Recruitment
We began at the dojo, a Japanese style building used for training in martial arts. I follow Zara through the sliding doors and we entered a room with a group of about fifth teen or so kids ranging from about seven to ten sparring against each other. Some of the kids were so good they could probably beat me, and I was a red belt in Rom Taekwondo and karate. We went through the next door as I continued to watch the little kids until Zara closed the doors behind us.
I looked around the room and saw a mat on the floor which would mark the area we would be given to fight. I looked at everyone in the room; there was Zara, myself and the boy I saw earlier in the elevator, but now, instead of wearing his grey shirt he wore a white jacket type thing and pants worn whilst training in martial arts. Around his waist I could see a black belt, but he only had one mark, meaning he was still in his first stage of black belt.
I sighed; this made it all a little bit easier for me. He was sitting on a bench off to the side, daydreaming into a dark abyss of… nowhere? He was literally starring at an empty wall; I don't think he knows we came in… Suddenly, he jumped up, scaring the living daylights out of everyone, including himself. Once again, for the second time so far today, I burst out laughing in front of this random guy making myself look like an idiot, if I pass these tests, I'm going to be in for one hell of a life.
Until I'm eighteen, then we wouldn't really be classified at kids, or seventeen, not quite sure. He stood and walked to the edge of the mat, nodding his head in greeting. I nod my head slightly in return to his gesture and Zara stands between us. "Charlie, this is Zach, Zach, this is Charlie. The first test, sparring, I have been told you have some experience with sparring, so this is all out. You can submit a round by calling out those words, and you can call quits at any point in the fight. Five rounds, after those five, the person who has submitted to most loses, when you call quits, that's it, we stop and move on to the next test, got it?" Zara explained briefly before handing us mouthguards, not waiting for us to answer.
I slipped mine in and made sure it was placed correctly, I then stepped onto my side of the mat and got into a fighting position. Zach mirrored my movements and before I had a chance to figure out a strategy, Zara yelled out "Start!" We circled for a while; I figured he was more of an attacker, judging by his stance that looks like it would be easier to step forward to attack then backwards to dodge. Also, he was a guy, he wouldn't have enough patience to wait me out, actually, no one has the patience to wait me out.
He jumped towards me and launched a powerful round-the-house kick at my ribs, but I caught it and blocked with a forearm block, I guess knowing two martial arts are better than one. After blocking, he launched a quick jab to my face, in which I attempted to dodge. Just my luck, I was too slow, he managed to graze my check, but his momentum caused him to fall down face first, I guess he expected to get me… I through a karate chop at the middle of his back, causing him to bend slightly backwards, they always were my specialty.
I turned and kicked him with a low kick at his bottom, and of course I hit him straight on target. He fell forward as I tried to stop laughing; I swear I laugh at everything. He quickly spun around and got up, without me having time to react and hit his palm with extreme force against my nose, causing my head to shoot up and blood to squirt out. I ignored the pain and took a few steps back, pretending to be in serious pain, cupping my nose with both hands.
"You know, you can submit whenever you want," he suggested with a smug look on his face. Next thing I know, I'm in the air pulling off a jumping front snap kick square in the chest, causing Zach to have the wind blown out of him. "You know, you can submit whenever you want," I said, repeating the words Zach had said not half a minute earlier. He looked at me with a death glare, well, God help me, please? I wanted to win this, so while he was still winded I ran over and grabbed his arm. I twisted it making him turn so I had his arm behind his back.
I pushed him down and grabbed his other hand behind his back, leaving him lying on the floor, still slightly wounded with me holding his arms behind his back. "I submit," he called. I let him up and looked at Zara, who stood there with a completely shocked look on her face. "Did you know, you're one of the first people to beat their opponent in a recruitment test, usually only qualified agents win," she said, looking repeatedly back and forth between Zach and myself. We stood up again and got ready to fight.
Zara called go and we circled again, this time though, I attacked first. I launched a side kick at Zach's ribs, but he caught my foot and twisted it causing me to end up face down on the mat, basically in the same position we were in last time, only switched around. I knew I wouldn't get out of this and Zach was really heavy on my back so I called submit. Zach won two more and I won one, so I lost that match. Crab apples, I've probably failed that test now.
We walked back to the main building and headed to a classroom off to the side which was completely empty, except for the usual things like desks chairs and a whiteboard. On one of the desks at the front, there was a test, and let me tell you, it wasn't thin.
"You have one hour to complete the test, when that time is up, I will allow you to eat seeming as it is already eleven o'clock now, therefore you should be finished at twelve. There is a pen, pencil and eraser already there, good luck, your time starts now." Zara explained.
With that, I practically ran to the desk and sat down, beginning to flick through the test. I decided to begin on the numeracy part, seeming as that was my strongest point. I went through answering the questions as fast as possible and leaving working outs on the side of the page, not bothering to erase them afterwards. After about thirty minutes, I finished the numeracy section, having not had completed harder questions that I didn't understand. If I have time, I'll go through and answer them later, though I doubt I have time.
I moved on to the English part and got to work. After about twenty minutes, leaving me with ten minutes, I got up to the essay. I had to write an essay, in ten minutes, about the British intelligence and what it does to help us. I started on the introduction and found myself actually being able to write it, I was never that bad at essays, just other English stuff.
