“It’s perfect. They’ll test me tomorrow on my physical strength, athleticism, and sheer grit. I may not be the most athletic or strong, but nobody can compare to my level of grit. There’s no way they’ll turn me down. I’m made for confronting danger. The written test will be irrelevant.”
“Except for one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“The way people try out is to fight inside a cage.”
“Yeah. What’s your point?”
“You have to win two fights. If by a miracle you win against one of your peers, do you really think you can beat whatever opponent they assign you?” Zero couldn’t figure out how someone could be so keenly aware of his mental shortcomings while being completely clueless about his physical ones. Replacing one lost-cause test with another would never solve his problem. It could, he thought, knock a few more screws loose in his head, making it even harder for him to pass the written test. “My point is that you never win any of your fights.”
“So what? It’s not like I have to beat everyone who has ever knocked me down. I only have to win one.”
“You mean two. You have to win two fights, and we don’t even know what that second fight is.”
“What do you mean we don’t know what that second fight is? A fight is a fight.”
“Somehow I don’t think so. If you’re going to be a front line scout, you’ll have to be the best of the best. I bet that second fight is something wild—something completely out of the ordinary. Something that would qualify you for facing the dangers of the old world. Maybe you have to wrestle a jaguar or something.” Zero realized the stupidity of his comment as soon as he said it. That sort of thing would never intimidate Lefty.
“Maybe it’s a crocodile.” Lefty grinned. “I’m not scared of wrestling any animals. That’s what I do for fun. You know that.”
“Maybe so, but you still have to beat one of your peers, and you’re the smallest guy in our year.”
“So I’ll just have to fight the second smallest.”
“You mean Flea?”
Lefty nodded.
“And what if he doesn’t want to fight you?”
“Oh, he will.” Lefty turned and began walking in the direction of Flea’s dorm room. “He’d love to get his hands on me—now that I’m not holding a crocodile.”
Chapter 5
Zero sat in the hallway with his back against the wall and watched Lefty pace back and forth in front of Flea’s dorm room. He wasn’t anywhere near as confident as Lefty was in his plan. If he were to stand any chance at all in the fighting cage, he should have dedicated some time in the gym over the last few months learning some new fighting techniques with all the muscleheads.
They heard someone approaching from around the corner, and by the sound of the uneven footsteps Zero correctly assumed it was Flea limping down the hall. When Zero saw a smile form on Lefty’s lips, he knew he was contemplating how to use Flea’s hurt foot against him in the cage.
“Are you guys lost?” Flea asked in a dull voice, as if bored.
“Hey, what happened to your foot, Flea?” Lefty couldn’t resist. He stood blocking the door.
“Move.”
“Or what? You gonna kick me?”
“I may have a hurt foot, but I can still make you move.”
“I don’t know about that. Zero, do you think he’s up to it? I’m not so sure he can get around on that foot, being all torn to pieces like it is.”
Flea smirked. “That might be the case if it had been a real fight. But with you …”
“Is that so?”
Flea rolled his eyes. “Move.”
“All right. All right. We’ll get out of your way.” Lefty stepped aside, but just as Flea reached for his doorknob, Lefty stepped back in front of him.
Flea glared, saying nothing.
“I’ve got a proposition for you,” Lefty said. “Tomorrow we leave the school grounds for the placement tests.”
“And you want to have dinner together and hold hands. Is that it? I’m not interested.”
“You wish.” Lefty chuckled. “For those who choose to sign up, I hear they have some awesome cages set up for fighting. How about if you and I throw down together? Just you and me.”
“It’s tempting. I wouldn’t mind one last thrill.” Flea appeared to consider his options. “If I do this, I won’t hold back.”
Lefty clapped his hands together. “It’s settled then. I’ll meet you at signups tomorrow afternoon.” Lefty gave Zero a smug wink. Zero in turn wore the usual worried look on his face.
“I didn’t say I’m in,” Flea said. “I said I’d think about it. Why the sudden interest in stepping in the cage? Why not right here, right now?”
“Because I want to prove to everyone that you’re not as tough as you think you are. I want everyone to see you fall—that you’re nothing but a big bag of wind.”
Flea watched him for a moment but then brushed him aside. “I’ll think about it.”
“Step forward during signups tomorrow—if you’re man enough.”
After Flea went inside, Zero sighed as if he’d been holding his breath through the whole conversation. “Do you think he’ll show?”
“Yeah. If not, I’m going after him. There will be Elites all over at the testing place. He’s going to fight me in front of them either way, even if I have to pick a fight with him during the written test.”
***
Zero and Lefty waited by the front gates until the buses came with the new arrivals. As they poured out of the buses, some of them looked to be scared out of their minds, while others were excited. All of them were oblivious to the fact that this would be the only place they would know for the next fifteen years.
Zero was relieved when it was announced that the new arrivals would be split up into six different rooms, but once they had separated into groups and went to their assigned room, Zero felt even more crowded than he had outside by the buses. It had been a long time since he had spent any time in one of the toy rooms, which occupied the entire fourth floor of building six. He was surprised at how small the room felt now. He remembered it being so much bigger years ago when he used to sit alone in the corner stacking building blocks.
