Groaning, Mai levered herself out of her bunk. Every part of her ached. She hadn’t been deemed injured enough to require healing and was only now discovering the bumps and bruises she’d suffered in her fight with Chow.

Chow. Her mind flashed back to the feeling of her finger entering his eye socket. Then to him begging her not to kill him, his desperation to live just a little longer. To take another breath. Then to the moment he went limp in her arms. Then the revolting way his body had been dissolved and sucked up into a drone to be disposed of as if he was trash, no acknowledgement that he had once been a sentient being.

CULLERS – REPORT TO HANGER

DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO?

Sighing, she pressed YES and trudged along the guideline, shoulders slumped, eyes on the floor. Mai couldn’t bear to look another person in the eye right now. It didn’t matter that they were all in the same boat. That they were all killers. Her father would have been appalled to see her now, she felt as though she could feel his spirit judging her.

Can’t believe I used to watch the odd Culling holo and call it entertainment.

Mai hated herself. Hated her stupidity and recklessness. If she’d only toed the line she wouldn’t be in this position and would be at home with Li.

“Fuck,” cursed Dakota from just behind her, breath tickling her neck. “Fuck.”

Mai lifted her head and gasped at the sight of the changed hangar before them.

“Cullers, welcome to day two.” Dragon Warrior stepped out from behind a twelve-foot wall, “This is your next challenge. As before, you will not be able to activate any skills. They shall remain passive.”

The Gorilla appeared at the top of the wall, sitting on it nonchalantly. “Ninety-one of you survived yesterday’s induction. Today you have to make it through the assault course you see before you.”

It felt as though a bucket of iced water had been dumped over her head. Gasps filled the hanger as her other cullers tried to process.

How the hells am I going to survive this? Day two and over fifty per cent of the people in my dorm are dead! I’ll never get back to Li!

“Anyone who is too injured or unable to complete the course will be culled. You are, if you catch up with the person in front of you, allowed to cull them.” Dragon Warrior paced before the cullers eyes intently watching them. “If you fall to one of the many traps on the course. You. Will. Be. Culled.”

The cullers around her shifted, a couple started bouncing on the spot as the adrenalin kicked in. Others chuckled. It was all bravado. As far as she was concerned, Mai felt as though she’d hit another high in the levels of fear she’d ever experienced.

“You will be setting off at five second intervals. If you do choose to cull a fellow culler, bear in mind that others will be mere seconds behind you.” The Gorilla forward somersaulted off the wall to land in a hero pose. Dust rose from the floor.

“If you make it through the assault course, you will enter proper training and will not face any further risk of death until the Culling starts. Pain will, however, be a daily occurrence,” the Dragon Warrior explained. “Any questions?”

Aside from a few feet shuffling, no one raised their hands. Mai risked a look around. The one-milers seemed to be slightly more subdued than they had yesterday, but they were still showing far more confidence and bravado than any of the others around them. Aside from them, there were some urbexers, what looked like ex-military from their glyphs and convicts.

Her eyes followed the course she would need to take. She smiled as she started to calculate the leaps, spins, tucks, and rolls she’d need to cross the various obstacles. She might not be able to activate her FREE RUNNING, but the skill’s passive buffs meant that she could still chart her way across the course. She realized she had a slight advantage over most other contestants, she hoped anyway, of having developed the ‘natural’ free running ability in her previous less complicated life to fall back on.

Still, it would have been nice to have all those buffs that the active status would have given her.

And then the course was activated. Lasers, saw-tooth blades, spikes, flames and even guns erupted into life.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” muttered Dakota next to Mai. She nudged her with a sharp elbow. “This is going to be a massacre. How many do you reckon will make it?”

Mai took a quick look around. “Depends. If the psychos decide to try to remove other runners, then there’s going to be fights at various obstacles. If we can get around those, we should be able to get home clear and free.”

“We?” Dakota raised an eyebrow. “Deal.”

