Chapter 11: Caged

•National Academy of Science, 1st ward•

Valerian

Valerian shifted in his bed as the sun began to cast its warm rays through the curtains, the world outside the window slowly came to life. He hated it.

Somewhere on the floor, an alarm clock started to beep insistently. "Fuck." Valerian cursed. He hated to wake up at somebody else's alarm. He looked at his own clock on the side of his bed. Its red digits displayed: 6:00 AM.

Valerian got up and opened a screen in front of him. "Just as I thought, the virus seems to be spreading" He muttered as he stared at the Notice posted on the Academy's staff notification board.

After last night, he decided it was worthwhile to try to get into the Academy's main system. He was right. The Academy seemed to be hiding it from other students but since the school year started, there have been 4 missing person cases.

Emily Stuart who that Ambrose kid seemed to be obsessed about. Beatrice Ward, who went missing at the same time as Emily but then was found a week later. Kalix Dyle who he killed last night (but went missing AGAIN), and finally, the most recent, Rip Thorn who was thought to just be cutting classes but was found dead in the Academy's library last night.

Valerian waved his hand and another screen appeared. The screen displayed a map of the whole school in blue. The map was supposed to show the locations of the people infected in bright red dots. However, there were no dots on his map. "There must be a mistake."

"No red dots meaning no infected but there was another attack."

From the missing persons he deduced that at least one of them was infected and the others were simply its victims. So far, Kalix Dyle seemed to be the only one infected in the school. Valerian thought killing him would stop the spread of the virus. "It seems I was wrong."

He didn't know where or how they were infected. During their clinical tests and experiments, the virus was always induced directly--by injecting it into the patient's blood system. So he had no idea about the virus' transmission.

"Fuck."The virus was dangerous. He was against further clinical tests because the virus seemed to have detrimental effects on the patient's overall well-being. The infected lose their sense of self, it was as if the virus drove them mad. Before anything extreme could happen, all of the patients were induced with euthanasia. But it was the same with every test subject they had so far. Death by euthanasia.

"Who knows what other side effects that virus can cause," he muttered to himself as he closed the screen and started to think of a plan.

He looked back to what happened last night. 'Ambrose Riese' He thought to himself. '

"Perhaps he could be useful. I'll humor him a bit. Guess I better not skip classes today" He said as he headed to the shower.

***

Valerian squinted his eyes against the violent glare of the sunlight. 'Fuck. They just HAD to program the sun to be IMPOSSIBLY HOT during their Physical education classes?!' He cursed silently.

Most civilians aren't aware of it but everything in the sanctuary is meticulously controlled by the government. The temperature, the weather, even the fucking heat of the sun.

To the knowledge of the public, the sanctuary was a giant city--over 1000 km in circumference surrounded by a thick wall as tall as the highest skyscraper(900 meters tall)

However, that was not the case, the sanctuary walls were much taller, with the topmost part engineered to mirror the Earth's atmosphere before the virus outbreak. This gave the illusion of having clouds, rain, snow, and other weather phenomenons. The sanctuary was nothing more than a giant cage -- making the sanctuary completely closed off from the outside world.

"Attention!" Their teacher announced as the students shuffled to their feet. Valerian could feel the annoying tendrils of the grass tickling his ankles as he walked towards their teacher.

"Physical Examination is a standard protocol at the start of each school year. Since the other classes are currently using the gym, soccer field, and tracks..." The teacher gestured to his surroundings. They were at the entrance of a forest--the forest bordering the Academy. "We'll have to have our Annual Physical here."

Whispers and complaints started to emerge from the crowd of students.

"Quit your whining, brats! If you weren't such a terrible class you'd be given priority rights." The teacher explained.

"Enter the forest follow the marked path and come out within the allocated time. Easy enough. The teacher yawned and snapped his fingers. A swarm of tiny spherical flying robots emerged from the forest, each of them the size of a fist. "You're heart rate, pulse rate, oxygen saturation, and all other vitals will be monitored throughout the exam. In case of an emergency, the bots will send a signal as well." He explained

"Any? Questions? None-" The teacher cursed when he saw someone raising their hand.

"Mr. Cane, doesn't the physical examination have other categories? Muscular endurance, flexibility reaction time-"

The teacher- Mr. Cane apparently- cut off the student before she could finish. "Don't worry, the forests are more dangerous than it looks. Your physical capabilities will be put to the test. Why do dozens of different tests when you can incorporate them all in one activity? Killing numerous birds with one stone" He said proudly.

