Year One-Day 1 Survival of the Ages Year One Day One I slowly opened my eyes, well aware of what day it was. I shivered, cold again, probably since I had been sleeping downstairs, in a chair, against the table. As I got up my back cracked and I winced, realizing I should have been more careful about my sleeping choices. It would be sore later. I knew I had to be in the square by 9. I slowly turned my head, scared to see the time. I blinked a moment, my vision not quite focused yet. 8:35. I gasped and fumbled with the stairway door, then ran up the stairs and to my room. I shut my bedroom door behind me as I took off my clothing and opened my dresser. I got out a pair of loose skinny jeans, and put on a black tank top, a dark red sweater, and my mom's old archery jacket. I knew there was a small rip in the fabric, I put the locket in it so that I could keep it with me. I slid on some blue socks and my sneakers and ran downstairs. Dad was waiting for me by the door. You weren't allowed to take your whole family with you to say goodbye. You had to choose one parent. Well, I didn't have to choose. He handed me a poppyseed bagel, it was still warm. "I got it for you. From the bakery." "Thanks, but I'm not that-" "You need to eat, Jenny, it will take you a few days to find food." "Okay. Thanks." I was hungry, after not eating yesterday on account of my nervousness. I took a small bite of it, and it was delicious. Lemon flavored, I thought. My favorite. I smiled and took another bite, food was actually helping to settle my stomach. After that he had some bacon, probably from his brother's pigs, a glass of goat milk, from our goat Iz, and an orange, which I did not know where he got. I hadn't eaten an orange in a while, because they are hard to get in this sector. In some of the countries south of us, they're more common, but they don't grow well here. Oh well, it was a nice treat. "Thank you," I said after a couple minutes of silence. He smiled, but stopped after we passed through the entrance of the gates. He turned to me. "Now, go over to that lady-" he pointed in a direction behind me and I turned a moment so I could look. "She will give you all your directions, okay? The parents have to wait here. I'll see you right before you go." I nod and hug him. "I love you Dad." "Love you too." Without looking back, I turned and walked (rather quickly) over to where he said to go. She was tall, with black, straight hair swooping down her back, and she had piercing, gold-brown eyes. She wore a purple dress sweater and a black pleated skirt. "Hello," I managed weakly. Her face suddenly changed moods as she noticed me. "Hello! Jenny Reeve Alegony?" I nodded. "How do you know which one I am?" She chuckled. "Few arrive as late as you. You must be brave." "I overslept a little," I grumbled. She laughed again. "I can tell by your hair." I reached up to my hair, realizing I'd forgotten to brush it. "Come with me." She led me into a building, down a hallway and into a room. "This is where you will be getting ready. Now, I'm sorry that you won't have as much time as the other girls got. But you have 15 minutes." She opened the door and I was nearly blinded by how much light there was compared to the hallway. The room itself was huge, and it was littered with dressing rooms, mirrors, accessories, clothes, and 13 year old girls. Another women noticed me and ushered me to a big closet. She opened it, only two sets were in there. "These are what you are to wear," she instructed. "But you can chose an article of clothing as your personal keepsake if you wish to do so." I knocked on the door of the closest dressing room, and after hearing no response, opened the door. I changed and put on the clothes without looking, then put the jacket back on. I stuffed my clothes into a thin plastic bag they provided and wrote my name on it. I left it in the pile of bags of the people who'd been there before me. I observed myself before exiting. Black leggings made of some soft, warm material. A long sleeved, forest green sweater. Underneath was a thin white undershirt, likewise with the leggings. I breathed out nervously and opened the door. I did what the first woman had told me; I brushed my hair. Before it was just a tangle of red knots, but now it was soft scarlet waves. The same lady who had seen me walked in ushered me to a table and started to put my hair up and add a little makeup to my plain appearence, which I saw unnesacery. But I knew why she noticed me- she and I were the only red heads in the room. Although she had a blond ish red and striking light blue eyes, and I had emerald green, it was still somewhat calming to have someone similar to me and I did not feel as bad with the silence between us as she worked. "You do not look thirteen," she said when she was done. She spun my chair so I was facing the mirror and I saw that she was right- I did not look thirteen. She had a proud smile on her face. I observed my reflection closer to see she did not even use that much makeup. "Weird," I laughed a little. I turned back to her. "Why do we get made up?" She paused. "I think that, since some of the parents will never see their children again, that we are making it so they see them beautifully." I didn't respond to this. It made me think though. I doubted that the government made that mandatory. That was the work of the people. And while they have hardened over the years, meeting people who were being sent to their maybe-deaths, they were being charitable. We all stopped as a voice came over loudspeakers. "Please report to the testing room. Repeat: please report to the testing room." It was crackled and old and sounded tired. I had forgotten about the testing. First a mental test to see if you know things- what plants are safe to eat, how