Red Pack ran through the halls of the training facility, and exited onto the obstacle forest, finishing a five-mile run. none stopped till they reached a pile of backpacks and guns lying next to the entrance. At the whistle of the drill sergeant, each donned training armor, grabbed a twenty-pound pack, a gun, keyed their suits into the system, and sprinted into the course. Eight square miles of trees, pitfalls, derelict buildings, and sets of ropes suspended throughout. Scattered about the area were traps and hazards, most of which weren't lethal.707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubjDzx9pfk
Today it was fireteam training, and Marcus was picked to be the assault member on his. Brutus, who from the beginning of training positioned himself as Pack Alpha, took coordination. Octavia, one of the best shooters, took sniper/scout. Lucius, one of the largest, took heavy weapons. He was lucky that they had picked him. Usually Octavian took assault and they had dominated most of the competitions. Octavian was Octavia's brother, and neither of them had a single slow muscle between them. Sniper/Shotgun pairs always made it rough for everyone else. A shotgun, SMG, DMR, a thumper, and a fragmentation grenade apiece were their allotment. They immediately took off in the direction of a cave system that Octavia have spotted in their last game. There were five teams today, and only the winning squad got to sleep in their beds that night. The rest had to run. As they ran along, Brutus outlined their plan: find the cave system, if it was suitable, Brutus and Marcus would conceal themselves inside away from the opening. Lucius would hide outside of the cave. Octavia would run off and lure others in.
No sooner had they found the opening when a chain gun started off to their left and towards the perimeter of the combat zone. Octavia took off while Lucius crawled under the lush vegetation. Marcus pumped a round into his shotgun and trotted after Brutus into the dark. Thirty seconds later they crouched down among the stalagmites and waited for bait. Marcus tried to keep his panting from echoing around the cave. The five-mile run had followed four hours of conditioning. At least they fed them well. Two more days and they get a drop day. Training consisted of week long cycles divided into six days of brutal training followed by one of recovery and preparation. He had accumulated a grand total of fifteen blisters on his feet, and was pretty sure he strained his knee in the last martial combat session. Brutus sported two broken fingers and doubtlessly a similar amount of blisters. Everyone had a running total of injuries, but to baby them would only make them weak. Scipio had once stopped to bandage a toe that that had its nail ripped off. The instructors made him walk on his toes for the rest of the cycle.
It had been ten cycles since the awakening. They had trained incessantly since then. Every two cycles all three packs lined up on their small parade ground for review. An officer devoted ten minutes, and that was all. They soon realized that nobody else looked like them. They were different, and were proud of it. Soon being called a child or kid was the worst insult imaginable. They called themselves Genesis, and everyone else barely rated acknowledgement other than the requirements of the sergeants.
Brutus whispered over to him, "whats your ammo and count?". Marcus looked at his bandoleer and muttered back," twenty AP's". Brutus winced at the type and Marcus knew he was hoping for scatter or incendiary. All the weapons were specially designed to be non-lethal though certainly incapacitating. Flamethrowers only gave the very real sensation of burning, bullets left a debilitating bruise, grenades combined shrapnel, fire, and a sonic field to knock out those who were close enough, and knifes caused muscles to seize up. some were more useful than others. Marcus hesitated, and then queried, "Why did you pick me?"
"I thought it would be best."
"What about Octavian?"
"I don't want those two getting too much authority, Red Pack needs a strong leader for what's coming."707Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7TcDxMSKKb
Marcus rolled that around for a few seconds. Brutus always resisted any perceived threat against the pack, but he would never let any one else ever beat him. Never slowed or took others into consideration more than necessary. Everyone was a little spooked by the relentlessness he pursed their training. The drill sergeants always passed instructions, when they did, to the pack through Brutus, but usually they had to figure it out on their own. Marcus had always been cautious around Brutus, he had seen him beat a loner named Gaius in the showers for not engaging in the bull sessions during chow. A broken nose, black eyes, and four cracked ribs made for a rough couple cycles. Chills ran down his spine at remembering the blood poor into the drain and hearing the crunches as Brutus hit Giaus for not engaging, not apologizing, not being what Brutus wanted him to be. Nevertheless, he decided that knowledge was greater than caution, "What is coming? Its always the same, six and one, six and one. What cause for spit?"
