Dan and his team continued sprinting. The shitty visibility from the fog meant that anything could jump at them from anywhere and no one could do a thing about it. The zombie horde still chased and followed behind them.
“This is a decent marathon,” Li remarked. He was right behind Dan.
“I hope Miles and his team got the kills they needed,” Dan said.
A loud and sudden buzz filled the entire arena and reverberated throughout the place so intensely that Dan almost tripped.
Dan saw a spinning blue icon in the center of his vision and a message popped up.
Rebooting, HUD functions coming online. Calibration in progress…
“I guess that means the round is over,” Dan said.
Congratulations. You have survived the zombie apocalypse round of the Combat Games and your team will progress to the next round.
Constriction reward: 5000 credits for each team member.
Bonus experience rewarded for taking down the cursed zombie.
Dan didn’t hold back. He waved his fist in the air and shouted his victory for all to hear. Angie joined in and hugged him, joining in on the shouting. Admittedly, Dan knew he was being a loud asshole for celebrating this early in the Combat Games, but at least they could be assholes together as a team.
Li simply stood staring at, content with giving Dan and Angie a respectful nod. And celebrating in silence.
“Thanks for the five thousand credits Dan,” Angie said. “I wonder what I’ll buy with that kind of coin when this is over.”
“Good to hear you have your priorities in order,” Li said sarcastically.
The announcer’s voice came to life and boomed across the room. “That concludes the first round of this year’s Combat Games. A total of three hundred seventy agents have been eliminated from the tournament. Better luck next time! To all those who have made it, your updated waypoints will take you to the second round of the Combat Games.”
Updating waypoint…
Proceed to the next round of the Combat Games.
“Woo, we fucking did it,” Dan said.
“Hell yeah!” Angie responded.
Dan and his team followed the blue circle that led them out of the simulated town. As Dan walked, he noticed he didn’t see many of the other agents.
“The hell? Where did everyone go?”
“I guess everyone is already gone. The announcer said they eliminated almost four hundred agents just from this first round alone,” Angie said.
Li chimed in. “Understandable. If you’re the loser, I would imagine you wouldn’t be inclined to stick around any longer than you have to.”
“I hope Miles’ team is doing alright,” Angie said.
“Miles got his eighth kill and recklessly let his guard down to celebrate before getting one-shotted by a cursed zombie. It was a dumb move on his part, but he’s fine at least,” Li said.
“Hey,” Angie pointed at him. “Don’t diss my former teammate.”
“It’s the truth. In a real combat scenario, he would have left himself wide open to a sword strike to the back or getting shot,” Li said. “He might have won this first round, but a judge would look at that blunder and probably dock off a few points in a hypothetical performance report.”
“I don’t see him or his team around,” Dan said. “I guess you can be glad they’re not here to listen to Li’s criticism, Angie.”
Angie exhaled and continued walking without saying a word. The team reached one of the exits and walked through the double doors. They encountered the same attendant at the desk.
The attendant gave them a round of clapping as they entered through the doors. “Congratulations, you made it through the first round. Please pick up your weapons and be on your way to the next round. You’re in for a treat in the two versus two deathmatch up next.”
The compartment within the desk extended outward and Dan picked up his ZK-77T.
“Hey careful,” Angie said, playfully slapping his arm. “Your rifle’s bayonets might stab and scratch my Aero submachine gun.”
“My bad,” Dan said half-heartedly. He picked up his silenced PX300 handgun, but Li grabbed him by the shoulder.
“That’s mine,” the stealth specialist said.
“How can you tell?”
“There’s a rough lightning-shaped scratch along the top of the sliding guard on mine. Got that from fighting my first Kodak agent that took a swipe at me during my early days.”
“Holy shit,” Dan said.
“Yeah, as I said, I was with a sect of Hellhounds who were stations along the border between Alpha and Kodak territory. I saw plenty of action during my days as a rookie. I had to learn fast.”
Dan crouched down and picked up his PX300 sidearm and placed the weapon on the side of his long coat. “Alright, I think that’s it.”
“Very well then. Good luck agent. This zombie apocalypse was just the warm up. The real challenge begins in the deathmatch mode next round,” the attendant said.
Dan and his team turned and walked down the hallway. He held his seventy-seven by the top guard as he followed the waypoint on his map.
“That wasn’t so tough,” Dan said.
“I guess it’s the deathmatch mode where they increase the stakes. They gave us stun rounds for this round. With the name ‘deathmatcch’ in the mode, I doubt they’ll still keep us using kid gloves.”
