FIVE YEARS BEFORE THE OUTBREAK...

Ares, Hermes, and four other test subjects exited a bright room. Each one of them had a bandage covering the wound from the injection they received. Ambrosia was now coursing through their veins as we speak. Anything could happen now that they had these mysterious nanobots traveling through their bloodstream. And it didn't help that they were already threatened on the first day. It was even less motivating given the fact three subjects were executed for retaliating.

However, Schaefer mentioned more test subjects arriving soon, the next few batches full of younger candidates to see Ambrosia's effects on youth. Ares was frightened by the thought of Schaefer harming newbies. Granted, he was new, too, but these upcoming subjects were newer to not just the Ambrosia Project, but the world itself.

"Stand in front of the AMBR-TRIG," Simon ordered. Unlike earlier, he and the other scientists in the room wore shiny silver helmets that kept their faces hidden. The only thing that provided a small glimpse of the wearer were small slits opening up to provide eyesight.

"The hell is an Amber Trig?" Hermes asked, lining up against the wall with the other test subjects.

"Glad you asked, sir," a young woman replied cheerfully, her voice followed by a slight echo due to her helmet. "I am Artemis, and this is the Ambrosia Trigger, AKA the AMBR-TRIG as Poseidon called it. This device activates the healing and strengthening qualities of the nanites in your bodies. Without this device, all those little bots would be swimming through your bloodstream for nothing. And we wouldn't want that, would we?"

Ares glanced at the AMBR-TRIG. From a distance it vaguely resembled a TV camera supported by a tripod, the kind he once saw recording the town fair back in Lancaster. However, instead of a lens and viewfinder, the front half of the device was a cylinder resembling a cannon aiming towards the six test subjects. Ares couldn't tell what kind of ammo was supposed to be fired out of the device, but it looked like the kind of weapon that would fire sound waves or electromagnetic pulses.

"Smile for the camera," Artemis said, her hand down on a lever next to the device.

"Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought it looked like that," Ares said.

A loud outburst of energy fired out of the AMBR-TRIG, knocking the test subjects to the floor. Ares crashed against the wall and slowly slid to the ground. He thought that would be it, but a burning sensation filled his entire body, like if someone was slowly prying a branding iron into him. It started out in his left arm--where he received the injection--and felt like nothing more than a sunburn at first, but the pain only increased and spread across his chest and his back. Then down to his legs and into his head.

"FUCKING HELL!" Hermes screamed in pain. He was painfully curled up into a fetal position on the floor, veins popping out of his forehead.

Ares remained on the floor leaning against the wall, his head overtaken by an agonizing migraine. The pain still burned through his body a little while longer, and he decide to take it out on the wall. He pounded his fist against the concrete with all of his strength, hoping the more he fought, the less pain he'd feel.

Simon and Artemis stared in shock, their mouths gaping open, as the impact of Ares's fist against the wall left behind cracks. Each hit only deepened the new hole in the wall, and a large opening formed after four more punches. Rubble burst through the wall into the next room and Ares brought his fist back, now covered in multiple lacerations.

"He's wounded!" Artemis cried. "What do we do now?"

"Just watch, love," Simon replied. "All we can do is watch."

"Or we could turn off the machine!"

"We can, if you want to set the project back a couple of months. The process is almost done, so shut up!"

Ares held out his fist in front of him to inspect his wounds. However, he did not expect the nanites to actually work. The cuts in his hand scabbed over instantly like if they were cauterized before finally regenerating back to normal skin, not a drop of blood left behind. He also noticed that his muscles were bulging, as if he was flexing. He even felt them for a second, his mind blown by how suddenly strong he felt.

Then the pain seceded just like that. It seemed like it disappeared from everyone at the exact same time, as all of the soldiers collapsed to the floor gasping for air.

"What...the fuck...was that?" Ares asked, pausing in between words to breathe. "And how did my hand heal so fast?"

"It worked!" Artemis squealed. "The Ambrosia's healing qualities have been activated!"

"Congratulations," Hermes replied bluntly. "But why the bloody hell did it hurt so much to make it work?"

"Our apologies, gentlemen. That scorching pain you endured was the destruction of your pain receptors."

"Destruction?" Ares repeated.

