A Lethal Examination

Billy walked through the spacious hallway as he had countless times now, knowing every corner and turn and where they’d take him in the Zeta Academy. After spending the last decade rigorously studying to the point of exhaustion, it was all going to bear fruit today. The younger students noticed him walk by quietly while the other ones of his group seemed to stare off into space as they also strode with purpose through the hall. As he turned the corner he came upon the History room where the short wizened yet energetic instructor stood with a smile watching the latest crop of Initiates walk by him.

“Ah Billy there you are son,” Amos called out to him and Billy slowed before turning to go talk to his favorite teacher. “I hope you’re prepared for today, if nothing else I’m sure you’ll do well in the history section.”

Billy shared a laugh with the man despite feeling pained at what he was forced to hide. “I’m only as good as the one who taught me all I know, so thanks Mr. Amos for everything.”

Amos clapped him on the back before urging him onwards. “Don’t stress too much, there is always next year to retry the Initiation.”

I don’t have till next year, the longer I delay the harder it’ll become to get out Billy thought to himself before nodding at the man and quickly walking away.

After a few minutes of hustling through the familiar opulent corridors he finally came upon the Examination Centre and its ornate door, gold handle gleaming at him. So many days spent walking past this door knowing that his fate of joining the Zeta Society would be decided here, the nights of cramming in preparation for all the exams that lead up to the Initiation. And yet now that he was here at last he couldn’t feel any of that same excitement anymore, not with what he now knew.

“Getting cold feet?”

The tall bulky man called out from behind walking forward with quiet ease with his bag at his side, the same as Billy. He grinned as they both stood staring at the impressive door with all its intricate carvings and symbols.

“Joe this is a big step you know, one wrong move and we’re both dead,” Billy whispered. “I have no family waiting for me anyway but you… Are you sure?”

Joe paused, weighing what Billy said before finally responding. “It’s the right thing to do, the sham has been exposed and while the other side may also be lying this side DEFINITELY is lying and I will do everything I can to undermine that.”

Billy nodded and finally opened the door for them to step through, a narrow corridor leading them to a proctor standing and assigning the Initiates their respective rooms to go into along with a table number. As they walked up to the man he glanced at them both and without a word handed them slips containing the necessary information.

“I guess we’re separate, I’ll see you when we’re both Acolytes,” Billy said, giving Joe a nod before they went into different rooms.

The inner examination room was spacious enough to keep each of the desks meant for the Initiates wide apart to prevent any cheating, not that it would’ve made a difference with the various cameras and sensors in the room tracking every movement. Even the supplies they were allowed to bring had been pre-decided to prevent any form of tampering. Billy made his way over to his assigned desk looking at the booklet in front of him.

The words William Augustus written in big bold letters on the front. He sat down eyeing the large ticking clock in the center of the room in front of all of them, feeling nervous as the seats began to fill up and the head proctor walked in.

“As you all know today is your Initiation exam and one where you’ll be raised from Initiate to Acolyte should you succeed in the four subjects of History, Mathematics, Literature and finally Psychology,” she explained, speakers making her voice boom through the room. “The last section features questions tailored specifically to you to gauge your personality, so don’t do someone else’s exam by mistake, you have 120 minutes and you may now begin!”

She walked out as the sounds of pages being flipped and pens scratching filled the room immediately. Billy took a slower, more calculated approach, as he noticed some others flipping through the whole booklet to start with the questions they felt were easier. He would tackle each one sequentially as intended to the best of his ability. Getting his pen ready he opened the booklet and started on the first section, History.

Question one stared up at him. “Evaluate the effectiveness of the Tang dynasty’s examination system in maintaining political stability and social mobility. Did it reinforce or undermine aristocratic privilege?” He blinked. This was the first question? It was already more in depth than the most difficult questions in previous exams so far. Billy smiled to himself, this was his specialty and started writing.

The clock ticked away in the background, adding to the mounting pressure as half an hour went by, some of the students had already walked out, given up on the exam and resolved to do better next year. And yet there might not even be a next year for some of you Billy pondered to himself, the sinking feeling of dread distracting him slightly as he reached the last question of the section about recent events. He froze as he read it, having to reread it a few times as the grief threatened to overwhelm him. “What was the cause of the airplane disaster 10 years ago?”

***

Mary wore her favorite red sweater as she packed up the necessary belongings in a small carry-on and Johnny whistled through the house making sure they hadn’t missed anything for their trip. He reached for the car keys and went out to get the SUV ready before stopping by Billy’s room who looked up from his book. “Hey it’s only for a week ok, your mom and I just have some business to take care of,” Johnny said walking over to sit down on the bed beside Billy. “Don’t have too much fun now without us.”

Billy laughed and got up to run downstairs with Johnny. “Mom, what about food?” he asked Mary who let out a sigh.

“Always food with you two, I made enough to last you the week and there’s some money as well to use if needed,” she replied quickly. “Do NOT waste the money on junk food or games.”

Johnny put on his round rimmed glasses as they got ready to leave, lacing up his favorite brogues. “Take care of yourself ok,” Mary said to Billy, giving him a tight hug. “We’ll be back fast!”

“Yeah these new Airbus A350 flights are supposed to be extremely fast, maybe you’ll fly in one someday too,” Johnny said with a chuckle giving Billy a hug before leaving. Billy shut the door and watched the car pull out of the driveway until it went around the corner.

He’d never see them again as their flight would experience mechanical failure and crash with no survivors.

