Chapter 6 - The Trial Begins

7:15 appeared on the clock.

Whirrr. The door opened. The other men all dashed for it. There were thirteen of them in all. Jason stayed put, waiting for them to leave. The few that had allied moved out together. As they left, Jason walked to the food table like he had all the time in the world. He grabbed a bottle of water and some pastries, stuffing them in the cargo pockets of his jumpsuit. Twelve hours was a long time. Best to not be starving and hungry.

The Overseer was glaring at him openly, but the High Dedicated, the High Elevate, and the woman he now knew as Hannah just eyed him curiously. Hanna even cracked a smile. He knew he was pusthing it, but he had gone over everything they had been told a hundred times, and nothing had been said about not being able to take food. Technically, he didn't recall being told he had to leave, and had considered just staying here for 12 hours and dealing with whomever returned. That was still tempting, but he wasn't sure he'd be allowed to. He loitered for a minute, watching the door and listening for sounds. Fighting and shouts had started immediately. He figured he'd let them all beat themselves up, and he would have fewer to contend with.

He approached the door from the side, and peeked into the hallway beyond. It was about forty feet long, with two doors on each side. The hallway ended in stairs going down. One body lay face down near the 2nd door on the right. That hadn't taken long. Eleven left. The doors left and right were all closed.  He crept around the corner, approaching the first door on the left along the wall. It had buttons with the numbers 1 and 2 on them. From this spot, he looked at the doors on the other side. Their buttons said 5 and 6 and then 7 and 8. He could guess the next door down on this side said 3 and 4, and that these were elevators tot the other floors. The man that hadn't left this floor was obviously trying to take the elevator down to floor eight, and the whole group probably had that idea. He'd likely been beaten by one of the groups that had formed up for it to happen that fast.

This was a brutal scenario. Jason was here because he had turned in a group of rebels, and the Protectorate tended to reward individuals that did so. His place here had been the result of a long and calculated plan. Even though it hadn't gone exactly as outlined, and he certainly hadn't anticpated having to go through a trial like this, he was in place. The difference between him and the others, though, was that he wasn't truly a traitor. He had to assume the others really were. That would make it easy enough for him to fight them, as he had no respect for anyone that sold out their people. However, he had no real way to be sure. He'd do his best to go easy, but that likely wasn't going to be possible.

As he was pondering his next move, a sound came from the elevator that went to floors 3 and 4. Jason dashed to the end of the hall through the door that went to the stairs leading down and ducked around the corner. There was just enough room for him to stay out of sight. He breathed slowly, remaining motionless. He closed his eyes to shift focus to his other senses. He heard the elevator doors open and three or four pairs of footsteps padded softly into the hallway. He could hear the men speaking, but couldn't make out every word. After some discussion, he heard another elevator door open, then close after the men all entered. He carefully peaked around the corner to make sure none had stayed behind. The hallway was clear.

The swords were on the eighth floor down, and that was absolutely where everyone would want to go. That said, they couldn't have all gotten on the same elevator, or wouldn't have. Doing so would have invited a brutal close quarters brawl where no one would have any advantage. Based on the dead body by the elevator going to eight Jason could conclude that at least one group had headed down there. There had been a group with four men and one with three, and everyone else seemed to be going solo, but they could have allied or paired up as well. If he had to guess, the only men that had taken elevators had probably been grouped up, with maybe one or two left standing grabbing whatever was left, and the rest had probably made for the stairs.

Jason decided to take the stairs down. He listened for any noise, and then silently made his way to the next floor. The stairs spiraled down as if they were in a round spire. They were about six feet wide, and each step was about ten inches tall and ten inches deep. They seemed to be made of white marble, which made up the bulk of the architecture here. This was broken only by deep brown woodgrain trim around that framed the elevators and doors.  The round staircase meant there were no corners to dash to or hide behind until he got to the next floor, so he approached carefully and quietly, ready for anyone that might appear. He made it to floor one, marked as such by a large number "1" above the door. This hallway was similar to the one above, but had only a single elevator door. This was labeled 3 and 4 and was exactly where the same marked door had been on the floor above.  This put the elevator at the near right side of the hallway. The far end, where the door to the room they had started in would have have been on the floor above, was open to a room beyond. Jason couldn't see from here what exactly it led to, but a warm light emanated from the doorway.

So, each floor must have only one elevator, and the top floor was probably the only one that let you access all of them. He couldn't be sure of that, but it was a good way to make sure they all had to come face to face from time to time, or risk the stairwell. He strode to the other end of the hallway, sticking to the right wall just in case the elevator door opened. He didn't want to be immediately visible. Approaching the far end cautiously, he peaked into the room beyond. It was a large, round room with a pillar in the middle of it. This room was all woodgrain, and a fireplace was set on the far side, currently dark and unlit. Just another place for them to meet and fight, he thought.  He turned to head back to the stairwell, but a low whirring came from the elevator. He quickly ducked into the round room, staying just around the corner. The elevator opened and at first he didn't hear anything. He heard the doors start to close, then open again. His guess was whoever was in there was trying to carefully make sure the hallway was clear before they exited. He stayed still as he heard the doors close again. He really wanted to know who and how many had exited, but didn't want to risk being seen. He stayed still, listening.

