On the street below, Damien and Jay darted into a shopfront. A searchlight washed over the shopfront. The jeep was closer now. Helldiver was heading right into the center of town.

Xiu gestured for Olesya to get down. She ducked under the window. The jeep turned the corner, accompanied by Helldiver on foot.

It seemed like an eternity before the jeep and Helldiver Squad moved again. When Olesya looked again, Damien and Jay were doing the same. And she saw something else. Two soldiers in the windows above them, pistols ready. But Olesya couldn’t shout to warn the boys, Helldiver might hear.

‘There’s two,’ Olesya whispered. ‘One in each window.’

Xiu took aim. Olesya didn’t hesitate. She lined up her front and rear sight, inhaled partly, and fired. One round, then another. Xiu did the same with the other soldier, then gave a thumbs up to the boys.

They ran for the wall. Jay threw himself onto the roof of a burned-out car. Damien followed. The cars were against the wall, giving them some extra height. Jay holstered and ran up the concrete while Damien kept his pistol out to cover them.

Jay managed two quick steps then gravity kicked in, but not before he gripped the top of the wall with both hands. Jay stuck his butt in the air. As silly as it looked, Olesya knew that was their technique to climb a wall. He would drive one leg up the wall, using the momentum to launch him high enough so he could throw his forearms over the top. He hoisted himself over the wall and a moment later reached down to offer Damien a hand.

Olesya kept her focus, scouring the windows and rooftops for more soldiers.

‘Anything?’ Xiu whispered.

‘Not yet,’ Olesya said.

‘You were right,’ Xiu said. ‘They put most of their forces out on the wings. Then they have the patrol come in to flush us in either direction.’

‘But why not one direction?’ Olesya asked. ‘They could concentrate their forces if they blocked one side off.’

Xiu nodded. ‘Sure, but we’d get suspicious and back out. That’s why they give us two choices—’

‘The illusion of choice,’ Olesya said.

‘Exactly. And Ark fell for it.’

Olesya watched Damien climb over the wall and disappear from view.

‘You think they’ll cover us?’ Olesya asked.

‘They can’t until we’re over the wall,’ Xiu said. ‘We have to make it there first.’

Xiu moved for the door and nudged it open with her foot. Olesya covered her as they took the stairs down. Olesya’s vision had improved, but she still kept her hand on Xiu’s back.

They stepped out onto the sidewalk and faced opposite directions. The street was deserted. A moth flew past her pistol, drawn to the street lamp.

Xiu moved for the wall. Olesya followed, scanning every window and corner she could find. Xiu was on the car, her hand out. Olesya took it and stepped onto the roof with her.

Gunfire echoed in the distance. It came from the right wing.

Xiu’s hand tightened over hers. ‘That’s our squad,’ Xiu said. ‘With Helldiver right behind them.’

‘Should we go help?’ Olesya asked.

‘No, we need three past those beacons. That’s the objective,’ Xiu said. ‘You go, I’ll cover you.’

Olesya hesitated. ‘What about you?’

‘I’ll see you on the other side.’

Olesya holstered her pistol and jumped onto the wall. Xiu boosted her up. She managed one foot but the next one slipped and she caught the top of the wall with the fingertips of her right hand. The concrete was rough, cutting the circulation to her fingers. Using what little energy she had left, she raised her left hand up and gripped the top of the wall. She looked below. Xiu was taking aim down the street.

‘Go!’ she said.

Olesya drove her knee high, bringing her boot up the wall. She used the thrust of her knee as momentum and threw her elbows over, hugged the top of the wall. On the other side of the wall, there were no cars, it was a sheer drop. She clung to the top, lungs burning, and peered back over at Xiu.

‘I can help you up!’ she called out. ‘Quickly!’

‘Keep going.’ Xiu looked up at her. ‘You’re family now.’

A Helldiver stepped under a street light. Nasira.

Xiu started firing, but she was too late. Nasira fired first and Xiu caught the electro-round in her chest. She slumped off the car and rolled onto the road. Olesya watched her spasm.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

‘Xiu!’ Olesya whispered.

Xiu’s hand trembled, reached up to Olesya.

Nasira took aim.

Olesya dropped from the wall. She landed, grazing the skin on her hands. The beacons flashed ahead. Ark’s team wouldn’t have made it through. She was Firebird’s third surviving member. She needed to make it. Her stomach coiled into knots. She had only a short distance. She sprinted, pistol in her holster, didn’t look back.

She crossed the beacons, lungs burning.

Firebird Squad had qualified.

Damien and Jay were busy adjusting their holsters so she left them alone and sat on the grass near the beacons. She couldn’t go back out there, so she waited for Xiu. No one climbed over the wall, but eventually Nasira approached from a nearby street. She gave Olesya a slight nod, then walked over to Jay and elbowed him softly.

‘Nice one,’ Nasira said.

Jay nodded quickly. ‘Uh thanks. You too.’

She smiled and touched his arm, then walked ahead, handing her pistol to a pair of soldiers in black fatigues. The soldiers approached Jay and Damien and took their weapons too, then directed them after Nasira. The soldiers wanted them all moving. Olesya stood and brushed herself off. She checked the wall again but Xiu was nowhere to be seen. The soldiers pointed Olesya in a different direction.

‘I’m not with them?’ she asked.

‘No, this van,’ the soldier said. ‘Your weapon, please.’

Olesya handed them her pistol. The soldier ejected the electro-round and the magazine. Olesya made her way to the van. A driver stood by the van and flicked the cigarette into the night air.

