Survival Test

"Your survival exercise starts now. You have to survive until dawn; we have released common low-level beasts in the valley. You have to kill at least three of any to pass. Your weapons record your kills. You will not be able to return until you pass. I repeat-"

This announcement has been going on for a while; we were on our way down. Everyone had weapons in hand, descending as fast as we could.

"Ray, how are you going to kill with that stick of yours?" Max asked, his voice showing concern.

"Well, if hit hard enough, it can bash someone's skull in." I knew the staff was heavy.

"Damn, you're a scary man. Just don't try to bash our skulls in, that stick looks heavy." Chuck commented.

"Pay attention guys." Jin said, slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah. We- LOOK OUT!!'' Max threw his weapon. It hit a dog-like creature, little to the left of Jin.

"Thanks." Jin was panting. "Looks like you got the first kill."

"It is a crimson hound, red fur, and long ears, I am sure." Max examined the corpse of the beast after removing his spear. "They can be killed easily. The problem is that they move in large packs."

We all looked around, and for sure, we were surrounded. There was an entire pack surrounding us. All the dogs were at least a meter at the shoulders, their fangs bared and ears pointing at us, they were ready to kill. As there was no option left, we decided to go on full attack.

"Try not to die you guys, teachers warned us." Max shouted as he swung around his spears. "These are easy points, so I will finish first."

"Same here, bitch." Chuck was swinging his axe like crazy.

One dog jumped on me. I hit it with my staff and broke its jaw. I had to go for another swing in order to bash his skull in. This gave me a general idea of the amount of strength needed to take down this beast. "Two more to go."

I looked around and found Max using two dogs, which he skewered with both of his spears, as shields. Chuck was still swinging his axe like a madman, he split down two hounds in one hit. Jin was a little far back, sitting on a pile of beast corpses, like a throne. {Badass.}

I got distracted and had to handle five hounds at once. After kicking away two and managing to hold down two more, I was bitten. A part of my flesh, along with the lower end of my pants, was ripped apart and swallowed by that damn dog. Now, my little suspicion was cleared and I felt scared for the first time. {This isn't a dream, it's all real.}

I used all of my strength to hit the one who took a bite at me and made sure that he had no skull left. All it took was one hit, the dog didn't move after that. With the heat of the moment pushing me, I proceeded to kill others, breaking their bones and making sure not a single one gets to live.

I lost balance and fell. My leg wasn't hurting anymore, in fact, I didn't even feel my leg. It wasn't moving, and felt getting numb as time went by. I tried standing up using my staff, and lost balance again

"Ray, are you okay?" Max asked me.

"Does he look okay to you? He's bleeding like the damn Xin River." Jin shouted in panic. {Like which river?}

Max held out his hand to help me get up. "They have venom, but it is not strong enough to kill you. Your legs must be numb, so try to stop the bleeding," he said.

"Can you stand?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah, but I think I am gonna need support for a while. Thanks."

"We all passed, so I think we should go to the school building and get treated. You almost lost your leg there.'' Jin suggested. While both he and Chuck supported me and we headed back, they started talking

"Still, you really bashed the skull of these things. Its brain was flowing out." Jin said.

"Yeah, I saw that too. You scared me, more than my mom does. When you made first hit, it didn't even make a sound, just cracked like an egg" Max said

"Really?" their comments made me worry about the image Ray was getting at a little, "how many did I take out?"

"Six, after you got your leg bit off and one before that. So seven in total." Jin summarized our kills, "Chuck took out eight, I killed ten and Max got twelve."

"Thirteen, including one at the beginning," Max added.

By the time we reached the ground, my leg had stopped bleeding. When we landed, I saw about five or six students already there, they looked pretty terrible.

"Is anyone injured?" A medic came up to our group.

"I got bit, crimson hound about five minutes ago." I informed her.

"This looks more than just a simple bite." she said as she spread out a mat, "Sit here, I'll treat you." She started dressing my wound. She then gave all of us pills, some food to chow on, and she took back our weapons.

"I'm gonna look for my friends, see you guys later," Max said and left.

"Me too, see you later, take care." Jin also left.

"Can you walk?" Chuck asked me after they both left.

"Pretty much. I'll be good on my own."

