The Cardinal by Elif Kaya (best romance novels of all time .TXT) 📕

“So,” she says and starts fiddling with her fingers. “Any more last minute advice for this newbie?”

“Just be yourself. I can tell you have much of a fighter in there.” I point at her chest.

… 

As I wait in front of the door, I take a moment to take my environment in. Fortunately, I spot Brandon is waiting a few meters down the corridor in front of the No:4. He notices the strange expression on my face. 

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“Nothing. It’s just that I am bored.”

He raises one eyebrow and smiles knowingly. “I don’t think so, Ax. I think you have another problem. A rather new problem. And to be more precise, a problem with freezing grey eyes.”

“Shut up, Bran! Don’t be ridiculous. I just don’t want to see the broken expression on the majority of these nominees.”

“Are you worried about them all or just the fierce one you are assigned to.”

“Why don’t you go get yourself a life instead of psychoanalyzing me all the time, Brandon Freud?” I retort.

He raises his hands in a defensive manner. I think he will drop it but of course I’m wrong. He grins from one ear to another as if he has just come up with the most brilliant idea of the millennium.

“You know what? You two would suit each other. Both cold, intimidating and fierce? Don’t you think so?”

I don’t even bother looking his way. I shouldn’t have let Daniel and Bran hang out together without me. I officially handed Daniel a chance to create a clone of himself of in the sense of uttering nonsense all the time.

“Click!”

The door opens behind me and both me and Bran stand there dumbfounded. How did she finish the Test so fast?

Sasha

“Come here, sit down on the chair, honey.”

I take a few slow steps towards the cold metal chair. It doesn’t look the least comfortable. It reminds me of a chair you would find in an interrogation room. Smitten and uninviting. As soon as I sit, the back forces me to sit upright.

“Not so comfy, I know. However,” the exam supervisor than starts to attach the cables to my body -mostly my head. “I don’t think it is more disturbing than what you are about to go through. Actually, nothing is, if you ask me.”

I force myself to laugh timidly as if what she said was supposed to be sincere. No one can know how disturbing things can get in the Cardinal. Well, maybe except my parents.

She sets some things up on the tablet in front of her and then she gives me a solution which will allow the computer to catch the changes in my brain to drink. She then makes me wear a helmet which I have heard a lot about but never seen. The moment the device makes contact with my skin, it starts making a buzzing sound. After that, I see an exact copy of what I have been currently visioning in my head: my old teddy bear. 

Mr. Harpy had been a companion to me until I started primary school. His warm hug and soft texture always managed to calm my nerves down after an horrifying nightmare. As much as seeing Harpy there soothes me, it makes me wonder how much of my thoughts they can surveil. Suddenly, I feel even more anxious than I felt a few moments ago. The supervisor notices my rapid heartbeat through the electrode adhered to my neck over my pulsing skin. She approaches me, tittering, but since her smile doesn’t reach her eyes, it is not really helpful at the moment. She taps one last time on the screen. She turns the helmet on and tells, “I’m ready. The test will start as soon as you are ready - I mean as soon as your heartbeat rate is stable. The simulation duration changes depending on the mental strength and perseverance of the person in it. ”

I nod and take a deep breath while closing my eyes. I sit there like that for about a minute and then when I open my eyes, I’m no longer in the vapid Examination Room. I am lying down on a firm soil. There is another one lying down next to me. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen him before in my life but I feel a deep connection between two of us. It almost feels like he is Hunter although it is obvious he isn’t. This guy is more muscular than Hunter and I can see a tattoo going down below his military uniform, starting from his throat. Wait, hold on. Why is he wearing war equipage? Is that blood leaking from his uniform?

