The Monarch of 24.
It's a cool name.
I still can't believe people had been calling me that without me knowing.
I was already their leader.
Apparently everyone else knew it before I did.
None of the founders said anything.
Or maybe they did know, and just wanted to make it official.
I still don't get how I was that oblivious.
But whatever, let's talk about the memory.
In my previous life, I became the King of Factory 24.
That was just the name I gave myself, though. I wasn't expecting to get such a similar one in this life.
Still, it seems the King of Factory 24 and the Monarch of 24 are different people.
When I was the King of Factory 24, I was heartless.
It looked like I had lost everything and turned into a dictator.
I was someone no one even dared to oppose.
I still don't know exactly what made me that way, but in this life, it's different.
I'm not heartless.
I'm not cold.
I'm not distant from everyone else.
I still talk happily with people.
I still hesitate when making decisions.
So I'm confident the future has changed somehow.
I don't know what decisions changed it, but it's different.
I won't ban high schoolers from joining.
And I won't screen new elementary and middle schoolers.
Although, since we heard about Andrew and The Claim, no one has joined anyway.
It's like everyone is so focused on this war that they aren't inviting anyone new to Factory 24.
And even if they want to, they won't.
Just in case the new person is a scout for The Claim.
So, yeah.
All I really do as the official leader is make sure decisions have a final answer.
If we can't come to a conclusion, I give the final say.
I can also overturn decisions, but most of the time, I don't.
Since the leadership change, morale has been higher.
Members are more confident in Factory 24's success.
Although all the weight is on me now.
If a decision is wrong, it's my fault.
It's stressful, but it's better than before.
When I announced the leadership change, I also made Liam a founder, essentially taking my old spot.
Now I don't participate in every founders' meeting.
Only the important ones.
In the meeting we had today, we kept things casual, but still important.
We talked about school.
The last school year ended six weeks ago, and the next one starts in about six weeks.
We figured this war would only last until someone won, or until school started.
When school starts, everyone will have less time to be bored and more to focus on.
Schoolwork.
Grades.
Clubs.
Routines.
People will be busy again.
During the last school year, there were at most twenty-five members at the factory on any given day.
But over the summer, there are never fewer than forty.
We talked about this because The Claim might be thinking the same thing.
If they don't start pushing for Factory 24 soon, it might get too late and the war will die down on its own.
When that happens, there won't be much point in taking it over.
So we predicted they would attack soon.
———————————————————————
Well, what do you know?
I was right.
The Claim started moving.
Liam got word from Alex and John that it wasn't just Andrew's group either.
It was Andrew's, Travis's, and Robert's groups.
It seems either Andrew and Travis made up and are working together now, or Travis is working under Andrew while pretending to still be separate.
Because of our scouts, we were ready.
We got information that they were going to siege Factory 24 the next day.
So we alerted everyone in Factory 24 and prepared.
Whether their scout told them we knew or not, we didn't care.
As long as we could protect the factory.
So the place got busy fast.
Every single member was at the factory from morning until the siege the next day.
At least, that's what it felt like.
Really, it was impossible to tell. Everyone was moving around too much for us to count heads properly.
No one wasted time.
Barricades got reinforced.
Group leaders reviewed the whistle signals.
And we came up with a simple defense plan:
Two people outside each entrance.
When a pair spotted the high schoolers approaching, they would blow their whistles.
Everyone else would hear them, run inside, and barricade the doors.
The Claim gets locked out.
Very simple.
No loopholes.
At least, that's what we thought.
After we finished preparing, we waited about two hours in silence for The Claim to arrive.
We hoped they wouldn't come.
We hoped...
But in the end, they did.
The whistles went off.
Everyone outside rushed inside.
And then we waited.
They were coming from the front gate.
The scouts who spotted them told us they counted twenty-nine people.
That's a good chunk of people.
Of course, the founders and I knew there were only really twenty-seven.
John and Alex were with them.
But the rest of Factory 24 didn't know that.
Factory 24 was locked down so tightly we couldn't even hear footsteps outside.
That sucked.
Not knowing where they were anymore made it worse.
After a few minutes of waiting, we heard something from the office.
No one was in the office.
The window!
Right as I realized it, we heard a crash.
They broke in through the office window.
We'd repaired the broken window with cut-out plastic tubs, so it was still weak.
Easy to break through.
How did we miss that?
"Fuck!"
Liam and Melanie said it at the same time.
Then I saw Liam scan the room and look even more afraid.
I thought about his expression for a second, but before I could figure out why, the office door opened.
Andrew Simmons.