"Class, get ready." He ordered. "Time limit will be an hour."

"READY." The students muttered complaints and they positioned themselves at the forest's entrance.

"GET SET."

"GO!" Mr. Cane shouted. The students didn't seem to reciprocate his excitement as they dragged themselves into the forest, clearly against their own volition.

"Oh and by the way, the top 5 people to finish will be given an all-access tour by a member of the imperial 7." And everyone started scurrying into the forest at top speed.

***

The wind blew fiercely against his face as he made his way across the forest. Valerian decided it was best to stay hidden from the other student's sights so he remained within the tree tops (where he could stay hidden from the monitoring robots as well.)

Valerian could easily go through the test course in 5 but he figured doing so would make him stand out too much. "Might as well get something done."

Valerian leaped from branch to branch as he tried to get as far from the students as possible. When he deemed his surroundings to be quiet enough he opened his screen and checked for the results of his blood sample analysis. The night before, he collected some. blood samples from the infected Kalix Dyle and managed to run some tests before a pair of idiots barged into his room.

THUUD THUUD THUUD

A rustle of leaves close behind him signaled that there was someone following him.

Soon, a familiar figure appeared from below him. "How annoying." he cursed. He unsheathed a dagger from his shoes and aimed at the girl's head.

Unfortunately, she was able to dodge the dagger in time. She looked at where the dagger came from and they locked gazes. She smiled at him-a smile he knew was laced with contempt. He smirked in reply.

"What a coincidence," Ana said.

"Why are you following me?"

"How audacious! Bold of you to assume I'm following you" She huffed, crossing her arms.

"If you weren't following me you would have noticed that by now"

"What?" She looked around but it was too late. The ground by her feet began to crumble and she fell into a hole with a heavy thud. A trap. The forest was laced with all kinds of traps for the physical examination. Most of them were easy enough to spot if you were careful.

The tips of Valerian's lips curled into a smirk as he saw Ana struggle to get out of the 6-feet-deep hole.

Valerian jumped down from the branch he was on and landed perfectly on his feet. "Not so tough now, are you"

"HA HA HA. Very funny now would you PLEASE help me up."

"I will if you tell me the truth." Valerian hissed. "Who are you and why are you following me"

"Do you really have no intention of helping a poor vulnerable lady! That is VERY rude!" she yelled from below with a huff.

Valerian crouched down. It was amusing to look down at her from above. From this angle, with her arms crossed and puffed cheeks she seemed almost normal. However, after last night, he was certain she was anything but normal.

Unbelievable. "You didn't seem like a poor vulnerable lady when you pointed a dagger at my throat and threatened to kill me last night."

"You must be mistaken. I don't know what you mean" Her brows furrowed and her nose scrunched slightly--an expression she made when she was annoyed--He took a mental note.

"Really?" He mocked

"Probably just a bad dream" She shrugged

"You're a terrible liar"

"Yes, I've been told."

Valerian pinched his nose bridge in annoyance. 'This is getting nowhere

"Who do you work for and what do you want?" Valerian growled in a cold, commanding voice. He saw Ana flinch visibly.

"B-because. I love you!"

Valerian's eyes widened-clearly taken aback by the audacious statement. "What?"

"I am so madly, deeply in love with you that I cannot stand to be without your presence-"Valerian silently cursed and nonsense came spilling out of her mouth.

Valerian leaned closer into the hole. "So you're the type to put a dagger to the throat of someone you love?" Valerian said in sarcasm

"It's a trend these days. All the rage." She explained. Valerian could tell she was lying. He could tell she was after something--just like everyone who wanted to get close to him. But what?

She didn't seem like the average assassin as well. She was clumsy, naive, and reckless. If she was one, she was a terrible assassin.

Valerian run his hands through his hair in frustration then suddenly a force from below him pulled him into the hole.

THUD

"What the Fuck!" He cursed as he found himself at the bottom of the hole covered in dirt.

The culprit was standing in front of him laughing at him hysterically. "Fuck." He cursed again. Valerian could easily escape if he wanted to but he couldn't do that in front of her. If she really was working for someone it was best if he kept all his cards hidden.

"Did you see that fall?" She said in between laughter. "You should have seen the look on your face."

"I hate you" Valerian growled

"Awww but I love you" She teased while holding back her laughter.