Anna shoots at the mutated canines quickly and feverishly as they charge towards her. She stands her ground and shoots a few dead but more still come running. A rather large and bulky mutated dog makes it's way towards Anna and she aims her gun and pulls the trigger, only to find out that her magazine is empty. Her eyes widen in panic as the canine tackles her to the ground, winding her. All the air leaves her lungs and before she knows it, the dog's deathly jaws are snapping at her face.

The dog barks loudly with a hungry look in its eyes as it struggles to get closer. Showing off it's jagged, misplaced teeth. Anna can't help but sob in fear as she uses her arms to hold back the massive animal from biting her head off her neck.

Nila! Nila!"

"What are you doing?! Turn back and help her!"

"Quick! Before the whole mission fails!"

Not even ten seconds have passed and Nila tries to block out her friend's cries and demands but guilt eventually gets the better of her. If Anna dies, so does everyone else and the trial will end. This last trial determines whether or not they go to Earth and as much as Nila despises Anna for her choices, she can't risk letting the rest of the group down for petty revenge.

"I know, I know. I'm going!" Nila yells at her teammates in frustration and redraws her pistol.

Nila takes a few hurried steps towards Anna and aims her gun. She shoots once, it's a miss. The bullet lands beside the animal's leg on the ground and the canine looks up at Nila, agitated. It growls and bares its teeth but goes back to trying to take a bite out of her teammate.

"Dammit," Nila mutters through gritted teeth and aims again.

The bullet clips the shoulder of the mutated dog and gains its attention. It barks and readies itself to make a run at Nila. Meanwhile, Anna makes a huge mistake by trying to slip away while the animal was distracted but of course, it notices and sinks its razor sharp teeth into one of Anna's ankles to drag her back. Anna cries out.

"That's not good," Nila thinks and she calms herself down. She takes in a few deep breaths and blocks out the rest of the world, focusing only at the target at hand.

Nila shoots a third time and the bullet ends up making a glancing wound off the vicious dog's hard as stone skull. It shrieks in pain and staggers away from Anna. Once it gains back its balance, the dog sprints towards Nila. Nila's heart beats a million miles per hour as her target speeds towards her and she lets the rest of her bullets fly in a panicked frenzy.

However, just as it seemed that the mission would be a failure once again, the mutated canine lets out a pained yelp and falls as it runs and skids towards her feet, blood oozing from one of its eyes. Nila holds in her breath in terror as the canine lays directly in front of her, unmoving. She kicks it with her foot but it still lies motionless. Nila lets out a long sigh of relief and looks around to see that the rest of the pack are running back to the safety of the forest. Howls echo throughout the forest as the dogs realise that they are no match for these new intruders.

Beads of sweat trickle down her forehead and ooze into her eyes, blurring her vision. Nila wipes the back of her hand across her face to once again have the gift of sight and is met with Anna, wearing a look of bitter disapproval. Kaitlyn and Riley immediately rush over to Anna's side to help her up though it proves to be quite a struggle. Anna's ankle has been severely mauled by the creature and she's already lost a lot of blood. Nila, stricken with guilt of what she has done, walks over to help the others get Anna off of the ground but gets weakly shoved away.

"What? Now you want to help? You left me there!" yells Anna, with a furious expression, puddles of sweat also pooling up around her hair and lip line.

"So did you," Nila replies matter-of-factly.

There's a long, unpleasant silence as Nila and Anna stare at each other, sizing one another up. Both of them are too full of pride to look one another in the eyes and apologise. The gaze is finally broken when Riley clears his throat and starts to haul Anna off of the ground.

Kaitlyn and Riley can sense the tension in the air and remain silent. Anna eventually gives in and lets Nila help the group carry her over and set her down against a back wall of residential building.

"Riley, is there first aid in any of those bags?" Kaitlyn asks in a frantic voice and looks at the many bags Riley is carrying on his back.

"T-there should be," he replies and drops the bags off his shoulders.

The whole group searches and finds a small bottle of vodka, a sewing needle, string and thin gauze bandages.

"Uh..Riley how much time do we have left?" asks Kaitlyn as she looks at the objects that lay before her.

"Why?"

Kaitlyn, not wanting to scare Anna walks over to Riley and whispers what she plans to do.

"We're going to do that...here?! Now?!"

"We have to or she'll die from blood loss before we even reach the river," states Kaitlyn and Riley shuts up.

Nila takes a look at Anna's injury then back at the equipment they have at hand and understands immediately. They'll have to stitch together Anna's bite before she loses any more blood. Nila turns to face Anna who doesn't look very good at all. Her pale skin, miraculously looks even paler and her gorgeous, orange locks stick to her forehead and neck as she's sweating like a pig. She looks like she's in a lot of pain. Looking down at the nasty, mauled wound, she very well would be. Even though the wound isn't technically real, Nila is fully aware of how well the developers of this simulation have imitated the feeling of pain.

