The Test (part 2)

As the sound of the water rushing against the river grows louder, the fog around us starts growing thicker.

Eventually it starts clouding our vision, causing our eyes to sting with a painful burning sensation, just like when you stare straight at an arc light.

Soon the mist becomes almost impenetrable; the world around us is hidden from view.

The only thing left in our sight are those huge trees standing in front of us. They loom over us, casting shadows over our heads. We are forced to squint our eyes and try to focus as best as we can in order to see where we are headed.

The further we go, the darker everything gets. The air around us feels colder and the sounds of nature are muffled by the heavy fog.

I can hear the sound of my own breathing and that of my footsteps, but all of it becomes silent when a loud bang reverberates through the air, causing a wave of vibrations to flow through me.

- "What was that? Was that a gunshot?" Karl whispers.

I nod slightly in response.

That had been the exact moment that we were both expecting to hear; the sound of gunfire echoing through the area.

I'm now sure that we are getting close to the location of the shooter.

- "Do you hear anything? Any movement?" Karl whispers. I shake my head as an answer to his question.

He looks at me curiously for a brief second before returning his attention to listening intently to every single noise that could possibly be heard around us.

I don't hear a single thing apart from my own heartbeat pounding loudly inside of my chest as we continue on.

Suddenly, Karl freezes right where he is standing and holds out a hand, signaling me to stop as well. My eyebrows furrowed at his sudden action, but nevertheless I stop walking.

I can see that the fog is starting to disperse somewhat and I realize that it probably doesn't take us much longer until we reach the shooter, assuming that this person isn't hiding anywhere else nearby.

The fog is thinning more and more, so there's no longer any doubt that we have reached the spot we are looking for.

However, the shooter isn't anywhere to be seen nor did we manage to catch a glimpse of him.

That doesn't mean that he's dead yet however. It could just be that we haven't managed to locate him yet.

I look around and notice that all of the trees appear to be extremely similar: tall, slender and thick.

The fog isn't as thick anymore and I can clearly see a big amount of leaves surrounding me. A bit further ahead, I can see two figures standing together.

As the fog gradually clears and gives me full view of my surroundings, I finally see who the figures are.

There they are!

Two people, one tall and the other short with brown hair and green eyes. They don't seem to be fighting, instead they appear to be standing around watching me and Karl in awe.

I know that I shouldn't be surprised, given how long they've waited here for us to appear.

I can already tell that both users have only a gun, which means it couldn't have of been the killer from before. But nonetheless, these two are our victims, our targets. We are supposed to kill them.

I pull the knife out of my pocket, gripping it tightly in my right hand, prepared to attack.

Karl follows suit. His eyes are glued to the two figures before us, waiting patiently for the signal from me that he should jump forward and pierce one of the targets with the knife.

We both wait until the fog has cleared enough for us to be able to see the enemy properly again. And with that opportunity, we rush towards them.

The shorter of the two figures notices our approach and pulls out a gun from his belt.

We both dive forwards, trying to stab him at the same time.

I manage to stab the other guy, successfully piercing his chest. The man lets out a surprised grunt in surprise but quickly recovers.

He grabs me by the arm, pulling me backwards and sending me flying across the space between us. The knife falls out of my hand and goes skidding across the ground, landing just next to it.

As I start to get back up, the man kicks the knife away from my reach and points the revolver towards my skull.

Karl rushes towards me, aiming his blade towards the man, ready to strike the first blow.

The man fires twice without hesitation, but his bullets go wide of their mark due to the thick fog swirling around us.

I lunge towards my attacker, slashing my arms across his neck, slicing his skin open and drawing blood. As he collapses to the ground, I take this opportunity to pick up my knife, and finish him off with it.

I then quickly pick up the knife, and walk towards the collapsed man while Karl is holding off the tallest of them.

I then plunge the knife deep into his shoulder. Once I pull out the knife, he screams in pain. I slice across his neck, severing his spinal cord.

As soon as his corpse is dead, I fall onto my knees, unable to keep my balance anymore due to the tremendous pain coursing through my entire system.

I can feel my vision blurring and darkness starting to overwhelm my vision, but I try my hardest to hold it off, and get up.

Karl helps me up and we both hurry to finish off the other man.

I quickly dash towards him, and slash his throat, cutting off the jugular vein and letting blood gush all over the floor.

I then quickly grab his lifeless body by the throat and bring it towards Karl. With all of my might, I throw him over the body of the other man, killing them both.

They were my targets; now they're dead. Now they'll never harm anyone ever again.

Now I have complete control over the situation, even if I am the only one who knows about it.

I walk over to the fallen bodies and look at them, taking note of their features, and memorize them.

- "Oh, I almost forgot." I say to Karl. "We must take each of their blood as a sample." I smile.

- "Ah yes, that would then conclude another one of our objectives." He replies.

After collecting enough of their blood, we leave the bodies behind and begin making our way back to the entrance.

As we pass the last tree, we can see that the fog is becoming lighter, revealing the sun, which was rising slowly, and lighting the area up.

I let out an audible gasp as I catch sight of what is in front of us.

The entrance to the facility.

It seems that we are finally done with this portion of the test.