The Never Ending Tunnel

Aston and Kayla both focused their attention on General Garrick. "This concludes the first test, those of you that passed a good job. For those of you who failed, please follow Lieutenant Dan, who will escort you back to the teleportation pad. Train hard and try again next year." Garrick said as he pointed to a man while puffing his cigar.

As everyone turned their attention to the entrance training hall, a man with light brown hair and gray eyes stood there. He had a chiseled jawline and a serious expression. The man's stern countenance was only accentuated by the black-framed glasses perched on his nose. He projected an aura of strictness that left no room for disobedience, holding a steadfast adherence to the rules.

His immaculately clean and pressed uniform, paired with shoes polished to a mirror shine, exemplified the epitome of an ideal soldier. "Lieutenant Dan is my right-hand man. After escorting all the people who failed, he will join us on the next test." Garrick said as he nodded to Lieutenant Dan, who walked over to the bleachers.

"All those who failed fall in line behind me so we can depart as soon as possible. You are holding up the other participants." Lieutenant Dan said as he came to a stop in front of them. As everyone started to line up behind him, a few of the people who failed began to yell that they wanted to try the test again.

"We want to try again, the machine we used was broken, and we demand a retry." A burly-looking boy said as he approached Dan and pointed at the machines. "So you claim that the soldiers that myself and General Garrick trained failed their duties and did not properly maintain the equipment that belongs to the Star Empire's military?" Lieutenant Dan said as he looked the burly boy in the eyes while pushing up the frame of his glasses.

"That's right, I demand a retry!" the burly boy shouted as he puffed his chest out. Lieutenant Dan's face contorted in anger. Before the muscular boy knew what was happening, Lieutenant Dan appeared behind him and struck the nape of his neck, knocking him out. He watched as he fell to the floor, losing a tooth in the process.

Many of the others who had raised their voices quickly hid behind the others in fear of being struck. "You're lucky I am in a good mood today, boy. Insulting an officer of the empire and his soldiers with blasphemy is punishable by up to a year in prison. Consider this a warning."

Lieutenant Dan said as his face of anger went back to his regular stern-looking face as he turned around and saluted Garrick. "My apologies, sir, that you had to see such unsightly behavior." Lieutenant Dan said as he took a wipe from somewhere and cleaned his hand of some invisible filth.

"It's fine, Dan. No need to be so serious." Garrick said as he waved his hand. Not long after, Dan had returned from escorting the failures home. "Alright, follow me and Lieutenant Dan to the next testing area," Garrick said as he and Dan walked out of the training hall and led the participants to the next area. After about five minutes of walking towards the wall, they found themselves before an open doorway with stairs that led down underground.

"This was built just for the exam. Down the stairs, you go." Garrick said as he and Dan disappeared down the dark stairways. It took about 30 minutes to reach the bottom of the stairwell. Whatever this place was, it was deep underground.

Soon everyone found themselves in a long, seemingly endless tunnel. As everyone gathered around, Garrick coughed to get their attention.

"This next test is the final test for today. It is also a simple test." Garrick said as he pointed down the tunnel. "Your next test; all you have to do is run down this tunnel until you can't anymore. Based on how far you can run will determine whether you pass or fail. I will not tell you the criteria for this test, so you better run until you pass out." Garrick said as he laughed and patted Lieutenant Dan's shoulder.

"Dan here will be running along with the group and tracking everyone's score. I will meet everyone later." Garrick said as he entered a door at the side of the tunnel.

A few whispers were heard as people wondered when they should start. A few even sat down, thinking they had time to rest. After all, they did just walk for half an hour. But the next thing they knew, Lieutenant Dan pulled out a clipboard and pen and started walking down the tunnel briskly.

A few of the participants started to follow him. This included Aston, Kayla, the girl in the red shirt and jeans, the monk, the weird boy, and Ripley's group. After this, a few people discovered that the test had already started and began to follow them.

As the group of the smartest people had become dots in the distance, the rest of the examinees began to scramble to their feet after them. Realizing the test had already started. As the group trailed behind Lieutenant Dan, he slowly increased his speed until he appeared to be running.

Truthfully Lieutenant Dan was just speed walking, but to the untrained eye, he was moving so fast he must be running. He kept his clipboard and pen in hand, writing down notes as people fell behind the group out of breath.

"Not even ten miles in yet, and the fodder is already dropping out." Lieutenant Dan thought to himself. "This test will weed out most of the weak ones," He thought as he pushed up his glasses and increased his pace. Within five more minutes, nearly half of the participants were left behind.

Aston was running along with Kayla as he turned to ask her, "How long do you think they will have us run for? This tunnel seems to go on for quite a while." Aston said as he looked as far ahead as he could see.

"My tuition tells me that this test won't end until we reach the end of this tunnel," Kayla said as she ran next to Aston. Kayla was wearing green cargo shorts and a tan t-shirt with black boots. Aston wore green cargo pants and a tan denim shirt with black boots.

