Chapter 19

Leon found himself on the ground and assaulted by heavy impacts on both his sides. He was utterly confused as to what the situation was. However, Leon was a guard and a guard captain at the base. On top of this he had some military experience even if he hadn't made it out of basic training due to injury, he was still able to find his way with a few freelance soldiers as he would put it and private security once he returned state-side. Leon didn't need to know why he was being attacked, or who was attacking. It was simple for him he was being attacked, the attacker likely had a weapon with how heavy the hits he endured were.

The response to such an attack was simple, defend and disarm. Leon started to time the gap between each hit. 'One, two, impact... One, two, impact. Two seconds to counter.'

"Two seconds to counter? You think I'll let you get up you damned trash," the burly man roared and he dropped the branch he was attacking Leon with switching to his hands. He dropped down heavily on Leon's waist and started to rapidly punch him. Leon on the other hand had fallen into a dangerous position as he had paused for a moment when the man responded to his thoughts. Due to that momentary gap in defense, he was unable to properly respond as his head was sandwiched between the man's fist and the ground, dazing him further.

Seeing his state the woman who was the last one to have Leon in such a position dropped her firewood and dashed at the two men. With the speed of her dash, she was able to knock the burly man off Leon, as both she and the man rolled across the ground she quickly recovered and was already in a fighting stance by the time the man got off the ground.

"Why'd you attack me, isn't he the one you should be attacking. What you got Stockholm that fast."

Although what he said was a question, the tone and way he spoke made everything sound like a statement, as if what he said was fact and he couldn't be wrong.

"For what reason should I attack him? Did he barge in here and attack anyone while incomprehensibly shouting?"

"Well if there's nothing wrong here why were you screaming bloody murder, we heard you from way over there," he pointed somewhere through the trees which none of them could see.

She dropped her stance after hearing what the man said about shouting. He was just another person lured to the clearing by some illusory shouting. Leon had also gotten up and was standing not far from her.

"So you heard shouting coming from here too. I came here trying to find the person too, but all I found was her and she says she never heard it."

"I'm sorry for attacking you, I heard the shouting then when I got here I saw her bent over in the bushes over there and you with your clothes all messed up I thought..."

There was no need for him to finish the sentence they all knew what he thought. While the man and woman next to him nodded indicating they thought the same, the woman he thought he'd be protecting or avenging whichever one fits the situation really, looked on derisively.

"Actually, she just finished putting me in a similar situation," Leon replied and the conversation ended there.

The group stood around engulfed in awkward silence until another person came running into the clearing. The person stopped for a moment and looked at everyone there. His eyes locked on the burly man and he made a mad dash for him. Due to the terrified look on his face, no one attacked or stopped him. He quickly reached the burly man and hid behind him tightly clinging to the burly man's clothes and shouting in rapid-fire spewed a barely coherent sentence.

From what they could each make out and piece together the man had asked them to save him, he heard howling, footsteps behind him, animals, and then something about bears, wolves, and Bigfoot. Although they still didn't fully understand what he was saying, from what they could understand they prepared themselves for an animal attack.

But after fifteen minutes of waiting and nothing appearing, they finally stopped waiting. At this point with six of them gathered in the clearing, they began to have some thoughts. Following the shouting of a nonexistent person, chased by nonexistent animals. To say there was nothing strange going on one would have to be willfully playing the fool.

"Have any of you eaten any berries, mushrooms, or drank out of a river or a pond," the woman who had been gathering firewood asked.

The group answered in the negative. None of them had even come across a source of water or anything that seemed edible. They went over their stories many times and nothing strange aside from what led them to the clearing happened in any of them. Leon finally voiced his own opinion, he believed they were led to that clearing as part of the test. He shared his thoughts with the rest of them and they quickly agreed with this line of thought after some of them remembered they should be in the basement of the Excelsior building and not in a forest.

Remembering the test the group decided to rest in the clearing waiting for others to show up. Soon more and more people began to arrive at the clearing. When they reached ten people, the new arrivals started to slow down. Once there were twenty people in the clearing, after waiting some time no one else arrived.

"Congratulations, those of you who have made it to the clearing at this time have passed part two of Phase One," Cassius' voice echoed all over the forest, he continued afterward, "I will now explain what will happen from now on. You will be subjected to a rigorous schedule for the upcoming weeks. You all will be entering this virtual world and experiencing a myriad of scenarios every morning. Following this, you will be undergoing an increasingly strenuous exercise along with combat training and instruction based on a martial art I have compiled using the various martial arts of this world. Now for those who failed to reach the clearing you will be receiving your first warning, if you fail again you will be dropped from the project. I hope to see growth in all of you over these next few weeks," Cassius' voice disappeared and each of the remaining groups in the clearing became noisy.

They all spoke about what was to come, some celebrated passing this phase, some thanked whatever god they believed in for the luck, others lamented their failure. The more these groups came to realize what the next few weeks entailed the noisier they became.

Suddenly they heard Cassius once again.

"Apologies I forgot to mention this, you will also be undergoing various experiments as I mentioned earlier. These will take place during any rest period your group gets."

With that, the first day of Project Akron ended.