Nila moves out of Kaitlyn's way as she returns with a small bottle of alcohol. She spills it all over her hands and then holds it in the air over Anna's bite.

"This will hurt but we've got to make do with what we've got, okay?" Kaitlyn says and gulps before pouring the liquid on her friend's leg.

Nila and Riley take this as their signal and opportunity to leave them be while they still can and they hang back in the background, shoulder to shoulder as Kaitlyn works her magic. Trying hard to block out the wails and screams.

Anna hisses in pain as Nila helps her across the river. Kaitlyn had done a decent job in patching Anna up though it would only work temporarily. The thin gauze bandages don't do too much when it comes to stopping the constant flow of blood coming from Anna's ankle but at least it's something. She's not too sure as to why on Earth Riley would assign her of all people to assist Anna. Maybe he's doing it just to punish her? Maybe he's trying to play peacemaker? Or maybe he was just being a logical leader. It would make sense, that her, now the only armed person in the group would be the protector of the groups' weakest link. The fireflies have started to come out, illuminating the dead grey sky with yellow dots and the slightly murky water has become cool. It would have to be somewhere near nine pm by now. Blood and predators do not mix well, certainly not in water. Nila just hopes that those mutated mongrels was the last of it.

The two are about halfway through the river when Anna finally speaks.

"I'm sorry."

"W-what?"

"I shouldn't have done what I did, I deserve all of th-" Anna continues but Nila doesn't want to hear any of it.

"Stop." She says with a small shake of her head. "Let's not waste your energy, you need all you can get to get through this mission."

With that, Nila props Anna a little higher on her shoulders as the waters deepen and continues on. Anna looks up at Nila with an upset expression. Her face has slightly sunken in from fatigue and she looks exhausted, part of the reason why she doesn't bother to protest. They both delve back into silence and eventually make their way onto the riverbank.

"We are so close guys," Riley turns towards everyone else with a huge grin on his face.

Nila lets out a relieved sigh. "You better not just be saying that to get us through," she says as she pulls Anna up onto the river bank.

Riley twirls on his heels and starts to jog ahead through a large bundle of thick trees and overgrown grass, the group steady behind him.

Nila looks down at Anna, whom she had set down on a rock beside her, to see a small smile flicker across her face. That is, until she passes out from exhaustion. Immediately, Nila picks her up in her arms while the rest of the group runs ahead.

"You cannot pull her out early!"

"Did anyone else hear that?" Nila shouts, setting Anna down on a boulder beside her.

"Hear what?" Riley asks, and backtracks to where Nila is standing.

"What are you talking about, Nila?"

"A voice; Gianna's voice?"

"You'll risk severe brain trauma. Just wait a few more moments!" the woman's voice pleads urgently again, echoing across the simulated world like a ripple in a pond.

The echoing is suddenly accompanied by a splitting headache. The pain seems to be doubled as she struggles to comprehend pain in two forms of reality. Squeezing her eyes shut, Nila holds her head in her hands and is forced to her knees in the shallow water. Someone must be trying to force her out of the simulation in real life. But why? She's so close to the final victory too. Her friends promptly rush to her side and ask a bombardment of questions, however, a white noise overcomes her hearing and she eventually feels herself become weightless. Her body goes limp and falls with a splash in the cold waters of the river.

"Are you people insane? Are you trying to render her paralysed? Let me – let me go to her!"

As Nila lays disoriented on the floor, Gianna's worry-stricken face appears overhead. A hand props under Nila's head and she is gently pulled upright into a sitting position. It is as if the world is moving too fast for her eyes to comprehend and reality isn't quite the same reality. Flashes of the river, the sewers, and those terrifying lions pop up in different corners of the dimly-lit room.

"Nila, Nila," Gianna starts. "Focus on my finger."

A slender, manicured finger suddenly appears in Nila's vision and she tries hard to focus on it with all her might, like a camera struggling to get into high definition mode. Slowly, Gianna moves her index finger from side to side and Nila's eyes follow.

"Good, good. Now look at the light," the woman orders and a small LED torch beams directly in Nila's face, temporarily burning her retinas. Her pupils dilate respectively and her vision finally clears. Unlike the splitting headache; that still remains.

"Alright, enough with that. She's coming with us now."

At that, two brawny hands lift Nila from where she sits in a very unfriendly manner. Nila lets out a groan as her brain bops around in her skull.

"Gianna? What's, what's going on?" she asks groggily.

"I don't know...I'm sorry I can't do anything."

As Nila is dragged by her arms away from her unconscious friends, the panic in her heart rises. Her breathing becomes heavier and heavier.

"Nila Weathers, you are hereby under arrest for infringing rule thirteen of Mars' Constitution."

"Wait, what-"

"You have the right to remain silent."

"No, I can explain everything. Stop, where are you taking me?" Nila's voice cracks as the door to the dimly-lit room closes, obscuring her friends from sight.

"To your mother."