~Roy
We spent the night in peace, and the silence around us did not suggest what was to come. With the break of dawn, we woke up, packed our belongings, and continued walking through the forest, the trees growing denser and the air thickening with each step.
Not much time passed before the scene turned into something unnatural. Strange creatures roamed the forest shadows - deformed animals, their bodies twisted and bizarre, their eyes glowing in the fog like ghosts. Their growls were low, their teeth oddly shaped, and their faces torn.
Sophia stopped beside me. "What the hell is this?"
"Nuclear pollution from old wars," I said calmly. "What remains does not always die. Sometimes it adapts."
The terrain didn't help either. Jagged roots tore the earth, branches scratched our clothes, and the steep hills forced us to move slowly and cautiously. Despite the anxiety, we pressed on, exchanging short, quiet words to maintain our spirits.
Finally, I stopped and turned to them. "We're going to take a short break here. Get some sleep."
They all looked at me as if I'd lost my mind.
Crimzo raised an eyebrow. "We're already late, and you want to take a nap now?"
Andrew crossed his arms. "What's on your mind, Roy?"
"Let's just rest," I said, keeping my voice steady. "Two or three hours. That's it."
Sophia stepped forward, confused. "Are you planning to advance at night?"
"Not exactly," I replied. "Well, if they're planning an ambush, it'll either be on the main road or while we're sleeping. Just like that cheap trick their friend did."
Crimzo smiled slightly. "So... you're luring them to attack us at night?"
I nodded. "Exactly. And this time, we'll be prepared. We'll use those tents we brought."
After a two hours nap, our energy returned, we were moving again. We deliberately took the main road. Visibility was high, and so was the risk. Andrew carried Sophia in his arms, pretending she was injured. When I suggested the plan to them, Sophia's cheeks flushed slightly. For the first time, Andrew looked both confused and shy and I'm not going to lie, seeing him like that made me feel satisfied.
Still, they played their roles brilliantly.
We moved quickly, just enough to look desperate. Suddenly, I started to feel it. We knew we were being watched, but we didn't show it. We didn't want them to know that we knew anything.
They fell for the bait.
We continued walking and running for a while. And I felt them along the way, we were already intentionally moving away from them as if we were running away, to avoid a sudden fight, then turned into a side clearing. The sun was just beginning to set. Perfect timing.
We were positioned in an open space and set up the tents and lit a fire in the middle. We pretended to crawl into the tents, pretending to be asleep. Andrew, with an axe on his back, stayed outside by the fire, pretending to relax.
Then, finally after a while, they appeared.
Figures emerged from the trees, more than 10 persons. They surrounded Andrew like hyenas.
One of them stepped forward. Long, matted hair. Dead eyes. A single-edged sword rested at his side.
"Wake them up," he said in a cold voice. "I have honor. I don't kill people in their sleep."
Kill?! This person is in the program.
Andrew smirked. "Are you Lucas, by any chance?"
The man smiled a twisted smile. "So, I'm that famous."
Andrew gave him a puzzled look. "What's your problem with us man?"
Lucas stepped forward, his voice filled with anger. "My problem? I'll tell you. My problem is that you took the mission to capture the princess. That was my chance to prove myself finally. I waited for Daniel to finish his speech, then that bastard Roy spoke. Because of his name and reputation, he got it." He put his hand on his head. "I don't like people taking what's mine."
There's no way, that can't be the reason. There are only two options: either he's crazy, or he's kidding.
Andrew tilted his head, genuinely confused. "What's going on, man? Are you a child or something?"
Lucas laughed coldly. "Enough of this now. I know one of you is injured. Don't pretend to be confident. Now... attack!"
That was the signal.
From above, arrows rained down like rain. Two down. Three. Four. Lucas's men fell before they could move. All attacks were on the hands or feet to ensure no one was currently killed. We have to hand them over to the instructors.
"What's happening?!" Lucas screamed in panic.
From between the trees, Crimzo unleashed a second volley. Sophia followed, shooting with precision. I descended from the branches and joined the fight cutting the shoulder of the first one who was in my way.
Andrew charged at them, swinging his axe wildly, tearing through their armor and bodies.
Sophia jumped from the top of a tree and when she landed, she carried her spear and threw it directly at Lucas. Her spear hit Lucas's right shoulder, piercing it completely and exiting from his back. He staggered his sword fell from his hand and then he fell to the ground, letting out a scream of pain.
