A/N: CHAPTER FOURRR! 

I will be updating every two or three days! So there will be many regular updates!!!! Hope you are all enjoying the new version, if you are new, hope you are liking!!!!

This chapter is a bit longer than the others... I don't think other chapters will be as long as this one!

Please comment below and give me your thoughts on the new version or what you are thinking! I would love to hear from everybody!!!

Chapter Four:

If I was being honest, I was a little embarrassed at just how long I spent lying down on the bed. Eyes closed, in a whole new sort of relaxing state. The feathery pillow and cushioned mattress was nothing I had ever imagined before. Even my fathers bed back home was nowhere near in some luxurious state just like this one. I knew the first thing I would buy with the ten thousand dollars would be an appropriate bed, just like this one, for all five of us.

Carter let out a loud sigh and I opened my eyes, turning to the left and took him in. He laid with his eyes closed, breathing heavily. Smiling at the sight, I let out a breathless laugh, "I never want to leave this room."

"I'd be happy just staying here permanently." He opened his eyes and turned to me, giving me a lopsided smile. "This is all the reward I will ever need."

"I mean, ten thousand dollars though."

He paused for a moment before conceding. "Okay, but for now, this is all I need."

I snorted and he smiled, his face lighting up. He opened his mouth to say something else but I never found out what he intended to say when a female animated announcement suddenly echoed through the room from speakers I could now see in the corner.

"All Resdue contestants must immediately report to the main hall where dinner will be served promptly. We will not tolerate any tardiness and expect everyone there within five minutes."

I frowned and turned to Carter who let out a loud groan of complaint. Stilling for a moment, he punched the bed before reluctantly stretching his arms above him and sat up. I laughed watching him. 

He rolled his eyes, running a hand through his messy long, light brown hair and turned to me with sad eyes. "I guess we have to come back to this later."

I laughed before sitting up but paused, watching Carter put his shoes on. He glanced up to me concerned. "What's wrong?"

I looked at him and asked hesitantly. Hopefully. "Did they say dinner?"

. . .

It was surprising to see many vacated seats along the dining hall tables that sat in large rows all parallel to each other. No chairs were seen, but instead, contrasting with the dark oak floor, a light wooden bench was lined along the long, extensive tables.

I paused in my footsteps, I was rooted in place. My mouth salivated and my stomach growled inside of me from all the food. Every single table was lined with rows of different food along them. 

My eyes widened at the diverse varieties that aligned each table and what was on offer for everyone. Taking a deep breath, a moan threatened to be released from all the delicious, sweet aroma that took over the dining hall.

I could hardly remember the last time I had a meal that resembled anything like this. If I was lucky I would have a single meal a day, if not, only eat once every few days from the limited crops we had. And it would always be the bland, half rotten mash potatoes that we carefully rationed, distributing between my brothers and parents.

My heart leaped in my chest, my breathing becoming unsteady. Suddenly it was all too much, everything I was feeling, the pounding in my chest, the hope fluttering within overwhelmed me. I've barely been here a day and I already missed them so much.

"Wow," breathed Carter beside me and I turned to see him staring around, astounded at the hall before us, eyes wide.

"Last time I saw this much food, we were all holding a feast for the soldiers before they were leaving the next morning." I grimaced at that particular memory. At the time everyone was cheerful and all so ready to offer so much for the soldiers, but the next day was when we realised that we were all going to have to ration what we ate and went into an eversolong starve.

Carter turned towards me with an indecipherable look on his face. My eyes drifted away from him but when he nudged me I looked back to see him gesturing to a table on the far left. Right beside large cascading windows extending from floor to ceiling. "Let's go sit."

I went to take a step forward but froze when he rested a hand on my shoulders, "Or we could skip this and go back to our rooms, where our lovely beds are waiting for us."

Bewildered, I turned to him fully prepared to fight him on this. I was starving. But I halted at the playful smile on his face. I rolled my eyes. He was trying to lighten the mood.

"I prefer the food," I practically began floating towards the table.

Walking quickly along the timber floor, I made my way to a small part of the bench which was vacant from all the people around. Sitting down, Carter joined beside me and I glanced around at all the unfamiliar faces before me.

So many different men and women. I could tell there were some obvious age gaps between the ones who were twenty five, much older than me and some others I could see at the mere age of eighteen.

In particular, on my right, I observed a male who did not seem to be in a pleasant mood. His arms were crossed and a pronounced frown was on his face as he stared at the surrounding people and food before him. Subconsciously, my head tilted in bewilderment at how he could not be as joyous as everyone else around, under the assumption everyone was here because they needed the ten thousand due to being poor. And even the mere fact that up until the point of elimination we were almost living luxuriously. 

