Part 4.

From the information my 'team' fed me, the academy felt more like a soldier training ground than what they talked about in their forms.

    All trainees were to stick together as a unit of six, only our unit had seven members.

After absorbing all of that, I came to one conclusion, it had to be a military base. Certainly not what the invite had stated.

   "My phone?" I cried feeling around all pockets on me. It had been there when I got in the bus hours ago.

"They took them," Zoe snorted leaning back to tuck herself under Paul's arm. Her gray eyes held nothing but despise as she looked at me. What did I ever do to her?

   "Fuck me!" I groaned sinking on my chair.

"I can do that!" Paul teased, earning an elbow to his ribs from Zoe.

Okay, maybe Paul flirted a lot with me, so that could be enough for his girlfriend to feel threatened. But come on! Of all the guys I had come across, Paul would never cross my mind in an intimate manner. He was fun and brought life to any situation but falling for his flirting would lower my dignity as a lady. Nothing personal against him, but, eh!

  As I sank in my misery, I noticed the two strangers on out table barely saying a word. They looked like they were related, maybe siblings or cousins? The female appeared shy and nerdy with her big glasses while the boy seemed like the most introverted person I had ever come across.

        While Paul, Zoe, Carlos and I shared the same former high school, Jae Sung had been a familiar face from the neighborhood, schooled in a private institution. He had even participated in some competition revolving around medicine.

   "Why would they take away our phones?" I brought back the discussion.

"Probably so they can kill us, or force us to participate in some dangerous competition like that Korean series... what's it called-ah! Squid Game." Zoe said, her eyes falling in Jae.

   Jae rolled his, holding back the urge to say something that would hurt her ego.

"Anyway, maybe we should first get to know each other, hm?" Carlos suggested placing his hands next to his empty tray.

I sighed quietly while my eyes tore away from my mates to fall on the crowded hall that was so noisy. Each and every person in there had so many questions. I could see it on their lit-up expressions as they shared stories.

  We were at least a hundred and thirty, or a figure close to that.

       "Ivy?" The familiar voice snapped me out of my calculations.

"Huh?"

Everyone at the table was staring at me.

"Focus! We're introducing ourselves," Carlos stated in a flat tone.

"Sorry!"

He gave me the 'you-better-concentrate-or-I-will-beat-your-ass' look before gluing it on the other members.

    "I'm Mary, I am eighteen years old, graduated last month, I was born-"

  "You don't need to tell us where you're from Mary," Carlos smiled. "We'll be stuck together for a while, let's think of ourselves as a family."

I felt double attracted to him, especially when he was acting all mature and authoritative. He sure would be the leader of our unit, nobody else could lead us. Carlos was also the eldest after all, two whole decades. Paul and Jae were nineteen while Zoe, Mary and I were eighteen. Chris was the youngest at seventeen.

                        ***

"...always stay with your unit unless training is in session. You only get to make one phone call per week through booth..." Oh gawd! He never stopped talking. It was one rule after the other, and there were so many of them. It felt as though we were not supposed to breath without asking permission from our handlers.

For twenty minutes, the male, J.Browson, went on and on about the do's and don't's of the academy before someone else took over.

That face was too familiar, the eyes, the height...it was Mr Blackstone, Carlos' father.

      My eyes naturally fell on Carlos, noticing the thrill on his face.

"A good morning to you all novices, my name is Gerald Blackstone. I'm one of the Directors of SFA. This year, you all, are our new trainees." He paused and threw eyes over our heads, as if trying to study our reactions. Mr Blackstone proceeded to remove the microphone out of its clip and walk from behind the large desk on the podium.

   "I know many if not all of you, have a whole lot of questions. Like why are we breathing so many rules while you expected to be in a free environment. While that may be half true, you are still not in the know of the main and real reason, we brought you here.

          "Thousands and thousands apply to join our academy, but we pick the best. We, pick those that have shown a particular skill that we need. Now... you're wondering what I'm talking about so I'll break it down for you ladies and gentlemen.

"This is not a getaway academy! We train all our novices t be the best at what they are so you can help fix the world... As we all know, the world isn't what it used to be. Well, it is our job as SFA to correct the mistakes our kind made years ago that have resulted to these catastrophic events that have claimed the lives of so many all over."

    He paused to once more study us.

"The world is under attack. Humanity is under, attack. And who amongst you can tell us what is attacking us?" Mr Blackstone asked raising his hand to encourage us to copy him.

A deep silence reigned in that hall, heads moving side to side, eager for that one person that would raise a hand.

   I snorted lowly while rolling my eyes.

Was he going to tell us that the ozone was weakening and that was the cause of everything?

    "Yes?" Mr Blackstone smiled looking at me.

No, not me, but his son Carlos.

"We're being attacked by, demons!"

Everyone in that huge room turned to get a glimpse of the person that had uttered such madness.

Boy! It was so embarrassing even for him.

       "Good!" Mr Blackstone beamed. "We are being attacked by demons ladies and gentlemen."

Murmurs rose suddenly.

What did they expect after all? That they ould shove such bizarre information and expect us to stay calm?