He stared at Sophia, cursing her, hatred burning in his eyes and shouted. "You! You supposed to be injured!" He yelled. "I will never forget your face!"
I stepped forward. My eyes met his. "Your problem is with me, so look here."
He was shaking, then he shouted again. "Do you know who my cousin is?! He'll kill you for this. He's the strongest in the program!"
I tilted my head. "Oh? Who's your cousin?"
He smiled wickedly. "James. I'm sure you've heard of him before, he's famous."
I paused... and blinked slowly while approaching. "I've never heard of him."
Lucas's body trembled. And he started begging while crawling back.
"Please, wait... wait, I-"
I stepped forward, raising my sword. "Before you act...be strong enough to face the outcome."
Then I hit him on the head with the tip of my sword, and he fainted completely.
Andrew walked toward me, his gaze steady. "One of them manage to escape, and Crimzo immediately sped through the trees behind him."
I sheathe my sword. "First, let's tie up everyone who's still alive, starting with that guy, Lucas."
I checked the faces and bent down beside one of them who was fainted and turned it over. His face was familiar. "This guy failed the first stage, I'm sure. I remember him cursing everyone when he failed."
Andrew nodded. "So, Lucas gathered who failed in the stage one and some bandits into a pack. A smart move, and sort of desperately. I wonder what he offered them to accept."
Sophia stepped forward, retrieving her spear from Lucas's body, she sat up and tried to stop the bleeding and close the wound. She exhaled. "He lost a lot of blood. We have to hand him over quickly. But at least we're no longer in danger."
I stood, my eyes still on the trees. "No. Unfortunately."
They turned to me.
"This is just the beginning. If that James guy is as tough as Lucas claims, he won't let this go easily."
Crimzo came back, breathing heavily. "He got away. I couldn't catch him, It's so dark there."
I put my hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. We've taken their Head. But that one who escape will surely tell James about this, and he'll come for us, so let's hurry and finish this stage as fast as possible and report this to the general Daniel."
I looked out at the forest, the wind rustling through the leaves "Let's find the instructor and hand him Lucas. For the rest, let's tie them to the trees." I looked at them. "We'll mark the road to this place, and the instructors will handle it."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Andrew looked at the rope in his hand. "But Roy, if we tie everyone up, we'll run out of rope. What if we need it on the way?"
I raised my hand. "It's okay. We'll figure out a solution. Let's do it for now."
After this, Stage three might be safer for a while... but we have to stay ready and in focus. It's not over yet.
We lit our torches and set off into the darkness with Lucas on Andrew's back. The night was long and filled with animal noises and distant screams. We were behind schedule, so we had to hurry, and none of us knew what awaited us in the Valley of the Cradle. There was no time to rest.
The further we went, the more complex the forest became. Strange animals, mutated and deformed by nuclear radiation over time, watched us from among the trees. Some had long limbs, some had multiple eyes or abnormal mouths. Their faces resembled ghosts and demons. Crimzo muttered something about this place being cursed. We kept up our pace, avoiding everything, advancing through the dense trees and navigating the dangerous slopes of the terrain.
Finally, as I began to see some light from the sunrise, we came upon a long fence made of metal chain-link, marking the boundary of an old guard post. There was a sign hanging crookedly on a pole. Instructors' Base - East Road Checkpoint.
We entered cautiously. The place looked like a demolished hideout. We were greeted by a single instructor, wearing a black mask neck gaiter and a hat, his eyes tired. In the edge of the place was two people from the medical team.
He looked at us in surprise. "What happening, are you the guys who reported about an ambush by a candidate named Lucas."
Andrew put Lucas body, almost dead, in the ground and told him what's happening with the path to the tied remaining men. The medical team rushed in and took him away.
The instructor scratches his head. "That some new pain, we already called instructors and the medical team for this preparing for any scenario. Anyway, give me your names and continue the march, I will handle the rest."
He checked our names one by one and nodded silently before handing each of us a small metal card engraved with the program's symbol.
He said in a muffled voice from behind the mask. "Good luck."
We were overcome with a sense of relief. We had safely overcome a serious problem and reporting it in the Pyla Mountains was the best decision we made. We had finally left the forest.
When we emerged, Andrew let out a loud sigh of exhaustion and threw down his torch. "Finally, we're out of that damn place."
Sophia laughed and stretched her arms. "I feel like I've lived ten years there."
"I swear I saw something with five legs last night," Andrew muttered. "I don't even want to know what it was."
They all laughed, even Crimzo, who usually remained silent at moments like this.
