Surviving exercise – Part 2

Jeorge's POV

Two hours in and so far, Cain, Samuel, Emelia, and I have tried to keep a low profile. For the past half an hour, we had been trying to look for a good hideout in the small forest area that was close to a river.

The training made us all feel really nervous. Quiet, even. We couldn't think about eating; hunger had flown away someplace far, far away from our minds. I guess we were just trying to adjust to the situation.

Well, except for Cain.

He was always hyperactive, whether or not he was feeling safe or not. He didn't really worry about anything and was constantly excited, something that reminded me of a child.

He was a good friend, albeit a little tiring to deal with. However, even if he seemed careless, he was reliable and a good partner to have.

The three of us were the same. Samuel, Emelia, and I, I meant.

We were all pretty shy in the beginning. Cain was the guy that kind of drew us out of our shells with his cheery disposition. We were quieter than Cain, since most of the time he was talking. We just listened to him ramble on and on, but it never really bothered us.

Emelia was probably the most silent out of the three; Samuel and I chipped into the conversation sometimes, but she never tried to, unless it concerned her.

Well, that was in the beginning.

Emelia kinda relaxed around us, something I'm pretty happy about. She's not so scared of us anymore.

At first, I thought Emelia would be the one to bandage us, but that turned out to be Samuel, the other blonde in our group. Despite his silence and lack of strength, his diligence and ability to keep everyone together really made up for it.

We each had our own roles.

I was the leader. Cain was the motivator. Emelia, someone to protect, and Samuel, the support.

We wouldn't, or couldn't, be a team without each other.

As we made our way through the forest, I kept looking up. It looked like it could rain any minute now. The vegetation made the air hot and humid, uncomfortably so, despite the elevation. I was getting a little dizzy because of it.

Unfortunately, Samuel noticed I was falling behind and piped up, "You okay there, Jeorge? You don't look so good..." Concern laced his voice.

I didn't eat breakfast this morning, which obviously wasn't a good idea, thinking about it now. I was just scared of being late, so I skipped. Melda was pretty frightening when she yelled. The walking and the weather really didn't help.

I grinned weakly, "Yeah, don't worry. I'm okay...just need to eat something." I didn't want them to worry about me. I didn't want to be a liability, after all.

By now, everyone had stopped to stare at me with worried looks.

"Can't hide anything from these guys, huh?" I thought to myself, my weak smile strengthening. They were all great friends.

Emelia was pulling out her pockets quickly, her expression slowly getting more distressed as she turned out more and more of her pockets. Finally, she found something and her face brightened, rushing towards me. She grabbed my hands and pressed something into mine, looking excited.

"U-um, here! Eat this! I know it's not much, but I knew I put it somewhere for an occasion like this," she spoke, and then averted her eyes, rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Thanks, Emelia," I gave her a pat on the shoulder and eagerly bit into the fruit-like object. At least it was edible.

After I finished, Cain shouted enthusiastically, "Hey, guys! We should probably return to that lake earlier and maybe go fishing for some food."

Samuel glanced at him with a nod and said, "Yeah, I agree. One of us could fish and the others gather wood, then cook them up like the previous exercise."

No one was against the idea, so we went along with it.

There weren't a lot of choices anyway.

As we were walking to the lake, Cain seemed a little uneasy. He was constantly looking around, his eyes darting about the surroundings.

I was the only one that really noticed it. He was never nervous, not even during the exercises.

I approached him and, lowly, asked, "Is there something wrong?"

He looked surprised and quickly tried to hide it with a smile. "E-Er, it's probably nothing..." He said vaguely. I knew he was hiding something though, so I raised my eyebrow in doubt.

He sighed in defeat and replied, "Don't you think that we've been too lucky? Like, we haven't gotten attacked yet it feels weird. I can't shake the feeling that we're being watched..."

My eyes widened. It did seem a little fishy...

"Now that you say it...It does seem a little weird. Guess we should be more careful, then," I said, getting a little worried.

