The once running figure limped over to the fence for support and slowly shrank down to the ground.
Kellen watched as his best friend slowly raised his hand towards his direction, with blood dribbling from the corner of his smile, until his hand fell limply to his side.
"Thomas!" screamed Kellen as he broke away from the group with a few wobbling steps.
But the clicking sound of a gun stopped him in his tracks before he moved any further.
"Get back in line unless you want to end up the same as him!" yelled the agent from the front of the group.
Kellen turned his head towards the voice as a tear rushed down the side of his cheek. His throat felt like it was on fire as he gritted his teeth while staring at his friend's killer.
"I said... Get back in line." murmured the agent in a heartless voice without any emotion or regret.
"Heartless prick..." said Kellen quietly as he stared down the barrel of the pistol pointed in his direction.
Suddenly, a projectile whizzed by his face grazing his cheek, drawing a small amount of blood from the scratch, as a gunshot rang out again.
Kellen was stunned and shakily made his way back into the group of children without further complaint.
"I don't wanna see anymore games from the rest of you. Do you understand?"
The other children quickly nodded their heads earnestly through their tears covering the pavement beneath their small feet.
'Why did you have to run Thomas?' thought Kellen as he pictured his cheery and mischievous friend smiling in his doorway like this morning.
His tears fell to the wet pavement near his feet collecting with the others' who had walked ahead of him.
He was upset and sad but more than anything, he was angry.
He was angry at the unfairness of life and how it had treated himself, the other children, and Thomas in the end. His teary eyes slowly dried themselves as his emotions were soon replaced with anger for his friend's death.
The blood on his cheek from the bullet graze slowly dripped down the side of his face to his chin as he tightly held the drawing in his hands. Staring at the drawing he finally remembered its significance.
'Wait... This was the drawing Thomas made for me when I told him about my parents that day. He gave it to me when we were leaving the orphanage with the agent who would take us to that hellish laboratory.'
Finally the missing pieces began to click inside Kellen's mind.
'Wait this isn't how this day went! Thomas and I tried to escape that morning but were caught by that agent on his way in... Then he was... Shot...'
Kellen began getting a earsplitting headache as he started to correct the events of the situation he was in. He grabbed his forehead in pain as the voice in his mind returned.
"Kill them..."
"Kill them all.."
"They took everything from you."
"They deserve retribution to be paid with their blood!"
The faint voice began to get louder, increasing his headache as the voice rang out through the walls of his mind.
"Who are you!" screamed out Kellen as the kids around him just continued to walk past him.
The blood that collected at his chin dripped down and splattered on the drawing in his hand. However, the blood that should have stained the drawing was absorbed into the paper, and the eyes on the kid in the drawing began glowing with a red light.
Soon the whole paper began to glow in this red light as the scenes around him began contorting along with the voices in his mind.
Eventually the figures of the children around him began to get blurry along with the shouting face of the agent leading them until the whole scene collapsed on itself.
Kellen screamed out in confusion and pain from his headache and his surroundings disappearing until his vision went dark.
******
"Where... Where am I?" groaned Kellen as he sat up on a small white bed while he felt his head.
The room he was in was small and confining like a prison cell. A white steel door was the only entrance to the room that seemed to be sealed shut. Across from him was a desk with a small lamp, providing the only source of light in the room, and a digital clock.
Some banging on the steel door shocked him onto his feet as a small man in a white lab coat entered the room. He was pretty comical looking with a small build, short wiry hair, and thick circular glasses.
"Here put this on. I'm sure you would much rather this than what you are currently wearing." said the short researcher in a stuffy voice.
Kellen looked down at his hospital like clothes and then at the black jacket the researcher was throwing to him.
"Th... Thanks... I guess..." said Kellen in an unsure tone.
"Where? Where are we?"
The short researcher pushed his glasses up onto his face with his middle finger and adjusted his oversized lab coat.
"We are currently at the secret... Wait no... Damn it, what did they tell me to say again? Eh, whatever it doesn't matter!" said the short researcher as he began mumbling to himself.
