Prison Entrance Exam

The weather is especially nice that my mind cleared like a river. As the minutes moved, I start getting sleepy. 

"Do you know why you lost?" It was Russ who had found it comfortable to seat on my belly. 

"Not really." I shook my head, telling him to keep it. He is strong, I am week that's all to it. 

Paying no mind to my words he gloats, "Because you are piteously weak, and I am awesome." 

He took a breather and looked me with the corner of his hooded left eye. Blood veins where all over his sclera, "And, you have a stupid dream."

"You are right, I do have a stupid dream." A smile finally formed on my thin lips. 

My dream is to seat at home and relax, while I enjoy the money I made. I only dream like that, because it's within my range. Only idiots dream big about something they can't reach. 

There are basically dying goats in a drought region crying for the power of flight, instead of water. 

Russ clicked his tongue, I couldn't tell whether it was because of my smile, or is he just plain annoyed. He is indifferent all the time, which makes him hard to read. Maybe it's because he controls ice, so his heart might have turned cold. 

'What a terrifying guy.'

The moment my thoughts faded, a fancy double cab pickup truck arrived in front of Russ. It's ingot silver surface reflected back the sun's rays onto my face. 

"Get in." He states as he stood up. 

I showed no resistance whatsoever and moved to the back of the truck. 

"!" 

Cold sweat drenched over my whole body, as I felt an irresistible edge to puke. The sight before me could only be described as a reminiscence of torture. 

The faint heartbeats told me that whatever was on the back was alive. However, the six wide open eyes and the blooded bodies, signaled the opposite. 

'I am glad. I decided to surrender when there was still time.' 

"Kill...me...please..."

My ears picked on that low silvery voice. The owners brown eyes were just lifelessly staring at me. He struggled to extend his left oval skinned hand at me. 

'Why did they bother fighting a match they can't win?'

Russ answers my thoughts, with a cold tone, "I killed their comrades just as I did yours."

I see, so that's why they kept on fighting. Still and so, those soldiers were nowhere near my comrades. 

"Get in the front." 

My body had no choice by move unwillingly at that emotionless order. I opened up the door behind the driver's seat and was greeted by a lovely cherry cologne. 

"!"

My movements paused. I had just picked on the sounds of two heart beats. However, my ears couldn't locate the Alien at the driver's seat. 

Slam—! 

Russ pushes the door behind me, slamming this poor soul into the car. He says, "What are you staring at? Never seen a beautiful woman before?"

There is nothing to see! Oh...he is blind... 

As I set myself to sit nicely. The two heartbeats were violently pumping up blood, and a muffled shriek escape the owners mouth, "Mmm…"

What a pitiful girl, to love a cold person like Russ. Nonetheless, they make a perfect couple. Who better loves an invisible girl than a blind guy?

I just took a gasp of air and laid my small head on my palm. My eyes just stared on the black tinted window, waiting for what's about to come next. 

"Let's take these idiots to prison. It is want they wanted." Russ ordered with his indifferent look. I could feel his blind glare from the view mirror, coming from the view mirror. 

"Yes! Deputy General!" The invisible girl firmly answers. It didn't take a few minutes for her to step on the gear. 

The scenery didn't change until we reached the bottom of the mountain we were on. My eyes remained indifferent as, I stared at the modern business district before me. 

Thanks to the traffic jam. I spotted an astonishing site that made my brows move. Something like that would be a taboo on Earth. 

The invisible girl saw through my curiosity, "I take it there were no aliens in your world?"

I replied with a bored voice, "There were, but there were all terrorists that wanted to take over the human's home planet."

"I see." She said in a puzzled voice, "My name is Ampha by the way. What's yours?"

"Tito."

"As in giant?" 

I nodded at her bizarre question with narrowed eyes. Ampha added, "There is nothing about you that resembles a giant."

"I wonder."

She chuckled lightly, before she mentioned with a playful tone, "The Deputy General and you would make good friends."

My eyes averted from window, and shot a death glare at her. Russ on the other hand remained indifferent to Ampha. 

"We arrived." The girl stated. The truck had just arrived at a neighborhood garage. The place had a serene silence that told something was off. 

'There are no workers.' I started sweating a bit, but just maintained my poker face. 

