Procession of Captives

"An Instructor". Eloth replied in a brief tone.

He walked briskly towards Ikemefuna, his arms at rest behind his back.

"Your hands. Show them to me" He ordered.

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

"How?"

He stared at the cuffs,

 Ikem raised his head to look at Eloth; whose hands were yet again at his back.

"Why?"

But there was total silence inside the metallic room.

"Come with me", the instructor ordered calmly after a lengthy period of silence.

 It seemed like he had waited for something to happen immediately after he had cuffed the captive.

 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, was something supposed to happen?, if so, what was it?

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

 After adjusting his eyes to the hallways brightness, he looked about, and soon he saw people; teenagers, all like him; disoriented and unfamiliar, and similar to him, they were all hand cuffed.

Eloth pushed him forward, nudging him to join the procession.

"Where are they taking us?" Ikem whispered to a fellow 'captive,  a few seconds after he began walking along side him.

"I don't know", the captive; a male, whispered back, his teeth clattered loudly 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 type of cold.

And so was every other person apart from the instructors and himself.

'Must be these handcuff', Ikem came to a foreboding conclusion, 'I guess that was why that Eloth man acted strangely'. Ikem stared at the moving back of his instructor'.

'But 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 as he tapped Ikem strongly.

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.

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

The captives; turning pensive and suspicious of every action, chose to stand alone, each person for their selves, all of them aware of the infamous Perudaux and its decisiveness in impending grace or total annihilation.

The hallway was noiseless, except for the sound of heavy breathing and the unanimous chattering of teeth,

Until...

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

Number 1, by happenstance, was the teen who had replied Ikem during their short procession.

 He 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 unflinching 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 shut itself 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,

Perudaux was a secretive organization, no one outside of their soldiers knew how they operated. The captives could only afford to speculate.

 And each speculation was held onto dearly

If number one was acquitted, then, maybe they had a shot too.

Yet, it shattered,

"Next", The deep, loud voice bellowed from the speaker once again.

It became akin to 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 denoted 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 themselves on the body of the fallen teenager. They pulled him into the dark room; through the wide door like he weighed almost 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,

It was a mind game. Fear.

 But whoever was playing these mind games was sick.

Ikem stood confused, '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, Until, 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 reimbursed 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.

Could it be that it doesn't speak in the presence of others

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, stopping his hyperventilation.

He walked into the room.

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