Testing Zero: a dystopian post-apocalyptic young adult novella series (Remnants of Zone Four Chronicles Book 1) (8 page)

Chapter 12

Zero had been in trouble many times in his life, and almost always because Lefty pressured him to do something he shouldn’t have. But none of those times compared to this. Not only had he never done anything nearly as bad as climbing the outer city wall, he had never been caught in the act by one of the Elites. This was bad, and he knew it would likely be a turning point in his life from which he might never recover.

“Jump down,” Cumulus demanded.

“It’s too far. We’re twenty feet up,” Lefty said.

“Did I ask for your opinion? I don’t care if you break your leg. I don’t care if you break your back. You two climbed up there, and I want you down.”

“We can climb down the same tree we came up,” Zero said, “but it’s on the other—”

“Now!” Cumulus yelled.

Zero looked directly below him. There didn’t appear to be anything there. If he fell just right, he might be able to escape injury, but that would be difficult to do in the dark—especially now that Cumulus’ flashlight was shining into his eyes and was robbing him of his night vision.

He turned and scooted off the ledge, but kept both hands gripping the top. He dropped down and hung there for a moment until his forearm muscles began to burn. He released his grip. The remaining distance to the ground was farther than he expected it to be. He felt a jolt of pain shoot through his right leg and up his back. He crumpled to the ground, toppling into a bush. The pain subsided quickly and other than a few deep abrasions that would probably bleed for twenty minutes or so, he was relieved to find that he hadn’t suffered any serious damage.

He jumped to his feet and stood directly below the spot where Lefty was sitting. He raised both hands above his head with his palms up. “Go ahead and jump. I’ll catch you.”

“Don’t catch him,” Cumulus said. “He needs to do this on his own. He needs to learn.”

Zero lowered his arms for just a second before raising them again. “Jump now!”

“Don’t you dare defy me!” Cumulus yelled, but it was too late.

Lefty spun and tried to mimic what Zero had done atop the wall, but he was unable to grip it. His hands slowed his freefall for a split second, but he dropped right into Zero’s arms. Lefty’s forehead knocked into the side of Zero’s. They tumbled to the ground,

Cumulus stomped toward them and shined his light into Zero’s eyes. “How dare you, boy? Who do you think you are?”

“Sir, I knew he wouldn’t be able to hold the ledge. If I had let him drop, he would have broken his leg for sure—or worse.” Zero had never talked back to any authority figure like this before, and especially not to an Elite. He was terrified to hear the words coming out of his own mouth.

“I don’t care. He needs to learn.” He continued to shine the light in Zero’s eyes for a long time.

Zero lowered his eyes partly because of the discomfort of the bright light, but more because of the discomfort of the situation.

Cumulus pulled the flashlight away and shone it on the face of the man accompanying him. It wasn’t until now that Zero recognized him as one of the guards from the front gate. “I’m leading the way back. You bring up the rear. If either of these two attempts to make a break for it, use your Taser.”

Zero had no idea what a Taser was, but it didn’t sound like much fun and he wasn’t about to ask.

Cumulus didn’t bother to share the light from his flashlight with anyone else. He trudged through the brush at a much faster pace than any of them would normally walk, continuously yelling at everyone else to keep up. “Hurry. Are you waiting for the Remnants to hear you and come swarming? Is that what you want?”

It was easier to remain close behind him once they made it to the outer gate. They crossed the bridge, entered through the inner city gate, and walked across the lawn toward a two-story building near the cafeteria. Zero had expected to turn toward the dorm building now that all of the cage matches were over and the crowds had all gone to bed, but the building they entered was void of people.

Cumulus flipped on the lights as they entered. They followed him up the stairs and down a long hallway. He opened the door and turned the light on inside an enormous classroom full of hundreds of desks. As Zero stepped into the room, Cumulus grabbed him by the back of the neck and gave him a shove. He did the same to Lefty, causing him to slam into one of the desks and topple to the floor. He grinned with satisfaction at the sight of Lefty lying on his back.

“You two stay in here for now. I need to converse with the other Elite before I decide what to do with you.” He slammed the door behind him. The doorknob jiggled as he locked it from the outside.

