Cayden's Crusade

The Desert

We were bathed in a blinding light and we covered our eyes. We got the shock of our life as we realized we are entirely in a different place. It was a desert. I looked at the wristwatch and there was another blue dot now which tells our location. There was also small display of the time at the top telling we already spent one minute just standing there.

"Guys, time is precious. Let's go and find our cases", I said.

Naghiwalay na kami dahil may kalayuan ang location nang bawat case.

We ran. Alam kong simulation lang ang paligid but it all seemed so real. I can feel the blazing heat under the desert sun. Lumulubog ang paa ko sa buhangin in every step that I take.

I looked at my watch. 10 minutes have passed. Medyo malayo pa kami sa location nang case. We did not see any dwellers yet. Another 30 minutes of running and we reached the location of our case.

"Whew! This looks so easy", Myron said.

"Oo nga", Zinny agreed as she take the case.

They were right. Masyadong madali. Wala kaming na-encounter na dwellers. It all seemed wrong so I warned them. "Keep your eyes open. We're still halfway through the exercise. Anything could happen".

Tumakbo kami pabalik ng extraction area. Wala pang isang minuto, naglabasan na sila. Dalawang vipers.

"Keep running, Zinny. Myron, the other one is yours!", I instructed.

I swung my sword and cut the viper's head in one slash. Myron was able to kill the other viper. We were able to catch up with Zinny. We continued running until out of nowhere, a viper appeared. It nearly got Zinny but she was able to duck. Myron killed it.

And everything just got even crazier, four more vipers and some isopods appeared. Zinny dropped the case to help us fight. I saw Myron on the corner of my eye tackling the two isopods and killed one. He was about to slash the other one's neck but a fifth viper appeared which nearly got him. He lost his focus for a moment. He faced the viper head-on cutting it's head and climbed the isopods back to slash it's neck.

Zinny was doing well with the viper as well. It took two hits before she finally cut it's head.

I ducked avoiding the vipers attaking me nonstop. There were three of them so I have to be careful. I rolled over as another leaped from behind me. I swung my sword and hit the other viper. I saw another one which I ended by slashing it's head as I got up.

"Cayden, behind you!", it was Zinny's voice. I just barely ducked and I viper swing past me. I lost my balance at nabitawan ko ang sword ko.

It was coming at me, I looked at my sword which is a few feet away from me. The vipers are fast and I'm sure they'll be able to get me before I get my sword. Myron and Zinny are running towards me but they'll be too late.

"Your secondary weapon, Knives. It will help you survive should your swords fail you. It's small but it can still do the job".

How stupid of me to forget it. Kinuha ko ang hunting knife na nakalagay sa belt ko and waited. The viper lunged and I stuck the knife to it's neck. I pushed it harder hanggang sa mahati ito.

I made a mental note to thank her after this. I picked up my sword and we continued running while fighting the dwellers.

Malapit na kami sa extraction area. I could see it from our location. Myron and Zinny smiled as they saw it too. We ran even faster. 20 minutes na lang ang natitirang oras namin.

Then, it seemed like all hell break loose! A horde of vipers and isopods are blocking our way towards the extraction area. I heard Myron curse.

I thought of a plan. "Zinny, you run behind us. Do not stop. The extraction area is just behind the horde of that dwellers. We only have 15 minutes more or less. We have to make a way through them. Do not let go of the case", I instructed.

"Myron, ready your swords. You see those group of vipers?", Myron nodded at me. "That's where we'll make a way. The others are full of isopods, it's harder to get past them".

We got ready and ran faster than we've ever ran before. I heard Myron's shout like a battlecry. We fought like we've never done before. Zinny matched our speed as we killed the vipers. We never stopped running,  we swung our swords here and there until we got out. We reached the extraction area just in time. And the weird thing is, kami lang tatlo ang nandoon. Our smiles was replaced with confusion. Where are the others?

A beep sounded signaling that the exercise is done. The desert and the dwellers slowly vanished. The door opened and Prof Samuel told us to get out of the CER.

Pinaupo niya kami sa loob ng control room. It turned out, ang aming grupo lang ang nakasurvive sa exercise which could have been a good thing. However,  since the goal is that all of us and the five cases should be at the extraction area within 2 hours, we failed the exercise.

He showed us the replays. The other groups failed because they were bitten by the vipers which rendered them immovable until the end of the exercise. Prof Samuel praised me at how I used my knife when my sword was thrown as the replay of that moment played on the screen. It was brilliant, he said. He gave us the whole day to study what went wrong on the exercise.

We can only do the exercise twice a day from Monday to Wednesday. Once in the the morning and once in the afternoon.

"Find out where you went wrong", Prof Samuel said. "The final exercise will be one month from now. You should pass or you won't like what will happen if you don't."

"I envy you", Cassius said with resentment. "Kung hindi lang tatanga-tanga itong si Naila e di yung group din namin nakasurvive din".

"Kung hindi ka rin naman pakialamero, e di sana napatay ko yung viper instead na makagat", pagalit na sabi ni Naila.

"Guys, stop it, okay? Blaming won't help", Holden said na kagrupo nila.

"Let's review what happened to each group and see kung saan tayo nagkamali, alright", sabi ko sa kanila. "Tapos, idiscuss natin kung ano dapat o di dapat ginawa. We still have another try in the afternoon para ma-apply natin yung mga matutunan from this exercise.

We tried again in the afternoon. We were more optimistic as we reviewed the moring exercise and we were pretty confident that we can do it this time.

We were wrong. Sa desert pa rin ang settings nang exercise but the locations of the cases and the extraction area were different. Even the time and number of the dweller attacking us was different from the previous one. This time, none of us was able to reach the extraction area.

We went to our bunkhouse very disappointed.

"At least the other classes were experiencing the same dilemna as us",  Clovis said. "I heard them on the pantry talking about it during lunch. It was a disaster".

"Do you think we can pass this in a month? ", Zinny asked.

" We should", Aloutte said. "I would rather not know what's waiting for us if we fail".

Another chapter done! Keep on reading guys!

xoxo
vampig30