Suddenly Jessica grabbed Emma's arm and began dragging her out of the classroom into the hallway. Emma tried to fight back but Jessica's grip was too strong. "What are you doing?! Let go of me!" Emma demanded. All of her previous classmates were already down too many floors to hear her cries Jessica ignored her and pushed a button before dragging Emma into the elevator aggressively letting her go causing Emma to fall back on the hard elevator floor.

"Ouch." Emma yelped in pain. That was when she realised her knees were scraped and bleeding. Jessica chuckled "Awww did you hurt yourself sweetheart? Don't worry where you are going next will help you with that." She pressed the button to the 6th floor which Emma remembered "The medical room?" She asked, confused. "Your next class, Healthcare of course." Jessica answered in a matter of fact tone. "Huh?" Emma grabbed her timetable out from her breast pocket to check and sure enough her next class was in fact healthcare.

"How did you know I have healthcare class next?" Emma asked, surprised. "I did some research before." Jessica replied ominously which raised scary thoughts and questions in Emma's head. She studied my timetable? How did she get a hold of it? The tablet most likely! Do all sisters have access to our timetables? Well it makes sense because they are our teachers. So Jessica knows what classes I'm in at all times? I hope she doesn't use it against me!

Emma remembered the threat Jessica made towards her earlier in the day about spreading false rumours about her trying to escape headquarters. Emma feared that with Jessica knowing her complete timetable would add more credadance to these rumours if they ever came into fruition especially now that she had failed and angered her. But surely Grandmother wouldn't believe the rumours or at least be suspicious of them because she knows that Jessica wants to be an elder sister/Mama and would go great lengths to do so, even manipulating Emma, an 11 year old child to be her spy.

Emma could just tell Grandmother that Jessica was upset with the 'information' she gathered for her and decided to make up a rumour to get her in trouble. Grandmother seemed to be fond of Emma or at least liked her enough to teach her self-defence and have shared breakfast with her. Wouldn't she side with her and dismiss these rumours? Or would she side with Jessica and rumours then have Emma executed? The possibilities made Emma anxious.

Ding…

The sound and the movement of the elevator finally reaching its destination had snapped Emma out of her anxious thinking and as soon as the elevator doors opened Sister Jessica dragged Emma out of the elevator by her arm. "You don't need to do that, I can just walk out." Emma explained calmly. Jessica roughly let her go and stormed back into the elevator she turned around to address Emma. "By the way our deal is off, you will be eating in the cafeteria as normal unless you somehow help me to become a Mama. Bye-bye fresh meat." She waved goodbye as the elevator doors closed in front of her.

Emma was confused at first on why Jessica saved her from walking down 10 flights by dragging her into the elevator. That's when she realised that she was the first one to reach her class, all of her other classmates were still using the stairs. She took a seat in the class setup in the corner of one of the medical rooms with a sign outside saying 'Fresh meat healthcare class' It didn't take too long for the rest of her classmates to show up. They were all surprised to see that Emma had arrived before all of them.

But that was when one of the girls remarked "She must have taken the elevator with Sister Jessica!" "Again?! Why does she get special treatment?" another whined. It then dawned on Emma that the reason why Jessica took her in the elevator with her was to make her other classmates think she was receiving special treatment from the staff causing them to be jealous and suspicious of her. This would cause a drift between her and her classmates making it hard for her to study during classes. This was Jessica's punishment towards Emma for failing to be a good enough spy for her. Not only did Emma lose a potential ally in Jessica but it was now harder to make potential allies with her peers and all in less than a day. How wonderful!

But on the bright side at least she didn't have to spy on Krone anymore which she didn't want to do in the first place. The rest of the class sat away from Emma including Tam which really upset her she thought that she and Tam were really becoming friends. But then that's when the teacher arrived which instantly cheered her up, one person who she could be sure was her ally Nurse Rebecca!

"Good morning everyone, For those who don't remember I am Nurse Rebecca and I will be teaching your healthcare class today." Her beautiful, kind but sad violet eyes and smile addressed the room. Emma looked around and saw she wasn't the only girl that was happy to see Rebecca in fact, the whole class seemed delighted that she was their teacher for the lesson. "For today's lesson we will be learning how to effectively clean and dress a wound. I see all of you have accumulated a few scrapes and injuries yourselves during today's lessons, don't worry we will have that treated here right away!"

Emma looked around and saw that she wasn't the only one with bleeding scrapes and cuts on her knees, others had them on their hands and arms. She realised that the scrubbing of the kitchen tile floors on their hands and knees in house care class, not to mention they used sharp objects during cooking that must have caused these injuries. The smock all of them wear doesn't provide them much protection on their arms or legs either.

Nurse Rebecca instructed the class to pair up in twos to practise mending each other's wounds. Two of the girls quickly paired up. Tam was left to decide between Emma and another girl. This girl "41194" as her neck tattoo read, had a similar boyish appearance to Tam. She was tall for her age, her skin was a nice shade of bronze and had hazel eyes which reminded Emma of Nurse Deborah's eyes. She had short fuzzy very dark blue almost black hair from an overgrown buzz cut that looked like it needed to be reshorn.

Emma saw that Tammy was struggling on who to decide who she should partner with but then 41194 spoke "Come on Tam do you really want to partner with her when she is so obviously a spy sent by headquarters to report any misconduct. They aren't even doing a good job of hiding it with all the special treatment she is getting. They probably sent her because of what we did ." she accused Emma while glaring at her. Tam looked at Emma uncertain, then back at 41194 "Well if she is a spy then it probably isn't the smartest idea to talk about it in front of her." Tam made up her mind and took a seat next to 41194 and began to work with her. "But, I'm not a spy.." Emma said defeatedly to which they ignored her which hurt her feelings.

They think I'm a spy because of the 'help' I have received from the sisters and grandmother. They think it is special treatment which may be true…But I didn't ask for any of it! And what did they do earlier?

Emma was the odd one out, the only girl that wasn't partnered up with one of her classmates. "Don't worry Emma, you can pair up with me." Nurse Rebecca reassured much to the sour faces of Emma's other classmates. This didn't help Emma's spy rumour but what else could she do there was no one else to partner with and besides she liked Nurse Rebecca. "Of course thank you Rebecca" Emma smiled gratefully.

"Before we start, we must properly clean our hands, which is essential when working with injuries even if they are as small as minor cuts or scrapes, because it can lead to infection if you get any dirt inside them. Everyone please stand beside me. I will go over how to properly scrub your hands." Rebecca stood in the middle of a long sink. All of the girls stood next to her and grabbed a bar of soap then began instructing them on how to properly wash their hands."Begin by wetting your entire hands with warm water." Rebecca turned on the tap and everyone followed her first instruction. Rebecca then turned off the tap. "Next, lather your hands up by rubbing your hands together with the soap then rub the back of your both hands, get between your fingers and get underneath all your nails. Continue scrubbing your hands for 20 seconds. I find it helpful to sing " 'If you're happy and you know it, wash your hands.' To help you time it." The class followed her instructions and soon there was quiet singing amongst them.

Once they were finished Rebecca turned on the tap again "Now rinse the soap off your hands again for 20 seconds singing the song again." The class started singing again quietly as they all went to rinse their hands in the water. Emma felt one of the girls 61194 elbow her "Ow!" she witnessed this and scolded them "Paulette there is no need to elbow others there is plenty of space!" Once they all were finished rinsing their hands Rebecca turned the tap off and instructed everyone to dry their hands using the same song. Once they were all finished Rebecca spoke up. "Good work everyone now choose which one of you amongst is going to go first on healing the other's injuries." The others worked with their pairs as they decided amongst themselves who would go first. Emma sat with Rebecca as she instructed the class on how to disinfect a wound with alcohol. 'Gently but firmly hold the arm or leg of your patient, then dab the alcohol on their wound. Careful it stings!"

Some of the 'patients' hissed and swore as the pretend nurses disinfected their wounds. Emma worked on her own scrapes on her knees while Rebecca supervised her. She bit her lip as she dabbed the alcohol on her scrapes. It really did hurt! But Emma managed it well as Rebecca then showed the class how to properly dress their wounds. Emma quickly managed to finish covering up her scrapes. She now had plenty of spare time since she was her own 'patient'. Her other classmates swapped their roles once the first round of 'nurses' finished with their 'patients'. Rebecca decided to chat to Emma to keep her busy.

"So how are you finding your first day of classes? Not too stressful I hope." She caringly asked as she went to sit next to her. Emma shifted slightly away from her, afraid that Rebecca being so close to her would make her classmates suspect even more that she was a spy for headquarters. Her emerald green eyes refused to meet the violet eyes as she begrudgingly answered "It has been okay I guess.."

Rebecca knowing something was amiss put a comforting hand on Emma's arm as she asked "What's wrong Emma? Don't worry you can tell me anything I won't tell anyone I promise. Come on, we can sit in the corner where no one can see or hear us." she whispered and then announced to the class that she was going to get more supplies from the closet and Emma had volunteered to help her. She instructed Emma to wash her hands before following her to the closet. Emma shook her head internally. No, no, no! This will make her look even more suspicious to her classmates. But how could she explain to Rebecca at that moment. She solemnly nodded her head as she went to wash her hands then followed Rebecca into the storage closet.

Once Emma entered she looked and saw that the room was filled with mostly paperwork along with things like bandages and tissues. But there were no drugs or medicines nor sharp objects like scissors or syringes. They must be kept somewhere else. There seemed to be no cameras around here either. Probably because they didn't keep important things in here. It makes sense as to why Nurse Rebecca would bring her here so they could privately talk.

Once they were out of sight and hearing range from the rest of the class Rebecca asked again "What's wrong Emma?" Emma sighed "Classes were going okay. I even thought I made something of a 'friend' in this horrible place. But no! Now they think I'm a spy for headquarters which is why they didn't want to partner up with me!"

Rebecca looked puzzled. "Why would they think you're a spy?" Tears began to form in Emma's eyes as she explained "It started with Sister Meera who let me use the elevator with her because she was worried the other trainees would push me down the stairs. That caused a trainee, I think her name is Jiah, to bully me in the cafeteria because she thought I thought I was 'too good' for the other fresh meat."Rebecca grabbed a tissue from a box from the storage shelf and used it to wipe away Emma's tears "I'm so sorry that happened to you Emma. I hope she didn't hurt you badly."

Emma nodded her head "Thank you. She didn't but I ran away and tried to go back into my room using the elevator. That was when Sister Jessica caught me and told me how fresh meat and trainees can't use the elevator without a Sister or staff member because they have those hologram things on their fingers that you need for the elevator buttons to work." Rebecca nodded her head in affirmation "That's right."

Emma then explained to Rebecca how Jessica offered her a deal that she would make it so that she didn't have to eat in the cafeteria again and she could eat in her room if she wanted..In exchange Emma would have to spy and gather information on Sister Krone for her." Rebecca frowned "Sister Krone? Why?" She asked."Jessica wants to be an elder sister instead of her. She thinks that if I received useful information on Krone to use against her, she could become an elder sister instead of her and in turn she has a chance to become a Mama and leave headquarters. I didn't want to spy on a Krone but Jessica threatened to spread rumours about me trying to escape to Grandmother so I accepted the deal." Emma admitted ashamedly.

"Oh Emma, it isn't your fault. Sister Jessica is cold and manipulative because she thinks it is the only way she can stay alive. To her credit she is right in some aspects but that still doesn't give her the right to threaten you, a kid like that. I'm sorry. What happened next?" Rebecca listened sympathetically while stroking Emma's back continued "Jessica left me in Grandmother's room to gather information for her. Grandmother heard about the bullying incident and taught me self-defence manoeuvres. She also let me eat breakfast with her." Rebecca looked baffled as if she almost didn't believe her "Grandmother really? That was awfully nice of her…Do you know why she would do that?"

"I'm not sure I thought that it was strange too! I think it is because she came from the same plantation as me and was my Mama's Mama. So maybe she feels like my actual Grandmother?" Emma theorised but Rebecca was unconvinced "Hmm regardless you should be wary Grandmother is very selfish and prioritises her own survival and rank before anything else." Emma just nodded her head she had been told numerous times not to trust almost everyone here. Of course she was wary of Grandmother the wicked woman but Mama did say she could trust her before she left Gracefield so she was going to give her the slight benefit of the doubt. She took a deep breath before she started again."I did manage to get Grandmother to give me some information on both Krone and Jessica. She told me that both of them excel in athletics and academics. But Krone is good with children while Jessica is cold towards them which is why Krone is elder sister over Jessica." Rebecca nodded in agreement "That makes sense."

"Grandmother also told me that even if Jessica managed to become an elder sister she still likely wouldn't surpass Isabella in becoming a Mama unless she dies which is unlikely. Or if Grandmother dies and Mama Isabella replaces her. To which Grandmother invited Jessica to try and kill her. To quote her." Emma took another deep breath before she began to do an exaggerated impression of Grandmother's croaky voice: "Sheeee wouldn't eveeen layyyy a fingerrrr on meeee beforee sheeee will beee sent to beee the deeemon's nexttt meal." Rebecca let out a wholesome laugh. "That's an accurate impression well done. Thank you for that."

Emma smiled back at her as if to say you're welcome. Her face then quickly fell as she told the next part. "I told Sister Jessica what Grandmother said in the previous class before this one, Psychology. She wasn't happy in fact..She was furious and had aggressively dragged me into the elevator with her. She took me to this class and told me that our deal was off. At first I was confused as to why she saved me walking long flights of stairs to my next class. But when my other classmates arrived they knew I must have taken the elevator with sister Jessica as they saw me stay behind to talk with her after class while they headed to the next class. There was no way I could have beaten them to the next class first unless I had taken the elevator with her. Jessica did this to make my classmates distrust me as punishment. To make matters worse, they saw me arrive to my first class with Grandmother. This all looks like I am receiving special treatment from the Sisters and Grandmother. Which is why my classmates think I'm a spy for Headquarters."