'This guy is really strange... Just like this place...' thought Kellen as he watched the short researcher continue to talk to himself.
"Anyways, if you really want to call this place something... I guess nowhere would probably be a good name... Yeah! That's it nowhere!" said the short researcher as if he had just achieved something and was rewarding himself with a pat on the back.
"Ok? So what am I doing here?" asked Kellen while he studied the strangely acting researcher.
"Right! You have been chosen as one of the many fortunate children who will save our nation from the war as a part of project Z!" replied the short researcher as he tried to straighten his posture with pride but only managed to look like a fat penguin who had just caught a fish.
"Project Z? Why would we need any more support when we are winning the war?" said Kellen as he thought about his parents who were drafted to fight in this war.
The day they died was when he had been taken to the orphanage and met his best friend, Thomas, who was also a war orphan like himself. Both him and Thomas had explained their stories to each other and about how the government had informed them of their parents' heroic deeds in helping them become the winning side in the war amongst other soldiers.
These similarities and the fact that they didn't have anyone else to rely on anymore was what brought these two troublemakers together. But now Thomas was gone. Leaving Kellen alone in this odd place with this strange researcher.
"Oh! Ha, well that is what they broadcast on the news now, don't they... Of course the truth of the matter is we are on the verge of losing... But! With our research and your help we can change that!" explained the strange researcher cheerfully as he clasped his hands.
Kellen felt like the crazy world he once knew had become even more wild. With the researcher's last words, he felt like the world he once knew was turned upside down onto his head.
'Lo... Losing... Then... My parent's sacrifice... Thomas...'
He began to think the crazy researcher must have been lying to him. That the government was just withholding their victory from the public and only told him and Thomas because of their parents' valiant acts.
"That can't be right?" said Kellen in a whisper.
"Oh no. I assure you that this is true since this laboratory is, of course, a secretly government ran agency. How could we not know this information!" said the short researcher as he beamed like a shooting star until he finally realized what he accidentally said.
"Shit! No! No! I wasn't supposed to say that! Damn it Harold! This is why you keep getting dumb tasks like this one!" shouted the wacky researcher as he reprimanded himself.
"Wait! I won't get in trouble as long as this kid doesn't say anything!"
Realizing the answer to his problem, the wacky researcher looked at the kid expectantly.
"So... Uh... How about you just forget about what I've just said? No?"
Kellen wasn't paying any attention to the crazy researcher since he was still shell shocked after realizing his and Thomas's parents had died in vain. He began getting a headache and took a seat on the edge of the bed while holding his forehead.
'Why... Why!'
The wacky researcher took his silence as acceptance and wiped the sweat off of his forehead before walking back to the door.
"I'll... Uh... Be taking my leave now then..." he said as he began shrinking behind the closing door, but before it closed, he quickly pushed it back open.
Kellen still didn't look up from his hand at the weird actions of the researcher as he continued to wallow in his thoughts.
"I almost forgot to mention! That jacket is like your new identity here so don't lose it! Your new name, code name, or whatever you want to call it, is now Zero..."
The crazy researcher then looked at his watch before sweating again and quickly closed the door behind him as he left.
'Shit! That was cutting it close! I better get out of here before any of the "Testers" come to get him...' thought the researcher as he straightened his lab coat and clunky glasses before running off.
———————————————
Ok that's the last chapter for today. I wanted to explain more of his background but figured it would be a lot more exciting for reading if I showed it instead of told it. The whole purpose or topic of the contest is demons so I'll be getting more into that shortly.
A lot of stories I've seen so far all have a system or something regarding that, but I want to put my own spin on the whole demon powers and stuff. I'm really excited to write this but wanted the story to make more sense, so I'm going a little more in depth on his background, which will explain more about his current situation and *power*.
If you like the story so far or have an idea for its progression leave a comment or review! I'm still a new writer so I appreciate the support! Depending on how many power stones the story gets I may also release more chapters... As always, much love guys :)