Dan had no clue how much distance he had put between himself and the site where he had killed the mutated coyote. He pressed his back against a tree and took a breather. He periodically looked around and scanned his surroundings while also keeping his ears open and listening to the ambient noises around him.

Dan’s HUD popped up an unexpected message.

You have eliminated another team.

Bonus 2 points stolen from Genesis Talon team.

Total points: 13.

Since Dan had only killed a mutated animal since he ventured off on his own, he could only assume he had Angie to thank for this notification. In his peripheral vision, he spotted an incoming call from Angie.

“Hey Dan, what’s going on with you?”

“Just killed a mutated animal and got us a point. I assume you somehow took out another team on your end?”

“Oh hell yeah,” she said proudly. “I set up an explosive trap thanks to the grenade we found at that weapons cache. Those pair of Talons didn’t know what hit them.”

“Good work,” Dan said. “How is Li’s condition?”

“He’s not awake yet. He’s still breathing the last time I checked,” she said.

Dan had no clue what was in store for them. He recalled during the heist when Dan was knocked out and then woke up only to receive new strange powers. He had no clue what bizarre new abilities Li would wake up with.

“Keep an eye on him,” Dan ordered. He ended the call and continued on.

Dan walked through the forest, continuously monitoring his surroundings as best he could on his own. He clenched his seventy-seven tightly, anticipating more encounters with either agents or other mutated wildlife that could be roaming around.

As if tempting fate, Dan’s ears picked up the staccatos of gunfire. This time it wasn’t just ambient background noise. The gunfire came from a decline further ahead of him. He quickly jogged and stopped near the edge to see where the action was.

Dan squinted and saw a few agents pinned down by gunfire. Judging from how bunched up the team was, they were most likely caught in a sudden ambush by another team. He weighed his options.

On one hand, he could simply wait it out until one side eliminated the other and Dan could swoop in and mop up whoever was left to easily steal points from the victor.

But he had no backup with him. Even if he did have the high ground and the element of surprise, he could still be outnumbered.

He took another look down at the team pinned down and noticed the black long coats worn by the agents. They were also Alpha agents just like him. Dan had no clue if there was any unwritten rules about agents from the same shard attacking each other in the Combat Games. But he might soon find out.

Dan slid down the decline and gradually made his way to the battle raging ahead. He rammed his fingers into the ground and abruptly stopped himself. Getting back on his feet, he methodically circled around and planned on flanking whoever was shooting at the Alpha team.

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Dan kept himself as hidden as possible, moving from tree to tree and occasionally getting down on his stomach and crawling along the ground.

By the time he reached behind enemy lines, Dan had already gathered enough info about his enemies. It was another team of Genesis Talons. Three of them were on the ground while a fourth used their jetpack to fly up and perch himself in the tree tops, providing himself an elevated shooting position.

Dan could see how the Alpha team struggling. But he was about to throw a wrench into the Talons’ formation. He leaned out from a tree and fired a burst into the backs of a Talon, immediately taking him out of the fight. The other two on the ground jerked their heads in Dan’s direction and Dan fired another burst that smashed into the side of another Talon.

Dropping down to his stomach, Dan narrowly avoided the return fire that chipped away at the bark of the tree. So far, he had reduced the enemy team’s numbers by half. This gave the Alpha team the breathing room they needed for a counterattack.

Dan looked up and spotted multiple streams of gunfire focusing on the last remaining Talon on the ground and he too became overwhelmed and went down to the barrage of bullets. Dan took this opportunity and got back on his feet. He aimed his rifle upward and fired a burst at the Talon perched up in between tree branches. The burst smashed into the Talon’s armor and he dropped into the ground like a wounded bird.

You have eliminated another team.

Bonus 3 points stolen from Genesis Talon team.

Total points: 16.

Dan certainly hoped that he didn’t steal the glory from the Alpha team. Or else he could be their next target. He cursed under his breath as he noticed he was exposed and one of the Alpha agents spotted him. Dan immediately hid behind the nearest tree. If the Alpha squad had no qualms about eliminating another team of the same shard, he had to be ready. HGe mentally braced himself to enter the berserk mode once against to overwhelm the team if necessary.

“Hey Dan! Is that you, brah?” an agent shouted. “Thanks for saving our asses. Don’t worry we won’t shoot.”

Dan recognized the voice and the use of the outdated slang term ‘brah.’ It was Miles Venator and his squad, Angie’s former teammates.

“Alright then,” Dan replied. “I’m coming out, nice and slow.”

Dan fought against his instincts and lowered his rifle. He slowly stepped out from behind the tree. While he had no problem with Miles and his team, they had just fought a battle and any number of additional threats could pop up. Conversely, Dan felt it was necessary to show that he had full trust in Miles’ and his group just so that they wouldn’t blast him with lead.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Miles and four of his other teammates approach him. Miles took his blocky helmet off and greeted him with a friendly nod.

“You’re a life saver, brah. Those assholes with the jetpacks are like houseflies, brah,” Miles said.

“Yeah. You saw my fight with those guys during the deathmatch round,” Dan said.

The biggest and tallest of the group which Dan remembered as James stepped forward and gave him a light punch to the arm. “Nice to see you here. I was wondering whether Miles would order us to gun you down. It would have been fucked up if he had.”

“Oh come on, brah. Dan helped us back in the zombie round. I couldn’t screw over my boy like that,” Miles said.

“Just a hypothetical question, if we weren’t on good terms with each other but were still Alpha agents, would you have given the order to gun me down?” Dan asked. “I mean, I’m all alone out here so I would be easy pickings.”

“That’s a fucked up question, brah,” Miles said plainly. “But the truth sucks. I probably would have just to maximize the points for my team so we could get through this round.”

While a grim answer to be sure, Dan couldn’t blame the squad leader. In such a hyper competitive arena with stakes such as the constriction rewards and the prestige from the judges, he knew that teams had to bring their best, even if it meant having to ruthlessly eliminate the other teams.

“You got time to spare, brah?” Miles asked.

Dan shrugged his shoulders. “I could use a breather. But only for a few minutes.”