2. To be Eaten Alive

Jed arrived at the EADF selection exam in Emmiton Province after an hour of riding the train. The exam venue looked like a mini EADF’s base, with a wide parking lot and anti-alien defence ready to be used.

The first one was a physical exam. Jed was confident in himself. Even as he wasn’t perfectly athletic like the other participants, he wasn’t a walking stick with zero muscle mass. He hit the gym. At least once a month.

Yet, he barely survived with ragged breath and sweat rolling down his face as he laid on the ground.

He felt someone staring at him. Looking up, Jed faced a girl who was wearing a very bright orange jacket and wireless yellow headphones. “Can I help you?”

The girl looked down at him, as if he were a bug she could stomp anytime. She huffed and turned on her heel.

Frowning, Jed mumbled, “Seriously?”

Then, a chuckle came beside him. “Don’t mind her, man.”

“If I’m not spent, I’ll teach her some manners.” Jed turned to the blond newcomer who sat beside his lying form. “Who are you?”

“Ricky Mitchell,” the blond with a mole under his left eye said, greeting him with a grin. “And you can call me Ricky. I don’t like formality, Jed.”

“You know my name?”

“Well,” Ricky hummed, eyes wandered to the leader board where Jed’s name was listed at the bottom. “Birds of the same feather tend to flock together, they said.”

Of course, Ricky Mitchell was listed right above Jed Hunter on the selection exam’s leaderboard. No wonder the blond approached him.

Jed pouted, “Do you know her name?”

Surely, she wouldn’t be far off behind Ricky and him.

“Ellie Hawkins.”

Damn it!

She was in the top three in the physical exam.

“I’ll beat her on the next test!”

Or so he thought.

On the second selection exam, they were told to go inside the building and into a certain room with many computer-like machines bolted to the floor. They had to wear the EADF’s combat suit there. It was made from alien monster muscle fibres, so it could enhance the soldiers’ physical powers. However, the output power it gave differed from one soldier to the others.

Hence, why this second exam was called an aptitude test.

Finally wearing EADF’s combat suit, Jed felt ecstasy. It was out of his expectation. The body suit was flimsy, yet it was stronger than any leather he ever knew. He didn’t need to zip it close, as the body suit automatically closed around him like a second skin. Wearing it felt like the suit integrated directly into his body.

The body suit itself was connected to a machine through several cables and the speakers in the room started to buzz.

“Body measurement and integration completed. Measuring synergy force.”

Standing beside him, Ricky asked aloud. “What is synergy force?”

“You don’t even know that?” They all turned to a man who just entered the room. He was tall and had a deep frown in his face, sending shivers to Jed the first time he caught the eyes. “What a bunch of fools you are.”

Jed snapped, “Just tell us already, old man.”

The glare sent his way definitely felt like an ice dagger. “Synergy force is the indication of how much power you can draw from the combat suit. Let's see how much you have for that rudeness.”

“Jed Hunter. Synergy force 3%.”

He gawked as the announcer stated through the speakers in the room. “Only three percent?!”

Some of the candidates laughed at him, even as the announcer continued to read all of the candidates’ force.

“I’m sorry to hear that, man.” Ricky looked forlornly at him, “I think our ways part here. There ain’t no way my synergy force is–“

“Ricky Mitchell. Synergy force 5%.”

The laughs grew louder.

Jed smirked, “What did you say, punk?”

Before Ricky could reciprocate, the frowning man mocked, “Fools attract each other, I believe that now.”

“We’re not–“

“Candidates usually average around ten percent, while trained soldiers around thirty percent.”

“Shoot,” Jed grumbled.

“Ellie Hawkins. Synergy force,” the announcer paused, “43%.”

Against the other candidates’ awed expression, the frowning man nodded at the silent girl who Jed wanted to surpass. “I came to oversee this selection exam because I heard of a prodigy from the Sunny House. You won't disappoint.”

Like what happened to Jed earlier, Ellie merely huffed at the half compliment.

Jed thought she was impolite, but it seemed nobody ignored it due to her raw power alone. A warranted arrogance, so they said.

The frowning man didn’t mind. though. Standing before all of the candidates, he introduced, “My name is Henry Reed and I’m the Captain of 9^th Division of the Earth Allied Defense Force. I will personally oversee the third exam we will hold on the training ground. Let’s move out and begin.”

Jed didn’t know what the third exam would bring, but he got a bad feeling about it.

“Let’s go man,” Ricky nudged him, “It seems we have to stick together for this.”

Arriving at the training ground 13, Jed and Ricky marvelled at the tall and sturdy gate looming before them. Instead of opening it, they walked up the stairs and stood on top of the gate to see what was on the other side.

