“You are wrong,” Kilo said stepping between Romeo Four and the totem. “This man is dancing the tango, see the flower in his teeth? A rose, with only five petals.” Kilo removed his face from the small opening.
Romeo Four stopped struggling against Alpha Nine and Tango Five stepped forwards; not waiting for the others to get clear Tango Five simply picked up the totem and closed his eyes. Nothing happened.
They moved through the maze hitting a few dead ends and having to return to the last cross road and go right instead of the usual left. It made it easier to track where they had been. They found the Whisky totems; one bottle filled with about eleven ounces and another with three.
Kilo figured out Romeo’s real totem; a crossed-out heart with the symbol for male embedded around the heart's edge four times.
They came across Zulu Three’s totem too late to save a Foxtrot who assumed that her animal handle was the caged animal in the totem. She had time to scream as she died. The group heard her shriek and ran towards it, too late though.
The skin on Foxtrot’s arms fell from her bones, sizzling as each piece dripped to the floor. Her chest and face followed, the acid slowly eating away at her flesh. The smell was worse than the horrid stench they had found earlier. It reeked of rotted meat.
She looked at Alpha Nine and her eyes bore into him, as if calling silently for help. They could only watch in horror as she died and the floor washed what remained of her away.
The totem replaced on its stand ready for the rightful owner. Zulu Three. A cage with a plaque on the front, the writing too small to make out but three cat like animals caged inside.
“This is insane,” Bravo Two said, touching Alpha Nine’s arm in a way that made his heart skip a beat.
“This is war,” Alpha Nine replied dryly. He didn’t believe the words coming from his own mouth. He too thought the methods of recycling to be over the top, cruel and sickening. But he needed the group to stay focused, he needed them to work as a unit, together they would get through, and then together they would fight to save humanity from the Annoronians.
“Look, a totem,” Kilo called from ahead of them. They caught up to where he stood. It looked like a set of stairs with eight small figures standing at the top. Kilo remained perplexed by the totem. He moved aside and leant on the wall trying to figure it out, but he had no idea.
Bravo Seven got there first. “They are not stairs,” she said bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet. “It’s a winning platform, and the eight victors are standing on top.”
“Victor Eight,” Kilo said, lowing his head a little.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself Kilo,” Alpha said. “We would not have gotten this far without you.”
Kilo smirked a little and stepped up to watch Victor Eight collect it.
They continued down the path, the rumble of an argument increasing with each step. They made two left turns before they found them. An Alpha and a Bravo stood debating the totem in front of them, seemingly oblivious to their arrival. Kilo stepped around them to look at it.
“It is a Bravo Ten,” he said, looking to the Bravo. “Our Bravo’s have theirs, see?”
The Alpha shot him daggers. Bravo Two held up hers for them to see. The Bravo took the totem from its stand and walked away.
“You’re welcome,” Kilo called after her, but she didn’t bother to look back.
“Good luck,” The Alpha said as he too turned to leave.
“You can stay and look with us, better to stick together don’t you think?” Alpha Nine asked, putting his hand on the other Alpha’s shoulder.
Static sounded out again, the woman’s voice cut through and told them they had ten minutes remaining.
He shrugged Alpha Nine’s hand away. “I don’t need help from any of you.” He turned and stormed away.
“We are stronger as a team, don’t listen to him,” Alpha Nine said, turning to face his group. Tango Five shot him a bemused look as he stepped to the front of the group.
“We never doubted that, or you.”
Alpha felt a sense of pride. And a little fear. They all looked to him to lead them, he worried he might fail.
They carried on, Alpha Nine certain they would come across more of them but they managed to find the rest of the group’s totems without coming across anyone else.
Only Alpha Nine’s totem remained unfound.
They turned a corner and the Alpha they had met earlier stood across from them about to retrieve a totem from the wall. Alpha Nine watched him as he hesitated, finally deciding to select it he brought it into sight.
