- Deeper in The Maw

As they are lead by the projection down the hallway they cross yet another unfamiliar door, one that the drone opens quite easily. The door has the words, "Enclosure 002" written on a plaque to the side. The screeching sounds of metal echo throughout the area.

After passing through the gate they once again hear the screeching sounds of the gate reverberating throughout the hallway. This process continue two more times before they are finally in another open area. The view they see next intimidates them as they are presented before a large elevator shaft about 5 miles in length and width. Ashur is able to seeing railings and looks down into the pit.

'Bottomless….' He gazes to the bottom but eventually, for some reason the lights stop continuing for a certain distance, he quickly moves his feet back from the ledge and moves with the group to one of the many elevators suspended on their level. The elevator door smashes shut and they are dropped at an alarmingly fast speed.

He begins to panic as he can feel himself having less of a pull of gravity and floats to the top of the ceiling of the elevator. While the rest of the entrants began grabbing the rods on the walls to stabilize themselves he is unable to grab anything within reach.

'I need to find something to hold on to!' He screams inwardly

Ashur begins rapidly moving his head all around, seeing many spots taken, but finally he sees his chance.

"THERE!" He kicks off of the wall with his foot he launches himself in the direction of the drone and manages his to fit his arms around it, securing himself on top of the drone, which would have looked humorous to anyone else observing the situation.

Ashur didn't know what was going on but he held on as tight as he could to the drone, but feeling no retaliation from it, he continues to ride it till it rotates slowly about ninety degrees till it faces the East side of the elevator and he is able to witness a harrowing scene. He spots Joshua fighting with another male entrant for a spot on a pole.

"COME ON, LET ME HOLD IT TOO GODDAMN IT!"

I yell at the two fighting, "THERE'S A SPOT LEFT ON THE DRONE!"

"FIND YOUR OWN POLE FUCKER, MY HANDS WILL BE CRUSHED!" Joshua yells at the entrant, ignoring me completely.

"WHAT?!" The entrant thinks bewildered. Suddenly he's kicked by two feet in the stomach, the force sending him out of a gap in the elevator's window, and into the abyss.

***

After what feels like an eternity passes in a moment, Ashur's eyes connect with Joshua's. Both showing emotionless expressions while they begin to feel the speed of the elevator slowly but steadily decreasing.

'At the very least I know Davis was telling me the truth... what a monster.'

Inwardly he could only speculate, 'Why is Joshua so unphased from killing another entrant, not only from the guilt, but from the eyes of the Bunker security, shouldn't such behavior be punished?' His eyes scan the elevator once more, noticing he is unable to find Davis anywhere he begins to look to the ceiling of the elevator and manages to spot Davis standing upside down with his hands crossed like a god looking upon an ant hill. With my curiosity satiated he noticed that the gravity had been making a slow return as his feet begin to be drawn to the ground.

Soon the elevator makes a complete stop and Ashur quickly jumps out onto the catwalk and began to feel much better, his legs stop shaking and finally stabilized he leans on the railing and looks towards the exit of the catwalk, labeled similarly to the door earlier, "Enclosure 958". The fellow entrants also enter the catwalk in a line but they all glare at Joshua for the unjustified murder of a fellow entrant, to which he simply ignores. At the height of the tension the all familiar voice of the holograph rings out. "ATTENTION ENTRANTS, CONFLICT WITH VIOLENCE BETWEEN ENTRANTS IS PROHIBITED, CONSIDER THIS YOUR FIRST WARNING."

Cries ring out from the crowd:

"Why isn't it punishing Joshua?"

"Unfair!"

"So Joshua gets to go free?"

The drone ignores the turmoil between the members and proceeds to the door, opening to a scene of a large area with two undamaged looking hotel builds side by a side, with many facilities visible such as a gun range, gym, pool, cafeteria, and subdivided areas in front of the hotels forming a large grid shape, in total presenting itself to be a large training center in Ashur's opinion.

"THIS WILL BE YOUR TRAINING GROUNDS FOR THE NEXT MONTH, YOU ARE EXPECTED AT THE LEAST TEST YOUR APTITUDE AT EVERY STATION IN ORDER TO RECEIVE A PROPER EVALUATION, INCREASING YOUR CHANCE OF SURVIVAL SEVENFOLD.

Everyone's ears perked up at the sound of this, as even if someone was severely lacking in many categories they could undoubtedly practice one skill specifically to raise their talents, others smiled, while some frowned while taking in account of their current skills.

Ashur personally frowned as well, while he wasn't entirely he sure of his skill at all besides perhaps the next role in a group as the pack mule, but he wasn't discouraged, he clenches his fists in anticipation to prove himself as a valuable member to any group, determined to survive at any cost.

They proceed down the stairs and began to walk along the grid spaces as well as a pool on the left in which they are able to witness two swimmers timing themselves, smiling whenever their time improved slightly, or not showing a reaction at all. Other times they'd hear the clang of metal on metal, or the sounds of bullets fired, the environment was so chaotic Ashur had no confidence in being able to sleep throughout the night. Ashur was quite impressed with the entire selection of skills he could test at his disposal, he was itching to get his hands on a gun for the first time, or take a swim in the clean see-through water, hell even the air from the nearby planted trees, yes, trees mind you planted within the bunker to give them a sense of comfort which he enjoyed thoroughly.

They enter the hotel on the left side, each receiving their room number and proceeding to his or her own room, he receives a lucky number, 7, and simply decides to go up the stairs to examine his new room. Upon arrival he can already appreciate the increase in quality, even if somewhat limited. The bed has covers, blankets, and pillows. The furniture is made out of a hardy synthetic wood material while the walls still persist as concrete. After adjusting to his room he sighs and is slightly regretful in his mind, but trying to avoid such thoughts he shakes his head and begins to think.