Chapter One: Two Tests

At first, there was darkness, and only darkness. It was impossible to know where he was, or what, even. What was his name? It evaded him. Far-away whispers echoed to his ears, so quiet and distorted now that understanding was next to impossible. It was as if he was floating in his own little pool of eternity, without care for what might lie beyond. He was fine. Everything was fine. This was where he was meant to be.

And then, he opened his eyes. The boy's vision was blurry, though he could make out the fuzzy forms of people, all dressed in white, above him. The words they spoke became clearer as consciousness found him. They were... doctors? Or something of the sort, at least. Which seemed strange to him, because nothing seemed to be wrong with him. Nothing he could detect, at the very least. So why...

A loud beeping sound began to ring out, invading his senses and causing him to groan in anguish. One of the doctors looked to his face. "He's awake," the woman frowned, "Should we put him back under? We have more anesthesia."

Another one looked up into the boy's eyes. This man shook his head, his face emotionless. "Leave it. He'll be out cold from the shock soon enough." And the woman did not argue, simply going back about her duties. The boy tried to speak, but no words came. His throat was so very dry, and his eyes watered profusely. Perhaps if he cried hard enough he could drink the tears, or at least get their attention again. Suddenly, a wave of pain crashed over him, causing his head to pound violently. He thrashed and fought against the doctors, but he was too weak, and the exertion exhausted him. Sure enough, he soon fell back into that deep, dark lake of unconsciousness, where it was safe.

It was not clear how much time had passed, by the time he awoke. The doctors were gone. The room, though not as dark as his safe space, was dim all the same. He could not tell if it was the same as before, but he also wasn't sure it mattered. Slowly, the boy sat up in the bed, and glanced around. He seemed to be alone. Curiosity began to creep in. What was this place? Why was he here? ...he must find out. He slipped from his bed, adjusting his hospital gown a moment before creeping towards the door. He was tall enough to see out the window as he reached it, and so he risked a peek. No one. An empty hall with white walls and nothing of note. He tried the handle.

To his surprise, the door was unlocked. Not dwelling on it a moment longer, he slipped out. It seemed he was at the end of this particular hall, with the rest spanning off to his right. A straight shot. He strolled rather casually past several other doors, glancing in the windows curiously. The first room he passed was empty, though it seemed like it had been rearranged rather oddly, the bed and the tables all stacked oddly by the wall, near a ceiling vent. The second, though... there was a young girl inside, sitting in her bed and singing softly. Her hands worked diligently, braiding and undoing her hair over and over again.

The boy watched this a moment, then... out of some odd whim, he opened her door and stepped in. "What are you doing, there?" He asked, approaching carefully. The girl was startled, practically jumping out of her bed at the sudden intrusion.

"What are you doing in here?" She demanded, drawing her bed sheet tightly around here. "This is MY room. How did you even get in here, anyway...?" She glanced from the strange boy to the door, now ajar. He double blinked at her, tilting his head. "Oh, never mind that! You'd better get back to your room before someone sees!"

He took another step closer. "The door was unlocked, you know. You could've left whenever you liked. How long have you been awake..? Where are we?"

The girl simply huffed. "Not much longer than you, no doubt! Listen, I don't know where we are, but we've got to be separated out for a reason. You're going to get me in trouble!" Her lip quivered and her eyes were wide. "I'm staying here until someone comes for me. You'd be smart to go back to bed and do the same!"

"Well, that's just silly." He disagreed, crossing his arms. "Don't you want to know what's going on? They must've left the doors unlocked on purpose."

Again, her lip quivered. "Of course I do, but I'm not going anywhere with a trouble-making boy!" She turned her head away and hmph'd at the young man, going back to her hair braiding. The boy regarded her a moment before sighing and turning to go on his way. Yet... he paused.

"What's your name?" He asked.

She blinked at him. "What- what do you mean?"

He sighed. "Your name. Don't you know your own name?"

"What a silly question! Of course I do! Don't you?" The girl chewed her lip. She was lying, he was sure of that. No point in wasting time on her, then. He left the room, shutting the door carefully behind him. The sound of her singing faded as he continued down the hall, all the way to the end. There was a crossroads, here. The hall split to the left and the right, with no signs to tell which was which. This was puzzling. Why no signs? Surely even the adult folk would get lost if the whole place was like this!

