The Hunt

Sixteen years I have had the pleasure of serving the Masters. We do not know them by name for that would make us believe we are worthy of the title human and perhaps some distorted view of being equal. I have moved from light tasks of a child to the more grueling duties of a teenager and today I was supposed to be introduced to the back breaking work of the adults which slowly would break down their bodies from endless hours, little rest, and lack of food. The Masters held these transitions with ceremonies to assign you to a new task. Why they choose this one day to even acknowledge our existence I did not understand until now.
As I sat in the transition room awaiting my task assignment, wearing a new crisp dress that all transitioners wore, I reflected on the night before. I remember being nervous, afraid of what would take place as soon as I left our ramshackle buildings put together, name by the Masters “The Hole”. No one was allowed to talk about The Ceremony. To do so was to betray the Masters and ensuring your own death.
My mother had been stroking my hair with soft rhythmic stroke while humming in a soft tone. It was a rare sound that instantly soothed the worse of my nerves. My eyes swept the hut resting on the stark white color of the new fabric that contrasted with the brown, dingy, torn sheets that covered a straw mattress. It was an invasion of our home by the Masters, a reminder that they controlled us. That we were indebted to them. Without them we would probably be dead. Tomorrow I would be starting my Task for life, performing whatever duty they assigned, giving me purpose until I was dead or could not serve, they both were the same.
I was nervous about leaving my family. It was relatively unheard of that anyone would be placed in the same Task as their family and we weren’t allowed to visit or talk to them after we were assigned to our new area. Even scarier than that, no one knew what the other Tasks were. The Masters delivered everything that we needed, or what they thought we needed. We did not have contact with anyone outside our small community. The only thing we did hear about were the Escapes. The few and stupid enough who decided to try to get away from their Duty. The Masters broadcasted these chases on screens that hovered over the fields and seemed to fill the night sky. The last escape had been five years ago by a girl about to Transition.
She was torn apart by the Master’s mechanical beasts that had smooth effective movements that no beast could be capable of. They never went for a clean kill to the throat rather they would methodically rip and tear at a person until they screamed for mercy and death. Even then it was up to the Masters to decide whether or not any mercy would be given.
All these thoughts brought me back to the hut I had been thrown into and just how small the space was. I could take 10 steps and cross the length full floor of the hut on either side. It seemed like hours had passed but I was guessing it had only been half an hour. During the night we were supposed to be reflecting on how much the Masters had done for us and how much we owe them for protecting us and giving us a clean path to follow without temptation. All I could think about was the faces of my community and the life I had with them. It wasn’t very much but there was a sense of comradeship. It was terrifying to be sent into a new place with no one that you had ties with.
I fell asleep imagining the new faces I would see and what possible Task I would be given. A low vibration shook through my body, waking me up. The door was opening. I looked at the sky and realized there was something wrong. The sun was supposed to all the way up to signify a full transition into our new lives. It was only peaking over the horizon, coloring the sky with shades of red, pink, and a pale blue. My hands started to tremble and my limbs grew heavy and weak. The back wall started to move forward forcing my retreat forward rather than back. I was shoved out from the hut into the open fields that lay bathed in the red of the sun.