"Now they saw you enter this storage closet with me they are going to suspect you even more I'm sorry Emma…" Rebecca apologised feeling guilty. Emma gave her a comforting smile "It's okay Rebecca you didn't know." Rebecca gave her a grateful hug which Emma gladly reciprocated. "Another reason I think they are paranoid Emma is because some of them angered grandmother a few months ago." Emma's eyes widened with slight recognition. "Oh yeah I heard Tammy and the other girl she partnered up with before mentioning something like that. What happened?"

Rebecca explained to her that Grandmother felt as if Tamara and Jocelyn (41194) were slacking off on their studies and weren't up to par with the results she wanted. Normally she would have them executed but since a culling had recently taken place during that time they were the only fresh meat trainees left. So she decided to "help" them by giving them a lot of homework and making them eat tasteless mush everyday and night in order to improve their academic and athletic results. If they didn't, Grandmother would beat them with her cane just like she did to Emma during her healing period after surgery if she got any answers wrong to Grandmother's questions. Grandmother even cruelly had their heads shaved so they would get up quicker and not take up so much time washing and brushing their hair in the morning. She said to them "Hair is needless vanity and a distraction you don't want or need in this place." This reminded Emma of a comment Grandmother made the day of her 'adoption' about her hair. "What a mop, I guess we will have to shave you bald then." Emma thought it was just a mean joke. But she actually meant it as a threat to keep her and other trainees in line and to demonstrate control over them. No wonder why Tammy and Jocelyn were suspectful of Emma especially since the next culling was very soon. It would make sense Grandmother would send a spy to see if they have improved during classes and if they haven't they would be culled.

Rebecca noticed Emma looked down and encouraged her "Why don't you help me carry the pages of homework to the class?" Emma smiled and readily went to help her realising that Rebecca was planning on the classroom seeing that Emma was actually helping her. Emma grabbed the papers that Rebecca instructed her to from the shelf. Glancing at the papers she saw it was homework recapping today's class on how to treat wounds. It also had information on common illnesses in children such as colds and flus. There were instructions for Sisters and Mama on how to treat them. Emma figured that this was going to be the topic for their next healthcare class.

As Emma and Rebecca rejoined the class again they were met with cold glances. Rebecca cleared her throat and began speaking to the class. "Thank you for waiting. If you're all finished with treating your wounds please wash your hands like I have instructed you all to earlier, then take a homework sheet from Emma. The homework should be done before the next class which is on Monday." Today was Friday so it gave the girls the weekend to complete the homework. Emma hoped that was enough time to complete it on top of whatever other homework or lessons she might have. Once Emma's other classmates had finished their lesson and washed their hands they took a sheet of homework from her. They all deliberately avoided eye contact and didn't thank Emma except for Tam who briefly met her emerald green eyes for a moment before looking down and taking a sheet of homework, muttering a "Thanks.." under her breath.

Rebecca had addressed the class once more "It's finally lunch break now you all get an hour and a half break yay! I know you all will be looking forward to having some time off after your tedious classes but try to do your homework and a bit of study during that time. You must also change into your athletic uniform before your next class starts." They all nodded in response. Rebecca smiled "Gather around everyone I will take you all to the cafeteria using the elevator so you can eat quicker." All the girl's eyes had lit up happily. "Thank you Nurse Rebecca" they all gratefully said in unison.

Soon the six of them got into the elevator. Emma noted that even with all six of them in the elevator there was still plenty of space left. The other girls whispered amongst each other and made a point to exclude Emma from the conversation. But Emma could make out that they were talking about how they weren't looking forward to Athletics class especially if Sister Krone is the teacher. Emma wondered why they disliked Krone so much, that's when the girls noticed her listening in on their conversation they all gave her such a glare that if looks could kill Emma would already be dead. The rest of the elevator journey was a quiet one.

They all entered the cafeteria once the elevator reached floor 13 and were the first group to arrive and consequently were the first to be served their food trays. Which looked like a tray that would be served in a human prison with a small bowl of dry noodles in one corner mixed in with vegetables and beans with no seasonings. A sandwich made with fish and an unknown spread, in the centre of the was a muesli bar/strange cake made out of rice, dried apricots and raisins. A banana and an apple in another corner which looked to be the only normal food on the tray. A bottle of water was also given along with the food.

Once handed her tray of food and bottle of water she went to sit in the corner by herself knowing that she wasn't welcome amongst her peers as they strongly believed her to be a spy for headquarters and didn't trust her. She held back her tears as she took a spoonful of the dry noodles and veggies, she hated being alone. The food was bad. It tasted very bland and the texture was off. Emma wondered if her being sad made the food taste worse than it already was. But it was nothing compared to the fish sandwich Emma took only one bite of and refused to take another.

Even though the fish was well cooked, the unknown spread made it taste so salty that she had to drink several large gulps of her bottled water to cleanse her palate. She then ate the muesli bar. Which actually tasted pretty good except for the fact it was very dry. She took another several large gulps of her water before she finally moved on to the last items on her food tray. Emma wanted to quickly get back into her room to get away from her peers and so that she could change, do her homework and write down information that she had collected throughout the day. She scoffed down her banana and began to eat her apple when her plan came sooner than expected in the form of Sister Jessica.

Jessica boldly stomped up to Emma and tapped her on the shoulder "Time to go 63194!" Making a point to purposely be visible and loud so that the other girls and women in the cafeteria would take note of. Emma was confused "Go? Go where?" she asked. Jessica rolled her eyes in annoyance as she grabbed Emma's arm aggressively. She was about to drag her to the elevator when she saw the uneaten sandwich with a bite taken out on the side of it. "You should finish eating that. Grandmother wouldn't be impressed to hear you are wasting food. She remarked in a threatening tone.

"I'll take it if you don't want it." A voice called out, it was Tammy's! She stared at the sandwich then back at Emma awaiting her response. Emma gave her permission and nodded her head. Tam gladly took the sandwich and went back to the corner she was eating. "Well that takes care of that. Let's go, we don't want to waste anymore of my time 63194." Jessica dragged Emma to the elevator. But not before Emma noticed Tam using the sandwich she took earlier for flavouring for her food that looked to be even more tasteless then Emma's food.

The elevator ride was quiet except for Emma chewing and finishing off her apple. She was anxious about why Jessica was bringing her to her room especially now that they weren't "allies" anymore. But she figured Jessica was requested by Grandmother to send Emma to her room by the way Jessica was rushing her and she cannot deny a request from Grandmother.

Jessica was carrying a large duffel bag over her shoulder and slammed it down onto the floor as soon as she arrived in Emma's room. "What's in the bag Jessica?" Emma asked. Jessica ignored her and unzipped the bag pulling out two strange metal looking boxes. Flicking a latch on the boxes revealed in one box was a small plate of steamed rice, vegetables, tofu and miso soup. Inside the second box was a plate of pancakes with fruit. Emma realised that this was the leftover food from the breakfast she had with Grandmother. "Grandmother said eat as much as you like but try not to get too full. You will be doing a lot of intense exercise and she doesn't want you throwing up everywhere. Just keep the food in the preservation boxes and it will stay fresh." Emma nodded, Normally she would have been content with just the food she ate from the cafeteria but her hunger regenerated upon seeing the plates of picked up a pancake with her fingers. The pancake was fluffy and warm. It tasted so delicious, as if it had just been baked. The different fruits tasted so fresh and sweet like they plucked and prepared ripe from where it grew.

"There is cutlery īnside the preservation boxes you use to eat that with as well, pig!" Jessica spat in disgust upon seeing Emma eat the pancake with her hands. Emma glanced at Jessica apologetically and grabbed the cutlery and used it to eat her food instead. "There is some green tea in this preservation bottle which always stays at lukewarm temperature unless you take it out of the bottle." Jessica explained as she grabbed out a plastic-looking bottle and handed it to Emma who was relieved since she already drank most of her water so that she could better consume the dry and tasteless cafeteria food earlier."Now the preservation devices are invaluable and aren't for you to keep, so take good care of them! One of the sisters, likely me, will come and collect it tomorrow. It better not be damaged in any way otherwise there will be…consequences." Emma nodded, clearly scared by Jessica's threat.

"Oh and there is this…" Jessica grabbed a strange flesh looking cushion but as she began to unfold it, revealed it had arms! Then legs! Then a face..It was a life sized robot doll. Jessica snickered at Emma's baffled reaction to it. "This is Practice and Endurance Training Robotic Android or Petra for short. It will be your sparring partner during your break times. Grandmother said you must practise defending yourself starting now…" Jessica held down a button on the back of the doll and commanded "Petra turn on and begin sparring with 63194." The humanlike android eyes lit up and scanned Emma's neck "63194 detected.." Petra said in a creepy monotone female voice. Suddenly Petra charged toward Emma who quickly lifted up her elbow to defend herself as Petra tackled her to the ground. Remembering what Grandmother taught her Emma quickly got the upperhand and managed to flip Petra so that Emma was the one on top pinning her down as she begged Jessica to help her stop Petra.

Jessica ignored her and continued to watch as Petra continued to wrestle with Emma and pin her down. Emma struggled as she kept on fighting Petra off. On the third try Emma finally but barely managed to get Petra off of her and pinned her firmly to the ground. Jessica commanded "Petra stop sparring with 63194 and stand by." The android's eyes dimmed as it stopped resisting Emma and went limp who quickly got off of them. "Well done fresh meat you will be all ready to kick ass in your physical classes..if you're not too tired from your wrestling match with Petra." Jessica teased. Emma was too tired to say anything as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead.

"You can command her to spar with you if you want more practice. You can even ask her to get you a drink. Just call her name and the command you want, then say your identification number, try it now, fresh meat." Jessica explained. Emma was hesitant after her spar with the android. She took a deep breath and asked nervously but politely "Petra can you pass me- I mean 63194 the bottle of mint tea please?"

The android's eyes lit up again and looked around the room. Once they analysed the bottle on the floor, once they detected that the bottle held mint tea Petra's eyes blinked and approached it. They gently picked it up and analysed the room once again and found 63194. Petra walked gracefully towards Emma in stark contrast to how she ran to tackle her earlier. She handed her the bottle as instructed "Your bottle of mint tea 63194."

"Thank you so much, Petra." Emma smiled in amazement at her new android friend. "You don't need to be so polite it's just a robot." Jessica laughed. Petra may be an android but Jessia treated her with more respect than Emma. She called Petra by a name instead of a number and was more gentle handling her than she ever was with Emma.

"I am going to go report back to Grandmother now. I have wasted enough of my time with you fresh meat. Stay here until the alert goes off for your next class. Don't forget to change into your athletic clothes and to turn Petra off by pressing the button at the back when you are finished using her." Jessica instructed as she quickly took her leave. Emma put down her tea and looked at Petra

"Jessica's wrong you aren't just a robot you a prisoner here just like me. You have to do whatever the people in charge say or else you'll be done. I'm so sorry. But we can be friends through this together." Emma hugged Petra and even though she was cold and stiff in Emma' arms, Emma felt comforted by her. Once she finished hugging Petra she slowly backed away and prepared herself, getting into a firm position before taking a deep breath saying "Petra began sparring with 63194."

Once again Petra's eyes lit up and charged towards Emma but this time she was prepared. Emma managed to trip Petra to the floor before she was tackled. "Sorry Petra." she innocently apologised. But Petra returned the sentiment by grabbing her leg and made Emma fall to the floor. They continued to spar for several minutes until Emma felt it was enough. While Petra was pinned down Emma commanded "Petra stop fighting 63194 and stand by." Petra's eyes dimmed again as she went limp. "That's enough sparring for today, that was fun thank you! You did well Petra, you're an amazing sparring partner. You can have a rest now." Emma flicked the switch on Petra's back to turn her off.

Emma then picked her up. Petra was surprisingly light now that she had been turned off. Emma carried Petra to her bed and tucked her in giving her a kiss on her forehead. "Sweet dreams Petra." she whispered. Emma then grabbed the new cloth bag that was outside through a small slot through her room door, then headed towards the shower. She saw she only had a couple minutes of hot water left and also felt exhausted after sparring with Petra. Despite her reluctance and dislike of it, Emma quickly washed in cold water which jolted her awake making her more alert and focused. Once she finished rinsing off all the sweat from her body she quickly turned off the shower. Skipping out of the shower she grabbed a soft warm towel and thoroughly dried herself off. She went to grab her athletic uniform but she found there was also a bottle of sunscreen inside the cloth bag. Emma thought since she was going to have her next class outdoors she should wear some. She thoroughly applied the sunscreen all over herself and waited for it to settle before putting her athletics uniform on.

Her uniform consisted of a sweatshirt with matching sweatpants the same dull grey colour as the smock Emma wore before. The shirt's sleeves reached to her wrists while the pants covered her legs up to her ankles. Along with grey socks and boots that covered her entire feet. That's when Emma realised that her athletic uniform was designed to protect her from getting cuts, scrapes and other injuries unlike the smock which offered barely any protection even when they clearly could receive proper clothes to protect them from injury. But, they didn't because headquarters wanted the trainees to get injured during the day so they could learn how to treat their wounds. It was another unnecessary cruelty given to them by headquarters in order to "toughen them up."

