I'm walking down the hall to bed, when I run into Jack. He stands at the end of the hall, just waiting. I assume that he's waiting for me, but I could be wrong, even though I am pretty sure that I'm right.
I walk past him, as if I don't see him.
"Aren't you going to say hi?" He says, to make me cower in fear.
"The whole 'I'm stronger and better than you' tactic isn't going to work on me Jack. You should know this by now." I continue down the hall, hoping he'll just go away.
Suddenly I hear something fall onto the floor.
I turn around and see him lying on the floor. I quickly ran over to see why he collapsed. Turning him over, I find what seems like an insect in the back of his neck, it resembles a mosquito, but I know that it's a robot. I smack it, destroying it. I noticed that a liquid came out of it, and I rub it between my fingers. I wave my hand in front of my face to see if there is a scent to it, it's sweet, and flowery.
This has to be a new poison that Halsey developed, and only she would know the antidote.
Shit, how am I supposed to carry him to the infirmary? I look at the time on my wrist, and it's five minutes past midnight. My test has already started, I thought she might do something like this.
I grab him and throw him over my shoulder, army style. I try to leave quickly, also trying to stay quiet, which is very hard to do with a metallic floor. "God, you're heavy." I mutter under my breath.
Somehow I make it to the infirmary without a problem. And I set Jack down on one of the beds.
I shake my head, hoping someone will notice him. Luckily there were a few people still there.
I decided to use the vents as a way to get around. This way no one will spot me so easily.
I've been in the vents enough times to know where I'm going. I find Dr. Halsey's office quite easily and look through the grate. She's at her desk, head resting on crossed arms. To any normal person it would seem that she's asleep, but I know she isn't. I remove the grate carefully and push it to the side.
I remove my shoes and set them aside, jump down, landing on the balls of my feet. I quietly find a scalpel, and jerk her awake. I place the scalpel at her neck. "Where is the antidote? And don't you dare play games with me."
"I thought you didn't like Jack, I figured I'd take care of him for you." She yawns.
I press the small blade closer to her throat. "Where is it?"
"If you want it, you have to fight for it." She presses a button and a door opens, revealing someone in an armored suit just like ours. "I'd like to introduce you to my favorite, 117, you are both being tested at the same time. John, you know your task, and Debra, you know yours. Begin."
She expects me to fight him without a suit, how rude, but it's Halsey. I start circling him, attempting to get some sort of information.
He comes at me and tries to punch me in the face, I easily dodge this and knock his legs out from under him. I managed to pin him to the ground, it was surprisingly tough, his strength almost matches mine. He brings his legs up and wraps them around my head. He pulls me down and I hit my head on the tile floor, quite hard.
I wrap one of my legs around his throat and squeeze. His grip loosens, and I get out of his grasp.
We both stand up and raise our fists.
I run at him and try to punch him, but what he doesn't realize is that it's a fake punch. He goes to dodge and then I kick him in the chin, his helmet comes off and falls to the floor. I grab another surgical tool and wrestle him to the ground once again. With both hands grasping the small blade, I bring it down as fast and hard as I can.
He blocks it and tries to keep it away from his eye.
We struggle for a minute or so then he successfully hits me in the face, more specifically in the eye. I don't lose my grip on the blade, and keep trying to stab him.
I focus on my target, and that's when I see it. In his dark eyes, I see a small flicker of light. It's enough to knock me off my game, and he pushes me off. I hit the wall, the air being knocked out of my lungs. I collapse, gasping for air, I notice that he comes over and picks me up by my hair. He holds me still and hits me again, this time in the jaw.
Almost instantly, I taste my own blood in my mouth.
He goes to hit me again, but Halsey stops him.
"I think she's had enough John."
He lets go, and I fall to the floor.
Halsey looks at me,with a disappointed look. "It appears that you have failed your first test. I expected you to win, Debra. I hope that you will learn from your mistake, and fight better."
As she turns to leave, I grab the scalpel and throw it at her. The knife hits her in the back, almost at the spine.
John then pins me to the floor, and in the process, he breaks my wrist.
I don't scream from the pain, I've learned that it is best not to.
I stare up at him, and back into his eyes. I know he didn't mean to hurt me. It was a test, and we couldn't do anything to prevent it.
I wake up in the infirmary, I look to my right and Jenna is sitting in a chair by my bedside.
"Looks like you finally woke up. How are you feeling?"
I don't reply, ashamed having realized that I failed a test.
"Not everyone passes you know, I didn't do well my first time."
I just listen to her as she explains what happened when she failed the first time. It's not the same for me. Everyone will know, they will use it against me.
I sit up and look at my wrist, and see that it's in a cast. I also can't see well out of my left eye. I take out all the stuff they attached to me.
"You can't do that Debra, they didn't clear you yet."
"I have to find him, I need to show him who the real winner is." I get down to the hallway, leading to the barracks. I will look through every single bed, if I have to. I glance at the clock and it's almost time for lights out. I have to do this quickly, or I won't be able to find him.
Surprisingly, out of all the rows, I do find him. As it turns out, his bed is next to mine.
I stagger up to him. "Why didn't you finish me? Isn't that what you were supposed to do?"
He looks up at me and turns over. "My test was to protect Halsey, that was it."
"I saw something in your eyes. I never thought I would see something like that again, Not like that."
I notice that he froze for a second, but chose to ignore me. Jenna comes up behind me and drags me back to the infirmary. When we get back, the nurse is very upset with me, but she knew I would try something at some point.
It takes a while for me to recover, and as soon as I am done and ready to fight again, I head to the training room. I put my suit on, and then run ten miles, do five hundred push ups, and sit ups and pull ups, each. Last but not least, I work on my fighting style and techniques.
I ask Jenna for a match, and she reluctantly agrees. She hates fighting against me, mainly because she will lose, but also because she knows that I don't hold back.
After the fight is over, I accidently kick her into the wall, and she stays there.
"Dammit Debra, you got me stuck in the wall again! You promised me that you wouldn't do that!"
I sigh. "Sorry Jenna, I've had a lot on my mind lately."
"So I've heard."
I walk over, and grab her hips. "Sorry if it hurts."
"You have done this so many times, I don't feel it anymore."
I manage to pull her out safely and the medics that are on standby check her out quick. After the all clear she punches me in the shoulder, very hard.
"That's what you get for kicking me into the wall for the hundredth time."
"I guess sorry isn't enough now is it?"
She shakes her head. "At least you didn't break my armor this time."
I can tell she is smiling behind that visor of hers. Her armor isn't too bad, she requested a light shade of purple. In my opinion it's pretty bad for combat, you'll be easily seen. Then again, I can't really say anything. Mine is black with red lining, mine can be good for missions at night but not much else. At least my stealth capabilities can make up for it.
We leave the training area and take off our armored suits. She heads to shower and I tell her that I am going to get some extra rest. I'm about to fall asleep when the intercom goes off.
"117 and 118 to the Lab."
"Dammit, it's always when i'm doing something. I head to the lab reluctantly and do not want to go at all. I am probably going to get some sort of punishment for failing the test. And so far, Jack has not let me hear the end of it.
I enter the lab and Halsey, and 117 are there waiting for me. Halsey is at her desk, and 117 is standing in front of it, he doesn't look too happy.
"Glad you could make it Debra."
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