Emelia and Samuel, who were a few steps ahead, started to notice us lagging behind.

The blonde girl eyed us strangely and called, "That's kind of rude, guys. What're you guys talking about?"

Her reply surprised me a little. Though she was mostly quiet, when it came down to things that she thought were important, she was pretty forward.

What she said made me wonder about whether or not to tell them. If we did, they might get riled up and panic, but I wasn't sure how to deal with it.

Was it better to lie, or tell the truth? But before I could say anything, Cain decided to blurt out, "Well, we thought we're being watched by someone."

I cut in front of whoever was about to reply to Cain with, "C'mon, don't worry too much about it now. Let's just keep focusing and try to avoid being attacked."

Despite my attempt to ease the tension, Samuel wasn't getting any more relaxed. Emelia stared at him, reading the atmosphere.

"Hey, don't get so nervous! We've been doing just fine, so there's no need to sweat, right?" She grinned and tugged on Samuel's sleeve, walking backwards. His face broke into a small smile and he nodded, letting himself get dragged.

However, we were so distracted, we didn't even notice the trap that Samuel and Emelia were walking right into.

By the time I noticed it was too late. "Samuel, Emelia, stop! Don't move!"

Emelia blinked, continuing to walk. "What's wron—KYAAA!" The pitfall trap on the ground already activated the second her foot hit the switch. I threw my arm in front of Cain to stop him.

"Whoa, that was close," Cain sighed in relief, running a hand through his hair. "Shoot, though, was that Emelia screaming? That was pretty cute!"

"I know right—" I stopped myself. If there were traps, there were bound to be Garrison members. "C'mon, we gotta help them!"

We both kneeled in front of the pit, peering over the edge. It was a simple hole trap, covered in leaves that didn't even blend in with the dirt. All of us had passed the detection test for this trap, and yet we fell for it anyway.

Luckily, the hole wasn't extremely deep, so it would be easier to pull them out. Cain was already at it, reaching his hand out for Samuel to grab, but he retracted suddenly, just as we all heard something behind us.

From behind a tree, two men wearing the Garrison uniform shuffled out, cocky smiles adorning their faces.

"Heh, stupid kids. Never knew they'd fall for that trap," one of them almost cackled.

I quickly stood up, tense.

Both of the men were making their way towards us, but before they could get in a close distance, I shouted, "Stop! Two members of our group are inside the trap, so it means only one of you can attack!"

One of them was fuming. His partner shushed him with a punch to the arm.

The man approaching us was older. Grayish in both hair and face, he gave me a sarcastic, slow clap, saying, "At least you brats know the rules. Now, come on! Show me what you weaklings got!" He beckoned at us, taunting, the look on his face already making my blood boil.

Cain shuffled beside me, crouching slightly with his arms up. "Two on one should be easy if our opponent's just a geezer." I fought off a grin, and watched as the Garrison member's face twisted in anger.

However, I pushed Cain slightly. "Help them first. He should be fairly easy and the hole isn't deep," I hissed under my breath.

He nodded, and then rushed back to the pit.

"Damn cocky brat! You think you can take me alone, huh?!" He yelled. A vein was bulging on his neck, a red flush creeping up on his face. He moved quickly, fueled by whatever taunts me and Cain threw at him.

Despite his age, he was pretty fast, and I couldn't dodge enough when he tackled me. I was temporarily disorientated by the slam of my body against the ground, but I retaliated the second I recovered, throwing a punch that he blocked, rolling off of me. A smirk spread on my face. A good challenge was always welcomed.

Trading punches, both of us could see we were getting tired.

I was faster than him, but he was stronger.

In the end, we were both getting tired. My breath was coming out in fast, heavy pants, but he was also breathing hard. Cain was still trying to get Samuel out of the pit, and I was just stalling for time.

The older man was looking rather annoyed, possibly because he was at the same ability as a "rookie", so he snarled, "I'm done playing with you, brat!"

He quickly rushed at me and I thought he was trying to end it, but he just ran right past me, his leg outstretched in a kick.

