I opened my eyes an hour before dawn. After almost three months, my internal clock had been fine tuned. Today was the day that our final test was scheduled. We went through several tests each week.
Some of the tests were simply to monitor our physical fitness. Fortunately, I was no longer the same as I was when I first got here. What once was a slim build, devoid of any muscle, was now a finely toned beautiful specimen of human perfection. Strangely, all of us ended up with a similar build. I had grown an entire three inches, putting me at 6'3. My skin was now a rich caramel color that was unseen in my home city instead of a pale white.
Other tests included survival training, strategy training, and military formation training. These things all led to a similarly sharp mind to match my body.
'It's time to go to the canteen.'
Unlike my first day, I started getting up on time so I could join my comrades in eating a healthy breakfast. Once I arrived and picked up my meal, I saw Pratt and Alex already sitting at our usual table. I noticed they had grown quite close over the course of three months. After I sat down and greeted them, Alex spoke.
"Morning, Alicard. What do you think our final test is going to be? The Sergeants haven't said anything and none of the other Privates know what's going on."
"How would I know anything you don't? You've gotten pretty close to Sergeant Rhodes, but he won't tell you anything?"
I took a bite of my breakfast sandwich as Pratt cut in.
"Maybe it's just something to scare us and we'll just have a normal graduation ceremony?"
At this point, both Mallory and Lisa were joining us at the table.
"Oh please, Pratt. We all saw the same orientation video. The world isn't actually as peaceful as we thought. Would we really need to do all this training anyways if that wasn't the case?"
Mallory as usual was full of sarcasm.
"Yea, I think this will be something big of they're being so secretive about it."
Lisa backed up Mallory as she sighed.
I listened to the others bicker back and forth as I quietly ate my breakfast. Before long, the first rays of dawn could be seen coming up through the window. That was our queue to head to the field.
Before the sun was completely visible in the sky, we were all lined up out in the field. Sergeant Rhodes, who's showed up out of nowhere during our first week here, was the only Sergeant in sight. By this point, a whistle was no longer necessary and he only had to wait for but a brief moment before we were all at attention. The second we were, he started speaking.
"You all have now, just barely, made something of yourselves. This doesn't give you the right to be cocky though! If you thought the hardest part was over… you'd be especially wrong! No amount of tests, or drills, or training, can actually prepare you for what you are about to face.
"In this final week, the world as you know it is literally about to change forever. This finally test is not just a simple test as those before or were. This will be an actual life or death challenge! Some of you may die, but that is a risk we have to take! You might wonder why it is that with how peaceful our lives are, why we need to maintain a military. That's because we are constantly under attack!"
As Sergeant Rhodes was speaking, a low rumble started to become louder and louder before finally, a convoy of military trucks appeared. I was fascinated as they caught my attention. I had never seen one of the vehicles we read about in history in real life before. Unfortunately, my attention was soon fully back on Sergeant Rhodes, as what he said next shocked me.
"In fact, we are actually no longer underground. You may have noticed over these three months, that the sun is different from what your used to. That's because the heat from the real sun can not be regulated! This is also why your skin color has changed and why you all are more fit than you thought possible.
"This compound is actually only a small part of a much larger military base that we have above ground. More importantly, this is our only military base above ground. You will all get on one of these trucks and be taken to the military command building on base and from there you will all be separated and placed in a group of trained soldiers for your first expedition! We're leaving now!"
After the immediate feeling of shock passed through me, I felt the now unfamiliar anxiety start to creep up inside of me. I've always had a deep fear of the unknown. Everything in my life had always been planned out and I didn't have to think much about anything. Ever since the life path ceremony, that changed. Now I was about to explore the greatest unknown that I could possibly fathom… I realized though that there was actually a small bit of excitement hidden within the anxiety. It turns out that I've already technically been in the unknown this entire time.
I hurriedly border the same truck as Pratt, Alex, Lisa, and Mallory. It was quite the novel feeling, the truck rumbling beneath me. I looked around me and wondered how we were going to get to our destination. The trucks were going on a straight line, cutting through the field. What awaited us at the end was simply a forest. I started to get a bit worried as the leading truck approached the trees. Just when I thought the truck was going to crash, it simply disappeared into a void. I looked over and noticed that the others all had similar expressions of disbelief. Finally, our truck was about to pass through and I braced myself for the inevitable collision. There was none.