to make shelter, basically your wilderness know-how. I still remember most of what Lawrence told us when he got home after his Final Year. Afterwards there was a physical test. Then, using the results, they find your odds of surviving. They give it to your family, but you don't find out until you come out, if you come out. Lawrence's odds were 79/100. He had good odds. I swallowed nervously and got up to follow the crowd of maybe 20 others. We were marched down a long hallway, and at the end there was a gymansium-like room filled with desks. The boys had beaten us there, and they were scattered throughout the room. There was probably about 50 of us in total. I started at the first row, checking the papers for my name. It only took me three desks before I found it. The paper with "Alegony, Jenny Reeve". I sat down, and to my right was a boy I recognized, I think his name was Rett. Two girls filled in the spaces ahead of me, both I used to be friends with, but we grew apart over the years- Kendra Abti and Juliar Alaron. After they instructed us to open the booklet, I found that the test itself was rather short and pretty open ended. It was basically "What would you do?" Scenario questions. Questions like: Q: What would you do if you came across these berries? (A picture of poison red berries was shown.) A: Leave them alone. I'll leave them to poison somebody else who's dumb enough to eat them Q: How would you go about finding food? A: Watch the animals to see what plants they eat. Try to find rabbits and other small animals. Q: In the event you had to, how would you kill a person? I thought before writing my answer to this one. A: I would never be able to do that. After the alotted time was over, they collected out tests and the desks were removed. They flipped a couple switches, turned some dials, and we watched as large formations came from the floor, panels flipped to show monitors and screens, and net fell and was suspended from the ceiling. There was a mentor at each station: patterns, bow hunting, knives, hand to hand combat, and more. I decided to use this time to try to find an ally, and approached the boy who sat next to me. His father worked in the mine, and they owned a farm, so he had strength somewhat advanced for his age. The only problem was that he seemed rather unapproachable. "Hi," I plainly said after walking up to him. He glanced at me and then at the ground. "Oh. Hi. Reeve, right?" I nodded. "Well, Jenny Reeve. Most people call me Jenny. But I don't care which you pick." "I like Reeve," He replied. "And you're Rett, right? I've seen you around. We've talked before." He nodded and swallowed. "Yeah, that's my name." He glanced around the gym. "I'm kind of terrified, to be honest." I tilted my head a little and held in a giggle. "You're so strong though. You could make it. I should be worried. I probably won't make it past the winter, I won't be able to find any plants and I doubt I could hunt." He laughed. "I don't know, I can bow hunt, and I've shot a gun a couple of times. So I can hunt and you can gather." I paused. "Does that mean you want to be allies with me?" He smiled. "I don't see why not." He looked at me. "Where did you get the jacket?" "It was my mom's. She loved archery and wore this hunting. But I never learned." "Oh." He looked up at someone on the net. "We should probably go. Let's meet up later." "Deal." I walked over to the mental skills section and looked at some of the people there. Not many, and mostly girls. There was an area with flowers and plants scattered around, and a few foldup field guides. I bent down and picked up a small purple plant. I shifted through and could only find a couple that I knew were safe to eat. A loud bang shook me out of my thoughts and I snapped my head around to see two kids fighting. Over what, I couldn't tell. All the mentors ran over to help. I glanced around to see if anyone was looking. No one. I slid two of the guides into my pocket and stood up, brushing off my knees. I looked over as two mentors walked back, talking about odds or something like that. I saw Rett across the room as he shot an arrow. He hit a bullseye. I decided that since I've barely even hurt a fly in my #life, I should probably get some physical training in. I crossed over to the netting and ropes, maybe I was a good climber. I gripped the black roping in my hand and pulled my feet up onto it. I kept climbing, finding gaps in the rope, heading upwards. I stopped at the top, looking down. There was a long line near the sword training. "It's not like they'll give us one," I said to myself. "Yeah, I know," a voice answered. I jumped a little, loosing my grip on the net, and my stomach was uneasy as I repositioned myself. I turned to see a short, blonde haired girl a few yards behind me. "You scared me," I hissed. "Sorry, Jenny," she said softly. I did not recognize her and did not know how she knew my name. I started to climb down, backwards, in case I fell. I got to the bottom and dropped down, bending my knees. I swiped a few loose strands of hair out of my face and rubbed my hands. My knuckles were white and sore. I looked around for Rett and found that he was staring at me blankly. I looked away after a moment. The rest of training went by in a blur. Rett tried to teach me archery. I tried to learn to throw knives. I tried to learn to sew. I tried. But I felt like my best try was the worst thing I could manage. Before I knew it we were saying goodbye. Just a generic goodbye between my dad and I. It was starting to get dark out as they loaded us in the hovercraft. I waved through the window and watched as a mentor gave him a piece of paper. He read it, ripped it up, threw it, and sank to his knees, trying not to cry. I sat forward and tried to forget what I just saw.