TAINTED ROSE

Chapter 5 - F.A.S.T. Test

“Okay Adolpha.” Helen squinted at the checklist in her hand then pulled a black stopwatch out of her pocket. Adolpha twitched nervously, looking at the forbidding jungle terrain that surrounded them. A helicopter from the school had dropped her off with Helen. Helen was supposed to “send her to her death”, in Rose’s words (which had gotten her a punch and a slap from Natasha and Helen). Helen apparently had the highest survival rate of 20% when she sent assassins off for the F.A.S.T test, so Miss Lois had been quick to select her to send off the quiet girl.

“Any questions before I leave? I can’t help you after I leave for Angel’s Peak.” Helen looked up at Adolpha with a worried gleam in her eye.

Adolpha shook her head.

“Okay, got your tracker?” Adolpha turned to show Helen the small, metal tracker attached to her pants as evidence. She sure likes saying “okay” a lot, Adolpha thought to herself.

“Good luck. All the best and I’ll see you again in…” Helen trailed off as she triggered the red button on the stopwatch and ticked a box on her checklist. “3 days. You’ve got a 3-hour head start before the robots are triggered. Hurry, I’m sorry I can’t give you more help, but please come back alive.” There was an edgy and desperate tone in Helen’s whisper as Adolpha struggled to grasp her hurried words. “Go! GO!” Helen shoved her lightly and watched as Adolpha stumbled into the dangerous jungle.

Run or hide? Or Fight? As Adolpha ran through the forest, she couldn’t think straight. Although the others had not given her any details on the “killer robots”, they must be pretty high-tech to contribute for 78% of candidate’s deaths. Adolpha really didn’t want to be part of the 78%, or the other 22% who died of dehydration, starvation, natural causes, and fear. Death by fear is no way to leave the earth. The heart attack would be painful and being made a mockery of did not sound pleasant.

Adolpha stopped running and looked back. It looked no different to where she had been 20 minutes ago. No different… no different?! “Have I been going in circles?” Adolpha wondered aloud, and then grabbed her mouth. Could the robots hear her? Sense her fear? Helen had said she had 3 hours but… Adolpha wasn’t sure. It wasn’t that Adolpha didn’t trust Helen, but no one knew what truly went on in the F.A.S.T test. Not even those who had been through it.

It was then Adolpha felt the full weight of the khaki bag Helen had placed on her shoulders. The bag! Helen had called it “Test Materials”.

“Every student examiner gets the choice of picking what’s in their candidate’s sack.” Natasha had explained to her earlier in the day. “Usually a 1 litre bottle of water, bread, sleeping bag, you know, whatever can fit into the sack…”

“Please be good, please be good…” Adolpha put her hand into the bag and felt something rough scrape against her skin. “Ow!” Adolpha withdrew her hand and sucked on a spot when a small cut had formed. Pulling the item out gingerly…

“What is this?! A rock?” The rock felt as though it weighed about 13 kilograms, like the weights Rose had in their dorm. “Is Helen trying to kill me or something? Giving me a stinking rock…” Adolpha could feel tears forming in her eyes. Suddenly, she heard a low mechanical humming sound. “Got to get away, got to get away…” Adolpha dumped the rock back into her pack and scrambled up the nearest tree, flustered.

Pulling herself onto a steady branch, Adolpha rubbed her eyes, as the humming grew louder. “Engines reboot in 90 minutes. Scanning of the area begins… now.” A robotic, female voice announced. Adolpha’s sharp ears picked up on every little click and twist that the mechanism made.

Calm down Adolpha. Calm. Down.

“I’d better look at what other rubbish that girl gave me…” Adolpha took the rock out of her bag and balanced it on her lap, at a right angle to her as she rested her legs on the branch.

Putting her hand back into the bag, Adolpha pulled out many small items and made a mental list.

1.       330 ml bottle of distilled water

2.       Tough, brown rectangle thing (Adolpha sniffed it. It smelled faintly of animal…)

3.       Half of a triangle bandage

4.       Red and blue capsule that bore the words Phytalocisole Glytacolate on the front

5.       One stale bun

“Urgh. Helen…. When I get my hands on you…” Adolpha muttered, then stopped midsentence. Will I get the chance to strangle Helen? Will I even get the chance to see the others again? A low mood settled on Adolpha.

“How did this girl even get 20% of candidates to pass?” Adolpha was confused. “There must be something I’m not getting here… Think Adolpha Think!”

“Sequence begins early; reason 187 of the code, Candidate cannot be found in 50 metre radius. Engines trigger. Search for target, Code D834E92, Adolpha. Tester: Helen. Difficulty: Hard. Tester has a 20% success rate.” Adolpha was terrified. They had made it more difficult because of the useless packer’s “good” success rate. Urgh…

All of a sudden, the jungle plunged into pitch darkness. Adolpha shrunk on her tree branch. The smell of oil filled the air. Coughing, Adolpha looked down (at least the thought it was down…) to see a pair of red lights gleaming in the darkness.

“It’s getting closer!” Adolpha thought to herself. I’m going to die…

Thank you for reading till now. The next update should be next week.  Helena

P.S. BTW I got permission to dedicate this chapter to me :) Finally? :) Yanda can do the rest ^_^