Emma used the toilet, washed her hands then went back to her room to read over the homework she received in healthcare class earlier, which was a recap and questions on the session. Questions like "How to properly sanitise your hands before dealing with an injury or infection?" "Explain how you would dress a wound." and "What would you say to keep your patient calm while treating their wound?" She wrote almost two pages worth of answers. She then read the information on the next lesson 'Common Illnesses in children, symptoms and how to treat them." It went over the usual Colds, flus diarrhoea and stomach bugs but also illnesses such as pneumonia, whooping cough, conjunctivitis and chicken pox along with the symptoms of those illnesses. Sisters and Mamas on the plantations are to inform headquarters of any illnesses or severe symptoms the children get. They are to isolate the sick children and those that are suspected to be sick away from the healthy children, preferably in the infirmary room and perform blood tests on them and send the tests to headquarters. Mama and Sisters are to treat the sick children with the proper medicine and treatment. (the different kinds of medicine and treatments along with how to perform blood tests on patients will be taught in future lessons.)

This reminded Emma of her friend Norman and how he was often sick. She remembered when Mama told her and her siblings "Everyone, your brother Norman was sick again and I need to get the medicine from the hospital so you must stay here and be will all be looked after by my friend Sister Yukko while I'm gone. Show her around and help her and take care of your younger siblings." "Yes Mama!" Emma and a few others like Gilda, Michelle and Olivia agreed in obedience. While a few of the kids like Marcus, Cindy and the loudest of them Don pleaded with Mama not to go. "Now, now children, I won't be gone too long, you are all smart and brave enough to be yourselves for a while and Sister Yukko will take care of you while I'm gone. Besides, Norman needs medicine so he can get better. You wouldn't want your brother getting even more sick because you couldn't handle going a few moments without me would you? " The pleaders quickly agreed "No, we're sorry Mama! We promise to be brave, and be good to Sister Yuuko while you're gone." Don said while puffing his chest and putting on his best face.

"Wonderful I'm so proud of all of you!" Mama scooped all of her children into a bear hug including Emma, who noticed a vial of red liquid tucked into a pocket on her waistband. Emma, naturally being a curious 8 year old at the time, asked innocently "What's that Mama?" pointing at the vial. "Oh this." Mama carefully grabbed out the vial from her waistband pocket to show Emma. "Is a vial of Norman's blood." Emma's face then turned into a disgusted grimace "Blood?! Ewww but why Mama?"

Mama just smiled while carefully putting the vial back in her waistband pocket then began to explain "The hospital needs a sample of Norman's blood so they can send it to labs and do tests on it. Hopefully the test results can reveal why Norman is sick, then they can give me the right medicine for me to give him so he can get better." Emma smiled, "That's great Mama I really want Norman to get better." Emma's smile turned into a frown when a troubling thought entered her mind. "Did you have to use the needle to take Norman's blood Mama?"

Little Emma remembered the last time she was sick and Mama had to take her blood with a needle. Emma was terrified of needles despite her having a high fever and was on an empty stomach due to not being able to hold down food she tried to fight Mama off "Mama I'm scared, please don't use the needle on me!" She pleaded. But Mama was patient and gently stroked her hair and caressed her ear. "It's okay Emma don't be scared, it won't hurt because I have my trusty friend here Yuki the snow fairy to help you." Mama said, showing Emma a plastic device of a cartoon of a smiling girl wearing white dress with large blue wings and an attachable strap on the back. Emma noticed that the fairy had red hair and green eyes."Mama she looks just like me!" Emma exclaimed. "Yes she are many snow fairies with different hair and eye colours and I chose this exact snow fairy because she reminded me of you my sweet Emma." Mama said sweetly then began attaching the device to Emma's arm."Yuki will begin to use her fairy magic so that you don't feel the pain of the needle." Mama explained. Suddenly Emma felt vibrations and a cold numbness of her arm. "Once you are no longer sick Emma I'll bring you your favourite food to eat."

"Carrot cake?!" Emma asked excitedly. Mama nodded and smiled "Yes Emma. You can have all the carrot cake you desire once you are all better and…all finished" Emma looked down to Mama had finished drawing her blood as the needle was filled with the red liquid. "But I didn't even feel it or notice it Mama! Yuki's magic worked!" Emma cheered. Mama chuckled as she took the device off of Emma's arm. "Thank you for your help Yuki. It's time for you to go back to your friends in fairyland now." Mama said putting away the device. "Bye Yuki." Emma innocently waved goodbye to the device. "As a reward for being so brave Emma." Mama pulled a soft toy sheep out from behind her back and handed it to her. Emma instantly hugged the plushie. The toy was very cute and made from the softest material which made it super cuddly, comforting Emma. "Thank you so much Mama, I love it!" "I'm so happy that you like it, my darling Emma." She said, giving her hair a gentle kiss. "I love you Mama." Emma said sweetly hugging Mama. "I love you too Emma." Mama gently hugged her back.

Cutting back to young healthy Emma, Mama quelled her fears by reassuring her "I did use a needle to take Norman's blood but I had your old friend Yuki the snow fairy to use her magic so that Norman didn't notice it." Even though Emma started to question if fairies were real or not, she smiled happily "That's wonderful Mama! If you see Yuki or any other fairies on your way to the hospital, tell them to visit Gracefield house." Mama laughed then held Emma's ear while she told her "If I see them I will. Now why don't you go with Olivia and Michelle while they show Sister Yuuko around?" Emma nodded "Okay Mama."

Isabella smiled in return "Good girl. Now I better get going, bye Emma I'll see you soon. I love you." Mama cooed as she took her leave. "Bye Mama, I love you too." Emma waved goodbye and went to join Olivia, Michelle and Sister Yuuko. "Hello, Sister Yuuko. My name is Emma and I'm eight years old. Nice to meet you!" Emma introduced herself cheerfully to Yuuko while getting a good look at her.

Sister Yuuko was a tall slender woman who looked to be in her mid forties and had short dark blonde hair that was bobbed up to ears with short bangs on her forehead. She had kind and stunning blue-green eyes but they looked exhausted with wrinkles and dark circles under them.

Yuuko smiled sweetly at Emma which reminded her of Mama's caring smile. "Hello Emma, I am Sister Yuuko and I just turned 36 a few days ago. It's nice to meet you too." Yuuko said, revealing that she was in fact a decade younger than what she appeared to be. "Oh!" Emma perked up "Happy late birthday!" she cheered. "Happy late birthday!" Olivia and Michelle said together. Yukko grinned happily "Thank you girls! Now why don't you show me where Mama's room and the nursery is? I should check on the babies." Emma, Michelle and Olivia were more than happy to show her while Yuuko continued to smile sweetly.

But, behind Yuuko's smile was determination. Determination to survive and finally become a Mama. She had been a Sister for over a decade now and time was running out for her.

She had given birth to countless babies that were sent to the numerous plantations as cattle. Many were most likely killed and eaten. The years of stress of giving birth to multiple "cattle" and having to be constantly vigilant of her fellow Sisters at Headquarters had aged her and decreased her fertility significantly. Yuuko probably could only have one more child before headquarters deemed her as "defunct" and have her culled. Her only chance of surviving was to become a Mama for one of the plantations. She saw an opportunity when Isabella needed a Sister to watch the kids for a while. Even though Yuuko despised Isabella she always thought it was unfair that she became a Mama before she did when Yuuko had been training longer than Isabella had and was several years older than her despite that Headquarters saw more potential in Isabella than Yuuko. 'What does she have that I don't?!' Yuuko thought enviously.

But she thought that if grin and bore it by being an obedient Sister to Isabella and loved by her children then Isabella would forward a recommendation to headquarters for her to become a Mama for another plantation. Yuuko spent the day entertaining and taking care of the children. Playing tag and hide and seek, reading them all stories, drawing them pictures they requested her to do, She even took very sweet care of Norman while he was sick. Doing her best to make every single one of the children adore her. She passed with flying colours once Isabella had come back from the "hospital" it was time for her to go work for another "orphanage" now or at least that's what she told the children who pleaded for her to stay.

"Please, don't go, Yuuko we love you!" Olivia begged. "Mama let Yuuko stay!" Michelle demanded. Even Isabella was a bit taken aback by how her children quickly grew attached to Yuuko in only the day she had been there and replied "I would love for her stay but she has to go help take care other children in orphanages and you don't want to deprive them of a Sister or Mama like Yuuko right?" The children reluctantly agreed. Before she left Yuuko gave Isabella a grin that was obviously forced along with a pleading look in her eyes. Isabella gave a knowing nod in return before showing her out.

Isabella went to check the rooms and was taken aback yet again when she saw that everything was immaculate. All of the beds were made. All of the walls, floors and carpets were squeaky clean. In fact the wooden floors were so clean that Isabella could see her reflection in its shine. It was the same for the windows, the glasses and plates too. Even all of the babies were peacefully sleeping. They had all been bathed, changed and smelled lovely. This took a lot of the workload off of Isabella. While Isabella was grateful she knew that Yuuko did this because she wanted her to recommend her as a Mama to headquarters being the oldest sister in the system her time was almost up. Isabella wouldn't admit it but she was jealous that her children liked Yuuko right away. She sighed as she unlocked the door to the secret room behind the bookcase in her office. She sat on a chair in front of the radio device putting on her headphones and turned the device on. "Calling in headquarters, this is 73584 from Plantation 3 and I have come to give my report on 79284…"

Cutting back to present day Emma thought about Sister Yuuko what happened to her? She hasn't seen her around headquarters yet. Did she get sent to work at one of the other plantations? Or was she executed by headquarters? Emma's troubled thoughts were replaced by another troubling thought when she read over more of the homework's instruction's:

"In rare circumstances, a sick child may have to be shipped off early to be tested at headquarters and depending on the type and the severity of the sickness will be treated or culled. If the child/children has been sick for a longer then estimated period especially if they have shown to be contagious even after given the proper treatments. The caretakers must tell the sick child and the other children in their care that the sick child must be taken to a hospital (or another better equipped care facility depending on your plantation's layout) for further treatment. The caretakers must assure the child isn't nervous before shipment and the rest of the children are placated like a normal shipment. This can include telling the children that they will be well taken care of and once they get better they can return to their friends/family. The caretakers are then advised to inform headquarters to send a doctor to collect the sick child at the plantation's gates. When the child and the doctor met. The doctor will tell the child they must take medicine they give them to make them better. The "medicine" will be a sedative which will render the child unconscious as to not reveal the true purpose of the plantations and the location of the headquarters. Once at headquarters the child will be tested to see if they're healthy enough to be harvested. If not, different treatments unavailable to them at plantations are tried on them. If all is tried and unsuccessful the child will be scrapped and will not be handed to the superiors. The caretaker's are to inform the children back at the plantation's if their sibling does not return that they are going to stay there permanently for care until they are ready to be adopted."

By "superiors" Emma knew it was referring to the demon's. She was disgusted but not surprised at how dehumanising the instructions were towards the children who were sick. They were only treated as cattle to be healed so they can be ready for harvest otherwise they are killed and thrown away like trash. Yet the demons are called the "superior beings" though they are killing and eating children. It even disturbed her because it dawned on her that Norman was close to being sent to headquarters. He was very sick with an unknown illness and the children including Emma and Ray were forbidden from visiting him. At first they were fine with it as they could talk to him using the paper cups they created when they were little. But, weeks passed and Norman was still sick and Mama was getting restless and frantic in trying to treat him. Emma and Ray started to really worry and miss Norman so they decided to sneakily visit him before Mama comes back from taking care of the babies.

"Hey Norman!" Emma cheerfully greeted and hugged Norman. "Ssshhh! Mama will hear us." Ray scolded. "Emma? Ray? What are you doing here? You have to leave before Mama comes back, you'll get sick!" Norman pleaded. "No! Norman we came to see you, we missed you it's not the same just talking to you using the paper cups." Emma stated fervidly. "Neither is chess." Ray smirked. Norman realised that they had made up their mind and there was no point in trying to argue with them, "I missed you guys too." He smiled weakly, his voice was super hoarse as if smoked a thousand then began to hack up a long cough. Emma quickly handed the cup of water with a straw inside that was on the drawer and helped Norman drink it. "Thank you Emma." Norman said gratefully, his voice slightly clearer.

Emma smiled "Anytime Norman. You know Mama told me that the snow fairy Yuki came to visit to help distract you so you don't feel the pain from the needle when Mama takes your blood. Just like how they helped me when I was sick!" Emma enthused innocently. Ray facepalmed, shaking his head while Norman chuckled at Emma's naivety. "Oh yeah, Yuki she sure was a big help.." He said, playing along with her. "Did she have green eyes and red hairlike me?" Emma asked excitedly. "No, they had blue eyes and white hair like mine. They were a boy too." Norman explained. "Oh.." This made Emma question even more if fairies were real. Norman notices Emma's disappointment in her eyes. "But there could be two fairies named Yuki. Besides, Yuki means 'snow' in Japanese. I bet it is a common name among snow fairies." He said, trying to maintain her belief. "Yeah!" Emma exclaimed, buying his explanation. Ray rolled his eyes but then he smiled at his friend's happiness.

"Hey guys I brought this game of three-way chess so we can all play together. I caused a distraction earlier by hiding Norman's medicine so Mama would take a while to find it. Come on Emma, help me set it up. We probably have time to play one game before Mama comes back." Ray showed them the board game and he was almost right. Mama had arrived just before they finished their game. Norman was ahead of both by two pieces, Ray was following close behind and Emma struggling to keep up but she was learning their strategies very quickly. They all had a lot of fun and enjoyed each other's company until Mama interrupted them. She didn't have to say anything; her icy cold glare on seeing that Ray and Emma disobeyed her and snuck in to visit Norman when he was sick, they quickly ran out the room.

Soon after this much to Mama's relief, Norman quickly rejuvenated and got better not long after their visit. But then Emma became sick with the exact same illness as Norman, thankfully Mama knew how to better treat it the second time around and Emma got better in half the time Norman did.

