The Group Project

~Chapter 8~

As I ignored their shouts and processed the sight before me, dozens of thoughts raced through my mind. Questions like 'What was this panel? Why am I seeing it? Am I going insane?' ran through my mind until my attention was drawn to Gannon as he pointed to the empty air in front of him, a look of bewilderment on his face. "What the hell is this?" he exclaimed, his voice matching his confusion. 

"What the fuck is shield generation??" I saw nothing there, but I assumed he was seeing the same thing as me, giving me partial relief.

"Are you seeing a purple screen too? Can you see this?" I asked him, attempting to shake away my doubt as I pointed to my own screen.

"I don't see anything in front of you, and the one I'm seeing is red. Is this a hologram or something?" he asked.

"I think we'd be seeing the same if it was a hologram", I replied. I quickly looked over to Bea and Jon, Bea was talking to another survivor. By the sounds of it, they were desperately asking her if she could see what was in front of them. Meanwhile Jon was seemingly calm looking ahead, his eyes moving around in various directions. It's as if he were watching something fly around. I wondered if he was seeing a screen in front of him as well.

I listened intently as others around me voiced similar questions and concerns to mine. It quickly became clear that every survivor was seeing their own panel but not anyone else's, leading to an even bigger chorus of confusion. I looked up to the base General, saying something into her walkie talkie. It was most likely orders to the Sentinels standing guard around the base. A guard was running by and I heard bits and pieces from the walkie, "Remain calm and continue observing.... reacts to your thoughts..... of it disappearing and it will vanish..."

I attempted to piece together what I had heard while people were starting to discuss what they were seeing on their screen. As the General tried to speak to the panicked crowd, the panel changed again and a new text showed up reading:

[Perk randomization activating, selecting random perk for human recipient. Loading....] 

Two triangle arrows appeared around a rectangular box and the word [Spin] appeared. As if knowing what to do, I lifted my hand to the screen and pressed spin. A list of words appeared and began to zoom to the bottom of the screen and disappeared while new ones were scrolling down from the top, too fast for any to be read. After watching it spin for about five seconds, it came to a stop and the words [Passive Dominance] froze in the box.

The base General began to speak, her voice clear and calm, "Everyone, please calm down. This is quite an unexpected situation but I assure you, we are still safe and remaining calm is beneficial to yourself and everyone around you. Now, please take a second to take a deep breath and imagine the strange window disappearing from your sight."

I took a deep breathe and attempted to calm down, imagining it blipping away just as it had appeared. The next second I opened my eyes to see it quickly shrink and disappear, as if it was never there. A couple other people seemed to have successfully done it as I heard screams of bewilderment as it seemingly followed their command. The General spoke again this time louder and with a stern tone. "Everyone, please gather into 3 lines in front of Major Rain, Major Ryker, and Major Bran. They will ask you questions about what you saw as we try to figure out this event so please remain calm and proceed in an orderly fashion."

 The number of Sentinels standing guard had increased dramatically while the air was filled with curiosity. As everyone split up to join the three lines, the four of us quickly lined up next to each other. Gannon was first, then me, Jon and Bea; we quickly formed a small group and huddled around each other as we discussed the events.

"So we all seen that red window? What the fuck did any of that mean?" Bea questioned, nervously combing her hands through her hair.

"I don't fucken' know, what does 'You've unlocked a trait' even mean? Mine said something about Shield Generation, what about you guys?" asked Gannon, looking to the others.