"Cain! Watch out!" I shouted, but again, I was too late. All he could do was cover his chest to avoid serious damage. The loud thump made me wince, but then the Garrison member trained a sharp eye on me.

His friend emerged from behind the tree.

"Well, looks like we captured three of your teammates...and you're all alone." A depraved smile spread on his face.

"It's over," I thought to myself as I tried to dodge. Fighting the first man was hard enough and I was already weakened. I ended up giving up, letting myself accept a strong punch in the stomach. The second guy decided to attack then, tripping me, grinding my head into the ground.

With that, all of us were strung up and taken back down to Melda.

Once we came to, Melda had yelled at us for being captured.

But I was kind of relieved to know that we weren't the only ones that were captured. There were others worse off than us.

Many had been subdued when fighting, some injured themselves, and others, like Alina, had been caught in traps.

However, the instructor laughed, saying that she already expected the early-captured trainees since the exercise was so tough.

Now, we were all just taking a rest after our pushup punishment from Melda. We weren't even prepared for anything as startling as the sound of thunder.

It was loud. Impeccably so. When we all rushed to the windows, we were able to witness a lightning bolt strike deep in the forest, followed by a clap of the loudest thunder we had ever heard.

My mouth went dry and my hands started to shake. "I've...seen this before..." I muttered to myself, my mouth and eyes wide open. "Where?"

Cain scooted closer, asking, "Hey, buddy, you okay? It's nothing, just a storm, so relax." A kind smile spread on his face as he gripped my shoulder.

Shiganshina.

The feeling of his hand helped, but the realization was like a spear through the chest. It was not a simple thunderbolt.

Suddenly, I heard a lot of yelling, and Melda burst through the door, startling all the Garrison members situated to watch us.

"Everyone, gear up! The lightning hit the Forest and there are probably still idiots in there! Team up and rescue everyone before the fire kills 'em all!"

Watching the officers leave, I dropped my gaze into my lap. My shaking fingers.

Who would be lucky enough to go in there and come out alive?

Xin's POV

An hour had passed into the exercise. We've been moving like mindless sheep, trying to find a place to belong.

The lack of trees in the grassy meadow area contributed to the uncomfortable heat settling between our skin and clothing, but it was a good idea nonetheless. We wouldn't have to worry about being attacked by 3DMG users.

Our nerves were fraying, and it was felt in our group, because the two males never stopped arguing.

I can't remember who said it...but they acted like a married couple, almost. The typical, storybook kind anyway: bickering one moment, all over each other the other.

Jessica didn't help the situation at all. She was always laughing at both of them, but most of the time taking Richard's side. Every time she did, Antonio would lose his head. It was obvious he didn't understand her at all.

Antonio hated people with carefree attitudes, and his sharp words caused a lot of misunderstandings and fights in our group. People like Jessica and Richard didn't sit very well with him, but I don't think he minded me.

Despite our troubles, we all got along fairly well, like most of the groups. Richard was probably our center.

He had the kind of personality that attracted everyone, even if they didn't like him, intentionally or not. Despite his laziness at...almost everything, he was one of the strongest in our squad. And he was...a good person.

Something I wish I was, sometimes.

Although I didn't have many friends, he was one I could call a good friend. We met each other first, anyway.

But, I couldn't trust him. It's funny, calling someone a friend, but not being able to share all of my problems with that friend. My chest constricted and I found it harder to breathe. Thinking about it wasn't going to help my current situation, but no matter how hard I tried to focus on something else, it didn't work. "I don't want him to find out...I don't want him to look at me differently," I thought, reaching into my jacket pocket. My lucky charm was in there, a smooth stone.

It helped me through some of the hardest times I've had.

I noticed Richard glancing at me, but he said nothing. Instead, he shouted enthusiastically, "Alright, guys, group up!" He crouched, reaching over to grab a stick with his left hand.

