New chapter is finally here. I'll be honest though, it's becoming a lot harder to find the motivation to keep writing this story. I know where I want it to go, and I have a general idea of the plot I want, but putting time in to type it is starting to become more difficult to do. I know that there are some people out there that is interested in this story and want it to continue, and I plan on trying to finish it as long as I have some support (just one person is enough actually), however, if the updates become less frequent it's because I can't find the motivation to type it. Anyway that's the story, I've kept you long enough. Enjoy.
[Jerome's POV]
I was on the roof of a building taking heavy fire from other players. I was getting pushed back to the edge of the roof. Avi was getting scared and was starting to panic a bit.
"Make it stop!" she screamed over the loud gunfire. I peak my head around the corner to see if someone is in sight but as soon as I do a bullet pings the vent I'm hiding behind. I immediately got back into cover knowing that they had an angle on me. Avi, however tried to run to the other side of the roof while under heavy fire.
"Avi stop!" I yelled, but it was too late. I saw her body flinching to being hit by the bullets. She started to stumble backwards to the point where she was at the edge of the roof. "AVI!" I yelled to try and snap her out of it but she kept stumbling backwards until she tripped over the edge of the roof and started plummeting to the ground. I looked in horror as her body made contact with the ground. Then, I just lost it. I got out of cover and rushed the players shooting at me. There was a good 4 of them so I knew I wasn't getting out alive. All I wanted to do was take some down with me. Boy was I stupid. As soon as I left cover I felt the bullets strike my body. I tried to keep going but my body got weaker with each bullet impact. My body couldn't handle it anymore and I kneeled to the ground. The bullets stopped coming and one player came over to me and put his sidearm to my forehead.
"Nothing personal." He says before his hand started to squeeze the trigger.
"No." I said as I jumped upright on my bed. "That was not my best dream." I looked to my left and saw Avi still asleep next to me. I looked at the clock and it was 7:00 AM. I was contemplating going back to sleep but I kept hearing banging on the door. Thinking that no one else would get it I got up and walked out of my room to get the door. When I opened it I saw a National Guard member standing in front of me. "Can I help you?"
"Yes you can. I'm here to pick up you and Octavia Hall to take you to the training facility." I raised an eyebrow.
"Training Facility?"
"It's where you and Octavia will train prior to the games starting."
"How long will we be there?"
"Five days."
"Anything we need to bring."
"Nope just put on some athletic clothes and come outside when you're ready." With that he walked away and I shut the door. I jumped after turning around and seeing my dad in front of me.
"Morning dad."
"Morning son. I guess that you didn't want to tell your father anything about this." I looked away feeling a little bad that I kept this from him.
"Sorry dad. You were at work and you never answer the phone when you're there." He opened his mouth wanting to say something but he couldn't.
"Good point." My dad got me into airsoft in the first place. After he saw that I played a lot of First Person Shooters he took me to an airsoft arena and let me try it out. I was instantly hooked and I play airsoft more that I play Video Games. "So are you about to go?"
"Yes I am. Sorry for the short goodbye." He walked over to me and gave me a hug.
"Don't be sorry son. You have to promise me that you will come back alive. Even if you die in terms of the competition I want you to come back here alive and well." I gave him a nod.
"You got it dad." He broke the hug and started to walk to his bedroom and I went to mine to wake up Avi and to try and get dressed. When I walked in I saw Avi sitting up looking directly at me.
"Morning Jeromy."
"Morning Avi. How long have you been up?"
"I woke up after you got out of bed. We gotta go soon huh?"
"Yeah we do. I guess training starts now." She got up out of bed and she went to get her clothes.
"Luckily I had my athletic clothes on when we went to talk." She started getting dressed and I found some black basketball shorts with a t-shirt that has a Yankees logo on it. After getting dressed we went to say our goodbyes to my parents. Mom was still asleep and dad was watching sports.
"You're leaving now?" dad asked.
"Yeah we are." He nudged my mom awake so that she could say goodbye.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"We're going to a training facility for five days before the game starts." She nodded and got up to hug me.
"Come home alive, OK?"
"I will mom." She broke the hug and kissed my cheek. She then turned to Octavia and hugged her.
"Make sure he doesn't do anything crazy." I rolled my eyes and Octavia giggled.
"I keep an eye on him." They pulled away from the hug and my dad just gave us nod of approval.
"Good luck." He said. We nodded and went outside to meet the Guard who would take us there. He was driving a white school van which was an odd choice for the guard.