After a short walk, we found a small cave carved into the hillside, sheltered and quiet. I turned to them. "Let's rest here for a few hours. When the sun comes up, we'll continue on. I think the next part will be easier. We might even be able to run most of it."
No one objected.
We lay down and finally allowed ourselves to rest and sleep.
By midday, we had regained our strength and continued our journey across the cracked earth and rough terrain, but it wasn't too bad, and we were able to run a little. Eventually, the trees disappeared before us and something even more terrifying appeared.
The Valley of the Cradle.
It wasn't a valley, not really. It was a graveyard for the old world, an entire city crumbling before our eyes. Huge pieces of rusted aircraft were scattered across the open plains. Burnt-out and rusted cars lined the road and the plains, half of them dug into the dirt. Pieces of rusted metal and old machinery were everywhere, and there were collapsed towers and destroyed roads. The ground itself was cracked, bearing the scars of explosions and years of erosion.
"This is the first time I've seen anything like this," Andrew whispered.
I raised my hand. "Put on your protective masks. There's still radiation pollution here."
We all put on our protective masks and advanced slowly. None of us had ever set foot in this place before. This was our first time.
Crimzo whistled softly under his mask. "They say the old world had machines that could fly. This... It's hard to believe it was real."
"I wish I could ride one of those planes," Sophia said quietly. "They must have been... magical."
Andrew kicked a smashed car door. "Then why didn't they rebuild these things?"
Sophia shook her head. "There's no black oil anymore. The last reserves ran out even before the world war."
Crimzo put his hand over his head. "Well, whatever you think, I prefer this kind of life without all this technology around.... It will make a person rely on it and not realize his abilities."
I looked at him. "I actually agree with this. This kind of life is just better."
We moved cautiously through the wreckage, following the map. The scenery was terrifying. Hours passed. The sun set again when we found the last checkpoint, a decaying hut built on the ruins of a collapsed bridge.
An instructor wearing a radiation suit was waiting for us. His voice came out of his gas mask in a broken voice. "Give me your cards and your names."
We handed them to him and said our names.
"Done," he confirmed. "You can continue now." He gave us the last cards.
We breathed a sigh of relief. The fourth day was finally over. Somehow, we had made it.
We found a quiet corner near some rocks and sat down. Andrew stretched out with a groan. "Only twenty kilometers to go? Let's finish this. My back hurts so much, I don't want to sleep on the ground anymore."
Sophia laughed. "You're just getting old."
He rolled his eyes teasing her. "It's better than being like children, falling asleep the moment, my head hits the pillow."
We exchanged a few jokes before getting up and continuing on our way.
We were tired, having slept only a few hours in four days, but we kept going. The road was clearer now. Just a stretch of cracked roads and crumbling walls. Our feet stumbled. Our eyes were half closed. But we didn't stop.
By the sunrise of day five, the lights of the camp began to appear.
Andrew threw himself to the ground as we crossed the entrance. "Finally," he muttered, touching the dirt.
Sophia fell down beside him, laughing. "We made it."
Crimzo smiled, his hands on his hips. "Yeah. We're finally going to sleep."
One of the instructors approached me. "Congratulations. You've completed the test. Do you have your three cards?"
We handed them to him.
He nodded. "Everything is fine. You can rest now. The other instructors will be back tomorrow in the morning. You will be informed of the results then and you'll also get the whole day off today as a reward for finishing early." I guess he didn't know that we only slept there for a few hours.
We nodded respectfully and headed to our rooms. We said goodbye to each other and parted quietly. I went straight to General Daniel's office, waited a while before going in, then I talked to him about what happened, he was understanding and told me he would take care of it, of course I didn't tell him about James. Then I went to the showers and let the cold water wash away the dirt and pain of the past days.
Later, I found Andrew sitting on the chair waiting me in our room with a towel around his neck, he looked so tired, and there's a blackness under his eyes. Same for me here. I threw myself onto the bed.
"We did it," he said quietly.
I nodded. "Barely."
We talked for a while about the ambush, Lucas, and James.
"We have to keep an eye on that guy," I whispered. "If he's really as dangerous as Lucas says... we'll find out in the next stages."
Andrew leaned back. "Let's see what awaits us after this, if the third stage is as brutal as this one..."
I stared at the bed ceiling for a moment. Then my mind wandered elsewhere, as if I had forgotten something... Right.
Lily.
There is still something I don't understand about her. I'll go see her after waking up.