Tempus

I couldn’t look at anyone when I walked to stand next to Oliver. We didn’t even acknowledge each other.
When the ceremony was over we had to go in the rooms with our designated leaders. I bit my cheeks, I couldn’t cry now. If the hunters saw me cry I’d be the first to go. We were being led by a girl with blue hair and red lips, when we found our way to the room where we would meet our leaders.
There were only four of us, two girls and two boys. Oliver looked straight ahead, I couldn’t read his face, he didn’t even crack a smile the way he normally would any other day. We went down flights of stairs until we were three floors underground, the lights flickered a bit and the walls went from being complete lights to rugged stone down here.
I could barely see what was ahead of me but I pushed forward, I looked over at Oliver and he looked back at me and gave me a slight smile, he mouthed ‘You okay?’ and I nodded. The light went out and my hand found his hand, I was never romantic, but I was frightened of not knowing what could be ahead of us. He held onto mine and we finally stopped, some of us walked into each other.
“Congrats, you passed your first test as a Hunter.” The girl then turned around and opened a large silver door, I let go of Oliver’s hand and wiped my sweat on my pants.
We entered the room where three men waited for us. Everything in here was silver, the light was bright above our heads and the men waited by large screens and they didn’t turn until the girl with blue hair spoke again, “We’re here,” she said in a sing-song voice and they turned.
One of them was old, his skin was thin and tight, his hair white like toothpaste, he looked almost familiar. He smiled slightly.
“I am Benjamin, I am the leader of the Hunters,” he spoke slowly as he scanned through us. “Each of you were hand selected by us for many reasons, we went over your genetic code and it has now brought you here.” he said to us.
“I am Archer,” another man stepped forward, he reminded me of my dad but his hair was black and long in a ponytail, he had tattoos on his hands but his eyes were kind. “I will be watching you through your training process, I will be speaking to each and everyone of you and going over your progress. There is no room for the weak here and if you are faint at heart this will not be a good time in your life,” he said sharply. “This is Leo, he will be your instructor, he is one of the best here.”
Leo looked as though he could be a few years older than I am. His hair was a dark brown and his eyes were a blue. The other men wore dress shirts but Leo wore a fitted t-shirt.
“He’s cute,” the girl next to me muttered, I looked over and recognized her immediately, her name was Kay, we went to school together. Her hair was blonde with hints of brown and she had an olive like complexion. “You don’t think so?” she asked me.
“I dont see it fit to comment,” I told her.
“You!” I heard Archer say as he came over, the crowd parted and he came right to me. “Name.”
I felt the heat rise in my cheeks, “Meredith, Meredith Porter,” I told him.
“Ah, you. Do you know much about defense Meredith?” he asked me.
“I know one uses it to protect themselves,” I choked.
“Very… clinical,” he spat a laugh. “You better start listening if you want to learn how to do it,” he said quietly to me and I felt the heat leave my face once he walked away from me.

~*~
We were lead to a glass elevator. This was to take us to the Hunter Headquarters under ground. It lurched to the side, the leaders and the blue haired girl whose name I learned was Taylor chuckled as we grabbed the edge of the glass to steady ourselves. We reached their basement within a few seconds, this was their training center. The hall before the training center was lit by a light blue bulb. Every door called for a code to enter. Leo led us up the stairs and punched in a code. When the door slip open it turned more into a meeting center, everything was woodsy, warm.
I chuckled.
“What?” Leo turned to me.
“It’s not very scary,” I told him with a shrug.
“You’d be surprised,” he mumbled.
He led us through the people who gaped at us,
“This is the common area, you can come and go as freely as you like once training is over, through those doors,” he pointed at a set of large double doors, “is the cafeteria.” He led us to two more large doors, these were not connected. “These are the training dorms, girls on the left, boys on the right. Taylor, please take the girls,” he told her and she nodded as she led us through the door which opened almost immediately to her touch. She led Kay and I.
“It will only open for a girl, no guys. If you wanna sleep around or do whatever, don’t do it in the dorms,” she said as she led us up stone stairs, I blushed at her comment, trying to imagine myself ever doing something so scandalous but my father called those acts ‘cries for attention’. There was one window and you could see The Center where all decisions were made and important buildings stood. There were only four beds, two on each wall and two dressers.
“There is your bathroom, anything you need you’ll find here,” she said going over to a small door, she placed her hand on a pad and it opened. Inside of it were toiletries and clothing.
“I’m only right down the stairs, if you need me come to the scan pad near the door and hit my name.” she said. The headquarters were filled with these scan pads, only some worked for certain people.
“Now you must go get your life chip checked to make sure it’s information is updated,” she told us. She looked at us and stopped, “Do you need a moment?”
We both didn’t say anything. “It’s going to be hard to adjust, coming from your backgrounds but it gets easier,” Taylor said.
“Thank you,” I told her and she smiled at me.
“Just come down when you are ready,” she told us as the door opened in front of her and she left.
“She seems bitchy,” Kay said to me.
I shrugged at her.
“Do you talk?” she asked.
“Yes, I do.”
“You came from medicinal? she asked me as she sat on a bed, I sat on the one opposite of hers.
“Yes.”
“Lucky, my parents were laborers,” she said. She ran a finger through her short blonde hair.
“It was probably more fun, ya know?” I told her. The laborers were known for their parties after long days of work, they would play music and dance. I’ve heard the parties late at night from my bedroom but I’ve never been to one.
“It was, if you consider starving and working over ten hours a day fun,” she said sarcastically. “Not all of us are privileged.”
She got up and walked out of the room, I couldn’t tell if she hated me for who I am, quiet and shy. Or if she hated me because of my parents.