Starry night

Many athletes have stories about time slowing down in the heat of the moment. I never really believed it until now. 

Time froze and the world stood still. It was oddly calming. There wasn't anyone in the world but me. 

It felt like an eternity being suspended in midair, but it also gave me time to think and reflect on everything that had happened so far. 

At some point, I felt Will was a burden to me. It's a hard pill to swallow, but I knew. I knew deep down that I hadn't been that nice to Will. 

When did I become so cold towards him? Why did I become so cold towards him? 

I kept saying I was doing this for Will, but did I really mean that? Yeah, he's my brother and all, but all he's been is baggage to me.

I would probably be better off, alon-

What in the world am I thinking? Will is my family, the only one left. He's my brother. I practically raised that kid on my own!

Time resumed, and reality crashed down on me as my hand reached Noah's. 

I held on with everything I got. My battered and bruised fingers threatening to slip at any time. 

Through sheer willpower and determination, Noah managed to pull me up. 

We both let out a laugh of triumph, which was shortly followed by groans of agony. 

Still, we did it. We really freaking did it! 

Both Noah and I had big idiotic grins on our faces. The sweet taste of victory lingered in my mouth.

I took Will off my back and gently laid him on the grass. 

"Will?" I called out, my voice hoarse and dry.

When Will didn't respond, I started to shake him frantically.

"Will?" I called out a second time, my voice shaking with panic. 

His eyes twitched, and he gave a weak smile.

I gave out a nervous laugh and collapsed right beside them. The cold, hard ground welcomed me with open arms.

The coldness of the night and the grass prickling my skin didn't bother me at all. I was just glad I was alive. 

Most of the recruits who made it collapsed on the ground, all of them sore and too tired to speak.

As the last embers of adrenaline faded, the pain came crashing down on me like a freight train. 

My eyelids grew heavy, and my vision faded to darkness.

I awoke to the sound of people chattering about. I craned my neck only to see two white drapes separating me from the others. Beside my bedside was an IV drip bag with a pipe injected straight into my arm. My head still felt a bit funny. 

'Where am I?' 

Footsteps shuffled in my direction and I looked to see a nurse pushing a trolley of what I assume is medicine stuff. 

"How are you feeling dear?"

She asked, her voice kind and sweet. 

"Like a million bucks." I replied.

She chuckled a bit and parked the trolley beside me. After which she proceeded to perform a check up on me. 

Her caring nature reminded me of my mom. 

Unknowingly a small smile tugged at the ends of lips which was met by hers in return. 

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." She replied joyfully.

"What's life like behind the walls?"

She paused for a good while before replying. 

"Not what most people are expecting."

"Well it can't be worse than being out there."

"You'd be surprised." She said with a nervous laughter. 

There was a long pause before I asked. 

"What's your name?"

"Lila Patel." 

She replied. 

"Jake Everest." I said confidently.

"I… I knew that already." She said, tugging her bangs behind her ears. 

My face burned with embarrassment and my eyes turned downwards.

"Right, of course you did."

She chuckled again which only made my face more red.

"Where are we?" I asked, hoping to save myself. 

"An encampment not too far from a bastion."

"A bastion?"

"Oh right, you wouldn't know." She said as she handed me a thermometer to put under my armpit. 

"We call them bastions." She said as she turned back to her trolley and fiddled with things I didn't understand.

"A bastion?"

"Mmhm, in fact, the closest one to us is called Bastion G-13. That's where I'm from."

"What's with the G-13?" I asked, to which she replied. 

"The letter represents the region we are in and the number represents the chronological order in which the bastions were built."

"How many Bastions are there?"

"Tons." She replied. "We have them stationed all across the world."

"So most people are still alive?" I asked, with a hopeful expression. 

"Not most, Some." She replied, her face grimacing.

Sensing that the mood turned sour, I stopped asking her any more questions.

I laid there silently as I watched her continue to work. Dark rings were present on her face. 

'She doesn't get much sleep.' I thought to myself.

After she finished checking up on me. She started assorting her equipment and left.

***

The day went by without me noticing. I looked around the encampment when they deemed I was allowed to be out of bed.

What I learned was that the ones in the tent with me were the ones who made it to the top of the cliff and that we were the ones who got treated.

We were the only ones who were given food as well.

It seemed as if Verdant Canis only respected those with value as opposed to those without.

The food given to us wasn't something to write home about. All they gave us was one baked potato and mushroom soup.

Still, there was unspoken tension lingering in the air. 

A couple days passed and all of us made a full recovery.

On multiple occasions I made attempts at talking to the soldiers. All of them only made small talk and none of them even bothered giving me their names.

It's now officially been one week since the exam. It was lunch time so I made my way over to the large open area with multiple benches.

Everyone already had their own people by this point. The bigger guys sat together. They called themselves the steel fists which I thought was incredibly stupid. The girls of course sat by themselves but they never really seemed to get along with one another. They were always passive aggressive with each other.

Then there were the ones with sunken eyes. They mostly kept to themselves but they are still creepy. Everyone collectively called them the rejects which is a bit harsh but fitting.

Then there were the ones who didn't have anything in common but we just sat together. Will, Noah, and I belonged to this group. 

I sat down next to Will with Noah across from us. There was one person we sat with us uninvited. It was the older guy from the 500 yard swimming event. 

He just sat there not really talking to us but he would always click his tongue whenever any of us cracked a joke.

Will talked a lot with Noah. I've never seen him this talkative. Not since… I wonder how Riley is holding up-

"Jake, yo dude. You okay?" Noah asked, with an inquisitive look on his face.

"You've been staring at your potato this whole time. You know, I notice that you do that a lot. You just stare off into nothingness with absolutely no expression on your face."

"He only gets like that when he's thinking about Riley." Will teased, a mischievous expression on his face. 

"Yeah? Who's Riley?" Noah asked. 

My face went bright pink.

"It's just a childhood friend. It's nothing, forget about it." 

I started stuffing my face full of mashed potato in my flustered state.

"Oooooo." Will and Noah teased.

"You know, you never really talked about your past." Noah added.

I shrugged. "It never came up."

I said in between stuffing my face. 

"Come on, dish. Don't leave me hanging, man."

My face scrunched up as I pondered if I should tell him or not.

Washing down the mash potatoes with the mushroom soup, I cleared my throat and proceeded to tell him everything that happened.

"Woah, that's… damn."

The only other reaction was the older guy snarling like he got a bad taste in his mouth. 

"What about you? What's your story?" Will asked, his childlike personality beaming.

"Well…" Noah said, folding his arms as he looked at the ground. "I don't really have a story like yours. 7 years ago the bunker my family made it to was located in a sparsely populated area so we all survived and I'm from Bastion G-16. I only came here because the exam was being held here. I'm planning to head back after I become an official Verdant Canis soldier."

"You're from the walled cities?" Will asked excitedly.

Noah's face grimaced.

"It's not all it's cracked up to be, Will."

"There's always corrupti-"

"Attention all recruits." Ethan declared over the microphone.

"Now that you're all well rested. We will now begin the last and final part before you can be accepted into Verdant Canis."

"In three days time, the final test is going to be held."