250 people remained with Peter to watch him as he undertook a mission with them
750 left with Jin to spread out and gain more ground.
1,000 applicants had entered Phase 2's First Part and 1,000 applicants had entered Phase 2's Second Part!
Peter was so shocked as he contemplated this that through out the journey he did not dare be careless.
They were either good killers and Jin had made them go through intense training as he had, or worse, during the 3 week period before the Phase 2.
Or,
They were excellent at picking off their targets.
Or,
They were very good at hiding.
And, the reason he doubted it was the final assumption at all was because of their eerie synchronisation.
Not all of them had Chips in their brains!
That is, Jin had probably gotten one himself and then pushed them hard enough to work in tacit corporation and that was not even counting the level of their efficiency!
The only time Peter had heard their footsteps were the times when they got 1 meter around him and his eyes were already locked on theirs!
Thinking back, he realised Tumunomi Escaver would have preferred this team.
Remembering to comply and take a step forward, he ventured towards another Batch who had barely lost people;
6th Batch!
And while they only had 100 people with them, against batch 4's 1,000 it was even more impressive because they were less with manpower, items and resources.
Peter and Batch 4 quietly and slowly stalked the uneven sands to stare 1,000 meters ahead at an area of tents pitched that jealousy guarded something which reflected a slow pulsing light.
And although the word jealously was only used because off the tight formation of tents, there was no personnel in sight.
That is, without the temporary dwellings, it looked deserted.
600 meters of uneven sand, and then 400 meters of tents.
Nolan corrected that actually.
"600 meters between us and the tents, 200 meters of tents in tight grid formation and 100 meters of Space that led to a hole."
500 meters further back, he was standing on a 200 meter dune and using a Potent Artefact that granted him better sight. AfterdarkOptics, this was what Peter remembered the name of the item, as he heard the voice through a PagerIntercom from someone beside him who had set the receiver's channel to Loud Speaker.
"Now," Nolan continued, "we are going to fan out and walk half a step slower until we are 500 meters closer. Then, we will open fire."
"Move out!"
Following heir rhythm, he would have felt his joints aching him after his first 10 steps because of their ridiculous snail's pace.
When they were at 100 meters, they trudged on.
200 metres and all was calm.
300 meters and nothing happened.
400 meters and still good silence.
450 meters and everything was sti-
Thump!
Something bountiful in number sailed the air from the ground and arced a promising quick return.
"Duck. DU-"
Shockwave Bombs rained upon them and rhey did not have time to esc-
BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-
As pandemonium broke out and lights carried them out of the Phase 2's Second Part, Peter was running forward immediately as he had seen the rising Shockwave Bombs.
BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-
"FORWARDS! ALL UNITS RUN FORWARDS! ALL UNITS RUN FORWARDS! ALL UNITS RUN!"
BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-
He was not oart of their team but he had to snatch a PagerIntercom and command them because he did not want to end up alone if he made it across. And also he ha-
BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-
The sudden slide he did next would would have dislocated his some, waist and ankles if he had not been drilled by Mrs Rose Marilyn. And rhis was because, he had been running forwards at full speed. Then, suddenly, he backflipped and then twirled his body as was flipping. So, that he arced like a ribbon in a circus.
BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-
Anyways, he passed the first waves of GhostThreads and continuously cartwheeled, somersaulted, rolled, spun and twisted for the next 25 meters because he valued his time here and did not want to lag behind Tumunomi Escaver, Jacob, John, Jake, Ivan, or Andrew.
"GhostThreads are as invisible as they are invincible, approach with care, approach with care!"
Shouting commands into the PagerIntercom as he did gymnastics which should have been impossible, Peter was clear after another 25 meters where he paused and then threw a shoe at an area of the sand he had suspicion about.
BOOM!
Ome explosion had been the kickstarter to a chain.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
"Mine Field! Up Next is a mine field."
He put the PagerIntercom down again and was going to use the places that had exploded as foot holds to move on, but he saw that they were filled with GhostPins.
They too were almost invisible and almost indestructible.
Peter was wondering who had set up these mines when he realised something.
If Batch 6th had truly bot lost any members, then their traps could not have evicted them, right?
Well, hopefully, Jin jad not lied about it.
"Crawl in the lines between the exploded patches!"
Dripping the PagerIntercom again, Peter threw his other shoe at an area and instigated another series of explosions before looking back to see myriad lights and hearing names being called.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Looking forwards now, he used his elbow and toes to slug through 100 meters and just as he finished that, a make shift wall of battered wood pieces erected up before him like it was pulled up buy strings and 100 ProjectileGuns were pointed his direction.
TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-
And Peter did not know who threw him a ProjectileGun from behind him for support, but he snatched it out of he air and knocked out 100 Shockwave bombs that had been tossed towards him in blind confidence from the 6th Batch
BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-
Out of shock – tents flying and send covering their vision – Peter vaulted over the makeshift fence and begai indiscriminate hauling of Shockwave Bombs and FlashBang Grenades that their kines scattered.
BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-
And though none of theirs was still evicted, about 10 of his people had joined himself and were throwing bombs or shooting.
BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-
"You are a great warrior, Peter. Forgive me for my distrust and never considering your capabilities."
BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-
"Do not distract me General!"
BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-
"Haha, young man I like your style!"
BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-BOO-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-
Now, they had finaly reached the camo to see that no one was there. But when they looked closely – through the sand cloud and scattered tents – it there were lights springing up around the camp.
"HOLD POSITION!!" Nolan's voice entered every PagerIntercom and only Peter dared to move by looking back.
250 of them now barely 50!
Their ears were ringing as so much sund had happened since they started advancing towards the 6th Base's camp so they could not hear the names being called but at least Nolan's voice was not completely muted.
"MOVE WITH CAUTION!"
The entire team slowly advanced as ammunition was continually reloaded. And it continues this way until they reached the hole with pulsating lights.
"HOLD POSITION!"
All froze like an Iceberg was suddenly born and had swallowed them all.
"ANGLE YOUR WEAPONS!"
4th Batch and Peter aimed carefully so that their intended bullets would not bounce and come back up.
"FIRE!"
TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-
For a clean 15 minutes, bullets rained down the hole leading to he ground but here were no screams or sound of dropping bodies.
TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-TUT-
"HALT!"
Everyone seized fire and Nolan looked at Peter before glancing at the crowd around him.
"We will enter in teams of 5, there will be 2 minutes before each one joins the last. We are currently 45 so, 4 teams will enter."
Nolan's gaze lingered at a certain someone before he spoke. "Peter, you will be in the 3rd team dropping in."
"The rest of you will wait, with 10 around the hole, another 10 scouting for stragglers and the remaining 5 hidden in tents and ready to sound any needful alarms.'
"MOVE!"
Peter watched them all arranging themselves to their tasks and he was tempted to leave everyone after evicting them out.
Wait,
Nolan had just said he could leave.
Peter now felt conflicted and he let out a breath. And, when his time came he too jumped down the hole.
It felt like rubber and plastic as he went down and down and down and dow-
"Oof!"
The boy had landed to see the other Batch 4 members.
"Glad you could make it." Nolan squeezed his shoulder and gave him a deep look. "Okay, so we will move cautiously down the tunnel, 3 meters between each group after everyone has dropped in."
2 minutes later the final group dropped in and Nolan pointed to the front.
"Be the vanguard."
Peter felt the urge to curse at him. "I'm not *that* good am I?"
Nolan rolled his eyes.