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PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 4:27 pm 
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Pedal to the metal as the fire tender roared down the interstate. Karl kept his eyes on the smokey road driving Tender 15 toward a raging forest fire. Still several minutes out still but he could see it raging in the distance as he was driving as fast as the apparatus would go. Scorched earth was on both sides of the interstate as it had already been burned through here. Karl pulls up to a road block slowing the truck down appropriately. He passes the truck through the road block driving up to the staging point just past the exit of the interstate. Karl stops at the command station and jumps down from cab jokingly saying "Airborne!".

His partner at his side Karl enters the command station full of busy personnel coordinating the latest attack on the wildfire. Officers from the national guard, local fire departments, Department of Natural Resources, the forest service and agencies Karl hadn't ever heard of. Karl is a approached by someone who asks who he is and he introduces himself. Karl is led to the Incident Commander who stands at a large paper map of area under threat. An overweight local fire chief the Incident Commander was sweating from the summer heat due to the command post being a run down ranger station for the forest. The Commander explains the situation briefly to Karl before assigning a road to travel down and lay wet line to prevent further spread. Karl is provided a map board and a local radio which he hands to his partner. Karl leaves the command post with his partner climbing into the cab of the tender.

Karl drives the tender up the route prescribed by the Commander to slow further spread of the fire. The tender passes the front of the fire moving downwind of it to begin working on making a defensive line. They arrive Karl leaps out of the Tender cab as he brings it to a stop putting it in park and starting the pump. Walking past the pump panel he preps it for operation and grabs the chock blocks throwing them under the rear wheels of the tender. Karl is smiling as he grabs his pulaski and a hose rolling it out and making preparations to start spraying down the vegetation with his partner. Karl grabs the nozzle at the end of the hose and carries it over his shoulder while his partner operates the pump. Keeping in contact with his partner through a radio headset he pushes into the vegetation to protect it from the raging flames that were approaching and getting ever closer.

Karl was genuinely enjoying himself doing his job until he heard something other than the roar of the fire and the drone of tender's engine. "What was that," he thought looking up from his job he looked around but kept spraying. He was just about go back to enjoying when he heard it again but this time it was quiet but unmistakable scream and cry of a small girl. "Lieutenant there is a civilian in the forest I am going to attempt a rescue!" Karl says into his headset before dropping the hose and sprinting into the brush towards where he heard the scream emanate from. Karl heard his lieutenant call up for more resources after acknowledging his attempt at rescue. Karl calls out, "I am a firefighter I am here to help! Where are you?" as he is running and hears another scream and crying now continuous and closer. He spots something pink through the green and brown of the forest. The fire was closing in and the wind was blowing smoke towards him on his right. THERE! A little girl no older than ten years caught in a a blackberry bush.

"Don't worry I will keep you safe." Karl says trying to calm the girl. Grabbing his knife he works quickly to try to untangle the girl from the thorns of the bush without further hurting her. How she got so deep in the forest he had no idea but he knew he didn't have time to ponder it. The girl was free and the fire was not far behind burning where Karl had run the forest through. Karl unzipped his fireproof brush coat and picked the girl up and zipped it up around her to protect her from the fire. She was softly sobbing from the cuts from her entanglement but she seemed to feel safe in Karl's protection. The fire was near at hand and there was only one way to go and that was deeper into the forest. Karl started running like he hadn't run in his life, brush whipped his face and feet began to tire. He kept running but the fire was still on his heels. To Karl it felt as though there were many hounds on his heels that chased him with craven madness. Karl was losing hope as he ran through the vast forest finding nothing to avail him. Then through the thick of the forest and oppressive smoke he something green. Not the dark green of an evergreen forest but an uncommon bright green of short grass. Karl ran to this strange green with renewed vigor picking up the pace.

The brush gave way to a strange circular grass clearing that was twenty feet across. In the center of the clearing was a circle of smooth rounded stones about eight feet across. He looked back at the fire and saw he had put some distance between him and the fire. He had bought enough time to set up his survival shelter. He set the girl down on the far side of the clearing. With his Pulaski he started to dig out the grass inside of the circle of stones. After about a minute he had dug down past the roots of the grass in the general shape of a man his size lying down. He prayed that it would be enough and beckoned to the little girl. Pulling the pouch that held his survival shelter from the back pocket of his brush coat. Pulling it out of the pouch he instructed the girl to lay down in the dirt and then deployed the shelter over both of them as the fire reached the clearing. Laying above the girl under the shiny metallic foil of the survival shelter Karl told her some words to calm her and gave her some water from his camel-back water pouch. It started to get hot under the shelter and Karl remembered his training but he was woefully unprepared for just how hot it was getting. Karl steeled his nerves and prayed to God that this wouldn't be his end and that if he had to die then at least the girl might be spared from the fire.


