[ WP ] at the age of 16 children are taken from there homes and left to survive in the wild outside the walls , those who survive are welcomed back as hero 's . Today is your 16th birthday .

`` Alright son, it's time.'' My father handed me the bag with all the allowed items. He put a hand on my shoulder, and looked deep into my eyes. Behind him, I could hear my mother crying her eyes out. Ever since Josh left, she was never the same. She was more than just fragile, she was emotionally broken. 
 
 `` We've prepared for this. Just find running water, remember your training, and you'll be fine.'' 
 
 Dad may not have shown it, but he was just as broken as Mom was. We all have our coping mechanisms. Mom became a tearful wreck, and Dad did the exact opposite. He had become so emotionally cold, it was almost frightening. They two sides of the same coin, two grieving parents who could n't cope with reality. 
 
 And there we parted. No tearful goodbyes. No'I love you's'. It was n't their fault, I knew that. Perhaps there was a time when we loved each other, perhaps even for a time after Josh. But after all these years, any `` love'' there might have been had faded. Dad's heart had grown so cold it had frozen out any love it may have had. Mom's, on the other hard, had become so full of her white-hot emotion, so full of overwhelming sorrow, that everything else she might have felt had burned to a cinder. Ever since their big, blue-eyed boy had left the village. 
 
 But, me? I was a different case entirely. Ever since I watched Josh walk out those front gates, I only had one focus, survival. These past four years had been nothing but training. Crafting, tracking, basic survival, and of course self defense. These past years I have trained with only the tools permitted: a few cotton sheets, one change of clothes, a water canteen, and a regulation army knife. But that whole time was just preparation. Now it was real. 
 
 Slowly, the village's gates creeped open. Without hesitation I began my descent into the wild, without so much as a glance back at what had been my home for so many years. 
 
 The terrain was bumpy and uneven, but it did n't pose much of an obstacle to scale through. Every so often, I made sure to snap a twig or make some marking as to remember where I had gone. Eventually, after hours in the eerie silence of the forest, I could hear the babbling of a small brook nearby. 
 
 I made sure to continue marking my surroundings, watching my every step as I approached the brook. Eventually, following the sound of the brook that flooded the silence of the forest, I found the brook. But even with the fresh water in sight, I still made sure to scout the area and make sure nothing dangerous lurked. As I approached the brook, a quick shimmer caught my eye at the base of the tree in front of me. 
 
 A tripwire! The engineering was rudimentary at best, was definitely man made. Upon further inspection, I followed the wire to a net hidden in the branches. Clearly, the trap was set by an ametuer. It looked as if whoever designed this trap had the engineering prowess of Wile E Coyote. Maybe I was n't alone, maybe there was somebody else actually alive out here! 
 
 The elation I had felt had been short-lived, as I felt the cold sensation of sharp blade against my jugular. 
 
 `` Make a move and it'll be your last, kid,'' the man whispered in my ear. The voice did n't belong to an old man, but he was clearly was n't a teenager like myself. I could feel his long, grizzly beard against my shoulder. But that voice... it seemed oddly familiar. The man walked around to take a look at his hostage, his knife still pressed against my throat. His big blue eyes looked deep into mine. This man looked far different, but I would never forget those eyes. 
 
 `` Hi Josh.''