"Ready?" he asked. I then had a realization.
"Avi don't you want to say goodbye to your mom?" she shook her head.
"She's on a business trip. I already told her what was happening before I went to talk to you." I nodded and turned my attention to the Guard.
"We're ready." With that said he opened the car door for us to get in and went to the driver's seat. Once we got in and shut the door we were on our way to the training facility.
"They told me to give you a rundown on what to expect when you get to the facility." Thinking that the ride would take a while, Octavia got comfortable and leaned her body against mine. "On the first day, which is today, you will do a lot of physical training to get ready for the arena. On the second day you will learn survival skills on how to find food and also some first aid. You will also get a rundown on how the games will work on that day. On the third day you will get some gun training. This will show which types of guns you are proficient in as well as what guns you will take with you to the arena. Keep in mind that the ones we provide are basic at most and the more powerful ones are hidden in the arena. On the fourth, and last, day of training you will get some freestyle training. A judge from the Gamemasters will come by to see you in action and will give you a score based on how well you do in an obstacle course." I assumed that this will be used for people to place bets on who might win these games, which I found repulsive. "After that you get to rest until the fifth day, where you will be taken to the arena for the games. Any questions?" There really wasn't much to ask about. He gave us a good rundown on what would happen.
"No sir." I said. I looked toward Octavia to see if she had anything to ask. She just shook her head and tried to get some rest.
"It'll take 45 minutes to get to the facility so you can take a nap if you want. I'll wake you guys up when we arrive." I didn't respond I just leaned against the window, which let Octavia get more room, and tried to get some shuteye. Although, it was difficult considering that the car was jerking a bit after every turn and bump we hit, and my head was constantly hitting the window. I readjusted my position to the headrest where I found it more comfortable. I still couldn't get much shuteye though, which kinda sucks considering I didn't have the best night's sleep. I guess a lot of time went by while I was trying to get comfortable though because I felt the car start to slow down and park. I opened my eyes to see that we were in a decommissioned base. It wasn't very big but it had the essentials for training. I know that sometimes the swat teams practice here; I've even played some airsoft in this area.
"We're here." The guard said. I looked to my side to see Octavia fast sleep. It felt wrong to try and wake her up but I knew that we had work to do. I nudged her a little.
"Avi. Wake up, we're here." She started to stir awake and started to yawn. After she finished she opened her eyes and looked around.
"Where are we?"
"We're in one of the decommissioned bases that's now used as a training facility." She nodded and took in the sights. She looked a little amazed but I sensed that she was shaking a little. "You ok?" She nodded her head yes, albeit rather slowly, which hinted to me that she really wasn't OK. We hopped out the car and proceeded to follow the Guard member to the barracks. I was expecting a room with nothing but a bed, a closet, and maybe a bathroom. But what I got was much more. When we stepped in the barracks I saw a decorative lobby with a few people roaming around, most looked like they just maintained the place. One of the workers walked up to us and gave Octavia and me a room key.
"If you guys would follow me I'll take you to your room." The worker led the way followed by me, Octavia, and the guard in that order. We went up some stairs until we got to the top floor where we got to a door locked with a keycard. The worker swiped hers and proceeded to walk in. the room we had was amazing. A dining room table in the middle of the room as well as a living room with an angled couch and a huge 70 inch TV with a few gaming consoles connected to it. We had two bedrooms and two bathrooms, the bedrooms had a king sized bed with a bedding that seems like it came from a resort hotel. The bathrooms had a standard toilet with a sink and a shower, but it also had a power bath, probably to relax after training.
"Wow" Octavia and I said simultaneously.
"Glad you like it." The worker said with a smile. She then proceeded to give us our room keys and walked out. The guard told us what to do next.
"Relax here for about an hour. I'll come get you ad take you to training when I get the OK." Octavia and I nodded at the guard and he proceeded to leave the room. I decided to look inside the bedroom closets to see if we had clothes to change into and sure enough, there was a whole wardrobe inside there. There was tuxedos, casual wear, nightwear, and athletic wear, pretty much everything we would need while we are here. I walked over to the living room to find Octavia asleep on the couch. I smiled and walked next to her and laid down on the opposite side with my head next to hers.
'She's so beautiful' I thought to myself as I felt my eyes become heavy and I drifted off to sleep.
That's the end of this chapter. And like I said I will try to find the motivation to finish this story, but no promises of frequent updates. Until next time this is ragmanthemadman signing off.