There was a feeling of a thousand knives cutting at his chest, ripping away at his very being, but instead of seeing darkness, there was a blinding light. Slowly it dimmed; slowly he felt his soul slither into its den. He opened his eyes, it felt as though he'd been napping like he had done in geometry, that lightness of the face. But then the pain came, the wound. The scar was still there, oozing out blood. James cried out in agony, clawing his way out of the coffin and onto the white floor. But then the pain was gone. Everything was gone. All the marks and bruises were gone, and the bleeding was all gone. Looking around the room things began to take form. They were in the room, the same room where he had met his team. His team... Thoughts raced through his head when he got hit by the truth, Brandon had said it himself. It was all a simulation. All of it, nothing had happened. James dusted himself off and stood up. The metal walls a thankful change from the concrete warzone they had been fighting in. His clothes were back to normal as well, the standard blue shirt and plain cargo pants. He took a few breaths before looking around. Lights lit up the floor and guided everyone to the elevators; James could hear murmurs among the crowd.
"You felt it too?"
"I'd never killed someone before..."
"You see that head shot, Fucking Canuck never stood a chance!"
"Everything felt so real..."
The opinions varied but James had learned one thing, they were probably the only group to fail.
Once on the top floor the general was standing near the far corner of the room, with him was Dr. Henderson, the two men were pointing out people as they walked past, a quick look on their data pads and back to pointing out. He noticed them looking at him for a moment before moving their attention elsewhere. A pang of guilt rose inside of him, he knew the reason they were looking at him, it was because he had failed, he was probably going to be kicked out, either that or executed, same thing really. His one chance to save himself and he blew it. At least Tommy had gone out fighting. The thought of Tommy brought an unexpected feeling, remorse. Despite it all James still missed Tommy, his gung-ho attitude made the day go by. Without him James had no one to prove wrong. It was the strangest thing hating and missing someone