Inizio (COMPLETED)

7. Beginning Stages

"Numbers 1-20 on the left. Numbers 21-40 on the right." I stood on the right with my number, 37, across my chest. It'd been a week since applications for Vita Alta were due and I turned mine in right before the deadline. All applications were sorted through and only the top 40 got in. A stern looking man, most likely in his early 40's came up to people, writing their names on the list.

"35... Nathan Zelch, 36... Danté Slucovia." He got to me and paused. He looked me over once, raised an eyebrow, then wrote my name down.

"37... Zhara Embin, 38..." I watched as he finally got to forty. He passed over the clipboard to a man leaning against the wall. He had on a similar uniform, the Vita Alta inscription on the left of his chest.

"Listen up. We had 271 applications. Only 40 got accepted. We only accept 10 in the end. That means over half of you will be gone soon. And by soon, I mean by the second to third stage. Each of you is here because you were top of your class. But are you good enough to be top in the field?We will start off easy. Everything in Stage 1 will be everything you've learned and should have retained in training and more. You fail the test, you don't make it to the next stage. Stage 2 will be combat with each other. There will be 15 available spots. That means we will keep rotating you guys until we get 15 of you. The opponent that wins, takes a spot. The one that loses," he made a get out motion with his thumb. " The third and final stage is combat. But, it will be combat with our most elite and specially trained. These are people who've been with us for years and years, former navy, former military- you get it."

He looked at the two groups. Each group was leaning against the wall. He told the group on the left (1-20) to follow the man he had handed the clipboard to. Then, he led us to a computer lab. There were 90 questions that were to be completed in 20 minutes. Something about letting them know 'how quick we can think in a short time span'.

*
Question 90: what type of bullets does a Remington 700 sniper rifle take?

Easy. I typed the answer in the box.

.308 or .338 Lapua

The timer on the test read 13:21. I clicked finish exam and looked around. I saw a few people concentrating, creases forming between their eyes. One of the few girls started crying. She wiped her tears away harshly and stared at the screen. I felt bad, but I had to focus on me right now. I got up to signify that I was finished. I felt a few eyes on me as I walked over to the sign out sheet. I wrote my name on the blank paper and walked out. I couldn't believe I'd finished in 7 minutes. I smiled at myself, proud of my achievement. This meant everything to me and I was going to do everything in my power to get it.

We were supposed to meet in the room where we all were during the count. As I pushed open the doors of the wide room, I saw mats in the center. They were about 6 inches thick and were white. The two men from earlier looked up at me and so did the people setting down the mats. They looked confused, and I even saw the clipboard guy twist his watch to look at the time. I walked over to my side of the wall and stood there.

"Well that was quick," the stern man said. I nodded. He kept a surprised expression on his face as he looked away and told the mat placers to fix something. A good ten minutes later, people started coming in. Soon, everyone was in the room.

"Okay, results are in," the stern man said as he waved an envelope in his hand, "If I call your name, you're in. Otherwise, bounce," said the stern man.

"Rob, tell the-," spoke the clipboard guy.

"Oh right. If your name doesn't get called, Vita Alta isn't an option for another two years, cause that's when we do this shit again," said the stern faced man, named Rob. I saw a few smirks from the guys. There were only two other girls besides me. He started listing names and two guys, who appeared to be friends, high-fived.