"Silvia!" a voice cut through her thoughts loud and abruptly, calling her back to reality.
"Silvia are you alright?" eight worried heads popped into her vision
"You looked like you were about to die-"
"You were gripping this black box so tightly during your sleep, it looked so pretty so I had to take it away from you before you crushed it to bits," Yuki poked his head into Silvias view, his long dark locks of air dangling over her face.
"Oh I, was just having a dream..." the guilt was written over her face.
"A dream... ?" Yuki raised his thick black eyebrow.
"Guys, seriously I'm fine," Silvia sat up forcing their heads out of her view. The coach was half empty and it seemed bright outside.
"Silvia if you're awake please head off of the coach and come and take your shot," Mr Bramley stood on the steps of the coach pen and clipboard in hand.
Silvia looked confused and looked to the others anxiously for help. If there was anything Silvia hated second in the world, it was getting a shot.
"The blast was tested as a Type 4, which means it's toxic, and contains all sorts of parasites and disease, so the shot is to prevent the air from intoxicating us and diseases from making us feel sick," Rhea approached the back seats where Silvia had been sat, arms crossed.
"So, what you're trying to tell me is that if we ever go back to Korea, we won't even be able to breathe freely without some sort of oxygen mask because the air is contaminated?"
"Yes, exactly that, now hurry up and come and get your shot," Mr Bramley interrupted the conversation, pushing the others out of the way to reach Silvia, "follow me."
Silvia followed the 40-year-old man not knowing what to expect. Since it was bright outside, she assumed that they were outside, but upon stepping outside of the coach she realised otherwise. The room was large and bright. No room was too small to describe the vastness of the area. It was like they were in a warehouse, but built like an airport with multiple seats. It seemed over 100 or so coaches were lined up in rows, every coach with a large letter or number on it. The coach Silvia had gotten off was labelled CF1. All the coaches were jet black a white and gold line streaming across the side, the word J.F Peterson written across it. Silvia indeed thought it was weird. They were currently in a crisis, so how exactly were there 100 of the same coaches. How did 1 coach company seem to have 100 free coaches available ready, as if waiting for the event to happen?
Mr Bramley led Silvia to a long queue, however, compared to some of the other queues you could consider this one tiny. At the front of every queue was a small table with 3 people wearing military uniform stationed behind them. Their faces hidden behind a clean white mask and black tinted glasses. There were two large boxes on the desk and a huge pile of papers. One box had a bunch of empty syringes, another filled with test tubes. The tubes had a greyish blueish metallic substance. Silvia didn't know how to feel about having around 30mm of a blue liquid injected into her veins.
The queue slowly got shorter, but for Silvia, she felt as if her turn was approaching faster. Although those taking the shot didn't seem to be in pain Silvia still felt unsure.
"Calm down Silvia, I've already taken my shot I can promise you it won't hurt," Mr Bramley rubbed Silvia's shoulder sensing the nerve she was feeling.
"Next!" the lady behind the table called. Her ginger hair was tied back in a tight bun, a brown military cap covering the rest of her head.
"Excuse Miss, but haven't you already taken your shot? If I'm correct your name is Rhea Stone?" she asked seeming confused.
"No, perhaps you have happened to come across someone who looks just like me," Silvia answered back.
"Ah, this is my student Silvia Stone, you must have mistaken her for her twin Rhea Stone who came here earlier," Mr Bramley stepped forward shaking the hand of the ginger-haired women, "Long time no see Belinda," he smiled widely and proudly as if meeting an old-time friend.
"Captain?" Belinda took off her mask and glasses. Her eyes were brimming with tears. She brought him in for a warm hug patting his back simultaneously. "That year you just disappeared everyone thought the Khans had killed you off. How did you even get off that-"
"Belinda, we're in public we can't talk about that here, but maybe after your done we can grab a cup of coffee or something and talk?" Although having not known her teacher for long, Silvia had never seen him so happy before. His scruffy appearance was usually accompanied by a scowling face or a grim frown.
"Ah," she nodded obediently, "well then Miss Stone please take a seat," she put on a different pare of white gloves chucking her old ones in a box by the side, "please stay still Miss Stone, this won't hurt I promise you," she smiled warmly at Silvia put her more at comfort.
She placed the cold needle on Silvia's pale skin and pierced it with its sharp tip. Silvia shot up right at feeling the cold liquid enter her body. It wasn't painful like what she had expected and instead felt like a cooling liquid, she felt slightly more at ease as Belinda continued to inject two more tubes of the greyish liquid into her body.
