whispered to them, from two seats away. I thought he felt bad for me. Guess that shows me—finks don't feel pity.

“If you saw the clothes he wore yesterday, you wouldn't even dream of that,” the small girl said. I decided I would remember her. She seemed to be nice, speaking on my behalf, even if her face looked like she saw a rotting corpse every time she glanced at me.

“Then why do they act like he's the son of Alexander?” Richard replied, a little more loudly than he probably wanted to, glancing back at me.

I just kept my head down, eavesdropping. I looked up at Marnus as he was about to say something, giving him a small smile as I shook my head from side to side. I wanted to know what they thought of me. It was interesting, hearing finks discuss me, I guess.

“Look what those other Lieutenants did to him,” the boy who had called me a murderer said.

“You say they treat him nicely, but look at his face. They beat him for at least twenty minutes, and they just walked out after, like it's normal.” He continued, shaking his head into his tray, his eyes wide, as I guess a question dawned on him. He said it out loud, the whole table freezing as the question left his lips, “What if we step out of line? Are they going to do the same to us?”

“Maybe. Ask the Lieutenant, she might have a good answer for you,” I said to the stunned table, everyone immediately going pale.

No one spoke around me again for the rest of the meal, and before I had finished my third orange juice, we were packing up, heading towards the dormitories. Before I left the mess hall, I saw the same fink from earlier come in, towards where the others had thrown their leftovers away. Before I could keep watching, I was pushed along from one of the others behind me, walking through the door to the dormitory.

Marnus came up, eyes still glued to the floor, but showed me how to make my bed. They had a different way of doing it, having to fold it to absolute perfection.

And then, the greatest invention mankind has ever produced was given to me. A shower, the water lukewarm. I felt like I could wash away all the dirt that had been accumulating on me for my whole life. I felt like I was being baptized, even if the water landing on the bruises did hurt like hell.

Afterwards, we cleaned the floors and dusted off the beds we had, before having to line up outside the door.

The Lieutenant came down, the right side of her face swelled up significantly, but otherwise, her hair was back to normal, and she looked less depressed now.

She went into each of the rooms, coming out a few minutes later, seemingly unimpressed with our attempt at cleaning but let it go, as she looked down the girls' line, her eyes fixating on the small girl who I almost tolerated. “Anna, if I remember correctly, you can heal people to some extent, yes?”

She glanced back and forth, before lifting her head as high as she could. “Uh, yes, Lieutenant. Only a little.”

The Lieutenant just nodded, before pointing at me. “Use your power on him. Think of it as practice.”

Anna’s eyes widened in surprise, like the idea had never struck her that she would be able to use her ability so soon, before nodding her head. She tapped her left shoulder before lifting both arms towards me, as I saw a small, what I could only call an aura, surround me. It made all the bruises feel somewhat better, and the eye which had been beaten closed yesterday opened up a bit. This took about a minute, before she was panting, hands on her knees.

I was impressed it healed me to this extent, able to see out both eyes, feeling the cut on my tongue like it had gotten three weeks to heal up right. I had seen that aura block bullets earlier, so I was feeling very jealous as the Lieutenant dismissed us with a strong “Lights out!” before walking away.

Finally, we all filed into the dormitory, to that beautiful, angelic bed I had been laying on this morning. I got down on my knees to say my nightly prayers, before the boy who had called me a murderer at dinner asked, “What are you doing?”

“Praying,” I said. I did not like being interrupted when I prayed, and I didn’t like praying in front of the rest of the sleeveless, but I had to do it before I slept, and there was no privacy here.

“For what?” he asked from behind me, sitting down on his bed.

“What do you mean?” I asked over my shoulder, turning around to look at him.

“What are you praying for? Not to get beaten or..?” he asked sheepishly, like I was going to yell at him.

“Uhm, same thing I always pray for. That tomorrow comes safely, that my kids will be safe, that they’ll have enough food…”

It was as though a lightning bolt struck the very core of my being, surging through every fiber of my body, igniting my heart with a fire I couldn't contain.

In that split second, everything fell into place—every prayer, every plea, every flicker of hope I'd ever uttered, all converged into one undeniable truth.

I froze. My whole body went still.

The weight of all my struggles, all my unanswered cries, lifted in an instant as I grasped it—the answer, the way forward. It was so clear, so simple. I shot up, almost as if the heavens themselves had reached down to embrace me. “I understand! I can do that! Thank you! Thank you so much!” I shouted at the ceiling, almost seeing God's smiling face in it.

Everyone was looking at me with sideways glances, some of them turning over in their sleep as one of them did circles next to his head with his finger. None of that mattered. I grabbed the boy by his shoulders. “Oh, you beautiful bastard! I got it! Thank you!”

He was looking at me and said what the others were probably thinking. “How hard did they hit you?”

“Not hard enough!” I said happily, letting him go and climbing into bed. Like I had said this morning, I was getting out of here. I might as well take a few things with me.