When I had five minutes left, Zara came in and told me; I had finished the introduction and was about three quarters though the first paragraph. What felt like ten seconds, but was actually five minutes, Zara came in and told me that my time was up and I could go to lunch while she marked. I had managed to finish up to my second body paragraph. At least that was better than nothing, but I still missed a lot of questions.
After Zara told me the way to the lunch room, I walked there, taking my time knowing that it didn't take less than half an hour to mark a test, especially one that long. I walked in to find it almost empty, but there was still food there. Finally! I have been waiting for food for way too long. Well, I have been, I haven't eaten for four days people! Even though I may or may not have been asleep, I still haven't eaten. I walked over to where the food was and a man was there.
"Ah, orange shirts, just take whatever you feel like eating, then go and eat it. Just a warning, no one can talk to orange," He said, gesturing the food piled up beside him. I took a plate of spaghetti bolognaise and sat down at one of the tables off to the side where I doubt anyone would sit.
After about five minutes, a group of people came in, most of them boys around my age, but there are still some girls, about three girls and seven boys. They walked to the food and all got something, I felt kind of stalker-ish sitting here, but who cares, I'm probably never going to see them again. I realised one of the boys was Zach, the guy from earlier.
After about ten more minutes of me sitting here eating silently, sneaking glances at them from time to time, I felt someone's stare on the back of my head. I quickly spun around, hoping to catch whoever was looking at. I turned around to see Zach looking at me. As soon as he realised I was looking at him, he turned back around and continued talking to his friends. If I somehow make it in, I wonder if I'll have friends or end up as a loner. Will I still act like a kid, like how Zach and all his friends are, or will I somehow become independent overnight?
Just as I was thinking about this, Zara entered, saying high to the other people (Zach and his friends) before heading straight over to me. I watched as everyone looked at me, most people just glanced, the girls smiled, but Zach was staring at me. He is seriously creepy, just saying.
"Well, Charlie, I have finished marking your test, will you like to come into my office?" she asks, how is she already finished marking the test? I stood and followed her, passing the group on the way, Zach, for some reason, still staring at me, what is his problem? Does he know how creepy and stalker-ish he looks right now?
I entered Zara's office and saw a cage on the desk, it was covered by a cloth but I could hear a chicken underneath. "Take a seat Charlie," Zara says, sitting on the other side of the table. I look down and see a pocket knife on the desk. Oh dear. I sit down and Zara lifts the cloth off the cage. Inside there sits a brown and white chicken, pecking at the table, seeming as there is nothing underneath the cage. "I want you to kill the chicken," says Zara, not a single emotion on her face. I look at the chicken, I can't do this, and I can't even kill a bloody cockroach! (I really hate them…)
I shake my head, no way am I killing it, even if it means I fail the test. "So are you saying you want to become a vegetarian?" she asks, catching me off guard. I shake my head; again, I really can't do this. "Then why won't you kill the chicken?" She continues. 'Why don't you shut up?' I think to myself in my head, not daring to say those words out loud. "Because, it's animal cruelty, and anyway, it's not like I eat the chicken alive." I reason, hoping she will not force me to kill it; it only reminded me of how that man killed my family, without one look back, with no regret from his actions.
"But someone has to kill it, it's going to die anyway," She starts again; this is really getting on my nerves. "But that person isn't going to be me," I say, hoping I can just flunk this test or something. "Okay, next test, we have to go outside," she states. To say I was relieved would be an understatement. Crab apple, now I've failed another test, just great.
We went outside and got into a golf kart, Zara driving and me in the passenger seat. We drove for a while until we stopped outside an assault course. I would have been fine, I usually like this sort of stuff, well, if it wasn't 50 feet into the air, well, I'm just saying that, really and truly I'm don't even know the measurements of feet and inches properly, I'm more of the metric conversion system.
"For the next test, you must complete this course; you will have the help of Jake to complete it. Jake was a sixteen looking year old standing at the bottom of the ladder. I sighed and walked over to him, hoping to get this over with. We began climbing the ladder, it was really tall, and I don't like tall things. When we got to the top, Jake followed behind me as I jumped over gaps in the floor and climbed ladders. Soon we reached a zip line with two harnesses on it. Oh dear.
Jake attached my zip line and explained that we had to jump off of it, jump too late, we land in a pool of… let's just say, not so pleasant stuff, jump too early… Ker-splat! He advised me to jump just after the last tree, this better bloody work. I jumped off and when I reached the tree, I counted to three and jumped, I landed on the ground with a thud and a dull ache in my heel. Oh great.
Lastly, we headed to a pool. "You need to jump in and retrieve that brick, take as many breaths as you want and take as long as you want. I suggest you do it as quickly as possible," Zara explains as I look to see the brick in the centre of the pool, at the bottom of cause. I stand on the edge and jump in; living in Australia means we usually go in the pool every day of summer, but never in winter. I go up to take a breath but breathe too quickly, I swallow water. I reach the surface and begin to cough; I see Jake at the side of the pool, ready to jump in if need be. I do thumbs up to let him know I'm okay.
I dive down but, once again, I time my breathing wrong. I take in another mouthful of water and start to struggle to breath. I swim for the surface, only to cough, and stop treading water. I go underwater again, but I can't get back up. I feel a hand grab onto my mine and pull me to the edge of the water and to the pool side. Well, that didn't go well.