Ting—! 

With a loud chime sound, the black garage door opened. The truck slowly moved into the dark path. 

Grr!

My ears picked on hallow sounds, that sounded more like grunts (1). There were coming from the ocean blue lit up place ahead of us. 

'Phew...it's just an underground aquarium.' I took a sigh of relief, but that didn't last long. My complexion turned pale when I saw giant sharks swimming around freely in the water. 

'They really want to kill me...' 

However instead of feeling fear, I remained nonchalant. The childhood me, just told me I wasn't dying today. 

Russ finally opened his mouth, "Get out and take the three behind the truck."

"We are still moving."

At my comment Ampha, was slightly startled, "Oh, sorry. I forgot to hit the brakes."

Before I could step out of the truck. Russ threw four red name tags written '99F' at my face. 

"Take those with you, too. Make sure to break them, when you reach the end of this aquarium. It will save you a lot of time."

'Why does he want me to break them...?'

I just shrugged Russ off and put the name tags in my pockets. I moved over to the back of the truck to pick up the trio there. 

I princess carry the girl with light brown hair. She is the most injured and the only one with a slightly athletic frame. 

Placing the petite girl and the frail guy on my shoulders, I start moving.

Ampha calls, "Bye Giant!! I hope we become good enemies in the future!!"

'Good enemies? Does such a thing exist?'

With a calm look, I walked for a while, before I reached a giant black metal gate. There were huge capital letters on it saying, 'Galactic Prison'.

I couldn't turn back now. If I do, a blind monster will be there waiting with his invisible sidekick. 

Bam—! 

I loudly kicked the door open. The passage way was devoid of any light, and I had to rely on my hearing to navigate it. It felt more like I am walking into a giant black hole. 

My body shivered uncontrollably. It was the first time being in the dark felt scary. 

A famous African philosopher once said, 

— No one truly knows a nation until one has been in inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones. 

When I arrived to greet the lowest people of this world, my mouth almost fell to the ground in shock. 

"None of them prisoners..." I muttered in disbelief. 

They clutched different weapons in their hands, organized in groups of four. They all had smiles like there were waiting for a big adventure. 

Do people volunteer to be prisoners in this world? 

No, there has to do be a story behind it. 

Bam-! 

All the doors that led to this dark stadium-like-hall (2) closed shut. The television cube that was hung in the sky lit up, and became the only source of light. 

A feminine robotic voice started being produced from it, 

[There are 99 groups in total. Each group has four people with the name tags that end with F. One team or less shall be sent to prison block F. The team with all its name tags and members alive will be the winner. If all four name tags are destroyed then that team will be instantly killed. Ten name tags of other team members can replace one name tag. The ground and walls are made from great stones, which will make ability users equal to normal people. You may all begin the hunt. May the best team win.]

I started hyperventilating and mistakenly dropped the three I was carrying. I felt like I was under an acute myocardial infarction (3). 

Only one team would survive the death sentence. Anyone can tell this is impossible to achieve. We have to survive a battle against 392 people. 

However, in this case, I have to protect three half dead individuals and find a way to survive. 

All eyes suddenly turned on us. It didn't take a genius to notice that we are the weakest team. 

It was like being locked inside a horror movie, a minute before the city you are reborn in gets destroyed. 

I start hearing my parents' last words in my mind, 

"Why did I carry such a monster in my belly? It's because of you that the Aliens attacked our farm! You are a child of misfortune, you should have never been born!!"

"Why don't you do us a favor and kill yourself? I could have done it, but I don't want your dirty blood on my hands."

Like hell I would! 

My chances of survival are low. Nonetheless, my chances of survival were always low, since birth. 

'I can do this.' It was a false and foolish resolve, but I just needed something to believe in.

The first thing I did was break the great stone cuffs, and pick up all my three teammates, before running like hell. 

'This nation is hell that even the devil can't survive normally.'

___

1 - Fish don't make sounds when they swim. However, they contract their muscles and the swim bladder vibrates, making a hollow-like sound. This sounds can be described as grunts/groans/thuds/barks. One would need super-hearing to catch this type of sounds. 

2 - stadium-like-hall — A hall as big as a stadium 

3 - acute myocardial infarction — heart attack.