Present day Emma realised that according to the homework's instructions Mama should've contacted headquarters to send someone to "collect" Norman since he was sick for quite some time and wasn't showing signs of improvement. But she didn't. Why? Did she think that she could eventually cure him? Or..maybe she didn't want him to be harvested and killed by headquarters at least not then. Mama did say she loved all us Emma thought hopefully but then she read the homework's next instructions which dampened that thought. "If three or more children get severely ill that they die or over half the children in the plantation are sick then you and the other caretakers will be harvested and replaced." Did Mama care for them and save Norman because she just wanted to save her own skin? Or did she really care for and love them?

Emma decided to distract herself from asking herself these emotionally draining questions by grabbing out her diary from a hole under her bed and began to write things that could help her escape Headquarters. She began by labelling the floors and rooms she has been in. Emma then wrote about potential escape plans and she finished she put her notebook in the hole under her bed. She used the back of a grey cardboard to cover the hole, it was the same colour as the floor so it was perfect camouflage. The front of the cardboard was used as a part of a cardboard sculpture of Gracefield house. Which was a goodbye gift from Yvette.

It's a shame I have to break a part of her gift but she would understand that I am doing it to protect myself from being discovered trying to plan an escape, which could endanger my life. Besides I can see Gracefield House from my window even though I hate looking at it knowing that my family is there, that it wasn't an orphanage for children, a home for them while they waited for loving parents to adopt them. It is a farm, a prison while I stay here in my own prison away from them to train to become a "farmer", a Mama to raise more of them while they unknowingly wait to be eaten by demons. Unless I try to escape and rescue them. Gilda, Don, Anna, Lan, Thoma, Sherry, Phill, all of them… I have to at least try for them! If they are all still alive.." Emma wiped the tears falling from her eyes after once again letting emotionally draining thoughts enter her mind. She again tried to take her mind off these thoughts by distracting herself this time by trying to go to made space on her bed next to Petra, she laid down hugging her for comfort as she fell asleep.

During her sleep she had a dream she was seated at a giant dinner table that had a crimson red table cloth covering it. There were giant plates that were covered by silver cloches and cutlery so shiny that Emma could see her reflection in it except she wasn't an 11 year old girl looking back at her but a grown adult woman. There were also lit candles next to the plates and a vase of strange white flowers in the centre of the table gave it all a very formal atmosphere. Then Emma caught a glimpse of one of them in the cloche's reflection. It was Lord Bayon II!

"I want to congratulate you, Emma." His velvety-like yet sinister voice suddenly spoke. "F-f-for what?" Emma replied half confused and half terrified at the beast that she had trouble keeping eye contact with since he towered over her. He smiled revealing his rows of sharp teeth that resembled shark's except they were much thicker. "For raising the finest meat we demon's have had to feast on." He then used his giant clawed hand to lift the cloche off the plate in front of Emma revealing the lifeless corpse of her younger brother…Phill! His face was permanently fixed into one of horror. His eyes were filled with terror in his last moments as he was killed with a flower stabbed into his heart. Emma noticed that the once white flower petals of the strange flowers in the vase were now stained blood red. Emma looked around to see more plates with the bodies of her other younger siblings like Sherry, Jemima, Marnya, Hans and Charlie with more blood-stained red flowers next to them. The redcloth made it look like the table was drenched in their blood. Bayon took a seat next to Emma and brought his clawed hands together in prayer "Thank you for the food." Then grabbed a knife and fork "Bon appetite" he declared as Emma watched him begin to tuck into her deceased siblings

and it was all her fault…

BRRRR! Emma awoke to the blaring alarm ringing signalling that her next class was about to start soon and she needed to start heading towards it. Looking at the clock on her wall she saw it was 4:50 pm. Emma went to sleep at around 4:20 pm so she had received around half an hour's worth of sleep but thanks to her terrifying nightmare it felt a lot longer but at least she felt slightly rested. She had only ten minutes to get to her next class, Athletics training on floor one which starts at 4pm. Thankfully Emma had changed into her athletic uniform earlier before taking her nap. She gave Petra a kiss and hug goodbye as well as glancing at both her old home through her barred window and all the gifts decorated on her current bedroom wall before leaving her room. Emma saw that her fellow "fresh meat" were also leaving their rooms too. Remembering Sister Meera's story about how she was almost pushed down the stairs by her classmates. Emma waited till they all went down the stairs before she went down because they might try pushing her down to get rid of who they thought was the "headquarters spy." She was relieved that she only had to walk down two flights of stairs since she didn't have a Sister to help her use the elevator this time. When she made it to the first floor she saw Sister Krone was there waiting for them.

Krone's lucious afro was flowing now it was out of a hairnet. It was a lovely shade of black, same as her skin and eye colour. Krone was a beautiful woman with a pearly white smile that had a warm and friendly demeanour that made her seem approachable. But at the same time her tall and muscular build as well as her unpredictability made her seem intimidating.

Once Krone saw Emma she cleared her throat and began speaking to the class "Good. Now that everyone is here. I will introduce myself to the class in case any of you forgot, I'm Sister Krone and I will be your athletics teacher, today's lesson will be outside. Everyone please follow the leeeeaderrrr." She boasted excitedly flailing her arms before bringing them to her chest. "Which is me!" She declared proudly. Emma noticed her other classmates rolling their eyes at her antics before they all followed her down a well lit hallway till they reached a locked large door. Krone stopped to grab a key from her waistband and hummed as she used it to unlock it.

Krone pushed the doors open to reveal the bright blue of the sky and the green of the trees and grass and once Emma stepped out of the doors she felt the sun's rays on her face for the first time in months but it felt like a lifetime for her after being imprisoned in the awful headquarters. It was still light outside even though it was almost evening because it was early summer time. "Now everyone get in a line and start doing star jumps." Krone instructed and started doing star jumps herself. All the girls obeyed and all began to do star jumps. "Count to 20 star jumps then stop." Krone continued. The girls quietly started to count amongst themselves.

"OUT LOUD!" Krone suddenly screamed then smiled sweetly "please.." as if she wasn't screaming at them a moment girl's had briefly paused, shocked by their teacher's rapid mood swing. "5..6..7 8.." They reluctantly counted out loud."Now do 20 sit ups, full ones too and out loud." Krone commanded once they finished their star jumps. The girls struggled to do sit ups but Krone did all 20 with ease. The next command was 20 push ups which Krone did with one hand behind her back. Krone gave the girls several more commands until she felt satisfied with their warm up and decided to give out their next task.

"Great, I think you are all warmed up now and ready to start climbing. Follow me" Krone said excitedly. The girls at first looked relieved the warmup was over but seemed nervous to start "climbing" except Emma who felt she did well with her warmup and was looking forward to doing "climbing" next whatever that meant. They all followed Krone until they reached a strange looking playground/obstacle course. There was a large net that could climb on as well as monkey bars. There was a rock climbing wall as well as a wall that had multiple ropes to climb on. Emma then realised that above the rock and rope climbing walls was an electric wire fence. So that you couldn't use either of the walls to escape from headquarters. But the walls seemed thick enough to stop you from being electrocuted from the fence behind it."You will all take turns trying the different climbing courses, all of them then you will have a turn trying to crawl through this tunnel." Krone said, pointing to a soft rainbow crawl tunnel that looked to be 366 cm or 12 ft long. The girls seemed excited about the tunnel. It looked like a lot of fun!

Emma decided to try the rope climbing wall first since all her other classmates decided to try the net or the monkey bars. Probably because it looked more fun and easy than either of the walls. They were also likely reluctant to try the walls because of the electric fence. Besides Emma felt that it was best she didn't get into close physical proximity with her other classmates as they probably still suspected she was a headquarters spy. So she didn't want to make any of them uncomfortable or for any of them to "accidentally" hurt her like 61194/Paulette did during healthcare began by positioning her feet against the wall then holding a tight grip on the rope. This gave her a flashback to her last day at Gracefield where she climbed the giant wall with Phill which led to them discovering the dark abyss below them.

Phill. Oh Phill how I wish we could have all escaped. But we were all lied too. I must get you all out. Emma took a deep breath before she began climbing the wall. Lady Spider/Spider Lady can. Emma thought determinedly, even though she was unsure what superhero name she wanted to found climbing this wall much easier than the wall at Gracefield since it was a shorter length and this time she wasn't carrying someone on her back. She quickly made it to the top of the wall.

Going down the top of the wall was harder though her forehead and palms were dripping with sweat and fear making it hard for her to grip the rope. Emma stayed frozen for a few minutes halfway through going down the wall. She was paralyzed with the fear that she would fall and badly injure herself. Thinking she was being ridiculous because she had done a climb like this before on a wall twice this size with an injured leg and a child on her back. Why was she finding it so difficult now? But then she remembered her own words to Phill "Deep breathes in through your nose out through your nose and don't look down." Emma took a while to compose herself before she started climbing down the wall again and it wasn't long before her feet touched the ground and she made it in one piece.

Moving on quickly to the next wall she began rock climbing. Emma found that she was dealing with the opposite problem from her last wall. She found it hard climbing up the wall twisting, stretching and reaching for the right rock to climb. It was so sweat-inducing that Emma's grip slipped and she almost fell but managed to collect herself scraping her knee in the process. Thankfully, her athletic uniform provided her skin good protection that it did not bruise. She continued pushing herself until she reached the top. Going down the wall was simple for Emma being the best at physical activities at Gracefield, all she needed was to retrace her steps which was a piece of cake for her. Some of Emma's classmates looked on at her with a mixture of amazement and envy.

"How is she so calm climbing that wall? I still can't climb that wall without you watching me, Paul." One of the other girls commented to another, she had short dark curly bobbed hair and beautifully tanned skin with bright blue eyes hidden behind a pair of circled glasses."I know right Jewel? She is such a Mary Sue it makes me sick, I thought that little curl on her head was going to get caught on the electric fence then she would get barbecued." The other girl cruelly joked, who Emma recognised as Paulette, the girl that elbowed her in healthcare class. Paulette had the longest hair out of all her classmates which was half flowing to her mid back and the half was braided into a crown around her head. Her skin was pale and looked like it was turning pink from the sun. She also had blue eyes like her friend "Jewel" who quickly scolded Paulette."Shhh! Paul, don't be so cruel! Besides, you don't want to get them mad at you if she is the headquarter's spy, she'll get you executed."

Emma did her best to ignore them as she went to try the monkey bars but she felt tears forming in her eyes. The monkey bars and the net were free as the others had done that first and now had moved on to the rope and rock climbing walls. Emma did not usually enjoy playing alone but she was having a lot of fun playing and climbing on the monkey bars and net by herself.

Soon everyone had finished all the climbing activities and Krone gathered them all together to go through the crawl tunnel. Paulette and Jewel went first together despite the crawl tunnel being a tight fit and soon they both made it through to the other side. Jocelyn went next followed by Tammy closely behind. Emma was the last to go. Emma thought it looked fun but her excitement for it quickly dimmed down when she realised how small it was. The tunnel felt like it was closing in on her and its strange bright colours made her feel sick. She froze, feeling yet again too scared to continue. That's when she heard a voice call out."Hey did you get stuck in there? Why are you taking so long?" It was Tam's!

"Tammy, I-I-I'm scared it feels like the tunnel walls are closing in on me." Emma admitted in fear.

Emma then heard noises coming from the tunnel then she felt a hand touch her which she quickly retracted from. "It's okay Red, It's Tammy let me help you!" Tam reached her hand toward her again. Emma this time, took it immediately. Her hand feels so soft and warm Emma thought as she let Tam guide her out the tunnel. Once they exited Emma pulled Tammy into a big hug. "Thank you Tammy I was so scared but then you helped me and-" Emma let go once she saw Tammy's stunned face and realised she didn't even ask before hugging her. "Sorry…" She bashfully apologised. "No, it's okay we can all get claustrophobic sometimes. Glad I could help before Krone gets mad." Tammy blushed and scratched the back of her head.

"Now that you are all finished with the tunnel it's time to ignite your spirits with a competition! Follow me." Krone said excitedly. She led them to the forest. "For your competition you will all collect five flags hidden in the forest. There are 25 of them in total. Which is enough for each of you. The flags will be hidden in both high and low places. Use what you have practised during your training to find them. The first to return out of all of you with five flags will receive 3 days of gourmet dinner and dessert." The excitement on each one of the girl's faces upon hearing those words, was palpable.

"You will all have 30 minutes to find the flags and press the stop button on the pocket watch before time is up, if none of you manage to find five flags, then you're all done for…" Krone said in an ominous tone which caused her class to fear that they would be culled if they did poorly during this competition.

Krone then burst into roaring laughter. "I'm kidding! It's just none of you will win the prize and this will look poorly on all of you before your exam in two weeks. But you can try again next week. So good luck!" The all girls except Emma rolled their eyes at Krone having grown used to and now tired of her facetious behaviour. "Lineup everyone, I will start the timer." Krone grabbed a stopwatch from her pocket while the girls prepared. Once they were ready Krone started counting down "3..2..1..On your marks, get set! GO!" Krone twirled as she pressed the timer.

The girls darted into the forest but Emma had taken the time to enjoy the wind blowing through her short fiery red hair. This was like she was back at home, running through the forest's carefreely at Gracefield house. She didn't care about winning the prize as much as the other girls so she thought it would be a good idea to try and help her other classmates find flags. It would be a good way to build trust and rapport amongst her peers so it would be easier for them to join in any plans to escape and dispel their beliefs that she was a headquarters spy.

Emma first saw Jewel attempting to climb a tree that had a bright red flag visibly perched upon the top of it. Jewel was struggling to get it due to her fear of heights and the sun shining in her glasses. Her friend Paulette was seeing if she could find another flag hidden amongst the leaves.

