A violent crash of thunder rendered everyone else's responses moot─but from their gazes, Noah was certain they all agreed. At least, those who didn't refused to voice out their opinions.

       Noah took a few small steps forward, turning his attention onto the weapon's crate at the room's heart. A majority soon followed his lead with baited breaths, their hands coaxing each fully-loaded magazine to the rifles, going through the motions that their memories so vaguely recalled. Flicking off the safety, finger never on the trigger, their sights and breathing steady, body positioned just close enough to brace for recoil. They could each remember these things right down to the narrowest detail; from that understanding arose uncertainty. Why was it so familiar for each and every one of them? It struck a cord within Noah─how every coincidence didn't truly feel coincidental at all─like all their actions were proceeding in accordance with some grand scheme. It just didn't sit right with him.

It's all for the sake of my survival. And with that thought in mind, his pushed out all unnecessary inklings of self-doubt.

       The crate contained only a limited supply of knives and mask─they looked like mask, according to Miles─to which they were distributed only to those participating in the ambush; Noah, without question, Miles, Nikki, Hugo, and Poet. They each struggled getting their masks to work, fiddled with the strange piece of technology that looked more like a useless, full-faced motorbike helmet than actual gear. Noah found himself quite surprised to see the thing actually click to life, a varying assortment of unfamiliar HUD's taking a hold of his peripheral vision, one of which he discovered to be night vision, the other a thermal detector.

The entire situation was beginning to tilt more and more in their favor, unusually so, doubt easing its way back into Noah's brain like a poison, tainting his mind scarlet. He and the others silently began making their way towards the door, stopping only after Lilly's voice called after them.

"Something's not right," She voiced Noah's thoughts perfectly. "This all seems too easy. The landscape. The proximity. All of it."

For a moment, Noah debated on disclosing the private text he got but decided against it. "Everything will go according to plan." ─Whose plan?

"But," Lilly continued. "How can you all just accept this so lightly? Animals and people are two entirely different things! What you're doing is no different than murder!"

"Is that what it looks like to you," Noah's voice came out colder than he anticipated; his eyes narrowed onto the fidgeting girl. "I haven't accepted anything. My one and only goal now is survival─if that just so happens to mean I'm playing right into the hands of another then so be it."

"An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind! We can't just...kill people on some twisted whim! All because we were ordered to do so! It's so many shades of terrible and wrong and messed up!"

Miles, who had been standing firm beside Noah, suddenly became fidgety. "Maybe she's right."

"You can't be serious," Noah replied, doing very little to mask his disappointment. "Our lives are at stake here."

He eyed Noah wearily in response, his grip over his rifle shaky; he choked back the fear with a small smile. "We'd be endangering our lives even more by going out there. If even one of us dies, we're all toast." His smile began to fade. "I suggest we all lay low for the next twenty-four hours. No where in the orders did it say we must kill to survive. We can win this without spilling a single drop of blood."

"And yet, how did you─or any of us for that matter...make it to where we currently stand today," Noah returned Miles' small grin. "But I won't force your hand. Stay here. Rest." He soon disappeared into the rain beyond the doors, his pace quick, a few others fast on his trail, none of which were Miles.

With any hope they could get the ambush over swiftly, but Noah knew that it was only wishful thinking─things weren't likely to go entirely as planned.

       Nikki and Poet hung back by taking cover in the trees, using their snipers and the lay of the land to their advantage; Noah and Hugo took up prone positions within the lake, their masks, for whatever reason, filtering out all the water that occasionally rose past their necks.

       No one bothered to say a word until they had been sitting in eerie silence for well over half an hour, alongside the subtle increase in the storm's intensity and the fish that occasionally brushed Noah's torso. So far, they hadn't seen a thing.

"This is pointless," Hugo finally complained moments before a fish swam up his trunks. He did some weird, high-pitched dance to get it out. "I've had it with these stupid things!"

"Easy there, big guy," Noah smirked from behind his mask. He, too, had begun feeling the effects of drowsiness and exhaustion consuming him. "We'll have all the time to rest in carefree relaxation after their class is dealt with."

"How do we even know if they're going to pass through here or not?"

"They will."

Hugo sported him a look, although unreadable. "Let's just hope you're right." He straightened his back, a change of topic in due order. "So, is there a reason you and Rylan hate each other's guts so much? Memories perhaps?"

Again, Noah felt as if someone had asked him to grow wings. It was painfully clear that everyone who remained knew next to nothing about themselves, let alone each other. His expression grew stoic. "There a reason for your sudden curiosity?"

"Not in particular," The question didn't phase Hugo at all. "There's a lot of things I'm curious about without reason, such as that beauty back there. Nikki."

