CHAPTER 16: Deep Dive

The segmented padding inside the pod was cool and soft, better than most beds Alex had slept in. The padding itself was a medium grey color, and the crevices where each pad met the other was a darkish blue. The walls of what looked like the bottom half of a casket raised and arced over Alex, obscuring Alex's vision in all places except for the ceiling of the room, which was made possible by the glass glazing over the top of the pod. A helmet was connected to the top interior of the pods using a thick, bulky cord. Alex fit the bulky headwear snuggly on his head, adjusting the straps under his chin and around his head securely. On the glass, a vibrant translucent number appeared. The numbers changed by the second, a countdown. Five. Four. Three. Two. One-

At the start of one, the glass went from a bright translucent baby blue to an opaque black. There was no light in the pod for a fraction of a second, and then Alex felt it. His senses numbed and he felt weightless, which shocked him and made him try to hold onto something. No use, his body felt shackled by an infinite weight, and he was left breathless. Colors. They shot into his vision. He collapsed to the ground, disoriented and confused. He scrambled back to his feet and saw that he was standing outside his pod. He wondered what went wrong. Frilo and Holts were standing beside their own pods, both of them looking at Alex, Frilo breaking into a smile. They looked back at each other, and returned their gaze to Alex once more.

"You okay, Alex?" Holts said with a somewhat joking tone.

"I think so, what went wrong?" Alex said, looking around the room. Then he put two and two together. "Wait a second, this is VR?" Alex's brows shot up in shock, too amazed at all of the complexity he was witnessing. He staggered to one of the walls and ran his hands across the smooth, aging paint of the walls. He felt every minute bump and detail that he would normally have felt before he had changed in a GMH. The wall itself looked like its real-life counterpart, the only imperfection being graphics more suitable for the human eye than its advanced GMH counterpart. It was still beautiful and mesmerizing, through and through.

"How long did it take you to create this world, and how far does it go?" Alex asked with a great feeling of awe.

"A day to download the landscape of this entire base from our memories, we used a mind-link device to create it. Since we have photographic memories and enhanced optical clarity, it was a piece of cake. The game itself can only run using the specs of a regular human brain, though, which in itself is still remarkably impressive. The Tombs, as we like to call the pods we are in, are connected to a pretty sizable computer in the room under us. Now we can begin the simulations!"

"Wait! My HUD from the NC isn't showing up..." Alex said. The display screen that had shown inside of his vision up until this point was missing, gone without a trace.

"The what?" Both Holts and Frilo responded. Alex realized that Peter or Maxwell probably never told them about that part.

"My X-Enigma, the NC, or the Arbeteres System as it's actually called, always has a display popped up in my vision. It's off now, why is that?" Alex said in a slightly concerned voice.

"I don't know much about what you're talking about..." Frilo said "but the Tombs don't recognize any part of you other than your nervous system. Any foreign technology isn't currently compatible, including that X-Enigma of yours."

"Oh, yeah, that should be obvious," Alex said, still uncomfortable by the absence of the display. He had been ignoring for the most part, since nothing on the display had changed since it had first appeared. He shook off the thought, making his priority the progression of whatever training he would do in this new realm.

"So what are the advantages of virtual training?" Alex said.

"Glad you asked..." Frilo said, pulling out a pistol and shooting Alex's leg straight through. Alex stumbled to the ground and screamed out a pitiful cry of pain. Blood gushed out of Alex's leg, pooling on the floor. It felt all too real. The pain, the bloodloss, the confusion. Frilo put Alex out of his misery with a bullet to the head. Alex's body laid there, eyes blank and unmoving. Suddenly, Alex appeared out of nowhere, standing beside his pod again, his eyes full of terror and fear as he gazed at his old dead body.

"Here, we will teach you to fight. To death. With every bone, muscle, tooth, nail, and gun you have. As of now, you are softened and unrefined. I will break you, tear you down, and forge you from scattered pieces of your remaining mind. Welcome to hell, Alex. No escape soon, unless you can kill both me and Holts in succession, without any deaths in between. Better run, little red rabbit, before another bullet enters your brain." A sickening smile fell over Frilo's face, and the chill returned, pressing down on every inch of Alex's being. This man is insane, Alex thought. Fear and insecurity corroded his thoughts and drove out his inner instincts to flee. Alex scrambled out the door, running for shelter and a place to hide and fight back. He lunged through the hallway as quickly as he could, sprinting significantly faster than he did in the forest. Holts and Frilo counted down the seconds mentally until they reached twenty, and commenced the manhunt. In holts' hands, a large, brutal sniper rifle swayed with his steps. Frilo had his own miniature automatic gun in his hands, with plenty of mags and the pistol secured around his hips. Alex dived into the long grass of an open field by the facility from which he had escaped, cursing at his lack of a weapon. Without warning, a bright glare suddenly caught Alex's eye, scaring him half to death. All of his armor, as well as the gun he had been given by Holts, were teleported to his side. He spared no time to change into them before realizing a crucial flaw in the armor's design. Here he was, in the middle of a field of yellowed dry grass, with a reflective silver-and-black suit, which made him stand out like a pure white egret in a moss-covered swamp. He now understood the importance of camouflage, grabbing the dirt on the ground and smearing it over him. It worked, just like in real life! The small glimmer of amusement was quickly trampled as he was brought back into the reality of this sick game. He looked ever-so-slightly above the grass, making sure to be as quiet and hidden as possible. Before he even knew about his deadly mistake, a large chunk of metal tore through his helmet, sending debris and the remaining sniper bullet fragments into his eyes and head. He croaked and squirmed intensely. This was a pain he had never experienced an equal to in his life. His entire face was shredded, yet he was alive and breathing. He didn't want to do this anymore, he wanted to quit, to be safe, to end this torturing hell. In a few excruciatingly long seconds, the pain started to numb slightly, just enough to hear the words escape Frilo's mouth as he felt something small and cold being pressed to his head.

"You want this pain to stop? Kill us already. Show us your inner monster, your inner predator, your inner savage!"

And with a bang, he was dead once more. Alex slammed his hands to his face and gripped his hair strongly. Tears flowed down his face, and his face wrinkled with immense hatred and disgust. He was alone in this world, with no one to count on. All of the guns were pointed at him, and he was forced to fend them all off. He gritted his teeth, and bared his long, brutish fangs. They needed to die before he could escape this hell, and this was only the beginning. Midnight was supposed to be stronger than the two of them, who from their atmosphere alone seemed invincible, indestructible, and immovable. He cursed at his future and resented it with his entire being. He clenched his weapon and charged the hallways, each lunge empowered by intense frustration and ferocity.