"Hello, everybody!"
He scanned the room for a second before locking eyes with me.
His smile grew huge, like he was seeing an old friend.
"Hey, ■■■■■! Long time no see! I hear they call you the Monarch of 24 now!"
All the members, terrified, started whispering about what he just said.
"How does he know we call him that?"
After a short pause, I finally spoke in a deadpan tone.
"Hello, Andrew. Seems you're having fun."
"Oh, I am! And don't worry, it's just me!"
"Hah. Like we would believe that. Even if you're the only one inside right now, I know you have the base surrounded."
"Well, can't hide it from you." He grinned. "START IT UP, BOYS!"
Right after he yelled that, we heard a loud banging sound from the front door.
They weren't using the window?
"You might be wondering why we weren't going through the window, right?"
Damn mind reader.
"Well, that would be too easy, wouldn't it? That's no fun."
That son of a bitch.
He made a battering ram.
Then he paused and waited, like he already knew it wouldn't take long.
Liam suddenly spoke up.
"■■■■■! We have bad news! We're missing a person!"
"What!?"
"We only have 125 here! I don't remember who we're missing though!"
"Fuck! What happened to them!?"
I looked around at everyone in the factory.
Then I remembered.
"The scout."
Andrew started laughing maniacally.
Like he knew this was exactly how we'd react the whole time.
Then he went deadpan.
No smile.
No anger.
Just a blank face.
"It's done."
Right after he said that, the door was hit once more and burst open.
Everyone inside backed away from it and started shoving tables between themselves and the entrance.
After the door fell down, we got a good look at the battering ram.
A stolen stop sign.
That was all it took to break the door open?
Seriously?
That thing had to be strong as hell!
A few members of The Claim came piling in.
Axel.
Josh.
Travis.
Robert.
And two more.
Alex and John.
They were tied up.
The Claim knew?
When?
How?
Josh, as fucked up as he is, was holding a belt.
"Hello, everyone! Let's play!"
He was grinning ear to ear.
Andrew started yelling too.
"If you don't want to die, get to the side."
This time, not in a playful way.
He probably wouldn't actually kill us.
But he definitely looked like he'd beat us unconscious if we didn't obey.
All 125 members moved to the walls.
Josh and Axel kicked the tables out of the way and forced John and Alex into the center of the room.
No one said anything.
Everyone knew what was about to happen.
No one stopped it.
No one could stop it.
Even if we grabbed our weapons, we knew we were outclassed.
These guys were monsters.
They were bigger.
Stronger.
Better.
We would lose ninety-nine times out of a hundred.
There was no hope.
So they tore off our scouts shirts and started the show.
All the leaders except Andrew took turns striking our scouts with the belt.
One hit, then pass it on.
At first, it looked almost pathetic.
Light enough that it barely left marks.
Like they were still deciding how far they wanted to take it.
John clenched his jaw.
Alex tried not to make a sound.
But around fifteen minutes later, they stopped holding back.
The cracks got louder.
Sharper.
Each hit echoed through the whole factory.
The belt started wrapping around skin and snapping back hard enough to leave angry red welts.
Then bruises.
Then broken skin.
The younger kids were crying almost immediately.
Some covered their faces.
Some buried them into other people's shoulders.
Some just stared in horror like their minds hadn't caught up with what they were seeing yet.
Public torture.
Who would be prepared for that?
What the fuck happened to these high schoolers to make them think this was normal?
The founders and I couldn't do anything but watch.
Every strike made us flinch.
Every sound made the whole room tighten.
John stumbled once and got yanked back upright by Josh.
Alex dropped to one knee and got hit again before he could stand.
They wanted everyone to see it.
That was the point.
It wasn't just punishment.
It was a performance.
A warning.
A lesson.
This is what happens to people who go against them.
That's what they were saying.
Without saying it.
And the worst part?
It worked.
No one moved.
No one attacked them.
No one even tried.
It was over.
We lost the factory.
We forfeited.
No way were we going to fight that.
I mean, The Claim was having fun.
I don't know where all their other members were, but all the group leaders in the room were laughing and acting like this was some kind of game.
Then, after the belt started drawing blood, Andrew clapped.
He clapped.
He kept clapping until even the group leaders went still.
Then he spoke.
"Well... I think this was a good warmup. What do you guys think?"
"I agree. Let's call it here," Josh said.
We didn't know what the hell had just happened, but it looked like they were going to leave.
Leave?
Just like that?
After beating and torturing our friends?
Fuck you talking about warmup?
But as they started walking toward the entrance...
Someone else entered.
From the office.