Suddenly, there was a loud crack followed by a scream. It was Jewel! She almost had a grasp on the flag then the tree branch she was grabbing snapped causing her to lose her balance and fall from the tree as well as her flag. "JEWEL!" Paulette screamed in horror as she ran to try and catch her. Emma thought quickly and managed to catch Jewel before Paulette did. Jewel was surprised that it was her instead of Paul that caught her but she was extremely grateful regardless "Woah thanks 63194.." Jewel smiled awkwardly as Emma carefully put her down. "No problem Jewel and here is your flag." Emma smiled back handing Jewel the flag.

Paulette ran to Jewel and gave her a giant hug. "Jewel! I'm so glad you're okay!" She then turned to Emma, at first she glanced at her feeling envious that Emma saved Jewel instead of her but then she smiled grateful that at least Jewel was unharmed."Thank you for saving Jewel, 63194 and giving her back her flag." Paulette said gratefully. "Anytime, and here is yours too Paulette, I saw you trying to find a flag under the leaves but you dropped it when you ran to rescue Jewel." Emma explained handing Paulette the flag. Paulette took the flag and stared at Emma with suspicion. "Why are you helping us? Don't you want to find the flags for yourself?"

"I don't care about getting the flags for myself because I want to be friends with you all, not rivals. My name is Emma and I am not a spy for headquarters. I want us to work together." Emma explained honestly and sincerely. Paulette and Jewel were bewildered.

Is she crazy? We are competing for each other's lives and she wants to be friends?! Maybe it's because she is new here and hasn't realised the gravitas of her situation? Or is it a trick she is playing due to being headquarters spy? Either way me and Jewel can't afford to be friends with her when our lives are at stake. Paulette thought.

"Thanks so much for the offer but I think it is best for me and Jewel to work together by ourselves for now. Since this is a competition it might be difficult for all of us to work as a group when we all can't win. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to the other girls." Paulette explained. Emma was slightly disappointed that they didn't want to work together. But she understood where they were coming from and thought that maybe she could convince all of the girls to come together and support each other when it wasn't a competition. Then they could all survive the culling and escape headquarters! Emma knew deep down it was a very optimistic dream and one that would be very hard to achieve. But she was damn sure she was going to try!

"Okay I understand. Good luck to you both in finding all the flags! I'll see you later." Emma cheerfully waved goodbye to them. "You too Emma." Jewel, finally speaking up, waved back at her. They then went their separate ways. Emma found Jocelyn next who was crawling through a tree log finding a flag at the end of the tunnel.

There was something strange about the tree log. That's when Emma noticed a bit of red sticking out of moss on the tree's back. She quickly removed the moss to reveal the red flag cleverly concealed underneath. You would be so determined to get the flag inside the log that you can easily miss the flag outside the log!Once Emma saw Jocelyn leave the tunnel she tried to hand her the flag she found under the moss. But as soon as Jocelyn saw Emma she dashed away from her before Emma had even the chance to ask her. This upset Emma a bit. But she didn't let that dampened her determination to earn the friendship of her peers.

Emma continued to find 3 more flags in the strangest places. Such as deep inside of a mud puddle, inside of a bee hive that Emma had to use a stick to grab the flag so as to not get stung and the final flag was on the back of a bird. She was not sure if Krone purposely put it there or if it accidentally got caught to the bird's wings. Regardless, Emma was absurdly lucky that the bird happened to land on the stick that she used to retrieve the flag in the beehive which was covered in honey, causing the poor bird to get stuck."Oh don't worry Miss or Mister Bird, let me help you!"Emma helped free the poor and that's when she noticed the flag stuck to it. The bird left Emma with the flag as if it was its way of thanking her for getting it unstuck.

She had four flags tucked into her athletic uniform pocket's. She only needed one more than she could return to Sister Krone. Unless the other girls needed the flags too then she would give her flags to them Emma didn't mind ending the competition with less than five flags on hand if that meant her relationships with her classmates improved. She continued to run into the forest searching every nook and cranny to find her fifth flag but couldn't until she reached nearly the end of the forest. She found the flag conspicuously laying in the middle of the grass. As she went to grab the flag another hand met hers trying to grab it for themself's. It was Tammy's! Emma instantly let go of the flag letting her take it. Tammy was confused as to why Emma didn't put up a fight. "What's wrong? Don't you want the flag?" Emma smiled and shook her head "No it's okay I want you or one of the other girls to win the competition. I would rather be everyone's friend. Besides, I think you all want the prize more than I do. So what better way to prove that by letting you girls win right?"

Poor girl, it hasn't hit her yet that there are no friend's to be had here. When we are all fighting each other to become Sisters and Mama's. Tammy thought, looking solemnly at Emma.

"You're a strange girl, Red. Come on, let's go. Our thirty minutes are almost up. We should start heading back before Krone looks for us." She gestured for Emma to follow her. They both proceeded to exit the forest. On the way there they saw Paulette, Jewel and Jocelyn running towards Krone.

They all began to pick up their pace as they raced each other wanting to be the first one back to claim the prize. Paulette and Jewel held each other's hands as they ran were behind Jocelyn and Tammy who were neck to neck. Emma was purposely lagging behind all of them to give them all a fair chance to win. Finally, Jocelyn had won by a hair and managed to press the button before Tammy did.

Krone congratulated Jocelyn by giving her a thunderous clap."Well done 41194 you were the first to press the button. Now hand over your flags I will count them to see if you have won." Jocelyn proudly handed over her flags feeling confident that she was going to win. "ONE! TWO! THREE!" Krone obnoxiously announced as she threw the flags she counted over her shoulder. "FOUR! FIVE! Six…" Krone's voice trailed off as she counted an extra flag.

"Six.." Krone said again this time she gave Jocelyn a deep almost murderous glare that sent shivers down the poor girl's spine. "41194 you have cheated to give everyone a fair chance you were supposed to retrieve only five flags not six so therefore you are DISQUALIFIED!" Krone screamed. She then began to prance around with the flag singing "disqualified…disqualified…disqualified ahhhh" until Jocelyn finally mustered up enough courage to begin to answer back "But I.."

"Tatataaa no excuses." Krone wagged her finger interrupting her then turned to Tammy. "53194, since you were the next in line. Let me count your flags to see if you have won." Krone again counted loudly after dropping Jocelyn's last flag. "And that makes FIVEEE. Which means…" Krone grinned from ear to ear revealing her pearly white teeth "Congratulations 53194 you have WON!" She then picked Tammy up and began to spin her around with ease as if she was a small child. Tammy was clearly uncomfortable with this and had to take a while to recompose herself as she felt dizzy once Krone had put her down.

"I see you have been crowned winner 53194." A voice called out it was Grandmother! All of the girl's and even Krone curtisied towards her. Tammy was still dizzy and fell on the grass after curtsying. Grandmother looked at Krone disapprovingly as if to say 'Is this really the winner?' but Krone looked determinedly back at her saying "53194 found all the flags hidden in the forest using the athletic skills she had learnt during her training. She is probably exhausted after the intense competition." Krone explained. Grandmother huffed then went to help Jocelyn up "Well done 53194 keep this up and maybe you will survive the culling."

"Th-thank y-you Gr-gr-grandmother." Tammy's terrified reply to Grandmother in contrast to how bold she was bad-mouthing her this morning when she first met Emma. She then saw Jocelyn crying next to her and thought about what Emma said earlier about wanting friendship than a prize. She took a deep breath before asking Sister Krone and Grandmother "I have won the game fair and square but I don't want the 3 days gourmet dinner and dessert prize. I know that 41194 cheated during this competition but she only did so because she was desperate to win the prize because she is sick of eating punishment meals. If I'm allowed to, can I please give my prize to her?"Krone stared back at her in disbelief. While Grandmother frowned and her lip curled and a loud noise was heard by everyone as she suddenly slapped her.

"Just when I was starting to think you were starting to show promise 53194…But you had to ruin that. I thought you would've understood by now that in order to survive you must value your own life first and only your life! If you want to become a Sister let alone a Mama. If you want to give away your prize now due to pity and to a cheater for that matter, how do I know if you become a Mama you won't try and spare the cattle when it comes time for their harvest because you "pity" them? Remember that during the culling in two weeks!" Grandmother threatened."Yes Grandmother…" Tammy replied defeatedly. Grandmother then approached Jocelyn then asked Krone "41194 cheated?"

"Indeed Grandmother." Krone nodded "I planted 25 flags throughout the forest. They were all clearly told to collect five flags which would be enough for the five of them. But 41194 took six instead leaving another candidate with one less flag then they should have. Giving 41194 an unfair advantage. This is UNFORGIVABLE Grandmother!" Krone declared with her fists clenched. "Settle down Krone.." Grandmother said annoyed. She then slapped an already crying Jocelyn across the face. "I am disappointed 41194, but not surprised. Even though I would normally praise giving yourself an advantage over the other's which is good etiquette when training to become a Mama. But so is following instructions and you were instructed to find only five flags in the given time then return them to Sister Krone and you failed to do that. You must remember to follow instructions during the culling if you are to survive." She warned Jocelyn who said nothing in return and continued to sob loudly. Grandmother ignored her and turned to Krone again "Krone, what were the other's results?"

"I haven't checked the number of flags they have all collected. But I do know that 61194 and 82194 were running together holding hands and they were close but behind 41194 and 53194. I would imagine one of them might have come second, even first if they weren't holding hands." Krone explained. For a brief moment Grandmother looked pensive, her eyes glazed over as if she was remembering something. "I see.." She replied then quickly went back to her usual stone cold serious glare. She then turned to Emma and asked Krone. "What about 63194?"

"63194 was lagging behind everyone. I would even say it looked like she was doing it on purpose." Krone angrily pouted at Emma. Grandmother stared daggers at Emma then commanded Krone to "Check the amount of flags the rest collected." Who nodded again with determination. "You heard Grandmother freshies show me your flags. You first 82194!" She in turn demanded the girls and with a reaffirming pat on shoulder from Paulette, Jewel nervously handed her flags to Krone. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5." Krone quickly counted out loud in what seemed like a blink of an eye. "Good. Now you, 61194." Paulette readily handed her flags and again counted them with unbelievable speed. "That's five too." She said throwing all of the flags she counted on the floor.

"And you're the luckyyy laaaast 63194. Come on up." Krone said, reaching out her hand towards Emma which was like she was teasing her. But this time once Krone was handed Emma's flags she counted them slowly almost excruciatingly so. "One." Krone held the red flag to her chin before getting rid of it. "Two.." She playfully bobbed Emma's nose with the second flag then dropped it. "Three…" Letting the flag go through each one of her fingers before flinging it away. "Four….Ah!" Krone exclaimed when she realised that was the last flag. "63194 you only brought back four flags instead of five. Which makes since 41194 took one more flag then she was supposed to. But nevertheless you have faaaailed! And what an epic fail that was! Not bringing enough flags and coming last in the race wow…" Krone rested her hands on her face and smirked from ear to ear as if Emma achieved something admirable.

However Grandmother obviously didn't agree and quickly approached Emma with an evil glare on her face. She then slapped Emma like she did Tammy and Jocelyn. But then she slapped her again..then again and again numerous times and didn't stop until Emma's entire left cheek was swollen and red. Grandmother didn't say anything to Emma and began to walk around each of the girls holding her hands behind her back as she made complaints to each of them:

"41194 quit sulking, you were only hit once, don't be such a crybaby!"

"82194 I have told you before to wear sunlight resistant glasses with a strap. I had one fitted for you and delivered to your room. Where is it?!" demanding an answer.

"I-I-I'm sorry Grandmother I am just so used to using my old glasses that I forget to wear my new ones." Jewel nervously admitted..

"You must wear it! Wearing glasses can be a disadvantage during your training. You can easily have your vision impaired by the sun shining through your glasses or they can simply fall off your face while doing physical activity. This can be a death sentence if you are trying to escape a demon during the culling or even losing a runaway cattle if you become a Mama. Those glasses you were given are designed to take away those risks. So next time I better see you wearing them…" Grandmother stated in a deadly serious tone.

"Y-y-yes G-g-grandmother." Jewel continued to nervously stammer in response. Grandmother continued her criticism towards the other girls.

"61194 your skin is so burnt pink that you remind me of raw salmon! There is normally a bottle of sunscreen along with your athletics uniform delivered to you in your cloth bag. Why didn't you apply any on your skin?"

"I am sorry Grandmother. I fell asleep and woke up late because I felt so tired after eating lunch. I didn't have enough time to put any sunscreen on." Paulette explained. "Yet you had enough time to style your hair." Grandmother retorted back, making Paulette grab her hair in fear that Grandmother would give her a similar haircut to Tammy's and Jocelyn's. "No point in surviving the culling and becoming a Mama if you die of melanoma when you are thirty." Grandmother continued to scold her. Paulette nodded "I understand Grandmother. I will put my sunscreen on next time."

"See to it that you do 61194. I don't easily forgive those that go back on their word." Grandmother threatened then moved on to criticise the next girl.

"53194 stop slouching!"

Grandmother finally turned to Emma "63194..I don't want to even start with you. You're treading on a very fine thread, fresh meat!" She threatened and returned to the centre to address all of the girls again."What an atrocious bunch of candidates you all are. Do you want to live or not?! If the culling was today you would all be executed, served on some demon's plate and torn to shreds! You have two weeks. Two weeks to improve and show you are worthy of being Mama and Sister Candidates by surviving the culling. You lot better stop disappointing me, otherwise instead of choosing to become a Mama candidate you'd wish you had accepted a quick death when you still had the chance…" Grandmother then approached Krone and grabbed her arm before turning to address the girls once more.

