Ellie yawned as she stared out the car window. The scenery was extremely dull, and the blistering heat wasn't making things better. Sighing, she fell back onto her seat and closed her eyes. She and Ms. Pauling had been in the car for four hours now with absolutely NO sign of civilization. Sentinel tapped her leg and leaned forward.

"Hey, we getting close?" She asked.

"Kind of. We've got one more hour to go." Pauling replied.

Ellie shook her head and leaned back. Closing her eyes once more, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Snzz-hng?!" Ellie jumped and looked around. Pauling was trying to shake her awake. Politely batting her off, Ellie smoothed her hair and grabbed her bags.

"Finally! You don't know how long I've been poking you," Pauling huffed and pushed her glasses up. "We're here, if you haven't already noticed."

Ellie watched as the woman walked off towards the two large buildings. They seemed to be repurposed mills; the one on the right was red and the one on the left was blue.. A small bridge separated the two buildings and underneath it was a small sewer system. "Hmm, it doesn't seem that bad…" She lugged her rifle over her shoulder and ran to catch up with Ms. Pauling. The hot sun was already making her sweat.

"Hey, Ms. Pauling?"

"Yes?"

"The trials you want me to complete, they're not life-threatening are they?"

Pauling scrunched her nose and shook her head. "Well...as long as you know what you're doing you'll be absolutely fine!" She gave a light chuckle and continued walking. The two passed the mills and started toward the small town in the distance. Ellie started to feel uneasy.

"Wait, the base is over there, isn't it? Where are we going?"

"We're going to the trials. You didn't think I'd let you look around did I? We haven't even hired you yet!"

Ellie looked at the mills behind her. Pauling was right, she didn't have to tell her anything at all. After about twenty minutes of walking, she looked up at the sign that hung over the both of them.

"Teufort?"

Pauling nodded. "We've emptied the whole town for this and fenced most of it off to prevent people from escaping the battlegrounds." She turned to look at Ellie. "Try to remember that?"

Ellie nodded quickly and gulped. What the hell did she get herself into? She turned the corner and could immediately hear laughter and a whole lot of yelling. Pauling walked towards a nearby building and held the door open. Inside were dozens of people of all shapes and sizes. Some were dressed professionally while the others looked a little worse for wear. Their talk quieted down once they realized Sentinel was joining them. As she was walking through the crowd, she could hear murmurs from the back of the room. Doing her best to ignore them, Sentinel sat down at an abandoned table and watched as Ms. Pauling walked towards the room's podium. Motioning with her hands, the crowd turned to face her as well.

"Alright guys, that was the last of them. You all know why you're here, right?" A few no's followed by some chuckles could be heard from across the room. Pauling rolled her eyes and continued. "The battleground is set. You've been advised to form alliances, but keep this in mind; the alliance can be broken at any time." Pauling pointed to Ellie bag. "You are all to use the weapons you brought with you. If you run out of ammo or need to get patched up, health kits and ammo packs can be located all throughout the town. Whether or not the ammo fits your gun is not our concern" The crowd started talking amongst themselves. Ellie looked around noticed that nearly everyone in the room had come with someone they knew. She was one of the only ones alone.

Pauling tapped the mic again and began to speak. "One more thing you guys! This is a deathmatch which means almost all of you will end up dead by the end of the match. The ten left alive by the end of the round will be considered for Mann Co., but that doesn't guarantee you the position." The crowd grew anxious and Ellie's spine crawled. She'd made a huge mistake by coming here. Pauling tapped her watch and looked at the crowd. "Clock's ticking you guys! Be ready in ten minutes!"

The moment she left, the crowd started scrambling. Ellie watched as some of them begged to form alliances with people who were clearly stronger than them, only to pushed away. She sighed and looked around. Spying a tall, lonely man near the back she carefully made her way towards him. He was holding a rifle too and watched her as she stood in front of him. He checked his scope and loaded his rifle.

"Whadya want?" He asked. Ellie nearly gasped. He's Australian. Keeping calm, she extended her hand and tried her best to act professional.

"I noticed you're a sniper too. You also don't have a partner." She held her head higher. "I think we should try to work together." The man squinted through his sunglass and walked towards her. She felt tiny compared to him. He leaned down and tipped his hat up.

"Two snipers is a horrible idea, besides! I work better alone." He crossed his arms and waited for her response.

Ellie frowned and took off her sunglasses. Handing them to him, he look confused, but took them anyways.

"Wha-"

"Just put them on for a second?"

The sniper grumbled and replaced his sunglasses. Immediately, his expression changed and Ellie smiled. Walking over to the crowd, she sneakily placed one of her rifle bullets in one of the men's pockets and made her way back to the sniper.

"Well? What do you see?" The man looked at her and then at the man she'd tagged.

"They light up like a god damned christmas tree!"

Ellie snickered and waved her hand in front of his face. Reached up and adjusted the knob on the side of the glasses. His expression changed again.

"Night vision? Infrared? You've gotta be kiddin' me." He chuckled lightly and handed her back the glasses. "You're a bounty hunter, aren't you?" Ellie shrugged and crossed her arms.

"What gave you that idea?" She smiled and held her hand out again. "Seriously, cmon. We have matching sunglasses and everything!"

The sniper sighed and hesitated. She could tell he still wanted to work alone. After a few seconds of thinking, he reached out and firmly shook her hand.

"Fine, but if you try anything I'm shooting you in the back of the head." He mumbled and leaned against the wall. "I won't hesitate to kill you. Don't think we're friends, either."

Ellie grinned and leaned against the wall next to him. "Wouldn't dream of it. By the way, my name's Ellie. You?"

"Mundy."

"That's pretty weird."

"Shut it."