(4)Survival Test

During the first afternoon and the second day of the test, Marlon had watched to find out which candidates still had water. He'd noticed one guy in particular who seemed to have a lot of water left, but hid the bottle with his bag when he took occasional sips.

That person seemed to have been one of the few candidates who'd thought far enough ahead to bring extra water to the Hunter exam. Most candidates had either assumed they'd be given all the water they needed (nearly all of these fools were long gone by now) or had simply miscalculated how much they'd need. Among those candidates who'd brought more water than the others, they also had the presence of mind to realize they needed to hide how much they really had.

But unless they refused to drink water altogether, every sip was an opportunity for them to be discovered.

And Marlon had indeed discovered one of them.

By the second night, Marlon felt annoyed at how little information he'd gathered. His chosen prey hadn't moved any more than Marlon had, so it was impossible to know how injured he might be or what his skill and physical ability might be. Combined with the fact that Marlon's wounds were still fresh and painful, Marlon decided it would be too risky to attack his prey head-on.

As evening fell, Marlon's prey seemed to be struggling to stay alert. He began glancing around himself frequently, clearly trying to figure out if anyone was planning on attacking him. Marlon turned his head to the side and pretended to be watching someone else… while always looking at his prey out of the corner of his eye. Since the sun had set pretty early on that winter day, the darkness helped obscure his true intentions.

Marlon's analysis of his prey's exhaustion proved correct. Not long after sunset, the candidate began to doze off. It'd been very difficult for him to sleep through all the howling and excitement last night, so his body cried out for sleep. Even adrenaline couldn't keep him awake any longer.

The candidate's eyes closed heavily, his head slumped forward, and his arms fell limply to his sides.

Then Marlon made his move.

He remained in a sitting position and shuffled himself along the ground toward his prey, still looking away. Unless someone was watching Marlon in particular, it wouldn't be obvious that he was moving closer to his prey. Marlon longed to just run over and get at the precious water, but he forced himself to remain patient. The night was still young. If tonight was anything like last night, there'd still be at least another hour before the predators among them began their assaults.

Like a tiger stalking an antelope, Marlon spent the next twenty minutes moving gradually closer and closer. Every movement sent a jolt of pain through his ribs, but his thirst was even worse. 'Soon,' he told himself over and over. 'Just gotta wait a bit longer…'

Then he was barely two meters away and Marlon couldn't contain his thirst any longer. He sprang to his feet and leaped forward.

His victim's paranoia had made him a light sleeper. He startled awake as Marlon closed in and barely had time to scream and flinch before Marlon's fist connected with his jaw, knocking him cleanly out.

Marlon wasted no time celebrating his victory. He knew if he lingered too long someone might recognize him as the badly wounded guy who'd been sitting near his victim, someone who might have trouble fighting opportunists away. Marlon ripped open his unconscious victim's bag and took rapid stock of the contents.

A nearly full 1-liter bottle of water and a couple chocolate bars, their foil wrappings glinting in the moonlight! And some extra clothes, but Marlon left those behind. His victim's frame was considerably smaller so there was no chance they'd fit.

In the space of a few seconds, Marlon had knocked out his victim, taken the food and water, and sprinted away, leaving an empty bag and scattering of clothing behind.

It had all happened so fast that hardly anyone else noticed. As far as they were concerned, it was yet another scream in the night that was quickly silenced.

But for Marlon, it might be the difference between life and death.

***

William, for his part, made completely different plans. He was just as fatigued and in desperate need of sleep as everyone else, and he realized that there was no chance of him staying awake all night to evade attackers. Throughout the second day, he'd thought carefully about his best course of action. Eventually, he settled on subterfuge.

William divided his remaining water supply so there was a small amount in one bottle. When nobody was looking, he left most of his water outside the test zone, in its current hiding place, along with everything he didn't want to lose. Then he snuck back, opened his bag, and put the bottle with a tiny bit of water into it, along with a few small, worthless items he didn't care about losing.

Then, William simply left the bag open next to him while he went to sleep. To anyone who came upon him, the message would be clear: no need to break my leg! Take what you want.

Hopefully, this strategy would help him survive without injury until the next morning.