"Now I must chat with Krone in private. Clean up this mess. I better see all the flags off the ground once I'm finished talking with her." Grandmother instructed them, causing each of the girls to rush to pick up the flags. Jocelyn stopped crying. Jewel and Paulette worked together. Emma clutched her cheek in pain and picked up five of them, this time not wanting to anger Grandmother any further. The other girls seemed to have the same idea as they all also collected five flags each. Once Emma finished picking up her flags she returned to where she was standing before. That's when a chill ran down her spine when saw Grandmother whispering something into Krone's ear. Which caused Krone to grin sinisterly from ear to ear as she made direct eye contact with Emma then whispered back in Grandmother's ear. After they finished talking, it was Krone's turn to address the class:

"Girls! I have some exciting news…Grandmother will be joining us next for our combat class!" Krone said happily even though in reality she felt just like her pupils did, worried and unlike her, they didn't make any effort to hide it. Grandmother grinned sadistically at the worry on the girls' faces.

"Come on ladies, let's go and don't forget to return the flags into the equipment box to the right once you get inside." Krone instructed as she walked slightly behind Grandmother letting her lead them back to headquarters. Grandmother used her own key to unlock the doors and the girls obediently put all the flags away in the equipment box to the right just as Krone instructed. They all headed inside the elevator where Grandmother pressed the button number 17 with her index finger causing it to turn red on its outer ring before the inside also turned red. The elevator quickly went up. Several of the girls took a deep sigh relieved that this was the last class of the day. Emma continued to hold the side of her face and wished she had ice to put on her bruised cheek but she was too scared to ask Grandmother or Krone for some.

Ding…

The elevator arrived at floor 17 and Emma quickly noticed once they all exited that up ahead was a white sliding door that looked to be made of very light almost translucent materials with rectangular-shaped wood holding it together. Emma recognised it as being shoji. A door that is made in Japanese buildings. She remembered reading about it in a book about Japan. She had always dreamed of visiting Japan with her parents when she got adopted…or so she thought.

Emma wanted to see the country's cherry blossom trees, temples and shrines. That's when she realised since this was combat class so it was likely that this door led to a dojo! A dojo was a place where people learn martial arts such as karate and judo. "Take your shoes and socks off before entering." Grandmother commanded and the girls obediently followed her instructions taking their shoes and socks and leaving them at the side of the door where many more were laid out neatly. Her theory was quickly proven to be right when Grandmother firmly knocked on the door announcing her presence then slid the door open. Revealing that it was in fact a dojo. It had multiple mats with unique patterns which Emma recognised as being tatami mats. The walls were covered in colourful Japanese art that featured everything she dreamed about visiting in Japan: the cherry blossom trees, temples and shrines. It was probably the closest she would get to Japan in this world and it was like she was really there!

Except…There was also art depicting demons or what the Japanese called oni. The art was both fascinating and horrifying…The oni were depicted as sitting on grand thrones above humans. There were also human children depicted happily playing in a field below, obvious to the demons above them laughing at them. The demons were also partying and feasting on what looked to be human body parts, especially the brain. This was all done to mock them to remind them that the demons were in charge and they could have any human become their next meal if they disobeyed them.

Emma also saw artwork of humans and demons fighting each other on another wall. It was bloody and intense but at the same time magnificently drawn. This must be depicting the centuries of human and demon wars that Grandmother talked about in History class. On the next wall depicted a man with long slicked back white hair and bright green eyes wearing faded armour shaking hands with a demon. Which Emma recognized as being the demon in the gilded frame picture in Grandmother's room. Their hands glowed as they touched each other. This must be a depiction of "The Promise" that was made by Julius Ratri and the leader of the demon' was seemingly confirmed on the last wall she saw which was depicting an enlarged earth split in half with a bridge in the centre connecting them together. One half of the earth depicted demons livingly happily amongst themselves, some wearing luxurious clothes while partying and feasting. Other demons seemed to be wearing normal clothes and living peacefully with families of their own.

While the other half of the earth depicted human's. It was like a mirror image to the demon's side. There were humans depicted as nobility in luxurious clothes feasting and partying too. Other humans were in normal clothing and had families just like the demons. But there was a difference between the two sides. Unlike the demon side, the human side had also depicted impoverished people living on the streets. Did this mean that the demons took better care of their kind then humans did with theirs? Emma doubted this though since this was supposed to be a mirror image. It was unlikely that the demon's who had a supposed similar hierarchy to humans with a ruling class of citizens living a luxurious life and an average class that have a normal life, wouldn't also have improvised citizens that have very little.

Emma thought that this was more likely propaganda since this was art made in the demon's world it would be biassed towards them. Propaganda for the demons to show that they are superior than humans because they treat their own kind better than they do. It was also propaganda for the humans here that saw it as well to make them think the human side is an unfair and discriminatory place to put doubts in the heads of any humans in the demon world that want to escape to the human world. But this only enhanced Emma's hope of escaping by a tenfold. Since she knows that there is a world where humans live and she can escape to. She just needs to find out how to get there and how to bring her family along with her.

Suddenly, Grandmother interrupted her train of thought when she yelled at the class. "All fresh meat line up! Since 63194 has joined us there is now an odd number of you all. So I have invited the trainees to join our lesson and help make it even." Emma looked up and saw all of the trainees, nine of them. She saw her bully Jiah and her friends, but she also saw some familiar faces…Michelle,Olivia and Susan, her older sisters that used to live with her at Gracefield House!

Emma struggled to make eye contact with them as tears of joy welled in her eyes. Once she made eye contact with them their responses back were a mix of surprise, uncertainty and concern when they saw the large bruise on her cheek. None of them had a chance to say anything to one another as Grandmother began pairing them all together. "70294 versus 16094. You trainees will lead by example and show them how it is done." Susan was called up along with another trainee to the centre tatami mat. Grandmother gestured to the rest of the class to sit down and to observe them closely while they competed with each other.

Grandmother then stood between the two girls addressing them both "As you both know you must compete to knock your opponent down and keep them from getting up for at least ten seconds." Grandmother then smiled maliciously "Break bones if you have too! Also… it goes without saying that it would be a great advantage to you if your opponent has a broken bone instead of you during the culling." She chuckled evilly, her face then turned serious when she explained the next part.

"But mind that you don't leave any blood behind. It is almost impossible to get out of a tatami mat. Remember if one or both of you fail to knock your opponent down; it will be tallied against you during the culling as well." Emma noticed that Sister Krone was holding a clipboard and a pen ready to tally up the scores.

Emma also saw the scared yet determined looks on both of the girls' faces. Susan was so different from when she last saw her just over two years ago on her 12th birthday. She remembers that day vividly because it was also that day Susan was finally getting adopted into a new family. (Although in hindsight Emma now knew that this unfortunately wasn't the case.) Susan was a short girl with long dark hair with bangs, pale skin, a sweet smile and round babyface. You could describe her facial features as being "catlike."

Susan was a very popular and well-loved sibling at Gracefield. As she was a very kind and caring older sister to all of them. She was especially close to Ray, being able to detect when he was feeling down when no one else could. The day before her adoption she had helped Emma, Norman and Ray nurse an injured baby bird back to health. So it wasn't a surprise when Gracefield house had a tall ice cream cake for dessert and for Susan's birthday cake, which was her favourite food.

Lannion and Thoma had let off their first ever homemade firecrackers that let out bits of glitter and ribbon with the help of Ray. (Mama rolled out towels on the floor to make it easier to clean up later.)Susan also received a mountain of presents from her siblings. Emma made her a handmade teddy bear made from brown fleece, it had dark brown buttons for eyes and a red ribbon tied around its neck. Making the teddy bear was quite the challenge for Emma but she was determined, and with the help of Mama she managed to finish it before her birthday and wrap it in shiny red wrapping paper as red was Susan's favourite colour. (Unknowingly to Emma at the time, making this bear was good practice and helpful for Emma for when she started Sewing and Embroidery class at Headquarters in the future.)

Susan carefully unwrapped Emma's present and immediately her face lit up once she saw and felt the soft "fur" of the bear. "Oh Emma, it's adorable, I love it! Thank you so much!" She gratefully hugged Emma. "Now you will have something to remember me by when you are travelling the world with your new family." Emma boasted happily. Susan then ruffled Emma's hair with her hand as she chuckled "I don't think I could ever forget you Emma. I'll even name the teddy bear Emma so I will always have you with me." Emma was touched by Susan's words, and returned the hug "I will never forget you too Susan I love you." Susan smiled, "I love you too, Emma." Susan continued to open the rest of her presents. Among the presents, she received a chessboard from Norman and even a crayon drawing from Phil who had recently turned 2 years old.

It was hard to make out what the drawing was. It looked like a bird flying from a cage towards the sun. The lines were squiggly but it was still quite impressive for his age. "Suzee" Baby Phil called out and showed Susan his drawing he made her. "Awww. Is this for me Phil?" Susan kneeled down to pat Phil on his little head. "Uh huh." he said, handing it to her which she gratefully took, smiling. "Thank you Philly baby. I will take it with me and cherish it always." Baby Phil's large bright blue eyes began to full with tears as he cried "Suzee don't goo stay wif meee pwease!" Susan picked him up and cuddled him "Shhh It's okay Philly baby I will be fine. You need to stay here and look after Emma for me. Can you do that for me?"Baby Phil snuffled and nodded his head "Okay Suzee I will stay here and be stwong and look after Emma. I wuv you." He hugged Susan who in return kissed him on the forehead. "I love you too Phill I will miss you. Study hard when you're older and be brave." Susan carefully placed him back on the ground.

Soon Susan unwrapped all her presents. "Thank you all so much. I love and appreciate all the gifts everyone got me!" She thanked everyone. But, strangely Susan didn't seem to receive a gift from Ray. Which was odd because Susan was the closest to Ray out of all of the kids. When Emma questioned him on this. He shrugged and told Emma that he had already given his present to Susan days before. Emma for some reason felt he wasn't being honest but before she could ask him about her suspicions it was time to eat dinner…

After a delicious dinner and a ton of ice cream cake, Susan went upstairs to get ready. She packed the gifts she received for her birthday in a large suitcase and got dressed in the fancy outfit that all the Gracefield children that are leaving wear as well as the trademark pork pie hat with the red ribbon. Soon enough, Susan was saying her goodbyes and giving out hugs to all her Gracefield siblings. Especially Ray who looked like he was desperately trying to hold back tears. Susan gave him a long comforting bear hug then hushed him gently as she told him encouragingly "It's going to be okay Rayray take care of Emma and Norman stay strong for them. Keep working on your surprise for them. You can do anything you put your mind to. I know you can." He nodded his head in response. "I will Susan for you. For both of us. For all of us" He said determinedly. Susan smiled in response. "Good, I'm so proud of you Ray. Please take care, I'll see you soon..." Ray then briefly cried for a bit on her shoulder which he muttered an apology for. Susan just smiled sweetly in response as if to say "It's okay."

"I love you Susan." Ray quickly said. To everyone's surprise including Susan and even Ray himself because he was normally not the lovey dovey type and no one including himself again, could remember the last time he said I love you to someone or if he ever did. "I love you too Ray." Susan chuckled and gave him one final hug which he gladly returned.

Susan then moved on to Emma and Norman hugging them both. "Take good care Ray and that baby bird you two. Make sure they grow up well and fly away when they are ready. I love you both." "We will Susan we promise." Norman and Emma said together as they returned Susan's hug. Soon Mama called Susan telling her it was time to go. "Okay Mama, I'm coming! Goodbye everyone I love you. I hope to see you all again one day." Susan smiled ruefully giving a final wave to all her siblings before taking her final exit through Gracefield House's entrance door with Mama following,and closing and locking the door behind her.

Back to the present day, Susan's babyface was now gaunt, covered in faded scars with dark circles under her lifeless eyes, the cruelness and stress of this place had obviously taken its toll on her even having only spent 2 and a half years training here. Now just turned 15 years old, Susan's beautiful long dark hair along with her bangs had been cut very short into a chin length bob and her bangs didn't even touch her eyebrows. Her once pale and petite body was now tanned and athletic with both muscular arms and legs. She had also gone through a serious growth spurt growing several inches since she last saw her making the average height for her age. Emma then looked at Susan's opponent 16094,she recognised her as being a part of Jiah's gang. She had dark skin and frizzy light orange hair that was tied up in a bun up on top of her head. Her eye colour was more of dark orange. 16094 was the same height as Susan and had the same drained but determined look on her face as her.

Grandmother then spoke up addressing the determined girls "Listen up girls… When I blow the whistle, you WILL compete!" She then grabbed a whistle and a stopwatch from her pocket. Briefly pausing and taking a deep breath "You both have five minutes." She then blew the whistle which made an ear piercing noise and pressed the stopwatch at the same time signalling for them to start fighting. Both girls began to circle each other carefully, sizing each other up when 16094 made the first move. Attempting to jab Susan's stomach with her right arm and was quickly blocked by Susan who grabbed her arm and pulled it towards her. 16094 then kicked Susan's leg in an attempt to try and get Susan to let go of her.

But Susan withstood the attack and kicked her in return causing 16094 to lose her balance and fall on the floor. Susan knowing she had the advantage seized the opportunity using her whole body to pin 16094 down. "Arghhh." 16094 groaned as she struggled to get out of Susan's firm grasp. "One, two..three…" Grandmother began to count. 16094 squirmed and kicked "four..five..six…" Suddenly 61094 bit into Susan's arm that was holding her down by her chest. "AHHH!"Susan screamed out in pain as 16094 sunk her teeth into her skin, drawing blood. But luckily for Grandmother, blood didn't stain the tatami mat…With Susan taken off guard and distracted by the painful bite on her arm, 16094 managed to free herself from Susan just before Grandmother finished counting to ten. Grandmother looked disappointed that 16094 had resorted to such an animalistic and unclean method to free herself but permitted it since it was a last resort because she was going to lose.

