INITIATION TEST

The line of newcomers moved forward slowly. Each person was assigned two numbers, told to move through a door, and wait there for further instructions. Quinn and Helga were both put in the same room as Hakeem. The room was a large box-like compartment, large enough to fit the 200 people easily. It had white walls and no windows.

All the cadets in the room were spread out towards the corners, sitting against the walls or standing around. They avoided each other for the most part, only standing around in small groups of friends or acquaintances...

Quinn stood in the corner to the left of the door, speaking with Hakeem and Helga. Suddenly, he felt the hair on his neck stand on edge, this made him turn his gaze towards the rest of the room. He looked towards the opposite left corner where he felt someone looking at him from, and his eyes met with a pair of fiery red ones. The girl to whom the eyes belonged never bothered looking away from him - and the large hood she wore on her head only gave him a slight glimpse of her face - instead, she folded her hands across her chest and leaned back against the wall.

"Something wrong Quinn?"

Quinn tore his eyes away from the girl and turned back to the pair beside him, "No, nothing's wrong Hakeem. What were you saying?"

"I was saying we should try to watch each other's backs during these tests. We never know what might be given, so we have to be extra careful"

"Do you already know what they'll be giving us as a test?" Helga asked hopefully. But she was disappointed when Hakeem shook his head in the negative.

"No, I don't. But I heard it always changes, so I wouldn't be right, even if I knew"

Quinn agreed to his suggestion. Better to have someone watching his back after all.

"How much longer before we start~" Helga whined

As soon as she said that, one last person came through the door before it shut on itself and made a loud clicking sound, signaling it had been locked. Then a voice spoke up from the roof of the room.

" Attention all cadets. Welcome to your initiation test, where you will be evaluated on your abilities and skills. The rules of the test are simple..." The voice paused here, and a ruffle of papers was heard before it spoke up again " Each person present here possesses a card on which two numbers are written, your number and an extra number. These cards are your ticket in this test, it is your job to protect them from your opponents till the time runs out"

Murmurs broke out among the trainees, they looked around the hall and at each other, wondering what sort of opponent's they would have to face.

"For every person in possession of their card at the end of the test, they would have successfully passed. If you possess the card whose number is the same as your second one, then you receive an extra 50 points and for every extra card in your possession, you will be gifted an extra 10 points in the test." There was a long pause here. Then a different voice spoke up. A masculine voice this time.

"Keep in mind that the extra points you are fighting for will determine your rank in this army. This isn't your hometown where you were the strongest farmer or fastest harvester, this is the military, and everything done here is dependent on your strength. So I suggest you forget about that friend beside you, because they won't be there when you're fighting for your life on the battlefield, they'll have their battles to fight, and their ranks to climb. Fight for yourself, and the sake of your country. Fight because you know you'll die if you don't."

"You have 20mins rookies... "

"Begin"

There was a pause after this was said, Quinn couldn't help but liken this moment to the calm before the storm, the moment when everybody scoped out everyone else, deciding who was worth the trouble and who they couldn't beat. From the corner of his eyes, Quinn saw some rookies beside him place their cards in their inner pockets, hiding them from view. Helga and Hakeem both walked forward and stood at each of his sides. That means they were still keeping their truce. Good.

Then someone got punched in the face, and immediately after, chaos reigned.