Free Grid Seekers (Grid Seekers Book One) by Logan Byrne

and out in the lobby within ten minutes,” a voice said over a speaker in my room.
    I sighed, sitting up and swinging my feet over the side of the bed. My back already missed lying on the mattress, and I hadn’t even been off of it for five seconds. I looked at the uniform on the end of the bed, let out another sigh, and stood up, walking around the front of the bed and picking it up, rubbing the number six on the front between my thumb and forefinger.
    I got changed, folding my old clothes nicely. The only part of me I kept on was my bracelet, which I was determined not to ever be without, even if they didn’t like me wearing it. I kept my clothes in the same spot the uniform was in, the contrast of my worn sweater against the crisp white sheets really showing me the difference between where I was this morning and where I was now. It was almost night and day.
    With only a few minutes to spare, I walked to my door, pressed the button to open it, and walked out into the lobby, seeing most of the other participants already there, sitting around on the couches as they waited to see what was next.
    Everyone had the same uniform, the only difference being the number and color on the breast of the shirt. Jamie was the only person from my group who’d come out, and she nodded at me as I walked over. I sat down beside her and crossed my legs.
    Now to hope this training wouldn’t kill me before I could get back into that bed.

Chapter Six
     
    I woke from my slumber the next morning fully rested. The bed was like nothing I had ever slept in before; it was far better than the old, lumpy one I had at home. I didn’t even wake up once during the night, which was something I wasn’t sure that I had ever experienced before. It was a little thing that kept me feeling a bit better about being here, which I now did, even if I still wasn’t in love with the idea.
    We didn’t do too terribly much yesterday, just learned about the building, more about the competition, and spent time with our teams. It seemed to be more of an easy day, or at least that was what I’d gotten out of it, considering we didn’t even start any actual training, not even in one of the areas we were going to be learning.
    Christian told us that we’d be finding out who our partners were today, which I think most of us were fairly excited about. I tried to be both reserved and outgoing yesterday, not alienating anyone from my team, but also not getting so close that I’d be disappointed if they didn’t end up being my partner. All of them seemed like they’d be of value to me, since they each had their own individual strengths, though I did think Matthew would be the hardest to work with. Him being older didn’t exactly help when we’d probably be on the run most of the time.
    I got ready, grabbing a different uniform set from my closet, tossing the old ones in a basket. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail, both because I wanted to keep it out of my face in case we had a challenge, and because I honestly had no intention of taking the time to do it. I had nobody to impress here.
    I walked into the lobby area a few minutes before I needed to be there. Almost everyone else was already out there waiting, nobody talking to one another as they all watched me walk out and to an open seat on the couch. It was awkward, but then again this entire situation was a little awkward.
    The front doors opened and Christian walked through, a digiboard in his hands and a smile on his face as the last two people we were waiting for, both from Denver, came out right on cue. Christian stopped in front of us, putting his hands on his hips, as he looked around the room, watching each of our faces.
    “How was your first night here?” he asked.
    “It went well,” a guy from Seattle said.
    “Everyone else do well with the accommodations?” Christian asked.
    We all said yes, some a little more enthusiastically than others, but he took the answers and didn’t try to get us in a