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 24, 2020 8:23 pm 

SHE'S DEAD!

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"Atleast two people have gone missing after an intense wildfire in Estocada has broken out, Individuals in the area have been urged to evacuate, but some people are 'standing their ground', news correspondent Alice Louise joins us now from the scene, Alice what can you tell us?"

[b]"Thanks John, I'm standing here in a -


"Too hot"

The harsh hiss of vegetables hitting a smoking pan sent a cloud of vapor into Kai's face. He waved away the cloud and kept his focus on the pan as he began stirring the medley about as quickly and cleanly as he could manage.

"You havta pay attention now," his grandmother spoke over the crossword she had nearly placed against her face. She sat at the kitchen table peering for another moment before grabbing a pencil tucked behind her ear and filling in a series of spaces "Don't make us have to call the fire department today, they're awful busy this time of year as it is," she chuckled at her self; the chuckle turned into a dry coughing fit and she took a slow deliberate sip of water from a glass at the table. The condensation had built up on the outside and left the vinyl tablecloth and her hand soaked; she wiped her wet hand through her long greying hair and went back to tightly clutching at her crossword.

"Sorry, nana. I was just looking at the news," he said nonchalantly as he continued his aggressive stirring "did you hear them talking about those people?"

The old woman furrowed her brow and wrinkled her nose for just a moment before shaking her head, a resigned look on her face "Yeah, I heard the nonsense, numbskulls think someone started a whole fire just to steal their toasters, buncha foolishness". She paused, considering as if her own words had perplexed her before she placed the paper onto the table and began writing something out. With a satisfied look on her face, she slowly stood from her chair and made her way toward the stove where Kai was attempting to reach a bottle of seasoning sauce on the adjacent countertop while keeping the vegetables moving in the pan. The old woman unhurriedly grabbed the spatula from Kai's hand and hip bumped him out of the way "Thank you, I got this, baby. Go find Lil' Micah and tell him dinner will be ready in about half an hour,"

Before Kai could protest, the old woman had taken over, moving like a coordinated whirlwind through the kitchen as she set to making each dish. Kai took a series of long hopping steps to free himself from the warm chaos of the kitchen into the living room. He doubled back to grab Micah's water bottle from the fridge and made his way through the living room toward the sliding glass doors to the back porch. With the cacophony of the kitchen a distance away, the news was much easier to hear. The large screen displayed a newscast; An overweight, red-faced man with a pair of sunglasses stood with two straw-haired children and a blonde woman as the news correspondent asked them about the events leading up to the fire. The family save for the father all squinted at the correspondent, likely to block out the setting sun rays and dusty winds.

"My dad built this place back in the sixties, I've been living here since then and we've seen this all before. If them super freeloaders and terrorists think they can scare me or any of these people off, they've got another thing coming. They can meet me right on my front doorstep and look me in the eye- "

Kai made his way out the door and stood on the back porch for a moment surveilling the trees. A cool stiff breeze whipped the foliage into a chorus of rustles, flutters, and creaks. The forest was thickest behind Grandma Kya's house, she said the sound of the breeze whipping through the leaves was all she needed to keep her sane in these crazy times. He stood there a moment as he fished his phone from his pocket and looked at the location on Micah's phone. It placed him nearby, maybe a mile away into the trees, the tracking app highlighted a wider circle to denote a less-precise track. He moved his thumb to the contacts button when his phone vibrated and a message popped up.

Image

Kai placed his phone in his back pocket and let out a small sigh as he scanned over the treeline. With a quick look left and right, Kai jogged forward, slowly picking up his pace as he traveled deeper into the trees.


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 01, 2021 5:32 pm 
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In the roaring of the flame Carlton in his mind could what sounded like the sound of a horses hooves approaching being a sound he was familiar with since his childhood of riding horses with his mother. The sound and the heat made him doubt his senses but he felt as though something was approaching. He couldn't look out from the survival shelter as any gap between it and the ground would mean a rush of lethal hot air. His apprehension mounted as the image of a pale horse entering the clearing appeared in his mind and the stamp of hooves grew in his mind as it approached. The stamping of hooves was now next to his survival shelter and the image of a dark rider looking down on him entered his mind. Carlton froze despite the sheer amount of heat surrounding him from the fire and he prayed again to God for deliverance.