At least, compared to the states back home. 

The sight of this much food would even make someone who was comfortable pause in their tracks.

His features were dark as he narrowed his electric blue eyes and dark hair was pushed back, seemingly from running his hand through his hair too many times. Maybe he just did not like being so close to others.

Suddenly, his head snapped toward me and his narrowed, piercing electric blue eyes landed on mine. I jumped from being caught staring and gave him a nervous quick smile. He snarled in response causing me to quickly slide on my seat to the left slightly, closer to where Carter was whilst he glared at me.

Diverting my gaze quickly and looking ahead, I avoided the males gaze and tried to stop an embarrassed flush from creeping up on my cheeks. There was some chirpy female sitting across from him. By the way she looked at him and tried to engage in conversation, I was assuming that she was his partner. She just could not stop smiling, taking in all the food around her.

My smile returned to my face and the weariness that had settled upon me disappeared and I watched her tuck her short blonde hair behind her ears and tried to restrain herself from serving food onto her plate.

Smiling, I glanced down at the food before me and took in the bowl of mash potato in front of me and cringed at it. Too many memories of eating rotten potatoes flashed through my mind. Glancing towards the multiple other dishes with many varieties of meat sitting upon them, I knew that I would be picking from those rather than the bowl of mash. 

Taking a steady deep breath, I breathed in the rich scents and aromas of spices that covered the foods. Instantly, I recognised many of them as they were some of the herbs I had grown back on the farm years ago before I had to sell most of them to gather some money for my family.

Salads were presented with different seasonings and dressings placed alongside them allowing us to dress them as we pleased. Breads and pastries were offered, along with a variety of sauces to go along with the meats.

I heard laughter beside me and turned to see Carter with a smile on his face as he stared at me. I tucked a piece of my light brown hair behind my ear subconsciously and my brows knitted in confusion, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing."

I frowned, "Then why are you laughing?"

"I don't know," he glanced towards all the food before us. "Everyone was so terrified of the Resdue. For so long I feared it but it had come to a point where if I did not sign up we would hardly survive. It made me always wonder what it could be. What was so special and bad about the Resdue? But coming here, and just seeing our rooms and all this food..."

He paused taking it all in before he looked at me with wonder clouding his features. "We are here to get money, be served food, and are going to be living in actual houses, with actual rooms. Rooms that have a roof to it, a stable wall. A door. And actual beds!"

I nodded, my heart swelled and a lump formed in my throat at just how excited he was. How happy he was, and even me, just having the bare minimum. To have an actual place to stay, to have food.

"I know," I said hoarsely looking down at my entwined fingers, fidgeting, I tried to control my emotions. "Everything we never had... never would have if not for this."

"I-" He never finished his sentence as the hall became silent with the ringing of some cutlery against a glass.

Turning my head to the right, I could see everyone else here was also fixated on the front where there was a small table I never noticed before. It was nowhere near as long as the tables we all sat on, and sat perpendicular to all of us.

They were much easier to see considering they sat on an elevated stage, above everyone. Seated there, behind mounds of food that had been served was three people, all sitting side by side. Two middle aged males, one in the middle and on the left, and a female sitting on the very right. 

Who were they? 

The man in the middle stood from his seat, holding a wine glass in hand before setting down what seemed to be a fork.

The ringing stopped and he smiled towards us all with what almost seemed to be a genuine smile. He stood tall and looked as if he was middle aged. His dark hair was short cropped above his head and was slightly swept towards the left from its little amount. He had a fully grown beard that was clearly groomed and neatly trimmed.

He stared at us with almond shaped eyes, studying the hall. He stood straight and proud in a very official looking suit, black all over. Black pants, black blazer, and even a black buttoned up collar underneath. However, the part's which differed from the suit was the golden delicate and intricate stitching that held his clothing together. On the bottom of his blazer, there was a swirl of designs from the gold embroidery which I could not exactly decipher from how far back I was.

Beneath the blazer was a gold tie that stood out against the black shirt, but what really drew my gaze's attention was the golden rose crescent that was sitting on the right, atop his left chest.

He began to speak, addressing the hall with a deep voice.

"I am Henry Gailsman, and I would like to formally welcome all you contestants to the Resdue!"

Cheering followed his words as people grew excited to be here. People began pounding on tables and cheered as the man smiled, gazing through the room he seemed to close his eyes for a moment, engraving this to memory, relishing in it before raising a single hand, silencing the hall in an instant.

