TRIAL OF CULLING BEGINNING IN...

04:59

"What does it mean culling!?" I hear a woman to my left yell, dread thick in her trembling voice. And with her voice as the catalyst, the uneasy silence that fell upon us erupts into a cacophony of panicked yells and half-heard threats. All bets are off as hysteria quickly begins to take hold of the gathering turned mob.

And I'm stuck in the middle of it. Nope. I don't like that at all.

I quickly and, bravely decide that a tactical retreat to the back of the group is in order. And proceed to try to discretely push my way through to the relative safety of the edge, but realize almost immediately that the idea isn't going to pan out, as I see more than a few individuals with a like mind doing the same thing. While I was distracted by this, and trying to find a solution that doesn't end with me getting trampled by an angry mob I failed to see a woman take a sharp turn into my path.

Resulting in a painful head-on collision, and me in the dirt once again.

"shit! sorry, I wasn't paying attention" I say as I scramble to my feet. I make sure to grab my sword that slipped from my hands. Can't let that happen again, not if I want to live. And also make sure to pick up her weapon, a basic spear out of the mud before offering her my hand. Only for her to flinch away from me nervously.

"N-no worries, I wasn't being as attentive as I should either," she says while hesitatingly taking my hand.

as I pull her to her feet as gently as I can in this crowded environment, I take a moment to have closer look at her. She can't be older than 17 and is quite a bit shorter than me with her head just past my chest. Her hair is hanging loosely past her shoulders in lazy light brown coils. her large round eyes are a shade of light hazel that lights up beautifully in the mid-afternoon sun. she has a Greek-like nose and pale pink lips pulled tight with worry. along with her full cheeks and round but delicate jawline make her more cute than beautiful. But still, quite pretty all the same. She is wearing a white blouse with frilly sleeves, alongside light blue skinny jeans and a pair of brown sandals giving her the appearance of someone who was relaxing at a coffee shop or on a casual date in the suburbs. Certainly not someone who would do particularly well in a warzone.

"thank you. Uhm, my name is Kate by the way," she says nervously as she can't help but let her eyes drift back up to the looming black message in the sky. That I totally didn't forget about in my panic.

"Caleb, nice to meet you," I say as I turn around to face the message once again to check to see how much time we had left until............ whatever was going to happen.

TRIAL OF CULLING BEGINNING IN...

02:42

"Look, things are starting to get real heated. and once that timer runs out even more so." I say turning back to Kate to look her in the eyes before continuing. "Were you brought here with anyone?"

"N-no I was sitting with Jacob at our Starbucks when I was brought here. I don't understand what's going on at all! why is this happening!" she finishes her outburst by breaking into heaving sobs.

"Hey, uh oh god look please stop crying," I say in a tone I hope is comforting in a vain attempt to calm her down.

"I-I'm sorry, I am so sorry," she says through tears. Not better, but no longer weeping. It's a start at least.

taking one last glance at the message to see another 20 seconds shaved down. I come to a rather hastily made decision.

Time to man up Caleb.

"Okay, you stick with me alright? I may not know what's going to happen. But two is better than one right? Don't worry I'll keep you safe." I say with as much confidence I can, Which isn't much.

"O-okay" is the only response I get, which is good enough for me.

Handing back her weapon that I forgot was in my hands and giving her my best reassuring smile. I return to inspecting my surroundings, I find that things are only getting worse around us. Arguments are turning to fights, and more and more people are looking around with a manic look in their eyes.

"Uhm, d-do you think we should head to the ba-"

BANG! BANG!

suddenly a slew of thunderous gunshots rings out to my immediate left. and before I could do more than push Kats head low to dodge anymore oncoming bullets, we find ourselves being roughly pushed back away from the gunman. after making sure that neither myself nor Kat gets crushed by the onset of bodies, I try to peer over those in front of me to get a better look at the situation.

"Get back! get back to all of you! I'll fucking do it, I swear!" says the man in question as he waves his gun around him wildly, making sharp pivoting turns at random. his eyes are manic and bloodshot, and I know for a fact that he is going to shoot again. I also notice thanks to no small part to the groans of pain that he apparently did in fact shoot someone.

"Oh god! you fucking shot me! you son of a bit-" Before his victim, a portly older gentleman of at least 40 could say more the gunman boots him in the face with an audible crunch that makes me wince.

"shut your fucking mouth! I saw you reaching for my gun bastard! thought you could pull a fast one on me!? huh, asshat!?" he says as he continues to stomp on the man's face.

"For god's sake, you're killing the man!" someone yells from the other side of the ring, drawing the man from his gruesome task.

"Who said that! Who fucking said that!? you want some too, huh!?" But before the gunman could find the hackler a familiar ding rings out, and all eyes snap up to the forgotten doom above our heads.

TRIAL OF CULLING BEGINNING IN...

00:10

utter silence falls over us all as we stare at those last few seconds tick down mercilessly. not a sound can be heard, even my own heart seems distant, dread fills me up completely and it takes everything I have to choke out these last few words.

"s-stay close, I g-got you"

TRIAL OF CULLING BEGINNING IN...

00:00