The team exited the hallway and walked through more sets of the same drab interiors until they reached a different section of the makeshift colosseum. They headed straight down a hallway that had another hall on the right side. As the trio passed that section, another trio of agents emerged out.
Dan glanced as saw it was the same team of Prime Swords who Dan caught staring at him and his team from earlier.
“It’s good to see you again, Dan Orion,” Rachel said.
“Same to you,” Dan replied. “Did you guys make it through the zombie apocalypse?”
“What kind of dumbass question is that?” The male member of the team spoke up. “Of course we did.”
“Just asking. We didn’t encounter too many problems. The lack of a HUD was annoying though.”
“It appears we’re heading toward the deathmatch round. Two against two from each team. A round like this would be a death sentence for anyone competing solo,” Rachel said.
“Why’s that?” Dan asked.
“If you made it to a round like this, you would be randomly paired up with another solo agent and the two of you would have to make due and find a way to win. You think it’s easy to have camaraderie and synergy with a complete stranger? It’s either that, or the Combat Games gives you the option to make the fight a one on two.”
“Sounds uphill but doable,” Li chimed in. “Providing you fight tactically and not have delusions of taking on two agents at once.”
Rachel chuckled. “My, my, what confidence. I eagerly anticipate if both our teams are pitted against each other.”
“If that happened, you’ll walk away bleeding,” Li said coldly.
The two other Prime Swords exchanged glances with each other. Dan couldn’t tell what their genuine reaction was since all of them wore helmets.
Rachel laughed so hard that Dan could see her shoulders shaking even through the armor.
“Well then, we’ll see about that,” Rachel said.
Both team reached the end of the hall in front of another set of double doors. “Hmm, I guess we’ll be seeing each other,” Rachel said in a low voice. Dan detected a strange but present ominous undertone to the shift in her voice. “Good day.”
The doors opened and the team of Prime Swords walked off to the right. Crowds of agents across the Alpha Corp and its subsidiaries stood around tightly, all of them eager for the next round of the Combat Games.
A screen in front of them flashed to life. The announcer’s robotic voice blared through the screen.
“Welcome to the second round of the Combat Games. For this round, two teams will be chosen to battle against each other in a two versus two deathmatch. Live rounds will be in affect to reflect the deadly combat scenarios an agent would face in the real world. If there are any agent who feel uncomfortable with this condition, you are allowed to discretely forfeit the tournament.”
Dan watched the crowd for their reaction to this news. Many of the agents simply looked at each other and brushed off the warning. Many more gassed each other up, already making up their minds about winning. But with two teams being selected to fight against each other, than only meant one team would win and the other would lose. By the time this round was over, Dan knew only half of the agents here would be allowed to progress to the third round.
“In this deathmatch, the outcome of which team will progress will be determined through two rounds. A third round may be required for a tie breaker. For this iteration of the deathmatch, after many past suggestions from viewers and agents alike, we have decided to allow all agents their loadouts they have brought to the Combat Games. Any agents who have insufficient weaponry are more than welcome to visit our local armory before the start of the this round.”
Dan listened to the murmurs within the crowd of agents. From the chatter and the decreased enthusiasm, he guessed the reactions were mixed.
“Interesting but also more dangerous for all of us,” Li said.
“Meaning?” Angie asked.
“Since none of us brought our helmets, a single shot to the head is enough to end our participation. They’re taking the gloves off and anything goes for this round of the Combat Games. That also means that the Genesis Talons will be allowed their jet packs. Everyone is now allowed to abuse their asymmetric advantages respective to their shard.”
“Wait a second, so someone in this crowd could have a viper fang sword and the tournament staff would just allow that?” Angie said.
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but be prepared to take a tungsten hollow-point round to the chest if we go up against another Alpha team,” Li said grimly. He then turned to Dan. “As for you, your choice in purchasing the Mk. II Stealth suit gives you better mobility, but at the expense of durability against bullets. You and I will be glass cannons for this round.”
Dan contemplated the scenario and the circumstance he and his team would be heading into for this round. It took him only a few seconds to respond.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
“No need for us to be discouraged. We survived that crazy heist with Michael. We’ll find a way to victory.”
Angie grinned ear to ear while Li responded to Dan’s confidence with a curt nod.
A spinning icon in the center of Dan’s vision expanded into text further explaining the rules of this round.
For each round of the deathmatch, both teams must swap out at least one member. No pair of team members are allowed to fight for more than one round. This is in place for balancing purposes.
