Chapter thirty eight:Trials and Transformations"

(I feel like I've been milking Rayan's back story so for the next two maybe three chapters, I'm going to be done with it)

**LITTLE RAYAN'S POV**

In my stay here I noticed one thing there was no such thing as friendship or comradery, everyone wanted something from you be it protection or the second meal. Since we didn't have money we traded these items with bandages and fresh clothes. I still don't understand how they would gett fresh clothes but it didn't concern me as long as I got it, bandages on the other hand, these were given to us once a month.

The only two who were different from the rest were Bruce and Darla, ever since I set foot here these two have been together up until now, there has been numerous rumors about them some said that they were siblings but it was dismissed because those two look nothing alike and the one that's still circulating is that they are in a relationship, that seems plausible but if they were or weren't it was none of my business.

"excuse me," a recruit of maybe eleven year's was standing right in front of me.

"what do you want?" I asked trying to get rid of him as quickly as I could.

"the meal you'll win today sell it to me," he said in a hurry trying to avoid eye contact.

"what makes you think I'll get it today?" I asked but the ten left standing have rarely changed so it was mostly a sure thing that I'd be among the ones left standing. I also received some nicknames due to how I fought, one was the joint breaker and my personal favorite, the tooth fairy since I broke a lot of people's teeth.

"you always do, please I have a ten foot bandage and I'd throw in some new pair of boots," he said.

I looked at the shoes I was wearing, it had a hole on the big toes and the underside had become slippery and with Mr Lance as my recruiter I needed the bandages more than food actually. So I raised my hand to shake his and the boy took it with a huge smile.

"you had me at bandages but I'll take the shoes too," I said as I let go of his hand.

He left me for a few minutes and went to his sleeping cage, took out a roll of the bandage and black combat boots. He walked over and handed them to me, I threw the bandage in my cage and I wore the shoes. Aaah, I forgot the feeling of new shoes, not squeezing my toes or letting rocks poke me.

The door opened and we were expecting one of the masked supervisor to walk in with our breads but it wasn't, instead it was Mr Lance, Riven, Oliver and the person who seemed to be their leader. Riven was a man with a huge physique and deep brown eyes, long black hair that reached his back and he had straight nose but what was really unique about him was the scar that cut across his fore head.

Oliver had green eyes, he had a buzz cut, he had a medium physique and a stout nose. While their leader had huge broad shoulders, he had grey eyes, long hair like Riven and his nose was also similar to Riven. As these men stood at the entrance everyone had just one question, why were they here.

"oh the suspense is pissing me off," Mr Lance said as we stared at each other.

"yes as our companion has rudely said, let's not waste any time so follow us," Riven said.

They walked us to the arena and we found the recruits in the other building already waiting there, they instructed all of us to form a line and we did, they didn't ask us to but we stood in attention.

"starting from today everything changes," the leader said.

"listen to the man runts," Mr Lance said and this earned him the glare of the three. He raised his hands up in defeat before he searched inside his tunic and took out a flask and started drinking from it.

"everyone who has been among the ten to receive a meal more than eighty times step forward," Oliver ordered.

"and don't think about lying, cause you'll regret it," the leader warned.

I knew I won more than a hundred times so I took a step forward, along with nineteen more others, Bruce and Darla included. The remaining ten panicked as they didn't know why they were separated from us, the kid who sold me the bandage and the boots was among the ones to remain.

"the twenty of you are deemed to be the best and there are some who are even the best of the best," the leader said as he walked from the first to the last of us.

"while the ten of you are just dog shit," Mr Lance said.

"the twenty of you take four steps four steps forward and then turn around and face your comrades," Riven said.

We took the four steps forward and turned around in unison as we were told.

"now you'll see what happens to the rejects in this camp," Oliver said.

The leader took out a red cloth from his pocket and threw it up in the air, as soon as he did in seconds, a huge shadow covered the ten and we heard something whistle in the air, in seconds arrows rained over the ten standing in front of us, the arrows were shot from around the arena and the people shooting them were the masked supervisors, the arrows had lodged themselves in almost every part of their bodies, their bodies dropped on the ground, we could hear a wheezing sound as they took their last breath. Seeing this much bloodshed my mind instantly went back to the room in my home.