Just when I’m about to get closer to him and inspect his wound, the ground a fifty meters ahead of us explodes and the explosion throws off my balance and I fall on top of him. He groans in pain beneath me. I mutter a quick apologise and rip his shirt so that the wound comes to light. I wish I haven’t done that. He was shot in his abdominal cavity. The vermeil liquid floods out of the wound just like a broken tap. I immediately apply pressure on the wound with the piece of rag I’ve just ripped off. Using all my strength, I turn him over and see that the bullet is still in since there is no wound on his back. I guess the only thing I can do right now is to comfort him unless all this turmoil comes to end. It doesn’t look like it is going to end soon, Sasha. I shake my head and try to get this possibility out of my mind. It’s no help right now. I look around and see that the crossfire is getting closer here. We are not safe here. We can be under attack in a few minutes. I look down at the wounded guy. His sweaty face is twitching and his breaths grow heavier with each passing second. Even if I carry him into a rather safe zone, he doesn’t have much time left unless we get medical support as soon as we are out of the warfare. I have to leave him. 

He whispers “Alicia!”, his voice barely audible. I put my finger over his mouth and make him stop talking. I lean down on him while still pressing on his wound. I try to hug him without hurting him. “Just breathe, okay? Someone will come and help you.” He doesn’t say anything but I know that he is aware that this is the end.

“Vroom!” A bullet passes right above our heads. I stay on the ground. When I think it’s the right moment, I get up, my gun ready in hand. I sense someone stir in front of me. I quickly pull the trigger and “Bam!”, he is dead. I check my surroundings for more enemies. For now, there is none but I can’t wait here unless somebody comes and catches me off guard. I give my water bottle to the guy and get prepared to sprint. He mutters “Don’t leave me alone. Please, I’m scared.” I just close my eyes and run as fast as I can. 

The cinereous air fills my lungs and makes it harder and harder to breathe. When I think I’m about to pass out, I feel the ground being pulled under my feet.

My head falls in front of me and water drops dribbles off my chin. The sudden light forces me to open my eyes. I see a flashlight directed on me through wet eyelashes.

“Speak!” someone yells at me. “Why have you done it?”

I don’t open my mouth. A hand roughly grips the base of my neck and pushes my head down into a barrel full of water. It’s cold and since I wasn’t prepared for it my breath hitches in my throat. I try to fight the hand but it is too strong. My hands are tied behind my back and honestly I don’t have a lot of options. So I use my feet to kick the guy whose hand is drowning me. He lets go of me for a second and I use it to gain my power back. Just as I was about to run another man enters the room and gets hold of me.

“Easy, bitch! Where do you think you are going? You haven’t met your play mate yet anyways?” He points at a girl watching what is unfolding from a dark corner in the room. I suppose she’s crying, judging from the way her shoulders are shaking. He throws me near her. 

“Unless you’ve decided to talk now, we are going to play a game to quicken the process. I’m bored so what’s better than a little game to cheer up the atmosphere?” asks the first man.

“Now,” he smiles devilishly, “whoever gets to the gun that Kevin has dropped on the ground gets to kill the other one. Fun, right?

I look at the girl, hoping to catch her glance to convince her not to do something stupid. However, she doesn’t look like she has all her marbles. The bulky man counts up to three and shoots a bullet at the ceiling. The girl jumps forward but she is not faster than me. I am the first one to reach the gone. I lift it off of the floor and direct it to the girl in front of me. Then it hits me: “Why would I kill someone I don’t even know? I don’t even know who the fuck I am and what the hell I have done.” I look around to remember how I have come here. There is nothing familiar that could possibly remind me about my current status. In the corner of my eyes, I see the wall in the distance tumble down. How is it possible? Then it hits me. This is not real. I’m in the Test. I direct the gun at my own forehead and fire the revolver.

This time I wake up in the room. I’m still sitting on the chair. My supervisor has an appreciating expression on her face. She quickly detaches me from the cables, electrodes and the helmet. I get up but my eyes black out due to the abrupt movement. She hardly catches me before I fall. 

“Careful, darling. You need to rest a bit after the Test. The solution I gave you has its side effects. Generally the effects subside as you spend time in the simulation. However, since yours lasted oddly short, you might experience more severe effects?”

“What do you mean by ‘oddly short’?”

“Aren’t you aware?” I shake my head. She stops holding my arm in order to get her tablet to show me something: a graph showing the duration of the Tests applied to the nominees before me. They are approximately between ten and fifteen  minutes. After she has made sure I have observed the screen, she then touches on a few things and turns the screen towards me once again.

Alicia Rivers - 4:05 mins