Test 1 - Strength: Angry Red Heads & Inappropriate Clothing_The Candidates

Candidate - 1

A man in a dark grey suit woke to the feeling of falling to find himself sitting alone in a dark empty room. A message popped into his field of vision;

Test 1 Strength - Time limit 15 minutes.

Hint: Do not Die

Good Luck Candidate 1!

'What the.....' He reached out and pawed at the message, but his hands simply passed through it.

'How...What...Where....' WHAT THE FUCK!' He couldn't remember a thing. Not about where he was or how he got here or even who he was. ‘Had he been drugged? Maybe he had been kidnapped?’

He could feel panic setting ignoring the message and in an effort to calm himself he shifted his thoughts to analysing his surroundings. He wasn’t so much in a room as a cave. Stretching about 10 feet in all directions with a dirt floor and very little else. The only source of light was coming from the edges of an old wooden door built into the wall 10 ft. in front of him.

He rummaged through his pockets and found a wallet and keys. Ethan Baker according to his driving license and looks like he drives a BMW. ‘Probably well off then, plus one to the kidnapping theory’ He checked his pockets for anything else.

‘A cell phone! Thank God’ ‘What kind of kidnapper leaves you with a cell phone?’ He turned it on stood up and walked round the room. Waving the phone in the air trying to get a signal. Frustrated he looked towards the haloed door. Shrugging his shoulders, he walked up twisted the handle and tried it. It opened. His focus was immediately drawn to a rudimentary camp fire in the centre of the room and then even more suddenly to a sharp stabbing sensation at his ankle. His legs gave way and he crashed to the floor before felt another stab to his back and then, finally, to his throat.

Candidate - 53,553,580

The strange floating message was only the second most disturbing thing he could see. He sat silently on the cave floor without moving desperately trying to fathom the life choices that had gotten him to this moment.

‘Was I at some strange themed party? Was it for some kind of ironic reason? God, I hope it was ironic. It had to be right? How else does a grown man end up alone in the dark in a cave wearing nothing but My Little Pony themed pyjamas.’

He frantically searched his thoughts looking for a justification but he had no memory that would explain it. Or any other memories for that matter but that wasn’t his focus right now.

'Why would they even make them this big?’

He was definitely full-grown man size. He estimated about 6 ft. tall and not all together skinny either, he observed whilst pinching some of the excess baggage around his stomach. He stroked his chin and messed with his hair. Clean shaven, medium length slightly wavy hair and no head wounds.

“Probably not a hobo then”.

Hard to tell with the lack of light but he was pretty sure he was Caucasian.

The lack of memory was nearly as difficult to explain as his attire. He couldn’t remember a single thing about himself, but he knew things. Like what My Little Pony was for starters.

‘Can I name the different ponies?....... No. That’s a good sign at least.’ He sighed in relief.

Moving past the pyjamas he began to ponder the other elements of his situation. Like who the fuck was he. He lacked pockets entirely so no help there. He was pretty sure the floating message was written in English and he was thinking in English as well. That helped narrow down his identity a tiny bit.

‘Who is the President of Australia? Do they even have a President or a Prime Minister like Britain?…………Definitely not Australian then.

This wasn’t achieving much and was probably better left for when he didn’t have an ominous 15-minute deadline to 'not die'. His attention turned to the light framed door in front of him.

If the message was to be believed' he had to “not die” for 15 minutes. He had been considering his predicament for at least 5 and as of yet nothing had attacked him. Which meant whatever the threat was, it was on the other side of that door where all the light was coming from. That or a group of people playing a practical joke ready to laugh at him and his pyjamas. He wasn’t sure which was worse. Maybe it was shame that he was supposed to survive.

He stood up resolved in his decision and headed towards the door. Maybe the reason he adorned in ponies was just behind that door. ‘Like a strange sect of My Little Pony worshiping cultists…….’ He paused standing motionless, reconsidering.

Having deemed a My Little Pony cult unlikely and with his 15 minutes nearly running out he crouched by the door and gently as he could, turned the handle and pulled it just ajar, so he could look into the next room

eeeEEEEEEEEEEEEK.

Stampeding elephants would have made less noise than his feeble efforts of stealth.

Before his eyes could even adjust to the light a sinewy grey arm darted through the gap. The Man’s head jolted back in reflex narrowly avoiding the claws leaving his pony decorated chest to bear the brunt of the slash. Tearing through the fabric and leaving 4 distinct scratches stretching from his collar bone to his belly button. Rocking him back on to his heels from the attack

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Fight or flight instincts took over and the man stood and slammed his body into the door crushing the arm of his attacker as it yelped and snatched its limb back resealing the entrance. Relief was short lived as a building force started pushing back in the other direction. Back to against the door the man braced against the ever-increasing pressure as the wood at the bottom began to bow and vicious grey child sized arms swung wildly attempting to claw at his feet.

He sprawled to evade the swiping claws. Legs a kinder, back against the door and arms outstretched trying to find purchase on the cave walls he struggled desperately against the creatures pushing on the other side of the door.

Candidate – 8,008,135

She felt round the back of her head looking for wounds. She must have hit her head really hard she was hallucinating and couldn't remember a thing. It was the only thing that made sense she was alone at the bottom of a dark cave fully kitted out in climbing gear. Only she couldn't figure out where she had fell from as the cave’s ceiling was barely 10ft above her. Maybe someone carried her in here to recover? The only thing of note in the room was a single ill-fitting door with light pouring through into the room from around its edges.

"Hello?" she called out.

