Well this was fun. Blace was standing in the open air in a place she couldn't see because the sun had the audacity to shine in her eyes. Rude.
Once her vision cleared, she realized that the building she had been through was actually the inside of a huge wall surrounding a large dirt area. The whole thing was probably four or five acres across, and there was construction taking place at the end farthest away from Blace. To her left were oblong tubes. They were hard to describe: they looked sort of like trailers but distinctly rectangular and much longer. The surface looked almost metal. It was a dark grey and semi matte. Blace couldn't even take a guess at what they were used for. They were just in sitting in a long row, butts only feet away from the enclosure's walls. To her left she saw what looked like a giant obstacle course with different stations set up along the sides. Barbed wire and mud, bars dropping over water, variations of climbing walls were just a few of the things Blace could pick out. In front of her, people were trickling into a cleared area surrounding a small mound.
"Alright, listen here." A woman pushed her way through the crowds and stood on the mound. She was a buff latina with long hair braided tightly back from her face. Muscles bulged in her arms and shoulders and Blace could bet she was even stronger than she looked.
"My name is Lieutenant Razo and I am your new best friend. You answer to me. Any questions? Don't ask 'em. Gotta take a piss? The answer is no. You want a break? Your sissy ass is going to have to earn it. Here at Cor Novum, we don't take sissies. You earn everything you have. And right now, you have nothing. This is your new life, people, a chance for a better one. Who you were? They don't exist anymore. It's who you will become that is important.
"Now. This is the way things work here: you all are on level zilch. Level zero is where you have the clothes on your back, nothing else. Two meals a day, eight clicks of sleep, showers once a month. Lo tengo? Good. That's the only time I'm gonna say it. Every day you will wake up, scan your wrists and memorize your schedule. You will follow that schedule down to the second. If you do not know your schedule, you will be punished. You will earn your way to level one, then level two, and so on. Those who fail will be removed. Is that clear?"
There was a ripple of silent nods throughout the crowd. Blace was pushed into the middle as more people flowed out of the walls behind her.
"You will be addressed by your assigned numbers. Learn to respond. They are your new identity until you earn a name." Lieutenant Razo paused, "Today you will be assigned your beds and you will receive one meal. You will learn how to use the scanner. Tomorrow, your new life begins."
Well that was all well and good, but what the heck were clicks? As Blace was thinking, a low, loud clicking noise resonated through the compound. Then another, then another. Come to think of it, Blace had heard these faint echoes as she was coming in. She had thought nothing of it but now… she'd heard the first echo about three hours ago when they were first walking into the compound. It was more like a bunch of clicking noises in rapid succession. Then later on, just one click. A little after that, two cli-
Oh. They were keeping track of time. Blace felt stupid for not realizing it sooner: clicks were hours. She supposed the time was kept like those big clocks they had in fancier schmancier cities like Opulenti. Well that seemed simple enough. One click meant one o'clock, two clicks meant two o'clock, and so on.
Blace felt something on her leg and was about ready to scream and kick it off when she realized it was Bradley. The little boy was holding onto the fabric of her jumpsuit pant leg, looking worriedly up at Lieutenant Razo and sucking his thumb. Blace heard his little tummy grumble.
The crowd was now packed tight enough that Blace couldn't see over the heads of the other people there. Everyone around her looked young. Most were around her age, but some were even younger. There were scared looking kids that looked like Bradley's age, and some who looked like they hadn't even gotten out of elementary school yet. Blace spotted Hunter, who had found Aisha and was keeping her closeby. The throng of people began to stir and Blace pushed her way towards Hunter with Bradley close behind.
Black interrupted the sea of blue jumpsuits as guards began to move through the people. It went like this: a triad of guards would circle around a group of no more than ten or so people. They'd pass a cord to each other and rope off sections of people, separating them from the crowd. Together, the three guards would herd and wrestle the group of people to one of the tubes Blace had seen earlier, bashing hands, torsos, and heads that fought their way out of the rope enclosure.
Inevitably, the guards reached Blace, Hunter, and their wards. The four of them were packed into a smaller group of people, maybe only six or seven and yanked along to one of the tubes closer to the left, where Blace had entered the outdoor complex.
After stepping on many toes and grunting a lot, the guards released them into the tube and slammed the door shut.
"Hey, wait!" Blace yelled, banging once on the door with her fist. With a heavy sigh, Blace turned back around to find everyone staring at her.