01: The Beginning of the End

There’s nothing like the feeling of your heart beating so fast you can feel it at your fingertips as you clutch your pistol. At least, that's what Naomi was thinking as she pressed her back against the stone cold wall.

“Relax,” she reminded herself, anxiety coming in waves as she pounded her brain for every field regulation she knew. “Carpe Diem.” She breathed, giving  herself to the count of three to suppress her nerves before rounding the corner. Taking ten quick steps, she ducked behind a cabinet. 

It was mere seconds before she felt the cold metal of a gun barrel pressed against her head. She closed her eyes, hoping it’d be over quickly, and jumped at the sudden loud noise shattering the silence.

Heels clicked loudly against the cement floor of the warehouse, echoing throughout the empty space. The girl turned, partly to take off the headset and partly to hide her embarrassment from the woman who approached. She was slightly shorter than the younger girl, despite the height enhancing heels.  

“A rookie mistake, Naomi,” her handler reprimanded, blowing a piece of stray brown hair out of her face in annoyance. “What did we talk about?”

Naomi sighed. “I know, I know, I didn't clear my corner before running in. Sorry Maddie.”

“You could have run straight into danger! You don’t know what traps and security systems there may be in that room, and you can never be too careful in our line of work.”

“I know, I’ll remember next time. Let me have another go at it.” 

“Not right now.” Maddie checked her watch. “We have more important things to do today.” 

“What?” 

“Put away your headset and meet me in the car outside.” 

“Now?”

“Yes, now.” The handler resisted a sigh. 

~*~

Naomi frowned as she saw the looming buildings of the academy affectionately nicknamed The Farm. She had basically spent the last couple years of her life in those walls, surrounded by nothing other than farmland and cows. She couldn’t imagine anything exciting happening here other than class, if you find that exciting.

“I thought we were going somewhere important.” 

“I never said we were going anywhere, I said we had things to do.” 

“What does that mean?” She narrowed her dark eyes in suspicion. “Is today the day?” 

“Yeah.” Maddie waved to the guards at the gate as they pulled into the busy parking lot. 

“Holy shit, yes!” She threw herself back in the seat and smiled. “Who is it? What’s their name? Is it a girl?”

“You see? This is why I didn’t want to tell you.” They parked and Maddie stepped out of the car. “You ask too many questions.”  

“I do not!” The younger girl retorted, hopping out of the car and hastily closing her door before rounding the vehicle. “So, the training building. Are we going straight through a simulation? 

“No more questions. Your partner is waiting for you in simulation room B. Be there in 5 minutes or you’ll be late.” Maddie held the door open for her and gestured to the side of the lobby. 

“That’s my worst room.” Naomi groaned. The lobby was full of other students dressed in their white stimulus suits, sensors all perfectly cleaned and managed. 

“I know, that’s why I chose it.” She smiled. “This is it, Naomi. You’ll be sent to The Refuge in exactly 24 hours.”

“Not if we fail this simulation,” she reminded as she tied her long black hair up in a ponytail. 

“Not an option. Now hurry up and go put your suit on. They’re waiting for you.” 

“Geez, I’m going!” The trainee hustled towards the back of the lobby, smoothing down her flyaways and finding herself in the locker room. She didn’t waste any time peeling off her uniform and zipping up the stimulus suit, careful not to mess with the delicate sensors. 

“Shitshitshitshitshit.” She mumbled, shoving her clothing into an open locker and nearly bumping into another student on her way out. With a quick “Sorry!” she stumbled out into the lobby and into her simulation room. “Naomi, reporting for duty!” 

“Hello?” A shorter girl with coffee colored hair awaited, she wore black-rimmed glasses and the same white suit. 

“Hi? I hope I’m not late.” She addressed the simulation monitor who was looking through the glass into the large room below. 

“You’re on time, trainee,” the monitor assured. “You two are up. Break a leg.”

“Right.” She held out a hand. “I know you heard it already, but my name is Naomi. Your partner, I think?” 

“Katie.” She shook her hand.

“Okay, this’ll be easy.” Her overconfidence was already showing. “I mean, probably.” 

~*~

“Okay, uh, strengths?” Naomi adjusted her headset and glanced over at Katie. 

“Field medicine. Long-distance weaponry.” She pushed up her glasses before donning her headset. “You?”