Zero looked down at Lefty, who was still lying on the floor, not bothering to get up. “What do you think they’re going to do to us?”

“What can they do? Make us clean toilets? Give us detention?” Lefty smiled. “We’re out of their hair tomorrow. It was worth it.”

“They can make it so we don’t get drafted. They can keep us from even being eligible to be in the draft.”

Lefty stared at him for a long while before scraping himself up off the floor and getting to his feet. “Don’t you think he would have just left us out there if he didn’t want us in the draft?”

“I don’t know. Is that what you think?”

Lefty paused. “I don’t know.” He walked to the window, released the hasp and pulled it open. He stuck his head out and looked down at the ground.

“You’re not thinking of jumping, are you?”

“I was for a second, but this is higher than that wall was.” He turned to face Zero. The look in his eyes was serious now. “This is my fault.”

Zero felt like saying something like
Of course it was. It’s all your fault.
But instead he remained quiet.

“If it weren’t for me, you’d be cuddling up in your blankets right now in your dorm room, trying to get some quality sleep for the placement tests in the morning. Now you’re not even going to get the chance. Because I’m stupid and got myself stuck in the mud, you came after me and now you’ll never become Elite.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

Lefty leaned his back against the wall and slunk down to the floor. He pulled his knees to his chest, folded his arms on top of his knees and rested his face in his arms.

Zero stared at him for a long time—at least ten minutes. He didn’t know what to say. Part of him wanted to sit next to him and put his arm around him, or maybe give him a swift kick to the ribs instead. But he just planted himself into one of the chairs and then they both sat in silence.

The doorknob eventually rattled, and Cumulus stepped in again. He remained in the doorway. He looked back and forth between Zero and Lefty with an expression of frustration and ferocity that suggested he wasn’t very happy about whatever it was he was about to tell them. “We’ve talked it over—the other Elite and I. My vote was to pack you two up, drive you out into the jungle, and drop you off in the middle of nowhere to fend for yourselves. After all, that seems to be what you want anyway, right?” He continued to look back and forth between the two boys with his lips pursed. “But I have been outvoted by the others. They looked over your evaluations.” He walked up to Zero and pointed a finger in his face. “They tell me you’re top of your class. They say you’re not only the smartest, but you might even be the strongest. They say you’re worth consideration to be trained as Elite. I don’t think you’re worth the trouble, but they … want … you.” His last words were crisp and deliberate.

“He is smart. Very smart,” Lefty said. “And very strong.”

“Nobody asked you, boy,” Cumulus said without turning to look at Lefty. He walked back to the door. He placed his hand on the door and then spoke without bothering to turn around. “This is the room where you’ll be taking your test tomorrow morning. You’re sleeping in here.” He slammed the door, locking it from the outside.

Lefty hurried to Zero’s side. “Did you hear that? You’re all good. Nothing to worry about. Not only that, but you’re a shoo-in to be Elite. The good life.”

“What does that even mean—the good life?” Zero shook his head. “I have never met an Elite I can stand to be around, let alone someone I could call my friend.”

“Zero, I just thought of something. What if they give you a chance to choose what profession you want to be? You could choose to be a chemist or a biologist. You’re smart enough to master both studies.”

Zero shrugged his shoulders. “Okay. So what?”

Lefty looked at him with disbelief. “Maybe you’re not so smart after all. Don’t you see? If you’re a chemist and they make me one of the lab rats, then maybe there’s some hope for me after all. Maybe you could make me your assistant or something, instead of sticking me with some virus.”

Zero smiled, but it wasn’t genuine. He knew he would do fine on the scientific parts of the exam, but he had little hope for something like that. He had little hope he could ever convince the other Elites to refrain from being so cruel. “Let’s just concentrate on getting through the test tomorrow, okay?”

Chapter 13

Zero tried everything he could think of to get a good night’s sleep, but the classroom floor was extremely uncomfortable. He bunched up his shirt to use as a pillow, but the linoleum on his skin was too cold. He tried sleeping in a chair with his head down on his arms, but he woke up after a few hours with a crick in his back. When morning came, he felt like he didn’t get any rest at all.

