Nobody said a word as the shuttle departed, and their Gilding Trial had begun. Next to the seemingly out of place slab of concrete that they had been dropped off at, sat a few large crates. Clay lifted a lid at the top of the crate, and it reminded Amber of the old freezer that Valerie kept in the back room at Underground. Though instead of holding frozen meats, inside were the tools they would be using for this undertaking. Stacked in a neat pile were four padded vests, and resting in small slots were four handguns and two magazines for each. Additionally, a few small boxes of earplugs were scattered along the bottom. Amber had never had a weapon like this, only the Jerry-rigged pistol that she had gotten.

Dane began handing out vests and Amber slipped one on. She knocked on it with her knuckles, and sighed.

“This is supposed to stop a bullet?” She asked. “It feels like I’m wearing a thick coat!”

“It’ll do the job for most small arms.” Clay said, loading a magazine into his pistol and cocking it with the efficiency that could only come from practice.

“Is that from personal experience?” Amber said, sarcastically.

“As a matter of fact, yes.” Clay replied. He gave Amber a stern glare, then began to scan the trees in front of him.

Amber shook her head, taking her own pistol from the crate, and found a firm hand on her wrist before she could load the magazine. Jumping back, she was almost relieved to see Clay looking between her and the pistol.

“Do you know how to use one of these?” He looked around at Dane and James as well. “Do any of you?”

“Yeah, yeah. I do.” James said, cocking his firearm and flicking the safety on before sticking it in his waistband.

“I’ve caught a few bodies with one of these bad boys.”

“How did you even get one?” Amber asked, irritated that this sketchy character could have gotten his hands on Peacekeeper weapons while she was using something welded together in a basement somewhere.

“My crew had connections.” Was all he said, cackling and licking his teeth.

Amber felt goosebumps on her arms, James wasn’t just a creep, he was a dangerous creep.

Clay let go of Amber's wrist, taking a step back.

“I’ve used a homemade one. Single shot, nothing like this, though.” She finally said.

Clay let out a groan, and gestured to her weapon.

“Switch the safety on the side if you aren’t shooting at something. Don’t want one of us catching a bullet if you sneeze.” He said. He sounded less accusatory, but no less condescending.

Amber did as she was instructed, loading her weapon and switching it to safe and feeling the weight in her hand.

Dane was digging around in the bin, a sneer on his face as he let out a disapproving grunt. “Is this it? No meds, no food, no water?”

“They did say that we’d need to find anything else on our own.” Amber offered.

“Or have someone else find it and take it off of them.” James retorted. Amber didn’t like the way he said it, but he was right. There was always the chance to find some better supplies off another contender if they didn’t find any scattered around.

“Alright. We need to move out, people.” Clay finally said, beginning to move in a random direction towards the more dense woods.

“Hey, who put you in charge?” Amber snapped.

“Seniority rules.”

Amber had had enough. She stepped forward, pointing at Clay. If we’re supposed to be a team, shouldn’t we have a say in what we do next?”

Clay looked between his team, and gave an amused scoff. “Alright then, where do you want to go?” He asked. “Over in that random direction? Or maybe over in that one? Or maybe…” He said, pointing down a trail that led further into the forest. “Maybe you would like to just take that open and exposed road, and funnel right into whatever trap someone might have set up?”

Amber hesitated, before looking back up at Clay. “Why don’t we at least stay near the trail.” Amber offered. “That way we can keep an eye on the road without sticking out, maybe run into somebody else?”

Clay looked down at the ground, nodding his head gently before meeting Amber’s eyes. “Alright. We’ll do it your way.” He conceded, gesturing for her to lead the way.

Amber couldn’t resist sharing a smug grin with Dane, who followed her as she began following the trail from a safe distance in the tree line. She was determined to lead her group through the forest, doing her best to avoid twigs or anything else that might make too much noise. Though she wasn’t as quiet as she would like to have been, she took some comfort in the fact that others were likely to be just as noisy as she was. In her mind, she didn’t have to be perfectly silent. Just quieter than anyone else that might be nearby. Though the vest that clung to her torso might not have been particularly heavy, it felt restricting. Amber found herself overly compensating for her movements, and she dreaded what something that offered more protection might weigh. Still, it didn’t feel very safe to have this light piece of armor and leave the rest of her body exposed. Maybe the extra safety would be worth the perceived weight.

Some time later, Amber felt fully aware that she had no real idea what she was doing. She had often taken point when it was just her and Dane, but there was always a goal in mind. Someone to sneak past, a goal to reach, or something to find. Right now they were just wandering aimlessly, waiting to find someone or be found themselves.

She followed the main road from the side for a little over an hour, if she could judge the positioning of the sun correctly. They had taken a turn in a fork a while back, and Amber was strongly considering turning around to try and go in another direction. That was until she heard something small, something so insignificant that it might have gone unnoticed under any other circumstances.

