An unedited sample chapter of a book I've started:
Chapter 2 - The Test
Number seven stepped into the large training room and glanced around for any sign of what to expect. To his left was an observation room that anyone could sit in and watch. Usually that room was filled with high ranking military officials who wanted to see how the soldiers were progressing, but today it was filled with his brothers. He thought to himself at times that it was a little strange that they all looked the same, literally. He thought about their faces and his own and he forgot for a second about his trepidation and actually smiled. As he stepped a little further he saw the training devices being put into place and the smile dropped off of his face. 'Why couldn't this be a week from now, or a month Number seven thought to himself. The two men approached a platform where the exercise would start: Dr. Ayuka rested his hand on Number seven's right shoulder and smiled at him "You will do well son, i have faith in you." A nervous lump built up in his throat and he readied himself.
A bell rang loudly as Dr. Ayuka scurried away quickly. Off to the far end of the room a large gun metal door slid open and five soldiers entered the room directly across from Number seven. It always was a little nerve racking when he entered combat, but his body always responded automatically getting into position. Number seven crouched down and evaluated the situation as if by instinct, his fear was completely gone as if he was some wild game being cornered in the darkest parts of the wilderness. He studied the men running at him, none carried guns this time, he formulated a plan quickly in his head like he always did. The first attacker to reach him was met with a quick side toss, throwing him about eight feet to the right. Attackers two, three, and four reached him about the same time grabbing at him and trying to subdue him. Punches made their mark fast, elbows...
An unedited sample chapter of a book I've started:
Chapter 2 - The Test
Number seven stepped into the large training room and glanced around for any sign of what to expect. To his left was an observation room that anyone could sit in and watch. Usually that room was filled with high ranking military officials who wanted to see how the soldiers were progressing, but today it was filled with his brothers. He thought to himself at times that it was a little strange that they all looked the same, literally. He thought about their faces and his own and he forgot for a second about his trepidation and actually smiled. As he stepped a little further he saw the training devices being put into place and the smile dropped off of his face. 'Why couldn't this be a week from now, or a month Number seven thought to himself. The two men approached a platform where the exercise would start: Dr. Ayuka rested his hand on Number seven's right shoulder and smiled at him "You will do well son, i have faith in you." A nervous lump built up in his throat and he readied himself.
A bell rang loudly as Dr. Ayuka scurried away quickly. Off to the far end of the room a large gun metal door slid open and five soldiers entered the room directly across from Number seven. It always was a little nerve racking when he entered combat, but his body always responded automatically getting into position. Number seven crouched down and evaluated the situation as if by instinct, his fear was completely gone as if he was some wild game being cornered in the darkest parts of the wilderness. He studied the men running at him, none carried guns this time, he formulated a plan quickly in his head like he always did. The first attacker to reach him was met with a quick side toss, throwing him about eight feet to the right. Attackers two, three, and four reached him about the same time grabbing at him and trying to subdue him. Punches made their mark fast, elbows landing where they needed to, Number seven was a percise and lethal adversary. One of the attackers threw a punch as he ducked and watched it land directly on another of the attackers. He performed a sweep while he was on the ground catching all three men and knocking them all down. The first attacker was back on his feet by this time and coming at him along side the fifth person. Number seven stood up and charged the first attacker he faced and jumped in the air landing a brilliant kick to the attackers chest. He felt the other one behind him grabbing at his neck and deftly spun around catching the assailant in the throat with a chop, shorting the would-be attacker of air for a moment. Number seven took full advantage of the opportunity by grabbing his arm and flinging him into the other three attackers that were just getting to their feet. Number seven charged the group of men now on the floor like an angry tiger, all traces of fear gone; he grabbed the neck of one and twisted it fast killing him. The rest got to their feet as fast as possible and started to run from him. Number seven always loved the sensation of an enemy being scared of him and he took chase. He approached a slower combatant and dove at his legs tripping him up then performing a kip up and stomping down on the small of the downed attackers back. As he looked up he saw that the other three attackers now had guns and were loading them. 'No time to play around here, I have to take them out fast' Number seven thought to himself, but it was a little to late as a bullet entered his right shoulder.
It felt strange to him, the sensation of a bullet inside of him. It did hurt, yes, but it was nothing new to him really. He had been shot, stabbed, attacked, had bones broken, and been just beaten in general many times and was taught to ignore pain, as he did now. Instantly he formulated a plan on what he must do to finish them off. He knew that although this was a test, these were real people who were really trying to hurt or kill him. He never dared ask Dr. Ayuka how he found so many willing volunteers to fight him and his brothers, he thought of how many had been killed to this point then focused on the matter at hand.
