First Year Midterms: Begins

Before the sun even began to crest the horizon, the entire class of combat students found themselves divided into multiple transports and in route to their practical exam location. The four squad leaders, Joe, Shianne and the assistant instructor were all loaded onto the same transport. After being briefed on the location as well as the allotted time to complete the exam, silence filled the vehicle.

Joe had already gone over the strategy for the three squads that had put their faith in him. He was confident in the abilities of every member that he had been personally grooming for this occasion. What put him on edge was the Jared and the rest of Third Squad.

Whether it was out of spite or pride, Jared had done everything in his power to restrict his squad's interaction with the rest of the class. Although Joe had paid attention to their daily training, they remained a wild card.

Every member following Joe's command understood the strategy and was confident in the execution. However, there was no telling what could happen when those unassociated entered the mix. They not only were less coordinated but the lacked any line of communication to the other squads.

After receiving the communication devices, Jared had put on a grand display of his unwillingness to cooperate. He publicly disabled his squad's ability to communicate with any other member of the class.

"We don't need any of you to pass this test."

His egotistical personality was beginning to put others at risk and Joe was nearly fed up with it. Once they arrived at the staging location, Joe pulled Jared out of earshot of the instructors.

"I'm going to say this once and once only. If yours or any member of your squad's actions lead to the death of one of those in my care, I will personally remove you from life."

His eyes were emotionless but the intent that was flooding out of every pore in Joe's body made it very clear that not only was he serious with this warning, but he was more than capable of fulfilling the consequences. Turning to head back to rest of his classmates, Joe left Jared paled.

Rather than standing in the standard formation that was typically used throughout the entire military, squads one, two and four were standing in their assigned teams. Every member understood their roles within their team and every team understood its role it had to play in the next three days.

The exam will begin at sunrise on Friday and will end at sunset on Sunday. Within that allotted time, every team needed to collectively eliminate five Level One beasts. Should any team finish their portion early, they would be redirected to assist other teams.

Rather than worrying about every individual managing a kill, Joe had planned for the seventy-five, unified, members to kill seventy-five Level Ones. By the time only a single team hadn't reached their targeted five kills, they would have the backing of everybody else. Unless an individual was critically injured or otherwise instructed to, they were not to return to the staging area ahead of everybody else.

All around the anxiously waiting students, temporary sleeping quarters as well as command post were beginning to pop up. Including Shianne, there was a total of ten instructors tasked to monitor every participant. That left ten students per instructor.

Every movement a student made would be tracked by the instructors on crystalline screens. Aside from a satellite view of the entire area, the instructors also had access to monitoring the vital signs of the students.

Through the devices handed out before they departed, it would be knowing exactly how each student acts when their life is in danger. A rapid rise in their heart rate would indicate anxiety but could also mean their excitement had reached a dangerous high. Although that was unlikely, the devices also held ways of measuring a person's adrenaline, cortisol and dopamine levels.

Being able to understand the changing levels of each of these chemicals would give a more transparent idea as to how the students were handling the situation. While everybody is waiting for the test to begin, a baseline is being established for each of them. Some already indicated a rise in cortisol. Their anxiety was rising now that they were faced with the imminent danger of this test.

One student's heart rate had reached a dangerous high and the test had yet to even begin. It was as if his life was directly threated already. Seeing the screen in front of him, the monitoring instructor simply felt pity for this coward. His expectations of this student coming out of this test alive had become nonexistent.

Shianne personally took it on herself to monitor both Joe's and Clara's tests. She already knew the strategy Joe had come up with and held a sense of pride within herself that she got to know it before any other person. Their relationship evidently played a major part in her assigning his test to herself.

She also felt a bit of responsibility for Clara's involvement in their unusual relationship. She was certain that if anything were to happen to her during the test, Joe would begin acting erratic. In the short time that both woman had been involved in his life, it was evident that he held equal feelings for the both of them.

Looking at the screen with all of Joe's statistics on it, Shianne couldn't help but notice an elevated level in dopamine. Inwardly, she began to laugh hysterically. She had become aware of his love for fighting very early into their relationship. Now, she was witnessing a new love.

One filled with danger that would send any normal person into insanity now filled this one man with some of the strongest joy he had felt his entire life. The major exception being that first night the two had spent together.