By the time I’d re-figured out the controls for guiding the pod that was hurtling toward some forest near the edge of the island, I barely had enough time to start using the thrusters to get myself over to the mostly secluded beach, and not enough time at all to realize that I was going toward the wrong one.

Activate reverse thrusters.

My mind went into panic mode as I desperately tried to remember which of the alien glyphs on the screen meant ‘reverse thruster’, which turned out to be just enough time for a flashing warning system to start going off throughout the pod.

Collision imminent!

Collision imminent!

Collisio-

Without thinking, I tapped one of the glyphs and watched with relief as the pod’s bottom thruster fired, allowing me to re-familiarize with the symbols and their meanings, before hitting the one that launched out a drag race car-style parachute from the top of the pod, slowing me down right before I crashed into the beach with a less-than comforting crunching sound.

Pod damaged!

Pod damaged!

Pod damaged!

Evacuate now!

Grateful that most of my memory had returned to me, I hit the glyph that resulted in the pod doors shooting off and climbed out onto the charred sand, only to see that I was not alone on the beach.

She’d clearly only landed a few moments before I had, and was obviously panicking about as much as I was, though I didn’t know whether that was due to her being one of the people from the warehouse or her simply not wanting to lose the match so early on.

Either way, we were frozen watching each other, waiting for the other to make the first move.

I’d never make the move though, the first to move was almost always the one who lost, but I also didn’t know if I was capable of killing her if she did come for me.

What if she was from the warehouse?

Did I really want that kind of blood on my conscious?

I couldn’t bog myself down with that though, otherwise I’d end up drawing the short straw. If she attacked me, I’d defend myself, it was my only choice.

Then she bolted up the beach and into the forest, forgoing all the potential gear that could’ve been hidden in her pod.

“Thank God…” I muttered after a few seconds of watching the trees, waiting for her to come running out, “Now, what have we got in here?”

Few people actually bothered to search their pods, which was something that I found damn near insane most of the time, but as I climbed back up into my pod and peeled out the cushions I couldn’t help but let out a disappointed sigh at my loot.

+Tier 1 Backpack

+Tier 1 Body Armor

+Crowbar

“Well,” I said as I jumped back out of the pod and pulled the backpack over my shoulders, “this is gonna suck.”