SORTING GAM
DAY FOUR CULLING TEST
THE RED DUN

She woke up with a loud pounding in her head, her heart rate was beating faster than normal and she could feel pain in several parts of her body. Slowly opening her eyes, she squeezed her face, one of her eyes was swollen up, wondering what happened the previous day, her memory of the day's event is currently elusive to her. Sheil was back in their bed in the sleeping hall. How did she get there, she thought. Her brain felt muddied and clouded. She was used to waking slowly, but this level of confusion was annoying even for her. Turning her head slightly she saw bright blue eyes and long blonde hair. Yalowel.

Yalowel was watching her with unfaltering attention, crouched down on the left side of the bed looking at her. She had her head propped up on her hand as though she had been studying Sheil for some time. "So how are you feeling this morning? You were badly wounded in the fight yesterday, I can already predict you will be in a lot of pain this morning," Yalowel said, brushing her hair off her forehead. "Though I know it serves no purpose, I will tell you this, whatever pain you are feeling, you need to hide it, we will soon start today's test."

What a bizarre thing to say, Sheil thought.

She turned her head and saw the moon through the hall's window. It is morning. However, she couldn't figure out how she got here or where she was supposed to be. She didn't remember going to sleep and the girl she shared bed with isn't there. She sat up in stunned silence, looking about as the girls bustled around quietly in the sleeping hall, most of the beds were empty, the overall atmosphere in the hall was sober.

Her most recent memories were flashbulbs of nightmares: a huge fight, getting punched, and crying while Yalowel holds her. It took a while for the memories to solidify in her mind. As a rush, the timeline came back to her. Their third culling test. Her eyes went wide when she realized she nearly died during the test and remembered the event of the previous day. Thirty girls are dead and only Yalowel saved her from such faith too.

Remembering what Yalowel did in the eating hall, Sheil hurriedIy looked around and grabbed her hand, the administrator didn't come  for them, like she thought. No one reported them for the improper behavior, putting her head close to Yalowel's, she signed. Yalowel was looking at her curiously.

Tears started to streak down her face when she realized Yalowel risked her own life to save her during the test and also afterwards, they could have caught them, but Yalowel didn't think of the repercussions of her actions, for the first time, Sheil looked at her clearly. Yalowel treated her like a bond sister, Sheil realized, before she could voice her thoughts, a loud noise interrupted her. The main administrators.

“Glinders, these past few days has seen you passed through tests, to ascertain your skills, and also to gather information and data which the men will peruse before they start bidding on you on the sale day. I am happy to inform you that we are nearing the end of the culling test and also that a huge number of glinders has been culled, though we haven't reached the exact number yet, but we will get there today. You'll be getting your familiars today. You have exactly one hour to get ready and then some administrator will come to your hall and escort you to the Red Dun where you will have to enter the familiar pen.” The main administrator used his best announcer voice to explain the task ahead.

“How are we supposed to get our familiars in the red dun? They'll eat us all before we can  even choose,” Sheil wondered out loud.

“It is probably part of the culling test, ten girls will have to die. But I'm sure they won't allow the familiar to eat all of us, they need us!” Yalowel assured her. “Let's stay together for this task, is that understood?” Yalowel asked. Sheil nodded and stood up, it was harder than she thought, she tilted to the side, but after a few seconds righted herself.

On a tired foot, Sheil paced back and forth in the sleeping hall while keeping an ear out for the tell tale sign of the administrator's footsteps, all the while nervously chewing on her finger nail. She had to admit that Yalowel’s idea of staying together during the next task was perfect, it will create an opportunity for both of them to watch each other's back. However, she doubted it would be possible, these past few days have taught her that the tests are unpredictable. She was making her tenth circle around the hall when there were footsteps outside their hall. She paused and took a deep breath; she squared her shoulders and waited patiently for the administrator to enter the hall.

The four men entered their hall, they looked different than all their previous administrators, they looked almost feminine, Sheil realized. The one at the front addresses them, “I believe you've been informed earlier about today's task though the female working in the Red Dun will be there to subdue the familiars should things get out of hand, but we would be supervising you, let's go.” The man laughed as he tipped his head to the side and promptly left the hall, while his brothers followed him.

There is another puzzle for Sheil to solve, she thought. Why are these men different from the few ones she has seen? There is something refined about them like the breeders glind, are there male breeders too? Sheil thought as she joined the queue of the girls leaving the hall, with Yalowel at the front.

Sheil didn't bother checking to see which direction they were going in, the pain she felt in her body was enough distraction to keep her occupied. Some of the administrator's voices drifted over to her side, but she barely understood what they were saying.

The hall was different from all the other halls in the Gam, it was set apart too, away from the sleeping hall and their lecture hall. Even from outside, Sheil could see that it was bigger, with less windows, there was a slight change in temperature around the hall, Shiel shivered as the administrator opened the huge door and they all started filing Inside.

