When lights out was announced, everyone had a chill run down their spines. They went out all at once and we were now in the dim glow of the emergency lighting. This was not a safe environment to be in. We moved directly for the wall we had used last time as it gave us total cover from one side. Felix met us there soon after. There was a small riot going on in the center of the area. People were fighting and I even saw the glint of steel as some candidates had smuggled some of the weapons from our training sessions. People were going to die. We had not thought about doing that, so we were at a real disadvantage if they came to us. Some of them did, but they were not the ones with weapons. That was lucky. We were able to kick their asses. Since this was the nature of the environment. I had no qualms about killing them once they were down and out. My teammates were a bit shocked when I killed the first one that we beat, but they got with the program very quickly. Four of them had attacked and we were much closer to the next stage. It was really all that I cared about at this point.
Lights went back on in the morning. "Wow. We're down to 41. Nice job. It's time to start the battle simulations. To do so you guys need to pair up. There is an odd number of you, so that person will be set aside. You have until lights out tomorrow to pair up and register the team. Let's work smart and diligently." the voice said. We were then all led to a sub-basement level of the facility. There were 5 mock cockpits that, we were told, were 1 to 1 replicas of the cockpits found in the chest of every MTM. We all were going to get our first chances to synchronize and see what our rates were. Mark and his 2 cronies pushed to the front of the line. They wanted to go first. It would be good to see how things worked and take some mental notes. Mark was getting into his Top plugsuit while his cronies both had the bottom ones on. Mark got in his place and one of the followers, a boy named John got in front of him. "It sucks that I'm going to have to see a guy's ass all day." Mark said snidely. John just meekly said sorry then went quiet. Mark sucked his teeth. "Alright. Everything is ready." the researcher said.
John
Both closed their eyes and began to focus. A white monitor screen flipped down from the roof of the cockpit in front of Mark from above John's back. It was used to track their Synchronization rate. Only the Top could see it in the cockpit. After 5 minutes, nothing had happened. John began to bleed profusely from the nose. "Come the fuck on, John! Fucking sync with me already. "I-I'm trying! It... hurts!" he said before he collapsed in his position. It was a little scary. They did not get anywhere. Mark did not seem to care that much about his comrade's safety. He only sucked his teeth and looked at the other crony. "Take his place, Matt. We don't have all day." he snapped in annoyance. Matt hopped to and lifted John out the Bottom position. The monitor raised to the ceiling. He then took his place. The monitor fell again as they began. Matt only lasted 3 minutes before he gave out. "You two are fucking losers!" he screamed as he got out of his seat. I did not know why things were not working out. It was not my problem. If Mark was eliminated, it would be good for me. There were other machines.
