Chapter Eleven
Needle in a Haystack
(part 5)


    Upon entering the large high roofed oval training hall Cypher started to the right and walked slowly along the catwalk that went around the room, looking down on the, now, twenty students warming up below. He descended and went to the middle of the room, standing with hands behind back until all the Potentials finished warming up and formed three rows left right and center.
Cypher snapped his fingers twice, “This is the fourth Challenge you have all undergone and as you know they are completely unforgiving. This one is a little different though, only half of you will move on from this.”
A timid looking young man raised his hand and Cypher nodded at him.
“Where will the losers be relocated, sir? Will they be demoted to the regular army?”
Cypher shook his head and smiled, “They will be relocated to the morgue. And demoted to a pine box. This is not a game 808, this is an elimination until only the best remain. I’m not going to pretend that you will survive, nor anyone else. You will give your all to live and if it is not enough then it’s natural selection.”
He turned away from the pale faced 808 and started walking towards the catwalk again. He would be watching from there, about 15 feet up. “Let’s start then, general pair them up.”
Everyone was squared up and set to battle. After a victor finished their battle they stood in their square and waited for all to complete their fights as well.
The battles ranged from five minutes to twenty and when all had completed the Challenge there were ten remaining. 808 survived with a dislocated arm, but a determined face. Cypher made his way to 502’s square as the general waved him over.
502 was a 6’2 male, strong, with an expressionless face. Cypher pushed 502’s chin left and right and looked him over. “This one is a soldier. Keep an eye on him.”
Cypher turned and left and the general barked out an order for all the soldiers to go back to their quarters in the barack. Some Potentials had to be helped from the room but most tried to hide their injuries or wouldn’t accept assistance.