As if it was an answer to his prayers the mirage of the rider's attention shifted to the rapid approach of something bright. Carlton heard the pale horse turn and begin to gallop away. The clearing in his mind became bright and he heard the quiet steps of a sandalled pair of feet approach and give him comfort. He could almost hear a whispering voice in his mind speaking a language he couldn't identify as the bright figure approached in his mind. "Is this now an angel or Jesus coming to take me to heaven? I wouldn't say no to being taken from this heat." Carlton told himself as he felt his consciousness fade and all he saw was white.

"Wet, cold, ****ing miserable." Carlton said quietly to himself sitting in a foxhole next to his battle buddy desperately trying to sleep despite the drizzle. His camouflage poncho doing nothing to keep him comfortable besides barely containing the minor warmth from an MRE heater he was using for mild comfort while he was on watch. This training exercise went from what felt like a fun military camping trip to a pneumonia ridden hellscape with the sudden turn of the weather. Visibility was poor and it was rumored that an "opposing force" would sneak out of the dark quagmire to nab him. Carlton imagined the opposing force would be like some gas mask wearing marine corporal Shepard or something. Carlton wanted to be anywhere but here and once more he said under his breath, "Cold, wet and ****ing miserable."

Rain spattered on Carlton's face and he felt, cold, wet and miserable. The ground around him a mix of ash, dirt and water making the single dirtiest form of mud he had been immersed in. He opened his eyes and tried to sit upright as he found himself laying on his back. His body didn't have the strength to raise him of the ground. His eyes open he saw himself surrounded by firefighters, EMTs and Paramedics working around his staging point near Tender 15. He tried to say "I'm alive, don't leave me here with the dead." but it really came out as a long quiet groan sounding like, "Uhh uuuh ahuh." A second later an EMT turned and looked down at him exclaiming, "Huh, oh. This one is alive! Hey, Lieutenant! Hughes is alive!" The EMT turned his attention to Carlton as he continued treating him appropriately for the massive heatstroke he had suffered. Carlton tried to say, "The girl, is she alright?" but it continued to come out in croaks and groans. The EMT grew a concerned look as paramedics came over to assist in treating Carlton. Before long it was decided that he was stable enough to be moved to a local hospital where he could be more appropriately treated.

At the hospital Carlton admitted to the ICU with most of his emergency care already seen too. Over a couple hours he found his voice slowly returning but he found it much easier to simply write what he wanted to say. Using a pencil and paper he was able to communicate with the doctors and nurses. In the hospital over the next couple days Carlton made leaps and bounds of headway towards his recovery. He felt completely different and couldn't put his mind on it but he seemed to have an increased perception of items and people around him but he wasn't sure why. After a few days he was able to talk almost normally and walk around on crutches. After his lieutenant's daily visit he became aware of the girl he had saved in the fire staying also in the ICU of the hospital and he decided to pay her and her parents a visit. Hobbling over to her room on his crutches saw the grief stricken parents of the girl who wasn't doing as well as he was. They turned to ask him who he was and he simply replied that he was with her in the fire and wished he had been able to do more for her. The parents hugged him and thanked him for what he did before he took their leave.

On the Eighth day in Oregon Carlton was finally able to check out of the hospital finding that he was often pacing the halls getting restless in his room. Wearing his uniform he visited the girl the last time that day who thanked him as she was finally starting to truly recover from their near death experience. Walking without the assistance of the crutches that his care team had been insistent on him using he was able to walk out to where his lieutenant in Tender 15 waited for him so they could drive back home to Washington. Climbing into passenger side of the cab he buckled himself into his seat and sighed readying himself for the many long hours of driving to come. As the tender roared out into the sunny Oregon morning Carlton found himself oddly aware of the sloshing of the water in the tender as they drove down the road away from the hospital towards the northbound interstate.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 9:54 pm 

SHE'S DEAD!

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Quickly and quietly, Kai made his way deeper into the woods. He checked his phone as he progressed, the circle indicating Micah's location on the map becoming larger as his phone connection waned. He let out a heavy sigh before making his way in the general direction of the circle. Anyone else seeking to find their little brother in the woods would have called out for a response or called for the police, but Kai and Micah were not like anyone else. As soon as Kai entered the area of the circle. He completely shut off his phone and placed it into his back pocket. Unmoving, unblinking, he listened a moment to the rustling of leaves in the wind and the sound of birds flitting between branches. He slowly reached to his ear and turned off his hearing aid, the harsh squeal chiming out in his ear before the sounds around him became nothing more than a muffled hum. He slowly exhaled before placing his hands against the rough trunk of a nearby tree. The sounds of the world came back to him, different and more intense: the shift of each blade of grass, the groaning of trees, the hard impact of talons on wood. Kai closed his eyes and slowly tuned in to each sound, letting it pass through his perception without directing his attention to any single sound. Over time, the cacophony of forest sounds died away until there was nothing left, a deafening silence. He moved his hand away from the tree and surveyed the area. He walked casually now, the soft thud of his footsteps, the crinkle of grass, and the snaps and crunches of fallen branches and seeds were his new reality. Within a few moments, this too died away, back into the deafening silence as he moved. He repeated this action, fine-tuning his perception as he moved until only the most minute of differences vied for his attention.