Mai shook the hand that Dakota offered her in shock. She hadn’t meant to make an ally. It had been an off-the-cuff reply, but she wasn’t about to go back on her word. Not if she wanted.

“If you’re behind me and I get in trouble. You help. If you’re ahead of me and you get in trouble I’ll help.” Dakota said, giving her hand one single pump. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds, Dakota didn’t let go of her hand or break eye contact. “I’m serious. I won’t stab you in the back. Let’s just get trained up and out of this shithole. After that we can kill each other.”

Mai nodded, not trusting her voice, and they pumped their hands once more.

“Cullers. Pay attention. When I call your name step forward and join the back of the line,” Gorilla pointed to the start of the assault course. It was helpfully labelled “Start” by a huge VR banner hanging in the air.

He started calling out names, chivvying along those more reluctant than others. The line started to stretch back until there were at least thirty people ready to race.

“Mai Xio.”

Gulping, Mai tipped her head at Dakota and made her way to the back of the queue. She bounced lightly on the spot, shaking her legs and arms out.

It was a good way of warming up without giving away too much of her skills and also helped to shake the adrenalin out of her too shaky limbs.

This is just like when you were free running with the Lab Rats. Just like taking a massive jump, she thought. Only her typically stubborn brain insisted on pointing out that when she’d been free running with her friends, there hadn’t been lasers and saws and any number of horrendous ways of dying.

Dakota’s name was called, and Mai counted the number of people between them. There were at least ten, so fifty seconds depending on how fast Dakota was. She seemed to move lightly on her feet and if she was a one-miler, she’d be used to making her way through tortuous routes.

The levels in One mile had all the other levels of miles above them stretching into what would have been a mythical sky above. Miles and miles of buildings, billions of tons of weight, billions of other people, all bearing down on the One mile. Collapses were a regular occurrence, especially in the older parts of the city.

Naturally, the buildings were repaired quickly in the higher levels, rescue efforts launched to save those trapped there. But the One milers were left to their own. As a result, they were used to having to travel dangerous routes to go about their daily business. Mai had even seen a holodoc where children used a zip-line to get to school. A zip line that hung thousands of paces in the air and which stretched over five hundred paces across a chasm.

CULLER – YOU MUST COMPLETE THE ASSAULT COURSE

DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO?

Every fucking time. She was tempted to press the NO but having seen what happened to Mouse on the first day, she wasn’t keen to see what would happen to her. And besides, no-one else had pressed no. Gorilla’s demonstration with the unwilling Mouse had been more than enough.

RACE BEGINS IN 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1

A gun sounded, making them all jump. The first runner stood, shocked into stillness before the runner behind them gave them a gentle push. Precious seconds wasted, the first runner was still trying to get to the first obstacle, a six-foot wall when the second runner started.

A countdown clock appeared on Mai’s retinal monitor showing five seconds every time a runner ran. A traffic light appeared, the red flashing as the runners before her raced off.

All too soon it was Mai’s turn. She’d used the last few minutes to track people’s progress, trying to see what traps lay in store on the farthest obstacles.

So far, only three runners had been killed or injured too badly to continue. In the distance she saw a crowd growing as the first runners met the twelve-foot wall.

BEGIN YOUR RACE IN

5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1

The lights switched to amber on three, flashed amber on two, and turned green on one. And she was off. The six foot wall was simple. Anyone in even moderate shape could pull themselves up and over if they tackled it with enough aggression. A quick switch in her footing and she was leaping through the air, hands grabbing the rough top, feet kicking her up.

She vaulted from the top, not wanting to risk dropping straight down in case there was a nasty surprise lying in wait. It didn’t matter that no one else had fallen foul of a trap. That they hadn’t indicated nothing.

Her caution was rewarded with a blood-curdling scream and the sound of roaring flames as the runner behind her completed the wall. They’d clearly dropped straight down. Not risking a look back she sprinted towards the next obstacle.

