Chapter 23 | Up in the Trees

Leon sat cross-legged inside the protective veil, surrounded by empty white space. With Wave 2 complete, he had a fifteen-minute rest period. His injuries had been healed by the simulation's restorative function, leaving him to collect his thoughts.

That went better than the first one...I think, he pondered, mentally reviewing his performance.

"Wave Three will begin in five minutes. Constructing environment," the voice announced.

The white void transformed, materializing into a dense forest with thick-trunked trees and heavy foliage.

"Wave Three objective is to survive for thirty minutes," as the environment solidified, the voice elaborated.

Leon studied his surroundings, noting how tightly packed the trees stood. He could barely see past the first line of trunks. The forest canopy formed an almost continuous ceiling of interlocking branches and leaves.

Those are thick. Should be strong enough.

"One minute remaining," the voice counted down.

Leon glanced around, searching for the familiar weapons rack. When it failed to appear, he looked upward.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" he called out.

"Wave Three will test recruits' resourcefulness," the voice responded promptly.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1—" The protective veil dissolved, leaving Leon exposed and unarmed. There was a timer fixed on the corner of his vision counting down from thirty minutes.

Guess I don't get anything, Leon thought, considering his options.

A twig snapped behind him. Leon spun to see a massive creature rising onto its hind legs, towering above him. Its dark fur was streaked with pale scars, and its amber eyes glowed with predatory intelligence.

"RAAAWRRR!!" The roar resonated through Leon's chest as he recognized another beast from his studies. A Furibear, larger and more aggressive than the Furiboars he had faced in the previous wave.

What am I supposed to do?! Punch its nose?!

Leon sprinted toward the nearest tree and began climbing. The Furibear charged and followed, ascending with surprising agility for its size.

Leon had anticipated the beast's climbing ability but underestimated its speed. The beast snapped at his ankle, tearing a piece of his pant leg as he pulled himself onto the first thick branch.

His heart pounded loud in his chest as he crawled toward the branch's end. The Furibear continued to follow. Its weight caused the branch to bow. Leon stretched toward an adjacent tree, fingers grasping a neighboring branch just as his current perch snapped beneath the Furibear's weight. The creature crashed to the forest floor with a furious growl.

Leon quickly surveyed possible routes through the canopy. Although there might have been dangers lurking among the branches, remaining on the ground with the Furibear presented a greater risk. The interlocking canopy offered a potential highway above the forest floor.

The Furibear recovered and began climbing again. Leon leaped to the next tree, then another. After the third jump, the creature changed tactics; instead of climbing each new tree, it now stalked below, following Leon's movements from the ground.

The pattern continued for several minutes with Leon moving to a new tree whenever the Furibear attempted to climb toward him. The brief respites between movements allowed him to catch his breath while each jump and climb taxed his endurance. Sweat soaked his shirt, and his muscles began to protest the constant exertion.

Five minutes into the wave, Leon broke off a thinner branch and began fashioning a makeshift spear, vigorously rubbing its end against rough bark to create a crude point. His forearms burned with the effort, but the resulting weapon, while primitive, felt reassuring in his grip.

When the Furibear attempted another climb, Leon jumped to a new tree.

"KAAWWWW!" He heard a shriek followed by a whistling sound cutting through the air.

A bird with a body larger than his head dived toward him, its metallic beak gleaming in the light. Leon barely dodged as the bird's attack clipped the branch, leaving a clean slice through the wood.

The bird wheeled around for another pass. As Leon watched it gain altitude, he heard another whistle from a different direction.

Shit!

He realized he was now caught between aerial predators and the ground-based Furibear. Leon abandoned caution for speed, jumping from branch to branch.

He noticed he had entered a less dense section of forest with gaps in the canopy that left him exposed to aerial attacks. Pushing his aching limbs, he made for a denser area where the overlapping branches offered better cover from above.

After several exhausting minutes, Leon pressed his back against a trunk, gasping for breath in the relative safety of thick foliage.

"Crrrk Crrrrk—" Below, the persistent, annoying Furibear began yet another climb.

"Ggrrrrr," it growled, ascending toward him.