69194 then pulled Susan down to the floor and pinned her down by holding her arms down by her sides. She tried to sit on her legs in order to pin them down too. But Susan quickly wrapped her legs around 61094's and pulled. Forcing 61094 to unpin Susan's arms to try and free her legs. Susan again used this situation to her advantage, now that her arms were free she used both her arms and legs to wrestle with 16094 who also put up a fight. They continued to wrestle, both of them managing to pin each other down several times but getting out before Grandmother counted to ten. Finally, Susan managed to pin 16094 by wrapping her legs around her neck and holding her arms with her own. Emma recognised this from her martial arts book as being a "triangle choke" This time 16094 could not bite her way out of this.

"...And that is ten. Good work 70294. You defeated 16094 in time even though she used unclean methods and so did you…" She said in a disapproving tone. "But eye for eye I say." Grandmother congratulated Susan as she ended the timer. Krone enthusiastically marked the scores on the clipboard. Grandmother noticed that 16094 seemed to be unconscious from Susan's wrestling move and Susan herself was still bleeding from her bite wound. She sighed and gestured for the teacher the trainees came in with. "Sister Abrielle, direct both 70294 and 16094 to the medical room on floor six please!" Grandmother commanded.

Sister Abrielle, a tall woman with light skin and dark red hair in a tight bun with curly bangs on the right side of her head. She had light blue eyes and reminded Emma of Michelle. Abrielle curtisied towards Grandmother "Of course Grandmother, Come on you two." She picked up and carried 16094 out of the class with Susan following beside them, who gave Emma a pitying glance before she left. Emma nodded sadly back at her in response.

Grandmother then spoke to the class again "Now class, both 16094 and 70294 used dirty tactics during the fight. Tell me what tactics were those? Hands up!" As commanded, several girls raised their hands. "94094." Grandmother chose Jiah who answered almost over confidently:

"16094 bit 70294 and 70294's chokehold made 16094 unconscious."

Grandmother did a slight nod of her head "Correct. But don't expect me to praise you for paying attention when you're supposed to." She huffed then turned to the fresh meat. "All right, fresh meat! Let's see if you can answer the next question: Why are these methods considered dirty and generally discouraged from using unless absolutely necessary?"

The girls were hesitant to answer no one put their hands up. Grandmother, feeling annoyed rolled her eyes "Since you all seem to be a mentally deficient lot today! I'll give you a hint… It has to do with raising cattle children." Only one of the girls was brave enough to raise her hand Jewel.

Normally Emma would've been the first one to put her hand up when answering the tricky questions along with her best friends Norman and Ray when they were living together at Gracefield house. But Emma was hesitant, feeling dejected after receiving a bruised cheek after being slapped multiple times, she was scared of getting the answer wrong and being punished by Grandmother further.

"Yes, 82194." Grandmother addressed Jewel awaiting her answer.

"B-b-because if you use those dirty tactics on the children I-I mean cattle, then you could badly hurt them." Jewel answered timidly. Grandmother's lips pursed. "Go on. Of course if we want to control the cattle sometimes you have to hurt them physically. But why is biting and choking particularly discouraged? This should be a very easy question."

"Because biting can lead to infection and choking can damage their brian even kill them." Jewel further explained more confidently. Grandmother smirked "Exactly! Well said 82194. The brain is the most important part of the cattle's body given to higher ups during harvest. We must avoid damaging the cattle children's organs as much as possible. Especially the brain. Failure to do so could result in losing your Mama position and most likely..." She slid her index finger across her throat in a beheading gesture. Everyone understood that meant being culled.

"Let's see if you can fight as well as you can answer questions 82194…''Grandmother said ominously as she announced the next battle:

"82194 vs 61194! Both of you come to the stage!"

The girls were both clearly uncomfortable with Grandmother's command but obeyed her and they both stood on the tatami mat opposite one another. "Good, now since you are both still fresh meat I will guide you through this fight. Get into the correct fighting position, legs apart and slightly bent, keep your stomach muscles clenched, hands up front and eyes on your opponent." Grandmother instructed and both girls followed.

Paulette and Jewel were visibly reluctant to fight one another, as both grew up together in what they believed was an orphanage, a loving temporary home while they waited to be adopted by families of their own. They were and still are the best of friends.

When Paulette was finally "adopted" on her 12th birthday they were sad but they knew it was temporary as Jewel was also turning 12 in a few months time, so they would see each other again soon. Jewel promised Paulette that she would try to reconnect with her as soon as she got adopted. It was a shame that Paulette couldn't send a letter to Jewel telling her where her new address was.

Mama told them that the reason why their house doesn't receive any letters to their orphanage was because it was too far away from any postman to deliver that day when Paulette found out the truth about their home. That it was in fact a farm raising them as livestock for monstrous beings to consume them when they get "adopted."

But instead of being killed and becoming a demon's next meal. She was given a choice by an old woman known as "Grandmother" to be eaten or to live and train to become a Sister or Mama. Paulette being terrified to die especially by such a grotesque creature. Her choice was made almost in an instant. Once she arrived at headquarters was when she realised the weight of her decision. That she would have to compete against other girls like her to survive. Even if she did manage to win a Sister or Mama position, that means she would have to raise and send kids like herself, like her siblings to slaughter, for the rest of her life if she wants to live.

Paulette wished she could change her mind that she chose to die when Grandmother first gave her the option, but at the same time she wished that she could warn and rescue her siblings from the fate that awaited them. Especially her best friend Jewel, thinking about her brought tears to Paulette's eyes because she thought she would never see again now that it was impossible for her to leave headquarters this hell, without her superiors willing it, trapping her with a bomb to her heart. Paulette then decided she would defy the system and gain her dignity back the one way she could, by dying… One day she planned on acting out her plan by jumping out the bathroom window on floor 15. But that plan was abruptly halted when she was reunited with Jewel.

Grandmother introduced Jewel to the class telling her that she was to compete to survive, just like she told Paulette when she joined the class. It was lunchtime when they were finally able to speak to each other. They were both ecstatic to see each other still alive and spent what felt like a long time crying and hugging each other. Paulette suicide plan completely evaporated from her mind. Now she had a new plan to spend as much time with Jewel as possible and ensure that she lives no matter what! They promised to work together to get positions like Mama, Sister or even nurses or surgeons at headquarters so they can both stay and Jewel helped each other during classes which they all passed with flying colours (except Paulette still struggled in Sewing and Embroidery class.) Everything seemed to be going well for them until a new student joined their fresh meat class, 63194…

63194 was a new arrival to headquarters from Plantation 3, the best plantation in Gracefield House and it showed. 63194 seemed to already ace her first training classes and she seemed to have good relations with the staff including the sisters and nurses. Getting free elevator rides from the sisters and instead of being made to use the stairs like the rest of the fresh meat and even received help from Nurse Rebecca and was her assistant in class on her first day too!

The theory among them was that this new girl was a spy! 63194 would get special treatment while she reported what her fellow classmates were doing. This could put a huge dent in her plan to keep Jewel safe, if 63194 reported to Grandmother something like she that her and Jewel were too close to each other during classes, which could get them separated from each other or even executed. Paulette hated 63194 and wanted to show it to her which is why she elbowed her in healthcare class and the cruel comments during Physical class. Paulette didn't care if 63194 reported her behaviour to Grandmother at least then she would focus on her and not Jewel.

Even though Paulette quickly realised that theory was implausible once she talked to 63194 who introduced herself as Emma after she rescued Jewel from falling from the tree. Emma said she wasn't a spy and wanted to work together with them all. Paulette couldn't agree to her plan. For all she knew this could all be a trick and Emma really is a spy. When Grandmother viciously slapped Emma multiple times bruising her cheek, Paulette thought that she could have been telling the truth which made her feel regretful. Regretful that she didn't agree to Emma's plan, maybe she and Jewel could have helped her find her fifth flag before Jocelyn found it.

Maybe this was fate's way of punishing me for not helping her, putting me in a fight against my best friend. Paulette thought sardonically.

"Now I'll give you two an extra five minutes to fight. But you still have to hold your opponent down for ten seconds to win and remember if either one or both of you fail it will be tallied against you during the culling." Grandmother explained coldly. That terrified both Paulette and Jewel. Grandmother then blew the whistle and pressed the timer signalling for them to start fighting. Both of them hesitated to start fighting each other and froze, not moving a muscle..

"Begin circling each other!"Grandmother snapped. The girls obeyed and began circling each other slowly.

"82194 why don't you make the first strike?" Grandmother mercilessly suggested Jewel hesitantly punched Paulette on the cheek but it didn't hurt her at all. "Strike harder next time 82194 and 61194 why didn't you defend yourself now you try and strike!" Paulette then tried to kick Jewel's foot but it wasn't hard enough to knock her down but it did hurt. "Ow!" Jewel exclaimed. Paulette looked guilty for hurting her best friend.

Grandmother looked cross at both of them and shouted "You both better try harder or else I will tally the scores against you both right now!" Jewel and Paulette locked eyes, the silent understanding that they must fight one another and with a slight nod of their heads, both acknowledged they had received the other's permission to fight.

They both attempted to hit, kick and wrestle each other to the ground. But were unsuccessful, Grandmother quickly noticed and intervened."I can't believe either of you haven't noticed the disadvantages your opponent has! 82194 is wearing glasses and 61194 has long hair. Use that to your advantage!"

Both girls took Grandmother's advice. Jewel pulled Paulette's blonde hair while Paulette knocked her glasses off making it difficult for her to see. Jewel tried to hit Paulette but kept missing her punches. Paulette in return tripped her and began to pin her. Jewel in return gave Paulette's hair another rough tug and elbowed her in the chest, causing Paulette to yelp in pain. Jewel managed to find her glasses that were now crooked but still usable and continued to fight Paulette. Jewel kept trying to punch and kick Paulette but she was strong and resilient and resisted her attacks. Paulette also managed to throw her fair share of punches and kicks towards Jewel. But she was small and fast and managed to dodge her attacks. Finally, Jewel had managed to pin Paulette down by pulling her arms together and locking them in place with her arms and body. Paulette knew how to get out of the pin but didn't feel like fighting Jewel anymore. But she knew that Grandmother would be furious if she lost on purpose. So she made it look like she was putting up a fight to win and began kicking and trying to snatch Jewel's glasses off again and 'failing'

"7...8..9." With the final ten count, Grandmother declared Jewel the winner "Congratulations 28194 you used your skills and 61194's flaws to your advantage. I am pleased." She announced with no emotion. Paulette's plan to let her win was a success. Krone tallied the score against Paulette. Both girls then exited the stage feeling exhausted and emotionally drained. As soon as they were out of Grandmother's sight, They pulled each other into a hug letting all the emotions that had been pent up from this fight finally release. "I'm sorry for pulling your hair and making you lose Paul, now you are at a disadvantage during the culling. I'm so sorry." Jewel said, crying on Paulette's shoulder.

"It's okay I broke your glasses so I say we are pretty even." Paulette chuckled. But Jewel wasn't laughing "We will work to survive the culling together!" Paulette smiled "Yes Jewel, yes we will! I will do anything to keep you safe." "Hey at least now I will remember to wear my new glasses." Jewel finally joked back, causing them both to chuckle quietly and hug each other again, knowing that this fight didn't weaken their bond of friendship but only made it stronger.

Grandmother then called the next two competitors to the stage "Next is 97094 vs 38094 come to the stage please." Two trainees entered the stage who Emma knew as Michelle and Olivia. Growing up at Gracefield House with them, they were like two peas in a pod always attached at the hip. They played tag together with all the kids and were both extremely athletic. They both studied hard together and got perfect scores on all their tests. They both helped take care of all their siblings so much that they were almost considered their second and third Mama's. So it wasn't surprising that they both were given the option to become Sister and Mama candidates when turned 12 and left Gracefield.

Now another pair of best friends were forced to compete against one another. But, unlike Paulettte and Jewel both Olivia and Michelle didn't seem hesitant about fighting one another, in fact they both looked willing to beat each other to win. Like Susan, they both seem to have changed a lot since Emma last saw them. Their once innocent and carefree expressions were now replaced with cold and calculating ones, from the trauma of being in this hellish place even for only a little more than two years.

Michelle had grown a lot so much so that she was the tallest girl in the room out of all the trainees and fresh meat. Her trademark long curly bang of the right side of her head cut off, exposing her large forehead. The rest of her hair was tied back into a bun. While Olivia's dark brown hair was also tied back in a tight bun the exact same style during her time at Gracefield. She had a plaster holding her broken nose as well as a scar on her eyebrow that had a patch of hair missing too.

The match began with both of them circling each other, their hands up in defensive positions, their eyes locked on each other. It was clear that both of them were determined to win. It was an intense fight with a flurry of punches, kicks, slaps and different pins pulled on one another. There was blood and bruising inflicted on both sides. Emma even noticed one of Michelle's teeth was missing but it didn't matter to them, they just kept fighting each other. Grandmother seemed to be approving it sadistically, like this is what she wanted in the first place. Emma couldn't help but feel deeply disturbed and slightly nauseous from witnessing the drastic change between them from closest friends to enemies who are fighting each other so viciously.

After what seemed like an eternity of going back and forth in strength, Michelle finally got the upper hand, pinning Olivia and it looked like she was about to win when suddenly Olivia managed to quickly reverse their positions and pinned Michelle instead. Grandmother gave a brief applause and congratulated Olivia. ""Well done 38094 your skills have improved and you didn't hold back unlike last battle with you letting 79094 overpower you. This is the kind of battle I like to see from you. I am pleased." She then addressed the rest of the class "I hope you all follow her example" Which quickly stiffened the air in the room.

