Have you ever felt terrified?People say fear is programmed into the nervous system and acts like an instinct used to keep you away from dangerous stuff or in other words things that might kill you.

Right now I felt that very same feeling.Except what I was scared of wasn't about to kill me but it made me want to jump out of my skin and scream hallelujah!

"It's going to be fine," Blake informed me "It isn't going to hurt." he said as the line kept moving.There were currently five people between me and the man in a lab coat wielding the biggest syringe I'd ever seen.

"Can we change places?" I whispered to Blake.He sighed "Our lives are about to change for good and you're worried about a damn needle?"

He had a point but he would never understand.My fear for needles ran deep.They always seemed to have it out for me.I literally cannot count the number of times I've been pricked by the little shits.

"Yes I am,you see the whole 'our lives changing' thing isn't up for hours maybe even days but this is happening right now and that's why I'm worried about it.It's called crossing your bridges when you get there." And indeed I was here and the bridge which in this case was the horse sized needle was there but I had no definite plans of crossing it.

"Okay I didn't mean to question you oh wise one." he retorted rolling his eyes. "Next!" the guy with the tablet shouted when he was done with a candidate allowing them to walk through the doors to the great beyond.

And then there were four.My heart seemed to jump on its own accord. Please don't have a heart attack and die I kept repeating these words in my head like a broken record as if that would help my case in any way.

Up next for the brutal sting was a girl.A short brunette who I vaguely found familiar.By the looks of her I could tell I wasn't the only one scared half to death.

Her entire body seemed to shake as the man with the syringe held out his hand to grab her forearm to inject whatever they were injecting into our bodies.

That's what made me even more scared.I had no idea what they were about to put inside me.I'm not really comfortable with a stranger throwing things I can't identify into my body,yeah big surprise I know.

He stretched out her arm gently and at the exact moment the needle was about to make contact with her skin,she fainted.Yes,she literally fell to the ground unconscious.

The man who apparently caused her to knock herself out wore a look of surprise which quickly dissipated to one of irritation.

I heard Blake chuckle behind me and I couldn't help but do so myself.

I couldn't blame him,there were still what seemed to be one hundred candidates behind me who had to go through him.Having an unconscious girl in your hands doesn't necessarily save your time.

He called over one of the soldiers patrolling the area and whispered to him instructions that I was too far back to hear.To my surprise the soldier took the girl in his arms and left going around the corner of the school building and out of sight.

Acting like nothing even happened the line kept moving and finally to my utter dismay it was my turn. "Breathe in and out." Blake whispered to me before I walked over to the guy about to pierce through my skin.

He took my forearm gently and seemed to try and find the perfect spot to stick the needle in.Now that I was up close and personal I could finally make out the finer details of the syringe.

First of all it wasn't even a syringe.It looked more like a gun.It had a small trigger on it with the needle poking out from the very front of the main body of it.With one look I could tell exactly what they were doing.

They were implanting tracking chips into our arms for whatever the reason.He raised the needle over my arm and I clamped my teeth bracing for impact.

He moved the needle into my skin and before I could let out an earth shattering scream he pulled the trigger and the needle was out.That was way quicker than I expected.He pointed me over to the man wielding the giant tablet like device to his left.

"Name,date of birth,parent's names and ranking." He said suddenly. "Huh?" I replied dumbly.Of course I'd heard what he said but my brain was too slow to even process the information he blurted out and give out an appropriate answer.

"Name,date of birth,parents names and ranking." he repeated.Slower this time to which I was thankful.

"My name is Aella Quinn,born on January 6th 2024,my parents are Robert and Chelsea Quinn and our ranking is 6," I was almost afraid I'd not been super clear but soon enough he was swiping at his tablet again.What was he even doing that required that much physical effort?

"Ok,you've been assigned to Classroom 15B." 15B?I'd been in this exact school for like 2 years but I'd never heard of a 15B but before I could say anything he said "Clear." More to his partner than to me.

When I heard the loud "Next!" I knew that was my cue.I briskly walked through the open double doors and into the school's main hallway.

To be honest I'd expected more of a mess when I finally walked in but it was anything but.The halls were completely empty.I was literally the only one walking around looking for their assigned class.

I wish they'd given us more of an idea of where everything is because I was sure to get lost.I walked past classes with doors shut tight,not a sound coming from any of them.How was that even possible?I was sure I wasn't one of the first to get in.In fact I'd waited inline for nearly half an hour so for sure there were already dozens of us in the building.

As I walked past I tried to pay attention to the labels on the tiny plaques by the doors.I noticed they followed a chronological pattern.With the number that followed the other being on the opposite side.

Turns out I'm not completely lost.I rounded the corner and finally I was right in front of the door to my assigned classroom.Nothing was between me and the start of my life's complete metamorphosis.

At that moment I was hit by a deep feeling of regret.I suddenly felt like I wanted to bolt out of the school and tell my parents how much I love them.I wanted to tell Blake how much he's meant to me all these years of my life.I even wanted to tell our longtime neighbor Old Ms.Susan goodbye.

But none of that was possible and the only way was forward and so with a deep breath I pulled the handle and walked into the classroom.

Almost instantly all eyes were on me.The class was almost already full with only 4 seats at the back row left,one of which was meant for me.A guard who was stationed right by the door immediately did a full body search on me and asked for my backpack to check for bombs?Rocket launchers?I had no idea what they planned to find.

I also noticed that there was a makeshift wall at the back of the classroom with a door dead center of it.None of the classes in the entirety of the school had ever looked like that,I would know.

Did they actually reinvent this entire place?After I was searched and as the guard put it 'in the clear' I walked over to the back with the other candidates watching me intently.I propped myself on my seat and did what the others did.Stared off into space in silence.Not even seconds passed by before Blake walked in.He was also searched thoroughly before being allowed to take a seat.

Everyone's eyes took him in as if he was the most interesting thing they'd ever seen.

I was glad that they did it to everyone, I originally thought something was wrong with me or I had something stuck in my hair.Blake seemed otherwise unfazed as he came to sit in the chair right next to mine.We caught gazes for a second and that was it as we all went back to looking into space.

Soon the two last seats were filled and I waited eagerly for something to happen.I wasn't excited or anything in fact deep down I was terrified.I was just anticipating for literally anything to happen,to break the almost tangible tension in the classroom that made it hard to breathe.

And as if my prayer had been answered someone walked in.A bespectacled woman,a rather beautiful one,mid to late thirties wearing what seemed to be the female version of a suit.A black skirt reaching the upper part of her knees paired up with same color heels.She seemed to radiate an aura almost as dark as her clothing.

"Good morning candidates,I'd like to inform you that you are now able to take your tests.As you can see there is a separate room in which I'll be sitting and calling you all one by one to administer your tests," so she'll actually be looking at us while we took our tests.Wow it is actually impossible to cheat.I wondered how cheaters from previous years even tried to cheat.Perhaps they were given different tests? "Do keep in mind that it'll take about fifteen minutes with each of you to get conclusive results so to complete this entire class of fifteen people this could take about four hours so we kindly ask you for you co-operation and patience,"

Four hours?And I'm almost last so that would mean I'd have to sit in this one place for three straight hours and a good amount of minutes on top of that?This day was getting better and better.

"Lastly thank you for this small sacrifice you've made for our country.Eltera now,Eltera forever." we repeated it back to her in an almost robotic like way as we'd been conditioned to.

And with that she walked over to the door at the back and disappeared behind it.Immediately her voice rang out through a small speaker attached to the corner of the ceiling.

"Elizabeth Frank,proceed," I watched as a tall,lanky girl walked over to the door,pushed it open and walked into the adjoining room.

And just like that it all began

                                     *
Next chapter will probably come next week Saturday since I have online classes but if you insist it may come out earlier who knows?;) And I know this chapter is a little bit on the short side but hopefully the next one will be a bit longer as always I love you all so much,happy quarantine bye.