Earlier in the day, when they had breakfast Kayla had them stop by a store near the campus to pick up better clothes and supplies for the exam. Stating that what they had would hinder them.

"I am glad we had picked up better clothes. If I had worn what I was earlier, I would be doing much worse now. Thanks, Kayla, that intuition of yours is very useful." Aston said as he thanked Kayla. Kayla didn't respond. She just smiled and looked ahead.

As they kept running, Kayla looked around at the participants that were left. She quickly noticed people of interest she had seen earlier in the exam. There was Ripley, the monk, the girl in the red shirt, and the weird boy. Ripley seemed to be struggling.

At this point, they had been running for a couple of hours. At this point, few of Ripley's group remained; it was just Ripley, his lackeys, and a few other nobles. Not even 30 minutes later, Ripley was heaving and barely keeping up. But suddenly, he fell over and passed out. His two lackeys stopped with him.

They seemed tired but could probably keep going. After they dropped out, only a few nobles seemed in good shape and kept running. The group did not stop; besides Lieutenant Dan writing notes as they left the dropouts behind, he kept moving forward.

"Man, this tunnel takes a toll on your perception of time. How long have we been running?" Aston looked down at his holowatch, but it was just a dark screen. He is not sure when but it must have died.

Kayla looked at her watch, but it was dark as well. "It seems that this test is more than just physical endurance. It is also a test of mental strength." Kayla said as she looked around at other people's watches, which were also off.

"They must have turned our watches off at some point. When people try to check the time and see nothing, they will slowly start to feel trapped in an endless loop of running, unsure of the time, which can place a mental burden on mentally frail individuals." Kayla proposed as she looked around.

Others in the group began noticing that their watches didn't work, and the word spread. Many become distraught. Who wasn't used to looking at the time during a test or when they were bored in school. But such situations would have been worse had there been no clock.

Now in this never-ending tunnel without a way to time, many people had their stress peak and couldn't hold it in any longer.

"When is this gonna be over! How much longer do we have to run?" yelled a participant. "Have we passed yet?" asked another. "Hey, aren't you gonna answer us?" cried another. Slowly more and more people started yelling and asking questions as they looked at Lieutenant Dan for answers.

However, only a cold and firm back answered them. Lieutenant Dan did not even answer them or turn to look; he kept moving forward. At this point, some people couldn't take it and just dropped out, not caring anymore about whether they passed.

Some would keep running, but the stress made them erratic, and some would force themselves to run faster in hopes that before they fell out, they would pass. The others who were still calm kept a steady pace behind Lieutenant Dan.

By now, it had been over half a day. The once enormous group was now just a few hundred individuals. Everyone else had fallen out because they could not keep up, were too tired to continue, or had mental breakdowns in this bleak tunnel.

Aston looked around and noticed that everyone of note from the previous test was still trekking along.

Yet at this moment, the girl in the red shirt had begun slowing down, although she did not stop moving forward. Her body could not keep up the pace. Although her heart and mind had the strength to continue. Her body could not keep up.

With an angry huff, she stopped, sat down, and began to rest and control her breathing. Her chest heaved up and down, and sweat trickled down her neck. Aston himself was starting to feel tired. If his pervy brother Charles hadn't trained him mainly in endurance, he would have fallen behind the group.

Kayla was looking back at the girl, and as she turned to look at the front of the group, she noticed the peculiar boy that her intuition had warned her about. Slowing down for a second as he looked back at the girl in the red shirt. He was seemingly thinking about something for a second before deciding, and he sped back up with the group.

"See, I told you something is wrong with that boy. Right now, he was slowing down and looked like he would drop out. Then he suddenly sped up and caught up with the group. If it was because he was tired that he was slowing down. He wouldn't have sped up in such a nonchalant manner. If someone was tired and then forced themselves to keep going, they would at least show a change in their face when they were giving it their all to keep going. But he didn't even break a sweat." Kayla said as she tugged on Aston's shirt and pointed at the boy.

"You're right. He doesn't look tired, so why was he slowing down?" Aston still couldn't wrap his head around the boy's weird behavior. "Maybe he likes the girl in the red shirt and considered stopping with her to comfort her?" Kayla rolled her eyes and elbowed Aston in the ribs.

"That is a dumb idea. Come on, Aston, if you don't learn how to read people's behaviors and actions, one day it's gonna bite you in the ass." Kayla said, shaking her head. Aston rubbed his side in pain as he looked at Kayla with puppy eyes.

A few minutes later, Lieutenant Dan finally spoke, "Alright, for everyone here, I have a chance for you to earn a reward. Since everyone still here has made it this far without complaint, I will tell you something. Not long ago, we had passed the 70-mile mark. General Garrick left it up to me whether or not to give you a chance for a reward. All of you should feel confident in your strength now; anyone still here can drop out now and earn 2-Stars."

After he said this, many stopped and sat down, including the weird boy. He looked around at the people who had stopped with them, noticed how they were breathing heavily and shaking, and then started to do the same. Almost as if he didn't know what people should look like when they are tired. The rest of the group kept running after Lieutenant Dan.