"Well...mostly. The first effect of AMBR-051A is a decrease in pain sensitivity, so a more accurate conclusion is that your pain receptors have been mostly destroyed. However, depending on the severity of the wound, you will still feel pain, which will fortunately speed up the healing process. Therefore, the more painful the wound, the faster it will heal."

"So would we still feel minor discomforts like stubbed toes and paper cuts?" Hermes asked.

"No, but you can feel gunshot wounds and deeper lacerations," Simon replied morbidly. "I could test it out on you...as soon as I find my gun."

"If you're not even armed, then what's the helmet for?" Ares asked. He then glared at Artemis's helmet. "You, too, lass. What's with the rust bucket? I know you people say it's bulletproof and all, but what's the point if there aren't any bullets around to protect yourself from?"

Artemis placed her hands on both sides of the helmet and slid it off her head. Locks of copper hair slid out and she brushed some to the side to reveal her face. Her green eyes met the awestruck gazes of the other men.

"We didn't think you'd be as trustworthy as you appear to be," she replied with a smile. "And why does it seem like you and Hermes are the only ones here? The rest of you can talk, too, right?"

The doors opened up, and another helmet-wearing individual walked in. However, Ares could already tell from his stature that it was Bennington. "Good afternoon, gents. Are you ready for the combat trial?"

Ares raised his brow. "Combat trial? I thought we were testing out your weird little nanobots."

"We are testing them out. And these trials are the main test you'll be taking to prove the Ambrosia works." Bennington pulled out a remote with two buttons on it, a red one and a green one. He pressed the green one, and another set of doors on the other side of the room opened. "Now, follow me."

He began marching towards the new exit. The six test subjects followed him out the door in a line.

"Good luck!" Artemis said cheerfully. "Poseidon, could you bring in the next group?"

Bennington pressed the red button, shutting the doors once all six test subjects were out. They continued forward through the halls of the facility. Nothing about the interior looked exciting. It consisted only of extensive corridors of concrete and fluorescent lights, with an occasional door to an unknown room here and there, not a single window in sight.

"Any of you wankers know what windows are?" Ares asked. "They say a lack of sunlight is unhealthy."

"Of course," Bennington replied. "But don't you think it would be rude to taunt you with views of the outside world given the fact you may never see it again?"

"Why? You planning on killing us?"

No response. No one could tell what kind of expressions Bennington was making underneath that helmet of his.

"Silence sometimes has deeper meaning than words," Hermes chimed in, aware of Bennington's refusal to reply. "The meaning behind your silence, Hades, is rather frightening."

"Oh, you're scared now?" Bennington finally replied before mumbling the rest. "Just pray that the bots work as we hoped."

The group approached a new set of doors. Bennington pulled out his remote again and pressed the green button. The doors slid open, revealing the facility's training center. The center was a cavernous gym-like room filled with small obstacle courses, a row of punching bags, and an army of robotic training dummies organized together like a battalion. As usual, windows to the outside world were nowhere to be found.

"Does your remote work for all doors or is today just your lucky day?" one of the subjects asked.

"No, this is one of our facility keys," Bennington replied. "The buttons glow when close to a compatible entrance and you can then open or close the doors with just a push of a button. Very convenient, innit?"

The subjects followed Bennington into the room, the doors closing behind them. Ares looked to the left of the room and noticed a large window hovering above the rest of them. Behind the glass stood Schaefer and Hera, both of them wearing lab coats and holding clipboards. Hera pulled out a microphone, and feedback sounded through the cavernous room.

"Hello, gentlemen," she greeted through the intercom. "And welcome to the training center. Before we get started, we have an important question for you. How many of you are trained in hand-to-hand combat?"

Ares raised his hand along with four other test subjects. The only ones to not raise their hands were Hermes and another elderly soldier. Ares looked at Hermes with slight worry, wondering how long this geezer would last. Even if he had the intelligence required by a troop of the British Army, fragile bones would be a huge disadvantage once the actual fights began.

"To start things off, the subjects who haven't been trained must stay on the sidelines," Hera continued. "The rest of you will participate in our very first combat trial."

"Hermes and...Dionysus?" Bennington said, facing toward Hermes and the other soldier without combat training. "Would you kindly wait over by the punching bags as the rest of us continue our training?"

