Final Stretch

Tobias' POV

The street was quieter now.

Not safe. Just… quieter. The kind of calm that never lasted.

My HUD pulsed. The simulation didn't give orders. Just data.

Map updated.

Civilian clusters detected: 4

Evac zones: 2

High-threat zones: 3

Time remaining: 24:12

No instructions. No guidance.

Just a digital overlay on a burning city.

Civilians. Evac routes. A marked siege site up north. Everything active at once.

The test wasn't about following steps.

It was about judgment. Chaos management.

The group was starting to fracture. People yelling, arguing, panicking.

Then her voice cut through it.

Clear. Sharp. Cold enough to make people obey without knowing why.

"Half take the civilians to the art gallery. Half to the school area. You three—get to the rooftops and scout. Now."

No hesitation. People moved before they even realized they'd decided to.

Because she said it.

Alice. Applicant 001. She was a force.

But I didn't move.

Not because I wanted to challenge her. Not because I didn't respect the power she'd shown.

Because the evac path she just gave was suicide.

I checked the data again.

Boar movement—eastern sublayer. Gallery path intersects the tunnel. No clear exit.

One way in. No way out.

"That's a kill zone," I said.

A few turned. Alice didn't.

"Repeat that?" she asked, already knowing I would.

"You're sending evac teams into a death funnel. Boars just shifted east. That route's boxed in."

Still, she didn't look at me.

Didn't need to.

"This isn't a debate. It's an operation."

"Exactly." I took a step forward. "And good ops adapt to new intel. You didn't see the sublayer update, did you?"

She did look at me—just briefly.

Enough to tell me she had seen it—but didn't want to admit it out loud.

"You don't trust me?" She asked. "I can break through whatever comes at us. But indecisiveness? That's fatal."

"No," I said, honest. "I don't trust anyone who expects blind obedience in a combat sim."

That landed.

Not like a punch.

Like a scalpel.

For a second, something sharp passed behind her eyes.

And then—

"Move," she ordered.

And most of them moved.

She turned and walked away.

No hesitation. No doubt.

Like the entire simulation was already behind her.

Liam slid up next to me, hands in his pockets as usual.

"She thinks she's the main character," I said.

"She might be."

I gave him a look.

He grinned. "Commercial area?"

"Yeah. We need to draw the eastern pack away, lessen the burden on the Evac team."

"Let's work."

We moved fast through a crumbling street, weaving between blown-out shop fronts and flickering signage. The air stank of ozone and rot. Glass crunched under our boots.

We found the civilians behind a collapsed department store—nine of them. Two injured. One child, barely older than five, staring out with hollow eyes.

Boar activity detected: 15 inbound

Evac route: east delivery tunnel – narrow, unstable.

I crouched near the entrance of the tunnel. No reinforcements. No backup. Just a chute barely wide enough for one person at a time.

"You move them," I said. "I'll hold the alley."

Liam nodded like I'd just said something completely reasonable. "Try not to die."

I turned.

Pulled open a shattered display case.

Found a knife—military-grade, from one of the tactical mannequins.

It'd do.

I stood at the alley mouth and waited.

The first boar came around the corner with a scream.

I stepped to the side, let it overshoot, and then drove the knife straight into the base of its skull. It dropped without ceremony.

Another followed.

I moved low, slashing up beneath the jaw. A third came from the side—I grabbed its tusk, twisted, and slammed the hilt of the blade into its eye until it stopped moving.

No ability. No tricks.

Just technique.

Behind me, Liam moved like shadow through fire.

His arm turned to ash again—superheated, coiled and humming. He didn't waste motion. Didn't talk. Just struck with clean, terrifying precision.

Boars lunged. He stepped through them.

One tried to flank him. His arm reformed in mid-swing and exploded through the creature's ribs.

Another got close—I buried my knife in its throat while Liam flash-fried a fourth without even looking.

One by one, we cut them down.

No backup. No help. Just the two of us and a pile of steaming corpses.

Boar count eliminated: 15/15

Civilians evacuated: 9/9

Objective complete

Merit points: 1650

I exhaled, chest steady. Clean. No blood on me that wasn't someone else's.

Liam dusted off the ash from his wrist as it cooled back into skin.

"You good?" he asked.

"Untouched."

"Nice."

We looked over the bodies. Steam rising. No more movement.

The HUD pulsed again.

Siege zone confirmed: Northern Art Gallery

No Evac possible. Final defense. Time remaining: 17:08

The other Evac zone has fallen, this is the final stretch.

No help. Just hold the line.

I turned toward the waypoint.

"Let's finish this."