***

After writing down “mechanical failure” and whatever bits of information he recalled he was finally done with the History section. He set his pen down and rubbed his eyes, letting out a sigh before glancing around and seeing the look of tense focus on everyone else’s face. Some students it seemed were on the brink of tears, they didn’t even know yet what failure could mean for them here. The next section covered Mathematics and this too was a breeze. He’d been raised in preparation for this exam his whole life. Zeta Society had taken him in after the accident with his parents, they’d been esteemed members, and raised him with the best facilities.

I wonder how Joe is doing, math was never his thing and we both need to make it through this he thought watching the clock tick, an hour had already passed and he only had an hour left for the remaining two sections. A girl ahead of him seemed to be flipping through pages insanely, barely writing anything on each. Several students were showing signs of cracking at the difficulty of this exam. The Literature section loomed ahead and he sweated as he opened it knowing this subject was his weakest. Hopefully the other sections will make up for whatever he loses points on here.

Halfway through Literature an interesting question presented itself. “How does Fitzgerald present money as both seductive and destructive in The Great Gatsby?” The topic of corruption was what had led Billy and Joe to their drastic decision and disillusionment with the Zeta, and it had all started a few weeks ago when their reading and scouring led to finding a horrifying truth about the society.

***

“Are you sure?” Billy asked as quietly as possible while the rain poured around them in the small shelter within a public park not too far from their dormitories. This was an area open to regular folk as well and as such felt safe enough especially in this torrential downpour, there was no one around and their words were bound to be drowned by the sound of the rain.

Joe sat on the small bench with his eyes wide staring down in shock. “I wish it wasn’t true, I checked carefully and went back to confirm over and over hoping I’d be wrong.”

Billy sat down next to him thinking of the Initiation that was a few weeks away. The Tau Society, old rivals of Zeta, had reached out to them and given them hints to follow. At first they’d dismissed the claims out of loyalty but curiosity got the best of both and now the truth washed over them.

“They’re using the Initiates who fail by trafficking them or harvesting their organs for their own financial gains,” Joe said quietly. “And this is just one level of the monstrosity being committed by the Zeta, who knows how deep this runs?”

“We could back out, run away?” Billy asked. “No nevermind they’ll always keep tabs on us and make the connection to Tau eventually.”

They sat together in silence before Joe spoke up. “We have to defect, we’ll go with the Tau’s plan and be their double agents within Zeta and we have to pass the Initiation for sure then.”

Billy looked at his friend in shock trying to think of a way to dissuade him and find another way but the more he racked his brain the more he realized this was the only option left to them.

“So either Zeta's dogs or Tau's, that's our only choice then, well I guess we might as well go with the side that hasn’t lied to us yet…”

***

The clock ticked and Billy looked up in shock seeing only a quarter of an hour left and he was still in the Literature section. Resolving to give answers that were just barely enough he got through it as fast as possible, hearing everyone around him rifling through their pages double checking their work. The Psychology section seemed short thankfully and he looked up to see ten minutes remaining on the clock, committing all his attention to the paper and blocking out all distractions. There are no wrong answers, be quick and choose what comes to mind first was the only instruction given for this section.

“Which of these glasses do you like the most?” He looked at the 4 drawings presented and quickly circled the round rimmed ones before moving on to the next, this was going to be easy it seems.

“What colour do you like the most here?” The only options were red and green, without thinking too much he circled red.

“Which of these shoes do you notice the most?” The options showed sneakers, loafers, sandals and brogues. Instantly he circled the brogues and proceeded to the next question.

The ticking of the clock was almost oppressive and extremely distracting in these last moments, he kept laser focus on the sheet breathing hard not noticing the room around him. He didn’t notice that everyone else was quietly escorted out of the room.

“What is your biggest fear?” He circled flying immediately, completely ignoring the options of drowning/heights/spiders.

This is pretty easy. I'm sure I’ve got enough points in general to pass, he thought to himself but the next question gave him pause.

“What does the term Airbus A350 make you feel?” He was perplexed, this was extremely specific. The clock ticked and he quickly wrote down Fear and flipped to the last page where there was only one question.

“Which pair of names represent 2 traitors to Zeta who were executed?” He started sweating even harder and felt his heartbeat pounding as he saw two names he recognized instantly out of the 4 options. Mary Augustus & Johnny Augustus.

He looked up in shock to notice that the room was empty save for the head proctor standing in front of him and a few minutes left in the exam.

“Did you think you’re the first to discover the things you know?” she asked, standing in front of his desk. “You had such potential and yet I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Billy felt something poke the back of his head and he turned his head just slightly to see a tall Vanguard in combat uniform standing behind him holding a silenced gun to his head. “Wait, there's been a misunderstanding…”

The proctor held up her hand to silence him. “Please don’t bother, neither of us are fools here William, we know you’ve been digging around with your friend and know the truth, read the options to that question more carefully.”

He looked down at the options noticing the names of his parents but this time he also noticed the 4th option. William Augustus & Joe Greaves.

Billy put his pen down, eyes darting around the room looking for any possible escape or weapon he could but knew he’d never move fast enough to avoid the gun to his head. He looked up at the proctor defiantly.

“You got us but someone will eventually get through the cracks and expose you,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time.”

“Maybe so William, and there’s no use keeping you as I doubt Tau gave you any information worth interrogating out of you,” she said slowly turning around to leave. “You could’ve done great work for us, like your parents but they too turned against us. It’s a shame we took down that flight to prevent their complete defection but it had to be done.”

Billy’s eyes began welling up as the truth was revealed so callously to him. The barrel of the gun poked his head and he looked at the woman with utter disgust.

“Your friend Joe has been dealt with, there is nothing more to do here, you have been a wasteful investment,” she said exiting the room.

Billy quietly accepted his fate and closed his eyes, hearing the gun cock and then fire.