How To Survive A Calamity

"As a matter of fact, yes...yes, i do." I stared back at Deandra, still sitting from my position on the ground.

"What are you..." Deandra began to say in suprise, but stopped and blinked in confusion.

And just like every other time I found myself intimidated—

"Isn't that obvious, our dear class rep?"

...i put a smile on my face, no matter how dark and twisted it may have been.

"If what we want is water..." I slowly stood up to my feet.

Then all we had to do...

"Then that's what we just have to get."

From those who have it.

***

"Ah, jeez. When you said all we had to do was just get it, i didn't think you were actually really serious about we doing it this way?" Chelsea lamented with a complicated expression and held her cloak as she laid in the sand next to me, overlooking an area over a tall sand dune.

"A-are we actually really doing this? Like, for real?" Trise said from my other side.

I raised my head a little and looked ahead.

"I mean, we don't have to."

"Then...!"

"Or we could just try to find out how much longer we can last before we're forcefully recalled by the bracelet. There's just two days left, right?" Before Trise could continued, i smiled broadly and cut in.

"Ugh..! How can you be so easy and nonchalant in a case like this one? It's almost as if what we're about to do holds no moral relevance to you, or anything! Luxury of a low ranker who has nothing much else to lose, perhaps?" Trise snorted and squeezed her face.

"Keep talking and you'll be the one loosing a tooth or two." I gave her a dry look, before proceeding to ignore her.

The three of us were laying against the sandy dry desert ground, underneath the bleeding sky, wrapped in worn out cloaks and overlooking our surroundings.

Just then, i heard Chelsea voice her doubt yet again.

"So...then we're really doing this, huh."

Ah, yes. Indeed we were.

I nodded affirmatively with a small smile.

"We're going to steal the water of other groups."

"You actually said it..." She drew in a faint, cracked breath.

Of course i did.

And I meant it too.

Well...

I shrugged at Chelsea's and Trise's reaction.

"There's no other way, plus this is something already made intentional by the academy for the exercise, don't you think?"

Trise spoke about moral relevance a few seconds ago.

What was that?

Right from the beginning, there was no such thing as morality and right or wrong during the exercise, and the academy had already made it's intentions clear right from the very moment we stood at the terminal during the final briefing.

"What do you mean?" Chelsea hesitated over my words, and asked.

"This is all already within the scope of expectations of the Academy and part of the criteria. What do you think would happen if you sent groups of people into a desolate barren desert to survive for a week with only limited resources and water?"

"That's..."

"Remember, Chelsea, out here in the Blood Earth dungeon, anything that isn't you is trying to kill you. Think about it, the monsters and the atmosphere aren't the only things we need to worry about. Food, shelter, water...Do you really think nothing would happen if a group of humans are gathered and trapped in a single place like this one for a an extended period of time?" I took a moment to say and left the interpretation of my words up in the air for Chelsea and Trise to take it however they like.

Right from the beginning, this outcome was one of the inevitable routes we would have most definitely gone down through at some point, it was only just a matter of time.

I was already expecting this development at some point eventually.

The academy already encouraged 'inter-competition' between groups, even going as far as awarding points for defeating other cadets just like monsters.

It sounded crazy and wicked, but i thought differently.

I thought it was normal.

In the end, the practical field experience exercise was a real life simulation replicating even the most notorious aspects of this side of the world.

Under the blood skies of Blood Earth, survival of the fittest was the greatest motto.

I pressed my body lower against the prickling sand.

Simply put...

"If we don't go out to find water, someone else is going to come find us instead. So don't think too deeply about anything, you're not wrong. There just isn't any right."

It was either us, or the world.

There was no right or wrong, no mortality.

Just the law of the jungle. Only the strongest, most cunning, and luckiest survives.

The law of the desert.

I kept my mouth shut after briefly saying all that. Even just by talking, i was using up a lot of water in my body, you know?

What the girls decided to think of my words or me didn't really bother me at that point.

We were outside scouting out the region for any signs of other groups or cadets lurking around us. Although, the scope and range of our scouting attempt was greatly limited due to a variety of factors the accursed fiendish desert caused.

"Urgh, it's too hot." Trise wiped the sweat off her face underneath her hood and lamented.

"Be quiet, and try to avoid making as much unnecessary movements as possible."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Shut up, i don't need you telling me that."

In the same way we were scouting out and laying in wait an ambush for any groups that came by, we could also be the targets of a similar trap.

Three days were more than enough time to have the minds of many crumble and plunge downwards into insanity in such a dreaded place like this.

I was more than a hundred percent certain that there were those like us in a similar or even more desperate state than us.

And with next to no information about anything, we had to be very careful and cautious of our backs and every movement.

And we also had to be wary of the King of the Desert, the Sand Dragon.

The abomination perceived the world and its surroundings through movement and subtle vibrations through the earth.

That was actually the main reason why we were trying to stay as absolutely still as possible for the last couple of minutes.

"...Haaah, how much longer do we have to remain like this for? There's obviously nothing in sight, and the temperature is killing me." Chelsea groaned with discomfort.

I shrugged with a sigh.

"We have to stay like this until those two finally return." As soon as i said those words, i turned to the side with a narrow smile on my lips.

"Speaking of the devil."

The two familiar figures of Deandra and Don soon cane into view. Their figures softly landed against the rising dunes of sand, carried by wisps of wind.

The first person to speak was Don. He stepped forward and spoke in a serious tone.

"We found traces of humans."