       Noah refused to respond, every intention of leaving the silence exactly where it stood─those were scattered pieces that deserved to be scattered. But Hugo had no intention of letting the conversation drop so easily.

"She has a killer bod, great face, icy personality─she's almost perfect, man. Don't you think so too?"

It felt exactly like he was setting him up to fall, a plunge he was unwilling to take. The difference between them was painfully obvious; Noah would never say such random things aloud. Never. "Does what I think really matter?" He gave his surroundings one last glossing over before exhaling a weary breath. "My first impression of her was...vague, at best. Still is."

"Who cares about stupid impressions? I'm talking about factual looks! Bodies!"

"There's more to people than just looks, you know," He made a gesture towards the brute with his free hand. "Like you for instance. You look like the type of guy that makes stealing candy from a baby seem difficult. One that makes a night-light want a night-light."

A silence wedged between the two, Hugo taking a moment to carefully process Noah's words. "Not cool dude..." He finally muttered. The resulting quiet was way longer than expected; Noah's eyes remained diligently open despite the forces of nature trying their best to trick him into doing otherwise.

Then, before he knew it, Nikki's voice was somehow in their heads, crackling to life through a radio placed within their helmets. "They're coming. Eight of them. Shortly ahead and fully armed."

"Eight?" Noah couldn't help but wonder why their numbers were so small. It threw his mind for a loop; maybe others were trailing further behind or decided to take a different path, although it didn't matter either way.

"We'll trust your judgements," He answered as he and Hugo crouched deeper within the river, slowly retreating to opposite sides. "Once you think they're close enough we'll engage on your first shots, take them completely by surprise."

       The silence born afterwards was nearly deafening, brought to an end by joyous laughter and hasty footsteps. A single voice that ushered the approaching group to take things more seriously while Noah and Hugo hung back and listened, dreadfully awaiting that first bullet that could either make or break their entire approach.

       Their rushed footsteps grew closer, slamming down hard on the muddy forest floor. From the little bit Noah's mask could make out, they all were strapped heavily with all sorts of gear─blades, ammunition, a few bloated weapons he couldn't quite understand, yet felt them tug away at the alarm within his mind. Only a few held these devices clutched tightly in both hands; the ammo for them dragging noisily by their feet, a gun with more barrels than they seemingly knew what to do with, all carefully arranged in a circular pattern, the wide muzzles a sight for sore eyes.

One within the group heaved another hardy chuckle. It sounded feminine. "These guys were just released like what...an hour ago? Better yet, they're F-Class! They won't know what hit them!"

"Calm down and think about this rationally," another feminine voice ordered. "We have the clear advantage in weaponry and experience, but we shouldn't let that get to our heads."

"They'll be easy pickings! This is probably the easiest mission in the history of the two months we've been here!" Just released. More experience. Two months.

       As the two girls continued bickering among themselves, their footsteps growing ever closer, Noah couldn't help but repeat the women's statements in his head; the signal he'd been waiting for came a lot sooner than he anticipated, snapped him from a stupor in the quickest of instances.

He and Hugo took aim almost instantaneously, a few shots being hastily returned as they mowed the group down.

       Time seemed to slow, the flashes of yellow becoming mere strokes of gray. Noah felt an unusual serenity consume him─part of which originated from his strong desire to survive no matter the odds or costs─and an air of relief the result of their plan easily coming to fruition.

       Once given the go ahead by Poet, the two of them began making their way towards what remained of the group, the blood of their limp bodies painting the puddles they lay in scarlet; they stripped each of their weaponry, except for the large guns unanimously decided to be left behind. They would only slow them down.

It wasn't until after they were in the process of making their second sweep for bags that a flash of concern governed Noah's expression─Hugo had been frozen solid in place as well.

        The entire group, all eight people they mercilessly mowed down in cold blood─they were all female, made evident by the subtle shift in their breasts upon removing their bags and stripping them of their possessions. Noah had known that things seemed to be progressing smoothly─all of it was a little too simple─but he had failed to understand why. Still did. Why were they being hunted by a small group of only eight? Were there still more out there, lying in wait somewhere?

       The more he pondered the possibility, the more he began to doubt it. It felt like whoever gave them their orders wanted them to win, had expected it of them, made the tides shift in their favor. It only continued to arouse further suspicion within Noah, his mind preoccupied, his eyes extremely blind.

       Another flash of golden light yanked him back into reality; he met the scowl of a girl, her torso bloodied, in her hands a pistol─all from over the large, broad shoulders of Miles, who literally appeared out of nowhere.

With yet another lurid crash of thunder, both simultaneously collapsed onto the ground. Limp.