2 The Chosen Ones

"Ah, you must be Alan, the new member. Welcome to the TrixLab." Richard extended his hands as he welcomed the bespectacled lean guy standing formally in front of him. Richard was none other than what the children referred to as Father.

"Thank you for accepting me! I will work hard from now on!" Alan gratefully said.

Richard gave a casual glance at his watch as he called for the lift, "It's about time... Come with me."

"Yes sir," Alan respectfully replied to his senior.

"By the way, do you know what we do here, at TrixLab?" Richard started a small talk while waiting for the lift.

Feeling that Richard was testing him, Alan surmised the details he had read about Trixlab on the JobFinder site, "We research for ways to stop the wars, to create a better future."

Richard smiled but did not reply.

Diingg. The lift arrived as the doors opened.

Standing in the carpeted floor of the lift, Richard pressed the button '100' and the lift jerked downwards before accelerating.

Looking at the 102 buttons on the panel, Alan could not help but gasp, "It has a hundred floors?! I only saw a one story high building when I came in here."

Richard sighed as he helplessly said, "Floor zero is the first floor, floor 100 is the lowest floor. It's all underground." His tone was slightly annoyed. 'Why do I have to explain this to every new guy that works here.'

Enlightened, Alan was curious as to why it had to be underground. Before he had the chance to ask, the lift door opened.

Immediately, Richard strode out of the lift and down a heavily guarded corridor, with Alan jogging behind him.

Heavily armed guards were placed at fixed intervals, until they reached a metal door. Handing his pass to the guards, they affirmed it before passing it back to Richard. After a full retinal and fingerprint scan, the metal door opened.

"He's with me," Richard explained when the guards were about to block Alan's entry.

Throughout the whole process, Alan was sweating, he could even feel that his ass was slightly wet. 'Is it too late to quit? What is so secretive about TrixLab that needs so many guards and what's with this underground thing?'

"This lady right here is Scarlet, she is in charge of the security pertaining to the training ground in front of us."

Alan quickly came out of his thought when he heard Richard giving the introductions. In front of him, sat an average looking blonde overlooking a bunch of meters and cameras.

Alan gave a quick greeting and Scarlet responded with a nod. He then looked at the training ground.

They were in a small dimly lit room, similar to that of a control room. In front of them was a thick glass panel, with a length of roughly three meters. Beyond the glass panel was an extremely large white gap. By his estimation, it was about 10 meters deep and 40 meters on each side.

"Lastly, this guy here is Vincent. He is well...the game master," Richard rubbed his chin as he attempted to find a suitable title.

Likewise, Alan and Vincent greeted each other.

Before long, Richard pressed the communication button and spoke into the mic.

...

As instructed, the children were given thirty minutes to finish their meal before gathering in a small room.

Bzzz...

The speakers came to life again as Father's voice resounded through it, "Dear children, we have now come to the monthly contest of survival. Only the strong will survive. Only the Chosen Ones will come out victorious. Fight! For you must! To survive!"

Just when his voice died down, the wall in front of the children opened as they slowly walked into the big spacious white room.

Code 072 looked up at the glass panel and thought to himself, 'Father is there watching us. Like always.'

...

"W-what is this?!" Alan stumbled back as he heard the words Richard spoke and finally, seeing the children came out broke his composure.

"A solution, of course," Richard smiled as he raised a finger.

"A solution to what?" Alan regained some of his composure and asked.

"To end all wars. You see, Alan, " Richard placed his arm around Alan's shoulder and leaned in.

He continued, "The things you see before you. They are not your typical children, nor are they human. Due to the wars that have plagued us for years, the number of able-bodied man has dwindled to a small number. This ridiculous war over scarce water supplies have to end soon. Am I right?"

Alan nodded.

"As you know, people die in war. We have developed a serum that brings the dead back to life. However, it only works on children who have died recently. The children, they come back to life, and moreover, they bring back with them the gifts of God. Yes, each individual displayed powers beyond human comprehension. Amazing, isn't it?"

Before Alan could continue, Richard concluded, "With that, we have thought of raising the perfect soldier. Ethics and morality, they are not a problem for us like-minded individuals. The real problem lies within the original hundred of children, which gifts are useless and which are not. A death battle is the simplest way to find out."

With that, Richard left Alan as he announced the commencement of the battle to Vincent.

'W-w-what's all this?! This is madness. The police, I have to report this. But for now, I can only observe and wait for a chance to escape!'

"This is The Judge. I will be taking charge for now. The location will be the Amazon rainforest. Your abilities will be unleashed when the game starts, survive until the end. May the Chosen Ones come out victorious."

With that, Vincent ended the com and pressed a few buttons. Immediately, the white tiles transformed in mud and trees started growing, a small lake separated the room into two.

"H-how?" Back from thinking things through, Alan decided to act like them for now.

"It's a secret," Richard winked before returning his gaze back to the training ground.

"Blitz, prepare to enter the training ground," Vincent spoke into his walkie-talkie.

"Affirmative."

...

At the other end of the room, the door slid opened as 30 armed soldiers entered the training ground.

"Alpha left. Bravo right. Charlie straight. Surround them," Commander Blitz quickly gave out the orders as he followed Charlie.

Under his breath, he murmured, "They are monsters. Not children. Not children..."

...

When the Amazon forest appeared, the children immediately ran into the forest to retaliate. It's either killed or be killed here.

Code 072 took a deep breath as the sounds of footsteps, breathing and the rustling of leaves entered his ears. He then opened his eyes, taking in every detail, the specks of mud kicked up by the children, the sweat dripping down their face. With the limiter off, his perceptions were heightened to another level.

Kicking off, Code 072 ran into the forest.