Heavy wind blew, thrashing branches of mango trees and plucking leaves that spiraled in the air before landing on the slightly wet grass. Laughter surged as children stomped on the grass, bending it under their colorful boots, and chasing blue butterflies that continued flopping their feathers and flying from one place to another.
A ball rolled on the area with shaved grass, bounced on slightly raised stones, and continued to the smooth black rectangular land that stretched from afar and moved forward without having an end. Giggling rose as a three-foot boy ran to the black land, picked up the ball, and smiled with a joyous expression.
Screams stirred as young men and women stretched their hands in the air, calling to the boy standing on the black land. Some rushed to the black land but stopped when a speeding black van with sharp metals fixed at its sides like horns crashed and slammed into the boy, sending him flying in the air before landing with a thudding sound, splashing blood in the air and on the sides of the road as it rolled over him.
The ball bounced four times before stopping and rolling on the grass, painting the first grass it touched with red liquid.
Tears stirred in the air, replacing the joy that was on their faces with saddened expressions, as some of the young women rushed toward children of the same height as the boy who were strangely laughing and pointing hands at the road and jolting back from the West side of the Bion City's children's park.
…
"Careless parents, huh," Kang said, spitting through the driver's mirror and stepping on the accelerator, increasing the speed at which the black van was going and pressing the green button with a wiper symbol on it, letting the car's wiper clear the red liquid which splashed on the windshield.
"You were even easy on the kid and the parents. If I were you, I would have turned the wheel and crashed all those playing on the field. Didn't they hear this place has been sold?" Denis said, smiling cunningly as he licked his lips while looking through the passenger's mirror.
"Are you not the one who has a wife and a kid? If anyone should have said that, it should've been me," Kang said, tilting slightly and looking at Denis, and back to the road ahead, shaking his head.
"So? Does that mean I should accept stupid acts? Even if it was my child, I would have crashed him, because he knows what is right and wrong!" Denis said, tapping on the dashboard, laughing.
Wind splashed on the sides of the car, making the loose side of the trampoline wrapped around it flap in the air. The back of the van shook violently whenever the back tires rolled over a jagged stone.
Four by four feet brown boxes nailed on the top shook, slightly bumping into each other after a tiny raise. When the sun's rays flashed at the back, metallic light flashed before vanishing and merging itself with the darkness at the back of the boxes.
"Notify them to start preparing, we're almost at the wall," Kang said, pointing and directing Denis to the cart behind them.
…
Old women and men walked holding their walking sticks as they trod toward the entrance of Bion City, moving in groups of two after they'd been checked by the young guards wearing uniforms that weren't showing any signs of deformity.
"Seems those entering the city are plenty today," the dark-brown-eyed guy said, wearing stone bangles on his wrist and holding an eight-foot metallic spear with three sharpened metals fixed at its top like a fork.
"Joe, what you're saying is true. If I knew, I wouldn't have come like the others who intentionally stayed home, lying about being sick and not being able to stand." Lily, the yellow-haired lady said, pulling her hand back from a brown sieved basket, and directing the young lady with golden earrings and a necklace to stand aside, and moving toward the four old women tottering on one leg as they struggled to maintain their stance, moving toward the guards.
"Hello, please follow me, don't worry about your bags, I will let someone carry them for you," Lily said, respectfully holding the woman at the front and helping her through the entrance, and walking all four of them to the resting point for all civilians, including those of the city and outside the city.
Meanwhile, soldiers grouped in queues marched on the large platform inside the barracks led by Gray and Wang. Kai, who was the smallest and the second shortest person, stood in the front row, repeating all the actions of the lieutenants leading him.
Stopping and entering one of the tall buildings distinctly standing at a far distance, Gray placed a hand on Wang's shoulder, struggling to breathe.
"I… you need to… take charge… and continue with them, I will be right back," Gray said, straightening himself and turning, facing the exit door of the room.
"How will I handle and control both the recruits taken this year and the old ones already in the field, including the boy you call your favorite?" Wang said, spreading his hands in the air in confusion as he watched Gray walk through the door.
'How? Look at their faces, as if they're good in character,' he thought, turning and watching the faces of the soldiers standing in rows and columns.
Known to be one of the buildings in the barracks to have most of the recent advanced technology, all the soldiers, including Kai, moved, exploring the carvings on the walls and pillars and spiraling around, gazing at the marks on the ground and on the wall.
"LISTEN ALL OF YOU," Wang said, drawing their full attention.
"WE ARE NOT HERE FOR EXPLORATION'S SAKE; YOU ARE HERE TO UNDERGO AN ENDURANCE TEST WHICH INCORPORATES BOTH MENTAL, EMOTIONAL, AND PHYSICAL. NOW, GO TO THE WALL AND TAKE A WEAPON OF YOUR CHOICE." Wang said, pointing toward a wall that was covered with a black curtain.