This Is The South

The door of the jet slid open automatically with a humming sound. The academics all peered through, gazing at the endless expanse of nothingness. What in the hell?! 

Nate made the first step, trying to display his boldness but Loras held him back. "Before you go, there's a device in your goody bags. Fix it on yer wrist, it'll serve as a tracker for your performance and your position wherever you are, so I can find you," Loras had said. 

The team delved into their bags, pulling out the red metallic bracelets and fastening them onto their wrists. Levi was about to do the same, when Lexi intervened.

[Do not wear that]

Levi turned his head away from the crew and into his shoulder. "Why not?"

[Just do as I say]

"I'm not your puppet, I can't just do as you say always," he responded and paused. "Alright, fine but explain later." Levi tucked the bracelet into his pocket.

Loras hollered, grabbing the attention of everyone. "Listen up, y'all! You're here to train and push your limits. This ain't no contest, so don't you treat it like one. I'll be hoverin' above you up in the sky in the jet, and I'll swoop down every 14 hours so you can recharge and refresh. That's gonna be our drill 'til we wrap things up here. How much have I made meself clear?"

He went on, a bit more gentle now, "And please, watch each other's backs. I wouldn't want what I heard happened last time to happen again," he said, passing gazes from Nate to Jamie and to Abby. "Let's not have any repeat performances of that, yeah?"

What happened last time? Levi thought. Someone must've died. That's how it always goes with teenagers.

He stretched out his hand, allowing the academics to proceed to the door. The steps had unfolded and positioned themselves diagonally to the ground.

Nate lunged forward again and onto the steps. He raised his arms to embrace the gentle breeze in the biosphere as he slowly landed on the main ground. Turning around, he faced the other academics. "This is the south," he urged, "c'mon, we have no time."

They all glanced at themselves before Jamie stepped down, followed by Box and Abby. Paige was too scared and it really amused Abby because she had given a short mocking giggle. 

"It's alright, Paige," Jamie said, her tone motherly. Paige let out a huge swear word before closing her eyes and stepping down.

Brody made to follow but Levi placed his hand on Brody's chest.

At the full view of the South, Levi was having second thoughts about going into that darkness and taking Brody with him, who had nothing to do with it. When Brody made to move, Levi held him back by the chest. "Hey, buddy, if you don't wanna do this, you don't have to. I'm sorry I brought you here," Levi said.

Brody only smiled and patted him. "It's alright, I'm with you, okay?" Brody made his way down the three steps and stood with the team below.

Levi hesitated and took several deep breaths.

[Don't be a coward, Levi]

"You don't wanna come, punk?" Nate jeered.

Of course he doesn't wanna come! Look at that infinite darkness! He's read lots of comics and watched a lot of TV to know this wouldn't end well. 

Only if that spall wasn't in his head....

"You could've said it a long time ago and spared us the problems you've caus-" Nate had wanted to ridicule, but he was cut off immediately as Levi literally ran down the stairs, pumped with boldness.

The ground was cold! He was wearing boots and he could still feel it. There were few particles of dust that rose up as soon as his feet landed. 

Levi looked around, scrutinizing the topography. He felt like he was on the moon, there were small sized craters everywhere. One can tell the place used to be habitable because of the presence of demolished buildings and infrastructure. Levi wondered why it was nicknamed 'The Cavern', it was just a vast space of nothing.

Loras stood at the door and smiled, he went down, hugging each of them. "Y'all take care of yourselves, eh? To our merit, there are no regenerates here in the outskirts, they can be found deeper. I'll see ya in the next 14 hours," he said to all of them before hopping back into the jet. 

The team spent a few seconds exploring their new habitat. They moved away from the jet as the engine roared to life, kicking up dust and swirling wind around its base. It began to ascend, lifting off the ground.

At that moment, Levi felt his mood change. It wasn't a child's play all this while, this was serious. They were actually going to be in this abyss for who knows how long.

Suddenly, as the VTL jet hovered a few feet above the ground, eight long, unknown tentacles emerged from the ground below, wrapping the aircraft in their grip.

The academics below gasped as dust flew into their eyes, yet they could still see what was happening. The jet had started to struggle, twisting and turning. It was clear the pilot, Loras, had no idea what was going on. The grey tentacles squeezed harder on the metal, crushing it together.

Shell-shocked, the academics stood still, eyes wide and jaws dropped, watching. The lights under the jet danced around randomly, and the jet had begun to compress. The loud, hurting cry of Loras could be heard.

That was enough to snap them out of their trance. "Do something!" Jamie yelled. Loras cried out in pain as the jet was crushed to half its original size.

Nate flew with his golden surge of power toward the jet. Simultaneously, Brody tried to control the jet with his telekinesis, but the tentacles were too strong. Nate approached the jet up in the sky, only to be thrown aback by the huge explosion that followed.

Boom!

The loud sound deafened them, and the bright, explosive light blinded them. The debris of the destroyed jet littered the area, with flames burning off.

The teenagers dragged themselves to their feet after being thrown by the force of the outburst, their faces soiled. Levi looked up and around him in confusion.

The jet had ceased to exist, Loras had ceased to exist. What, what just happened?