It looked no different from the usual abandoned city after an alien monster ran rampage. However, the difference was the crawling alien monsters still dwelled within. Resembling a monstrous, four-legged toad with a mouth that occupied half of its body, the alien monster looked like it could eat a person whole.

“This district was attacked by alien monsters last year. Twelve people were lost before we arrived here. We subdued them to train the next generation soldiers, and turned this city into a training ground.” Henry explained. “An automatic drone will be tracking each of you and we will monitor your movement from here. If we feel that the situation is life-threatening, we will remotely activate your suit’s shield.”

Standing beside him, Ricky sighed a big relief. “It’d be nice if you can activate the shield from now on. Please.”

Henry continued, “Bear in mind, that will also mean your disqualification.”

“Eeeeek!”

Jed shifted one step away from Ricky.

“From here on,” Henry warned them then, “There is no guarantee for your safety. Knowing the risk, only those of you prepared may proceed.”

Jed straightened his back. He already wore the EADF’s cool combat suit, like he always wanted. But to participate and maybe pass the selection exam, that was no better time than this.

Reed announced, “Let the third exam begin.”

The other candidates lifted the Force’s anti-monster’s riffles and jumped down from the gate’s top, with Ellie as the leading actor. Meanwhile, for 3% Jed and 5% Ricky, they had to resort to using a rope to get down to the training ground.

“Don’t you feel glad?” Ricky said after a wheeze.

“Depressed, yes.”

“Hey, you got a friend like me in this difficult situation, you should feel glad.”

Jed grumbled, but the blond got a point there. Even so, “At least, you have enough power to bring the rifle.”

Because their two percent difference was big when it came to anti-monster weapons. Jed couldn’t even lift the standard issued weapon, unlike Ricky who looked at ease with the rifle. That said, he placed the rifle down and took a gun from his hip holster.

“Pft!”

“Don’t you dare mock me.”

Their bicker was cut short when their communication device buzzed as Reed’s flat voice was heard. “Good job on defeating the first monster, Hawkins.”

“Shit. We have to move now.”

But, Ricky stopped on his track.

“Huh?”

The blond got this horror look on his face. “I don’t think I can do this, man.”

“What? Why?”

“It just dawned on me that… the alien monster is really big and–“ Ricky dropped to his knees, teeth chattering as his face morphed in terror. “It’s c-coming here…”

The hair on the back of his neck raised and Jed turned on his heel. He gasped.

Ground rumbling, a monstrous frog-like alien slowly walked towards them from a distance away. Its maw opened and closed with each step, as if warning them of what to come. Even though it didn’t have any teeth, the jaw looked strong enough to break their body.

Jed gulped, feeling his legs turned to jelly. No wonder Ricky was this scared. He felt it too.

Even so, “I don’t want to die here.”

He had one year left to live. He didn’t want to die now, when he barely starts his bucket list of things he wanted to do. It was too soon. He didn’t want to waste the one year he had left only to die stupidly like this. Yet, the foe walking towards them were merciless.

“Run!” Jed shouted, running away from the monstrous frog-like alien like a scared dog with tail between its legs.

But, Ricky was nowhere by his side. He was on his arse, waiting for the impending death to come while crying in a river.

Jed stopped there, drawing his gun against the alien monster. “Run, Mitchell! Run for your life!”

The blond didn’t move.

Jed fired bullets after bullets, glad that his shootings were on point. However, none of it had enough power to penetrate the monstrous frog-like alien’s skin. No matter how many rounds were shot, it didn’t have any effect.

“Run, you dumbass!”

Cursing for his three percent synergy force, Jed threw his gun away and dashed to Ricky’s place. The blond was in shock and fear, he was unresponsive, as if he didn’t hear any of Jed’s shouting.

The monster was coming, closing on its distance quicker than before.

Jed jerked the blond up, trying to move him. “Run or you’ll die!”

Still, Ricky couldn’t snap out of it.

The frog-like aliens were only a few metres away from them, further towering with its monstrous body. Its maw with sharp teeth opened wider than Jed’s height. Fear felt like a heavy leed in his stomach. He had to get Ricky away or he’d die.

As the monstrous alien’s jaw opened, Jed barely managed to drag Ricky away, saving them from an early death of being chopped off by an extraterrestrial frog. However, the alien’s tongue lolled out and shot like lightning in their direction.

Jed’s body moved on its own.

He kicked the blond away, bringing him right on track to block the alien’s tongue from Ricky. In less than a second, the frog-like alien’s tongue retreated. The blond’s terrified face was the last thing Jed saw before the alien’s maw closed, separating him from the world.

He was eaten alive.