The Apocalypse Game Training Center, better known as AGTC, was once a sports complex specifically created for athletes across the nation. Now, it has been transformed into a training facility located just a few miles from Manhattan downtown.
When Alan and Nims arrived at their destination, they were immediately sent straight to the administrative center where their credentials would be processed.
It was a six-story building that the sport complex designated as the medical center, but with the entire complex being restructured for training purposes, the place also became the administrative center. Although its outer appearance looked like a hospital, all of the staff roaming inside wore distinctive army uniforms that showed their status.
"Alan D Angelo!"
When his name was called, Alan quickly went to the source of the voice to get his identity checked. After that, he was led to the medical center where he had to go through a few necessary medical check-ups. They made sure his health was stable before telling him to lie down.
His body was tightly strapped to a bed-like contraption similar to an MRI machine, but instead of being scanned, the machine installed some kind of device into him.
Alan went through the entire process exactly just like his previous life, even the staff who were helping him were the same ones.
"Just relax, Mr. Angelo. The procedure will sting a little."
There was a clear whirring of a machine powering itself up, before the machine's pincer-like arms moved precisely and Alan felt a jolt of pain on three different parts of his body in succession.
One came from his wrists, as metallic bracelets called the Gamelink were installed. The bracelet covered most of his forearm and from there he could access all needed information about the Apocalypse Game. In a way, the bracelet was similar to an attached mobile phone.
The second burst of pain came from his chest, as a small metallic disk was embedded close to his heart. It was a complex sensory device to maintain and monitor his heart around the clock.
Last but not least, he felt a pain on his right earlobe, precisely on the top part of it. In that place, there was a metallic coin-sized communication device that allowed information and voices to be sent directly into his brain.
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All of these three devices were compulsory in order to join the Apocalypse Game. All of them were provided by the Aliens, and all were attached to the bones causing removal to be an extremely intricate and difficult process.
"These devices have been synced to your unique bio-signatures. Please do not attempt to tamper with the device, as it may result in your imprisonment or worse."
All will be activated during the game, as for now Alan only gets a chance to get used to it sticking on his body.
"Thank you for your service, Mr. Angelo"
Afterwards, Alan met Nims and the two of them were led to enter the orientation room, where a high-ranking officer from the Department of Defense gave their group an opening speech.
Not surprising the man was no other than Colonel Weeber. After a week since they last met, this time the colonel was properly uniformed and there were certain changes in his spirit as he gave out speeches in front of the thousands new batch of players.
"You all have something in common, whether it is your age, your occupation, your ethnicity, or your gender. Whatever your backgrounds are, you are all now heroes, and we thank you for your service."
Then, Alan and all the other participants were ushered to enter basic training.
The first one which the government intended to teach them was survival training, where they were taught various skills to stay alive in multiple dangerous situations or help them stay alive as long as possible in the wilderness. This time seeing the module focused on surviving the cold, Alan smiled. It appear the colonel did listen to his advice
Second, they entered the game training. It was less of an actual training, and more of a compilation of past games, along with the ways to survive them. In all the years since the start of the Apocalypse Game, there have never been any same game scenarios as the one before. Even so, the players could still learn a lot of things from the videos gained thanks to the sacrifice of their predecessors.
Third, they were taught some combat training, be it hand-to-hand or with various weapons. Even gun training was included, as they were brought into an open shooting practice field with dozens of types of guns prepared. They were allowed to try all the guns, ranging from simple handguns to sniper rifles.
Just like with the sword, Alan could use some practice to remind his body and accustom himself yet again with the use of firearms.
Finally, after five days, the day of the Apocalypse Game finally arrived. All 100.000 participants were gathered into hundreds of buses to be transported to New York's Central Park. Afterward, the buses entered a silver, metal pyramid-like building in the middle of the park, where the Apocalypse Game would eventually take place.
When the convoy of buses arrived at the Central Park, people inside could see that huge crowds had gathered in the area. Some came to cheer for their success, while some others were protesting the government's new policy.
Under the directions of the staff, everyone got off the buses and entered the pyramid. On closer look, the pyramid has hundreds of different doors on its surface, and it felt just like entering a stadium.
Right now, Alan had already gone his separate way from Nims. In this game, people were split according to their numbers and directed to follow the different instructions.
The whole place was clean white, and everyone could see a human-sized game capsule scattered all over the place.
The players started to see dozens of moving machines, along with androids with multiple arms. They were part of the alien's crew provided to perform maintenance and prevent any malfunction of the capsules.
Alan could see that hundreds of people who were first confident have started to lose their nerves. That was when the army started to move in, helping while intimidating the players to enter.
As for Alan, he had known exactly where to go. He was directed into the same capsule he was placed into last time.
After he stepped in, the door of the capsule closed in, and there were multiple tubes entering the three devices on his body. Bit by bit, Alan started to lose consciousness.
[System Linked]
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