The Fighters

The Fighters: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

            Each group stood as the forty foot doors opened in front of us, showing the large dome ahead. I saw that inside was grass and hills and you couldn’t see much past that, because the entire dome began to sink down, going underground. This was for the attacks by the aliens, in case they ever tried to blow up the arena. I stood with my group and waited for the instructions. All I knew was that I was ready for the fight.

            “This arena has three checkpoints. The first will not take as long as the other two. Most will probably finish within three days. There are only two rules: Do not kill your own, and do kill the enemy: the aliens. There is equipment at the end of the first checkpoint for the three days you will be in here. Whichever group finishes first, will get the highest rankings in the Fighters. Remember that this Battle is for a training that is so life- like, that you will most likely use every skill you learn in this Battle in the real world, with the real aliens. Good luck.” And that was it. The groups assembled positions to start running, but I knew only I and the rest of the runners would get farthest.

            I told Maria my plan, to get to the equipment as fast as I could before it ran out, and wait for the rest of the team. Maria nodded and patted my back for luck. And then there was a bell. The bell disoriented me, and I felt almost like I had no idea what was happening. I heard guns going off, and looked around me as I saw many Gunners and Androids shooting people who were simply in their way. My heart dropped, wondering if one of them could have been from my own group. I remembered the sergeant’s words, “Don’t kill your own,” and it pained me that he probably had seen many people die in the Battle, simply because the killers were impatient, and wanted to rid of the weak.  But my feet were moving far away from the killers, from my own thoughts even, covering more ground than I would be able to run in two hours, in two minutes. The rest of the Runners were beside me, but after a while, I actually outran them.

            The grass began to slope downhill, making my legs strain. When I looked behind me, no one was in sight. The ceiling of the dome began to disappear as I entered the underground part of the arena. The grass turned into dirt, and I saw the soft glow of occasional light bulbs lighting the tunnel I was in. I heard footsteps behind me and I knew I was slowing down, and the other Runners were catching up. But I kept moving.

            My eyes stung when I saw light at the end of the softly glowing tunnel, and I ran into a huge arena, bigger than the one I first entered. Only this one was underground. They tried to make it as realistic as possible, with plastic grass and flowers, even fake trees to cover the ground. I could see the checkpoint, with two thick metal poles holding up a thinner strip of metal that had cameras attached to it. It was far away, but if I could see it, I could get there in no time.

            I began to pick up speed, and suddenly, I ended up right on my face. My nose began to gush blood, and my ankles felt like they had been sliced off. Three other Runners passed me as I lay on my stomach, fighting the urge to scream in pain. My only weapon, my legs, felt utterly useless. I flipped to my back as two Runners zipped past me. I almost laughed out loud to myself when I heard a thump of a Runner falling over, just like I had. It must have been an invisible line attached to two trees to slow us down.

            Sitting up, I looked at the damage. The fronts of my ankles were sliced, alright, at least three or four centimeters deep. And the invisible line was stuck in my flesh. It definitely wasn’t invisible anymore, considering it was dyed red from my blood now. I gritted my teeth as I pulled the string out and stood up. I was able to run if I bit the bullet, and so I did. I was surprised to see that there wasn’t a Runner in sight, and it was because two were caught by traps, and five or six were off to the side, fighting off an alien.