Warning: Healing items such as stims will not be allowed. Any agent caught smuggling such items will be disqualified. This infraction will go on your record!
“Well, that makes sense. So if someone like Li is an ultra badass who smashes his way through the other team, either he or one of us has to be swapped out for the next round of the deathmatch,” Dan said.
“Thank you for the shout out,” Li replied. “I can see why they would implement such a rule. It would be too damned easy to stick to a winning team composition and take easy wins with an unbeatable pairing.”
Win conditions: all enemy team members are incapacitated by gunfire, explosions or knockout.
“Damn, looks pretty cutthroat. So if someone gets seriously hurt or even killed, sucks to be you?” Dan muttered.
“I guess so. This is a combat tournament after all,” Li remarked.
Dan’s HUD spat out another set of messages.
Constrictions in place.
Environmental hazard: Acid pools will litter the combat arena for this round.
Your constriction: Malfunctioning guns: weapons will have an increased chance of jamming (up to 35%).
Constriction reward: Carbon fiber skins unlocked for all weapons.
“Oh this is gonna get stupid,” Angie sighed. “Watch when I roll snake eyes and my pistol jams when I’m about to take the killing shot.”
“I wonder how they will even do something like that to weapons we bring from outside,” Li asked.
The announcer resumed his explanation of the round. “For the purpose of easing our newcomers, two teams have volunteered to demonstrate how this deathmatch will proceed. You are all encouraged to watch and observe your fellow agents battle each other in this live feed.”
The screen shifted to a live feed of showcasing a split screen of two teams preparing the weapons before entering the arena to fight. Dan’s eye’s were fixated on the left half of the screen. One of the teams demonstrating was Rachel and her team of Prime Swords.
“Looks like our ‘friends’ are up first,” Li said. “Let’s watch this carefully and see what we can learn from their fighting styles.”
Dan nodded. “Agreed.”
The other team were a trio of Alpha agents, all of them wearing the standard issue Alpha armor consisting of a dark long coat worn over sleek body armor.
The screen transitioned to a brief rundown of the team compositions and brief outlines of each members’ stats.
Dan’s eyes caught the brief slides showcasing the stat sheets of Rachel’s two other teammates, Adriana and Clark. From the quick glances of both their stats, they were within the same league as Rachel herself. An evenly balanced team were it seemed no one was the weak link. Dan didn’t pay much attention to the stat rundowns of the opposing team. He was fixated on the team of Prime Swords, their new rivals.
The video feed switched to the arena for the deathmatch between these two teams. The arena was a simulated area, a relatively open space with some cover in the form of collapsed concrete pillars, concrete barriers and abandoned and destroyed vehicles littered throughout the place.
“Wow, such creative locales,” Angie remarked. “First foggy town and now some abandoned construction sight. Neat.”
The feed switched to the the duo of Alpha agents who walked into the combat area. The camera zoomed in on the two and picked up the conversation between among this team.
“This is an easy win,” one of them said with a Scottish accent. “Who in the bloody hell has heard of the Prime Swords?”
The other agent’s words weren’t any less harsh. “Prime Swords? More like Prime Whores. They got two chicks on the team for fucks sake. We’ll crush them. They’re nothing more than some forgettable little sub-shard.”
Dan looked to his two teammates to gauge their reactions. Li simply lowered his head and breathed an exhausted sigh. Angie’s scowl was understandable in response to the derogatory comments towards the female members of the Prime Sword team.
“I think I know who’s getting their asses handed to them. And it’s not our rivals,” Dan stated.
“I can’t wait to see their arrogance crumble,” Li said, crossing his arms.
The feed swapped over to the duo of Prime Swords. Dan squinted and saw the names of the participating members on the screen. Rachel and Adriana were up first. Neither of them said a word to each other nor responded to the trash talk by the Alpha team. Both stood straight with their ZK-77 rifles in their hands.
“I wonder how they’re going to whoop their asses,” Dan said.
“When an opponent doesn’t respond to your taunts and stands still like they do, it’s time to rethink your life choices,” Li said. “This match is as good as done.”
The announcer began narrating the rounds, now ignoring the contestants in the room and solely reporting on the match between the two teams.
“Round one of the match matween the Prime Swords against the Alpha agents. Begin!”
Both Rachel and Adriana sprang into action and split off from each other, sprinting at full speed to opposite ends of the arena.
“Holy shit, those ladies are fast for just being tier ones,” Dan said.
