Sixty-Seven Salamanders

by Jeffary Joseph

Chapter 13 – Aptitude Test

  “Have you finally lost it?” A female voice asked.

  I peered up to see my childhood friend looking down at me. Although, I wasn't quite so sure she was anymore. I mean, she had kept so much from me and for so long. It made me feel like I didn't even know her and didn't want to admit it, but maybe that was the truth. “Oh, it's you, Candace, if that's even your real name.”

  “Your crazy is coming out again.” Her eyebrows went up.

  I wasn't exactly in a talkative mood so just sat in silence and watched the carpeted floor.

  “Hellooo?” She kicked my leg.

  “Don’t kick me.”

  She squatted and put a hand on my forehead, making me turn my head away. “You feel fine. Did the talk with the dean not go so well?”

  “It went peachy cream.” If only that was the truth.

  “Well then, Mr. Grouch, why so grouchy?”

  Well for starters, I just found out my best friend has been keeping life-altering secrets from me. “I’m fine.”

  “Oh, I know! You haven't eaten yet, right? Come on; breakfast is on me.” She smiled.

  I didn't want to admit it, but that might actually be the one thing to cheer me up, if even only a little. The taste of the dean's manure truffle still lingered on my taste buds. “I'm not hungry.” My stomach growled in protest. Traitor.

  “Don't be modest; a growing boy needs his nutrition.” She laughed and stood up to yank on my arm.

  I resisted slightly at first, but eventually gave in and let her pull me up. Of course, I was still upset, but knew it wasn't exactly her choice to keep secrets from me. And technically, we were in the same boat now, and that boat was smack dab in the middle of a storm. Covert ops agents... Just thinking about it made my stomach flip. Leaving the information building, Candace and I strolled through the courtyard; the sun was emerging from behind a few pregnant clouds. I peeked at her sideways through my peripheral vision to see she was acting as normal as ever. It got on my nerves that I couldn't tell what she was thinking half the time.

  Wasn't she the least bit curious as to what I and Dean Dexter discussed? Well if she wasn’t going to bring it up, neither was I. “What happened to your friend? I thought she was supposed to pick me up.”

  “You mean, Bianca? I finished up council work early, so I came instead.”

  “Oh.”

  “Disappointed? She was pretty cute, huh?” She smirked.

  “You smell that?” I sniffed around.

  Candace turned her head left and right to search for the smell. “What are you talking about?”

  “The jealousy that's thick in the air.”

  She smiled at me. “You're so cute when you're delusional, like a dumb little puppy.”

  My eyebrow involuntarily twitched. “That's hilarious. You know what else is funny? The little secret Bianca told me about.” I was totally bluffing but wanted to have a little fun with her.

  To my surprise, she came to a halting stop and forced me to do the same. Her eyebrows were up in a questioning look, and her mouth was slightly open as she watched me. It was rare to catch Candace in such a flustered state. I wish I had my phone on me because I would’ve cherished the picture forever. But what had gotten her in such an agitated state? Was what Bianca was going to tell me that embarrassing?

  “What little secret?”

  “You know what I'm talking about.” I didn't even know what I was talking about but was going to wing my way through it and was curious now anyway.

  She raised her eyebrow and examined my poker face. “You’re full of shit.”

  I burst out laughing after a short while. Ever since we were kids, I could never manage to trick her. “You should've seen the look on your face. It was so goofy.”

  She punched me in my arm. “Ass.”

  It seemed I was everyone’s punching bag today. “Ow, I have delicate skin you know.”

  “Whatever.”

  I was in slightly higher spirits after teasing my childhood friend. “So, where are you taking me for breakfast?”

  “You're lucky to be getting anything at all now. Addison's cafeteria is actually pretty decent and today's Pancake Day.”

  “Pancakes? I sincerely and truly apologize for teasing you, Oh Great Candace.”

  “That's more like it.” A sweet smile grew on her.