A cough.

Amber looked back, and it seems like the others had heard it as well. Everyone ducked down low and waited to see if anything else could be heard. Amber didn’t even breathe, her heart beginning to slow as she focused on nothing but her hearing. A small rustling of branches and heavy footsteps against a dirt trail. She peaked through a shrub, making out the rough outline of a person through her hiding place.

“Hello?” The voice asked. It was a man’s, but Amber couldn’t make out any details beyond that. “Anyone out there? Look, I’m not trying to fight, I just want to talk.” The poor man sounded terrified…

Amber looked back at her team, shaking her head. Only to find that they were all doing the same in wordless agreement. As little as she liked these two strangers, they seemed to be less of a liability than Amber had first anticipated.

Their patience had paid off. Just a moment after the man had stepped from the brush, there was the sound of more people leaving their hiding spots nearby.

“See? Told you it’d be fine.” Another man said.

“This time…”

“Yeah well don’t cough next time. You could have given us away.”

Amber took a risk and looked around to get a clearer view. Four men walked out from the trees to join the one that they had apparently sent to lure them out. Amber noted that they were covered in tattoos. Sleeves of hastily done ink and some obscure markings on their faces made them look like some sort of roving gang.

“So now what?” One of them asked.

“Well, I guess we can–“

He never finished his sentence. Amber’s ears rang out as her team fired behind her, and she watched the men begin to fall to the ground. Holding her hands to her ears, the plugs blocking out just enough of the sound to keep her hearing intact. She whipped around, seeing Clay and James holding their pistols down at their side, looking at the trail. Dane was looking on like she was, though his gun was in his hand. It looked as if he never stood to fire.

“Ok, go!” Clay said, bolting towards the men laying on the ground. James followed closely, leaving Amber and Dane staring at each other. Hands shaking, Amber went to join the other two. They were crouched over the bodies of the four men, digging through pockets for anything of use. Though, it seemed like unspent magazines were all they had worth looting. They reminded Amber of vultures. Picking and looting at the remains of the dead with little respect to who they were, who they might have been. Amber couldn’t help but wonder what brought them here. Did they have loved ones they were fighting for? What were their lives like before they came here?

“Hey? You alright?”

If Dane hadn’t whispered before putting a hand on her shoulder, she might have done something on impulse and hurt him.

“Yeah, fine.” She said curtly. “You?”

“Fine.”

Amber didn’t believe him, but she doubted he believed her either.

“Thanks for the help you two.” James shouted from over his shoulder as he finished looking over his spoils. One look at the duo was all he needed to tell what they were feeling. “Oh come on! You were about to tear my head off a minute ago, big guy, what changed?” He asked, lightly tapping the side of one of the bodies with his foot.

“James…” Amber sighed, starting to feel sick as the scent of copper filled the air.

James actually started to look sympathetic, even as he rolled his eyes and stepped towards the two. He walked past them, drawing their eyes away from the scene on the trail.

“Look, don’t tell the old man, but I knew a few of those guys. Real sickos.” He said.

“So what, you just shot your friends?” Dane asked.

“Friends? No, they were more like work associates. Point being, that they don’t exactly get their ink by helping old ladies with housework, understand?”

“Well what did they do to get them?” Amber asked.

James pursed his lips and thought for a moment. “Let’s just say I don’t exactly feel bad about pulling the trigger on them.”

Amber wasn’t sure if she believed what he had to say, but she certainly wanted to. It would especially make things easier on her if she saw any other competitors with tattoos like these.

Clay approached the huddled trio, his vest in hand before he let it fall to the dirt. “If you don’t like the vests, you can ditch ‘em. Didn’t help those poor bastards.”

“Not even a bit?!” James asked, seemingly shocked by the news.

“Protected them about as much as the shirts on their backs.”

James took his off and tossed it to the ground in frustration, as if he took the news as some kind of personal betrayal. Amber went to undo the straps of her own, but decided to keep it on. Even if it didn’t really do anything, it at least made her feel safer.

“Well, one less thing to worry about, anyway.” Clay said, gesturing off the trail. We might want to go ahead and get going, gunfire might attract someone bold.”

That at least was true, and Amber didn’t want to risk testing just how effective her own vest was. “Alright. You take the lead.” She said. She was still jittery, and not quite in the mood to take point. Clay seemed more than happy to oblige, waving for them to follow as they resumed their aimless trek.

“What did you tell them?”

“Hm?”

“What did you tell them after we were looking for supplies?”

“Oh. Said their tattoos were some gang initiation, that I knew them.”

“Is that true?”

“No, but I don’t want these two weighing us down when we run into someone who wasn’t just dropped off.”

“Agreed. Frankly, I thought the young lady would have tried to help the bait when he ran out.”

“She’s going to get us both killed if she doesn’t get some thick skin.”