Naturally, he was our leader. He had kind of shifted into the role; no one really enunciated who it was, but looking at the way our group interacted, it was clear he was the center of attention. He did have some semblance to strategizing like a leader, but sometimes, we had to step in to make him see the second option. Sometimes it was the better option, but sometimes his plans worked smoother than ours.

When I looked down, there were some strange-looking scribbles with four funny figures.

Antonio face-palmed and sighed. "What the heck is that, Richard? Stop fooling around..." He glared at Richard with animosity.

Richard made a hurt face and said, "That's not it, grumpy! Look closer." He pointed at it and tapped the ground impatiently.

Before the red-haired boy could shoot something back, Richard shushed him by continuing, "So, we haven't found a good place to camp and we haven't gathered food yet, right?" Now that I realized it, the squiggles looked like a clock, a tent, and a deformed fish...

We nodded, Jessica turning slightly red as she tried not to laugh. "Since we're almost reaching the second hour, we should split into duos and divide the objectives! It'll be easier to survive the hunters' too, since they won't be able to gang up on us!"

I let the information sink in. Everyone else was also silent.

If we placed Jessica and Antonio in one team...

"Oh? Not bad, smartass," Antonio teased. Jessica's face brightened once she agreed. Her positivity reinforced with a fist-pump.

Richard stared at me, probably waiting for an agreement. It was expectant, but friendly, something that was still absurdly new to me. I slowly nodded.

"Sweet! Since everyone agrees, Xin and I will be together and search for a good place to set up camp and you guys will go back to the lake we saw earlier and gather some food, okay?" He pointed to the two of them.

At that mention, both Antonio and Jessica were about to argue with him.

"Wait, why do I have to go with him?" She whined, pointing at him with a child-like expression.

Immediately, Antonio interjected, "Yeah! The two of us don't get along well, so you should change it!"

They agreed on something, surprisingly, but it was only to not agree with each other. I sighed internally, blinking slowly.

Richard stood up and brushed the dirt off his pants. He walked closer to them, then put his arms around their shoulders with an innocent smile. "C'mon, guys. You know I can't swim and Xin's great at tracking, so just pair up this once? Please? Do it for your bud, Richard, okay?" His grin widened and he looked like a kid trying to convince his parents.

I wanted to laugh. I'm glad he knew what needed to be done in order for us to work better.

Both of them sighed in defeat and nodded. Antonio replied, "Just this once! You owe me one."

With that, the two of them went on their way, trying to avoid eye contact. They acted like feuding friends, acting as if they were mad at each other with their arms crossed.

"Let's go!" Richard was unusually bubbly, but probably because his plan managed to work. A cocky smile spread on his face as he half-whistled.

I looked at him vaguely. "You...did it on purpose, right? To make them get to know each other better..."

He looked at me with surprise. Fake. "I did that?" He let out a small chuckle. "You're giving me too much credit, Xin! I'm just a lazy guy, and our jobs aren't too hard."

I knew he was lying. It was easy to see through it, I wasn't so naive.

He wasn't as immature as his actions I knew it for sure. I decided not to touch the matter again.

A few minutes later, we spotted a small cave-like area that we briefly stared at.

Something twisted in me. Weird memories started to surface, almost as if I were looking at a spread of photos of my past. I had slept in a cave like this, homeless, cold, hoping for someone to save me. No one had come.

I clenched my jaw. A burning house, my family's screams, the men that had come to take my mother and me away.

Unconsciously, my hands started trembling.

"Not here, not here...I won't be weak! I won't..." I thought, shoving my hands into my jacket hurriedly. But when I looked back up, Richard was looking at me concernedly.

"Hey," he whispered, his voice low. He was close, his hands on my shoulders. Warmth. "Let's get out of here."

Steering me outside, I felt like a child. I felt despicably small. Like I couldn't do anything. My eyebrows creased.

"C'mon, don't look like that," he almost crooned. Now that we were out of the cave, my nerves slowly started to return. Richard didn't remove his hands. Instead, he was looking away, thankfully. Not at my face. Not at my shaking hands. Not judging me.