With a groan, Leon forced his trembling legs to move, jumping to yet another tree. As he landed, the entire forest shuddered. He dropped to a crouch, hugging the branch as sections of the environment began to flicker and distort.

Was that an earthquake? No…Something is wrong, Leon watched as parts of the forest glitched and pixelated.

"Fifteen Min— aini— IMPERIAL COVENANT LIES—THE UNBOUNDED KNOWS THE TRUTH—" The simulation voice fractured, delivering a message different from its programmed function.

The forest trembled, then stilled. Though the major shaking had stopped, sections of the environment continued to stutter and pixelate, digital artifacts corrupting the simulation's integrity.

Before Leon could fully process these anomalies, a new threat emerged. Five Furibears charged through the forest at a distance in formation, their eyes emitting an unnatural crimson glow.

He continued to jump from branch to branch away from the approaching beasts. His muscles burned with fatigue from the continuous climbing and jumping. The bark tore at his palms, leaving them raw and bleeding.

In his haste, his foot slipped on moss-covered wood. He plummeted, crashing through smaller branches that snapped under his weight. His stomach lurched with the sickening sensation of free fall until his outstretched hand caught a sturdy branch, nearly wrenching his shoulder from the socket but arresting his descent.

Dangling fifteen feet above the ground, Leon came face-to-face with his original pursuer. The solitary Furibear that had been stalking him stood directly below, already scaling the trunk toward his position. The beast's claws dug into the bark as it hauled its massive frame upward with frightening speed. It reached the branch where Leon hung, massive jaws opening in a thunderous roar.

"RAA—"

In that crucial moment of vulnerability, Leon thrust his crude spear forward with all his strength. The sharpened end drove deep into the beast's open mouth, punching through the soft palate and emerging through the back of its skull. The Furibear went rigid, its roar cut short. The crimson glow faded from its eyes as life drained from its massive body.

As the beast lost its grip on the tree, Leon found himself being pulled downward. His improvised weapon was still firmly lodged in the Furibear's head, and he refused to lose his only means of defense.

The Furibear crashed to the forest floor with Leon riding its descent. He landed atop the beast's massive body, the impact jarring but significantly cushioned by the creature's bulk.

Leon yanked his spear free, the crude point slick with dark fluid. His breathing came in ragged gasps as a mixture of fear, adrenaline, and satisfaction coursed through him. The kill was messy but effective. Perhaps he wasn't as helpless as he initially thought.

The moment of victory was short-lived. The thundering steps of the remaining Furibears grew louder, though they remained hidden behind the dense foliage. Leon sprinted to the nearest intact tree and began climbing again.

Halfway up, another system malfunction rippled through the simulation. The branch he was gripping suddenly pixelated and vanished. Leon plummeted back to the ground, landing hard on his side. Pain shot through his ribs as he rolled to his feet, staring in disbelief at the tree he had been climbing. Nearly half of it had disappeared, leaving a jagged, pixelated void as though a portion of reality itself had been deleted.

The whole system is corrupting, he realized with growing dread.

With no time to contemplate the implications, Leon rushed to the next intact tree and began climbing again, driven by the resuming thunder of approaching predators. His muscles screamed in protest.

"Attention recruits, we have a breach. I repeat, we have a breach. Remain calm and complete your objective." The announcement cut through the simulation, different from the neutral embodied system voice. That was clearly a human technician, but their voice was tensed, not the neutral tone they maintained.

Leon reached what he judged to be a safe height, and he discovered a small nest containing a miniature version of the predatory birds that had attacked him earlier. The fledgling stared at him with an unnervingly intelligent gaze, then spoke in a fractured, glitching voice:

"Ru–r–die."

The small bird took flight, disappearing into the canopy and leaving Leon frozen in shock. The simulation wasn't just malfunctioning, it was behaving in ways that should have been impossible.

Was that a warning? "Run or die"? So was the safety program breached as well?

A sinking feeling grew in his stomach. If the simulation’s safety systems had failed along with its environment, then the danger was real and deadly. This wasn’t just a test anymore. It was survival.

The crimson-eyed Furibears drew closer. Leon steeled his resolve, gripping his blood-stained improvised spear. Whatever was happening to the simulation, he intended to survive it.