“Strategic planning and close range combat.” She smiled. The lights in the room dimmed and she instinctively held her breath. “Right handed?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Alright, you cover our right flank, I’ll take left. Clear your surroundings, call out if you see anything.” 

“Standard stuff.” She hummed.

“Let’s go then.” With an exhale from both, the doors in front of them opened to reveal a dark room. 

The girls worked practically back to back, Naomi spotting cover further ahead. 

“Clear,” Katie muttered. 

“Clear. Follow my lead.” Naomi moved towards the lone standing wall, trying not to be bothered by the fact that these next few minutes determine the rest of her life. Her back hit the wall as soon as they reached it, taking a minute to breathe and glance at Katie. 

Katie discreetly peered around the corner and swore under her breath, turning to Naomi. “One heading this way.” 

“Right.” She chewed on her lip. “I’m going to leave the wall and try to make it to the barricade a couple yards ahead to attract its attention. Meanwhile--” 

“I shoot it down?”

“Yeah. Time to test your skills.” Naomi nodded, swallowing back the lump in her throat. 

‘One.. two..’ She could hear the echoing footsteps. ‘About five yards ahead… Three!’ A high pitched ringing filled her ears as she cut across the open expanse of floor.

A total of three shots sounded off. Two from Katie and one from the computer generated enemy. Naomi felt the fake bullet graze her shoulder and set off the sensors. The two bullets from Katie hit their adversary in the chest and neck, making it fall to the ground. 

“It didn’t disappear,” Katie muttered in shock.

“Goddammit.” Naomi held her shoulder, the vibration from the sensors stinging more than usual. “This can’t be a level five simulation… is this level ten?” 

“Fuck.” Katie left her position and moved to crouch next to her. She gripped her pistol tightly. “We didn’t prepare for this.” 

“No, we didn’t. They’re testing us.” She continued. “Alright, the bots are closing in on our position as we speak. We have to keep moving.” 

“Shit, okay.”   

“We’re going to be surrounded.” Naomi moved first, ducking from a barricade to another outreaching wall. “We can’t let that happen since there’s only two of us. Keep an eye on our backs. If this is a level ten, we don’t stand a chance of fighting our way out.” 

“So the plan is to just avoid being surrounded?” Katie sounded distressed. “Sorry, but that’s a fucking coward's strategy.” 

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“You got a better idea?” The other retorted, glaring at her.

“Not really.” Katie shot at a bot further in front of them, the bullet hitting squarely in the head.

“Then it stands. Also, that was one hell of a shot,” she commented with a sharp exhale, glancing over as the body hit the ground. “I got one on our nine o’clock.” 

“Thanks, one more on our six.” 

“Shit, two on our three.” Naomi took a couple shots at one of the the A.I.s to their right before it went down. “Let’s go! Leave them.” 

“Fine.” Katie reluctantly agreed before lowering her weapon and following her towards the middle of the room. 

“How have we gotten this far? Where are they--” She got cut off by a shot whizzing past her head when they turned a corner. 

“COVER!” Katie yelled as they dived behind an overturned fridge. “Looks like we found them.”

“Great.” Naomi could feel each bullet shake their shelter. “This fridge won’t last long. They’ve set up a blockade.” 

“No shit, Sherlock.”  

“Shut up! I’m trying to think. If we can distract some of them--’

“On it.” Katie removed one of her gloves with a tug.

“--then we can run for the exit. Wait, what are you doing?” 

“Causing a distraction. They detect movement, don’t they?” She threw the glove in a high arc over their heads. “Run!” 

“That’s cheating!” Naomi exclaimed, taking off anyway. She shot a bot in their path and hopped over the body. The duo turned yet another corner, pausing to catch their breath momentarily after a couple more yards.

“How far in are we?” Katie could feel her heart beating so fast she could swear Naomi could hear it too.

“We should be getting close to the halfway mark.”  Naomi raised her gun and fired at a fast approaching bot, wounding the knee while Katie took the killing shot. “I think.” 

Before Katie could reply, something soaring over the wall caught her eye. “Duck, gre--!”

It was too late for a warning. The grenade hit the floor and the explosion sounded off with a wave of vibrations wreaking havoc on their sensors.