The kids started out with what he assumed was their highest level of energy, but he was wrong. The more time passed, the more hyper the children became.
“It’s because they’re starting to get really tired,” Professor Bird said.
“That doesn’t even make sense. When people get tired, they slow down,” Lefty said.
“Not when they’re this age.”
The concept seemed ludicrous, but Professor Bird was right. The more tired the kids were, the wilder they became.
The room was so busy Zero felt like he was standing in a beehive. He needed some air, so he walked to the window and pulled it open.
Now that it was dark, thousands of students filled the sidewalks and grassy areas between the buildings below him. Dance music poured out of the building that was normally used as a cafeteria, but which tonight was party central.
Cheers came from the doorway of dorm building seven nearby, and he looked to see five boys come busting outside with their arms full of as many toilet paper rolls as they could carry.
“Someone successfully got into the supply closet,” Zero chuckled.
In no time at all, dozens of toilet paper rolls were being tossed high in the air over the crowd, leaving tails of white as they flew. The sound of the bass drum pounding from the speakers in the cafeteria, the feeling of so many little ones constantly pulling on his clothes and screaming—it was all just too much for him.
“Is this really what life is about?” Lefty asked, apparently feeling the same level of anxiety.
“I sure hope not,” Zero said.
“Tonight is the bigg
est party of the year. It looks fun and all, but if I had my choice for ‘one last hurrah,’ it definitely wouldn’t be this.”
“What would it be, then? A crocodile wrestling party?” Professor Bird leaned over to peek out the window at the sea of teenagers below.
Zero looked at Professor Bird in surprise. Jokes were not typically his style, but it seemed like the party was rubbing off on him, even if he was stuck up here with the new arrivals.
“Maybe,” Lefty grinned, and then thought about it for a moment. “In fact, more than maybe. If I were to have one last hurrah, I think I’d spend it doing the one thing I regret not doing. I never did swim across the river.”
“River? You call that swamp a river?” Professor Bird chuckled.
“It’s wet, isn’t it?” Lefty smiled. “My idea of fun would be to jump the fence, swim across the river, and climb the outer wall. I’d love to sit on top of that wall for hours just to watch the old world from above.”
“The old world isn’t that great, really,” Professor Bird said.
Zero’s eyebrows raised. “Really? You’ve been out there in the old world?”
“Well, not really. I’ve heard stories. Some interesting. Some not.” A roll of toilet paper hit the window next to his head, making him flinch. He laughed. “Although, I’m really intrigued by the concept of snow.”
“Snow?” Lefty shrugged his shoulders.
“Yeah.” Professor Bird leaned out the window, looked up at the clouds, and then pulled his head back in. “Snow is frozen water that comes down from the clouds when it’s really cold.”
Lefty belly-laughed so loudly that half of the little kids in the room turned to look at him. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. If ice fell from the sky, it would kill us all. If the weather outside got so cold that it would freeze the clouds, everybody’s blood inside their body would freeze solid.” Lefty shook his head and looked at Zero, who had no response. “Seriously. Where do you hear this stuff?”
Professor Bird shrugged his shoulders.
“Professor,” Lefty’s face turned serious. “Have you ever seen the place where these kids come from? Where all of us come from?”
“No. I’ve only left the schoolyard twice since I came here as a little boy. One time was to go take my placement test, which I aced, but then they brought me right back here to teach. The other time was when I got really sick and had to be taken to one of the Elite hospitals.” He lifted his shirt and traced his finger along a scar before tucking his shirt back in. “It was my appendix. They took it out.”
“I remember the place we lived before we came here,” Zero said.
Lefty looked really confused. “How could you? You came here the same day I did.”
“I remember. Not a lot, but I remember a little.”
“Like what?”
“I remember how traumatic it was for me when I had to leave. Not so much that I had to go, but I remember there was this little stuffed elephant that I used to carry everywhere. I think I named it Elephant Baby, if I remember right. Anyway, I remember feeling traumatized when they took it away from me. They took it from me right before putting me on the bus to come here and I cried the whole rest of the drive. The memory of looking out the window and seeing that little elephant in someone else’s hands as the bus pulled away is still burned in my brain.” Zero chuckled at the thought. “I remember a few other little things, but that’s the main thing I remember.”
“How come you’ve never told me that before?” Lefty’s jaw was wide open now. “You remember life outside the schoolyard.”
“It’s not like I remember life outside the schoolyard. I just remember a few bits here and there. Little memories. Nothing big or important.”
Lefty turned his back to the window and looked across the room at all the small children. “Someday I’m going to see the place where all the little kids come from—even if I have to jump the city wall and trudge through the jungle to find it.”
“Sure you will,” Professor Bird laughed. “You’ll get killed or eaten by something long before you get there.”