The boy held his breath, listening to either side for any sounds or signs of other life. Nothing reached his ears. This almost deterred him. Maybe the girl was right, and he should just... go back to bed. It would certainly be easier, and someone was bound to come and explain eventually... but, no! He would prove her wrong. He could find his way around, he just had to look closer! The idea hit him, and suddenly, he crouched low to the floor, peering closely at it. It caught him off guard, but like this, it was like... he could see the warmth from the floor, where footsteps had previously fallen.

Both paths had trails of heat, but the right was far fresher. So, the young man went right, following the trail as closely as he could. Eventually, it led to another room, this one set up completely differently. There was a table in the center, with chairs all around it. Only two of the seats were occupied, and both by people far older than he was. He only listened and watched through a crack in the door for now.

The man, who was dressed in military fatigues of dark grey and blue, sipped from his cup, sighing. "I don't think any of this batch is coming. The last one should've woken over half an hour ago." He frowned at the woman across from him as he spoke. "Maybe we should call it a wash this time-"

"They will come." The woman, dressed in a white lab coat with her hair pulled back into a tight bun, pushed her glasses up further onto her nose. "I have every bit of faith in this batch."

The man snorted. "In one of this batch, you mean. You're tangling all sorts of bias into your little scientific method, Elsie." He downed the rest of his drink and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "What if he doesn't come? Then what?"

Elsie chuckled and smirked. "Then I will be sorely disappointed, and I will try again. There is no emotion in this work, Folten. Only dedication to the cause and the purity of the results... no matter what those may wind up being."

Folten grinned and raised his empty glass. "I'll drink to that. Speaking of which... you got anymore to drink?"

Elsie scoffed and rolled her eyes, standing from her seat. "You're impossible." The doctor went to a cabinet on the far wall and retrieved a large bottle, pouring amber liquid into Folten's cup.

"You love it though. C'mon, say you love it." The soldier took another drink. Elsie, however, did not respond, crossing her arms and sighing as she watched the clock. Her expression was neutral, save for her eyes, which screamed with some sort of hopeful pride. Finally, the boy gathered his courage and pushed the door open, stepping inside.

"Excuse me..." He began to speak, which grabbed the attention of both the adults present. "Where are we? I... can't seem to remember anything." Fulten whistled softly in surprise, and Elsie could hardly contain her smile at the sight of the young man. Neither one spoke right away, simply taking him in for a moment. He shuffled a bit on his feet, wringing his hands. "I'm... not in trouble, am I? The girl a few rooms down from me said I'd be in trouble."

The soldier stood, moving to the boy's side. "Not at all, lad. You're exactly where you're supposed to be. Come, sit." He settled a hand on the boy's shoulder and guided him to a chair, then took his own once again. "Now... Miss Elsie here is going to ask you some questions, boy. Just answer as best you can. It's alright if you don't know the answer." He looked from the boy to Elsie, nodding.

Elsie, on the other hand, was just enraptured by the child before her. It took all her effort to look away from him and to the clipboard in front of her, but she managed. She swiped her pen from the table, clicking it and readying herself to write. "Name?"

The boy blinked. "I don't remember."

She checked a box and nodded. "How long ago did you wake up?"

"...twenty minutes ago, maybe? I don't understand, why does that-"

Fulten rested a hand on the boy's shoulder once again. "Let Miss Elsie ask her questions, and then we'll answer yours, lad." He looked to Elsie and nodded once again, and the woman continued on.

"How did you get out of the room?" Her eyes were level with his as she asked this, eyebrow quirked.

The boy laughed nervously and scratched behind his head. "...I used the door. It was unlocked." While the doctor scribbled that down, he noticed Fulten clamp a hand over his own mouth, likely trying to contain a chuckle. What was so funny about that? Elsie shot the man a cold look, but then continued on.

"And after you got out, how did you find your way here?" She smiled gently. The boy could feel there was all sorts of warmth behind that smile. It was comforting, in a way.

