The Physical Unity Exams: The Games Begin

‘Long ago neutrality used to be common and unity flourished, but then the dawn of insanity came’ every child knows this story now. I know of it more, because without this insanity I wouldn’t have been more. I consider the concept of insanity a better mother than the woman who carried me. Calling her a woman is generous in my opinion. She’s more like a disgusting hobbit with a shrill scream who lures people into thinking she’s in pain so she can sink her teeth into them. She has no tongue because even her tongue grew tired of her screaming.

It sounds like an exaggeration, but if you lived my life you too would despise it. What she has contorted herself to be. My utter annoyance with her reminding me of her existence by spending more time worrying and asking me nonsensical questions, is the only reason I am determined to succeed in this competition. (I am also utterly embarrassed with the idea that a girl like Camilla could intimidate or overpower me somehow.)

The only issue is Camilla. She is very pliable and obedient if given enough motivation to be, but I knew that being partnered with her would be an issue in a situation like this because others would target her. Most of the students labeled as security risks or violent extremists, both left and right leaning, were violently anti-trans. Meaning we’d both be at a disadvantage if they realized she was trans. Luckily, the GAP didn’t reveal the gender identities to anybody and Camilla looked very feminine. We could easily avoid targeting, so long as nobody cheated.

Everybody is getting ready in one way or another. Doing stretches, hyping themselves up, agreeing to side with their opponent on ‘this one thing’, and taking breaths. We all watch as our principal steps onto a make-shift stage that sits in the center of the gymnasium. She lets out a light cough and adjusted the mic so she could speak into it. A group of counselors, who look exhausted, sluggishly follow behind her. I can already tell what’s responsible for their exhaustion.

Creatures like my mother had been bothering the school board ever since the program had been instated. Disgusting piles of lard and entitlement that manifests in the form of disgusting pus and spit. Teeth stained from cigarettes and the same shrill screams of hysteria. My stomach starts to twist in disgust at the thought of it.

Our principle started looking through some papers while the other staff members tried not to collapse and fall asleep. “Good morning students, I’m sure you’re all aware of why you’re here so I’ll skip the formalities. Our head freshman counselor, Ms Stair, will tell you what your assignment is” She spoke with an exhausted tone in her voice. She let out a loud yawn directly into the mic and backed away to make room for Ms Stair. She adjusts the mic so she can speak into it properly before reaching into her pocket to get a set of flashcards.

Ms Stair and principal Linda both share a look with each other. We all stand there and watch the, frankly unprofessional, display that they’re presenting. They turn on the gym projector and fumble around for a bit, before finally playing a video. The head of the GAP, Mariah Lee, is smiling at the camera. “Hello, and welcome to your first ever physical unity exam. Our exams don’t solely test your ability to work with you fellow students, it also checks your response time in emergency situations”. Murmurs filled the gymnasium after she said we’d be dealing with ‘emergency situations’, but I’m not too surprised.

I wasn’t entirely prepared for this, but I knew it was a possibility. Honestly it seems like the most reasonable way to handle an exam like this. “There will be two teams. Civilians and terrorists. The terrorists will be given restriction tape to wrap around the wrist of a civilian. Since you work in pairs, you will still pass if one of you is captured”, I can feel the relief of the other students when they hear that. “However, if you’re both captured you will fail the first part of the exam. Your goal is to hide from the terrorists until the timer runs out and make sure your teammate isn’t caught, but we wouldn’t only give one side the advantage of capture. One student from each pair will be given arrest tape to arrest their opponents, it is completely up to you to decide whom gets the tape” She explains.

Camila looks up at me and I immediately can tell what she wants. She wants me to be the one to carry the tape, and I can’t blame her. I’m the only correct choice in this situation. The video stops and Ms Stair steps in front of the mic. “The basic rules were explained, but don’t get too excited we aren’t ready yet. Alliances. You can form alliances with other students so they can do favors that’ll give you an advantage in the game or whatever else you may need. You can probably tell what the rule is. Right can only help right, left can only help left, and the only exceptions are your partners or centrists. Center-left and help left and centrists, center-right same deal but inverted. Apoliticals can’t help anybody but they can receive help from anybody. Centrists can give and receive help from anybody, but I basically already said that.” She rests her head on the podium whilst she talks to us. “Also, as far as combat goes, giving anybody a blow to anything above the shoulder or breaking an opponent’s bone means immediate disqualification. If this that wasn’t obvious.” Seeing her so tired reminds me of that thing I live with. Those disgusting creatures always suck the life out of humans, it’s their duty.

Even when they’re not in the direct line of sight, their monstrous complaints weakens the body and mind. I hate the fact I’m related to one of those creatures, those things, but I’m immune to them. What they do only affects humans. I am not entirely human.

“Oh and uh, we won’t be dividing the civilians and terrorists amongst ourselves. The terrorists will come from other schools, all of the terrorists you’ll face today are actually listed as violent extremists or security risks. They’ll be under heavy surveillance while they’re here but they’ll be your opponents. Not each other, kinda defeats the whole purpose of the alliance and unity thing” She adds in the fact that we’ll be facing violent extremists from other schools so casually.

The initial relief left as quickly as we had it. Camilla looks like she’s about to faint after hearing that.

“No need to be so dramatic chamomile. It’s not the real thing” I start to rub my fingers through her curly hair. I gently pat her on the head a few times, which snaps her back to reality. “I’m not an animal, and it’s completely reasonable for me to be afraid.” She huffs. I can’t help but smile at her weak little retorts. I think even she knows that she is my property. She’s been mine since the day we’ve met. Regardless of which gender she assumes. “Well they aren’t revealing any info about us so you won’t have to worry about being targeted, and we have the advantage here. Think about it, they don’t know anything about this school or the abilities of it’s students. Unless there’s a leak of some kind they’ll be unable to gain any advantage” I explain.

