Pilot

This wasn’t the world you would be familiar with or have any idea of. New humans were created but they were created as weapons, not as beings to live freely. Immediately they woke up to their reality, they had the unusual knowledge of the basic things around them and the ability to communicate effectively. There weren’t kids among them but they grew, anyway.

However, they were no longer weapons. The wars were over so they were a game. The Gamblers would pay to watch them fight against one another so the Larger Figures were making money from them. The knowledge of the Larger Figures seemed to be excluded from their programming so they had no idea of the people in control. It would seem fun whenever they first got into the house… but they realize how bloody it is when they get in the arena. One of the fighters must die in the ring.

They were given different abilities to fight with and they had levels. The more they trained, the stronger they would become and the higher their power levels would go.

“… he looks pretty lean, compared to the rest. What do you think?”

“They all look small when they are created. They train and grow bigger and stronger”

“Yes but the other new ones are not so lean. What are his abilities?”

“Uh… we are yet to figure it out”

“How do you mean? You know the abilities of the others, immediately they are created. Why is this one so different?”

“His programming turns out to be more complex than intended but we are working on him already. Soon, we will have a full understanding of his nature.”

Kang could hear the voices, indistinctly. Those were the first sounds that got into his ears. He was a new creature and he hadn’t even opened his eyes yet. He raised his arm and touched the wall beside him. He jerked his hand back as it felt cold. He opened his eyes, slowly. He was locked in a container so there was no way he could raise his back and sit up. Knowing he was restricted made him want to change his position. He pushed against the top, moving uncomfortably. He could still hear the voices.

“I imagine him getting picked for a fight on the first day”, a voice said.

“That would be good luck for his opponent and bad luck for business”, another voice replied.

He could tell the difference between the two voices, as he calmed down. There were probably just two people out there… or only two of the many people were talking.

“I’ll give you an advice; just throw him in the trash and create another one”

“That will be a waste of resources. He should still be useful if the Gamblers want a plaything for a while”

“That’s if the Gamblers were thinking straight. They always prefer the strong ones so they can weaken him and tie him up. It’s pretty dumb”

“Whatever. I’m not-….”

A door opened and Kang could hear a different voice. “I’m taking the waste to the disposer. I wanted to know if you have any left in here”

“You should let him take this new guy instead of wasting our time”

“Okay. Hold on. There’s one here”, one of the two first voices said. Kang could tell whoever it was probably created something that was inferior to similar products.

He could hear a sound of something being rubbed against iron, as he looked straight up. The container he was in seemed to be moving. The container shook and he hit his head against the hard iron, like the container was dropped on the ground.

“Yup. This is it. Get it out”

That sounded like he was the trash. He was probably the trash.

………..

“Carmichael?”, the guard called, as he felt the wave of heat. Definitely, someone had left the oven open and Carmichael was on duty. He walked over to the Disposer. As expected, the door was a few inches open and he could see the fire and feel the heat from where he stood. “Carmichael?”

“Yes?”, Carmichael shouted, running towards him. “What’s it?”

“You left the oven open. What were you thinking?”

“I swear I closed that door. In fact, I was going to get it locked with a key at the back so no one would get in while I was gone”, Carmichael replied and moved towards the oven, shutting the door quickly. “You know the lever’s pretty far so I won’t be able to keep an eye on the door while I turn on the fire”

“Well, the door is definitely open so someone definitely forgot to shut it”

Carmichael’s eyes opened widely, with horror. “Or someone got into the disposer while I was gone and is not out yet”.

The man looked at the oven and thought about it for a while. “Let’s go, Carmichael. We better hope that's not true”, he said and they walked away.

★

He could hear footsteps approaching him. There was very little light where he was going. He didn’t even have an idea where the paths led to but he kept running. He hid himself, as one of the ‘Larger Figures’ walked past.

