I tried asking the system for answers about what he wrote, but I was talking to myself in the bathroom. So I stopped and closed the system screen with a thought.
I went out, washed my hands, and looked at my face in the mirror. My... My eyes were completely black, with no white in them at all.
As soon as I blinked a couple of times, they returned to normal. I shook my head and looked again, more closely. Everything was normal.
What was that? I washed my face, then dried my hands and face. After that, I went back to Ben and Tom.
As soon as they saw me, they stood up, grabbing their bags. "It's time to go," Ben said.
I grabbed my bag and walked with them.
—
We got checked multiple times before we made it outside and started walking toward the big military plane. A few young men and women walked with us toward it.
Ben nudged me with his elbow. I looked at him, and he nodded toward a girl walking in front of us, her military pants tight on her. I laughed while Tom shook his head in disappointment.
We walked up to the plane and got checked again before going inside.
We took seats beside each other, following the officer's instructions. We fastened our belts and everything else. The atmosphere inside the plane was heavy with seriousness.
We didn't talk much for most of the flight until we arrived.
—
They picked us up from the military airport in Tindy with military vehicles.
Each vehicle carried ten of us in the back, like real soldiers heading to war. The heat was intense. It was the desert, after all, and the road stretched through the desert on both sides.
No buildings, no cities, nothing in sight.
We reached the military base. After the vehicles entered and we got out, the officer made us form a straight line and stand at attention.
"First, you're going to take your bags to your closets," the sergeant said. "Then you're gonna eat lunch and go rest in your beds or do whatever you want, but you can go outside the building. After that, you'll eat dinner and sleep early. Every day, everybody here wakes up at 4 a.m. We'll do morning training, then eat breakfast. Then I'll explain to you all what you're gonna do here. You will all be one group, and I am your commander.
"There are other groups already in the base, and more groups will arrive next week. So now follow me, walking one by one in line."
We followed the sergeant to a building with a large room containing ten beds. Each bed had a closet beside it with smart keys inside. Ben, Tom, and I took beds next to each other. We set up the smart keys and put our bags away.
Then the three of us went and claimed one table together in the restaurant.
We started eating the lunch we got from the buffet.
"It was so fucking hot in there," Tom said, taking his vest off and putting it on his chair. He was sweating.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah." Then he whispered, "I'm a vampire, you know. This hot weather affects me like that."
Ben and Tom had meat on their plates and ate only meat. I took a little of everything. A lot of people were coming in and going out of the restaurant, all wearing the same military uniform.
"The sergeant didn't talk about taking the compound. When do you think they're gonna give it to us?" I asked.
"He said he's gonna explain tomorrow, so I think he'll talk about it then," Tom answered.
After lunch, we headed back to the room.
I didn't feel comfortable at all sleeping in the same room with all these people. There were ten people in the room, including me, Ben, and Tom. And the sergeant had said we should stay here after lunch and not go anywhere except the bathroom, of course.
Groups were already forming.
I was sitting on my bed while Ben and Tom sat on Ben's bed. We were playing Ludo on Tom's phone.
On the other side of the room, three people were playing, but way louder than we were. Three others were talking while one guy slept on his bed.
"Hey, you, can you lower your voice? I'm trying to sleep."
The three of us looked toward the man who was the only one lying on his bed. He wasn't talking to us, but to the other group that was playing.
They were laughing loudly, playing music loudly, and talking loudly. They were annoying us, too.
"You talking to us?" one of them said, a threat clear on his face as he pointed at himself.
"This is not your room," the man lying on the bed said. "I don't mind you talking and having fun like the other guys. It's normal. But you three are doing too much, playing music and talking and screaming this loud. It's too much. So be like the others. I'm trying to sleep."
The three of them got up and walked over to him while he was still lying on his bed, eyes closed.
"And what if we don't stop? What are you gonna do?" one of them said.
The man lying in bed opened his eyes, sighed, and got up, standing in front of them. He was taller than the three of them.
But they didn't flinch.
"You can go back, sit down like before, and be respectful. Then I won't do anything," the man with long blonde hair said.
The three of them laughed. "We're not gonna do that. What are you gonna do about it? With that girly long blonde hair of yours?"
The man in the middle stepped closer, challenging him.
The man with long hair smiled and lifted his right hand. Suddenly, it turned into a snake.
The snake shot forward very quickly and bit the man in the middle of his neck. Then it turned toward the man on the right and wrapped around his neck. The long-haired man lifted his other hand, which also turned into a snake, and it wrapped around the third man's neck.