These new sounds were sudden shifts, rustles, quickening paces, hisses, breathing. It all seemed rather mundane at the moment. He spoke up.

"Games almost over, Mikey" Kai spoke loudly. Hisses, several quickening heartbeats from the sudden sound of his voice, a scramble of fast footfalls, jolts, most of it inhuman. The small quickened paces, shuffles and jolts fell to silence.


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 23, 2021 10:40 pm 
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Carlton steadily drove Tender 15 down a familiar highway only a couple miles from home. The two hours of the total eight were not as rough on him as he had expected. Pretty soon he would be home and far from the foreign land of Oregon. He found that he had missed the deep green of the Washington temperate rain forest. His sensations of water in the tender had subsided with the passing of time and he wrote it off as his active imagination. He was pulling off the highway now and was in the turn lane to take the Tender back to its station.

Station 15 sat on the outskirts of the wooded county near some houses. It was not a staffed station with living quarters for firefighters to live during the day but a small annex with two bays, one for Engine 15 and Tender 15. As Carlton backed the Tender into the bay with the aid of the lieutenant he saw the eternally present stain of oil on the cement of the station annex floor. The truck came to a stop exactly on the mark and was shut down for the night as the bay door came down in front of the tender. Carlton stepped out of the tender grabbing his gear bag from one of the compartments on the truck before walking out of the station through the side door. His mother's car pulled up to the station and he climbed in the passenger seat waving goodbye to his lieutenant.

The drive to his apartment was a quiet as possible aside from the necessary story of what had happened in Oregon but Carlton kept the details sparse to keep the never ending questions from his mother at bay. At this point he wanted to be as far away from what happened as possible and his mother's prodding wasn't helping. Carlton exited the car as it stopped at his apartment walking up to the door and unlocking it with his key so that he could finally retire for the night.

Carlton awoke the next day feeling strange and he couldn't put his finger on why or what he was sensing. His room was noisy with an unheard rushing and flowing. He dragged himself out of bed and slumped his way into the bathroom being beaten down by the sheer noise of the sensations screaming to be realized. He couldn't think as he stepped into the shower and turned the water on. As the water hit his face he was blasted by the noise and the sensations and for a second it overwhelmed him. He panicked for a couple seconds until he mentally commanded it to "STOP!" It did, and Carlton was taken aback for a moment. ALL of it stopped and he heard his neighbor say, "Honey, the water stopped." Carlton mentally let the flow resume and he was once more bombarded by water and felt it torrent down upon him again.

Carlton stumbled out of the shower and onto the floor shutting the water off with the handle in the process. Grabbing his towel he dried himself off he quickly got dressed walking out to his kitchen. Pouring a glass of water and grabbing a few cups he walked to his table sitting down. He eyed the cup suspiciously while still sensing the water flowing all around him. He closed his eyes and found that in his mind he could still see the glass of water and he could see the water in the walls in their pipes. He opened his eyes and as his realization dawned on him he felt the shock of the sensations subside. He had one more idea and he lifted his hand like someone pretending to use the force or telekinesis. To his surprise the water in the cup lifted up and formed an almost perfect sphere floating a couple inches above the cup. He smiled at the impossible becoming real almost wondering if he was dreaming.

He wasn't done yet though and he moved his hand and the water followed it tracing through the air. Playing with the magical water Carlton had a thought and suddenly focused. He focused hard on that little blob of water in the air and put his hands on the table. The water remained where it was in the air and with great mental effort Carlton made it fly around a small amount with just his mind. He wondered what new doors this current novelty might open as he practiced and played with his new found power and control over water.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 5:54 pm 

SHE'S DEAD!

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"Games almost over, Mikey"

The sound of his voice was distant but still pushed Micah's heart rate up just enough that he knew he wouldn't have much time before his brother noticed. The place where he'd taken cover was fairly devoid of underbrush, the massive pallid trunks of firs giving little opportunity for more than sparse grass to successfully take root. The cool dark put Micah at ease, maybe just as much mentally as physically. He placed his hand against a nearby trunk and took several deep breaths.

In...hold...out...In...hold...out...

The bark became warm against his hands. A sharp fruity smell permeated the air and lingered. