Chapter 16

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"Rachel," Tyler grins at me. I don't reply right away, my voice caught in my throat. "Wasn't expecting to run into you here. This is great." He moves his arm like he's about to pat my shoulder, then stops himself.

"Decontamination chamber is down the hall." Jason tells him, as if he can read his mind.

"Thanks, man." Tyler nods. "Your name?"

"Jason. You?"

"I'm Tyler. This is Alyssa." He tilts his head at the other armored figure who has just taken off her helmet. Running her hands through her short brown hair, she gives us a smile before focusing on me. Her large brown eyes radiate a warmth despite the fact that I can tell she's studying me. My guess is she's trying to determine if I have what it takes to be a Level One. She's short like I am but much more muscular, like she was some kind of athlete before the invasion.

"You two know each other?" She raises a brow.

"Yes," I clear my throat, finally finding my voice.

"We trained together." Tyler answers.

"Nice." She follows Tyler down the hallway to the decontamination chamber to rinse off. I look over at Jason only to see him frozen with an expression I can't place.

"Hey, are you alright?" I ask him, feeling unnerved. Is there something he knows about Alyssa?

"Yeah," Jason brings himself back to reality, shaking his head. "You ever feel like you know someone from somewhere?" With those words and his tone I know exactly what he means. He does have his memories from before, and she's part of it. But her memories are gone.

My heart feels heavy now, and stays that way when Alyssa and Tyler return. They make some small talk about creatures and points they've earned by killing them, but I can barely listen. The sadness and resentment keeps brewing deeper in me. I hate the fact that we've been forced to fight for the Kofali. Forced to forget each other. I want Tyler and Alfie back. I want our planet back. Then another realization hits me. I know Tyler. Jason knows Alyssa. This wasn't random. The Kofali put us in here together. This isn't just a test of our skill; this is a test to see if their brainwashing is still working. As much as I want Tyler to start to remember and unlock all the memories they've suppressed, if we want to survive, it's vital that he doesn't while we are in here.

I can feel every muscle in my body start to tense. Should I separate from him? What if I unintentionally trigger a memory while we're here? It hasn't happened yet, but the Kofali seem to want to test if we crack under stress. They know we've come from a background of trauma that their violence created.

"When the rain clears," Alyssa announces, and I snap out of my thoughts to realize she's speaking to Jason and me. "There's a cave further down. Past the woods, into the desert area. We weren't able to see what was in there, but our screens showed it's worth major points." She smirks, thrilled at the thought. I already know my point total isn't great. I'll need all the help I can get.

"That area isn't as nice as this is." He takes a bite of one of the red fruits, grimacing slightly at the sour taste. "Hot. Red, dry ground everywhere. No plants, no water. It's where all three of us spawned. Oh, yeah...the other guy with us was Ryan."

"The one that got his face burnt off in that unreal acid rain." Alyssa says bluntly, shivering and closing her eyes at the thought.

"Yes," Tyler's voice gets quieter. We all know it isn't real, but it's still difficult to see people we know die.

Waiting for the rain to pass doesn't take long, or maybe it just doesn't feel that way because all of us got to talking. Tyler and Jason got to know each other better. I learned that Alyssa was a boxer from California and Jason was briefly in the Army before the invasion happened. That explains why they already seemed more skilled that most people trying out for Level One spots.

The reality hit us quickly though. We were running out of time to get the points we needed in order to qualify. Luckily, the gave isn't too far of a walk from the house which is explains why Tyler and Alyssa were able to seek shelter before running into further trouble.

"Up for the cave this time, Ty?" Alyssa teases, which makes my brow furrow before I quickly try to neutralize my expression. Ty? Really? They knew each other that well that they were on a nickname basis already?

"Of course I am, are you?" He smirks at her.

"Hell yeah, let's get those points. You guys ready?" She looks back at us. I give her a thumbs up as does Jason, and all of us put down our helmet visors and step into the cave.

Our feet slosh against the wet ground, and despite my helmet I can still hear what sounds like water dripping from the ceiling. To my surprise, the cave isn't completely dark. Across the ceiling and sides, a glowing green material covers the walls.

"Whoa," I can hear Alyssa murmur through the speakers in my helmet. "Creepy." We keep walking, taking in everything we can. On alert for something to attack and something we can kill. My heart feels like its thudding in time with my footsteps. It seems odd that we've seen no creatures yet, not even tiny things like bats. It makes me nervous for what awaits deeper inside.

After a few minutes, the cave begins to open up. I can pick up on another sound, and I can tell the rest of the group does too as they raise their weapons. Much like our footsteps, there is a rhythmic, consistent sound coming from up ahead. Instinctively, our footsteps get quieter as we go further.

The cave widens further until we are in an enclosed room. My eyes pick up on two lumps on the ground lit up by the green bioluminescence. A figure is standing above them, appearing to dig with some sort of tool. It seems human-like, but even in the dim light I can tell it is much taller and larger, with skin almost pure white. The creature seems to hear us and whips around, entirely black large eyes offsetting the other more human facial features, right when my helmet registers what it is.

Native Kofali.

The creature starts toward us, its steps making the ground vibrate. It makes no other noise as it approaches, fast and swift despite its large size. We all begin firing, but whatever black reptilian armor it has covering its body seems to be protecting it well. Alyssa steps forward with a frustrated grunt, wanting the large amount of points killing this thing would grant her. But the creature wastes no time grabbing her before she can react. It rips off her helmet, intelligent enough to know it was protecting her, and slams her against the cave wall before she can manage a full scream. The creature throws her aside with a sickeningly heavy thud, turning its attention toward us.

"Alyssa!" Tyler calls, but her body starts to disappear, making it clear she's one life down.

"Retreat!" Jason yells, and we do. I run as fast as my legs can carry me, back toward the cave entrance. The creature's heavy footsteps sound like they are constantly right behind me, but I know with its height there's a good chance it has to duck when the cave narrows again. This gives us just enough time to get out alive.

Seeing the sun and the grass again gives me some relief, but we aren't in the clear yet. I yell for the boys to go back to the house, remembering the force field around it and hoping that protects us again. Tyler pulls ahead of me, and I have the smallest bit of hope before hearing a horrible scream.

Instinctively I stop and turn just in time to see the creature grab Jason. The look of terror on his face almost takes my breath away. I raise my gun.

"We have to go." Tyler's voice barks in my speakers.

"No! I won't leave him. I have to try." I start shooting toward the exposed head, noting the blue tint in the white skin in the sunlight. I can't get as many shots as I would like, fearing I'll hit Jason. The creature slams him against a tree. Lasers start shooting past me from Tyler's gun. It almost feels like he nails the creature instantly, as it staggers and falls. Tyler shoots again and the beast is gone, but it's too late for Jason. We watch him and the creature fade away.

"Holy shit," Tyler mutters, and I can hear him take a deep breath. "I'm sorry about your friend."

"It's ok. I'm sorry about yours." I say.

"At least they aren't really dead." He lets out a shaky laugh.

"Yeah, hopefully we can find them."

"I know where Alyssa spawned. She was close to me."

"I'm not sure where Jason did." I sigh. "I didn't find him until later."

"Well, damn. Looks like that thing got me more than enough points. That's got to be enough for Level One." He says. I glance at my point total in the corner of my vision and my heart sinks. I can't imagine what I have would be enough. I need to pick up the pace if I want to make it. "I'll help you find more stuff to kill," Tyler promises as if reading my mind. "I'm sure we'll find plenty while we look for our friends." I feel his hand pat my back and I wish I could see his face through his helmet.

As we walk, I think about what we came across in the cave. It almost seems like there was a species that existed on Kofal, or a certain area of land, before the Kofali we knew took over. From the brief glimpse of what we saw before the creature attacked, it looked to me like it was digging a grave. Burying its dead. And we interrupted. We were a threat: dressed exactly like the Kofali.

I feel a pang in my heart. Thinking back to our own invasion, I can only imagine the Kofali sweeping through and leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake. The Natives seemed strong and resilient, but I saw no weapons. The Kofali probably just saw them as vermin in the way of the land they wanted, not much different than how they saw us.

But why had the Kofali shown us these Natives in the simulation? Did they still feel threatened by them? Did they fear the Natives were still alive, and could follow them here? Or did they think something like that lived here on Earth?

"Seems to be almost midday," Tyler interrupts my thoughts. "I don't know about you but I'm starving. Wanna see what they've got at this safe house up ahead?"

"Sure," I reply. The safe house looks almost exactly the same as the all White House I was in earlier, it's only the surroundings that look different. This one is in a field of purple-gray tall grass instead of the middle of the forest.

Tyler opens the door, and as soon as we step in and take our helmets off, it's clear that others have already been here. Blankets lay draped across the couch. Half-eaten fruit sits on the counter. Tyler bee-lines for the fridge and pulls out several metal containers.

"These ready-made meals are awesome. I thought they'd have local Kofali food, but it's all stuff we eat. Chicken and rice. Spaghetti bolognese. Salmon with asparagus. Steak and mashed potatoes. Seriously, take one." He makes a pile of them on the counter. "I'm sure whoever was staying here won't mind."

"Nope, not at all." Another familiar voice says from the doorway. I turn, almost wanting to convince myself it's not the voice I thought it was.

Alfie. And right behind him is Leah and Olivia. My assumption was correct. The Kofali aren't just testing our skills to see if we can be decent soldiers. They're testing once again to see if their brainwashing worked.

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