He continued going forward. He hasn’t seen anyone walk out from that road and he hoped he wasn’t heading towards a dead end. He took a turning, as one of the Larger Figures appeared ahead. There was no way he could let anyone see him. At least, not after he was about to get roasted in an oven by the same people. He kept running, as he couldn’t hide if the Larger Figure looked his way. He took the next turning and escaped. He walked straight ahead and pushed a door. He was suddenly pulled into a kind of hall.

Kang stood up, quickly. There was no one in sight but he was right in the middle of the hall. He could see countless rooms around him so if anyone walked out of any of the rooms, there was no way he could hide. He would definitely be seen.

A door opened, suddenly, and a man walked out, looking straight into his eyes. The man walked away, down the hall, ignoring him like he didn’t care. Kang kept his eyes on the man. The man was different from the Larger Figures he had met on the way. In fact, the man was as casually dressed as he was. They were probably equals and the hall was safe for them.

He walked to the man’s room, as he watched the man walk through another door. He looked in and saw a bunk bed. There were other stuffs in the room, probably owned by the man and whoever was sharing the room with him.

“Hello?”, a voice said. He jerked back, startled. The man had gotten back. “You want something here?”

“Uh… no. I’ll just go”, Kang replied and turned his back, walking away.

The man looked at him from head to toe. “You shouldn’t be looking into people’s rooms, dude”, he said, walking into the room. “They can slam your head into the wall”

“Sorry about that”, Kang said and quickened his paces, heading back to the door he had walked in through.

There was no door there, just a clear passage. He tried to walk through but he felt something pushing him back. He raised his hand and pushed against the invisible barrier. He couldn’t get through.

He heard a chuckle. “Who’s this idiot? He’s probably new”, a voice said.

Kang turned and looked at who was laughing. There were two men standing there. They were casually dressed but they looked a lot bigger than him. “What are you trying to do? You just got here?”, one of them said.

“I was just about to leave. I’m sorry for invading your privacy”, Kang said, timidly, and pushed against the invisible barrier.

They whispered in each other’s ears. “He’s definitely new and stupid. We can use him”

“Let’s leave him, for now. I’ll go to the toilet”

One of the men took a few steps forward, staring at Kang who seemed to be putting a lot of effort in pushing against the barrier. The man was about to laugh, when the barrier threw Kang back. Kang fell against the man, with a lot of force, pushing him on the ground.

“What the fuck!”, the man muttered, springing up quickly. He pulled Kang and punched him in the face.

“I’m sor-“

He threw another punch at Kang’s face, pulling him up again. “Get some fucking sense”, he said and punched him in the face again.

“That’s enough”, a voice said. “That’s enough, man. Let him go”

The man looked up. “What now? He’s your friend now or something?”

“I said let him go”. It was the same man he had seen first. “Now, get off the boy and go back to your room”.

The man stood up slowly and they glared at each other for a while, like they would get into another fight, right there. “I’m not going to smash your face now. I need to pee. Getting blood on my pants won’t be nice so I’ll just let this go… now, though”

“You can go to your room, now”

“I’ll catch you in the ring”

“Wait till that happens”, the man replied and walked up to Kang. He bent down, staring at the lean boy. “You really are new and stupid, uhn?... Get up and come with me”

……….

Kang got up and followed him into his room. The man threw a bottle of water to him. “What’s your name?”

Kang poured half of the bottle down his throat and looked up. “My name is Kang. How about you?”

The man sat down on the bed. “When did you get here?”

“I just got here. I was going to be burned in the oven so I escaped and came here. When did you get here?”

“So you just got here, all by yourself, and you don’t know how to get back out?”

“I don’t actually know where to run to. They want to kill me, I think”, Kang replied. “And I came in through that passage. I don’t know how I can walk back out”

“No one can walk through that passage except the Larger Figures”, the man said and stood up, walking towards the door. He opened it and stared at the passage for a while. “But you were able to walk through, at least once… That probably means something”

“Something like what?”

“I don’t know”, the man said and walked back to the bed. “My bunkmate is dead so you can stay here and use his stuff. I don’t think they will come and take out his stuff so you may be lucky”