It was a while before he spoke again.

"I've noticed you've been looking pretty down for a while now." He glanced at me, but looked away. I laced my fingers together in an effort to stop the shivering.

"You know..." He whirled me to face him and grabbing my hands, earnestly looked me in the eye. Hazel eyes warm and worried. It made me uncomfortable. There was a burning in my stomach, something fluttering. I could only stare back at him, half confused and half tense. "You can count on me."

He squeezed my hands tighter. "I know you don't like to talk a lot, but if you ever do, I'm all ears. I'll support you, no matter what!"

Without missing a beat, an honest smile, almost brutally honest, spread over his face. It almost glowed. I averted my eyes. I didn't need his smiling. I didn't need any of his friendship, but he gave it to me anyway. I didn't deserve it.

Richard let go of my hands, but instead of turning away, he ruffled my hair lightly.

I looked up, almost startlingly, and he just laughed, closing his eyes happily. An idiot.

Silently, the two of us walked back toward our meeting point, but the two were nowhere to be seen.

However, there was a shadow up ahead. It was only one figure though, instead of two. However, the thing looked a little deformed, so it was possible one of them got hurt and the other was being carried.

"Is that...?" I pointed to the figure and Richard squinted.

"Maybe. It's too far, we should get closer," he commented, and moved to get closer.

I didn't even think. Instinctively, my hand shot out, but instead of grabbing his sleeve, my fingers curled around his wrist tightly, stopping him from moving. I blinked rapidly, surprised at my own body's actions. Richard's eyes were wide, staring at me in surprise, but it faded as he looked at me.

I quickly stared at the ground. "Thanks." I couldn't say anything more than that. I didn't know how. I released his hand and retracted from him, embarrassment burning on my face.

"No problem," he spoke softly, but it seemed like he was smiling.

When I looked up, I turned out to be right. Antonio's red hair and Jessica's blonde hair were clear as the male struggled to keep going.

We both rushed to help them. Once they saw us, Antonio almost collapsed, his face twisted with tired gratitude.

"W-What happened? You guys got attacked or something?" Richard asked. I scooped Jessica from Antonio's back and laid her down. There were bandages poorly wrapped around her ankle.

"Yeah, she defended me, but got hurt," Antonio answered, guilt written all over his face.

"At least you got his pin," I remarked quietly, staring at the shiny pin attached to Antonio's jacket.

They were starting to trust each other. At least that was the positive out of this.

We found a large, shady tree to rest under while I checked out Jessica's wound. It wasn't bad at all, just slightly swollen, which meant rest was all she needed. After a few hours, she would be okay.

Before I could tell the boys anything, my words were drowned out by the sound of thunder and cracking trees. A lightning bolt?

"W-What the hell? It hit the forest, look! There's smoke!" Richard shouted, jumping to his feet.

Antonio, on the other hand, was paralyzed in fear. His face quickly changed. Anger. "Fuck! This again? Guys, I'm gonna check it out!" Just like that, he took off sprinting as if there was no tomorrow.

Richard glanced at me. "Xin, do you mind taking care of Jessica? I have to go with grumpy before he does something crazy."

He didn't even wait for a reply. He just took off at the same speed as Antonio.

"W-What's going on?" Jessica sounded drowsy and disorientated and I knelt beside her.

"Lightning struck the forest, I think. Antonio ran off, and so did Richard. But you'll be fine with me around," I patted her arm and a faint smile appeared on her face.

"I just hope they don't do something reckless."

"Yeah."

Aksel's POV

Two hours had passed and our group hadn't gotten anything done.

The only thing we were doing now was chasing Cay around this huge forest.

The brown-haired military cut guy was probably the rudest guy in all the trainees and it was our misfortune that we got stuck in the same group as him.

Luckily for me, Alice and Emma were really cheerful and sociable, something that was a huge relief, especially with a grump like Cay.

