Room 96
"Congratulations Noah, you are now one of us."Noah looked in the eyes of his instructor's face and found it hard to be true. After six months of training, it seemed like it ended too quickly.
"That's it... the training's over?" Noah asked. "I qualified? I passed the testing?"
"Well, not quite. There is one final task you must complete to finish your initiation process. But otherwise, welcome to the club."
"What's that?"
"Remember you once asked me, 'what happens to the candidates who do not qualify after the testing process?' "
"Yes..." Noah remembered it well. In his first conversation with the instructor, Noah was skeptical about the whole "training" process.
"Unfortunately, they must be terminated. If they do not join us, that is, they don't qualify, then they will go back into the world. And just knowing of our organization makes it too dangerous for them to still be alive. They could expose us, or lead our enemies to us."
"You... kill the failures?" Noah asked.
"You have to kill one, for your final test."
Noah looked around. "And what happens if I'm a failure?"
"If you were, I wouldn't be telling you this."
Noah put his hands in his coat pocket. "If I failed, you would've killed me?"
"Don't worry about it. You've passed all the tests so far, and now you've reached the final exam."
"And that means I have to kill another candidate?"
"Was I not clear?"
Noah looked back up. "What're the details?"
"He will be in room 96 of the Clairemont hotel tonight. Our men will give you the key. He will not be expecting you. Kill him."
"That's it?"
"That's it. He failed our testing process. If he can't be one of us, then we can't let him go with the things that he knows."
"Why can't you do it yourselves?"
"This is a test. If you can kill him, then perhaps you are ready to join our organization. And remember, if he got as far in the training process as you did, he is sure to be as good a marksman as you."
"And after I kill him, will that complete my training?"
"Perhaps. Don't come back here until you do."
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It bothered him at first. He was about to kill a person in the exact same position that he was in, except they failed, and he didn't. So in essence, that person was innocent. Noah just had to terminate him to show his loyalty to his superiors. No regrets, he told himself. If he was this close to gaining membership, he couldn't back down now, especially if they really did kill the failures.
Noah walked up to the withered wooden door labeled 96. It was raining outside; a thunderstorm in fact. Noah pulled out his handgun and looked at it one more time before taking a deep breath. He put it away and took the small room key out of his pocket. The inside light of the room was off at this hour. The long, lifeless hallway was empty behind him. He checked his watch: 2:05 a.m.
The target was supposedly on the other side of this door. All Noah had to do was kill him, and don't ask questions. After that, he would be accepted as one of them.
Noah inserted the key into the lock and slowly turned it into the mechanism. There was a soft click, then he took out his handgun. The only noise was the beating of the rain and the thundering of the lightning.
He pushed open the door and saw darkness. The entire room was dark and he could barely make out the black silhouette sitting on the bed. Just as the figure was about to fire back, Noah aimed his handgun and pulled the trigger without a moment of hesitation. Three bullets flew out into the darkness and spattered against his target. The unknown figure launched back onto the floor.
Noah walked up to the man on the ground and raised his handgun to fire the final bullet. He had to do it. He had to kill him.
"Don't... do it..." The man muttered.
Noah fired and the man lay on the floor, motionless. The dead man's face was concealed by the darkness. Whoever he was, he was a failure.
No regrets. No remorse.
Noah looked behind him again. No one was watching him. His silhouette stood ominous against the doorway."Sorry buddy, but it looks like they didn't accept you."
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Noah walked into the waiting room where his instructor was sitting behind the counter.
"Mr. Yechzsovok, how nice to see you again. I take it you had no trouble killing the target yesterday?" His instructor asked.
"None at all."
"Am I detecting a feeling of remorse?"
"No. Is it over now?"
"Your training is complete, yes. You passed all of the tests. But we'll have to save the ceremony for later. Something unexpected has come up. Are you ready for your first mission?"
"That was quick, but yes."
Noah followed his instructor through a series of tunnels and into a large white room with no windows. A colossal teleportation device lay in the center of the manifold. All of the walls were clean and blank, with the only object in the room being the teleport.
"So this is it..." Noah muttered.
"Only for emergencies," his instructor replied.