  Soon, we came upon another building that was mostly see-through and had students seated at rows of long, grey tables. Inside the cafeteria, Candace had me take a seat and came back five minutes later with a big stack of pancakes that I immediately snatched.

  She smiled at me while I wolfed down the carbs. “You're welcome.”

  “Thank you.” I told her through a mouth full of delicious pancakes and when done patted my extended belly. “I think I can die in peace now.”

  “I told you they were good.” She laughed. “Next time you have to try –“

  “Why didn’t you ever tell me the truth about Addison?” I made eye contact.

  Her expression was blank. “You know why.”

  I put my hands on the table and gazed at my empty plate. “I know… but still.”

  Candace reached out and put her hand on mine. “You know I wouldn't keep anything from you on purpose. It wasn't my choice, Adin.”

  I reluctantly smiled and looked back at her. “I guess you're right. We’re both in this together now, huh? How crazy is that?”

  She shook her head in confusion. “What?”

  “We're both agents now? Well, technically recruits.”

  “Damn idiot.” She frowned.

  “And why am I an idiot?”

  She waved a hand at me, her distracted eyes briefly on the table. “Sorry, not you. Listen, Adin, you can't become an organization agent.”

  “What, why not?”

  “You just can't.”

  I leaned back in the chair and crossed my arms. “Oh sure, I’ll just pack my bags and go home.”

  She brought her hands down on the table with a smack, attracting attention from the other students. “I'm not joking, Adin, this isn’t a game. You could die out there, do you understand that?”

  “What about you?”

  “I'm on the student council. I don't do the fighting.”

  It made sense I couldn't picture Candace fighting; she had too big of a brain for that. I pressed my lips together. “You’re the one who wanted me here in the first place, remember?”

  “Not like this.”

  “It was my choice, just like it was yours and this is what I chose. I don't need you to protect me anymore, okay? Thanks for breakfast.” I got up and turned to leave.

  “Wait, Adin, you don't even know where to go.”

  “I'm not a little boy anymore Candace; I’ll figure it out.” And with that, I left the cafeteria, not sure where my destination was, but that didn't matter at the moment. I knew Candace was just trying to protect me but felt it was selfish for her to try and choose my future. She had always been like that, trying to fight my battles for me, but I wasn’t a child anymore and had to make my own choices whether she agreed with them or not.

  My feet eventually carried me to the middle of the courtyard, and next to the giant statue I’d seen earlier with Bianca. Checking it out closer showed it was a woman that I didn't recognize, but she must've been pretty important. After all, there had been plenty of influential figures at Addison, and there were no statues of them anywhere on campus.

  Looking around, I spotted a female recruit with short, brown hair close by and asked for directions to the aptitude test. A bit later, I came upon another building that was mostly blue with an arch that stretched across the top and scanned the spacious room once inside. There was a desk off to the right that I started towards, even though it seemed to be empty. Upon getting closer, a rustling sound could be heard from behind it.

  I leaned on my toes to see a flustered Asian girl with ridiculously long hair and glasses that were too large for her face trying unsuccessfully to
gather sheets of paper that were scattered all over the floor; it was truly a mess.

  “Hey, do you need any help?”

  The girl continued to scramble, not hearing me at all, but was making no progress. I walked behind the tall desk, bent down next to her and helped pick up the papers. She already had most of the ones in the front, so I stacked mine on top of her small pile, causing her to fall back in surprise.

  “Hi.” I waved, amicably.

  “Where did you come from?” She was leaning back on her elbows with her long hair laid all over the floor.

  “I came through the door.” I pointed over at the entrance.

  “Oh…” Her eyes popped open. “Oh! You’re, Adin Anderson!”

  “I am.”

  “The one who stopped those terrorists.”

  I scratched the back of my head. Just how many knew about that?

  She stood up with the collected stack of papers and smiled. “I think what you did was really great; a lot of people could've gotten hurt.”