Ropes hung down over a gap filled with what looked like water. The first death had occurred when a waif-like girl had slipped and fallen in after an instructor had somehow made the rope writhe like it was a snake. Mai knew that she’d never forget the sight of a human’s face melting from their skull as acid ate it away, the victim screaming as they tried to keep their head above the acid. Although she’d seen the drone clearing up Chow’s body, she hadn’t been close enough to see the actual effect. It was utterly horrifying.

Leaping, she stretched to her full height and grasped a rope, using her momentum to fling her up and off the rope before an instructor could make it drop her into the acid.

It’s not paranoia if you know they’re out to get you, she thought grimly as she landed, tucked, and rolled to disperse the force.

Obstacle three had also seen one death. It was a series of planks laid against barrels, see-saws basically. Another runner in front of her had died here after choosing the middle one. Spikes had appeared on the plank surface and when they reached the centre, the plank had folded in two, trapping the culler in between. Their body had been swiftly removed by a drone.

Since then all the other runners thus far had taken the see-saw on the right. She went left, her paranoia playing with her mind. Her STREETSMARTS passive bonus, otherwise known as “gut instinct”, was kicking in, and there wasn’t a chance in the Hells that she was going to ignore it.

If everyone has made it by going over the right-hand one so far, odds are the instructors are going to change things up.

Running up the plank she quickly reached the middle tipping point. Stopping, she placed a foot in front of her and forced the plank down towards the other side.

As soon as it touched down she was running. Reaching the mid-section of the other end of the plank she stamped down and used the flex to spring into the air.

She landed hands first, folding her arms and rolling back onto her feet in one smooth motion. In less than a second she was back to full sprint. There was another scream behind her. Risking a look over her shoulder she saw that the runner behind her had taken the right plank. Something had bisected them.

The next few obstacles were easy. To her. She caught up – and passed – runners who had been in front of her. One tried to get in her way, but she slipped past. She wasn’t going to waste time culling them if she didn’t have to.

Looking back she saw that Dakota had managed to pass five of the people who had been between them. Mai smiled at the shit-eating grin on her ally’s face.

Of all the people to enjoy this, she’s the one, thought Mai as she turned her attention back to the next obstacle.

The obstacle before her was a series of angled pads. The inclines were all inward, towards another pool of acid. Remains of at least one other runner bobbed in the steaming lake, the bones proving harder than the skin and flesh to dissolve.

It looked simple. One-foot leaps, using each of the pads to bounce off onto the other before reaching the other end. There were ten jumps that she needed to make. Her passive FREE RUNNING allowed her to see the best route through, over, or under any obstacle. It didn’t give her the exact points to hit, just an idea of the best path. If she wanted that sort of thing, she’d have to ACTIVATE the skill, which of course she couldn’t.

Damn them, why are they making this so fucking hard! She thought, bracing herself for what was to come.

Taking a breath she ran, four quick steps, then leaped into the air. Angling her right foot she hit the first of the pads and pushed immediately off, using her left foot to land on the next one. She repeated the process as quickly and smoothly as she could.

Grinning, she reached the last one. Her foot hit, she started to push off, and then the pad tilted vertical.

NO! She lashed out with her foot as she dropped towards the acid. It caught the pad and gave her just enough momentum to kick herself forward.

Chest driving forward, arms outstretched, and legs tucked up behind her she crashed into the lip of the pool’s edge. Ribs broke with a crunch. The pain was sickening, and she coughed as the air in her lungs was forced out in one go.

DAMAGE! 45%

BLEED @1% PER SECOND

CHOKING!

HEALTH 55%

Vision clouding with the pain, gasping for breath, gasping in pain as she tried to fill her lungs, Mai scrabbled for purchase. She couldn’t drop her legs, or they would immediately go into the acid.

Instead she kicked them out horizontally before bending them and repeating the process. Every time she did so she dug her fingers into the matted flooring and pulled herself forward. Every second was searing agony. More pain than she’d ever felt in her life.

