Steel Waste

"I honestly didn't think you would pass this test Mr Parker..." Doran mutters in exasperation.

Afton just shrugs at him, "You should expect more from me in the next phase." he says before taking a glance at how everyone else is progressing in the course.​​

Sandra had just climbed out of the quicksand and was making her way to the next obstacle, it seemed she'd copied him and just climbed the wall, as opposed to everyone else.

Most of the students who weren't injured by the jagged rocks or unwilling to venture into the scorpion's enclosure had ended up gathering outside the wall where some begun to pull the rope to raise it. Some of the more unscrupulous people just ran through when the gap was big enough, leaving those who'd actually put the effort in behind.

The wall didn't lower after they let go of the rope, this was probably to stop anyone being crushed by it if something went wrong... This also had the effect of forcing students to crawl through it as those who had been raising it weren't willing to be put in last place just for everyone else. Well, apart from Miles...

Afterwards some students weren't able to get out of the quicksand and had to be helped out, getting disqualified in the process due to them needing assistance.

Afton was unable to see what the students reactions were as they entered the rotten meat filled gap in the last wall, he did have a chuckle as they existed it though, some immediately vomiting on the floor and allowing students behind them to get ahead.

The next four students who "won" a bottle of water were Sandra Torres, Mina Kilback, Turner Jones, and Steve Lynch. Afton didn't know any of them aside from Sandra, but judging by how they spoke with her he guessed that they were around her age too.

He was sent appraising glances from the older students who hadn't even realised he was there until Doran spoke about how ridiculous he was. They quickly drank their water as the rest of the students came in, most looking a lot more exhausted than the top five had been.

Melissa skips up and gets close to Afton, "Did you save me some water?" she quickly asks.

"No." he bluntly states, showing her the empty bottle.

"Whaaat!? I thought we had a deal? If I won I'd share mine, and if you won you'd share yours!" she quickly says.

"No, you just talked to yourself as I ignored you, not giving an answer doesn't mean I said yes, does it?"

"You're so mean Afton!" she huffs.

Miles arrives last, breathing heavily and looking as if he'd pass out at any moment, "Hah-.... I-Is there any water left?" he asks in a pitiable tone.

Doran claps his hands before Miles receives an answer and nods at everyone, "Well done for making it this far, I'm not going to tell you if you passed or not as it'll be up to the examiners who'd been watching you traverse the obstacles. Even the top five might not pass if they did something dangerous and reckless... The reason for this? What if you attempted the same thing out on a patrol and injured your leg? You'd slow the whole squad down and potentially lead to the deaths of everyone." he says with crossed arms.

"Anyway, all of you who don't want to attempt any of the advanced tests can go clean yourselves up and do whatever else you want, the test if over you for... For everyone else you should follow me." he gestures towards them as he begins walking towards the ladder that leads into the underground again.

Afton follows, noticing that Sandra, Miles, and a few other students were right behind him... He wasn't surprised to find that Melissa didn't want to attempt the advanced tests, it'd be shocking if she even passed the initial ones to be honest.

He was still covered in mud and spelled of rotten flesh, but he was led to a classroom where he picked what subjects he wanted to attempt. Afton picked almost all of them, medicine, mechanics, science, machinery, and a few other more specific ones like biomechanics. He'd studied most subjects he could get his hands on, there wasn't a comprehensive library to look through as in-tact pre-war books were very, very hard to come by, especially those with complex material.

He wasn't a genius, but he'd put in a lot of work throughout these ten years, he was hoping to be taught more when he became an Initiate as he was basically a jack of all trades at this point.

This time around the tests were specifically designed for each subject, he was tasked with repairing a laser pistol for one and quizzed for a few others. He was exhausted by the time he was done, hours of wringing his mind of all knowledge it held, as well as the physical exertion of the second test phase had him want to pass out by the end of it.

His parents and Adah congratulated him as returned, but they let him leave for his room after seeing how tired he was. The students would be given their test results tomorrow so Afton was more than happy to sleep now and wake up fresh tomorrow to see how he did.

The next day after Afton had eaten some kind of gruel for breakfast he made his way to the common room where they were supposed to be given their test results. He entered and noticed that Melissa and were already there, apparently he'd woken up late due to how tired he was yesterday.

"Oh, you're here?" Melissa asks while turning her head with a huff, apparently still mad that he'd not shared his water with her.

"Morning..." Miles greets with a timid smile.

Afton just sits himself next to them, most of the other students were already gathered and eagerly awaiting their results.