“Oh, I’ll do it. I will.” Lefty snatched the nearest little boy running past him and held him up to look at him before lowering him again to the floor and allowing him to continue on his way. “How am I supposed to ever really feel like I know who I am if I don’t know where I come from? I want to hold a baby person in my arms—to look into his eyes. I bet they’re even cooler than holding a baby crocodile.”
Chapter 6
Zero awoke just as the sun was coming up and noticed Lefty already sitting up in his bed. That was highly unusual for him. But today was the big day. This was the last time they would ever wake up in this dorm room—at this school. Today was the day he was going to prove to the Elite and city officials that they should be counted among the best of society.
Lefty jumped out of bed and began shadow boxing in the small amount of light sneaking through his curtains.
“What’s going on?” Zero raised himself up on one elbow and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “I know you’re excited about today, but breakfast isn’t even available for another hour.”
“I can’t help it. I’m too pumped up to sleep.” He threw three quick jabs at the invisible opponent in front of him, watching his shadow on the wall as he did. “Today’s my day! Today is the day I prove to the Elite that I’m one of them.”
Zero sat up and stretched. He looked around at their dorm room. “Do you think the next place we live will be as comfortable as this?”
“I hope so.”
“If we don’t get sent to the same—” Zero stopped talking halfway through his sentence. He was about to say he hoped to have his own dorm room—that he didn’t want to have to share a space with a roommate unless they were sent to the same city.
They had been sharing a dorm room since they had been six. When they first arrived, they were assigned different roommates, but that didn’t last very long—especially not for Lefty. Lefty had been reassigned five different times before becoming roommates with Zero, and always for the same reason—he couldn’t stop fighting with the other kids. Back in those younger years, when tenacity and scrappiness were more important than size, he actually won a fight once in a while.
“I bet the new rooms will be a lot like this one no matter where they send us,” Zero said.
Lefty turned on the light and scanned their room. It was simple, but that was all they had ever known. The floors were a speckle-patterned linoleum. The two beds were about three feet apart with a nightstand and a lamp between them against the wall. Other than the two beds and nightstand, the only other bit of furniture was a small bookshelf that held their textbooks from previous years.
The walls used to be white, but it was typical for the students to customize their walls with colorful markers. Now, after so many years of drawing crocodiles and jaguars, there was barely any room to squeeze in another bit of art.
Zero stood up from his bed, and walked across the room to a where a stick figure kicking a ball had been drawn. “This was the first drawing you ever did. I remember you saying one day you would be the best kickball player in the world.” He laughed. “That didn’t pan out so well, did it?”
“Yeah. I guess I grew up. Other things became more important to me.”
“Like crocodiles?”
“Exactly. I’ll take playing with a croc over playing kickball any day.” Lefty took two steps to his right and traced his finger along the lines of a poorly drawn crocodile. “I’m leaving the schoolyard with one regret. I never did swim with the crocs.”
Zero rolled his eyes.
Lefty stomped his foot. “Don’t roll your eyes at me. What if the Elite city they send me to doesn’t have crocs? What if I never get a chance to see one again?”
“You went swimming with them once.”
“N
o. I splashed around in the water and almost drowned. I wish I’d just gone for it—risked it all. Swam all the way across and climbed the wall. Now, that would be living!”
Zero pointed at another crudely drawn crocodile. “Check this one out. This one must have been drawn during that period of time when you were trying to learn how to write and draw with your left hand.”
“Give me a break. Making the switch to being left-handed was harder than you’d think.” He laughed. “Besides, I think that drawing’s pretty good, considering.”
Lefty knelt down, reached under his bed, and pulled out a backpack. It had black felt-tip marker drawings of crocodiles all over it and “Lefty” written on the front. He shook it a few times to get rid of some of the dust.
“Are you taking that with you?” Zero asked.
“Sure. It’s the only thing in the world that’s just mine.”
“Why do you need anything to be just yours? You can always get a new backpack at your new place.”
Lefty shrugged. “Call me sentimental. I just like it.” He unzipped the bag, grabbed his pillow and began stuffing it inside.
“Good thinking.” Zero grabbed his bag from underneath his bed and copied Lefty’s idea, stuffing his pillow into it. “It always takes a while to break in a pillow just the way I like it. The feathers are too fluffy when they’re new.”
They slipped their arms into the straps of their backpacks, stole one last glance at the dorm room that they were sure was soon to be painted white again once the new residents took it over, and walked out their door for the last time.
They stopped by the shower room for a quick wash and a new set of clothes. Before long they were taking a stroll around the schoolyard one last time.
The breakfast menu was the same as always. Lefty chose his usual hot stacks with syrup and sunny-side-up eggs on top. Zero grabbed a few sausages, scrambled eggs, and toast on the side. They didn’t typically eat breakfast out in the corner of the schoolyard by the fence—that was really more of a lunch and dinner thing since the grass was always so wet in the mornings—but today they made an exception. Lefty really wanted to eat one last meal next to the croc that ate his fingers, and Zero didn’t feel like arguing with him on what might be their last full day together.
Testing Zero: a dystopian post-apocalyptic young adult novella series (Remnants of Zone Four Chronicles Book 1) Page 4