"They're coming over the wall! You'll need to help evacuate the civilian population!"

A voice yelled through the integrated headset in the helmet.

In addition to the voice, there were sounds of people screaming and rifles being fired in the background. It created a sense of dread and tension.

Claire grabbed her weapon tightly as she made her way through the blocky simulated version of the Fort. Ahead of her was the figure of Hannah.

"Where do you think they'll come from?" Hannah asked, sounding nervous.

Looking around her, Claire tried to spot any civilians and Modified Humans. "It's different every time, so don't focus on where they come from. Just keep an eye on the appearance of civilians."

As she ran past several houses, Claire didn't bother worrying about staying hidden. She thought back to Chelsea's words after she had completed the training in the past.

"Why are you hiding behind buildings? Modified Humans aren't like regular enemies, you don't need to worry about being fired upon. The key is to keep moving and try to avoid firing your weapon too many times." Chelsea explained in the past.

With her friend's words in mind, Claire continued dashing forward and making sure not to leave behind Hannah.

Though the simulation didn't look realistic with how blocky everything was, the added sound in the background helped to give a feeling as though everything was actually happening.

"Help! Someone help!" A man's voice called out.

Hannah turned towards the voice, picking up the sound before she did.

As Claire looked around to try and pinpoint the sound of the voice, her friend pointed ahead of them.

"It's coming from behind that house!" Hannah moved forward.

Following Hannah, Claire made sure to get her rifle ready in case any of the monsters showed up while they helped a civilian. Passing by the house, there was the sight of a man holding the body of a woman.

"My wife, she fainted! Please help her!" The pixilated man begged, though his mouth didn't open or close as he spoke.

Going over to the woman lying on the ground, Claire got on her knees next to the person. With her hand, she tried to figure out if the person had a pulse. There was, unfortunately, no sound of a pulse coming in through her speaker, meaning the woman had died.

"I'm sorry, your wife has passed away," Claire informed the man.

Upon receiving the news, the man robotically got up.

Pointing towards a blinking icon off in the distance, Hannah explained, "Head over there where we have emergency shelters waiting to accept you."

Without a word, the man began running off towards the emergency shelter.

In the upper corner of the screen, it now read one to indicate the number of civilians she'd saved during the simulation.

"It's still weird how they act. They just abandon their children or spouse as though they don't mean anything, whenever we tell them they need to head over to the emergency shelter." Hannah shook her head, her lips slanted.

Claire shrugged her shoulders. "It's a simulation, and I feel like this is the best they're able to create. I mean, look around us, though it's strange in appearance, we're going through a three-dimensional game." She could feel a tear beginning to form, "I'm sure Han would've enjoyed seeing this."

Beginning to reach out to Claire, Hannah's hand paused before returning to her side. "Alex would've thought it was pretty cool, too."

Taking a moment to compose herself, she smacked Hannah on the arm. "C'mon, if we're going to get the high score, we need to pick up the pace."

Forcing a grin, Hannah nodded, "Let's hurry up and find more civilians. It'll probably be soon when the Modified Humans show up."

"Yeah. It usually takes them a little time to get from the wall to here." Claire agreed, making sure to check their surroundings. Even though in past versions, it was the case where Modified Humans wouldn't appear until later, the possibility that the parameters of the game being changed couldn't be ignored.

Running towards the street and making their way past the rows of houses, Claire sighed in relief to see they were still safe.

"Where should we go?" Hannah huffed, trying to catch her breath.

Claire took a moment to think, trying to anticipate where survivors would be hiding from the monsters. "Let's go that way!" She pointed to the other side of the street. "I get the feeling there may be survivors over in that direction."

The problem of the replicated Fort wasn't huge. At some point, they'll run into the Modified Humans, which is where the game will take a notch in difficulty.

End of Part 1

-------------

Gasping for breath, Claire felt the helmet be removed from her head. The increase in the light made her blink several times as she adjusted to the real world.

"Unfortunately, you didn't reach the high score," Chelsea informed them.

When Hannah was freed from the helmet, she groaned, "Those Modified Humans showed up way too soon. They usually don't appear until much later."

"Our weapon also stopped working a lot sooner, we might have as well as thrown sticks at them for all the good it did." Claire sighed and closed her eyes, remembering the Modified Humans blinking to inform the two that the monsters had gone through an Adaptation Event.

"What's wrong?" Hannah asked.

Hearing the tone in Hannah's voice, she opened her eyes quickly and looked at Chelsea.

Chelsea's face was grim. Her shoulders were slumped in exhaustion as though she had received horrible news. "You want to tell them, Will?"

Looking at the man who was putting away the equipment and attaching the charging cables to the helmet, he was silent for a moment. He stood back up and was silent for a moment as though gathering his thoughts. Taking in a deep breath, he turned to face them. "We've had to update the simulation on the theory that firearms no longer work on them. So we've adjusted how quickly they Adapt to the weapons we currently have." He turned his head to look at the model of the Fort that Claire and Hannah had been playing in. "There are already soldiers training under the assumption that firearms don't work on them."

Claire couldn't believe what she was hearing from the man. Directing her attention to Chelsea, she raised her voice, "What are we supposed to handle something like that?!"

Frowning, Chelsea retorted, "Handle? You're not handling anything. The only thing you guys need to be concentrating on is running away when those things show up!" She raised her voice towards the end.

"Run away where?! Where are we supposed to go? Those emergency shelters?!" Claire demanded. "If bullets don't stop those things, then how are emergency shelters going to be able to stop them?!"

Will cleared his throat.

Claire turned to look at the man in disbelief.

"From what Star and Moon have told us, those emergency shelters should be able to avoid being detected by the Modified Humans." Will had an embarrassed expression, knowing his words aren't adequate enough to explain how the shelters will be safe for them.

"Didn't Star and Moon give anyone information about the shelters?" Hannah asked in disbelief.

Claire also felt the same, feeling frustrated. However, she remembered how the people escorted her to the Fort behaved in a similarly secretive manner, only telling her out of some form of sympathy.

"Sorry. I don't know what to say. It's relatively understood how that company acts. I've heard rumors that our intelligence-gathering agencies have failed to acquire anything useful." Rubbing the back of his head, "I know many want to know more about those robots they revealed near the beginning of the summer, but after those things were unveiled, Star and Moon have been silent. And then..."

"The Modified Humans showed up shortly after," Chelsea finished Will's thought.