Selection Under Attrition Protocol
CINDER PROTOCOL // FRACTURES OF SURVIVAL FILE: The Arithmetic of Survival — Selection Under Attrition Protocol
INTERNAL TRIAL LOG // ATTRITION PROTOCOL ACTIVE
Candidate reduction in progress. Survival metrics will determine advancement.
ARCHIVE STATUS: attrition record active
Recovered from restricted trial feed.
SUBJECT TRACKING: not yet prioritized
The academy taught survival as arithmetic.
Count the bodies.
Subtract the weak.
Whatever remained was considered leadership.
Heat shimmered above the training yard as forty-two cadets stood in formation while Commander Carroll delivered the final briefing.
The academy never bothered telling them how many were expected to leave.
Iria Abaroa Fernández held her posture straight, hands clasped behind her back, eyes forward like the others.
But she watched.
Not the officer.
The words.
Commander Alistair Rowan Carroll stood on the raised platform, coat immaculate despite the heat.
His voice carried across the yard with the calm certainty of someone who had never needed to survive a trial himself.
"Cadets of Cohort Seventeen," he said, hands folded behind his back, "today you will participate in the final evaluation exercise of your training cycle."
Evaluation.
Iria noticed the word immediately.
Not graduation.
Not qualification.
Evaluation.
The academy preferred terms that sounded clinical.
Like a laboratory experiment.
Beside her, Arish Rashid shifted his weight slightly—barely enough for anyone else to notice.
Years of drills had taught them how to communicate without moving.
He had heard it too.
Carroll continued.
"This exercise will assess adaptive survival, resource prioritization, and partner retention under stress conditions."
A few cadets stiffened.
Resource prioritization.
Another phrase that sounded uglier if you listened closely.
Iria felt the familiar pressure building at the back of her mind—the instinct that had carried her through every training accident, every exercise where instructors pretended not to see how far things went.
The academy taught survival as arithmetic.
Count the bodies.
Subtract the weak.
Carroll's voice remained steady.
"You will enter the field in assigned operational pairs."
Pairs.
Iria didn't need to look to know Arish already understood.
They had been paired for months.
Achilles, the instructors called them when they thought cadets couldn't hear.
A myth with two weak points instead of one.
Carroll paced along the platform.
"The trial will test your ability to maintain operational functionality in unstable environments."
Unstable environments.
Another euphemism.
Wind dragged dust across the concrete like ash.
Beyond the academy walls lay the forest training zone—miles of terrain designed to break people who thought they were ready.
Carroll stopped.
"You will operate under field autonomy."
Iria's eyes narrowed.
Field autonomy meant command would not intervene.
Or pretend not to.
"You will maintain communication protocols when possible," Carroll continued, "but you should not rely on extraction."
There it was.
Not rely on extraction.
Not expect extraction.
A muscle in Iria's jaw tightened.
Next to her, Arish finally spoke, barely above a breath.
"Did you catch it?"
His voice was calm, but she knew the tone.
The same one he used in tactical drills when something didn't fit.
Iria didn't move her head.
"Survival rates," she murmured.
Arish's eyes flicked toward her.
Dark brown, almost black in the sunlight.
Sharp.
Carroll continued.
"Historical survival rates for this exercise remain within acceptable operational parameters."
The words rolled across the yard.
Acceptable.
Operational.
Parameters.
Not guarantees.
Iria's amber-flecked eyes lifted toward the platform.
In sunlight they looked almost molten.
"Listen to the language," she whispered.
Arish did.
Carroll's voice sharpened.
"Selection occurs through stress response."
A ripple moved through the formation.
Most cadets heard encouragement.
Push harder. Endure the test.
Iria heard something else.
Selection.
Meaning some would be chosen.
And some would not.
Arish spoke again under his breath.
"They're not talking about completion rates."
"No," Iria said quietly.
Her gaze drifted across the formation.
Forty-two cadets.
Teresa two rows ahead.
Bridget standing stiff beside her.
Naomi farther down the line, trying to hide the nervous way she flexed her hands.
Iria recognized the posture.
Everyone did that the first time they realized training might stop being theoretical.
Carroll finished the briefing.
"Recovery operations will be non-guaranteed."
Silence fell like a dropped blade.
Non-guaranteed recovery.
Not delayed.
Not limited.
Non-guaranteed.
The academy had just told them something important.
If someone didn't make it back—
No one was coming.
Wind swept across the yard again, rattling the metal barriers.
Carroll looked down at the cadets.
Forty-two soldiers in identical uniforms.
He smiled.
It wasn't warm.
"You have been trained for this moment."
Iria felt the weight of the academy pressing down on the yard—the concrete, the towers, the surveillance cameras lining the walls.
The system watching its experiment.
Carroll's voice softened.
"Survive."
The word lingered.
Not win.
Not succeed.
Survive.
Arish exhaled slowly.
"Ria."
The nickname slipped out.
She didn't correct him.
Her amber eyes were still fixed on the platform.
"They're not testing us," she said quietly.
Arish already knew.
But he asked anyway.
"What are they doing?"
Iria watched the officers behind Carroll.
None looked surprised.
None looked worried.
They looked like men waiting for statistics.
"Filtering," she said.
A siren wailed across the training yard.
Low.
Mechanical.
The sound of gates unlocking.
Carroll raised a hand.
"The trial begins in ten minutes."
The cadets held formation.
Training demanded it.
The siren wailed again.
This time something echoed beneath it.
From the forest beyond the walls.
Something that almost sounded like shouting.
Or screaming.
Iria's eyes narrowed.
Arish noticed immediately.
"You hear that?"
She nodded once.
"Yes."
The sound vanished.
The wind swallowed it.
Carroll stepped down from the platform.
"Cadets," he said without looking back.
"Welcome to the Hunter Protocol."
Margin note recovered after transcription:
The first false equation is always the cleanest one.
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