I saw the blood of my mother and sister spill on my face before I shuddered and closed my eyes to shake the memory off and it worked. I opened my eye and saw the ground of the arena being a mix of dirt and blood, the ground had some arrows lodged in but each of the bodies of the recruit had enough arrows to fill a quiver halfway.

Every one of us had mixed expressions on their faces, some were enraged others were disgusted but the one expression that was the same was fear, blood cuddling and mind numbing fear.

"now that you've seen what happens to the rejects, I presume that now you'll try your level best," The Leader said as he turned around.

"they had eighty chances but the twenty of you now have three," Oliver said.

"but don't worry, these three days you'll receive three meals and a nice warm place to sleep," Mr Lance said.

"I'll show you to your new rooms," Riven said and he gestured for us to follow him.

He took us to a room which was large enough to accommodate twenty beds and it wasn't cramped, as soon as Riven left, some of the recruits dropped on their knees, I was tempted to do the same but I managed to maintain my composure. Bruce and Darla were discussing something before Bruce glared at me and rushed at me.

He grabbed my by my collar and pinned me on the wall.

"what the fuck was that!?" he asked.

"huh," I said as I tried to pry his hands off me.

"did you fucking know!?" he shouted and all eyes landed on us.

"Bruce stop," Darla said as she pulled his arms.

"Darla he's always around Lance, of course he knew," he said.

"no he didn't look at his hands," she said.

I hadn't noticed before but my hands were trembling so much, I tried to make a fist to stop the shaking but it didn't help.

"he is just scared like the rest of us," Darla said and Bruce eyes softened and he slowly let go of my collar.

"I'm sorry," Bruce said but his tone sounded like a whimper.

In all honesty if he cried no one would have held it against him, some of the others were already crying but what else could we do we were just kids we barely had all our teeth and now we had to prepare for death if we failed in a fight what kind of fuckery was this. The masked supervisor was the one who took us to the arena.

"now things will be a little different, instead of an all out battle, the twenty of you will partake in one on one fights," the leader said while we were in the arena.

"now the two recruits who will start is my favorite student and John Smith," Mr Lance said.

Everyone else took a step back as me and that John Smith kid went to the centre of the arena, the kid had short black hair, light brown eyes and he had a medium build. We both got in a fighting stance and like always the Leader announced for us to begin.

John Smith took a step back further, we slowly circled each other, each of us hesitant to make the first move, I got impatient and approached him, I focused on his eyes since that was always a give a way when it came to fight. John Smith then kicked some sand at my face and it got directly into my eyes.

I was momentarily blinded that I didn't see him spear me to the ground, fuck! How could I be so careless? John Smith got up and was cheering at himself, he was walking back to the rest of the recruits.

"where do you think you're going the fight isn't over," the masked supervisor said.

"but I knocked him down," John Smith said.

"nope the fight stops when your opponent can't fight anymore, so get back there," he said and he shoved him back.

I stood up and dusted myself, I raised my guard up and gestured for him to come, he took off his shirt and rolled it, wait is he really considering this, no way am I going to let him strangle me, he kicked dust at me and this time I covered my eyes with my arms.

This bastard must think am stupid or something, when I removed my arms from my eyes a saw a black fabric fly to my face as it covered my head, I felt a pull at the back and my head landed on the ground with a loud thud.

He kept smashing my head back and forth on the ground, wait this guy was always famous for using underhanded tactics, I struggle a bit to find his hand and when I did I grabbed any finger I could find and I pulled it back. I heard him scream and his grip loosened on the shirt, I quickly pulled it off from my face to find him crouched down at the side of my head, he was holding his broken forefinger as his face grimaced in pain

I sat up and pushed my palm at his neck, he coughed and held his throat. Finally I stood up and this time I wasn't going to give him a chance, I kicked his thigh then his head, I bent down and threw a punch at his gut then chest before finishing with an uppercut right at his chin, he fell down and I must have been high on adrenaline the I stood over him and started punching his face with all my strength.

By the time two supervisors had pulled me off, John Smith's face was a mess, four of his front teeth were knocked in, his lower jaw was dislocated and his face was covered in blood from his swollen eyes, to his broken nose and his lower lip was half cut.

The adrenaline started to wear off and a huge headache overcame me, I felt a thick liquid slowly roll down my spine and I knew it was blood. The supervisor escorted me to our dining room and after five minutes Bruce came in then four others came in before Darla who had a deep cut on her left eye must have been from an elbow.