"Alright, cadets, listen up! You've got one last test before we start assigning your sorry hides!"
Reuben stood stiffly at attention trying to simultaneously listen to Sargent Vert's instructions and steady his heart rate. Assignment trials were even more difficult than basic training. For three solid days the cadets had been pushed to their physical limits.
They had just finished an extremely long run when Sargent Vert had shouted for them to line up in rank order.
"This will be mock combat! Live ammo will not be used but we will be monitoring who shot who. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir!"
"You will be scored based on how long you last. As soon as you receive your weapon, go!"
"Yes, sir!"
Sergent Kon handed Reuben his weapon and he felt himself immediately go into a sort of automatic pilot state. He supposed this was want the wanted: very little thinking and all instinct.
A few of the cadets had already charged into the main field and had already shot each other. A few made an effort to hide behind a rock or a tree. But for some reason Reuben immediately noticed that they were all running in the same direction to find hiding places. They were following the pack.
At that point he figured that his best bet was to take a different direction. He slowed down his running on purpose to let the rest of the cadets pass him up as they charged into the field. Once he was behind everyone, he veered off the right; taking care to stay out of sight.
He may not be the best shot, but he wasn't terrible and could at least use the element of surprise. He cautiously made his way from tree to tree until he found one that had limbs low enough to climb. The tree had thick foliage which seemed to be both good and bad. The others couldn't see him, but he would have an even harder time aiming.
At last he managed to position himself where he could see through leaves. It was a perfect spot. He was just far enough away that his V7 would still be accurate but at the same time the other cadets probably wouldn't be able to tell who shot them.
Lining up his sights, he began to pick off his fellow cadets one by one as they ran by on the field. He missed about half of the time. But it didn't matter because, as he suspected, the other cadets where too distracted to notice his shots.
He just hoped he wouldn't get docked for unconventional combat tactics...
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