"Guess you don't need my support then, good luck." he left after helping me get up.

I tried walking, my leg was limping and felt weak, but I can walk. After wandering around, eating the sandwich we got, I spotted Rose; she was sitting down, surrounded by two medics. She didn't see me, so I decided to walk over to her.

"How are you doing?"

"Who- oh Ray. I am fine, just got a cramp in my leg. What happened to you?"

"Used my leg to feed a hungry crimson hound. The rest of it is numb for now."

"She can walk on her own now, you two can go on your own. Go to your classroom and take some rest." the medic said and handed us some candy. Then he left to treat others.

"Help me walk." Rose held out her hand. {Didn't the medic say you can walk? Well, this is good too.}

We walked towards the homeroom, supporting each other. It was slower than walking separately, but hey, I am not complaining.

"So you had to fight crimson hounds. What were they like?" Rose asked.

"They attacked in a large pack, about thirty, I think. Others did better than me, we killed the entire pack. It was more of a massacre, honestly." My leg felt better now, it probably started healing "Which creature did you deal with?"

"So your team stayed together?"

"Yeah, those guys were good, so we acted as a team."

"You are lucky; my team members went off on their own just as we landed. I had to deal with those stinky clay toads on my own."

"You know there is someone more unlucky.'' I pointed to Tom, who was carrying someone. That someone was Sarah, she wasn't conscious and very much covered in blood. The same goes for Tom, who looked like he just got a bucket of blood spilled over him. Both were on the same team probably.

We quietly walked behind him, not talking at all. He entered the class and went to Sarah's desk and carefully placed her on the bench. Then, he cleaned her hands and face using his own shirt.

"You know that blood stains are hard to get off right." Rose broke the silence.

"When did you guys get here?" Tom freaked out.

"Since you were carrying her in the hallway," I told him.

"So you saw everything? Then I don't need to explain anything, thank god." he suddenly seemed relaxed.

"What do you mean 'don't need to explain'? What the hell happened down there?" Rose started shouting. I had to grab her mouth to make her quiet. "Don't shout, you'll wake her up."

"So, where should I start?" Tom started talking, "we were placed on the same team for a test, I had short swords and she had daggers. We had to fight a group of male blue leopards. I let my guard down; she took the hit for me and killed the cat. She passed out a few minutes later due to exhaustion." his voice was of a person feeling guilty.

"So you treated her?" Rose asked.

"That is not my job, medics handled that, she needs rest." Tom said and sat beside Sarah.

We also got to our seats. Rose took the bench while I took the table and slept. I woke up after sunrise, the room was a little warm, but most people were still asleep. I wasn't able to move, as Rose held onto my hanging arm. I somehow loosened her grip and got up. When I got up, I saw Sarah waking up as well, and she looked confused as to why Tom was beside her. Then she saw me and turned red pretty quickly. I did a little 'hush' and pulled Rose up to make her sit straight.

"Won't he wake up?" Sarah whispered.

"Maybe he will, it really doesn't matter." I also had to whisper, "you should let Tom rest, and he's been sitting there all this time."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You know, give him a lap pillow." I suggested.

"But, how? Won't he wake up?"

"Grab his head and put it on your lap, it is as easy as it gets." my voice got a little louder. It probably disturbed Rose, she moved a little and started falling, so I let her head rest on my shoulder. Sarah slowly moved Tom and gave him a lap pillow.

After a few minutes, Robert entered the class, quietly. He looked at me and Sarah and waved at us. Then he pulled out a megaphone out of nowhere. I covered Rose's ears, and heard Sarah let out "no" in a small voice.

"GOOD MORNING EVERYONE"

The entire class went nuts; people fell out of their places trying to wake up. Rose was spooked, Even though I covered her ears.

"Good morning." I shook her a bit to wake her up.

"What? Oh, morning Ray." she mumbled.

"How's your leg?"

"It doesn't hurt. What was that noise?"

"Look around." I turned her face towards the class. I turned and saw Tom rubbing his eye, he still was on Sarah's lap. Rose gave me the 'since when?' look after she also saw Tom.

"A few minutes ago. I gave her the idea. Let him wake up, he doesn't know." I told her.

"NOW YOUR CLASS BEGINS." Robert now turned off the mega phone, "it is time for your test."