Alexander was holding onto a transparent plastic box and was intently staring at it with curiosity filled in his eyes. He rotated the box thoroughly and didn't let a single detail escape his eyes.
"So that's how it is. It's just an accelerometer sensor, and a pedometer combined with a mobile communication module." He finally said, pocketing the box into his trousers. This was the device given to all the participants by the academy, to know when students will faint.
But wasn't this just equal to nothing? What type of screwed logic is this? If the student didn't move from a place for thirty minutes, then he fainted?
Academy was behaving strangely, this year. Instead of using simple markings, they are using a brutal way to knock someone out. Instead of being alone, they are creating teams. Instead of using the small protected area, this year even unprotected forests are open to students to run into and hide.
"Are they playing a usual team building game or trying to recruit army men?" Alexander mumbled softly. He was frowning and trying to think of something. His knowledge was telling him that something is off and a large-scale war must be brewing behind the facade of peace and friendliness of nations.
"Forget it, I will just ask my cousin about this. He'll definitely have some insider news." Alexander shook his head, shaking off all his thoughts and moved forward in the queue.
He was standing in a long queue to pick up the team-matchup chit from the bowl ahead.
This crude method was being used by the academy to form teams. Pick up a folded chit from the bowl and get a number written in it. Students with the same numbers will form a team of five members.
Similar to the line up in which Alexander was standing, four more queues were formed in parallel alongside.
Jacob didn't join the same line up as Alexander; to try out his luck and get the same number as Alexander. He wanted to stay by Alexander's side to protect his weak friend throughout the event as he knew that this year's event would not be so fun.
Finally, it was Alexander's turn to pick up the paper. Alexander didn't think that he would be lucky enough to get the same number as Jacob and just casually lifted the uppermost paper chit he could touch and left the area.
He unfolded the chit and saw the number "13" written on it. "Haiz… let's see what the number Jacob got."
Though not much hopeful, he still headed towards the gathering area, where teams were being formed as slowly people were finding other people of the same team.
"Brother Alexander!" Jacob spotted Alexander easily as soon as he entered the area, and waved his hand while shouting his name aloud.
Alexander too easily found Jacob through this and smiled. He reached the place where Jacob was standing, and passed his own paper chit to Jacob.
"Holy Sheit! We sure have heaven-defying luck! We are still together even if there are 100s of people!" Jacob gasped in exclamation after reading the number on Alexander's paper chit. Apparently, he also got number 13.
Alexander was also shocked, but he instantaneously smiled. This was a huge relief for him. Although he was slowly transforming his nature, he was still an introvert. Being with Jacob saved him from too much trouble.
"It's really good that we are on the same team. But now we should find the other three members too." Alexander looked around for a while and saw that several teams were already complete and they were heading into the forest to get better strategic positions.
"Haha… you don't need to worry about that. We are already complete." Jacob said as he shifted his body a bit. Behind him 3 remaining members of the team were already standing.
Till now, Alexander didn't pay much attention to people standing behind Jacob. He thought of these people as someone who were just standing there, finding their own members, just like him and Jacob.
He let out an embarrassed laugh and his eyes scrolled through the people standing behind Jacob.
The first guy was just a guy! There wasn't anything distinctive about him, his face was as common as it could be. Alexander will not be surprised if he was named Joe.
The second guy, he was the same. 'Holy F**k! Aren't they just the same?' Alexander screamed inwardly. He didn't know their name but after looking at their identical, plain and common face, he conveniently named them, 'Joe One' and 'Joe Two' in his mind.
Was the third member 'Joe Three'? He didn't know. But he still scrolled further and as soon as his eyes locked onto the third face, his eyes were glued!