  “Thanks, I'm just glad I could help.” I gave her my own smile. “Are you a student here?” She looked a bit older than most of the recruits seen so far. Her attire stated otherwise too, wearing a white lab coat over a yellow shirt that had a smiling penguin and black skirt; I think my sister had the same shirt.

  “Yes, well, um, technically no. I mean I was. I’m the ambassador now, along with my other duties.” She looked down. “I actually took care of you when you got here…”

  “So, you’re the one that undressed me?” I remember the green gown I’d been wearing.

  Her suddenly hands shot up. “I-I promise I closed my eyes the whole time.” She protested breathlessly.

  I laughed. This girl was a funny character. “What's your name?”

  “I'm Kei Izumi...” She pointed to the silver badge on her coat.

  “So you work here.”

  She pushed her large glasses up. “Yes. I graduated a few years ago and now work here as the ambassador. I administer the aptitude tests that will help determine where to place you, although I give my own input into where you should be appropriately placed.”

  I nodded. “So, what do we do now?”

  “Um, right. There are two parts to the aptitude test. First, you’ll be taking the physical portion. Follow me.” She made her way from behind the desk and walked right, where there was a small hallway.

  Eventually, it opened up to a tiled-dome area that was spacious and wide, also empty. There was a long strip of tinted window that circled the entire top. It was hard to see through, but several shadowy figures could be made out.

  “Okay, walk to the middle of the training dome.” Kei instructed.

  I did and looked back to see no one in sight.

  “The test will now commence.” Kei's soft-spoken voice magnified throughout the room a second later.

  “Wait, what do I –”

  Before I could finish my question, some type of robot that was connected to a very long cord shot out from the far side wall and towards me like an angry bull. It was in the shape of a person, but instead of hands and legs had pads. I didn't have too much time to think as it wasted no time in attacking me. And it was quick as lightning, too, me barely managing to veer my head to the right before the machine’s arm pad came crashing down.

  It had only begun its assault, and I was fast realizing that I wasn’t going to be able to defeat the thing with sheer force. But it was hard to come up with a plan when you had an opponent with an infinite amount of energy attacking. While preoccupied with the upper half of the robot and defending against its arm pads, it sent a brutal kick that slammed into my shin.

  Tears formed in my eyes at the unbelievable pain, my entire right leg immediately going numb and forcing me to one knee. I was lucky that I did too, because right where my head had been a second ago, an arm pad sent what would have been a finishing blow. There was a shooting pain in my leg as I struggled back to my feet but appreciated it because it fueled me and made me want to hurt the robot back, though I guess that was technically impossible.

  I wasn’t going to do any damage to its arms or legs, so sacrificed my left arm as its own came down in a vicious arc and rocketed into mine, making me feel excruciating pain once again. It was worth it though as an opportunity to score my own blow arrived. Smashing an angry fist aimed straight at the robot’s head made it pop up and stop moving. I took an exhausted breath right after and doubled over, feeling like I’d gone twelve rounds with Mike Tyson.

  “The robot will only be stunned for thirty seconds, get ready.” Kei warned.

  “Are you kidding me!?” I spun around to try and locate where her voice was coming from. “What exactly is the goal of this exercise?”

  “To test your improvisation skills. You're actually doing better than most.”

  Really? I thought I was doing pretty sucky. “Is there a way to stop the robot?”

  “Hm. I guess there's no harm in telling you. Yes, there is, although only one person was actually ever successful in doing so.”

  I checked the long cord that was connected to the robot and sticking out of the dome wall and limped over to grab and yank as hard as possible.

  “W-What are you doing?” Kei asked in a flustered voice; some whispers underlined hers, but it was hard to make out what they were saying.

  I continued pulling and heard an electrical surge behind, causing me to immediately double my efforts; thirty seconds really wasn't a long time. Still struggling with the cord, I turned my head back to see the robot pivot and charge in my direction. It didn't have a face, but I imagined it smiling. I refocused on my futile effort to disconnect it, but the relentless machine returned and commenced delivering crushing blows to my back.