What awaited me on the other side was a scene I could never forget. As far as the eye could see, was an enormous military base. Helicopters from times long forgotten could be seen traveling through the air, carrying different loads. Enormous buildings were spread out all around us. The buildings underground might have been large in diameter, but these buildings were simply tall enough to pierce the sky. Different vehicles could be seen traveling around us and groups of soldiers were marching in formations and yelling songs while they marched to the beat. Seeing all of these people, I suddenly had a thought that maybe the population cap only accounted for the people who lived below ground.
We followed a winding rode until we came to a stop in front of the largest building I had ever seen in my life. This building only had a single symbol as decoration. A shield at the forefront and two swords crossed behind it. Sergeant Rhodes stepped out of the leading truck and waited for us to do the same. Afterwards, he turned and marched towards the building as we fell in line behind him. Once inside, the Sergeant snapped to attention. Before him was a man that was taller than any I had seen before. He was almost seven feet tall and was a mountain of muscle from head to toe. Sergeant Rhodes called out to him.
"General!"
"At ease Sergeant. These must be our new recruits. Take them to the lab. It's time they learned what pain really is."
I shuddered when I heard those words.
'Why would we be going to a lab?'
Before the anxiety could creep in, the Sergeant was yelling at us to follow him. He lead us through a hallway to an elevator. Once inside, he pressed a button before we started to travel down multiple levels. After almost 10 minutes, we finally reached the bottom. When the door opened, my horizons were once again broadened. Multiple doctors could be seen rushing back and forth in front of me. They all seemed to be in a hurry as none of them even looked up to acknowledge our presence. The most shocking thing though were the clear tubes lining the walls. Some of them contained humans, and others… contained things that immediately made me want to puke.
Grotesque and horribly disfigured creatures were inside of them. Some had incredibly sharp looking claws, others had small wings, a few of them had spikes sticking out of different places, but they all had one thing in common. Including the humans, their eyes were open and pitch black. As I looked into the eyes of the creature nearest to me, I suddenly thought of the nightmares that I had before I came to basic training. I recoiled at the thought.
We walked down the hallway to the end of the room where a door stood closed in front of us. Sergeant Rhodes came up to the door and a large metallic eye appeared and flashed red.
-Sergeant Rhodes. Access Granted.-
The door opened. Inside were a row of chairs with a doctor standing next to each. Farther back was someone wearing a military uniform and not a doctors coat. I was shocked for the third time today.
'How is this the General that we saw in the lobby?!'
There was no logical way for him to be before us. We took what had to be the only way here and he was not with us.
'Does he have a twin?'
The General motioned for us all to sit.
"You all are about to go through an extremely painful process. Centuries ago, our planet was invaded by a dark and evil race of creatures. You've seen them before. They are the same creatures that were being tested outside of this room. These creatures are stronger, faster, smarter, and produce offspring faster than any human. For lack of a better term, we've named these creatures Demons.
"Demons are bloodthirsty creatures. Normally, somewhat like a rabid dog, this wouldn't have been an issue. Unfortunately, some of these creatures also have incredible whit. Over the years, we've been able to classify these creatures into different levels. There are 10 levels overall. Level One demons are not very intelligent. They operate mostly on instinct, but they are of similar strength to a fit adult male. Level Two demons have the strength of two adult males but also the average intelligence of a five year old. The limited intelligence makes these petty demons increasingly difficult to deal with.
"Level Three demons have the intellect of a normal adult, but the strength of 5. Level Four demons have a genius level intellect and a qualitative change in strength. Level Four and up can no longer be described using the strength of humans as measurement. They are no longer limited to physical fighting. They control a special energy that allows them to break past the limit of their bodies.
"The levels higher than that don't matter for the likes of you. Simply put, even if you ran into a Level One Demon right now, you would die. Fortunately, our predecessors developed a way to unlock the hidden potential of the human body. Unfortunately, only those who have a certain gene called the Omni-Gene are able to survive this process and even then it's not guaranteed. All of you have been determined to have the Omni-Gene and will undergo the painful process of awakening. This will allow you to put up a fight against the Demons and also give you a special innate ability that is unique to you. Hopefully, most of you will survive."
The General quickly left the room after he finished his speech. I sat in my chair with my jaw nearing the floor as I tried to process this information. These creatures sounded absolutely horrifying. The thought of facing something like that made me feel insignificant. I even thought about running away. That was before straps extended from my chair and locked me in place at least.
I panicked a bit as I struggled to break free but there was no use. Was this really going to happen? I might die right here right now without even seeing one of these horrifying creatures?
'Maybe it's actually better this way…'
Too bad that this way involved incredible pain. I screamed out at the top of my lungs as the doctor that was behind me originally was now pumping a viscous green liquid from a syringe into my body. Fortunately, I found peace in the abyss as darkness took over my sight.