She lifted the rear door for Olesya. ‘In the back, recruit.’

Olesya was too exhausted to say anything; she climbed inside and took a seat. It smelt of tobacco and pine air freshener. She hadn’t wanted to leave Xiu behind like that.

The driver climbed in the front and closed her door.

‘Is there anyone else coming?’ Olesya asked.

Either the driver hadn’t heard her or chose to ignore her. Was she in trouble? She hoped she wasn’t being transferred to another squad. She didn’t like Ark but she wanted to stay with Xiu.

The driver was talking on her radio. ‘Have them wait. I’ll come around.’

A soldier closed the van’s rear door. The engine started and the van turned and drove past the beacons and soldiers. She didn’t see the instructors anywhere. Maybe the qualification wasn’t over yet.

The van stopped again. This time, when the rear door opened, Val climbed inside and sat opposite. She didn’t say anything, but her hands were still shaking. Before the door closed, another recruit climbed inside.

Ark.

He sat next to Val and glanced over at Olesya. This time, he didn’t look angry. He just looked tired. She felt much the same, her adrenaline ebbing away with every moment.

The rear door opened once more and more recruits filed in. These recruits wore purple vests. Olesya made room for four Helldivers. The door closed and the van was almost at full capacity. Street lamps flashed past as they left the perimeter and took the long road back to the training center.

Except this wasn’t the right road.

Olesya looked around at the squad members’ faces. Ark was the only one who seemed to notice their bearing was off. He caught her gaze. This qualification hadn’t ended yet and he knew it.

The van suddenly accelerated. Olesya stopped herself from falling onto the Helldiver next to her.

‘Listen up, kids.’ The driver switched her headlamps off and reached for her helmet. ‘This is no longer your qualification. We’re undergoing some restructuring. Which is a nice way of saying we’re about to start fighting each other.’

‘Helldiver Squad?’ one of the Helldivers asked.

‘Your squads don’t matter anymore, you’re in this together,’ the driver said. ‘I’m talking about the entire Fifth Column.’

Olesya had no idea what she was talking about.

The driver put her helmet on and flipped the night vision monocular down over one eye. ‘We’ll explain everything to you once you’re out.’

Olesya noticed headlamps in the distance. The driver took the van off the road, rushing to a stop, then watched through her monocular, waiting for the car to pass.

The driver looked over her shoulder at Olesya and the other recruits. ‘Effective now, Russia and China are out of Project GATE. That includes all of you.’

‘What’s Project GATE?’ Olesya asked.

‘The phony scholarship you’re all in,’ the driver said. ‘They didn’t even tell you the name? Jesus.’

‘So we’re disqualified?’ Ark asked.

‘The project doesn’t matter anymore,’ the driver said with a heavy sigh. ‘You’re out of—look, all you need to know right now is you have two options. Option one: sit tight in Project GATE and see what they do with you. Maybe they hold you hostage. Maybe they brainwash you. Maybe they make you disappear.’

Olesya’s mouth went dry. ‘You’re kidnapping us?’

‘Option two,’ the driver said. ‘We kidnap you. Take you back to your country of origin.’

Ark’s hands trembled in the near-darkness. ‘So we have to choose?’

‘We already made that choice for you,’ the driver said. ‘But the door’s right there, if you want to change that.’

The driver waited for them to open the door. No one did.

‘Option two it is then.’

She drove the van to a narrow road that fed into a forest. Olesya could hear rapid breathing as the other recruits tried to process what was happening.

‘This could get rough,’ the driver said. ‘Seatbelts are in the back. I suggest you use them.’

Olesya found a seatbelt in the darkness and buckled up. ‘Are we the only ones? Are there more?’

‘We have a few vans on the move,’ the driver said.

‘What about Xiu?’ Olesya leaned forward, held in by her seatbelt. ‘She was in our squad but you didn’t pick her up!’

The driver didn’t take her eyes off the road. ‘We’re not picking up a Xiu.’

Val reached over and put a hand on Olesya’s leg. ‘She’s Chinese-American, Olesya.’

Olesya felt her hand tremble. ‘But she should be with us, right?’

‘If she’s American then this is where she belongs.’ The driver risked a glance in her direction. The monocular gleamed at her. ‘She’s safer here. But you’re not.’

Olesya felt her eyes well with tears. In the darkness, only Val would see.

Val squeezed her hand. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘She’ll be OK,’ Ark said. ‘Whatever happens.’

Olesya imagined not seeing Xiu again and it hurt.

‘You were right, you know,’ Ark said. ‘We all should’ve gone over the wall.’

The driver was right. The exercise didn’t matter anymore.

‘Your American accent is good,’ Olesya said. ‘I didn’t know you were Russian.’

He shrugged. ‘My name’s Arkadiy.’

She forced a smile, even though he couldn’t see it very well. ‘I thought you were Polish.’

‘I know it doesn’t mean much now,’ Ark said, ‘but how many of us got over the wall?’

‘Three,’ Olesya said. ‘Damien, Jay. Me.’

‘You did good.’ Ark’s head hung low. ‘I was too scared to notice.’

‘You don’t have to be,’ Olesya said.

‘I know.’ He nodded. ‘It’s just us now.’

Light flooded the windows. Tires screeched. Something smashed into the side of the van. They spun wildly. Olesya held onto her seatbelt. The van rolled. Gravity pulled at her. Everyone clung to their seat-belts, bumping and colliding into each other. She shut her eyes. No one thought to scream or yell. They tumbled in silence.