“It’s hard to tell from video alone, but that looks like at least forty kilometers an hour,” Li observed. “They’re quick on their feet, that’s for sure.”
While on the run, both Prime Swords fired their weapons at the Alpha team, completely caught by surprise by the quick and swift initiative of their opponents. Rachel and Adriana fired in short, controlled bursts with their seventy-sevens, forcing ther Alpha team into nearby pieces of cover. Even while on the run and having to navigate the messy terrain, the Prime Swords had their enemy completely pinned down.
One of the Alpha agents attempted to raise his pistol and fire blindly at the rushing Prime Sword on his side of the arena. A well-aimed burst of fire shot the handgun out of the agent’s hand and drew blood.
The Prime Sword duo closed the distance between them and their enemies in record timing and engaged the Alpha team up close.
A small tag above a Prime Sword’s head, labeled as Rachel, vaulted over the collapsed pillar, the hiding spot of one of the Alpha agents and kicked him at the other side. Rachel landed smoothly on the other end of the pillar while the Alpha agent laid sprawled on the ground. She pointed her seventy-seven and ended her fight with the agent, shooting a burst right into his torso.
The other Prime Sword Adriana had an even shorter fight against the other Alpha agent, the same one with an injured hand. Adriana simply ran around the destroyed car and found the agent still clutching his injured hand. The Prime Sword lashed out with a simple kick to the side of his head and the agent rolled across the ground. He didn’t stand back up.
“Round over. The Prime Swords Rachel Cutter and Adriana Skill win the first round. Proceeding to round two.”
As the round concluded, Rachel and Adriana turned around and walked back to their starting positions without sayong a word. No cheers of victory or even compliments towards each other. They simply won the round and prepared for the next.
As for the Alpha team, the one who took a burst of seventy-seven fire to the chest crawled for a bit and eventually stood back up, although in shaky fashion. His teammate also slowly stood up as well, still clutching his wrist.
“Wow, what an unexpected outcome,” Li stated. “The Prime Swords dominated through superior speed and initiative. The other team underestimating him was just the icing on the shitty cake they’re about to eat.”
“That’s a shitty analogy,” Angie said, getting on Li’s case.
“I should make you face plant you into said shitty cake, then maybe we can all have a laugh,” Li fired back, keeping his tone consistent.
Dan snorted and even his own saliva traveled down the wrong tube. His hacking coughs only worsened the scowl on Angie’s face.
“Oh come on,” Dan said through his coughs. “That was funny.”
She gave him and Li a sideways glance. “Fine, but only a little.”
For the second round, both team emerged out of the respective zones and with at least one swapped teammate. For the Alpha team, the agent with the injured hand was swapped out for an agent who stood bigger and taller than either of them.
Dan tapped his finger on his arm, waiting for the display to transition to the team he was eager to see the most. The camera finally swapped over to the Prime Swords. The names of the combatants popped up on the display. Rachel had been swapped and with Clark taking her place.
It was now Adriana and Clark up against the Alpha team. Curiously, Clark was armed with only a knife and a pistol. Adriana’s loadout of a ZK-77 remained as is.
“Round two between the Prime Swords and Alpha agents begins now. Good luck.”
The giant on the Alpha team raised his rifle first, firing a shot at the Prime Swords. To the shock of the entire room, the round smashed into the helmet of Adriana, instantly knocking her out.
“Adriana has been eliminated. Clark is the last man standing for the Prime Swords,” the announcer said.
“Hmm, not bad,” Li said. The stealth specialist took a few steps closer towards the display.
Clark broke into a run to the side of the arena, but both Alpha agents anticipated this tactic and began firing in his direction. The lone Prime sword instantly ducked and rolled across the ground, narrowly avoiding hits from the enemy team.
The Prime Sword remained flat on his stomach beside an abandoned sedan while both Alpha agents methodically walked toward the last known sighting of their enemy. Both still had their rifles raised at the site would sporadically fire shots above or into the side of the sedan.
In any other scenario, Dan knew how this would end between unenhanced individuals. The one hiding would get shot the moment he exposed himself. And since there were two enemies instead of one, the best case scenario was that the lone individual would kill one enemy but the second one would blast him.
Then the Prime Sword made his move.
Clark stood up but still kept himself in a crouching position on his knees. He touched something on his wrist and a perfect replica of him spawned out of thin air and ran out of the sedan. Both Alpha agents open fired at the strange apparition of Clark, hitting nothing but air.
