Damage Control

by Eric Alan Williams

  Xairin and Abanoub made it through the first six of them. They came down at random. The next section had the hammers coming down, along with blaster bolts firing in random directions.

  It went on like that for a couple of hundred yards until they came to a chamber, a giant hollowed out room reinforced by a chrome colored metal. The section was circular. On the right side, there were two handprint modules, with a retinal scanner above each one. Six feet down from the kiosks, there was a tunnel roughly the size of the opening to a sewer, though there was no manhole covering sealing it off.

  Abanoub let out a long huff. "The kiosk to the left is for a single player entry to the Labyrinth. The one on the right is for those in a paired team of two. You scan your hands, then your eyes, it will sync with your armbands, and then you enter that tunnel. You'll crawl down about fifty yards or so, then you enter the Labyrinth."

  "Anything you can tell me about it to better prepare myself?"

  "Only a few things. One, the Labyrinth moves and changes every five minutes, so never expect the same route. Two, you will be up against other players competing for points, so always expect the unexpected. Three, you being a vampire, you're echolocation will give you an advantage to getting through it, but as I said, it changes, and other players are going to be doing anything they can to take you down. Next, when you make it to one of the seven long tunnels, that will lead you to the end chamber. There will be trenches filled with silver gas. The gas isn't strong enough to kill, but it can burn your eyes and skin really easily if you get knocked into one of the trenches so be on guard if you make it that far. At the end of that chamber, you will see another tunnel like the one you take here to enter it. Once you're inside the second tunnel, you're out of the combat zone and can go on to the final part. We, however, are taking that route." Abanoub pointed to the end of the chrome colored room, there was another cave entrance. "We are going that way."

  The pair ran through the cave and came out on the other side quickly.

  They came up to another large crater filled with columns to leap upon. His preceptor informed him something pleasing but also disturbing right as he pointed to the other side of the mountain. Xairin saw the other tunnel exit. "If you go through the Labyrinth, you're going to come out there, and here on the last pillar leap, there are no spikes, but there are going to be laser blasts to dodge as you run across. Same rules, no flying. Once on the other side, you have to get up enough speed to leap across the other pit and land on the other side without disturbing the sand. Wisman will take off points if he sees sand flying in the air. Got it?"

  Xairin shrugged. "I guess so."

  Abanoub started floating quickly to keep up with Xairin's pace. Xairin leaped from pillar to pillar, going into a balanced sprint across them. The laser blasts began. He did a few quick dodges, and made it across, surprising his preceptor.

  "Now you just need to make the leap?' Abanoub said.

  Xairin saw the final crater and the sandpit on the other side that reminded him of something he might dislike if he went golfing. The landing was rounded, sloped. To make it across, the pit itself had to be at least a sixty-foot leap. The young vampire took a deep breath.

  Xairin gained speed and went into a determined sprint. His hands moving with his stride while he increased more speed until finally, his feet left the ground. When he landed, the sand went everywhere. Abanoub shrugged. "You made the leap, great."

  Xairin noticed several other recruits with their preceptors. There was a tent providing refreshments, food, along with medical care for those injured this far. It was still dark given it was almost five in the morning. Xairin noticed Troger on one of the floating stretchers being attended to by a couple of medical officers in white kevlar.

  "So, what's next?"

  Abanoub smirked, "Press the blue button on your armband, it will tell you which class to go to."

  _____

  Six in the morning came with the sun starting to rise over the jungle terrain. Xairin was carrying a can of blood as he walked into a structure on the side of another mountain. He was on his way to a combat class hosted by a vampire named Aywren Sateele.

  There were six mountains on the island, the second one in the center was where most of the combat classes were hosted, while the outside of the island's mountains had other facilities hidden inside. The primary mountain was where the council met. Xairin was told to stay away from that one unless summoned.

  Inside the second mountain, Xairin was walking down a metal tunnel well-lit by white lights. He made a turn and found a door with the number 709 above it. It had a retinal scanner beside the door. He walked up to it, pressed a handprint module once he willed his fingerprints to form. The door slid to the side once the retinal scanner read his eyes.

  Inside was a large room with several firing alleys designed for target practice. Over a hundred alleys awaited Xairin and the others. Xairin couldn't get over how large this room was, not to mention how neatly laid out it was. One side had weapons ranging from hand to hand, to distance weapons. The far side of the room had training mats, all encompassed around the firing alleys.

  Xairin noticed purple lights above him, hundreds of them sparking throughout the room across the ceiling, and down the corners of the considerable training room. He wondered what they were for.

  In this room, there was also seating, several seats in fact. Enough to provide all recruits a place to sit affixed in a circle. Many of the seats were filled already. Xairin had a seat assigned to him. He could see a laser light displaying his name.

  He took his seat.

  In the center of the room, there was a metal podium with computer controls on top of it. The lights blinked and pulsed. It was easy to see at a distance. Right to the left side of the control podium was a highchair.

