Vesrough University was placed under complete and total lockdown.
A series of military guards, policemen and even armed government agents stood a few metres in front of the vine-covered gates.
Upon the grand twenty-foot cream walls that enclose the campus were dozens of heavy-duty mounted guns as well as a series of high-tech cameras capturing different areas of the campus.
In front of the guards, police, and agents by the gate, a large group of adult protestors gathered. Mostly Vesrough staff and the parents of students within the campus. Hundreds of them screamed, shouted and chanted in wicked protest of the university's lockdown. The guards were impervious to their bold complaints.
One man at the front of the crowd looked to be especially distraught. His eyes were bloodshot with deep bags underneath them. His face was stained with tears to the point where his nostrils formed snot bubbles. His begging pleas were near-incomprehensible.
"Let me in. My baby, my baby. She goes to this university!" he cried. "I can't let her stay here this. This isn't fair! Please let me-"
"You are not permitted to enter," briefed one of the guards in a rather blunt fashion.
The crying man continued to beg, his pleas growing more incomprehensible and tear-filled the more he went on. None of the guards gave in.
The crying man's sadness quickly boiled over to anger.
Using as much force as he could possibly muster, he pushed past the guards, storming towards the university gates. The other protestors cheered him on as he rushed by
The man glanced back, noticing the guards were making no efforts to stop him. He scrunched his face in confusion, but kept running, nonetheless.
As soon as he crossed onto campus territory, one of the mounted guns shot at him. Heavy bullets blasted through him with so much force and power that they tore his body to literal pieces. Evisceration to the point that the lifeless chunks of his body were unrecognisable as a human form.
The protestor crowd's chants dissipated as they looked towards the pieces of their fallen comrade in awe. The head guard shook his head and sighed. He pulled out a government-mandated key card. He waved it in their faces, nonchalant.
"Nobody but us goes in or out," he told them.
The crowd of protestors collectively cowered in fear.
Their objections grew weaker and weaker.
***
Every single Vesrough University student gathered on the main campus square. They were organised in neat single-file lines.
The students filled the entire square from one end, next to the underground stations, all the way to the other end of the cream wall, spare the stage that the government officials populated.
Amongst the government officials on stage stands the most important one at the forefront, Oisin Callahan. A crookedly tall and wiry man sporting slicked-back hair and a dark eggplant-coloured three-piece suit. He stood smug and self-satisfied, contrasting with the stoic nature of the other officials and guards. He was protected by two groups of five bodyguards on either side.
Callahan removed a high-tech microphone from his suit blazer.
"Students of Vesrough University!" he announced. "Who is ready for Univmorta?!"
His grandiose introduction was met with nothing but sombre silence from the crowd of students. The sound of crickets chirping would not be out of place.
"Alright," Oisin said, lowering his energy. "Listen up. I will now tell you of all the rules and procedures going forward."
Oisin cleared his throat into the microphone, obnoxious and loud. The students of Vesrough could do nothing but look at him, teeming with irritation all the while.
"You will all stay within the borders of the campus for an unspecified number of days and nights. You will not be permitted to leave until you are told you can," Oisin dictated. "During this time, you are permitted to do whatever you please, as long as it is within campus limits."
This rule immediately grasped the attention of many students, creating various murmured conversations here and there. A select few students seemed especially excited by this revelation. "However, for the programme to have successfully achieved the goal of population-control, only five-thousand of you can leave this campus alive," Callahan continued.
The students reacted to this rule with more outrage, their murmurs now cursing their cruel fate. "You will know when the final day is the final day once you hear a loud beeping sound from the intercoms outside the campus limits. If only four beeps follow it, then the games are over, and you will be set free," Callahan elaborated. "However, if you do not reach the numerical goal within the several days leading up to the conclusion of the programme, a fifth beep will sound. If that happens, the campus will be detonated, and every single remaining person on campus will be blown to pieces. Either way, by the end of Univmorta, Vesrough University will have done its part to help with our population crisis."
The students of Vesrough wallowed in collective fret and fear. Another instance of panic breaking out amongst the student body that seemed to be commonplace nowadays.
Some, however, harbour an intense anger about them. If looks could kill, then Oisin would have been stabbed one-hundred times over from the sheer amount of eye daggers sent his way. Despite this, he was unflinching.
"So, all in all, it is in your best interest that you all make sure that number goes down very quickly. If it's even as much as five thousand and one left on our chosen day, you'll all die."
A sombre mood overtook the campus as each of the students shared concerned glances with each other. A general uneasiness could be felt amongst each of the students, now not only fearful of the circumstances but of their very neighbours who join them within them.
"To aid you in reaching this numerical goal, hundreds of crates of varying sizes containing different items have been hidden across campus. They are first come first serve to whoever finds and collects them."
One of the military guards took Oisin aside mid-speech. The two engaged in hushed discussions. As they talked, the crowd of students broke the silence to chatter.
Marcel's eyes scoured the general area. He reviewed the student body as if to assess each and every opponent. Unlike his age-mates, he was not overtaken with perilous fear. He was oddly calm and serene, unlike those who stood closest to him in the crowd.
"Please be a dream, please be a dream, please be a dream," Curtis mumbled. He closed his eyes, tossing and turning while clutching his stomach in deep pain.
Poppy rested her hands over his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down.
Marcel looked down on both of them.
"A few more things," Oisin added, taking centre stage once more. "If you manage to dwindle past the five-thousand mark, those of you who survive the games will not only be allowed to continue your lives but will be granted a large award on behalf of the federal government for your service to the country. A life-changing reward at that."
The ears of some of the students immediately perked up upon hearing this. Kiyoko in particular.
She nodded her head as if she was put under a trance by those words alone.
Kiyoko rolled the left sleeve of her hoodie to reveal a tattoo on her wrist. A series of knives and blades in differing sizes above a boat.
She rubbed the tattoo with her thumb, staring at it in deep contemplation.
"Now, you will all go back to flats and your rooms. You will stay there until you hear a bell ring," Oisin ordered. "Once it does, Univmorta will begin."
The guards, police and government employees left the stage.
Together, they walked in the direction of the campus exit. The students heeded Callahan's instructions, walking back to their accommodation buildings.
A select few, however, chose not to follow these instructions. One being a small woman in an oversized dark hoodie. A girl standing in the corner of the campus square behind a statue of the university's founder.
She chuckled to herself, menacingly.
"Happy games."