Shots rang out again but now in unison, much as he anticipated they would. He fell to the floor as fast as he could and then leaped to his feet as he inched towards those firing at him. Number seven reached to his belt, un-did it, and dragged it by his feet planning to use it. With a final evaluation of the situation he launched the belt at the person to his left and watched as it distracted him, this was all the time he needed. As he watched them partially turn their heads to the incoming object he did a baseball slide, and with all of his momentum, knocked them down one by one. Shots fired in the air as the men fell to the ground; he knew he had them now. Number seven reached into the personal effects of one of the combatants and pulled a knife he had eyed earlier from his belt. Quickly, the knife found a home in the soldier’s neck he had taken the weapon from. In the blink of an eye, he had already spun around and jammed the object into another's heart. Loud screams, screams of death and pain, entered the room but this didn’t distract Number seven at all. The final attacker in this group had his gun trained at Number seven as he rolled to the side he heard the gun fire. The bullet missed Number seven as he got to his feet quickly, he threw the knife directly at his attacker. The blade slid into the middle of the targets forehead, slumping the man down to the ground. There would be no more from him.
Number seven walked over to the man that he had broken the back of earlier. All of the men had masks on, and it was a rule of training to never take the masks of the assailants off. However much he wanted to do that, he chose not to. Number seven located some rope on one of the corpse's and tied up the man who was laying prostrate on the ground. He looked around the room at the devices that been moved into place before the testing had begun, looking at them intently. The equipment was used to record and analyze his performance and nothing more. Some of the brothers would often compare times to see who was the faster, and therefore the better killer, well that was in there eyes anyway. A voice came over a loudspeaker that he instantly recognized as Dr. Ayuka "Excellent work, excellent! You did very well Number seven. Oh, and by the way ... you have the best time so far." He looked over to the observation room and saw the looks on the faces of his brothers. Most of them were shocked, some were astonished, but his closest brothers were all smiling. As he looked them over, he let a smile come onto his face also. 'The fastest!' Number seven thought to himself. "This now completes this portion of the test and your exam is now over, you may return to your room." boomed the doctor’s voice over the intercom. Earlier Number seven had taken many military tests on how well he had retained his training and this part he just accomplished was a re-enforcement of that. He was sure he would advance in rank now, especially because of the time he had gotten in this test. His nervous energy returned to Number seven...he had done well but killed even more, when would this end?
It was unfortunate that these men had to die in order for the brothers to pass these tests they had to pass and Number seven never fully understood why so many had to die just for their training. Still, this didn’t seem to matter as much to him the longer these tests went on. He had killed hundreds of men since he was deemed able to start with the military advancement processes. He wondered how many more would have to die until there were no more quizzes like this one he took today. No matter really, by this time killing was a second nature to him and his remorse had long since departed him. He almost felt as though his humanity was slowly slipping away from him and wondered if this was by design. The men at his feet were just part of a cog in a machine that Dr. Ayuka had laid in place. He wondered when he would finally see live action outside of the institute as he was told he would, then looked at his brothers and ran off to the side where the entrance was. He was excited to get their opinions of what he had just done, and to rub it in the faces of some of the others. He knew after his short time I’m the infirmary he would rejoin them. The thought of doing better then them all really excited him very much. Today ended up being a good day after all, a minor injury to him, and the test was passed and it the fastest time. Indeed it was a good day.
Chapter 2 - The Test
Number seven stepped into the large training room and glanced around for any sign of what to expect. To his left was an observation room that anyone could sit in and watch. Usually that room was filled with high ranking military officials who wanted to see how the soldiers were progressing, but today it was filled with his brothers. He thought to himself at times that it was a little strange that they all looked the same, literally. He thought about their faces and his own and he forgot for a second about his trepidation and actually smiled. As he stepped a little further he saw the training devices being put into place and the smile dropped off of his face. 'Why couldn't this be a week from now, or a month Number seven thought to himself. The two men approached a platform where the exercise would start: Dr. Ayuka rested his hand on Number seven's right shoulder and smiled at him "You will do well son, i have faith in you." A nervous lump built up in his throat and he readied himself.
A bell rang loudly as Dr. Ayuka scurried away quickly. Off to the far end of the room a large gun metal door slid open and five soldiers entered the room directly across from Number seven. It always was a little nerve racking when he entered combat, but his body always responded automatically getting into position. Number seven crouched down and evaluated the situation as if by instinct, his fear was completely gone as if he was some wild game being cornered in the darkest parts of the wilderness. He studied the men running at him, none carried guns this time, he formulated a plan quickly in his head like he always did. The first attacker to reach him was met with a quick side toss, throwing him about eight feet to the right. Attackers two, three, and four reached him about the same time grabbing at him and trying to subdue him. Punches made their mark fast, elbows...