The other leader nodded and motioned for his men to round up the older or uglier woman and sent them to the kitchens.
“Ladies, come with me. You should be honored, you’ve been deemed worthy of being trained on how to please men…and women,” the woman said and beckoned them to follow her with her finger.
Rayne took one last look back at Julian, mouthing the words, “I love you, I’ll be okay.”
Two burly men followed suit, ensuring that no one ran away. Once they left, only men were left in the room.
Some, like Julian, were angry and clenched their fist. While others had tears streaming down their faces, unsure of what kind of fate awaited their wives and daughters.
“Alright, we have a small test for you lads! Based on this test is where we will send you for work, and I HIGHLY suggest that you do your best since we don’t treat worthless junk with care around here,” the leader walked over and announced.
All of the men watched silently as large weights were brought into the room. Julian almost immediately understood that this was most likely a strength and endurance test.
Should I do my best or pretend to fail?
His mind spun with different possible outcomes.
“Your first test is to lift this weight and hold it for a period of time. We’ll let you know when you can drop it,” he explained.
Julian watched them closely until a large round weight was placed at his feet. It looked to be at least 40 lbs (~18kg).
“On the count of three, everyone will pick up the weight in front of them and hold it over their heads until we tell you to stop. If you fail this, you will be deemed useless…and let me tell you, you don’t want to be deemed useless.”
Julian frowned hearing this. He looked around and noticed the nervous expressions on all of the older men who could barely stand straight.
“One, two, three!”
Julian bent down and lifted the weight above his head. Initially, it wasn’t as bad as he thought, but there were still a few older men who couldn’t lift it past their waist.
“Please have mercy on this old man. I’ve had back issues for many years now, I’m not able to lift anything heavy,” an older man with a hunched back called out.
He had hardly managed to lift the weight off the ground before he dropped it to the ground.
“Tsk, useless. Sorry, gramps, in this new world, we have no place for people with bad backs,” the leader said.
As soon as the weight hit the ground, a burly man walked over and dragged the old man out of the room.
A few minutes later, a few more people dropped the weight and got dragged out in a similar fashion.
Julian began to feel the muscle strain in his arms and legs, but he was still able to hold on rather easily, thanks to all of the daily training he’s been doing.
Only when Julian finally began to feel the fatigue settle in did the leader finally announce that the remaining people could drop the weight.
Julian looked around the room. Only those who were younger and relatively fit remained. More than half of the group was sent away.
“Good job on passing the first test. Congratulations, you have all been selected to join us,” the leader said with an evil grin.
While nobody cheered or celebrated their ‘victory’, Julian did notice a few happy smiles on the faces of the younger teens around the room.
“Everyone, follow me. I’ll show you to your new home.”
Julian lined up with the rest of the men and followed the leader out of the room, down another set of stairs, and into a large room.
Both sides of the room were filled with many rows of bunk beds, enough to hold at least a hundred people.
Despite the number of bunk beds, there were only a few people in the room, who looked at them with a mix of curiosity and pity.
“Make yourselves at home, you will know when you’ve been assigned to a team.”
After the short and uninformative speech, the leader left with his team, locking the door behind them.
Julian looked around the room, noticing how it lacked any windows or large ventilation shafts, making an escape nearly impossible.
“The only way in or out is that door.”
Julian turned to look at the man who spoke. He was sitting on the bottom bunk of a nearby bed and was covered in deep scars.
“What happened to you?” asked Julian. The scars looked freshly healed and still had the redness around them.
The man smiled, “Just a bit of light punishment for letting a woman go when I was ordered to capture her. Name’s Lyle by the way.”
“Julian. Does this sort of thing happen often?” asked Julian.
“Depends,” smiled Lyle, “Mostly on the mood of your leader, but let me tell you, they tend to be more emotionally unstable than a pregnant, hormonal woman.”
Some of the other men walked over to listen, causing Lyle to stand up from his bed, “Welcome to paradise. Choose whichever bunk you like; the ones that have a made bed are unclaimed.”
The others nodded and walked farther down the hall, looking for a bed to claim for themselves.
“Julian, why don’t you choose this over here?” Lyle pointed to the bunk across from him.
Julian looked at the bed, “But the bed isn’t made. Someone sleeps here.”
“Nah, that was my best friend; they killed him two weeks ago. I just never got around to making the bed for him.”
“I see. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Lyle smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s to be expected. All of us here are simply muscle to them. We’re expendable and have little value.”
“Then everyone here has been killed?” asked Julian, looking around the mostly empty room.
“Mostly, some of the tryhards got promoted. Once promoted, you get to live more like a human and less like an animal. So they were moved out to the lower floors,” laughed Lyle.
Lower floors? Just how deep does this place go?
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