Chương 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.