"Well... It might seem kinda silly. I crouched down to check for recent footprints... and I could see where the head had been from them. So I just followed the warmest path." He watched their faces for reactions, but neither one seemed surprised in the slightest. Elsie set the clipboard aside, moving to the same cabinet from earlier.

She came back shortly after with a tray of various implements. She started to wrap one around his arm as she spoke. "You may ask your questions, now, while I check your vitals. Arm out, please." And the boy did as he was told, sticking his arm out straight. She began to squeeze a small bulb connected to the device.

"What's my name? I mean... I can't remember." He frowned. The device was awfully tight. It kind of hurt. "I don't remember anything about myself, even." It didn't take long before the device began to loosen, and Elsie looked at the display, jotting down something from it before removing it from his arm.

"You do not have a name. Not right now. You are the Twenty-Third, nothing more." Fulten chimed in, sipping his drink. "This place is a facility where officials like Miss Elsie and I run tests. You are part of the tests we're currently running... and a very interesting sample from it. Am I allowed to tell him why, Elsie?" The woman nods, retrieving a syringe and a needle from the tray. She carefully stuck the boy's inner arm with it, drawing enough blood to fill the implement up. "Young man... you are the twenty-third we've put through this testing, and not a single child so far thought to check the door before escaping. Most used the vents, or if they used the door, they broke the window to open it from the outside. But you... well, lad, I'd say you've a bit of common sense about you."

The boy thought back to that first room he passed, with items all piled up. That certainly explained that! His mind wondered, though, about that girl he spoke to. "...does that mean I passed?"

Fulten chortled and nodded, a wide grin on his visage. "Yes, lad. With flying colors, you did. At least this part of everything." Elsie was checking his heart now, with her stethoscope. She nodded, satisfied with her results and scribbled them down.

"Which is lucky for you as well as us. Had you not passed, you'd have been removed from the program- anyone who doesn't get out of their room is..." She trailed off, looking him up and down a moment. "...on second thought, I'd rather not get into those details just this moment. "As far as your name goes, you'll get one if you continue to pass through the testing so well. For now, you are the Twenty-Third, as Mister Fulten said. Remember that. You'll be expected to respond anytime it's called out." She looked to Fulten and sighed. "Take the child back to his room, would you? We're all done here."

The Twenty-Third chimed in. "I think I can find my way back alone, thank you." And just like that, the boy turned and left. Fulten scooted his chair over to a monitor and flipped a switch, turning it on.

"You think he's gonna pass this one, too?" He raised an eyebrow at Elsie. The doctor just smiled knowingly and sat beside him, flipping through security feeds with her remote.

"Don't be a fool. Of course he will."

The boy trekked his way through the halls, back towards his room from earlier in the day. It was easy enough to follow his own heat signature back to where he started, after all. Still... he paused outside the girl's room. She was still in there, asleep, now. What was going to happen to her if she stayed there? It didn't sound good, the way Miss Elsie had started to talk about it. The Twenty-Third sighed and opened her door once more. "Hey." He yell-whispered into the room. "Hey, wake up! C'mon, you've gotta get out of there!"

The girl groaned and rolled over. "Didn't I tell you to go away? I'm not gonna get in trouble because of you..." She slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes and yawning. "You sure are annoying."

"I'm trying to help you, you dolt!" He hissed. "Listen, this whole thing is a test, okay? And I don't know how, but I think they get rid of the people who don't pass."

She scoffed. "And how would you know, smarty-pants?"

"Because I passed. I left my room." He rolled his eyes at her, moving closer and tugging her out of bed. "C'mon, I'll show you the way." And soon, the boy was showing her the path he took, showing her how he got down and followed the heart signatures to the room. "You can't tell them that I got you up and out, alright? I don't think they'd like that very much, and then we'd really be in trouble."

The girl sighed and shook her head. "...alright, fine. But you better not be messing with me, got it?" The boy was already walking away, now truly headed back to his room to lay down. He felt awfully tired, but... something deep down made him feel good about it all. Helping that girl... would she feel grateful, later? He didn't really care. It was the right thing to do. The Twenty-Third laid down in his bed and relaxed. Tomorrow was another day.