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2550

Reach

The darkness faded as Reach's sun rose over the mountains; and with it the 40 trainees awoke. The children slowly got up and made their way outside. The grass was green and everything was quiet, it was going to be a big day. Only the Chief stood outside waiting for them, so the children gathered around him. Once they were all in a half-circle in front of him Mendez sighed and began: "Recruits, unfortunately I don't own you until midday, so until then you will be spending a few hours in the classroom with your teacher: Fenrir"

Most of them groaned when they heard 'classroom' but it didn't seem like this was a democracy so they went with it. The Chief gave directions to the supposed classroom building and the 40 trainees started walking. The distance was much shorter than they thought as only a few minutes later they came across a large marble building, Greek in design. One by one they passed through the brilliant white pillars and into a very dark room.

Various lights came on and showed the inside of the Greek building not to be what they had expected. Dozens of desks dotted the room each with an interface, in the middle of everything was a huge circle and something metal suspended above it from the ceiling. The recruits explored the interior and eventually each took a seat at one of the many identical desks. A bright light exploded from the centre of the room as the projector came to life and a large brown wolf hologram sat in the middle circle.

Seth had sat in the very front row, so he got a good look at the wolf. Its fur was thick and matted, but if he looked a certain way the other side of the room was visible through it. The wolf's dark-red unblinking eyes glared between children and for a moment, stared into Seth's soul. It's just a hologram, the wolf isn't real_Seth realised. _This is an Artificial Intelligence, it sees through the cameras which he confirmed by spotting a few of them in the ceiling.

The wolf shuffled slightly and opened its maw to begin: "I am Fenrir, and for the next few years I will teach you how to survive, and be efficient in the world" The wolf's hologram shrunk and moved off to the side to make way for a 3D map to appear in the his place. The next two hours were spent learning about tactics, and the next two after that were about their next training mission; CTF

Reach- Forrest

Seth had barely understood what the great wolf 'Fenrir' taught them, it was too much to take in. Him and his fellow recruits had learned to fight, flank, cover and retreat among other things. They were then put into the backs of a few trucks and were left to jostle around in there for what Seth thought was a very long trip. Suddenly the bumping stopped and the double-doors opened to reveal a lush green forest as far as the eye could see. The trainees all stepped out to admire the change of environment as the trucks drove off back along the dirt road. The first thing this group noticed was that there were only 20 of them here, and that an old building of some kind could be seen in the distance.

A handful of the children went over to investigate it while others simply explored the surrounding trees and shrubbery. Marcus called to everyone out from the abandoned building: "This looks like a bunker of some kind! There's a map on the wall, a flag in the middle and some instructions here..." Everyone who wasn't inside the bunker came running, eager to find out just why they were here. Seth reached the wall of text and read aloud: "Today's exercise is a game; Capture the Flag. The Red flag behind you is your flag; you must prevent the Blue team from getting it while getting their flag as well. Any recruit not here with you is on the Blue's side. Use any means necessary to get the opposing flag and return it to your bunker, good luck"

Seth turned to survey his 'team'. There were 17 kids he didn't know so well, Marcus, and Patrick. He was glad to have them here, even if they had to go against Lucy and Coleson. Marcus stood next to the map and cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention. Using the map as a guide, he explained a plan using the tactics they had all been taught not hours ago. Four groups of five were made, one would defend the bunker while the other three would attack on vectors: Left, middle, right. Marcus was one of the trainees defending their flag, Seth and Patrick would be in the group flanking right. The groups gave eachother a nod, then set out on their own ways.

At first the walk was very peaceful; the group of five stepped over trunks and walked between huge trees. Then their lead Red soldier told them to get down. Seth silently crouched behind a bush and watched as the other four found hiding places. Patrick lay prone half under a large root. They sat there for a couple minutes and just as Seth was about to poke his head out another child walked out in front of him, oblivious of Seth's position. He didn't recognise him from the Red group, He must be a Blue soldier! This child walked past him, then a second and a third, none of them saw the five Reds which now surrounded them. The Red who had first spotted them leapt from his hiding spot and onto the third Blue team kid, shouting as they tumbled together. The remaining Blues spun around as the rest of the Reds attacked them.