"Sure," Hermes replied. "But what's gonna happen to us?"

"The two of you will receive combat training with the rest of the recruits once we've assembled more test subjects," Schaefer replied through the intercom. "So don't worry. You two shouldn't feel left behind."

Hermes and the other test subject trudged over to the wall and stood there, awaiting further instructions. Bennington rounded up the rest of the subjects and organized them into a line. Once they were ready, he made his way toward one of the robot dummies and paused. He took off his helmet and placed it on the floor next to him.

"What is it with you people and those helmets?" Ares asked.

"Paranoia, sir," Bennington replied. "The one thing that makes humans dangerous is their unpredictability."

He then opened up a small slot on the back of the robotic dummy's head. After pressing a few buttons, a beeping noise occurred and the bot's eyes lit up. The bot stepped off its pedestal and slowly approached Ares, pausing in front of him.

"So the plan is to fight mannequins?" Ares asked.

"No, smart-arse," Bennington replied. "The plan is to take the bot out before it takes you out."

The bot switched into a fighting stance, holding its metal fists in front of itself and putting one foot in front of the other. "Make your move," it said with a metallic voice.

Ares chuckled out of surprise at the voice and threw a punch, aiming for the bot's cranium. Out of nowhere, the bot blocked his attack and slammed its metal fist into his shoulder, resulting in a throbbing pain rippling through his arm. However, the pain only lasted five seconds before vanishing from his body completely.

"Hardly felt a thing," he said, rubbing his shoulder.

He resumed the fight, continuing to pummel the robot with punches. He began memorizing the bot's attack patterns and dodged almost all of its attacks, aside from a few unpredictable right and left hooks. Bruises and scratches remained with each hit, but every single one vanished from his face in seconds.

After several hits, Ares finished his fight with an uppercut, knocking the bot's chin up. A loud beeping noise occurred, followed by a red light emitting out of the bot's neck. It then collapsed to the floor and fell flat on its back, leaving a dent in the floor from the impact of its head against the ground.

"Trial complete," the bot declared.

Ares stood above the automaton, unsatisfied by his victory. Despite the claps of the other people in the room, taking down that machine didn't feel like an accomplishment. Somehow it made him feel like he was in a physical conflict with himself. And it didn't help that taking it down was relatively easy. It made him feel like he could be easily defeated, especially by something that practically resembled him.

However, if there was one thing he knew about himself, it was that he was amazing at coming up with last-second tricks.

The bot sprung back to life and took a swing at his leg. A loud cracking noise occurred as its metal fist crashed against Ares's leg, followed by an explosion of pain. He joined the bot on the ground, grasping his broken leg.

He noticed the bot's eyes were glowing a sinister shade of red. The bot got on one knee and prepared to take another swing, winding its fist back. But before it could attack, Bennington ran behind it and grabbed it in a chokehold. Even though it obviously couldn't be choked, he was still able to successfully restrain it as he powered it off. The life faded out of its eyes as it transitioned from red to white, and its arms and legs dangled to its side as if it had fainted.

"Ares!" Hermes yelled as he ran to his side. He kneeled down beside him and glanced at his new fracture. The area below his knee was a dark purple, contusions and gashes present all around his calf. Ares didn't speak; only groan and wince in pain.

"Congratulations, Ares," Schaefer announced. "You have definitely proven yourself to be one of our best fighters yet. And we apologize for your fracture."

"How long will it take the wound to heal?" Hermes asked.

"That's what these tests are for, sir," Bennington replied for Schaefer. "Only time will tell how fast this fracture heals. In fact, it would be splendid if the wound even healed at all."

"Well that's fucking brilliant," Ares growled sarcastically, wincing in pain as he grasped onto his broken leg.

"Hades, would you and Poseidon kindly take Ares to the infirmary?" Hera asked. "The rest of you stay put. Zeus and I will be down there shortly to assist you with the rest of your trial."

Bennington grabbed Ares from underneath his shoulders and began dragging him back to the exit, the pain in his leg still lingering. He felt like a knife was driven deep into his bone.

"Would you look at that?" Bennington said, he and Ares approaching the door. "I thought it would've taken longer to break you."