Inside the hall was different too, divided into two, the side that all the gliders were in and the opposite sides with a huge door, slightly opened. There was a woman guarding the door, a young, elegant, incredibly beautiful woman. Her red, silky hair hangs down just past her ears, curling slightly towards the ends. Her pale skin contrasts her hair that gives off an emotion very similar to seeing the red sun after a chilly morning. She was wearing a white coverall, and she looked extremely bored. Placed on almost all the walls were several cameras all around the hall, with a higher platform standing at the front, the administrator matched towards the platform and sat down. All the other glinders were in the hall already, including the boys. Towards the opposite site there was a transparent partitioning glass wall, dividing the hall into two. While the girls were at one side the boys were at the other side, though Sheil could not make out their faces clearly.

There were several sitting stools scattered around the hall, but not enough for all the glinders to sit on, so most of the girls remained standing. The atmosphere was somber, none of the girls talked to each other, it was so quiet Sheil could hear her own heartbeat. Walking to the far back, Sheil leaned on the wall and closed her eyes, waiting for the administrators to begin the test.

"We'll be calling you with your number, once you hear your number, go through the door, the woman will direct you to the right room." Barely a minute after Sheil closed her eyes, she heard the administrator announced. Sliding to sit down on the floor, her eyes remain closed. Her number won't be called for a while.

After several hours of sitting there quietly, listening to the administrator calling each number and the footfalls of the girls leaving the hall to walk towards the door, she was able to more or less count them. They never returned to the part of the hall where they were all sitting in. There were at least more than a hundred of them that had left. Might be more, she can't be sure, because her eyes were closed.

Sheil was still contemplating if her counts were correct when a loud piercing scream rents the hall, she snapped her eyes open, only to be greeted with the sight of a flung out arm and also the woman's white clothes was soaked red, the woman scowl at the mess and pick up the arm throwing it back inside. Sheil couldn't believe what she just witnessed, but it is something she has been expecting. The familiar has started killing the girls. Closing her eyes back, she used her hands to cover her ear, but that did not stop her from hearing the other screams that followed the first one.

".... Number two, two, eight," Sheil was snapped out of her thought with the loud voice of the administrator, she looked up and saw them scowling, standing up on shaky legs, she walked towards the woman and the door.

It took longer than she thought before she reached the door, the woman was looking at her with disdain when she gets to the door, "Once you enter, turn left, turn right and then another left, you'll see a red door, open it and enter," the woman said immediately Sheil was in her front, Sheil could hardly heard her soft voice, she had to strained her ear to catch the instructions.

Taking all the turns, with a shaky hand, Sheil opened the door.

The inside of the room was dark and Sheil could barely see, taking a step further into the room, the door closed behind Sheil, turning sharply around, she tried opening the door, a loud growl coming from deep inside the room makes her turn back, several pairs of eyes were looking at her, however she couldn't make up the shape of the creatures, deciding to just sit down and allow the creature to eat her quietly, she enter deeper into the room and sit down.

One of the creatures stepped forth and deep bluish light flooded the room. Sheil could count more than twenty familiars in the room, ranging from feline, canine, bird and even cross breeds. Breathing out slowly, Sheil adjusted her sitting position, She'll either get chosen by a familiar or get eaten by the familiars.

Her lack of emotions seems to taunt the familiar from approaching her, they all growl loudly and watch wearily, slowly one of the canines starts walking slowly towards her. Sheil tensed up, not knowing what to expect, she controls herself not to stand up and run for the door. 

The canine has two long tails, with three eyes, it had so much fur on its body, Sheil could hardly see anything aside the prominent tails and black eyes. While Sheil was distracted by the canine, another familiar was coming towards her from the opposite side, the loud shriek of the creature makes Sheil turned her head towards it.

Sheil couldn't determine the species of the new familiar, it was human-like, with long tails that had a spear-like barb at the end. It has a stripe of green and black on its body, with a skin that has pointed ridges like torn, the head looks relatively small, with two tiny eyes, there are two tiny lines in place of nose and mouth. While Sheil was assessing this new creature, the canine has reached her. Turning sharply to the canine, Sheil's face with met with a long wet tongue licking her face in one swipe, before Sheil could wipe the saliva off her face, it started drying off as if sipping into her skin, the canine sat down in front of her and watched Sheil. 

There was another shriek, louder this time, Sheil turned and was shocked to see the mouth of the creature. While in appearance there was little to show for its mouth, it was wider with a forked tongue and Needle-like teeth. Sheil watched as the canine growled while the creature shrieked, after a few seconds of watching both of them, the creature turned towards Sheil and spit a greenish substance on her face.

Sheil watched as her skin absorbed the substance, just like when the canine licked her face. She was dumbfounded when she realized that her skin had taken a green glow, and also all her previous wounds started healing rapidly. She was so absorbed by this that she didn't notice another creature crawling towards her on spindly legs.

The large hairy, insect crawl at an alarming fast rate over Sheil's body with eight spindly legs, dreading another occurrence of getting spit on again, Sheil tensed up. However, nothing happened, the insect crawled over Sheil's head and burrowed deep in her hair. 

Wrapping its long tail around Sheil, the human-like familiar dragged Sheil to her feet and nudged her towards the door, still shaky from the occurrence, she walked along with her three familiars and exited the room.