Suddenly, he heard shouts and heard footsteps running. They were coming his way. He stayed still as three men rushed in to the round room. They looked around frantically, stopping near the pillar. Jason wasn't sure what they were up to, but just as one of the men noticed him he heard more shouts from the hallway and the sound of feet slapping the ground. More men were coming from the stairwell. The other two men in the room noticed him, but didn't advance. Jason stayed put, letting the three men in the room keep attention from him, for now. Four more men, all wearing the same jumpsuits, rushed in. One wielded a sword/

That was fast. They had found the swords already? They only had one, so either the swords were kept in different places and they hadn't found them all yet, or they simply hadn't managed to claim them all. Jason could see it was definitely a training blade. It looked to be made of some sort of composite material. Blunted and with no blade it was less a sword and more a bludgeoning weapon, but being in possession of one still meant you had a huge advantage.

The two groups faced each other. The group with four men spread apart slightly, trying to surround the group of three and still block their exit. None of the second group had seen him. Jason briefly considered joining them to even the odds, but he didn't think that was his best tactic. A group of three could go up together and be the last ones standing for the next trial, but four was one too many. He would have to either pick somone off or they'd do the same to him.

He had the element of surprise. The man wielding the sword wasn't the one closest to him, but was only one spot farther. As the two groups stared each other down and the larger group began to advance, Jason dashed from his spot. The man with the weapon had been one Jason had noticed sneering openly at him before they had started, which made the next part easier. He approached from behind, took the man's head between two hands and twisted sharply. The man's neck snapped and he began to crumble, and Jason grabbed the weapon by its blade as he fell. Before anyone could react he was running for the stairs, taking them three at a time as he sped away. He heard curses and shouts from behind him, but he was willing to bet no one would follow. They were now three on three and neither group had a weapon. That should keep them busy for awhile.

He didn't stop at the second floor down, nor the third, only taking quick glances to see if anyone was in the halls and confirm they had the same layout. Floor two's elevator had been in the same spot as floor one, but floor three's had matched it's corresponding elevator from the starting hallway. So did floor four, which is where he stopped, taking his spot behind the doorframe again. He listened for sound from the stairwell, both up and down, and heard nothing. He peeked around the corner into the corridor, which was clear. Another door at the end went to another room beyond. As above, another warm light emanated from this room, but it was much brighter. Jason crept along the right wall, and put a hand on the elevator door as he passed. He couldnt' feel any vibration or hear anything. The elevator wasn't moving. He moved on, peering into the room at the end cautiously. This room was large and square. It was empty of anything except for a large steel grate in the middle. Lights on the ceiling illuminated the space, but there was nothing else. He approached the grate and was greeted with the odor of old sewage. Ah, it was what passed for a latrine here. He tested the grate to see if it could be moved, but it was welded in place.

The elevator began to hum, and Jason dashed to the corner, hiding in the room near the doorframe again. He heard the elevator open and a man quickly ran in. He looked around, frantic. Jason guessed he wanted a place to hide. He saw Jason, and his eyes went wide as he noticed the sword. Jason was about to say something, but then the man suddenly took the spot opposite him on the other side of the door and pointed towards the hall. Jason was about to mouth a response when he heard shouts and running feet coming fromt the other end of the hall. He guessed this poor chap was being chased by a larger group and had just made it to the elevator and escaped, but the other group knew he had to be on this floor or the one above. It seemed they wanted to clear this floor first.

Sure enough, a voice called out. "We know you are in there. Come out and let's make this quick." The voice was rough, and just loud enough to hear. He could sense more than hear them advancing slowly down the corridor.

Jason mouthed "How many?" The man on the other side of the doorframe held up two fingers two him.  He nodded back to the man, waiting.

He heard the other two men approaching, slowly and carefully. Before they came through the door, he twisted around the corner and smashed his elbow into the man closest to him's face, at the same time swinging the sword as hard as he could into the second man's face. Neither had time to do more than gape in surprise before they dropped. The man he'd taken out with the sword lay motionless. The first man started to stand up, but Jason hit him in the temple with the sword, stilling him.

He felt bad. This wasn't who he was. In this trial, though, you were predator or prey. He couldn't dwell on it and had to keep the larger goal in mind. He also didn't harbor too much guilt, as you didn't end up in this trail by chance. You had to prove worth to higher powers. Jason had been involved in most of that planning, but his father had been the one that orchestrated most of it. Well, him and a like minded group of conspirators in Redfield.

The last man peeked around the corner, his eyes going wide. He was terrified, having just seen Jason drop two men almost instantly. Jason approached him, presenting the hilt of the sword to the man. "Stay with me, and you can have this. If we both make it to the final trial, it's yours. All I ask is you only weild it against others and team up with me until time is up."  Jason stood still, holding the sword towards the man. At first he backed away, then he licked his lips. The man was terrified. Jason wondered how he had ended up here.

"You will really let me have it? I'm not a great fighter. I didn't know I was going to have to do something like this." The man glanced down the hall, paranoid. "How do I know you won't backstab me?"

"You don't," Jason said. "But it's in neither of our best interests to do so. I can handle myself, but a larger and armed group is a threat. You help even the odds." He continued to offer the sword.

The other man hesitated, then took the weapon. "Deal. My name is Marcus."

"Jason." He nodded to the man, then turned towards the elevator "Let's move."

Chapter 7