We were all laid-back, unlike the other guy. Both of the girls were good friends already, and they shared the same goal of joining the Military Police within the walls. On the other hand, I wanted to join the Scouts to find my lost brother.

But Cay? We didn't know anything about him. When he opened his mouth, it was normally complaints or to boss us around.

Both of the girls were very bored, so they were chitchatting. I was just beside them, laughing at their conversation topics. A couple of steps ahead of us, I could see that Cay was already fuming.

He'd probably shout at the girls and another fight would start up. I always tried to pacify him, but with Cay, conflicts were bound to happen.

I approached the two girls and whispered, "Hey, try to keep it down...I don't want another fight, you know?" They both looked at me and nodded. But instead, they started to make fun of Cay, making funny faces and thinking up of jokes about him.

We all ended up bursting into laughter, much to Cay's anger.

He just shouted, "Cut it out, idiots! This isn't a picnic!" We sobered up immediately. He was right, even if he was an ass.

After a few minutes, we decided to try and grab some food. Cay ended up hunting some small mammals that somehow didn't run from humans. The three of us were trying to gather edible fruits, the safer option.

Suddenly, I heard a high-pitched scream, "Help!"

I looked around and noticed Emma was gone. "So the person screaming must've been her!"

Alice and I rushed to where the sound came from, to see Emma hanging in a tree branch, upside-down, her ankles tied by a rope.

"Damn! It was a trap! How are we gonna pull her down?" I muttered to myself, hoping that someone had a knife. It was impossible to scale the tree, so I had my fingers crossed that we brought a sharp object.

"G-Guys," she stammered. "Hurry up before a hunter appears...?" Her face was starting to look as red as a tomato. It must've been painful...

From behind us, I heard a sarcastic laugh. I turned around and saw Cay with a disdainful look on his face. "You guys really are terrible at this. Forget about her, let's go."

Alice quickly snarled at him, "Stop being a dick and help us get her out!"

Knowing him, he probably would've laughed and left, but her outburst against him got him riled up.

"You guys are absolutely useless! I'm done with you failures and I'll survive by myself! See ya, losers!" Alice looked like she was about to punch him, so I grabbed her by the arms, bringing them behind her back. She flailed in my grip, calling out, "Damn you, bastard! Have fucking fun trying to survive by yourself! I hope those Garrison men find you and beat you to a pulp!"

I softly whispered, "C'mon, forget about him. We need to help Emma..."

She slowly calmed down and I released her.

But as much as we tried, we couldn't do anything. It was too high and the rope was too thick.

The familiar sound of 3DMG hooks and gas slowly followed and I couldn't help but feel the sinking feeling of failure. But maybe Alice and I could survive the exercise together.

I pushed Alice into a bush and quickly followed. With Emma still conscious, despite all the blood in her head, I motioned for her to stay quiet. Maybe the hunters would find Cay instead of us.

A couple meters away, I picked up some grunts and shouts. The hunter probably found Cay out. Suddenly, everything went silent.

The calm before the storm.

Then there were screams. Something cracked nearby and the sound waves vibrated through my jaw. My ears rang from the loud thunderclap and I watched as deer and rabbits fled in fear. The ground started to shake, but it slowly faded.

"W-What the hell was that?" I managed to say, trying not to panic. Alice was shaking from fear.

From where the fighting noises were, I noticed a lot of smoke. It smelled like burning. A fire must've started nearby.

The screams hadn't stopped though. Half of a corpse suddenly flew towards us. Despite all the blood, the Garrison symbol was faintly visible before he slammed into the ground face down.

Actually seeing a dead body was the real thing. I felt myself heaving, almost in third-person. I threw up and Alice was in shock, lying on the ground, curling into a ball, a silent tear running down her face.

Emma was in a similar predicament like Alice. She was trying really hard to untie the rope with her feet together.

A low roar came from the where the corpse flew from. The ground was shaking again. Something large was coming...

When I saw the large shadow, I stumbled backwards, my back smacking into a tree.

"N-No! T-TITAN!" I screamed."This is the end, isn't it?"