By the third repetition she’d lost all of her nails and she tasted blood in her mouth. Whether it was from a punctured lung or because she’d bitten her tongue she couldn’t tell. Tears blinded her no matter how much she blinked, and she daren’t try to wipe them away.

Feet landed by her head. “No time for lounging around.”

Mai twisted her head. A man, skin as dark as the night stood above her. His hair was a neon blue and his eyes glowed radioactive yellow.

That marked him out as being from at least eight-mile, probably higher. It seemed that those in the higher levels of the city loved to modify themselves beyond all recognition.

“Help?” She asked, although even as her lips moved she knew it was in vain.

He glanced back down the course. Eyes narrowing. Lips moving slightly. She realised he was counting.

“No. Not in the way you want,” He smiled, baring teeth as red as blood.

And with that he started to push her towards the pool.

“No!” Fear gave her strength. With one hand she grabbed hold of his leg, and with the other she took hold of the hand he was using to push her. She screamed, as her ribs felt as though they had exploded, choking on the blood that quickly filled her mouth.

“Let go dammit!” eyes wide he shot a look back down the course. “Just fucking die!”

Screaming in response, Mai threw herself forward and bit hard on his arm.

HIT! 2% DAMAGE

His health bar barely changed.

“Shit!” Punch after punch crashed into her head. With each blow she bit harder and started to shake her head back and forth.

BLUNT DAMAGE – 1%, 1%, 3%, 2%

HEALTH – 48%

Mai wished nothing more than to be able to switch off the damage record. The last thing she wanted to see was an actual count-down to her death.

“Get the fuck off her!” roared a familiar voice before Dakota crashed into Mai’s attacker. With his leg pinned by Mai he was unable to do anything to soften the impact. As he fell, foot trapped, his shin snapped.

HIT! 35% DAMAGE

CRIPPLED!

[email protected]% PER SECOND

This time the change in his health bar was much more heartening. Wailing, her former attacker thrashed on the floor, clutching at the yellow bone protruding from his ankle. A BLEED glyph appeared over his head, as did that of a stylised bone which had been snapped in half.

Dakota stepped up to him and booted him hard in the face. Teeth and blood flew in all directions. His head thumped onto the ground. Without pause Dakota leapt into the air before crashing down with both feet onto the man’s head. It cracked with a sound that chilled Mai’s blood, an eye bursting out of its socket as the skull deformed.

KILL ASSIST!

CONTESTANT 003928 ELIMINATED

“Fucking bastard!” Dakota grabbed hold of Mai’s arms and pulled her up. “Can you finish the course?”

Mai took a breath. It was agony. She stretched. Agony. “No choice is there?”

“That’s the spirit. Wait a second.” Dakota stepped past her. Turning, Mai saw her punch a runner in the face just as they touched down. The woman gave a shriek as she tumbled into the acid.

“Fucking bitch. Let her best mate die. She’s a Blood Weasel. Was.”

Blood Weasels were legendary throughout the city for their cunning and cruelty. Known for breaking any and every treaty they ever entered into, Mai wasn’t surprised that this one had left her best friend to die.

“We need to move,” panted Mai, pushing the pain of her injuries to the back of her mind as best as she could. Sweat ran down her face and she scrubbed it away as best she could.

The next obstacle was the twelve-foot wall. Mai counted at least five bodies at its base, and she could only guess at the number that were on the other side.

“Get your back to the wall. Cup your hands. When I run up, push up with your hands as hard as you can and turn.”

Mai nodded, too tired to speak. Doing as she was told she nodded she was ready.

Dakota sprinted forward, jumped, placed a foot in her cupped hands. Screaming in agony, Mai pushed with all her might, twisting to reach above her head. Ribs grinding, pain seeming to race through her very soul, Mai fought to remain conscious. As her vision narrowed, she gave one last effort.