This referred to one of the enumerable customs that had sprung up since the first cycle. In one of the first matches in the forest, Scipio and Juno had been crouched under a jumble of logs waiting for a squad to pass. He went to spit, and just he started, he noticed a land mine right before him. He then spat over his shoulder. Soon everyone had taken the custom, which was used when you were going along minding your own business and suddenly discovered or realized something dangerous. A quick bob of the head forward followed by saliva over the shoulder.
"I don't know, but what is the benefit for the trainers? this all has to be for a reason, and judging by the preparations, a serious one."
The conversation was cut short by a click from outside, the signal. Almost immediately after, Octavia hurtled through the opening and rushed past them. Four figures silhouetted by the sunlight, cautiously swept into the cave. Marcus recognized them as Juno, Augustus, Scipio, and Octavius. Once they were past the entrance, Brutus opened fire on the pack. Marcus popped up and pumped a round at Juno, she took it in the arm when Lucius dropped the hammer down. A "thumper", is a semi-automatic micro-grenade launcher. The real life counterpart of the grenade would easily destroy a large car. The weapon's short range was compensated by a grenade every half second. The opening and the opposing squad disappeared in a frenzy of shrapnel, fire, rocks, rebounding shock-waves, and four very neutralized pack members. Once Marcus could rely on his senses again, he stood up.
The area around the mouth of the cave had been very well scoured by six grenades and the other squad were draped over the rubble inside the cave like studies in still life. Lucius stood at the mouth with a big shit-eating grin on his face. They all exited and congratulated Lucius on the four Ks. Octavia reported that there was a firefight between the remaining three packs in the Maze. Brutus grinned and pantomimed sweeping a broom.
They took off in a careful jog until the reached the clearing that housed the Maze. Three levels divided into a puzzle of walls, trap doors, nooks, choke points, and hallways. Lucius took the north exit with Brutus providing protection. on the west end Octavia let Marcus lead with his shotgun while she would pick opponents off when she had the line of sight. No sooner had the headed in when the first K showed. Galba had taken a full blast from a flamethrower and lay on the ground, his combat suit scorched and locked up to prevent movement. They continued until a flight of stairs forced them to go up. As Marcus peeked up over the edge of the stairs, bullets chipped the woodwork in front of his face. He backed off and spat. As the two of them debated over what to do, a grenade tumbled down the stair well. Marcus bolted up the stairs and leaped when he reached the top. The frag detonated as he knocked Tiberius back with a double tap to the chest. Octavia screamed that she was down before her armor locked up. As the adrenaline died, he picked up Tiberius's carbine to increase his firepower. He kept moving towards the center and met up with the other two.
Lucius was down to three grenades while Brutus had lost the use of his left arm. Together they had found three dead and killed two, leaving five undiscovered. Brutus seemed to have retracted into himself, only wanting to win. Lucius was having fun as usual. One of the few who dared to make jokes around the sergeants, he could always be counted on to liven the cycle up. They located the five thanks to the shooting. Three were assaulting a choke point held by the other two, and had just stormed it and mopped the defenders up when Lucius kissed his remaining grenades good-bye. Cato dropped to the ground screaming as Giaus and Livia returned fire, now occupying the very position they had taken. Marcus missed his shots on Livia as she leveled her chain gun and leveled Brutus and Lucius with sustained fire from the rotary barrels. He backpedaled when Giaus rocked his head back with a shot from his DMR. As he hit the ground, he heard Brutus taking the finish of everyone's armor with his swearing as his suit locked up. Within a second of impact, Marcus felt the locks engage in his armor. Then the he blast of a horn sounded through the forest, and everybody's suits loosened up, signalling the match was over. As he stood, Brutus stalked past him and whispered, "Useless, I'm going to kill you for that."
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