1400, July 3rd, 2542 [MILITARY CALENDAR]\ ORTZ system, Planet Memphis, Base Galich's obstacle course
Two lines of four Spartan Cadets line up before the great obstacle course. They are known as Blue Team and Red team.
Me, Parkson, 211, and Kia make up Blue team. Our rivals and enemies, Perish-312, Janet-313, Melecia-314, and Charlie-315 make up Red Team. They hate us. And when I say hate, i mean hate.
Perish glares at me as Hokai explains the rules.
"You will work as a team to complete this course. The first team to come back here, the finishing line, will be rewarded with a week's rest from all duties. The team who finishes last will have to do the other team's duties, plus their own for the winning team's downtime. Do you understand me?" Hokai shouts. "Sir, yes sir!" We reply.
"At the shot, you will start," Hokai says, stepping away from the two teams.
Up ahead is a training ground. First up there's a rope that leads to metal tires that are set up in rows of two. After those is a weak wooden bridge, and after that is a jungle gym maze of at least one hundred ropes that dangle down from an overhead platform. The ropes drop onto a large metal platform with cement barricades peppering the vast area and red stains splattering the grey metal.
In the middle of it all is a mound of dirt with a flag sticking out of it. On the flag is the Spartan insignia, an Eagle with arrows in one talon and a lightning bolt in the other.
We are supposed to capture the flag and bring it back to the starting point with the rest of our teammates, or we fail. A lesson in teamwork, if you will.
We are given Assault Rifles with paintball rounds in them. They are meant to make the game more intense and real.
We ready ourselves as we wait for the signal. And when it comes, we take off.
Five yards of full out sprinting with the enemy team trying to slow you down by firing at you.
Me and 211 hit the same speed, so we run side-by-side as Kia runs behind us and Parkson behind her and the rest of the Red Team behind them, each of them at each other's heels. Paintball rounds slam into us as the enemy team fires on us from behind, heading for the left climbing rope. The rounds sting as they hit our skin, clawing at our nerves and slowing us down.
We hit the rope and I let the others up before climbing up myself. I suffer a few rounds to my arms and chest but I ignore the stinging pain as welts form on the impact areas.
I lead my team into the tires, hopping in and out of the holes before realizing something and running on the sides of the tires, quickly overtaking Red Team. We're already past them before they catch on to our tactic and do the same.
We hit the bridge and carefully make it across, staying ahead of the trainees who are desperately trying to catch us.
Once we reach the Rope Maze, Red Team is at our heels and gaining.
I grab a hold of one of the ropes and latch onto it with my legs and use my free arm to unsling my Rifle and open fire on the enemies behind us. One of the rounds splatters the rope Melecia was holding and she hits the ground. One down.
Perish catches up to me and he lashes out with his weapon and almost hits my knuckles. I swing aside in time to avoid being hit and kick out with my leg, hitting him in the calf. He grits his teeth and moves ahead before I can do anything else.
To my right, 211 and Charlie are fighting each other. The outcome ends in 211 falling to the ground from a brutal blow from Charlie. He's out of the game. Crap. 211's our most brutal teammate. He can take a good beating before going down, but Charlie just took him out.
We drop onto the platform, one by one, and scatter to opposite sides.
"Wait, not yet," I tell Kia who was about to head up.
The "battlefield" is cloaked in eerie silence as we wait for each other to make a move, assessing each other's moves and waiting. We wait for what seems like forever, until Perish darts for the flag.
"Cover me!" I tell my team and leave my weapon behind and sprint for the flag.
Gun fire rings throughout the area as both teams open fire on each other, barely missing me and Perish.
Perish reaches the flag first and jerks it from its stand and hits me with the pole.
The cold metal slams into my face and blood flies from my mouth as I double over on my knees, coughing up blood. The copper taste floods my mouth as it runs over my tongue and through my teeth.
Perish looks over his shoulder and swings the pole around, hitting Parkson in the side of the head with it and knocking him down. Kia tackles him and slams him into the ground, ripping the flag free and hitting him with in the cheek with it. A teammate tackles Kia off and rears back his fist. Kia gets her legs up and sends the trainee flying backwards where he almost hits the third teammate.
Perish recovers from Kia's brutal blow and grabs the flag's pole and tries to wrestle it free. I grab him by the shoulders and jerk him to the ground but he grabs my legs and jerks them hard, making me lose my balance and fall to the ground where I fall into his fist. I roll to my feet, trying desperately to ignore the disorientation that came from being punched.
Someone suddenly tackles Parkson and drives him to the ground. The second attacker drop-kicks Kia and smashes her fist into Kia's face. Perish takes the advantage to attack me. I don't see his swing as the flag's pole slams into my throat, cutting off my oxygen and making me gasp for air as my airways collapse. I fall to one knee, grabbing at my throat in desperation to suck in air. Perish grins viciously and hits me hard in the chest with the end of the pole.
I fall backwards, unable to defend myself. Perish grins as he towers over me, his teenage body bleeding and crippled. He gives the finishing blow, a boot to the face, before ODST's storm the scene, weapons drawn with real bullets in them.
"On the ground, now!" An ODST roars at the remaining trainee's. "Get on the ground!" Another yells.
"Multiple wounded, no casualties. Requesting medical evac," I hear a nearby ODST say into his helmet.
My vision is blurring and I can feel a strange pain in the side of my head. I still can't breathe, and it's a little unsettling. But it doesn't really matter anymore. A sharp pain pulses in the side of my head and scrapes against the muscles and the hard platform when I clench my jaw. I can feel wetness underneath my head. It mats my hair and feels strange under my skin, like warm water.
I see the blurry outline of an ODST as he crouches over me, med kit in hand. "We've got a severe over here!" The ODST yells. I feel the slight cool sting of biofoam as the ODST sprays it onto the side of my head. "Why do I need that, sir?" I try to ask. But it comes out in a wheeze and gurgled words. "Don't speak, cadet," The ODST says firmly. I shut up and lay still as the medics arrive, followed by the muffled sound of a Pelican landing. Medical evac?
I am lifted onto a stretcher and more biofoam is applied to different areas of my body, mainly the head. I hear a whooshing of air as something is strapped over my face. Air rushes into my lungs and I breath it in. It's painfull, but I can live with it. But as oxygen comes back to me, I am suddenly aware of the stabbing pain in my head followed by a rattling or loose sensation. "Multiple trauma wounds. Cracked skull, broken temporal plate, extracting to Severe Treatment Hospital," one of the Medics says.
"How many are wounded?" One of the accompanying ODST's asks as the Pelican lifts into the sky. "Three. This one here and two others in his squad. Took pretty bad hits. They're going to need at least a week of recovery. Maybe more," the medic says. "They're Spartans. They can't spare that much," the ODST says. "Not yet Spartans, marine. Not yet," the medic says.
I stay awake for a few minutes more before the exhaustion from the fight takes me into a dreamless void.