There was a scrabbling at the door and then a large yellow inhuman eye peered under it.

‘What the fuck was that!’ She covered her own mouth to prevent a scream. Her eyes darting around the room looking for somewhere to run, somewhere to hide. “Shit shit shit.” She muttered to herself

Whatever was behind the door was not going to give her much time. She could hear excited shrieks coming from behind it as well the edges of wooden frame cracking under force.

Something instinctual clicked in and she spotted a section of wall she thought she could scramble up leading to a large stalactite. Falling back into a routine she couldn’t remember but still knew. She calmed her breathing, reached into a bag, chalked up her sweaty hands and reached out for her first hold.

The wooden door gave way and a swarm of sinewy grey little humanoids scuttled into the room screeching, searching for their prey. The girl gripping tightly to the stalactite above remained motionless and wide-eyed in terror and disbelief at the nightmare below. More than a dozen of the 3ft tall horrors had massed inside the cave. She could make out their creepily large yellow eyes, elongated pallid finger nails that looked more like claws and mouths full of needle like teeth.

One of the creatures began to sniff the air, squawked and pointed alerting the others to their target. The swarm moved in a frenzy probing for ways get to their kill. One of the more ambitious aberrations climbed on the shoulders of another and they wobbled their way over to the girl.

They were just short of being able to reach her as others started to scramble up the make shift tower of bodies. As the first one reached the top she swung a climbing axe hard connecting square in the centre of its face slaying it instantly. The tower collapsed under the falling weight of the spasming corpse of their compatriot.

Angry squeals erupted below her, and she felt the impact of something soft colliding with her arm. Immediately its rancid smell hit her.

‘They didn’t did they?’ She began to gag.

Unfortunately for her this started a trend and she was pelted with faeces from every direction. Until one enterprising little grey bastard having run out of shit to throw picked up a rock instead. The blow narrowly missed crashing into the stalactite inches above her head.

Arms aching, caked in monster poo and trying to position herself so the stalactite was between her and those below throwing more substantial ammo she clung on with a single hope. ’15 minutes.

Candidate - 1,337,331,337

A red haired tower of muscles breathed heavily. Rhythmically clenching and unclenching his fists his feelings of lust gradually subsiding into rage. He couldn’t remember who he was, but he was incredibly confident at what he had been doing. He had been interrupted at a very inopportune time. If the extreme feelings of lust and frustration weren’t confirmation enough, the thin tube of latex hanging below his not quite relaxed waist made it a certainty. Someone was going to pay! He marched over to the door grabbed the handle and violently swung it open.

“WHO THE FUCK BROUGHT ME HERE!!” He bellowed as he stepped into the light

20 vicious looking sinewy grey creatures recoiled in unison at the surprise and sheer decibel level of the audial assault all starring at the culprit. The red headed man starred back and tilted his head in confusion for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.

“Which one of ye wee grey shites is in charge?”

The dazed ‘Grey Shites’ blinked in astonishment until one of them recovered enough to remember it was the vicious beast and lunged at the huge naked man attempting to claw at his stomach. Moving faster than anyone that size had the right to the man deftly sidestepped the lunge. Grabbing the back of the creature’s skull aiding the momentum of its face straight into the stone door frame. A sharp crunching sound followed by a pop accompanied its skull giving way and the creatures swift demise. The rest of the little monsters snarled back in anger. Determined to show their dominance but not wanting to end up like their brethren. They began encircling the hulk of a man looking for an opportunity attack.

Sensing the danger, the big red headed man stepped back into the doorway to prevent any of them from getting behind him “Vicious wee fucks aren’t ye, who’s next?” He goaded as he picked up the twitching corpse in front of him by the legs and started swing it in front of him testing its suitability as a make shift club.

Two of the creatures obliged and he stepped back into the door way to avoid the blows whilst swinging the back of the dead ‘grey shites’ skull up and into the chin of one of his attackers, whilst the other crashed heavily into the floor.

The blow sent the attacking, and now very dead critter, flying back away from the door as its head lost contact with the rest of its body. Unfortunately the power of the attack also sent most of the goblin he was using as a club along with it.

Now holding a goblin foot and half a jagged shin bone the angry man roared and a vicious looking smile formed across his face. He stabbed down into neck of the prone second attacker with the protruding shin bone. There was no longer any confusion over who was hunter and who was prey.

Candidate 9,577,345,663

She woke up cold and wet wearing nothing a small towel wrapped around her soaking wet hair. A strange message she couldn’t read appeared in her vision.

ÎfÕÓ: ÅÇ YZt ÐÃÅ

ÅËå¡ ¶ÑÅ tbg¦¥Ù¡ÌË 9,577,345,663!

No memory of who she was or how she got here. Cold, naked and alone and now hallucinating nonsensical messages. It was all too much. Unwrapping the towel and folding it into a make shift pillow the young woman laid down and tried to gather her thoughts. She felt the tears well as she contemplated her situation. Before long she began to sob uncontrollably.

Her soft whimpers slowly started to gain the attention of those outside. She failed to notice the eyes peering beneath the door or the creaking of the wood as the small grey creatures began to force their way in. A screech followed by the severe sting of a claw scrapping across her back woke her from her stupor and she raised he arm just quick enough to intercept a set of spiny toothed gnashing jaws heading for her face. Her feet were under her in any instant as she moved to create distance between her and what she now saw was a mob of nasty looking beasts. She glanced left and right desperately looking for a place to escape. There was nowhere to run it was hopeless.

Test 1 - Strength: Angry Red Heads & Inappropriate Clothing

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