“No!” Alpha Nine called out too late, recognising that the totem this Alpha had picked looked identical to Victor’s but with a single figure on top.
A spark shot from the floor engulfing the Alpha in flames as the floor opened, swallowing him still screaming.
The static came again. “You have five minutes remaining.”
Bravo Two frowned at Alpha Nine.
“Don’t worry, we will find the way out,” he said, smiling. Her face softened at his reassuring smile and she followed him past the totem the Alpha had wrongfully chosen.
Turning left again at the next cross road they found the exit door. A huge blue door with the Terminus symbol and the word EXIT centered and about head high, written in bold white. “Subtle, aren’t they?” Bravo Two chided.
Only Alpha Four, Bravo Ten and India Nine were at the exit door waiting for any others to make it through.
Alpha Four leant on the side of the door, one foot raised to rest against the other side, blocking anyone from attempting to try the door themselves.
“The door won’t open, I already tried,” Alpha Four said still leaning on the door jam.
There was a hiss of air followed by several clicks. Alpha Four stood erect, grabbed the handle and turned. The door opened easily and another white room greeted them.
Alpha Four, Bravo Ten and India Nine entered, but before any of his group took a step Bravo Two stood in the doorway. “You don’t have a totem, time is nearly up,” she said looking at Alpha Nine. “We can go back with you.”
“Yes we will return with you,” Kilo added.
“No.” Alpha Nine stepped to beside the door. “You all have totems, you must go. We have seen what recycled means. Go, move on to the next phase, I will go back into the maze to find my totem and I will join you once I have.”
Alpha Four glared at them from within the white room. “You are fools to stay, get in here, we were meant for the war, if he has failed he is not worthy.”
But Alpha Nine’s team would not listen, they would not go forwards without him.
The door slammed shut on its own, throwing Bravo Two forwards into the group. A buzz came from behind it barely masking the screams of the three inside.
The snake weaved its way across the door’s surface and revealed the mundane woman.
“This phase is complete. You all will progress to the next phase,” she began.
“What happened? They had totems, they passed the test, why recycle them?” Bravo Two cried at the unmoving stare of the woman’s digital image.
“This phase is complete. You all will progress to the next phase, to the next phase.” The woman’s image flickered as she repeated herself then the monitor went black.
“So we passed, is it over? Can we see the world now?” Kilo asked, as they all looked around.
“No,” Alpha Nine said, trying the door handle again. It did not budge. “She said we progress to the next phase, there is going to be more, and now we can’t be sure that doing what they want will even save us from becoming recycled.”
“But we are made for the war, they need us!” Bravo Two exclaimed.
“They do, but we don’t know how many of us they created, they obviously don’t need all of us,” he replied, giving the door a little kick with the tip of his combat boot.
The woman’s face returned. “Please stand inside the square.” The floor lit up beneath the
others. Alpha Nine and Bravo Two stepped down to stand with the others inside the lit section.
The floor rumbled. “What if they are going to recycle us all? Maybe we shouldn’t do what she asks,” Whisky Eleven said as she went to take a step out of the lit zone.
“Stop,” Alpha Nine called. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “Look up, the ceiling is opening.”
Above them the ceiling opened in a spiraling star shape, as the star grew, so too did the rumble of the floor beneath them. Then it rose towards the star.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Here we go, keep together and we will make it through,” Alpha Nine said as they all butted closer together, linking arms to ensure no one fell from the rising platform. The platform lifted them up through the blinding bright opening but their eyes adjusted quickly.
Slowly their arms unlinked, as the platform rose the final centremeters before hissing and locking into place with a clunk.
“Are we outside?” Bravo Two asked, taking a step closer to the platform’s edge.
“I don’t think so,” Kilo answered, taking her arm and pulling her back. “Don’t step off yet, remember the first phase.”
“Look at it, it is exactly like we saw in our pods, isn’t it?” she asked, turning and standing on her toes to get a look at the area behind them too.