  I let out a roar that would’ve made Simba proud and gave my last gallant effort to yank the cord from the wall, knowing I was only seconds away from passing out as the strikes continued. All of a sudden, I lost balance and landed hard on my butt, then laughed and tossed my head back to see the robot lifelessly hunched back over me. “Not so tough without your little cord, huh?” I waved it around.

  Kei unexpectedly emerged from the far side of the dome wall as a section in it opened up. “Y-You can't do that.”

  So that's where she disappeared to. I struggled to my feet and faced her as she timidly approached. “Is it against the rules?”

  She stared at me and then up at the dome’s tinted window, then began tapping on a touchscreen device she held. And after a few moments, looked up at me again in defeat. “Well. technically no...”

  “Then it's fine, right?” I gave a broad smile.

  “Um, I guess… let me just calculate your score.” She began fiddling with her touchscreen device and raised her head once done, her mouth hung open.

  “Something wrong?”

  The older girl shook her head. “No, actually it's the opposite of that… You managed to score in the top ten.”

  A collective gasp echoed throughout the dome, making me look up at the window and wonder who exactly hid behind, though most likely other recruits. “You mentioned before that someone was able to stop the robot, right? How’d they do it?”

  “They were able to disable the dome-dummy by destroying it.”

  How the heck could anyone manage to stop that thing with their bare hands? “Who was it?”

  “Our current dean, John Dexter.”

  I wasn't expecting to hear his name. He seemed kind of goofy to me, but the old phrase that looks could be deceiving seemed to be a true one.

  “He must've been something special.”

  “He was; he holds many of the records here at the school in academics and training.”

  I guess he wasn't the dean for nothing. “So, what's next?”

  “Next is the continuation of the physical portion of the aptitude test, target practice.”

  “Target practice? As in guns?”

  “Mhm. Please proceed to the middle of the dome, Adin.”

  I
made my way there and managed to catch a glimpse of her disappearing behind the sliding door on the far side of the dome this time.

  A second later, her voice came through the speakers again. “Please choose your weapon.”

  As soon as she finished her sentence, a metal table popped out in front of me that had a handgun, a sniper rifle, and an assault rifle.

  I played enough video games to recognize them but still couldn't believe my eyes, never having seen a gun let alone be close enough to touch one. I was officially on a different planet now. Candace’s earlier warning echoed in the back of my mind at that moment. “These are real?” I slid my fingers over the handgun; it was cold to the touch.

  “Yes, but they're currently filled with blanks. However, please, still do be careful.”

  After a short inner debate, I decided on the handgun since it was probably the safest option. There were over the ear headphones also on the table, so I put them on, knowing gunshots were loud enough to damage your eardrums. In the distance, three targets popped out in front of the dome wall.

  “You can begin when you're ready.” Kei instructed.

  I took a deep breath and raised the gun with both hands, not really knowing exactly what to do. The targets on the wall were a good size, so I should’ve been at least able to get near the bull’s-eye. Taking another deep breath, I aimed for the middlemost one and eased my index finger on the trigger. The handgun jerked in my hand as it fired, the strength of the recoil catching me off guard as it clattered to the floor.

  I picked up the fallen weapon in embarrassment and was thankful for the headphones as the roar of the gunshot echoed thunderously through the spacious dome. Squinting to see where the bullet hit showed a small hole at the very bottom right of the target board and nowhere near the bull’s-eye. Laughing erupted from the window in response, making heat rush to my face. So, I’m not a natural gunslinger, give me a break.

  “Don't worry, Adin you can do it!” Kei shouted from her spectator’s view.

  I glanced up and tried to spot her through the dark glass, but couldn't identify her silhouette, so just smiled in the general direction of where she disappeared not long ago. Her sudden outburst washed away my embarrassment like a cold shower and made me aim the handgun one more time in conviction. I can do this.