He thought about tomorrow—about the rest of his life. He was terrified of what it would hold. Life without Lefty at his side, the guy who fought his battles, who kept things fun? He had been Zero’s only friend. Even worse than living without him was the thought of what would happen to Lefty once he was handed over to the scientists.

Zero lifted his aching body up off the floor and walked over to the window. Below, he could see the other students walking between their sleeping quarters and the cafeteria. It made his stomach growl. He doubted anybody would bother to bring him and Lefty any breakfast—especially not Cumulus or any of the other Elite.

He looked up at the clock. The written test was scheduled to start in less than an hour. The closer it got, the more stressed he felt. He looked at Lefty and could see clearly by his expression that the test worried him just as much—or even more. Zero felt terrible for him. He wished there was something he could do. He even tried to think of a way to cheat, which wasn’t like him at all. He had never allowed Lefty to cheat off him before, but they had never before taken a test that meant death to those who failed. Either way, every test was different. He couldn’t think of a way to feed Lefty any answers.

Cumulus, in his long purple robe, was the first person to enter the room. He did so with an enormous grin on his face. “Did you boys enjoy yourselves last night? Was the floor soft enough for you?” He beckoned for them to follow after him, and he led them to the bathroom. He stood at the sink with his arms folded until they had both finished eliminating, and then they returned to the testing room.

Lefty chose his seat and Zero sat next to him.

Flea soon entered the room. When he spotted the empty seat directly behind Lefty, he hurried to it. “Good luck on your test, genius.” He laughed.

Lefty sighed.

Other students soon filed into the room. Before long, nearly every seat was filled. All the others seemed just as nervous as they were.

Cumulus stood, his chin in the air, and held up one hand. All the previous mutters and hushed whispers fell silent. “As I am sure you all are aware, the placement exams are of the utmost importance to your lives. They will determine your place in society. Those of you who score well will be placed on a path that could ultimately lead to being one of the Elite, such as myself. It’s not an easy path, and few of you would be up to the challenge. This test is simply meant to discover which of you young ones have the intellect to be given a
chance
to walk that path. If you’re not smart enough to score that high, don’t worry about it. You can still get drafted—most of you, anyway.” He shot Lefty a snide look. “You’ll be assigned a place where you will be useful to everyone, and in the end that’s what this is about—the betterment of society. So, don’t stress over the test. Wherever you end up in society is the place you fit best.”

Zero glanced over and saw that Lefty had a scowl on his face.

“There are two hundred multiple choice questions, all with ten possible answers.” Cumulus smirked. “Many do not finish the test, but I highly suggest you try.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Zero saw Lefty reach toward him and he felt a small piece of paper slide under his arm. Scribbled there in Lefty’s unmistakable handwriting, it read “
Rember that you swor to me you will pass the test. You promisd.
”

Cumulus began walking down the aisle placing a thick stack of papers on each student’s desk. “Do not begin until I give the command. You were all given a chance to use the restroom before we began, so there will be no breaks during the exam. You have three hours to complete it.”

With a snort, he took out a small timekeeper and clicked the button on the side. “You may begin.”

Zero breezed through the first page without much difficulty. The answers came quickly and easily to the end of his pencil, but he was sure Lefty was not having the same success. Each time Zero filled in a bubble on his answer sheet, he asked himself whether or not Lefty would have gotten that question right. He had a bad feeling about this whole thing.

The first hour passed, and Cumulus cleared his throat. “Two hours remain.”

Zero looked up from his exam. He was already more than halfway through, but one glance over at Lefty made it clear that he wasn’t keeping up—not even close.

At the halfway point, Cumulus scanned the room and shook his head. “We are halfway to our goal, and I see many of you are lagging behind. I suggest picking up the pace. One and a half hours left.”

Zero found himself staring at Cumulus. There was something in the way he carried himself—something that made Zero very uncomfortable. Even listening to him say something as simple as how much time remained made him loathe the way he talked. Everything about him, from the way his pompous fake smile gleamed brighter than he thought humanly possible, to the way every hair was always perfectly in place—there wasn’t anything genuine about him. Zero looked down at his test. He was two-thirds finished with the answers and he was confident he had answered almost all of them correctly. He looked back up at Cumulus and wondered if this guy was even smart enough to do as well as he was doing. He doubted it. And yet this guy looked down his nose at every one of them, as if he was better than them.

