บท 19: Obstacle Course
Afton started to stretch and limber up as Doran began to explain the test, "You will follow the marked lamposts as fast as you can, do not attempt to cheat or bypass the route, we will see it and you'll not be happy with the result."
Doran pulls out a 9mm handgun and cocks it, "The test will start when you hear me fire this gun... Now there are a few other things you should kn-"
*BANG!*
He cuts himself off and fires, confusion the students who were carefully listening in-case they missed something. The rest had already sprinting towards the first red-marked lampost.
Afton was obviously ahead of the group, Sandra was somewhere behind him but he couldn't see Miles or Melissa when he took a glance. Melissa was physically capable, but she was still just a ten year old, against older students who were already in the midst of puberty she didn't stand a chance.
He looked up ahead to see what was coming up, quickly spotting the first obstacle, large jagged rocks had been placed in his way, he could probably go around it but judging by the fact it was enclosed by red-marks, he would be forced to traverse it.
Without hesitating he leapt atop the first one, carefully placing his footing just-in-case they'd greased it up or something, the rocks were pretty sharp so the risk of injury was likely if you fell. He hopped from one to the other with relative ease, he looked back once at the end and saw that Sandra was taking it pretty slow, probably to avoid slipping and injury herself.
Continuing ahead, he saw a fenced in-enclosure, the marks were suggesting that he had to go through it, but he was stunned for a moment when he spotted the small group of rad scorpions inside it... Did they want to kill us?... No... Upon closer inspection, he could see that their claws had been shattered and crippled while their venomous tails had been cut.
This was more than likely to be a test of bravery, though, now that he'd noticed that there was no risk it looked relatively easy. He climbed over the fence and sprinted towards the other side, the rad scorpions move to intercept him but he simply hops onto of one and jumps clear over the rest, momentarily feeling like Mario.
He could hear people talking from the side where the spectators had been, obviously they'd not expected him to jump onto their captured beasts... He climbed out of it and ran to the next obstacle, a large wall made from rotten wood and scrap metal.
There seemed to be a door that you raised by pulling the robe at the side, he gave it a tug and immediately realised that you'd need more than one person to actually lift it... Shaking he head, he'd rather not wait for someone to arrive and lose his lead, instead beginning to scale the wall.
The wall itself was around 15ft tall, but he managed to climb it in under a minute, he wasn't all that good at climbing, but the wood and scrap metal made good handholds to pull yourself up on... While it wasn't as easy as climbing say, a ladder, he didn't find it all that difficult. Maybe the other would though as you sometimes needed to lift your body with just your arms.
He got over and took a peek around the wall to see how the others were doing... Most seemed to have completed the jagged rocks, but he saw the medics carrying away a few people who had horribly twisted ankles and large bloody gashes going up their legs.
The scorpion enclosure had definitely halted a few people, even Sandra was hesitant to go in, he spotted Melissa just laughing as she raced past the scorpions as they chased her... She might have a few screws loose.
He didn't stay any longer as it might be a while before they reached the wall, no point in ruining his advantage. However, as soon as he made a step towards the next obstacle he found his foot trapped... Quicksand!
Fortunately, all of the students had been briefed with how to deal with it, he leant forwards to get his stuck feet out and started slowly making his way to the edge, becoming slightly irritated by how dirty he was getting.
He quickly made his way through a couple more physically based challenges before he finally spotted the last obstacle... It was another wall, but had a small gap in the middle of it. It looked like only one person could squeeze through at a time, which was probably intended to make sure that they'd be able to pick out the winners even if it were a close race.
He made his way through the gap, only now noticing that the rancid stench of rotting flesh had begun choking him. Taking a glance around to see where it was coming from, he could see bits of meat hanging from above him. He got a little further into the gap and realised that there were actually small bits of meat stuffed into cracks on the wall, almost causing him to vomit right there on the spot.
He held his stomach and thought happy thoughts as he tried to get to the exit as quickly as possible. Eventually he stumbled out with a pale look on his face, rotten meat was bad enough, but those ones there had been sitting in the desert sun for what must have been hours. He couldn't really decide what that test was for, to see those without a strong will? To see those who could handle disgusting conditions?
Regardless tried to settle the contents of his stomach as he ran teh course, following it until he arrived back at where Doran was standing... "Is it done?" he asks, sweating profusely from the heat and exertion.
Doran slowly nods and tosses him a bottle of water which Afton started gulping down, he was covered in tried mud and bits of rotten flesh but that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was that he completed the course and shown his competence.