Green grass lush and long surrounded the white platform. To their left a jagged rock wall rose to the mammoth ceiling, not sky, though it was painted to look that way. They could scarcely make out the thin lines of where each panel joined together.
Alpha Nine turned his head towards a slushing noise. “Water,” he said as the others stopped to listen for it too.
“There is a scratching noise too, like the small rocks on the cliff are rolling down the face,” Bravo Two said and the others nodded. “What else do you hear?”
“The wind rustles through the grass, and there’s something else too...” Kilo's line of thought drifted off while he and the others listened to the noises of the room. “There is a hum, a buzz of some sort.”
The ceiling snaked and the sky became an enormous monitor. The woman appeared again.
“This phase will test your survival skills; you will be subjected to the challenges of nature. Survive and you will progress.”
“Survive?” Alpha Nine asked. “For how long?”
Silence. The image flickered then disappeared, the snakes quickly retreated leaving them all standing in silence.
“Did you all feel that?” Alpha Nine asked, turning to face the group.
“The temperature dropped at least five degrees,” Bravo Two said as her blonde hair whipped across her face. “This could get bad.” She slicked her hair back over her head and held the bulk of it in one hand. “We should find shelter.”
Alpha Nine looked up at the painted sky, when he was hit smack between the eyes. Drops of rain quickly dotted his skin, instead of wiping the cool droplets away Alpha stood tall, feeling each drop as it connected.
“Alpha Nine, we have to go,” Bravo Two repeated, touching his arm.
Surprised by her touch, he reacted. He grabbed her hand, twisted his arm in her grip and threw a punch aimed right at her face.
Bravo Two raised her hand in a split second and gripped his fist just before it could connect. In the same breath, Alpha Nine regained control, and released her other arm.
“Sorry,” he said looking across the group, each of them now standing on edge.
“You nearly hit me,” she spat letting go of his fist.
“I don’t know what happened.”
“Well you better figure it out quick, because if you try something like that again, I can’t promise you will still be breathing.”
“I would expect nothing less.”
“We need to find shelter and dry wood before the rain comes,” Bravo Two said relaxing her shoulders and looking to the sky above.
“Right,” Alpha agreed looking to the others watching them. “Bravo Seven and Four, you team up with Tango Nine and Five, and Whisky Nine. Go that way,” he said pointing to the left, “Try to find whatever you can to help us out. Tango Twelve, Zulu One, Two and Three, Romeo Four, and November Seven, go that way and do the same. The rest of you come with me.”
"How will we meet back up, we have no idea what this place has in store for us, shouldn’t we all stay together?” Zulu Three asked.
“We will get through this if we look out for each other. Head towards the sound of the running water. It sounds like a river or something, I don’t know about you but I could use a drink. We will regroup there. Don’t take too long, ten minutes max. Let’s go.”
They all headed in the directions Alpha Nine had assigned. Alpha Nine and his team headed towards the sound of running water. They walked through the grass towards the tree line. Leaves drifted on a swift breeze that shot through the branches, and Alpha paused to watch them fall. Graceful. Real.
“Do you think this is all real, or did they make it all?” he asked, shooting a glance to Bravo Two who had kept perfect step with him.
“I guess it would be real, but made too. With no sun the plants shouldn’t grow, but they would have other ways. It looks precisely like it did in our heads, don’t you think?” she said reaching over to pull a leaf from an overhanging branch. There was no trace of her earlier threat.
“It does, but doesn’t. There is something artificial about it all, the rain stopped after only a few drops. That is not exactly like how we saw it in our heads, is it? I hope the real world is different, better.”
“Look, over there,” Juliette Eight said, pointing towards a large tree. “Something moved.”
“Stand fast,” Alpha Nine ordered. “We don’t know that the elements are all that we will face in this phase.” Alpha Nine motioned for three of them to move around to the left, and three others to circle around to the right. The hand signals imbedded in their memory during the growth cycle made silent communication a breeze. Alpha and the others stepped slowly towards the tree while the others came in from the sides.