  Xairin noticed a woman wearing a black leather uniform, conforming to her slender figure enter the room. She was pale, very pale. Her coal black hair, accenting her thin face. Xairin could smell the distinct scent of vampiric blood flowing within her, not to mention aged cells brewing with alpha potency. This had to be Aywren Sateele.

  He had missed the Class yesterday, leaving the instructor the pleasure of focusing in on him. Her voice carried well. "Ah, Mr. Thunder, I take it you managed to make it through the obstacle course today without any… Setbacks?"

  Xairin blushed and wanted to sink into his seat. He shook his head. "No setbacks today thankfully."

  The woman smiled. "Good, I do hope you're a quick study?"

  The young vampire nodded.

  "I am Aywren Sateele, I will be instructing this combat training class. Do pay attention." She said while looking through him to the point that he felt uncomfortable.

  "Yesterday, we went over the basics of Japanese Jujutsu, which relies mostly on variations of pinning an opponent, throwing, locking joints, and occasionally weapons. Today we will be putting these techniques to use in a holographic simulation." She eyed Xairin. "Mr. Thunder, are you knowledgeable in any fighting styles?"

  Xairin nodded. He spoke lowly. "Yes, a couple."

  Aywren spoke louder. "I didn't quite catch that."

  "Yes, a couple. My nest made sure I pulled a couple fighting styles before coming here."

  She looked surprised. "I thought you were bitten by a bat?"

  Xairin cleared his throat before commenting. "My assigned Alpha performed some form of blood pact, after that, I was able to pull Dambe and the basics of Aikido."

  Aywren was impressed. She walked over to Xairin. "Well, Aikido is an advanced art that already relies on throwing and momentum, so you should pick up Jujutsu with no issues then."

  Aywren walked to the center podium and entered in a sequence on the keypad. The room instantly changed before Xairin's very eyes. He saw the room swirling with pixels flowing from the purple lights above him and from the corners. He found himself completely alone. The chairs vanished, the students disappeared, the room became a white void with only his body filling it. He stood up start
led.

  He could hear Aywren's voice. "Jujutsu program two, engaged."

  A man formed in front of Xairin, at first made of airborne pixels, then a second later looking as real as he was. The man was dressed in black robes. He wasn't Japanese or Chinese, he looked American or English. His voice was warm and soft. "I am a holographic program designed to teach you the basics of Japanese Jujutsu, as well as the Brazilian incarnation over the next four hours. Jujutsu has three acceptable pronunciations, jujitsu, Jujutsu, and also Jiu-jitsu. Each of which is correct. We will begin with the initial standing poses, and transition from there. Please pay attention."

  Four more pixelated figures formed around Xairin. The instruction began as Xairin watched two fight as precise details were given. After that, he was expected to spar with the two spares. They felt real, hit hard, it was as if he was genuinely fighting someone else. He had heard that holographic technology had made leaps and bounds, but this was like being in another world.

  _____

  The time passed quickly. The program ended with Xairin entirely out of breath. He was bruised across his face, on his chest, and his arms. He had taken so many beatings in the program that his regeneration was strained in keeping up. The program was scaled for immortals after all.

  The room became a classroom again. When Xairin formed for all to see, he was like several others, either sitting or lying on the floor. Xairin was laying down purely exhausted.

  Aywren had no mercy. "Next Class, we will be engaging in firearms. Pick a gallery and pick yourselves up. We do not have time for lying around."

  Xairin slowly got up. He was nursing a busted lip with his fingertips. He looked at his blood and let out a deep breath. His lips were sore, but healing.

  Limping, Xairin made it to a galley that was unclaimed. There was a metal table at the beginning of it, with several types of handguns. Some modern, some older. As soon as he was standing there, a purple orb built into the table roughly the size of a small marble emitted another holographic instructor, this one, however, was isolated to the tabletop.

  "Before you are a set of several variations of projectile weaponry. We will begin with the assembly of the primitive SIG Sauer P226, a semiautomatic handgun that is quite useful in today's world where silver ammunition can be utilized.

  He watched a holographic display of a woman taking the gun apart, reassembling, and loading. Then the protocols on firing. After he displayed the same proficiency, the program progressed. At the end of the alley, a metal body, a training dummy rose up from the floor. "Begin firing exercise. Aiming for the joints of the patella, bilaterally."

  Xairin nailed both kneecaps. The pulls he had acquired from Sintrina helped with his aim.

  "Good job, now we will progress to aiming for the chest, specifically the heart." Xairin noticed at the end of the alley, the metal dummy's chest lit up with a small dot over where the heart should be. "Begin firing."

  With a steady hand, he managed the shot.

  "Moving onward. Headshots are vital to dispatching ghouls, as well as powerful Alpha encounters. Between the eyebrows, is the best location for killing an Alpha that may be able to escape their wounded body; some can leave a body behind." She looked around at the students. "Begin firing."

  He missed on the first shot but nailed it on the second.

