The sharp chime of an alarm ripped Ethan from sleep. His body jolted upright, his breath caught in his throat. The dormitory was bathed in faint red light as emergency sirens blared through hidden speakers.
4:00 AM.
No announcement. No explanation. Just the deafening screech of the sirens.
All around him, recruits leapt out of their bunks, pulling on uniforms and strapping on utility belts with frantic urgency. Ethan followed suit, his movements sharp despite the haze of sleep clinging to his mind.
"Elise!" he barked, spotting her across the room as she pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail.
She glanced at him, her green eyes sharp. "Move, Cross! This isn't a drill!"
The recruits poured out of the dormitory into the freezing pre-dawn air. Floodlights illuminated the massive Training Yard Alpha, where Seraphina Vale and Cassandra Drake waited, flanked by a row of instructors dressed in black tactical gear.
"Form ranks!" Seraphina's voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
The recruits scrambled into formation, the air filled with visible breaths and nervous murmurs. Ethan found himself shoulder-to-shoulder with Marcus Wren, who stood with perfect posture, hands clenched behind his back, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
Seraphina stepped forward, her heels clicking against the frost-covered concrete.
"Welcome to Day One," she said, her voice calm but razor-sharp. "This is where we separate the agents from the failures. You are here because someone saw something in you a spark, a talent, a potential. But potential means nothing if it isn't forged in fire."
Behind her, Cassandra Drake barked an order, and the instructors fanned out, distributing heavy tactical vests and training knives to the recruits.
"Your task is simple," Cassandra said, her voice colder than the air. "Survive. Each one of you will face obstacles today designed to break you physically, mentally, and emotionally. There are no safety nets. There are no second chances. If you falter, if you hesitate, you will be left behind."
Ethan caught Marcus sneering out of the corner of his eye, his lips moving in a faint whisper.
"Still think you're cut out for this, Cross?"
Ethan ignored him, strapping on his tactical vest and tightening the straps until it felt like it was welded to his ribs. Elise stood a few recruits down, her face set like stone.
The floodlights dimmed, and a massive gate at the far end of the training yard creaked open with a sound like grinding steel. Beyond it lay a dark, forested expanse, faintly illuminated by moonlight.
"Your objective," Seraphina said, her eyes sweeping across the recruits, "is to reach the extraction point on the other side of the forest. The path is not marked. The obstacles are not visible. And you are not alone out there."
The gate finished opening, revealing nothing but shadows and the faint whisper of wind through the trees.
"Good luck," Cassandra said flatly.
A loud buzzer echoed across the yard, and the recruits surged forward into the darkness.
The forest swallowed Ethan whole. Twigs snapped under his boots, and the cold air bit at his face as he sprinted forward. The dense canopy above blocked out most of the moonlight, leaving the ground uneven and shadowed.
"Stay together!" someone shouted in the distance, but the chaos of dozens of recruits running blindly in the dark made coordination impossible.
Ethan ducked under a low branch and nearly tripped over an exposed root. Somewhere ahead, Marcus's unmistakable voice barked orders, his tone sharp and commanding.
"Idiots! You'll get yourselves killed if you keep running blind!"
Gunfire erupted to the left live rounds, judging by the sharp, piercing cracks. Ethan dropped to the ground, his breathing shallow as he scanned the shadows for movement.
"Elise?" he called out softly.
"Here!" came a whisper to his right. Elise crouched low behind a tree trunk, her face streaked with dirt and sweat.
"They're hunting us," she said, her voice barely audible.
"Who?" Ethan asked.
"Not who...what." Elise pointed deeper into the forest. Silhouettes moved between the trees, instructors in full tactical gear, their faces obscured by black visors and their rifles equipped with silencers.
"Move quietly," Ethan said, gripping his training knife tightly.
They crept forward, their steps slow and measured. Ethan's heart hammered in his chest, every sound amplified in the silence.
Suddenly, a nearby recruit screamed a guttural, sharp sound before being silenced just as quickly. A shadow moved past them, and Ethan's grip on his knife tightened until his knuckles went white.
"Go!" Elise whispered, and they bolted.
The next hour was a blur of crawling through mud, climbing over slick rock faces, and narrowly avoiding ambushes. Ethan's muscles screamed in protest, and his lungs burned with every ragged breath.
They reached a clearing where a faint red light glowed in the distance the extraction beacon.
But between them and the light stood Marcus Wren, his face twisted in an arrogant grin as he leaned casually against a tree.
"Took your time, Cross," Marcus said, pushing off the tree and unsheathing his training knife.
"We don't have time for this, Wren!" Elise snapped, but Marcus ignored her.
"This isn't about time, Cipher," Marcus said. "This is about dominance. About showing who belongs here… and who doesn't."
Ethan stepped forward, his knife raised, eyes locked on Marcus.
"Fine," Ethan said, his voice steady. "Let's settle this."
Marcus lunged, his blade flashing in the faint moonlight. Ethan dodged, barely, the knife slicing through the fabric of his tactical vest. Ethan countered with a quick jab, his blade grazing Marcus's cheek, drawing a thin line of blood.
Marcus's smirk vanished, replaced with cold fury.
The fight was quick, brutal, and unforgiving. Knife met knife, fists slammed into ribs, and sweat mingled with dirt and blood.
Finally, Ethan slammed Marcus against a tree, pressing the blade against his rival's throat.
"Yield," Ethan said through gritted teeth.
Marcus hesitated, his breath ragged, before finally dropping his knife.
"Fine," he spat.
Elise grabbed Ethan's arm. "Come on! The extraction point!"
Together, they stumbled through the clearing and into the red glow of the beacon.
The buzzer sounded again as Seraphina and Cassandra stepped forward from the shadows, their faces unreadable.
"Congratulations," Seraphina said coldly. "You survived."
Cassandra's gaze lingered on Ethan, her lips curving into the faintest hint of approval.
Ethan's chest heaved as he glanced back at Marcus, who stood seething in the shadows.
This was only the beginning.
And if survival meant blood, sweat, and pain so be it.
Lex's words echoed in his mind:
"Once you're in… there's no turning back."
End of Chapter 2.