Michelle walked away from the match feeling dejected and angry while Olivia was visibly elated and proud with her victory. Emma is extremely upset that their friendship had been ruined because of this competition, this place, this nightmare they live in now. She desperately wanted to comfort and hug both of them and tell them that this was not who they really are. But knew she couldn't as it would likely get them all into trouble.

Following the pattern, two fresh meats were next Tammy and Jocelyn or as Grandmother called them 53194 and 41194. They approached the stage looking scared but determined to win. Like the previous fresh meats, Grandmother gave them an extra five minutes. "You both should be used to fighting by now. So I better not see any hesitation or weakness from either of you." Grandmother remarked coldly before blowing the whistle letting off that horrible noise again and pressing the start on her timer.

Jocelyn immediately rushed towards Tammy and tackled her to the ground, she tried to pin her down but Tammy was quick and managed to roll them both over so that she was on top. Jocelyn tried to fight her off with some punches and kicks, but Tammy defended herself well and managed to keep Jocelyn from pinning her. The two kept struggling against each other, trying to gain the upper hand while at the same time avoiding Grandmother's match went on for what seemed like an eternity with neither girl gaining much of an advantage as they kept attempting pins and failing. They fought fiercely, punching and kicking each other, neither of them giving up despite the fatigue that was beginning to set in.

Jocelyn attempted to pin Tammy down numerous times which she kept getting out of. Soon they were too tired to carry on. Eventually the timer ran out. "Stop! Time's up fresh meat… While you both have seemed to improve your skills and didn't hold back, Neither of you managed to pin the other down and win. How disappointing.." Her disappointment carried throughout the room as both girls apologised in unison but it was clear that Grandmother was not satisfied.

"Oohhh they're in trouble now." Krone chuckled to herself as she tallied the scores against them. They both exited the stage. Tammy was clearly disappointed that she had lost and angered Grandmother while Jocelyn was extremely upset sobbing deeply at her loss. Emma felt her heart break for them both knowing that they have points against them during the culling. She couldn't help but feel helpless in such a situation, all she could do was stand there and watch as the two girls ended up in a stalemate. I will find a way for all of us to get out of this evil place, this world together! Emma thought determinedly.

"35094 vs 06094. You're up next! I can understand the previous results because they were fresh meat but since you two are trainees I expect one of you to win." Grandmother demanded. Emma recognized both trainees as also a part of Jiah's clique. 35094 had pale skin and dark red hair tied into a braid and silver eyes with glasses that had a strap so it can't fall off her face. While 06094 had tanned skin, golden eyes and golden hair in a braided crown around head. They were both the same height.

"You have five minutes." Grandmother instructed pressing the timer and letting off the whistle. Both of them rushed and proceeded to wrestle with each other. Soon, it became very violent with lots of kicks, punches and slaps towards one another as neither of them managed to pin each other down. Emma was sick of all of this violence and turned her face away, unable to watch any longer but then it occurred that there were only two contestants left, herself and Jiah…

Emma didn't wish to fight anyone, even to one that was cruel to her earlier in the thoughts were quickly interrupted when a blood curdling scream echoed through the room.

"AAAAHHHH!" Everyone turned towards the stage to see 35094 had broken 06094's arm and successfully pinned her down. Emma was horrified by this, this is not what fighting is meant to be. Grandmother on the other hand was sadistically elated and proud of 35094 for using such brutal but "clean" tactics. "Very good, very good indeed" she cackled with glee as she clicked stop on her timer and awarded 35094 the win for that round. The air in the room was depressing and heavy as everyone watched in horror at what had just happened.

Emma felt sheer terror bubbling up inside her as she realised that it could happen to her in the next round against Jiah and knew from watching all these battles today that Jiah would not hold back like some of the other contestants. Jiah looked at Emma like a lion would its prey, so sure of herself that she was going to destroy her during their fight because she was the trainee and Emma was the fresh meat.

The fear overwhelmed her as she suddenly heard Grandmother's raspy threatening whisper in her ear. "You may be a fresh meat and her a trainee but you better put up a decent fight against 25094 and last at least three minutes on the stage. DO NOT fail me 63194 or you can consider yourself culled."

Suddenly Susan and Sister Abrielle returned from the medical centre. Susan had her bite wound cleaned and went to sit down with the rest of the class. 16094 had not returned with them so she must have still been in the medical centre. Grandmother then demanded Sister Abrielle to take 06094 with broken arm, 38094 (Olivia) and 79094 (Michelle) who still had bleeding and bruising from their match to the medical centre for treatment. Sister Abrielle obeyed and left the room taking the three girls with her. Grandmother then cleared her throat; her voice boomed out over the class:"We have come to the last battle of the day with only two contestants left for today! 63194 and 25094. Come to battle on the stage. You have five minutes, begin now!"

Grandmother blew the whistle causing Emma's ears to ring. The timer started ticking down as Emma felt herself tense up. She looked at Jiah and saw determination in her eyes. She knew she was ready for a fight with no mercy. Jiah threw a heavy punch and kick. Which Emma quickly dodged. "You're cleverer than you look, fresh meat! But I am still gonna break you! You worthless bitch!" She rushed towards Emma. Remembering her training with Petra she held her ground and managed to get Jiah on to the floor. Seeing her chance she grabbed her leg and tried to pin her down but Jiah kicked her in the face. Emma held her jaw in pain, using this to her advantage Jiah then tried to pin Emma herself but she managed to get out of it.

Jiah was angered and frustrated that the battle wasn't going as easy as she thought it was going to be. She turned up her aggression to its maximum using everything that she could, punching, kicking, pinching, scratching, biting, and even pulled what short hair she could on Emma's head. Emma managed to dodge and block most of her attacks but still had numerous bite marks, scratches and bruises on herself. Emma ached all over and the stench of both of their sweat permeated her nose yet she still remained standing.

Jiah became desperate and tried to break one of Emma's legs but Emma was quicker,she saw the opening and managed to take Jiah off guard by using a trick Grandmother taught quickly grabbed Jiah's arm and flipped her over her shoulder. Jiah tumbled to the ground stunned. Both girls then got up and squared off against each other again, ready for round two. This time Emma felt more confident she circled around Jiah, trying to stay just out of reach of her punches and kicks. Jiah was becoming increasingly frustrated with every missed attack, her face contorted in anger as she tried in vain to land a hit on Emma.

Finally, after a few minutes of cat-and-mouse the time was coming to an end, Emma saw an opportunity for a quick strike. She lunged forward using all her strength to launch Jiah off balance. As she fell backwards onto the floor she could see that it was over - the fight had been won by Emma. Both girls were exhausted from the battle but especially Jiah, she used up all her energy trying to harm Emma and couldn't fight back any longer. Everyone watched in anticipation as Grandmother walked over to the stage and declared "The winner is 63194! She managed to beat 25094 even though she used dirty methods."

Everyone was stunned themselves, that the newest fresh meat had beat an experienced were gasps and whispers amongst each noticed the proud smirk on Grandmother's face and the impressed grin on Susan's face. Jiah was in shock at her defeat at what she thought was going to be an easy defeat. She ran off the stage, humiliated, hiding her bright red face in her hands and cowered in a corner full of shame. Even though Jiah held no mercy towards Emma and injured her. Emma still felt guilty that she won the battle even if it was fair and square. She wished she didn't have to fight anyone and now Jiah was at risk of being culled because of her. She felt the hot tears mix with her sweat as she began to cry.

Grandmother noticed this and noticed Krone had finished tallying up the scores. "Krone handed me the scoreboard and transfer all the girls to the dining room for dinner. Except 63194 I will take her to the medical room to patch up her wounds. She fought tremendously well. I'm impressed."

Krone curtisied back "Indeed Grandmother that was the best fight I have witnessed from a fresh meat." She handed Grandmother the clipboard and screamed at the class "ALL RIGHT LADIES! Follow meeee your leaderrr for it is dinner time." She sang and giggled excitedly as she led the girls except Emma to the elevator skipping along the way cheerfully.

Emma heard Jocelyn exclaim "I knew she was a spy! I mean how else could a fresh meat defeat a trainee like that!" "I bet they trained her from a young age when she was still at her plantation to become a Mama.." Another voice that Emma couldn't make out who it was whispered back. Then she finally saw Jiah trudging along behind them. She gave Emma an evil glare before she left. Emma felt the pit of her stomach drop as she thought that her plan for a future escape would be much harder with her peers rekindled distrust of her and her making an enemy out of Jiah who would most likely want revenge. The tears continued to fall down her face.

"Come on, fresh meat, stiffen your upper lip! You have redeemed yourself for now. Hopefully you keep this up. Now let's go!" Grandmother commanded and roughly dragged Emma to the elevator caring not if she hurt her by doing so. Emma stopped crying and didn't say anything on the elevator or when they got to the medical room. She just wanted to eat her leftover food in the preservation boxes and crawl in her bed no matter how uncomfortable and itchy it was, then just sleep…sleep this soul sucking day away.

Thankfully Nurse Mabel was quick with her wounds despite it hurting quite a bit while treating them. Nurse Mabel seemed robotic while she was doing so but Emma could see that in her eyes deep down in her soul that it drained her being in this place and broke her heart seeing children get hurt. But Nurse Mabel didn't want to die, no, no she would never give those monsters the satisfaction of eating her. The other girls in the medical centre, especially her former sisters Michelle and Olivia couldn't believe that the tiny, petite, sweet and gentle looking Emma could defeat a trainee until they heard Grandmother bragging about it to the nurses:

"Isabella, my best child, my best product! Her own product 63194 defeated 25094 a trainee on her first combat class. The cattle raised on plantation 3, my plantation, are truly special. The best there is!"

Emma felt queasy at the way she described a child she raised and their child as well as other human beings including herself! As cattle! Once Mabel was finished treating her wounds Emma gave Mabel a sweet smile "Thank you for taking good care of me Nurse Mabel I feel much better now!" She thanked her sincerely.

Mabel was surprised at first but then gave a genuine smile back, telling Emma "You're Welcome Sweetie." Mabel then looked shocked at what she just said and looked around worriedly but Grandma was so busy bragging to the nurses about Emma's win for either of them to scold Nurse Mabel for humanising the cattle because she called her sweetie. This place really is evil Emma thought to herself horrified.

Grandmother then took Emma back to her room. Emma was going to ask Grandmother why she didn't take her to the dining room. But as if Grandmother read her mind, answered her "I know you still have food left in the preservation boxes and you should eat those because you have to return the boxes tomorrow. Now keep up the good work, go do your homework, get some good rest and don't think that just because you got a free range to study what you want on the weekend, means you can slack off! You still need to try hard and fight with every inch of your body and mind everyday. Keep your guard up and eyes open always. Remember you are competing with everyone here for your lives!"Grandmother then gave her a stern look before she left and as soon as she did. Emma closed the door and fell to her knees sobbing. The stressful intensity of today was only the beginning. She had to do this everyday for her foreseeable future unless she escapes someway, somehow.

After spending quite some time realising her pent up emotions she got up and retrieved the preservation boxes. Once she caught sight of the fresh and well cooked food in the preservation boxes her stomach grumbled and she began tucking into the food at an almost alarming speed. She felt famished after all the physical activity she did earlier. She cleaned both the plate of miso soup, rice, vegetables and tofu. As well as the plate of leftover pancakes and all of its fruit. Soon she felt so well-fed that she was ready to go to sleep.

But when she approached her bed she caught a glimpse of her former home. Gracefield House looked strangely ominous during the dark of night from a distance. Emma thought maybe it is because she knew the sick truth that she saw her former home in a new light.

Emma then turned to see the reminders of her siblings on her walls, the love from the gifts they had given her. No, I mustn't lose hope! I have to find a way out of here or at least find a way to warn them so they can escape!

Whether it was the food kicking in or her newfound inspiration Emma felt a sudden burst of energy coursing through her. She then went to the bathroom, washed her face and was careful with the bruise on her cheek, used the toilet then went back to wash her hands but this time she took her time looking at the wounds on her body.

The bruise on her face had seemed to have calmed down after looking so raw before treatment. Her uniform had protected her from getting most injuries on her skin. But there were scratches on her face, a laceration mark on her neck , a bite mark on her hand and a bruise on her stomach and back after being slammed on the floor by Jiah during their match. She didn't let these injuries deter her from what she was going to do next.

Emma grabbed out the diary for the secret hole under her bed, went to her desk and started writing fervorously about any information she collected during her short time at headquarters. From the people she has met to the rooms she has been in. She wrote about who could be her potential ally and how she could get people to join her cause, what items would be useful to her during her escape, how she could get rid of the chip out of her heart and as well as her potential allies. She also mapped out possible escape routes around headquarters.

But Emma was careful not to make it obvious because if any of the headquarters staff found it and read it she and any of her allies could be "culled" So she made it look like she was writing a story about unhappy animals in a zoo who want to leave. But it was really an euphemism, symbolic of the girls trapped in headquarters. Emma wrote and wrote until her hands became tired and her eyelids felt heavy. Her head then hit the desk causing her to jolt up.

Emma yawned, realising it was time for her to go to bed. She took her boots and socks off and gently picked up Petra who was still in her bed 'sleeping' and moved her over so she had enough room to lie next to her. Emma kissed Petra's forehead and whispered "Good night Petra sweet dreams.." She cuddled her tightly and cried into Petra's rubbery yet human-like skin until she fell asleep. Emma's nightmare had just begun but one of its true terrors soon awaited her…

The Culling…