The leaves beneath the tree rustled a little, something on the other side of it clearly was alive and moving.
Alpha signaled for a three count and on three they silently stepped around to the backside of the tree where a surprisingly large brown hare sat nibbling on a green leaf.
Romeo Thirteen lunged around Alpha Nine and grabbed the bunny by its scruff, pulled the knife from his combat suit, and sliced its throat. The blood squirting from the cut for a moment before continuing down the belly of the hare painting its brown fur red.
“Dinner is served,” Romeo Thirteen said, wiping the knife on the grass before returning it to its sheath at his side.
“We don’t know how long this trail is, why kill something that you might not have needed to?” Romeo Four asked his twin.
“This is a test of survival; we need food to survive,” Romeo Thirteen replied.
“He is right,” Alpha Nine said, moving to stand beside Romeo Thirteen. “We must assume that the phase will last for a while, we must collect what we can; if you see anything we can use for food, shelter, anything, get it.”
They all nodded and spread out to continue through the trees towards the sound of the water.
There was a sharp snap, a sickening thump, and the air thickened with a dirt fog. “Sound off,” Alpha Nine called into the haze. One by one they sounded off.
“Bravo Two, A-Okay.”
“India One, A-Okay.”
“Juliette Eight, A-Okay.”
“Juliette Six, A-Okay.”
“Juliette Fifteen, A-Okay.”
“Romeo Thirteen, A-Okay.”
“November Ten, A-Okay.”
“Victor Eight, A-Okay.”
“Victor Ten, A-Okay.”
“Kilo One, A-Okay.”
“Whisky Eleven, A-Okay.”
Silence.
Alpha waited another moment for India Three to sound off.
“India Three, sound off,” h
e called into the settling dust. “Anyone have eyes on India Three?”
No one answered.
“The dirt is settling, walk towards the big tree, be mindful of every step,” Alpha instructed, beginning his walk to the tree that stood tall enough to block the painted sky.
“Over here,” November Ten called from a few feet to his left. “I have found India Three.”
“Status?” Alpha Nine asked.
“Dead,” she replied. “Crushed by a fallen tree branch.”
“Stay alert team. Get to the tree, then we can move on to the water. Ten minutes have passed; the others should be waiting.”
They all stepped in silence through the trees, all of them acutely aware of every noise. Juliette Six leapt to the side as another branch fell, tumbling into Kilo One.
“Perfectly healthy tree branches don’t just fall, how does this test anything?” Alpha Nine complained to the group.
“Well, here they do, and I guess I learned to use Kilo One as a landing pad to break my fall.” Juliette smiled as she climbed off Kilo One and held out her hand to him.
“Thanks, but next time aim for a pile of leaves,” he said, taking her hand to help him up then brushing the dirt on his hands off onto his jacket.
“Good reaction time,” Victor Ten said, turning to walk backwards as he spoke. “We should all be so quick.”
“Look out!” Bravo Two called a moment too late. Victor Ten’s foot fell on vacant space and he fell backwards. Alpha Nine reached out quick as a flash and grabbed for Victor Ten. He threw himself on his stomach and managed to grab Victor's arm by the edge of the hole Victor Ten didn’t see.
“I can’t hold on,” Victor Ten called as Alpha Nine’s hands slipped.
“We’ve got you.” Bravo Two jumped in beside Alpha Nine on the ground and reached for Victor Ten’s other arm. “Take my hand, we can pull you up together.”
The ground rumbled and vibrated beneath them.
“The ground is slipping,” Kilo One called. “Everyone, get back.
Bravo Two reached further as Victor Ten strained to swing his other arm towards her. She took hold and as the dirt beneath them continued to slip away, they pulled Victor Ten up over the crumbling edge. Kilo One stood back, arms outstretched holding back the others.
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