Dan
The waypoint on Dan’s HUD let him through the familiar drab grey hallways that the Alpha Corp seemed fond of. This time, he spotted a few wall decorations in the form of pictures of previous noteworthy individuals who competed in the Combat Games of the past. He passed by a portrait of an agent with long greasy dark hair. The description of the agent made Dan shutter.
Oliver Gigaton, 2286:
Survived exactly 23 attacks to the groin and made it to the final round.
“That sounds painful,” Dan muttered.
“He must have literal balls of steel to survive that much trauma over and over,” Angie commented.
“Check out this one over here,” Li said. He pointed towards a portrait of another agent on the opposite wall a few meters ahead.
Dan walked up to the portrait Li pointed to and saw a picture of a tanned brunette and read the brief description.
Juliet Audezine, 2279:
Eliminated five contestants with a single grenade as the last standing agent of her team.
“Very impressive,” Li said. “Must have been a nail-biter for both her and the audience watching.”
“For sure. So what do you guys make of this zombie round?” Dan said.
“I knew a fellow Hellhound of mine who competed in a previous Combat Games tournament and he told me about how his zombie round went. His batch was divided into two teams, one team of survivors and another one of zombies. He said it was a snoozefest for him.”
“So this first round is supposed to be a warm up then?” Angie said.
Li looked back at her. “A lot of the other agents back in the lines thought the same thing. But I have a feeling what we’re heading into won’t be a cake walk. With the new constriction system they put in place, who knows what will happen.”
The three reached the end of the hallway and an attendant stood at a desk beside the double doors. The attendant was a man dressed in all black with a silver ‘A’ logo on his shirt.
“Welcome to the first round. You will need to dump your weapons with me. This round of the Combat Games will limit you to a specific loadout.”
“Well, that’s unfortunate,” Li said.
“Those are the rules kid. I’ll keep your gear safe. You’ll be allowed only a shotgun and a sidearm for this round. Are you three a team?”
“We are,” Dan said.
“Then put your weapons in here.”
Through the desk, a compartment opened up and extended outward towards Dan. It was a spacious container that could easily fit the combined weapons all three of them carried. Dan exchanged glances with both his teammates and Dan donated his ZK-77T along with his silenced PX300 handgun. Angie dumped her Aero SMG along with two pistols of an unknown model on top of Dan’s weapons. Li was last as he placed his silenced handgun and a silenced rifle Dan had never seen before.
“I’ve never seen that model before. What gun is that?” Dan asked.
“It’s a specialized designated marksman rifle exclusive to only the Hellhounds. It’s unfortunate you won’t see it in action for this round,” Li said.
The compartment slowly recessed back into the desk and the attendant had already set their new weapons onto the tabletop. A shotgun and handgun for each.
“Good luck,” he said.
All three grabbed their new guns and the double doors slid open into a dimly-lit room. Dan walked through the doors and looked from side to side and saw numerous other pairs of doors slide open with more agents pouring in. The lighting in the room brightened to reveal what appeared to be an abandoned town. A nearby patch of grass flickered as if it was on a broken monitor.
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Dan stared at the patch of grass glitching out. “The fuck? Did any of you see that just now?”
“I get it,” Li said. “This arena is going to simulate an artificial environment for the round.”
“So, we’re still indoors? Outside of the flickering grass, you could have fooled me,” Angie said.
Dan looked up and saw the fake sky and noticed that the brown haze that mixed with the greys above were absent. If this was a fake city being simulated, he was impressed. His HUD began displaying message regarding the round.
Constrictions in place.
Cursed zombie: A zombie contestant will be cursed, temporarily giving them tier 2 level physical stats.
Your constriction: malfunctioning HUD. Basically no HUD to even track their kill counts. They’ll have to commit their kill count to memory.
Constriction reward: 5000 credits for each team member.
After a few seconds of reading the new constrictions, Dan’s HUD immediately flashed red and the waypoint as well as numerous error messages flooded his peripheral vision until everything simply shut down.
“Uh oh,” Dan said. “So we have no HUD for the duration of this round. That shouldn’t be too hard.”
“I think the constriction that we should worry about is the cursed zombie. Someone on the zombie team will be faster and stronger than the rest of us,” Li warned.
A brief burst of static filled the room and the same artificial voice from earlier greeted them.
“Welcome to the first round of the Combat Games. With the overwhelming number of agents entering this year, the zombie apocalypse needed to be divided into three arenas. You are now standing in arena number two. I will begin explaining the rules of this round. Instructions will not be repeated.”
From where Dan and his team stood, they were on the outskirts of the “town” used as the setting for this round of the Combat Games. Li tapped Dan on the shoulder and pointed his finger towards the town.
“We should head closer while the announcer explains,” Li said. “We need to find good vantage points, or at least study the layout before we get started.”
Dan nodded. “Good thinking Li.”
“By the way, I just tried and it looks like we can’t communicate with each other. Our HUDs being restricted has also cut us off from accessing the private channels.”
Angie’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”
“I never do,” Li said plainly. “So we can’t afford to get separated. Otherwise we’re cut off from each other.”
The announcer began explaining the rules of the round. “This mode will test an agent’s skills at survival with limited weapons and ammo while also dealing with an increasing horde of enemies. This is a fun but also realistic test of an agent’s ability to face overwhelming numbers. Contestants are divided into two teams, survivors and zombies. Zombie players are given a booster that temporarily buffs their physical abilities. Survivors that are killed by zombie contestants get switched to the opposite team. A zombie contestant is immediately prevented from using firearms.”
Dan listened intently as he and his two teammates walked closer to the town. They finally made it to one of the roads leading into their combat environment.
“Survivors cannot kill each other and must work together against the zombies. The contestants who are allowed to proceed to the next round are the ones who can earn points at least five points, individually. Points are earned through kills in this game. A contestant can get their five kills either as a survivor or zombie.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Dan said.
“I’m still waiting for a curve ball or a major obstacle to our success,” Li remarked.
“To prevent shameful tactics such as hiding, all contestants are dumped into a smaller arena within this simulated town. The accessible area where the round will take place will be within the blue walls. The blue walls will act as barriers to prevent contestants from going out of bounds. Hiding spots and vantage points in the designated area will be limited to keep the action at a brisk pace.”
Dan saw a giant glowing blur barrier flash about a hundred meters ahead of him.
“Ah, there it is,” Li said. “It’s going to get claustrophobic.”
“Numerous banners will indicate the time left to accomplish your five kills. All survivors will be limited to only a shotgun and pistol as their primary weapons. Eight shotgun shells and two magazines for your handgun.”
“Not much margin for error it seems,” Li said.
“Both survivors and zombies are allowed to progress to the next round as long as they achieve their required amount of kills. Please make your way towards the section guarded by blue walls. Good luck to all.”
All three of them jogged all the way to the blur barrier. Once he was in front of the barrier, Dan stepped through and he didn’t feel a thing as his body passed through the strange blue glow. He emerged at the other side and saw that now, the town was covered in fog. Dan turned around and as he saw his other two teammates pass through the blue barrier, he tried puting his hand through it.
Oddly, his hand touched something solid and the blue barrier was no longer accessible.
Dan took a step back and said, “The hell is this shit?”
Once Li was all the way through, he turned and knocked on the barrier. “I guess we’re locked in. We better come back out as winners then.”
Dan faced forward and walked through the empty and quiet streets until he reached the center of the town. The layout of this section of the town was simple, just a fountain surrounded by road and a couple of buildings no taller than three or four floors.
“Please wait for the rest of the contestants to enter the arena. Once everyone arrives, we will begin the games immediately,” the announcer said.