RISING

4

Two Years Ago.

The field was deathly quiet, and I hated every moment of it.

Essien and I moved forward as a team, ducking from cover to cover in the generated terrain. It was a broken city, with rubble from falling buildings littering the ground. The occasional thunder sounded overhead, signaling rain that would never come.

Overturned vehicles offered excellent protection, but we couldn't stay in one section for too long. We were about halfway across the giant field, and we haven't seen our opposing team yet. The only time we saw them was before the simulation began, and I hadn't even got a good look at them then.

"Either their ipseites are personal, or they're patient individuals." Essien said smiling, looking over the rusty car door. "I heard winning one of these practices earns you tickets for extra meals. Not like you need them with your food stash."

"My granola bars have been running low because of your midnight snacking. It doesn't help either that the Greens running the cafe line refuse to spare me their extras. Those jerks." I wonder if our opponents were running around the field like us or setting up camp near the flag.

Signaling with my hand, Essien and I moved up the field more, hiding at the corner of a skyscraper. Across the terrain, I saw a flit of movement between two buildings. Judging by Essien tapping my shoulder, he must have saw it too.

"Trap?" I asked him quietly.

"Maybe an attempt to draw us out." Essien offered. "I think we should wait and see what happens.

I ran my fingers over the handgun attached to my hip. "I was never the patient type." Ignoring Essien's protests, I slowly made my way across to where I saw the suspicious activity. I looked back at Essien who motioned down the field. He mouthed the word flag and began moving, leaving me by myself.

I hopped over a car, listening for anything. Occasionally there were crunches on the ground, sounding something like an irregular heartbeat. My breathing became more tense as I carefully made my way, looking and listening for anything out of the ordinary. The crunches on the ground went from my left to my right, and seemed to be moving north.

I picked up the pace, going from a slow crawl to move of a jog. Whoever was around here had no intention of being slow, so neither did I. Crouching in a broken window frame, a blond girl scanned the area, her eyes narrowing with effort. I immediately noticed her purple shirt and took caution. Purples were never fun to deal with. They always had something crazy up their sleeve.

She turned her head, and her purple irises made contact with my blue ones. She quickly hopped off the bricks and ran. Cursing mentally, I took off myself, trying to keep pace with her. It was hard considering I had to leap over cracked asphalt and building remnants. She was fast, but I could keep pace if I focused. She was taking a very deliberate route, not running straight, but in a shallow diagonal line. Between the obtrusions, I saw where she was going. She was running towards an unaware Essien.

I wanted to yell his name, but that would only alert the other Purple of his and my location. I raised my left hand and a familiar blue glow enveloped it. Just like every time I did this, my blood began to hum, forcing a shiver down my spine. A chunk of concrete started giving off the same blue light as my hand.

Knowing that I had full control of it, I lifted it and tossed it downfield, directly in front of the Purple's path. She cleanly stopped however, watching it land in front of her. Essien looked over at the slab that suddenly materialized next to him. I wanted to shoot myself from the headache that started from moving an object that heavy. Sometimes, just sometimes, I wonder if telekinesis is really worth it.