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Niggross
Niggross Hope you guys liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
บท 20: Test Aftermath
"I honestly didn't think you would pass this test Mr Parker..." Doran mutters in exasperation.
Afton just shrugs at him, "You should expect more from me in the next phase." he says before taking a glance at how everyone else is progressing in the course.
Sandra had just climbed out of the quicksand and was making her way to the next obstacle, it seemed she'd copied him and just climbed the wall, as opposed to everyone else.
Most of the students who weren't injured by the jagged rocks or unwilling to venture into the scorpion's enclosure had ended up gathering outside the wall where some begun to pull the rope to raise it. Some of the more unscrupulous people just ran through when the gap was big enough, leaving those who'd actually put the effort in behind.
The wall didn't lower after they let go of the rope, this was probably to stop anyone being crushed by it if something went wrong... This also had the effect of forcing students to crawl through it as those who had been raising it weren't willing to be put in last place just for everyone else. Well, apart from Miles...
Afterwards some students weren't able to get out of the quicksand and had to be helped out, getting disqualified in the process due to them needing assistance.
Afton was unable to see what the students reactions were as they entered the rotten meat filled gap in the last wall, he did have a chuckle as they existed it though, some immediately vomiting on the floor and allowing students behind them to get ahead.
The next four students who "won" a bottle of water were Sandra Torres, Mina Kilback, Turner Jones, and Steve Lynch. Afton didn't know any of them aside from Sandra, but judging by how they spoke with her he guessed that they were around her age too.
He was sent appraising glances from the older students who hadn't even realised he was there until Doran spoke about how ridiculous he was. They quickly drank their water as the rest of the students came in, most looking a lot more exhausted than the top five had been.
Melissa skips up and gets close to Afton, "Did you save me some water?" she quickly asks.
"No." he bluntly states, showing her the empty bottle.
"Whaaat!? I thought we had a deal? If I won I'd share mine, and if you won you'd share yours!" she quickly says.
"No, you just talked to yourself as I ignored you, not giving an answer doesn't mean I said yes, does it?"
"You're so mean Afton!" she huffs.
Miles arrives last, breathing heavily and looking as if he'd pass out at any moment, "Hah-.... I-Is there any water left?" he asks in a pitiable tone.
Doran claps his hands before Miles receives an answer and nods at everyone, "Well done for making it this far, I'm not going to tell you if you passed or not as it'll be up to the examiners who'd been watching you traverse the obstacles. Even the top five might not pass if they did something dangerous and reckless... The reason for this? What if you attempted the same thing out on a patrol and injured your leg? You'd slow the whole squad down and potentially lead to the deaths of everyone." he says with crossed arms.
"Anyway, all of you who don't want to attempt any of the advanced tests can go clean yourselves up and do whatever else you want, the test if over you for... For everyone else you should follow me." he gestures towards them as he begins walking towards the ladder that leads into the underground again.
Afton follows, noticing that Sandra, Miles, and a few other students were right behind him... He wasn't surprised to find that Melissa didn't want to attempt the advanced tests, it'd be shocking if she even passed the initial ones to be honest.
He was still covered in mud and spelled of rotten flesh, but he was led to a classroom where he picked what subjects he wanted to attempt. Afton picked almost all of them, medicine, mechanics, science, machinery, and a few other more specific ones like biomechanics. He'd studied most subjects he could get his hands on, there wasn't a comprehensive library to look through as in-tact pre-war books were very, very hard to come by, especially those with complex material.
He wasn't a genius, but he'd put in a lot of work throughout these ten years, he was hoping to be taught more when he became an Initiate as he was basically a jack of all trades at this point.
This time around the tests were specifically designed for each subject, he was tasked with repairing a laser pistol for one and quizzed for a few others. He was exhausted by the time he was done, hours of wringing his mind of all knowledge it held, as well as the physical exertion of the second test phase had him want to pass out by the end of it.
His parents and Adah congratulated him as returned, but they let him leave for his room after seeing how tired he was. The students would be given their test results tomorrow so Afton was more than happy to sleep now and wake up fresh tomorrow to see how he did.
The next day after Afton had eaten some kind of gruel for breakfast he made his way to the common room where they were supposed to be given their test results. He entered and noticed that Melissa and were already there, apparently he'd woken up late due to how tired he was yesterday.
"Oh, you're here?" Melissa asks while turning her head with a huff, apparently still mad that he'd not shared his water with her.
"Morning..." Miles greets with a timid smile.
Afton just sits himself next to them, most of the other students were already gathered and eagerly awaiting their results.
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Hope you guys liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
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