Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“You are sitting in the living room of your new home.” My brother continued “More frequently known as the Open Hall. Here is where meetings, preparations, activities, and meals will be.” He paused for a moment and looked down at me. I was expressionless. “Now you will meet the other members of the counsel.” He motioned behind him and the girl stood up.
“My name is 9.” She said confidently. “I am here to inform you that although we do press on you that you are free to go wherever you please, you may not go to the surface without consent from one or more members of the counsel. Each opening that you see around you goes around your new home. Listen up so that you won’t get lost. The opening behind me is the opening for the counsel’s quarters. No one may enter through that opening unless they are council. Over to the left of me is where the rest of the dormitories are for the rest of you. Behind you is another opening. This leads you to the training area where you will attend courses. These courses consist of various activities that will benefit you in the near future. The door to your right is the kitchen where you will go to pick up your meals. You will not be served. It is up to you to put on your plate the required amount, no more no less. Finally, the door that you entered through…no doubt you saw the other two tunnels. The one to the left is the infirmary; the one to the left is the “ground”. Here is where we hold those who do not find our rules fit to obey. Clear?” I nodded. Not because I understood, but because I knew that there was really nothing else for me to do. “Now you will meet J.” She took two steps backwards and one of the boys stood up. He walked over to the front of the platform and nodded, almost as though he was greeting me for the first time (which in fact it was since I hadn’t had the pleasure of receiving a proper introduction when I’d first seen him).
“I’m J as you’ve just been told. Doubtless you have some idea why you are here. For those of you who don’t I will give you a brief sum up.” He paused, closed his eyes, took a deep breath and began “We are the start of a great rebellion. We are the cream of society. We are the future. Many adults have said this. We are at an age where we can decide for ourselves. We have a better understanding of the world then adults do. We wish to take a stand. This is our stand. By recruiting as many adolescents as possible we will create war. This war will spread across North America and then spread to the rest of the world. By doing this, the world will be reborn and we, the teenagers will create a perfect world of understanding and reason.” I coughed and raised my hand slowly. I knew that this speech was planned and most probably rehearsed but I needed to ask a question.
“Um…I’m sorry to interrupt.” I said with a forced smile “But um…what happens when we grow up? Like, we only have…what…a few years left of our adolescent years.” Then he did something that I hadn’t expected. He grinned and his eyes flashed.
“Why I was just coming to that.” He turned to look at the other three “You see, a few years ago, when I was still in school, I found that by killing certain cells and hormones in the body, you could prolong someone’s physical appearance and mind set for quite a long time. They would look the same. Stay the same way for quite awhile. So I made the “antidote.” A liquid so powerful it could prolong someone lifetime at the age that the drink it at.” He smiled. I wasn’t sure what he was expecting my reaction to be, but I’m quite certain that it wasn’t what I’d done. I stood up quite suddenly and burst out
“How do you know it works? It would be a horrible waste to spend time making and organizing all this when it doesn’t even work.”
“Do you think we would do all this if we weren’t sure?!” he yelled so forcefully that I sat back down quickly. “It’s been tested.” He turned around and winked at the others. They all chuckled to each other as though this were something incredibly funny. I however found this whole thing stupid, interesting but stupid. I let the issue lie. “Now then,” he smiled as though I’d said nothing “tomorrow night you will take the antidote.” I was about to protest but something held me back. A feeling I had. I nodded and stared down at the ground. “It’s settled then.” J announced “Tomorrow night we will have our first welcoming ceremony. Now then, that should conclude the introduction for tonight. We shall all get some rest and…”
“Wait.” I interrupted again “Whose he? Why didn’t he speak.” I pointed to the second boy. He looked flustered and a bit embarrassed but continued to smile. There was a long pause and nine finally spoke up
“This is C. He doesn’t speak.”
“But wh…” I began.
“It is time to get rest. We will be carrying in new recruits starting the day after tomorrow. There is a lot to be done until that time.” We all stood up and gathered at the base of the stone stage. I realized something that for a moment made me nervous.
“Um…guys?” they each looked at me with quizzical looks, probably waiting to here a contradiction. However this is not what I gave them. “Um…where exactly do I sleep?”
They each looked at each other. They seemed as confused as I was. Apparently this was a detail they’d over looked. The huddled together a way from me. I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I could hear my brother arguing with nine. C was nodding and shaking his head furiously. He was also making livid hand gestures towards the two of them obviously trying to get a point across. J was also trying to justify a point, and trying to reason with nine. In the end, everybody looked pleased except for nine. They calmly walked towards me and smiled, except for nine who grumpily hunched herself over.
“You’ll sleep with nine for now. Tomorrow we’ll try a figure out where to put you.” My brother said gently placing a hand on my shoulder. Nine didn’t even try to force a smile she made it perfectly clear that she didn’t want me anywhere near her. She waved at me, gesturing for me to follow. Again we walked in a single file. We went through the opening that they’d empathized was the counsel’s rooms. It was another tunnel but it seemed to be much shorter and well lit unlike our entry. It went in about 30 feet and stopped at a massive picture hanging on the wall. It showed the over view of an army standing in front of a tower that was stretching far up in to the sky. The tower was big and black almost implying that doom was near. There was something friendly about the picture though. I had no time to think about it though. There were 3 doors on left of me and 3 doors on the right. They were tall and wide rusted iron doors with a metal latch in the center of each one.
“This,” said my brother enthusiastically “is my room, if you ever need me, knock.” He pointed to the door on my left closest to the opening. J walked over to the following door.
“Mine.”
Finally C, shuffled over to the last door on the left and nodded so low it was almost a bow, remaining perfect eye contact with me.
“There on the far right is our meeting room.” J motioned.
“Those are the bathrooms.” My brother waved a hand at the next door.
Finally we came to the last door on the right closest to the opening of the tunnel. There seemed to be a distinct air of tension between the three boys as Nine glared at me as though I were a disease.
“This,” she practically spat “Is my room. After tonight, you won’t touch this door, you will not come near this door and you will certainly not pass through the door.”
It was the beginning of my relationship with nine.