Chapter 3- The test

After reading the book, Hob took some time to digest what was in it and came to a conclusion pretty soon. "Ain't no way a whole civilization was eradicated because of some super bomb used due to the conflict in beliefs of some people," Hob thought to himself.

After that, he tried talking to a few people but didn't have much luck, as almost everyone was wary of each other, especially of Hob for pulling off that spectacular entrance into the venue at the last second. So, Hob sat alone, waited out the remaining time, and slept for a few hours after eating again.

When he woke up, the time for rest was almost over, and by the time he was fully awake, it was already 15:05 the next day, which meant that the test was going to begin again.

Soon, a middle-aged man, probably in his 40s, entered through the gate. Everyone's eyes were focused on him. His presence was elusive, feeling like he wasn't actually there while he was right in front of everyone's eyes. The man stopped in the middle of the open area, and everyone subconsciously made an open space for him to stand in, keeping their distance.

Then the man spoke in an unbelievably loud voice. It was so loud you could hear it from a mile away, though barely, but it was enough for everyone in the venue to hear what he was saying, especially since everyone else was silent.

"Congratulations to the young participants of the 'HUNTED' exam. All of you have made it to the venue in time, and I believe most of you have recovered from the fatigue of having to run all the way here in the past 24 hours. For everyone's information, this time there are 464 men and 393 women who have made it to the venue in time."

He took a slight pause, and everyone heard the sound of iron being pulled along the ground. Everyone turned to look at the source of the sound and saw rows of cages being brought into the venue. Inside those cages were humans, some healthy, some wounded, but they were all around the same age, around 21, the age to become a lamb. Looking closer, Hob saw many faces which he had seen in the chaos during those five minutes.

"As you can see, these are those who are going to be the lambs next year as they exceeded the age limit, and those who had killed others while making their way to the venue and still failed to do it. Your test is going to be related to them, so brace yourselves as you have three choices to make, and they will decide whether you become a 'HUNTED' or not. Do remember that there are no wrong choices; every choice will give you a chance to become a hunter. This is but a test to see your capabilities. Thus, make your choice now. Your choices are as follows:

1. Kill three of the killers among them.

2. Kill two lambs among them.

3. Take a lamb out on a hunt and return alive (You can let the lamb come back alive or even use it as bait during the hunt).

Those who have made their choices must form three groups from my left to right in order of options 1 to 3. Everyone has 5 minutes to decide which choice to make."

"This is tricky. Clearly, choice one is the easiest as killing the killers won't put any psychological strain on most of the participants present here, and they're basically in a cage, so it isn't hard either. Killing three of them won't be hard at all. However, for the second choice, there will be some psychological strain as the lambs are innocent, but since they're going to die anyway, there will be people who will fool themselves into thinking that it's the right thing to do and be done with it. The problem comes in the numbers; for every participant to kill three killers or two lambs, there simply aren't enough of them. At most, half of the participants will manage to have their fill before they're all dead. But choosing choice three will mean going on a hunt as a rookie with no one but a lamb who might turn on you at the last moment as well. However, this choice doesn't have any psychological burden like the other two, and I am doing this for myself, so I will not let myself live in burden. Thus, I make the third choice," Hob thought and walked to the rightmost group to the middle-aged man.

Soon, three groups were formed, and as expected, most of the people chose to go to the first group, then the second group, and the least number of people were in the third group that Hob had chosen.

The middle-aged man spoke again, his voice as loud as ever, "As everyone can see, 412 people have chosen to be in the first group, while 392 people have chosen to be in the second group. Meanwhile, group three has the least number of people, 53 to be exact. So for now, group three should move back with me as their test will be happening after groups one and two. As for the first two groups, get into position and attack on my mark. Anyone who is unable to complete the goal set by their choice will be considered a lamb at the end of this competition."

Soon, the third group moved to the edge of the arena to spectate while the atmosphere of groups one and two was grim, as they would have to compete not with the other group but with their own.

Then the middle-aged man shouted at the top of his lungs, "BEGIN!" following which something happened that was out of everyone's expectations except the middle-aged man's, of course...