"What about the side-effects?" Noah's voice echoed across the large room.
"Don't worry, Marks was the only incident, and it will stay that way."
"So where am I going?"
"Two days ago. A highly influential politician was assassinated. As your first mission, we want you to go back in time and stop it from happening."
Noah looked on incredulously.
"Once you re-appear two days in the past, we want you to find out how it happened, and stop it. You'll be spending your first night in a hotel and then do the job the next day."
"How will I get back to this time after I'm done?"
"You won't need to. By the time it's all over, you'll have reached the current time of right now, and the time line will be restored."
"So there will be two of me walking around for a day?"
"Yes, just make sure you don't run into yourself, or there might be consequences."
Noah looked on. "What should I do when I go back?"
"We mailed the instructions for your arrival. Everything is taken care of. Just step in the portal, and it will all begin."
Noah looked around him at the empty space in the humming room. He took a deep breath."Okay, let's do this."
Noah stepped into the teleport and watched the rings go around him. The instructor looked on and gave his goodbye. In an instant flash, Noah opened his eyes and he was in the exact same room, except two days ago. His instructor was gone. The room remained the same; white, clean, empty, and lonely.
A single guard was sitting in a chair at the end of the room.
"Noah Yechzsovok?" Said the guard.
"That's me." Noah stepped down as the rings rose up into the ceiling.
"I got the orders. They sent me a transcript five minutes ago. They said it's going to happen tomorrow, so you can't really do anything today. I booked a hotel room for you. It's room 99 at the hotel down the street. Here's the key. And congratulations on your initiation."
"Thanks. That's all I need to know?"
"In the morning they'll send a packet of information gathered about the murder. You'll have to act upon that, but until it arrives, get yourself comfortable."
Noah stepped down and looked at the calendar on the wall. It was exactly two days ago.
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Noah sat on his bed in the hotel room, looking outside toward the window. The rain was coming down hard, and the thunder rolled throughout the night. The storm wasn't going to end any time soon.
He looked at the clock: 2:02 a.m.
He sat there on the bed, with the gun in his hand, contemplating all that he had done so far.
I made it. After six long months of training; six long months of being isolated from the outside world; six long months without a job; six long months of lying to my family and friends; I made it, I finally I made it.
But do I really want to be here? I don't have a choice anymore. They said they kill anyone who backs out on them. That's how they remain so secret. That's how nobody knows about them. That's how nobody can fight them.
It's worth it right...? It's worth it.
He sat in the dark hotel room, hunched over his bed, trying to smile at what he achieved. He was now making a difference in the world.
Suddenly he heard a noise outside the door. He turned left and saw a shadow underneath the door frame. Somebody was standing right outside of his room, in the lighted hallway, doing something by his door.
The lock clicked. They were trying to break into the room.
The door pushed open. Noah tried to pull out his gun, but before he could react, two bullets hit his chest, and a third bullet impacted a second later, sending him toppling down onto the floor.
Noah gripped his chest where the bullets hit, and tried to breathe, but he knew it was all in vain.
The shooter slowly walked up to him.
"Don't... do it..." Noah muttered.
The shooter raised his gun and shot the final bullet into Noah's head.
The shooter looked behind him again. His silhouette stood ominous against the doorway.
"Sorry buddy, but it looks like they didn't accept you."
Labels: Sci-Fi
posted by TheJBurger @ 11:33 AM
6 Comments:
OOOOOhh...how horrible. So what happens then? He goes back in time again and then kills himself again and then so on and so forth??? Arrghh. I want more information!!! Yeah, you got me...I'm hooked for the rest of the book :p.
Again and again? It only happens once.
There's a rest of the book? Really? Where?
How horrrrible...how can they kill him...did the instructor know what was going to happen? Why did it even have to happen? Why go through the trouble of killing himself?
Here's what happened:
The guy failed the testing process. The instructors had to kill him. They designed it so he would kill himself.
Why not kill him themselves? Because he's too good with his gun or something, I don't know.
Cool story...but how did the room number change? Did someone just turn a 9 upside down?
u should major in english...
Yes the 9 could be upside down, but it's open to interpretation.
What kind of major is creative writing?
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