Katie groaned. They had both noticed too late, and she had dropped to the floor in a useless attempt to avoid the explosion. Naomi, who had fallen on her side, let out a long sigh as the lights in the room turned back on. 

“Fuck,” Naomi mumbled as she rose to her feet and took off the headset. She tilted her head as she saw Katie still on the floor. “Need a hand?” 

She flopped over onto her back. “Nah, I got it.” She slipped off her headset and stared at the ceiling for a moment before sitting up. 

“It was a good run, partner.” Naomi smiled down at the girl sitting on the floor, shifting the fake pistol to her other hand to offer assistance anyway. 

“Even though we probably failed.” She took the hand up, rocking on her feet for a second before regaining her balance.                                                                        

“I don’t know about that.” Naomi glanced up at the simulation monitor with a smile. “We made it halfway through the room.” 

“No fucking way.” She laughed. The simulation monitor was, in fact, grinning ear to ear. 

“Yes way, even though we should technically be disqualified for that little stunt with the glove. But the simulation monitor is smiling, so I think we’ll be okay.” 

“Hey, they never expressly stated it was against the rules. And I’m not really big on following rules anyway.” Katie turned as she heard the door open up on the other side of the room.

“Well, cheating or not, getting halfway through a level ten is no joke.” Naomi tucked her headset under her arm and started walking towards the sound. “We’ll have points taken off for sure, but if the math adds up...”

“We pass?”

“Hopefully.” 

~*~

Three hours after meeting, the new partners and their handler Agent Maddie boarded a 19 hour flight with three stops. After that grueling time on regular commercial flights with the rest of the trainees transferring to the Refuge, they were happy to find themselves finally boarding the private jet… alone, without a pilot. 

“Wait, who’s going to fly this thing?” Katie asked as she carefully selected one of the cushy red seats. 

“Me, obviously.” Maddie put her bags up in the luggage carrier.

“But I thought you were the Queen on your team?” Naomi also put her luggage up before sitting next to Katie.

“I was. I took flying lessons in my free time.” She turned to the pair. “Don’t touch anything you aren’t supposed to.” 

“Yes ma’am.” Naomi did a two-finger salute with a signature charming smile. 

“What counts as ‘not supposed to’? Does it need to have a sign that explicitly says “do not touch” on it?” Katie asked, earning a laugh from the other two. 

“Just don’t cause trouble. The flight should be less than half an hour or so .” Maddie shook her head before disappearing into the cockpit.

Katie stood up and walked around shortly after takeoff while Naomi messed with the reclining features of her seat.

“It looks like a damn Valentine’s Day card. Everything is either red or white,” Naomi noted in slight disgust. 

“Personally, I don’t think the red’s that awful.” Katie approached a pristine set of white cabinets, opening them out of curiosity. “They’ve got a nice coffee machine and, woah, coffee from Indonesia.” 

“Not big on coffee myself.” 

“How did you even make it through the academy? Coffee is what kept my grades up.” Katie moved to open another set of cabinets, only to be stopped by a small silver lock. “Hey, check this out.” 

“What is it?” Naomi  asked, already spinning her seat around to look at whatever Katie was talking about. 

She kneeled down to test the lock, her head cocked slightly to the right. “Why’s it locked? What could they possibly have that’s that important on a jet?” She turned back around to face Naomi. “You know how to pick a lock by any chance?” 

“Of course I do.” Naomi bounced to her feet and took out what looked to be a small leather satchel from her pocket. She unrolled it to reveal a variety of small tools. “Move, let me see what type of tools I’ll need.” 

“I hope it’s liquor or something fun.” 

“We’ll see.” She kneeled down and hummed, picking a hook and spiral shaped tools from her set. It only took a moment or two until a quiet click signalled she had done it. “Voilà!” she said as she held the lock up triumphantly before opening the cabinet. 

“I called it,” Katie said as she smiled and kneeled next to her partner to peruse the selection of overpriced bottles. 

“What are your opinions on whiskey?”

“What?” Naomi glanced over at her. “Are you planning on taking some?”

“Yep.” She took a bottle off the shelf and popped it open, smelling it. “I can’t drink all this by myself, and we deserve a celebration after orientation.”

 “Okie dokie.” Naomi shrugged. “You’re hiding them though. I don’t have any room in my bag.” 