"Now, I know a lot of you have questions on what the Resdue is, and how exactly you will achieve the Resdue and be worthy to win the ten thousand dollar assist for you, and your families." Cheering began in an instant again but Henry Gailsman did not allow it to continue on as it did before. "I would request that everyone remains quiet for now as I will be informing you on the rules and regulations that you must know of."

Silence followed and he paused deliberately, the echoing of his footsteps pounded through the hall as he walked around the table that housed two other unfamiliar faces but wore the same uniform as Henry Gailsman, before he settled in front of the stage.

He brushed lightly over his blazer at invisible flecks of dust.

"After the catastrophe of the Great War that lasted a decade, it was devastating to watch our great country crash as everyone suffered from the dire consequences. To see our great country fall!" He paused, dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief for a moment before continuing. "We, the great leaders of this nation, knew that we had to do something. We need to help us become great again! To rise from the mistakes, the mishaps and the fall we are taking. Our history books are being rewritten as we speak!"

His words echoed off of the walls of the large room, his voice naturally having a loud boom. He was so captivating that everyone was silent whilst watching him, fully immersed in his speech and what he had to say.

"And that was when we had the idea. It was ingenious! A way to help this country be restored back to its glorified state. So we have decided to offer the opportunity for our people to be awarded ten-thousand dollars!" He yelled before turning and grabbing his glass and having a sip of water before continuing.

"You see, as much as I wish I could give all fifteen thousand of you and our whole nation, ten-thousand dollars, unfortunately I cannot. We do not have enough money to provide funds for everyone. We are still recovering drastically, but here we have made the Resdue, just so all of you can still have this opportunity! A scheme that shows us who deserves the extra ten-thousand dollar fund."

My breath hitched in my throat and I froze.

"We are doing this for you!"

What did he mean by who deserved the extra funds? 

We all needed it, all deserved it. 

I turned to Carter to see him with a perplexed expression on his face. He glanced down to my face and back to Gailsman as he continued talking. I turned to face him.

"You all must show us that you are worthy of the ten-thousand dollars. By the end of the Resdue, out of the fifteen thousand of you, only one hundred of you will be offered the ten-thousand dollars."

"Only one hundred?" I whispered in shock glancing around the now murmuring hall. You would think the hall wasn't big enough to fit fifteen thousand people, however, based on how cramped it was, it was obvious we were all here.

Everyone whispered to each other and I looked around, my heart pounding. So many people were older than my eighteen years and felt fearful that I was in over my head. I was hardly experienced beyond my farming knowledge.

"This is not going to be good," muttered Carter from behind me and I nodded.

"You will prove your worthiness by competing in a series of tests that will show us why exactly you should be awarded the ten-thousand dollars. But that's not all, you must succeed with your partner at all times. If your partner is eliminated, you will be as well."

I looked back to Carter, "What tests do they expect us to do?" He frowned down at me shrugging and I glanced around nervously, hearing everyone begin whispering about what kind of tests they expect us to compete in.

"I don't know." His breath whispered, his breath brushing against the back of my neck.

"As you can see, I have guests on my table which I would like to introduce." He turned and gestured to the man on his left, "This is my right man, Axel King."

The middle aged man smiled at us, seeming to be in his mid forties. He wore the exact same uniform as Gailsman and the other three people at the table, all an exact replica. The only difference with him was the tattoo that covered the man's neck just below his dark beard, which trailed below his neckline.

His gaze was intense as he passed over us and I watched his eyes trail to the back left corner where we were seated. His eyes continued to drift over the people in front of me, before trailing over my face and continued along through the rest of the room.

"Axel King is our head coordinator of the Resdue and is in charge of the creation of all the events and tests that will be occurring. He truly is the mastermind behind all of this."

Gailsman smiled at Axel King, as he nodded in thanks and sipped his wine.

"And this lovely lady," he gestured to the woman on his right as she stood with a bright smile, her beautiful orange hair gleaming under the bright light as it was tied back in a high hair updo. "Daliah Neera, has been the one to make this possible with all her careful and thorough planning she has put behind all of this."

Gailsman paused, nodding at her and she sat back down gracefully. "The tests will be commencing, so be ready," continued Gailsman. "But, just a quick announcement as well, it is expected that lights will be out at eleven every night, all electricity will be turned off so don't bother trying to make it work. Everyone is also expected to use the bathrooms at the end of every hall. The one on the left is for males, and the one on the left is for females. And I would like to say again, one more time, welcome to the Resdue, and please enjoy your stay."

I frowned and Gailsman circled back to his seat and suddenly gave us a snide smile.

"Dinner will be served now."