Fight or Flight (1)

After a simple introduction from each member of the group, Elliott dived straight into a strategy meeting with the others without giving Arnold time to breathe. It seemed as though the others were already used to it, since they all simply shut up immediately and listened with high concentration. Arnold did the same.

"This is the map of the arena that our group is going to participate in." Elliott had a bracelet made out of carbon fiber on his right wrist. The bracelet shined, revealing a rather large hologram that sat in front of the group of 5. The hologram showed a rather large map. At the edge of the map was a rather concentrated red dot, showing the location of the 5 teammates. Since they had not yet entered the arena, the red dot was out of bounds.

Each section of the map was divided into small cubes in order to allow students to better strategize. Each cube corresponds to the surface area of around 4 square kilometers, with there being a total of 50 cubes across horizontally and vertically. "Okay, our flag is located at square NN-40 while theirs is located at J-10." He zoomed into the area where their flag was located. Right at the center of square NN-40, a holographic flag seemed to be waving about, reflecting the wind that brew across from the actual place in question. The area surrounding the flag were buildings of different sizes, with the closest being 5 stories tall. The terrain on the enemy's side was about the same.

The entire arena was on a flat city landscape reflecting the dilapidated metropolis that filled the entire world. It seemed as though the teachers wanted the students to gain more experience fighting in such terrain since this is where they will fight against zombies most of the time after graduating.

Such a terrain was actually quite disadvantageous for the group of 5, as they would become vulnerable to sniper attacks from all sides. However, it will also make it easier for them to hide their flag. Elliott began giving out commands as soon as they started their strategy meeting. "Hm... Since we have the addition of Troy in our team, we can split our team into three. Lucas is with me. Troy will go with Darius, while Nick will cover us from afar with his sniper rifle."

All of them nodded.

"Lucas and I are going to be on the defensive while Darius and Troy are going to be on the offensive." Elliott turned his face towards Darius, then he took a glance at Troy. Seeing that both men were fine with his arrangements, he simply nodded and continued, "The main purpose of the offensive team is to seek out the other team's flag location. Meanwhile, the defensive team is responsible for protecting the flag. That's the basic gist of the plan. However, in order to be safe, we need to add a little bit of uncertainty into our plan in order to make the plan more successful..."

*

The teacher had only gave all the students 15 minutes to strategize. Afterwards, he yelled, "Times up! You have 30 minutes to get to the site of your designated flag. If you do not arrive on time you will be automatically disqualified. In 35 minutes, there will be a red signal flare shot into the sky. This indicates the start of the game. Ready? Go!"

Everyone started running in different directions. Our opponents were running in the same direction as us, so we could see their faces before the start of the game. As all of our opponents seemed to be lower level residents, they seemed to be sneering at us with contempt as they ran. Nick, completely dissatisfied with their behavior, gave them a middle finger, before running at an even quicker pace, forcing our own team to run even faster.

Our opponent's team, feeling offended, chased after us, not wanting to be left behind. When they finally separated from us since we had already entered the confines of our arena, only 20 minutes seemed to have passed. Therefore, we arrived in front of our flag with 10 minutes to spare. All of the team members were panting from such a long and exhausting run. Arnold walked close to Nick as they both panted. He stared at the other person, who had placed his palms on his knees, with his head drooped down, taking deep breaths. Arnold asked, "Was there a reason to run so fast just now?" Arnold seemed to have recovered the quickest out of all of them, as he had already stopped panting. Of course the whole panting thing was just an act as Arnold had no need to breathe. The spiritual energy within his body pumped his body full of adrenaline so while his leg muscles were already tired, he had no need to gasp for breath.

After taking another deep breath, Nick raised his head and gave Arnold a mischievous smile. He said, "Since we ourselves are in such a state, imagine how our opponents would feel right now?"

Arnold raised an eyebrow, it seemed that the person before him did not simply provoke the others without reason at all. On the contrary, it seemed to be his plan from the get go. "With their Foundation Establishment, they can simply replenish themselves with spiritual energy. What's the point?"

"But in that process, they will lose some of their spiritual energy before the game even starts, which is good for us, since we need as much of an advantage as we can get right now. Since all of our bodies were naturally born, although we are naturally talented, we still cannot absorb as much energy as those artificially created babies. Therefore, we need to conserve as much of our energy as possible whil draining theirs as much as possible." Nick explained.

Arnold nodded in acknowledgement. He noticed the whole time that none of his team members had used any spiritual energy even though they ran for such a long time, which gave Arnold quite a pleasant surprise. "They must have really good stamina." Arnold thought to himself as he ran just now.

*

The flag was raised up high on a mast above them. It had a white background and a large "A" that was printed at the very middle of the flag with a large black font. Apparently, the other teams have was given the letters "B", "C", "D", etc. The lack of imagination from the military had caused Arnold to feel slightly exasperated.

All of Arnold's teammates sat down on the ground with their legs crossed. Arnold did the same. Since the ground was not paved, the dirt had caused his bottom to feel quite itchy. However, he had sat in places that were much dirtier before, so he did not complain at all.

This time, it was Lucas, the strategist, who spoke to them. "The first thing we're gonna do when the game starts, obviously, is to bring the flag down first. The person who will keep the flag first would be Nick. Then, it would be Troy."

Arnold gave a look of surprise, "Me?" He pointed at himself, obviously not expecting to be chosen as the flag-bearer.

Lucas nodded, his voice, which seemed much more youthful than his teammates, sounded across the area around the flag, "Since you are new here, our opponents wouldn't expect us to give you the flag, since we have no idea of your combat abilities. You have also never fought with us before, so our teammwork might be bad. However, it is precisely because of this that we should hand the flag over to you, since the opponents would never expect this to happen."

Lucas gave Elliott a glance. After seeing Elliott's nod of approval, he continued while looking at Arnold, "Since Darius is with you, you can rest assured that everything is going to be fine as long as you hide indoors within one of the buildings. He had quite a bit of close-combat experience after all."

Arnold nodded.

Nick then raised his hand and asked, "Then why are you giving the flag to me first?"

"The start of the game is the time when being the sniper is the safest. Since we can more or less predict the direction where the opponents are coming from, you can simply camp from up high and prevent anyone from coming close. Of course, sooner or later, one of our opponents might be able to slip within the perimeter unnoticed. By that time, you would have already given the flag to Troy." Lucas explained.

Arnold thought that there was more to it than that but at the end didn't question Lucas. He seemed to see Nick's confused look but he was too lazy to explain it to him.

After their second strategy meeting was over, the 5 students gave each other words of encouragement. At that moment, they saw a crimson red signal flare being shot up into the sky. All of them instantly stood up, their faces turning solemn.

"The game's afoot."