“Deal.”   

Just as they finished stashing a couple of bottles in Katie’s bag, Maddie’s voice sounded over the intercom. 

“I hope you two are sitting down. We’re starting landing procedures in a minute.” 

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Naomi said breathlessly. She sat down and tried to see the island out the window.  

“I know! I just-it’s actually happening. I’ve thought about this moment for so long and it’s better than I ever could’ve hoped.” She looked over at Naomi with a smile before turning back and directing her attention to the sights outside the window. 

The landing went seamlessly and Maddie walked out of the cockpit to grab her bags.

“Grab your things, you’re going to meet up with the rest of your team after orientation tomorrow.”

“Wait, the city slickers?” 

“Oh, right. Great,” Naomi scrunched up her nose as she handed Katie her bag before reaching for her own. 

“It doesn’t matter which school they come from. You’ll be a team, that means you have to get along.” Maddie chided as they started to go down the ramp and onto the airstrip. She handed the keys off to someone else who would probably store the jet in a building further down the tarred runway. 

Three buildings peaked over the forest in the distance as Maddie hauled her suitcase into the back of a silver truck. Although it was early afternoon, mist still clung onto the grass and the many colored leaves of the trees waved goodbye to the warm seasons. 

“Very pretty,” Katie commented as she put her suitcase into the truck bed. 

“Yeah.” Naomi had already snuck a picture of the scenery with her phone. “But it's cold!” She wrapped her arms around herself as another ocean breeze swept through. It smelled distinctly of salt and fish. 

“You’ll get used to it,” Maddie said, laughing. 

“I don’t think it’s that bad.” Katie shrugged. 

“Both of you are sitting in the back with the luggage, by the way.” 

“What?” Naomi turned to face Maddie.

“You need to get to know the island.” 

“Oh.” 

“No complaints here,” Katie smiled. “It’s nice out.” 

“Agree to disagree.” Naomi mumbled, shivering as she climbed into the truck with Katie. “Besides, you’re wearing long sleeves. You don’t get to talk.”

“Well, if it helps any, it only snows about 20 days in the winter here. Unfortunately, it’s still very cold.”

“That’s nice, at least we don’t have to deal with that mess.”

“That’s awful!” Katie disagreed. “The whole aesthetic of winter is ruined.”

Naomi rolled her eyes and Maddie chuckled before climbing into the truck and putting the keys in the ignition. The lyrics of some pop song from the radio got lost in the wind with their speed picking up. Wind brushed through the girls’ long hair as they laughed at how the other looked with their hair in their faces. 

“You have a mane!” Katie shouted over the motor. 

“So do you!” Naomi shouted back as she felt the cold breeze slice through her short sleeve shirt. 

They both went quiet as the surrounding forest parted, a field awaited with the three buildings they had seen earlier now in full view. One was significantly older than the other two, made of aging red brick and covered in ivy vines. The other buildings were tan accented with red, almost mocking the first one. 

Katie felt a shiver go down her back and Naomi tried to hold the hair out of her eyes to get a better view. 

“It looks like a college campus!” Katie commented. Her partner nodded in agreement rather than yelling over the motor again. 

They came to a stop in front of the old brick building with identical windows sprawled across it in orderly rows. Behind the glass, some windows had decorations or signs. Naomi could distinctly see a pair of windows that spelled out “TEAM-ONE” in neon green marker. 

“Dorms?” Naomi asked as Maddie poked her head out of the car window.

“Yeah, you guys have to check in your bags to the security desk. Orientation is at twelve o’clock sharp in the commons building. Don’t be late or they won’t feed you afterwards. I’ll catch up with you guys at lunch. Remember, don’t get into trouble.”

“Okie dokie.” Naomi replied as they took their suitcases out of the back. 

“Bye Maddie!” Katie yelled as they both waved, the truck going back down the road it had just taken. 

“Security,” Naomi murmured as they walked up the small flight of marble stairs and entered the building. They both found a pleasant surprise as the interior of the building was much more modern than the outside. “Think we’ll have a good view of the ocean from one of our dorm windows?” 

“Let's hope we have a good room in general. Ah, there’s the luggage check.” 

“Orientation, here we come!” Naomi sang, her suitcase rolling behind her.