Snippet #1797547

"We expect you outside in 05:00 hours!"

Evans woke up staring at the unfamiliar ceilings, slowly remembering that he was now in a secret facility or something of that sort. The attempt to strike up a conversation went badly the previous night, with him returning to his room to eat, alone. Funny how he always alternated between feeling lonely and feeling annoyed at people, he somewhat missed eating with his employees, even if it was in their contract to do so. The phone in his room rang noisily as he dragged himself out of bed. He answered the phone lazily, " Hello..?"

"Hello, we would like to inform you that you will not need to join the main training today. You will, however, have to undergo an alternative training session due to the consideration that you might not be able to take the level of physical training."

" What.. alternative training?" Evans yawned as he started his daily ritual of stretching and morning exercise.

" We will conduct a briefing with you at 8 am."

" Okay, have a nice day." Evans ended the call. He walked over to the mini fridge and took out a bottle of multivitamin and a bottle of fish oil capsule. After swallowing his daily supplements, he entered the bathroom. He used a natural barley face scrub first, then he used a honey peel off honey mask, finishing off with a moisturizer and sunscreen lotion. He finished off his routine with a precise brushing, flossing and teeth whitening. He measured his body temperature, checking that he had no fever. He could not deny, he had an unhealthy obsession with his health. Just then, he heard a thump from his ceiling, noting that the mysterious piano player had also missed out on the session, he stepped out of his room and took a deep breath. With the lack of Kyle's presence, the house seemed reasonably cosy. He prepared his breakfast; all the calories of his meals well memorised; and ate in the common room as he observed the share prices on the wide screen television.

At 8 am, a military personnel with a casual demeanor handed him the files of the other members, advising him to read through them. Evans browsed through the files, pausing a while longer at the new member of the group. Finally, he handed back the files, with much of his little curiosity satisfied.

" Alright, now we have to do a test on the effectiveness of your ability. As you know, many of your team mates have skills that we can observe, save a few like Ms Sidney and Ms Kiley. But put it that way, we want to see how well you can control your powers," the military man said as he brought Evans to a forested area away from the main mansion. The man spoke comfortably not bothered by the knowledge of Evans's age. It did not surprise Evans that there were people who could not care less that a real child be brought into this sort of national security bullshit - like himself. The man continued, "There are many traps and landmines set up in these areas, your objective is to 'search and rescue' our military canine R8 who had been specifically airlifted to a nearby location within these premises and to meet me here. Meanwhile, you will have to also look for a hidden message on one of the trees. You will not be provided with any weapons for this exercise. Good luck."

" I always had that. Instead, you should be the one that needs to look out because I am activating my power as of now," Evans said as a light breeze stirred. There was no fancy display, actually it just seemed like nothing happened. Evans, then walked into the small forest, making random turns here and there almost seeming as if he was aimlessly walking. A small scarlet bird flew above his head, landing on a particular tree that seemed as similar as the one next to it. Evans made a huge detour before getting to the tree. The message on it was simply, "Kill all witnesses." Considering about it for a second, Evans easily made his way to the shed which housed the rottweiler, R8. It was chained, but that did not stop it from attempting to bite Evans. The only way to unchain the dog was to remove the collar on its neck. Evans stood just a small distance away from the dog and ruthlessly delivered a kick to the dog's head. The dog was knocked unconscious and was foaming at its mouth. Evans removed the collar, carried the now half-dead dog and headed back to meet the man.

"Here's the dog," Evans dumped the creature on the floor. The man wrote down the completion time and some notes. " Did you get the secret message?"

"We all have to make choices to lead up to a certain outcome, my power simply does three things. I can control the outcome of a random event activated by me, such as the possibility of hitting a target. Next, I can sense areas where bad events are most likely to happen. Lastly, things just go my way, people that are against me just tend to find themselves getting killed by whatever reasons. But no, I did not find any secret message." Evans explained, "What is it by the way, seeing that I possibly failed already," Evans lied.

" It says, LOOK HERE and you should find a bag with blowpipe to anesthetize the dog," the man said with a slight smile as if happy about the apparent failure.

" How obvious! Silly me. Wait, while I retie my shoelaces." Evans said as he bent down.

" So much for you powers.. wait your shoes.."

Evans snatched the combat knife half hidden in the man's shoes and thrust the knife into the man's throat as he stand up. "Passed," Evans announced as he threw away the knife and handed back to the mansion.