Within 2 minutes the three enemies were placed side-by-side against a tree trunk, unconscious. One of them had a black eye and the other two were bleeding somewhere, Seth didn't like this hurting eachother thing, but the rules said: _Any means necessary._On the Red team, they were all fine except one who had something happened to his leg. They agreed he should leave for the bunker as he would only slow them down. He limped back the way they came as the remaining 4 pressed onwards.

After a while the sounds of shouting could be heard. The group warily moved through the forest, expecting anything. The shouting was accompanied by fighting as the 4 Reds came across the Blue bunker and a small war between the teams. Several bodies lay motionless on the dirt floor as wild recruits fought eachother; tooth and nail. Seth and Patrick crept unnoticed towards the Blue bunker while the other two ran to help their team-mates. The interior of the ancient building was identical to theirs, map on the wall, instructions opposite that and their objective: The Blue flag, hanging lazily on its pole. Patrick snatched it out of the holster without hesitation, setting off a warning for the Blues using a hidden speaker within every second tree. A metallic voice rang out from the small devices for every recruit to hear: " Blue Team Flag Taken"

The duo stepped outside to see every enemy soldier looking right at them. "They have our flag!" "Get him!" Every Blue there went for Patrick as all the Reds rushed to defend him. A bloodbath started in front of Patrick, fazing him out. Seth looked at his blank eyes and shook him; "C'mon Patrick, we gotta run!" One of the Blue team slipped past the feud and made a lunge for the flag which was cut short by Seth barging into him. He fell to the floor and started to recover as Patrick ran into the sea of trees, Seth trailing after him. Patrick bolted through the dense trees towards the Red base, narrowly avoiding obstacles as he passed them. They began to run along a cliff edge, minding to stay away from the precarious drop into abyss. Seth had just about caught up with Patrick when he looked over his shoulder: they were being chased by two enemy Blue's, and they were gaining. "Run ahead Patrick! I'll hold them off!" Seth skidded on the rocky ground and turned to face the attackers, they were practically in his face now.

The lead one tried to bowl him over; instead Seth bent down and threw him over his shoulder. He turned to see him land on a small rock, his head banged across the side and he got knocked out. Seth tried to turn back to the other Blue but they grabbed him in a headlock. A girl this time began squeezing Seth's windpipe until he backed up into a nearby tree. She slammed into the knotted bark and grimaced in pain, he then fell down to the floor hitting her on a hard object again. She lay there on the border of passing out as Seth wheezed and recovered his strangling. Through his faded eyesight, Seth saw a figure run past him, heading towards Patrick in the distance.

Seth struggled to stand and hobble to Patrick, that kid was going to hurt him, he had to save Patrick... Seth regained his strength by the time he came around the corner, to see Patrick on the floor leaking blood from his temple, staring ahead of him with empty eyes, and Victor with the Blue flag in one hand and a bloodstained rock in the other. "NNOOOOOOO" Screamed Seth as he tackled Victor to the ground, both objects falling from Victor's hands. Seth threw his fists down into his face until Victor raised one leg and shoved him off with it. Seth fell back onto the hard ground and recovered in time to see Victor charge him, shouting a battle-cry at him. He dug his shoes into the ground and lowered himself, the flung Victor over his shoulder as they connected. He turned to face Victor again, but he had been in front of the cliff face. Victor screamed all the way down...

Seth ran back to Patrick and knelt beside him, the Blue flag lying beside him was irrelevant. "C'mon buddy, wake up. I saved you Patrick..." His eyes became wet with tears as he softly shook Patrick's body. The tracking device on Patrick had read his lifesigns, and by the time Seth grudgingly picked up the Blue flag, a UNSC dropship rose above the clifface and dispatched medic around Patrick. They carefully took his body into the craft and left Seth standing on the edge watching Reach's sunset, the Blue flag in one hand.