Upon finishing Belinda wiped the cloth with a cotton-bud then placed a grey plaster over it.
"Please write your name, age, date of birth, emergency contact numbers and any family member's name down please then head back to your coach and someone should come and collect you, as you're the last one to have the injection. If I'm correct you're the only class in your year from Gwangnyeon-Ssi City High that still had people awaiting an injection." Belinda handed her a piece of paper and ushered her to the side calling for the next person to arrive.
"Hello Miss Stone, I'd like to request you place any technology you have on you into the red bucket there and place the form on top of the pile once you have finished signing it." A tall black-haired boy stepped forth. He also seemed to have a striking resemblance to Silvia. At seeing Silvia, he came to an abrupt stop.
"Silvia?" he slowly walked forward and approached her, his amber eyes reflecting the light from above, "Silvia do you know who I am?" his eyebrows arched in anxiety. He grabbed her hands holding them tightly
"Should I?" Silvia seemed confused shaking off his grip. Was he someone I was supposed to know? And why did he look a lot like me? Why was I coming across so many people who had supposedly already known me? Silvia had so many questions to ask but no one to answer them,
"Ah, maybe I have the wrong person sorry to be of bother," he picked up the devices on the table and slumped back to his previous position. Had Silvia really forgotten about the existence of her own biological brother?
"Come on Silvia, let's go," Mr Bramley took Silvia by the arm and walked her off, "at times like that when you come across men like him, it's safe to hit in certain places," Mr Bramley gave off another warm smile reassuring Silvia with his actions.
"Okay Mr Bramley," she nodded still taken aback by the situation.
"Silvia," Yuki waved vigorously from the entrance of the coach, "we were waiting for you, the guide is already here to take us to the big hall where we'll be put into different groups. They said we get to receive special combat training to protect ourselves, it feels like I'm in a movie," Yuki seemed to be filled with energy and excitement. In comparison to most people on the coach, Yuki seemed to be the only person this happy about the current situation.
"Yuki!" Luca stepped onto the stairs leading into the coach. He grabbed Yuki by the collar, hauling him aggressively back to his seat.
"Sorry Silvia, I apologise on behalf of Yuki, he's a little bit of an energy monster," Luca rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"It's fine, there's nothing wrong with being excited," Silvia patted his shoulder then resumed her seat next to Rhea.
"We've been waiting for you why did you take so long?" Rhea turned to her.
"Oh, I just got held back by the long queue."
"Since everyone is ready now, we shall head off into the Chamber. For those who don't know who I am, my name is Mr Shinjiro. You can call me... the Game Master for your age group. I will be organizing all of your mass activities and games, to train you to be better than you think you are. Some of you may know me as Ren's father, some of you may not know me at all. All of you will be in Group D. This is because you are in the fourth age group. Ages fourteen to seventeen. This Coach will go on a short 1-hour drive as we are teleported into the New City. Once having arrived in your chambers I will explain everything to all of you. Korea has been planning this event for years on working secretly on a new revolution, in a new area where both the old and the youth can feel safe. For those who are not aware we, are about to go into a long war. You guys can mark this as the start of the War of Games, a war requiring strategies. You can consider this as a game. Just if we lose, we lose all hope and freedom that we ever had. And if we win, the world will change for the better." Mr Shinjiro returned to his seat rather pleased with himself.
"... He's joking right?" Yuki looked around distraught, compared to before he looked even more scared than everyone else.
"No. He's not, I know my father well and I know he doesn't like to joke," Ren sat on the edge of his seat so he was more visible to those seated at the back.
"Well, that's perfect, I was sad he was going to ruin all my fun. Imagine how cool that would be, living in a new city with even more advanced technology, and we don't even have to do we work, we can just play games all day," Yuki seemed even more excited now. People looked at him with nothing but the thought of one word. Crazy! Perhaps he had bipolarism.
"Yuki, I think there's something you're misunderstanding in the word game, it's not a game where you zap people with 3D designed pistols, and magic abilities, it's a game where you're playing with your life. You either Live or Die," the younger Shinjiro turned back to his seat. He seemed terrified and scared. What Mr Shinjiros words really have meant?
"You know my son's always right," The senior Shinjiro appeared in front of them, "this game is Live or Die. But don't worry. I'll try to make the game slightly more enjoyable and try not completely crush this boy's hopeful little dreams," The Senior Shinjiro walked off his hands placed behind his back a great sense of nobility in his every step.