The rifle was almost as long as the child holding it.

Red felt his skin crawl, like the ant crawling over his fingertips, the insect he pointedly ignored. To make a sound here would draw attention to the fact that he was there in the first place. He kept his eyes on the child in front of him. There were too few years on the kid, who swatted at an annoying fly. Although the way he kept his finger off the trigger, Red had no doubt the kid knew how to use it.

The sun drifted across the sky, drawing shadows through the grass and trees and amplifying the already vapid humidity.

The boy kicked the dirt, lifting up small clouds of dust before turning and scanning out over the horizon. As his gaze drifted over Red's hiding place, Red tensed, earning himself a bite from the ant in front of him, both its jaws and its abdomen driving deep points into the skin of his knuckles. The gaze drifted off again and the boy returned to his scuffing.

Red let out a breath of air he didn't know he was holding and squashed the stinging menace with his hand. A welt formed but he paid no attention to it. He'd have a few more by the end of the day, and that's all if he was lucky.

The simulation was so real, it made his skin crawl. He couldn't pin down the years but it was definitely before humanity had left old earth moving their capital to the super world known as Neo-Tokyo, a more centralized location to their expanding empire.

Lars hadn't prepared him for this bit of training. Only a solemn "This is a test, Captain." Red had to admit, he still didn't know what to make of the situation or why he was here. Lars was a philosophical bit of machinery on occasion. 

He studied the boy again, definitely old earth, twenty-first century. Child soldiers were used in over forty countries way back then. Who was he kidding? He'd grown up in a military school, where he'd been chosen to receive experimental augments grafted into his body. Child soldiers were still a stain on humanity, even in this day and age.

Click.

One of the traps around his lair was triggered, he heard the glass bottle fall and break, even as the enemy soldier fell upon him.

He rolled to his feet, the rifle loose. The man shouted at him, gun trained on his head, the holo pushing the language out in acceptable common a nanosecond after the man's mouth moved.

"Don't move, or I'll shoot."

Red didn't hesitate, his hand grasped the edge of the man's rifle pushing it up just as the other man squeezed the trigger. Dust flew up into the air as they grappled, neither getting the better of the other. His position would be crawling with enemy soldiers soon, he needed to get out of there and report back. For every hit he gave, the other man managed to make his own, soon they were both gasping, sucking in the dry desert air, almost out of breath, neither giving in. Sweat poured off both of them in little rivulets, evaporating long before it touched the hot ground.

Red's hand slipped and he felt the impact of knuckles glancing off of his chin, sharp pain clenched his jaw, and he reeled as the edges of his vision grew black. The man's shoulder slammed into his body and he felt them both going down to the ground. He was on his back, strong fingers curled around his throat, his hand desperately hunted for his gun, when it closed on a rock instead. He slammed his hand up as hard as he could, once, twice, a third time.

The grip on his throat loosened, and he gasped and choked on the dust-filled air. The enemy soldier fell away to the right.  A canteen lay on the ground between them and he grabbed it greedily pouring the contents into his dry mouth and quenching his thirst.

He picked up his rifle once more. He glanced at the man beside him on the ground and then lifted his one hand to examine it. They shared the same skin tone, a dark brown hue used to living under a burning sun.

"Why are we fighting?" He would ask Lars that question later. Somehow, it wasn't the point of the exercise.

A stick cracked nearby. He needed to get out of here.

He turned to go when the boy who was supposed to be guarding the exit to the enemy camp was right in front of him, rifle lifted, trained on him.

Red froze as they stared at one another. His own rifle was pointed out in front of him right at the kid.

"Traitor," the boy spat but never dropped the bead he had on Red.

"Drop it," Red said.

"Drop yours!" the kid screamed back at him through even white teeth, his glare just as furious as any adult soldier Red had met.

"Please, don't make me do this, kid," Red's finger trembled on the trigger.

There was no time to think, Red eased his finger off the trigger. But the boy did not. He pulled the trigger and the bullet hit Red square in the chest knocking him over onto his back. A blue cloudless sky greeted his vision.

The simulation ended.

He was laying in a square room, the holo readout on the wall declaring repeatedly the simulation was over, he could now exit the platform. He didn't move. 

His second in command, Lars moved swiftly to his side, his metallic body moving smoothly as he clasped his fingers in front of him. Red had long known the gesture meant he was concerned as he had no head to make expressions with as many Ai did. Lars had chosen a headless body for the strangest of reasons. He wanted a place for his feline pet to sit when he was off duty.

Despite the cold air, Red was covered in sweat. He held up his hand in front of him, the same pale skin he'd always had greeted him. There was no longer an ant bite attached to his hand.

"I failed..."

"I would say you passed."

Red stared at him, "I didn't make it."

"When you looked over at the enemy, you saw a child, a victim, not just a soldier doing his duty." Lars waved an arm in front of him. "What do you think a logically driven Ai would do?"

"He would have mowed him down."

"Ah, who is worse, the one who defends against such, the one who uses such?"

"Lars, a separate faction of humanity doesn't exist."

"I can't prepare you for what's to come, Captain."

"What?"

Red stared. This was out of place. His side ached, he looked down. There was blood on his gray shirt, he lifted his hand and it came away stained.

His eyes opened again, staring up into the darkness.

"Red! Red, thank God!"

"Dag?" Red closed his eyes again, maybe this was the dream.

"Red, I told you your plans sucked, right?"