Chapter 1 (Arc One: Rebels and The Hurricane)

The night had descended and it was still raining. The prisoners on the bus had fallen asleep and so had Sorin and his colleagues. He woke up groggily and stretched his back. He didn't know when he fell asleep, everything was a blur after they had driven through the thunderstorm for over half an hour. Besides the headlights shining on the road there was nothing to be seen until a few minutes later when they saw the towering gates and flood lights shining on their bus from a height.

'So this is it,' he thought as he lightly shook awake Amber Webb, his dark-haired, mysterious and dangerous squad member. She woke up just as disoriented as he had and blinked bearily at her surroundings with the light shining through the glass.

"Ugh, this light's too bright. Did we manage to die?" she asked while shielding her eyes with her bandaged hands.

The rest of the prisoners had started waking up as soon as the light illuminated the bus. One of them answered her.

"I think it would be better if we were dead rather than ending up here."

The boy who spoke was pale and dark-haired with heavy bags underneath his eyes. He seemed painfully thin with the oversized clothes he wore which covered his body entirely. He wore black baggy pants and a baggy full sleeve grey shirt with a faded design on it.

When Sorin looked at him, he felt sorry for the ghostly pale boy. It was obvious that he hadn't slept for days. Maybe even weeks. It seemed everyone had their own kind of hell.

The bus slowed to a stop as the gates swung open. There were a few guards that talked to the drivers for a few seconds, then they came in and shined a flashlight on everyone's faces to get a better look at all of them. After they were satisfied, the bus was finally let into the prison grounds and they were told to get down one by one.

They were drenching in the treacherous rain while the guards had either raincoats or umbrellas on them. Once Sorin stepped down from the bus, the border walls became visible. They were made from smooth, black stone and were really high. If anyone thought that they could climb and escape the hell they were about to enter, then their hopes would've been destroyed. The walls were polished. No sign of even a single ledge much less a crevice. The building was far more imposing than the walls, however. It towered over the walls and was almost like a skyscraper. The building was made of steel and concrete. There were small windows that could be seen but they each had metal bars made to prevent any escape attempts. The building itself was very well illuminated and looked more or less like a cross between an office building and a castle. But they doubted that they would be treated as nicely as what the building looked like.

“Line up!” the guard yelled and everyone followed. They lined up in lines of two. One for the physiologically male and one for the physiologically female.

“You all will be paired up with the people standing to the left of you. The pairs are going to be cell mates for the time being. Now, follow me to your… initiation.” The grin that the guard gave them was definitely not friendly. This meant that the initiation to this prison was going to be painful.

***

The initiation was more or less them being stripped of their clothes and being hosed down with freezing water and anyone who so much as talked back or even flinched immediately got hit with either a baton on the knees brutally or got a taser to the shoulder. Sorin managed to stay as still and apathetic as possible while he heard the screams of some of the prisoners. He did not turn his head when the warden kicked a prisoner with his iron-soled boot to the gut so much so that the prisoner coughed up blood.

After the fear of the prison and the guards was instilled into them, they were taken to an elevator that would take them up to their cells in groups of two. For some reason, all of them were staying on the same floor. Which was something Sorin had not expected.

“You’d think in a prison everyone would be placed somewhere randomly,” Sorin whispered to one of his blond squad members, Will Amos. “I thought they would put us anywhere that had space. But I did not expect a whole floor for the new prisoners.”

Will nodded as he looked around the barren, white hallways in wonder. He was always the type to be amused by things easily but that is what made him a great observer. The blond turned towards his leader and whispered back. "Something about this place feels off."

Just then the ghostly pale boy who was walking in front of them, turned around and gave the two a sharp look.

"Stay quiet," he hissed at them and continued walking.

Sorin was confused by the boy's reaction. But it made sense. Maybe he, like the others, also feared the guards and the punishments they would suffer through. So, he decided to follow the pale boy's advice and kept walking.

They soon reached a hallway that had mechanical operated doors on both sides. Sorin guessed that these were their cells. He was pushed roughly towards one of the doors along with the pale boy and the door opened automatically. As soon as they stood in the middle of the doorway, a scanner was activated and it went off as soon as they stepped inside a second later. The guard noticed their confused expressions and addressed everyone in a loud voice.

"The scanners were for the cells. Anyone else beside the cell mates cannot enter another's cell. If you do so, well… let's just say you'll not be able to do that again. Ever."

The doors closed immediately after the guard was done addressing them. Sorin studied the room carefully. It was well lit and looked pretty modern. More like a science facility than a prison. The walls were pristine white and the floor was made of black marble. The only things aside from the bunk beds and the window, was the toilet and the wash basin with a mirror right above it. The beds faced the door meanwhile the window, toilet and the wash basin were on the other side of the room. It wasn't a small room per say, but it wasn't that big either. However, the issue at hand was figuring out how to close the window.

The thunderstorm that Sorin had created was not dispersing even when he commanded it to. That meant that torrents of rain kept coming in through the window which just had metal bars to stop them from jumping out. There was a small drain right below the window, but it was still doing little to keep the flood of water off the floor.

"I'm taking the top bunk." With that the pale boy climbed up and lay down.

Sorin sighed as he sat down on the lower bunk feeling slightly lost. He had thought he would befriend his cellmate first and find out about him. In his mind, he had already started planning on recruiting some people from the bus he had arrived here with. But it seems that his cellmate hated being friendly.

"Could've at least told me your name. We can’t keep ignoring each other's existence, you know."

The boy stayed silent for a while. Sorin started to think that he had fallen asleep. Until he replied, "Elliot Driscoll." And left it at that.

The Rebellion leader smiled as he lay down and said, "Sorin Hale. Pleasure to meet you."

He was met with silence but he knew that his celibate had heard him. Perhaps, they might get along. He'll just have to go one step at a time.