War and Survival

"An Instructor". Eloth replied condenscendingly.

He walked briskly towards Ikemefuna, his arms hidden behind his back.

"Show me your hands!!" He ordered.

Ikemefuna complied and within the blink of an eye, he stood before Eloth; hands cuffed.

"How?" He asked,he raised his head to look at Eloth; whose hands were yet again at his back. "Why?". There was now total silence in side the metallic room.

"Come with me", the instructor ordered camly after a lengthy period of silence; it seemed like he had waited for something to happen immediately after he had cuffed Ikem.

Ikem didn't fail to miss the change in the instructor's tone, nor the subtle tension that seemed to form between his eyebrows. He knew something was amiss, had something failed to happen?, if so, what was it?

He followed the Instructor outside the metallic room, and had to cover his eyes as he entered a very bright hallway.

After adjusting his eyes to the hallways brightness, he looked about, and there he saw people; teens, all like him; disoriented and unfamiliar, and similar to him, they were all hand cuffed. He was lead by his instructor to join the procession.

"Where are they taking us?" Ikem whispered to a fellow 'captive', who happened to be walking along side him.

"I don't know", the captive; a male, whispered back, his teeth clattered as his spoke. He was shivering heavily. Ikem noticed this, but he also noticed that the shiver wasn't from fear, it seemed like he was shivering from a cold. So was every other person apart from the instructors and..... Himself.

'Must be these handcuffs, Ikem came to a foreboding conclusion, 'I guess that was why Eloth acted strangely'. Ikem stared at the moving back of his instructor'. 'If that is the case, then why don't they work on me?' he questioned himself.

"Conversations are banned in the hallway, restrain yourself from speaking" Instructor Eloth whispered without turning.

Ikem walked in silence, but he was soon overcome by boredom, he chose to count the number of captives walking with him.

'A total of fourteen captives, and the same number of corresponding instructors'. He sighed.

It wasn't long before the procession stopped in front of a huge,white, metallic door.

Then the instructors began giving out numbers to the captives; Ikem somehow ended up with the last number, fourteen [14].

After dishing out numbers, the instructors left, uniformly retreating, leaving fourteen captured, cold, teenagers standing outside a white eerie looking door.

The captives; turned pensive and suspicious of every action, chose to stand alone, each person for their selves, all of them aware of either impending grace or total annihilation.

The hallway was noiseless, except for the sound of heavy breathing and the clattering of teeth, until...

"Number 1, head into the room behind the white door" A deep, loud voice spoke up through a speaker that lay on the wall beside the door.

Number 1; the teen who had replied Ikem during their short procession, tensed up as the huge metallic door opened, he appeared frightened, which was certainly normal, as all he could see beyond the open door was an imperceptible darkness.

He looked around him; perhaps in search of support, but after a while he gave up, deciding to walk through the door, giving a chance for fate... and the unknown.

The door closed silently behind him.

The moods of the other captives, turned sombre, the air had gained a tense, ominous feel. They waited in silence, counting the dreadful minutes as they passed.

Soon, the huge Metallic door opened again. The teenage captives all said silent prayers to their various deities, they believed if number 1 was acquitted, then that might mean that they had a shot at life.

They all knew this{except Ikemefuna}, this belief was held into dearly by them all.

Yet, it shattered -

"Next", The deep, loud voice bellowed once again.

This was like the sound of a death knell, 'Next?, where was number 1?'.

Most of the the captives, broke into tears. 'it was over, they were all going to die'.

At this juncture, Number 2 outright fainted on the spot, both from fear, exhaustion and hypothermia.

The exhaustion part was easily noticable by the huge bags under his eye. It was clear, even to the most oblivious, that he hadn't slept a wink, since his arrival.

Ikem made to move towards the fallen teen; he didn't know the reason for the fear and tears of the others, but he was sure it wasn't good, he wanted to help by moving the collapsed teen towards the door. But as he got closer he stopped.

Dark tentacles and tendrils of shadows seeped out from the open door and steadily anchored itself on the body of the fallen teenager. It pulled him into the dark room; through the door almost like he weighed nothing.

The door closed noiselessly after the body of Number 2 was successfully carried.

This increased the fear in the heart and minds of the captives, whoever was playing these mind games was sick.

Ikem stood, both confused and confounded, 'it appears that the supernatural is something of a normality'. He scratched the back of his head, 'Come to think of it, why has my scalp been itching ever since I woke up, Almost like I hit my scalp on a hard rock or something', he thought silently.

Time passed slowly, as one by one the captives entered into the dark, mysterious room and never came out, Untill, the only person that stood in the hallway was Number 14; Ikem.

"Number 14, please head into the room". The voice called out approximately 20 minutes after the previous captive had entered. Ikem had been counting, he had used his imbursed time to check and plan for any survival strategies, he didn't know of any, he didn't even know anything about what he himself could do, his'Chi' had fallen silent, it had not once spoken ever since the appearance of Instructor Eloth.

Ikem plodded quietly towards the room, he knew the chances of him walking into certain death were high, but he saw no other options. 'Maybe I'm overreacting?'.

He forced himself to calm down and breathe normally as he was hyperventilating.

He walked into the room.

"Welcome, captive 8XL5145P_ , of batch 8" . The deep voice spoke, and this time it seemed much closer.