Part 3: "The Trial by Fire"
Ethan stood in the cold, sterile hallway outside Training Bay Alpha, his heartbeat loud in his ears. The other recruits lined up beside him, their black uniforms crisp, their faces a mix of fear, excitement, and steely determination. Overhead, bright fluorescent lights buzzed faintly, casting a harsh glow on the polished floors.
To his left, Marcus Wren stood with his arms crossed, his expression locked into an arrogant smirk. To his right, Elise Laurent adjusted the cuff of her sleeve, her green eyes sharp and calculating.
A mechanical hiss echoed as the reinforced steel doors to the training bay slid open, revealing a cavernous chamber filled with concrete barriers, steel scaffolding, and various combat dummies dressed in tactical gear. Overhead, catwalks crisscrossed like a spider's web. Floodlights painted everything in stark white and deep shadow.
At the far end stood Seraphina Vale and Cassandra Drake, both watching the recruits with expressions carved from stone.
"Welcome to your first exercise," Seraphina said, her voice cutting through the air like a whip. "This is not a simulation. The weapons you'll handle are real. The threats you'll face are real. Failure here could mean injury… or worse."
A quiet murmur rippled through the line of recruits.
Cassandra stepped forward, arms behind her back. "The objective is simple. Survive and reach the extraction point at the far end of the bay. Work together, or die alone. And don't waste our time with heroics."
With a flick of Seraphina's wrist, a large digital timer projected onto the far wall.
10:00
"Your time starts now."
A blaring alarm sounded as the recruits surged forward into the training bay.
Chaos erupted instantly.
The sound of live gunfire filled the chamber as automated turrets activated from hidden alcoves, spraying bullets across the floor. Ethan dove behind a concrete barrier, his breath ragged as chunks of debris exploded around him.
"Move, Cross!" Elise shouted from somewhere nearby, vaulting over a low wall and sliding into cover beside him. Her hair stuck to her forehead with sweat, but her eyes burned with focus.
Ethan peeked around the corner and spotted Marcus sprinting ahead, effortlessly weaving between cover points like he'd been born for this.
"Stick together!" Ethan yelled, but Marcus was already gone.
Elise shook her head. "Arrogant bastard's going to get himself killed."
"Or us," Ethan muttered.
The turret fire slowed for a moment, and Ethan spotted an opening. "Go now!"
They bolted across the open stretch, Ethan diving behind an overturned metal crate while Elise tumbled into cover behind a steel drum.
A scream echoed somewhere behind them a recruit who hadn't made it.
Ethan clenched his jaw, forcing himself to focus.
From the catwalks above, gas canisters hissed as they dropped onto the floor, releasing thick clouds of yellow smoke. Visibility plummeted, and the sharp, acrid smell filled Ethan's nose.
"Gas masks!" Elise barked, pulling a compact mask from her utility belt and slipping it over her face. Ethan scrambled to do the same, his fingers fumbling with the straps.
Through the smoke, shadows moved. Ethan's eyes darted left, then right, before a figure lunged at him.
The recruit no older than Ethan himself had panic in his eyes as he swung wildly with a training knife. Ethan sidestepped the strike and slammed his elbow into the boy's gut. The knife clattered to the ground as Ethan grabbed the recruit by the collar and threw him into the dirt.
"Focus!" Elise shouted, already dispatching another attacker with a brutal knee to the stomach.
Ethan's heart pounded as the smoke began to thin, revealing more obstacles ahead a narrow bridge crossing a deep pit and a series of climbing walls dotted with laser sensors.
"Move! We've got four minutes!" Elise yelled.
They sprinted forward, the sounds of screaming recruits and gunfire blending into a chaotic orchestra around them. Ethan's muscles burned as he pulled himself up the first climbing wall, narrowly avoiding a flicker of red from a nearby laser.
Halfway up, Ethan froze. Below him, a recruit had slipped, hanging by one hand over the deep pit. The boy's face was pale, terror etched into every line.
"Help me!" he screamed.
"Cross!" Elise was already at the top, reaching down. "We don't have time!"
Ethan hesitated, his breath ragged. His eyes locked with the boy's wide, desperate, pleading.
He made his choice.
Ethan reached down, grabbing the boy's wrist and heaving him up with a roar of effort. The recruit scrambled to safety just as a burst of laser fire seared the air where his hand had been.
"Move!" Ethan yelled, pushing the boy forward.
They reached the extraction zone seconds before the timer hit zero.
The alarm blared one final time before falling silent. The survivors barely half of the original recruits stood panting, bruised, and bloodied in a wide clearing marked with a glowing EXTRACTION POINT hologram.
Seraphina Vale and Cassandra Drake approached, their eyes scanning the recruits with cold precision.
"You hesitated, Cross," Seraphina said, her voice sharp. "In this world, hesitation gets people killed."
Ethan's fists clenched, but he said nothing.
Cassandra stepped forward, her voice softer but no less stern. "But you saved someone. And that takes guts."
Seraphina's eyes lingered on Ethan for a moment longer before she turned away. "Training resumes at dawn. Dismissed."
The recruits began to scatter, their exhausted forms disappearing into the steel corridors beyond the training bay.
Elise walked past Ethan, clapping him lightly on the shoulder. "Not bad, hero. But next time, try not to get us both killed."
Marcus Wren passed them without a word, his smirk replaced with something darker something resentful.
Ethan lingered a moment longer, staring at the smoke-filled training bay. The echoes of gunfire and screams still rang in his ears.
He had survived.
But this was just the beginning.
Lex's words echoed in his mind:
"Once you're in… there's no turning back."
End of Chapter 1.