The Cadet Test

When Lue opened her eyes again, she found herself in a classroom. No, not her old classroom, this classroom is shabbier than that, but the size of the classroom was about the same as hers; there were all the fourteen students in here, all bewildered.

Suddenly, a strange bell rang from the fixed minuscule screen at the front wall. All of them gathered near the screen, making sure everyone can see it. Certain texts started popping there-

"The Cadet test begins! "

"Objective: Escape the school within an hour! This school is being attacked by a horde of Wild dogs and lone cougars. Escape the school safely, arrive at the safe area, and the mission will be completed."

"Additional Mission: 1] Kill at least five wild dogs or lone cougars.

2] Kill the crowned head Lone cougar "

"Accomplishing rewards: Completing the main objective will give you 100 credit points. Completing 1st additional mission will bring 200 credit points; completing 2nd additional mission will bring 500 credit points."

"Caution: Maps are kept at random places, which have the off-limits marked. If you by chance step into off-limits then you will be disqualified immediately."

"If anyone wants to give up, then press the green button on the wristwatch that you've been provided with."

"Good luck!"

It went blank. Nothing was popping anymore, that was it! There was a moment of silence, everyone frozen in time. All of them looked at each other. The silence was broken by Eve, "What the heck?" she stated loudly.

"What are these wild dogs? are they here?"

"I didn't sign up for this-" Hilary was wheezing, "Is it...is it only..me? who feels like this..." her voice trailing off.

The place was crammed with shouts. Yesterday after the commotion caused by Adrina and her gang, they were ordered to go back to their classes, later the news was spread that the principal took care of them and they got suspended. No one heard from them after that.

"How did we end up in this place?" Lue shouted and let out a rasping cough. Finally, everything was calm, everyone started thinking rather than being anxious.

"It's simple. Remember they called us out separately for some uncertain reason. Judging from the reactions now and back then, they must have used Halothane vapour and brought us here." Lorek stated as he took a seat in the classroom.

"How are you so sure it's Halothane?" Eve asked holding her head, moving the chair and making herself comfortable.

Now that they all are finally talking, everything is coming to a place. Everyone took a seat and eventually made a circle so that they can see each other properly.

"I might not be the brightest out here, but I do have a good thing for chemical things, as my parents are in this field and at max, we have 10 minutes in this closed classroom, Halothane is here too," Lorek puts his palm on his nose and continued, "breathing Halothane can irritate the nose and throat causing coughing and wheezing."

Everyone shot a worried look at Hilary and Lue, that's the symptoms both of them showed...consequently, they ended up wondering if they are alright? if they can continue the test?

"Not only that," he continued interrupting everyone's thought, "Exposure, I guess what we are doing now, can cause us to be dizzy, lightheaded, and confuse-" Beric stood up, pushing his chair aside and making his way through all of them to the window, he bangs it, trying to open it as fast as possible, finally able to slid open it. He throws up.

"Cough, cough," Beric was huffing, it's not like he ate much in the morning, it's coming up again, he bends down but nothing came, "Huff, huff," He wipes off his mouth from his clothes and slides down to the floor facing all of them. Bending both his knees and keeping his hands on them, he eventually makes his throat work, "I'm...I'm good, I don't know why this happened,"

"Well," Lorek scratches the back of his head and looks away, "vomiting and abnormal heartbeat. It's a sign. We need to act quickly, or else we will pass out and will fail this test ultimately."

The urgency in his voice was enough to let everyone know how serious the situation is. It might even kill them. Beric felt like vomiting again, he pushes the ground with his palms and grabbed the side of the window, as his eyes gazed outside they widened, and he said slowly, "Guys...."

No one responded, he turned towards them and said aloud, "Guys, look outside. They are already here."

All of them perked up, now that they are looking carefully the classroom was rundown and the grey walls were smeared with darkened bloodstains. Most of the tables and chairs were strewed all over the floor, Hilary, Xanthe, and Elisue were swiftly making their way to Beric. The dry floor cracked and fissured, and the sound of breaking down the whole floor was immense that it covered up their screams for help. The three went down with the concrete, crushed stone.

"Shit!" Lue screamed and ran towards the hole and got down on her knees, looking down to find them but got nothing too much dust and not enough light to see anything there, "I am going there," she gets up, dusting off and preparing herself for a jump.

Eve grabs her by the elbow, "Have you gone crazy?" she yelled, with her eyebrows scrunched and eyes glaring at her.

Lue shakes her off, "What else we can do? what if..." she bites her lips, her hands going up in the air and hits her face, "What if they are still there...breathing?"

Alisa spoke up, not moving an inch from her place, "Hilary? Xanthe? are you guys there?? Speak now, or we won't know."

There wasn't any response.

Terror-stricken, no one moved an inch. Nothing was visible down there, even if there was- no one dared to move an inch. What if they fall next?

A mild breeze came through the window making everything seem real; that's right, this ain't no dream. All of this is happening to them.

"The field," Beric paused, trying to get everyone's attention, he knows this might feel insignificant looking at the situation right now they were facing but if they want to go and check out if the three of them are alive then they will eventually go out of this room. So, sooner or later they will have to face this, "it is filled with wild dogs and lone cougars as the device mentioned."

All of them gasped.

Beric continued, "Seems like they were attracted to this particular side of the building because of the sound, but there's something off..." he was becoming more composed now, his heartbeat coming back at its normal pace.

"They aren't howling or..." Lorek said, standing afar from the windows, "or making any kind of sound" he puts his hands together and breathes out air, he takes a step forward very carefully, checking the flooring and re-checking. One...two...one..two... he counted in his head. When he finally reached the other end of the classroom, he slid open the window and took in the fresh yet foul-smelling air.

The sight was disgusting, you can tell that after seeing his face. Others followed the same trick and saw for themselves what both Lorek and Beric actually meant, avoiding the massive hole and distracting themselves to calm down. Having peace was essential, and they were losing it bit by bit, pace by pace, incident by incident or more precisely sight by sight.

The skin of those animals was decomposing little by little, making it impossible to tell where is their throat, chest or stomach. The sight gave away why those animals weren't making any noise and since they are high up in the building they didn't even notice them. It might be a disadvantage to them or maybe an advantage, it was hard to tell.

Eve gulped her saliva, "We are supposed to kill 5 of that thing? Tell me this is a joke."

"Gooosshhhhhhh!" he giggled, "This is so exciting, everything." Ayaan expressed.

This made him lose it. He has finally, officially lost it. Lue thought.