Game Of Saviors - ONC 2021

Chapter 8 - Picking Battles

Running back out into the rain, Norae can't leave the cabin behind fast enough. Her breath is shaky as she lets the blood wash from her hands, still firmly gripping the knife as if it's the only thing keeping her alive. She tries to remind herself that none of it is real. That she didn't just murder Shane. Shane is fine, back in training room 37.

She's fine.

Stroking back her soaking wet hair, she forces herself to focus, to scan the perimeter. To keep going. Pushing one leg out in front of the other, she begins to walk, randomly choosing a path going god knows where. She finds herself torn between wanting to find someone in this awful forest, so she won't be alone anymore, and being scared to encounter anyone else. Scared to kill anyone else.

A light flashes in the distance. Not wasting a second, Norae ducks down behind some bushes, holding her breath as she hears shouting up ahead. Two male voices. Mateo and Nash.

Against her better judgment, Norae moves a little closer, just far enough so she can detect two figures in the light of a single lantern. A struggle ensues, one guy wrestling the other to the ground. Norae can't quite tell them apart, but watches breathlessly, nonetheless.

Until it all ends, with a few quick jabs delivered by one figure into the chest of the other. In a burst of blue particles, only one man is left standing. Eyes wide, Norae watches him walk away as her anxiety builds up. I'm not the only one who's armed.

The area now safe again, Norae rises from her position, stepping out onto the path. Gazing down at the blood on the ground, swirling into a puddle as it consumes the rainwater, Norae feels nauseous. I just want this to be over.

With a sudden swish in the air above her, her wish seems to have been answered. Something lands on top of her, ramming her into the ground as a rope is thrown hurriedly around her neck.

Norae tries to scream, but neither sound nor air is released from her throat. Long red braids hang down the side of her cheek as her assailant presses her face into the mud. Mikayla.

Frenzied hands claw at the ground, searching for a way out. But there is none.

It's like time slows down, prolonging the inevitable as Norae feels herself slip in and out of consciousness. And then finally, her training is complete.

It's as if someone flicked a light switch, and now Norae is suddenly back where she started. Slowly removing the headset, she exhales deeply as she steps off the treadmill, her balance shaky. The first few moments after leaving the simulation are always so disorienting, like her brain needs a moment to process the rapid change in reality.

She spots Lt. Brass, standing in front of a screen with Shane and Mateo a few steps behind him. Shane turns around to meet Norae's gaze. A weird sense of guilt overwhelms Norae. I killed you five minutes ago.

"Are you okay?" Shane asks, walking over as she offers her hand, assisting Norae as she removes her wired suit.

"Yeah... it just happened so fast."

"It always does." Shane shares, her expression a pained smile.

Somehow Norae didn't realize until now, that this may have been her first death inside The Grounds, but it certainly wasn't Shane's first. "I'm sorry I killed you."

Shane seems to appreciate the forwardness in Norae's apology, as a quick chuckle escapes from her. "It's fine. I tried to kill you too. All is fair in love and simulated warfare, I suppose."

"Hey," Mateo signals them, gesturing to the screen behind him as he does, "you guys should see this."

Approaching the screen, Norae gets her first looks behind the scenes of a training simulation. Footage of every initiate in their unit is displayed, complete with blacked out screens with the word 'terminated' across them for the ones that didn't make it this far. The only two screens left are the ones showcasing Mikayla and Nash's progression. Who appear to have found each other.