The Prime Sword quickly raised his arm and fired his pistol at the Alpha team. He peppered one agent with rounds. Before the giant Alpha agent could react, a flying knife buried itself into his arm. The Alpha agent dropped his rifle and groaned from the knife sticking out of his forearm.
Clark followed up with emptying the rest of his magazine on the giant agent and bringing him down. The other Alpha agent still writhed on the ground and wasn’t getting back up. As for the replica of the Prime Sword, it flickered and fizzled out and disappeared.
“A hologram,” Li said. “Interesting equipment choice.”
“Indeed interesting,” a voice behind them said. Dan immediately recognized the deadpan delivery and the commanding tone of his squad leader.
All three turned around and saw Jane Sunheiser leaning against the wall looking a them.
“You just got a free demonstration of what happens when you underestimate your competition. Having confidence and even engaging in trash talk is one thing, but the moment you allow arrogance to infect your mind, you just eroded the ground beneath your feet. Remember that.”
“Understood,” Dan said.
Both Li and Angie nodded in response.
One of the numerous agents in the crowd turned around and spotted Jane in the back. “Holy shit, it’s Jane Sunheiser!”
Many heads spun around toward the back of the room and all their faces lit up at seeing their idol.
Dan glanced back at Jane to see her reaction. Jane’s facial expression didn’t change from her usual serious self as she stared back at the hordes of fans. It was almost depressing to watch as these agents treated Jane as more of a celebrity than an authoritative figure.
“Everyone settle down,” Jane said sternly.
Immediately the entire room piped down. Dan noticed the hasty change in posture and alertness in the crowd.
“I hope everyone here studied that match to the best of their ability. An intense bout between agents, especially from rival shards, is only a part of your duties as an agent,” Jane said. “But there will be a time where you’ll have to fight another agent, weather as part of your objective or to protect something you care about. Do not take this round so lightly. That is all.”
Jane stood up from the wall and promptly took her leave, exiting the room without saying anything else.
However, Dan was once again disappointed in the crowd’s reaction. Everyone else in the room except for Dan and his teammates cheered and hyped themselves and each other up for the match.
The commotion got so out of control that a sidearm flew out of some agent’s hand. Li caught the pistol. “We should all be thankful this thig isn’t loaded.”
A female agent shoved her way through the crowd and spotted Li and he pistol. She ran up to them and Li simply handed her back the pistol without saying a word.
“Hi, sorry about that,” she said.
Angie buried her face into her palm.
“Just be more careful next time. Guns are not toys,” Li said, narrowing her gaze on the girl.
“Uh, right,” she said. She turned on her heel and walked straight back in the crowd.
Dan snickered at the whole interaction. “Well, I just learned something new today.”
“What? That some bitches shouldn’t be carrying guns?” Angie replied.
“Instead of shooting my guns, I guess throwing them at my enemy could be viable too,” Dan said, barely holding back his laughter.
“I like that,” Li said. “If I ever visit my folks back in the Hellhounds, I can’t wait to tell them I learned of such a unique and unconventional tactic during my time in the Combat Games.”
“If only such tactics worked against those Prime Swords,” Angie said, changing the topic. “Did you see how much of a stomp that was?”
Dan’s laughter died down. “Yeah, we all saw. Those guys are no joke.”
Li crossed his arms. “I knew there was something out of place about that team. Did any of you think they seem a little too good to be tier ones?”
“Why do you say that? It looked like a good old fashioned ass kicking to me,” Angie replied.
Li shook his head. “That’s not it. Those Alpha agents might have been assholes, but their aim wasn’t an issue. You saw how that big one managed a headshot against one of the Prime Swords in the second round. Even with a moving target, I find it hard to believe they would miss Clark when he was running for cover.”
Dan thought about that particular segment of the fight and he agreed that Clark evading shots from two Alpha agents as he ran was impressive.
“You can also see it in their demeanor before and after the rounds began. While the Alpha team were acting like a bunch of jockheads, those Prime Swords remained calm and composed. Not even one word exchanged between each other. And their running speed, that caught my eye the most.”
“So they’re athletic. So what?” Angie said. “I mean, as tier ones, we might not be superhuman, but we’re still in better physical shape than regular people.”
“True, but have you ever accelerated that quickly into a sprint and maintained a run of forty kilometers an hour? Because that’s what it looked like on screen.” Li pointed his thumb at the crowd in front of him. “They’re clearly a cut above the rest. If we encounter an opposing team like theirs in this round, we might have a challenge on our hands.”
“Then I guess we take notes from that Alpha team and not be arrogant assholes in this round,” Dan said.