He scanned the room and his eyes locked on Flea. He hated Flea. He had always hated him—every bit of him. And still, he knew he’d rather spend the rest of his life living next door to someone like Flea than with someone like Cumulus. He looked back down at his test. Did he even really want to ace this test? Did he want to end up living in an Elite community next door to someone like Cumulus? He hadn’t been around Elite people a lot, but they all seemed to be like him. Even worse than living next to him was the thought that the “path” to becoming Elite might even turn him into a snide prideful jerk like them.

He looked down at his test again and chewed his pencil. He was two-thirds done. He then looked over at Lefty, whose face was screwed up in concentration. His test was only about one-third completed.

He smiled as an idea formed in his head. He could switch tests with Lefty. He was quick enough with the answers to be able to finish the last two-thirds of it while Lefty enjoyed his, now almost complete.

He looked up at Cumulus, who was pacing the front of the room. When Cumulus stopped at the window to watch outside for a moment, Zero made his move. In one motion he snatched Lefty’s test from his desk and switched it with his own.

Lefty stared at Zero, and then down at the exam on his desk. A flash of determination replaced his look of desperation as he started reading the next question.

“Sir?” Flea yelled. “Lefty—”

Flea wasn’t able to say another word. Lefty spun quickly around in his seat and smashed his right fist into Flea’s mouth before he could make another sound. His left fist soon followed.

Zero jumped up from his chair and grabbed at Lefty to pull him away, but there was no use. Even as strong as Zero was, Lefty had never fought with such ferocity. Fists flew back and forth before Flea wrapped his arms around Lefty’s middle and they both went tumbling to the floor, knocking desks and other students in every direction.

Zero stood over them, circling them with his hands over his mouth. This couldn’t be happening. Not during the most important test of their life. He grabbed at Lefty’s leg, but he was too nervous to get close enough for a real grip.

Cumulus rushed toward the center of the action. By this time, every student had pulled back to form a circle about thirty feet wide with only the three boys inside. Cumulus struggled to push through the spectators. He reached the center and grabbed Lefty by the back of his collar. He jerked him to his feet and wrapped one arm around him from the back.

Lefty kicked, planting the toe of his shoe just under Flea’s chin and causing his head to snap back.

Flea gritted his teeth. He sprang to his feet, cocked back his right fist, and let it fly. Lefty bent at the waist, slipped from out of Cumulus’ arms, and tipped to his left. The punch glanced off the top of Lefty’s head and landed square on the bridge of Cumulus’ nose.

The room went silent.

Nobody moved as Cumulus brought the palm of his hand up to his nose. When he pulled it away, there was a smear of red on both his hand and upper lip.

He stepped toward Flea, who was now crouched partway holding both palms out in front of his face to shield himself. Cumulus raised his right hand and rained a hammer fist down on him. Most of the blow was absorbed by Flea’s hands, but he crumpled to the floor anyway—probably because he expected another one to follow if he didn’t. Cumulus kicked him in the legs twice before Flea pulled himself into a ball with his arms wrapped tightly around his head. He kicked him twice more, this time in the ribs.

“Get up,” he demanded.

Flea untucked hesitantly before raising himself up onto his feet.

Cumulus walked to his desk and pulled a tissue from a box. He held it to his nose. He pulled it away, revealing a small amount of blood absorbed into it. He walked to the door and held it open. “Get out!”

Lefty and Flea began walking to the door, leaving Zero the only person standing in the center of the circle.

“You too!” Cumulus yelled, pointing a finger at Zero. “You’re just as worthless as these other two. Get out.”

Zero followed Flea and Lefty out the door. They stepped into the center of the hall and turned around.

“Go wait outside. Wait for me out by the city gates. I’ll be down as soon as the testing is finished.” He slammed the classroom door shut before his muffled voice resonated through it. “Students. Because of the idiocy of your peers, you have now lost about twenty minutes of testing time, which you will not get back. I suggest you quickly get back to work.”