Camilla pauses for a moment and starts to think. It seems like she’s about to say something, but the gymnasium doors bust open. A large group of students came through, school security came in alongside them. As soon as we look at them it’s clear who, or rather what, they are. The extremists. The terrorist team.

They have the appearance of an average human being but the salivate at the chance to sink into flesh with anything they can. I see some of them start to breathe a little bit heavier at the chance to get into a fight. A fight they don’t need to be a part of. A fight they started because of their parasitic nature. “You’ll be able to hide in this gym, the main auditorium, the cafeteria, and the outside. The terrorists will go to the break room until your twenty minutes to gain ally and hide are up.” Principal Linda casually mentions.

It’s clear why they were brought there. To get us riled up and a little scared before the real deal, so we can take it more seriously, it’s also clear that it’s working on the other students that are packed in the gymnasium. We watch with baited breaths as the group of ‘terrorists’ leave the gym. A few of Camilla’s friends make their way through the crowd so they can talk with us. Kyle also comes over with Angela. The plain-looking sensitive bitch who nearly ruined my plans.

Her kind is worse than my mother’s kind. My mother never tried to disguise what her shrill cries meant. She was hysterical and delusional enough to believe holding the wrong toy or eating the wrong thing would vastly alter my life, but arrogant know-it-all bitches like Angela disguise everything as another issue. I would call this action similar to a siren’s call, but sirens are beautiful and her kind is the farthest from it. Most of them are fat misshapen older women who don’t have any purpose in life.

I can feel bile coming up from my throat just from looking at her, but I force myself to remain contact with the disgusting thing right across from me whilst I fantasize about bashing her brains in.

“The most obvious place to hide is outside right? There’s no space in the cafeteria and they’ll definitely swarm the gym or pool first, so we should go outside right?” Camilla’s friend asks. I struggle to remember her name, Mariah? Macy? Her friends are of very little importance of me, and I only committee the names of people who are valuable to memory. I try to remember what I saw on Camilla’s social media pages. Miranda. I’m sure the dark-skinned girl is Miranda.

“No, I can see why you’d think that, but they are probably already anticipating something like that and hiding isn’t our only option. Our best bet is to stay indoors” I respond. For the first time in awhile I find myself feeling stuck. Typically, I would already know what to do but I can’t. I have no way of knowing how serious these people are. Maybe they’ll treat it as a game or maybe they’ll be as desperate as I am, there’s no way to properly anticipate what they’re doing.

That’s why the exams are set up this way. I thought we’d have a leg up because of our field advantage but that only carries us so much. Like a real terrorist situation, we know nothing. “I think we should split up if we’re gonna aim for more arrests than hiding the whole time” Kyle says. I was so focused on all the other details I forgot about how I wanted to approach the situation. In any other circumstance the answer would be obvious, sacrifice my teammate and get as many arrests as I can before the time runs out, but Camilla isn’t physically fit enough for this plan. If I leave her alone for more than two minutes she’ll probably get caught.

“The point of the exam is to make sure our teammate is still in the game, if you split up and get too cocky there’d be no way to know if they did. No way” Camilla argues. Kyle facepalms when she mentions that fact. This exam is my personal hell. My entire life has been surrounded by sacrifice and now I’m being expected to change my inherit nature. I’m not like those surrounding me, I’m not a person like them. Yet I’m expected to act as if I am a person like them. Like I was created to live amongst them. I was not. “Um, you doing alright?” A familiar voice calls out to me. I look down at her, the only constant in my life, Camilla. I nod my head.

She is a person through and through, I cannot debate that. “I’m fine, I just need to ask you something. Did you bring your perfume with you?” I ask. She looks a little confused, but she nods and reaches into a small backpack she had with her. Camilla is very weak, but she always comes prepared. It’s in her nature. Like it’s in my nature to own her. I grab the perfume bottle out of her hand, just as I expected it’s a cinnamon scent. “What the hell are you–”

I turn my focus to Kyle and I hand him the perfume bottle. He looks down at the bottle with a confused look on his face. “I know this sounds weird, but I need you to spray this everywhere you go. If they smell this they might be able to track Camilla, I’m just being cautious, could you do this for me?” I ask. “Yeah sure, it’s just spraying some shit around it’ll be fine.” He nods.

Camilla seems a little surprised by the motive behind what I’ve done and I can’t understand why. What kind of person snatches things for no reason–then I remember, I’m not a person. These are human beings and I am not that. She’s assuming I am like others of her kind. “I thought you’d know this by now. I do nothing without purpose” I look down at her with a stern look in my eyes. I can tell she’s scared because she backs up a little bit and her little friends are pouting at me.

“You could’ve asked her–”
“She wouldn’t have done what I said if I did ask. I understand your distaste with my methods but all of them are necessities.” I explain.

Scott has always been a little more combatant, I appreciate it. Although I told him that this action was a necessity, that isn’t entirely truthful. I am simply impatient, I am not above such petty actions. In fact, some would say I revel in committing such actions. Scott looks like he’s about to go off on me for what I’ve done, but he stops himself.

“I don’t know why she puts up with this, but if your methods don’t help Camilla pass then we’re gonna fight before the second exam. Got it?” Scott gets closer to me when he says that. I can’t blame him, if I was in his situation I’d do the same. Maybe worse.

“Understood” I smile.

Our exam has officially started, and there’s no telling who will survive.