For a second it felt as though Dakota’s entire weight was trying to push her into the ground. And then it was gone. Dakota had grasped the top of the wall and pulled herself over.

“Your turn.”

Mai hobbled away from the wall, unable to straighten; she was in so much pain.

“Just run and jump. I’ll grab you.”

Mai wiped at the sweat running down her face. She’d never thought pain could reach such levels. Every time she thought she’d reached a new high, she took a breath and it got worse.

“Hurry! They’re going to catch up!”

Mai didn’t look back. Setting her teeth she ran as fast as she could and leapt for Dakota’s outstretched hand. Grabbing with both hands, she looked up into Dakota’s eyes.

“And over!” Dakota threw herself over the top of the wall, using her body weight to pull Mai up. “Got the wall?”

“Got it!” gasped Mai. Dakota opened her hand and slipped down to the ground. Somewhat less gracefully, Mai slipped over and tumbled to the floor, groaning as she crashed into it.

DAMAGE! 1%

HEALTH 47%

Near winded, Mai staggered to her feet.

“Bet that hurt,” Dakota said not unsympathetically “Come on. One more obstacle. It’s a beam.”

Mai peered through tear-clouded eyes at the last obstacle. It was a beam over a pool of what looked like molten lava. Brick walls bordered the obstacle. They were just far enough away that a runner couldn’t use them to balance.

Something was off about the bricks. She swiped at her eyes, blinking furiously to try and clear them. There was definitely something different.

“Ledge,” Mai panted as they made their way towards it.

“What?”

“Ledge, at the base of the wall. It crosses the full length. Coloured the same as the bricks. Just wide enough to shuffle along. Don’t think anyone else has used it. And I don’t trust that bloody beam.”

“Fuck me you’ve got good eyes. Can you make it though?”

“Got to. No chance I can balance on the beam.” Not that she had much hope she’d be able to use the ledge either. Still, if it had been so well hidden the instructors couldn’t have wanted them to find it. And if they didn’t want them to find it, it was unlikely to be trapped.

“You go first. If you slip, I might be able to save you.”

Dakota slipped her shoulder out from under Mai’s arm. She gently guided her onto the wall.

“Clever … bastards,” panted Mai. There was an eye-height ledge just wide enough to act as a finger grip. Grimacing at the fire in her ribs and taking short breaths, Mai took hold and edged out.

Heat slammed into her. Every breath burned and she felt the sweat on her face drying as soon as it left her pores. Her eyes felt as though they were melting so she closed them.

Slide, change grip, slide, she thought as she made her way across. After what seemed like a lifetime, she reached the end of the obstacle, stepping on to solid ground. A siren sounded, startling her so much she could have sworn her heart stopped beating.

OBSTACLE COMPLETED

NEW SKILL: ENDURE PAIN RANK 1!

ENDURE PAIN +5%!

NEW SKILL: SPOT HIDDEN RANK 1!

SPOT HIDDEN +5%!

The descriptions of her new skills appeared.

Endure Pain

A valuable skill for any warrior. Wounded, unable to heal themselves, a person with this skill can ignore the pain of their wounds and deal with the task at hand. This doesn't increase their ability to take damage, merely allowing them to continue fighting.

Once this skill enters RECHARGE, the user will experience the full effects of whatever damage they have taken.

Spot Hidden

Spot hidden has many applications. Coupled with STREET SMARTS it can be used to spot hidden ambushers. On its own it can be used to find something that's been lost or hidden, such as items or even a secret door, depending on how long you search.

She also took the time to check out the CRIPPLED status effect, as this was the second time she’d seen it, and both times she’d been too busy to find out what it meant.

Crippled

A crippled opponent suffers a -95% penalty to any SKILL utilising the affected location. If that is the back or neck, they are also PARALYSED. If this is any part of the leg, then walking without assistance will be nigh-on impossible. Running is out of the question.

And with the ever-present record of her life hovering before her, she passed out just as Dragon Warrior called something about a special reward.