  The program transitioned to a different model, the Walther P99, then to a standard blaster pistol. Two hours later, Xairin was shooting with both hands and two targets. His aim, thanks in part to the pulls he gained from both Sintrina and Yolanda helped him get ahead from where he was recovering from yesterday.

  Aywren concluded the Class by adding a fencing portion in which everyone was given a bamboo constructed sword for practice.

  The entire training day rounded at eighteen hours of nearly continuous training. Leaving the recruits only a few hours to rest. Xairin had made it back to his new home, activated the retinal scanner, went inside and passed out fully dressed on top of his provided cot. The vampire snored loud enough for anyone walking right outside to hear him.

  Chapter 4.5

  Day Six…

  Xairin had been at the academy now for six full days, three of which he was enjoying the brutal tortures of being a red shirt on the obstacle course. He and Troger attempted to team up in the Labyrinth for the first time. He lasted ten minutes. A wererat by the name of Pete Dodson threw some dirt into Xairin's eyes and proceeded to slam his face into the side of a rocky wall, after which his partner continued to stomp his chest. Xairin was unconscious by the time Troger tried to help him. Troger did little good against the pair. Both men were lying on a floating stretcher nursing their wounds at the triage tent.

  Xairin was feeling not just beaten with his body, but of his mind also. He was going over and over in his mind the events that happened in the sewer that started his journey, and now, being beaten to a pulp again, this time by a man and a woman had him angry. He felt that he should have been better prepared.

  Xairin was drinking some blood from a bag that one of the medical officers had given him, while to his surprise, Abanoub was there dressed in white kevlar attending to Troger.

  His face was scraped up badly. His left eye hardly noticeable. His arms blackened, his kneecaps torn all to hell, and his shirt hid further evidence of taking a beating that would have killed a human. Even with drinking blood, his regeneration was heavily taxed. His cells didn't know what to repair first.

  With a bag of blood in one hand and an icepack held to the left side of his face with the other, Xairin sat there quietly. He was pissed. He thought he had done pretty well the day before in the Taekwondo simulation and couldn't wait to try out some of the kicks he had learned, but right after the dirt to the eyes, Xairin was taken down quickly. Officer Wisman's original words, "Your enemy will never play fair, neither should you." Those words rang loud and clear.

  It hurt to move any part of his body but being determined he tried to regardless. He transitioned to sitting on the side and laid the ice pack down. He looked forward at the rising sun with his right eye, bloodshot and blackened, while his left eye puffy and swollen tightly shut. The hateful glare was starting, which was harder on his injured eyes. Still, he felt the need to press on, he's continued determination to become stronger was blindsiding him to some degree. He felt overly compelled to make it on time for Aywren's sword fighting class soon.

  Xairin tried to get up, prompting Abanoub to rush over. "Where are you trying to go?"

  "Sword Fighting, my class is in less than thirty minutes."

  Abanoub scoffed. "Pfft, you are in no shape to go yet." Abanoub cocked his head and crossed his arms. "Why are you pushing yourself so hard, Xairin? You act as if you don't have all the time in the world or something."

  Xairin looked at him with his eyes puffed up. He didn't reply.

  "Whatever Xairin. I will say this, you're definitely the most ambitious recruit I have ever precepted for, but you need to slow it down. Anyways, lift your shirt, I need to check your back and document all visible injuries and bruises." He went to help Xairin lift it up, but Xairin stopped him.

  "NO! I'm fine!" Xairin rather rudely blurted.

  "Excuse me?"

  "I said I'm fine. It was just my face." He said while pulling down his redshirt.

  "Xairin when you came in, you were crawling, and I outrank you. Lift your shirt and let me do my job."

  Xairin pulled his shirt off and grimaced through the pain while laying back quickly to keep his shoulder blade from being seen. "There, happy?"

  Abanoub scoffed. "You're a weird one."

  He ran a scanner pen over Xairin's chest. Xairin's front looked just as bad as his face did. He could see where Xairin's chest was stomped, there was a footprint yet to heal. He pulled at Xairin's side. Xairin rolled just enough to keep his right shoulder blade hidden. His back was covered in black and purple bruises matching the rest of his injuries.

  "Xairin, your back is a train wreck."

  "I will
be fine Abanoub, really. I just need some more blood so I can heal."

  "Sorry bro, but vamps are on blood rations right now to help you all learn to curb your need for blood. That and force your body to learn greater thirst control."

  Xairin sighed. "For real?"

  "Afraid so my friend."

  The laser pen was feeding into a viewing screen. Xairin's bone structure was dented inward in several places instead of having breaks, the bones were slowly reforming. His sternum was rubbing right against his heart. Had he been human, that superhuman stomp would have crushed it in a second. Abanoub could see a problem near the upper right rib. He needed to see the scapula. "I need you to sit up so I can get a proper scan."

  "Isn't there like some religious thing I can claim about being shirtless? I don't like showing my skin. I mean can't you scan it through my clothing?"