Battle Boys - Prologue
by Sam The Ham

    
   

      Alec walked into the carpeted lobby his mom trailing behind him. There was a woman sitting at a folding table. He recognized her as someone who had done some of the screenings before so they were at the right place. The big sign out front had been a big hint. A moment later, he darted forward, leaving his mom behind, to stand at the desk. The woman who had been reading something was startled by the sudden appearance.

“Oh, hello,” she said. “I'm guessing you are Alec?”

“Yes, I am.” He put on his best smile.

The woman filed through some paperwork and turned her attention towards his mom. “Here's the contact information. If he has a cell phone it should work in most places. During filming you can always contact us through those numbers. Will make sure he calls home every night.”

His mother hesitated and took the piece of paper reluctantly. She stared at it for a very long time. “Alec, are you absolutely sure about this?”

He resisted the urge to sigh. “Yes, mom I will be fine, it's going to be a lot of fun.”

“He will be monitored constantly,” the woman chimed in. “It is very safe. If you have more questions we can talk, but perhaps Alec would like to meet the other boys. They're waiting inside.”

Alec turned towards his mother wanting permission. He had really just wanted to go into the hotel himself. His mother wouldn't have allowed that though. It was annoying that even at fifteen his parents didn't seem to trust him.

“Well, be sure to call.” His mother said, releasing him with her words.

Alec smiled and gave her a hug and a kiss which was completely for her benefit before turning towards the door and adjusting his backpack one more time. He walked into the room and let the door closed behind him without a backward glance.

The room was fairly barren. There were a few chairs and tables spread around along with five others. Two boys, one with a Mohawk and another with dreadlocks, he tagged as the weird hair pair. They were talking by one of the large windows and only gave a cursory glance upon his entrance. The other one was just looking at his phones He had darker hair and skin. Not so much black but he was probably Hispanic. The boy with the dreadlocks was black he was sure. Everyone else was Caucasian including himself. A cute bunch he thought including himself in that analysis.

He decided to try to start a conversation with the one who was on the phone. They had been randomly assigned to a team but he didn't want anyone to feel like the odd man out. Upon approaching, the boy did look up which was promising. His hair had something in it that made it shine and sort of mesh together. Maybe gel or mousse? He wasn't really sure. Would he be considered weird for not having weird hair?

“Hi! I’m Alec.”

The boy looked up from his phone again. Hesitating for a second before venturing, “I am Kevin.”

Alec smiled. “Nice to meet you Kevin, what are you doing there?”

Kevin tilted the phone so he could see. It was some videogame he didn't recognize. A scantily clad woman with a sword was paused on the screen.

"Dragon Queen, it’s a basic platform."

"Never played it. Is it any good?"

"It was free; it’s pretty much what I paid for. I'm guessing you're the fifteen-year-old?"

Alec nodded. Each team was made up of four boys from ages twelve to fifteen. “How old are you?"

"Twelve" Kevin smiled.

"All right, have you met our other teammates?"

Kevin shook his head. "I just got here a few minutes ago."

"Let's go introduce ourselves then." Alec suggested. Just as he glanced towards the duo he noticed they were wandering over to them.

"Hey, I'm Max. He's Isaiah." Max nodded, his dreadlocks shifting in a cascade of movement, and then he gestured towards Isaiah.

"I prefer Isaac." The Mohawk boy piped in.

"Hi, I'm Alec and this is Kevin. I guess where the Blue team."

"Blue team? No man their down the hall." Max said with a straight face.

For a brief second Alec was worried he might've wandered into the wrong room before remembering the woman who had greeted him. He smiled and Max mirrored him.

Before any of them could say anything more, a man walked into the room. "Hello I'm Martin the manager for Battle Boys. Would you all mind taking a seat?"

Everybody shuffled around finding different places to sit. Martin waited until everyone was seated. "Well, I know you all had the opportunity to read the information sent and asked questions, but I just want to make sure everything was clear especially since no parents are around."

There was a long moment of silence before Max raised his hand. "Okay, this is like a competition reality show right? Like when we’re not doing stuff for the show cameras are going to be around? How much?"

Martin nodded. "Well, yes. Since there isn't any voting off for anything basically if you don't see a cameraman around, it doesn’t mean you are not recorded."

Alec smiled to himself. By no stretch of the imagination was he a fan of reality shows. He had seen a few here and there if only in clips. He didn’t want anyone filming him when he was sleeping. Besides he was pretty sure Max was thinking about something else. He didn’t want a camera around either when he was masturbating. There were no other questions after that, so Martin smiled and clapped his hands together.

"Well then, you are the blue team. We’ll be giving you shirts and shorts when you get to your quarters. We're trying to keep electronic devices down to a minimum so try not to flash your phones or anything else you might not want cameras recording."

Martin suggested that they all introduce themselves again and say something interesting about themselves. Alec couldn't help but remember back when he had been in elementary school and they had a new student. Martin pointed to Max to start.

Max must've had similar memories because he stood up unprompted. "Hey, I'm Max. I'm fourteen and I competed in three different contests." He shrugged and sat back down.

Alec stood up next. "I'm Alec, fifteen. I play football since I can remember. I float around on defense."

After he sat down neither Isaac nor Kevin stood up. Martin finally picked Isaac. Alec was hoping he would say something about his Mohawk but he was disappointed.

"I'm Isaac. I'm thirteen and last year my appendix exploded. It's the most interesting thing about me."

Condemned Kevin stood up quietly his shoulders hunched. "I'm Kevin. I'm twelve. I like to play soccer." He sat down quickly.

Martin nodded. "Well if you follow me I'll show you to your quarters."

They got up and followed Martin. The man led them down the hallway and into another. There was a large staircase, the type that three or four people walk up or down without a problem. On either side of the first floor there was a sign above the doorway reading Orange Team and on the other side Green Team. They walked up the stairs and like downstairs there were two also, this time with Red Team and Blue Team.

Martin stopped before he opened the door. "In each room there is a key to the door. Try to keep your phones and everything inside the room. We're going to do a small filming right now though. When you go into here you'll each pick out a room, it's all yours. Just try to act excited."

Martin waited several more seconds before flinging the door open. The five of them then stormed inside. The place had clearly once been a resort but the hallways were fairly narrow. Isaac jumped into the air and bounced off the wall letting everyone else chart through. Alec barely noticed the cameraman at the end of the hallway before darting into one of the rooms. Max was already there though, looking around. The room was essentially a hotel room with a queen-size bed, several pieces of furniture and a doorway that looked like it led to a bathroom.

"My room!" Max shouted.

Another voice called out claiming another room and Alec darted out of the room to the hallway and into another and shouted. "My room!"

"Oh, this is so awesome!" Another voice called out. "You guys have to see this."

Alec darted out of the room and finished up the hallway. The hallway terminated into a larger room. It looked like there had once been two rooms on either side of the hallway. The walls had been taken down and replaced it with a wraparound couch, a thick carpet and a pinball machine. That was just the tip of the iceberg out. There was a smaller table that was covered in different board games, a dartboard and an air hockey table.

In the back of Alec's mind he understood that these were all products probably given by various sponsors. He actually could remember the last time he had played a board game but he tried to look enthusiastic as the rest of his teammates joined him.

"That was great guys." Martin said walking down the hallway and clapping. "Okay, let's do it again but this time try to look a little scared like you're not sure what's going to happen."  

They did it several more times. Alec had never realized that a reality show required so many takes. Okay on some level he had always known they were fake to one or another. He knew it would require some acting, but four different takes just to enter a room? By the time Martin left, he collapsed onto his bed. This was going to be a long two and half weeks. At least there was $40,000 at the end of it.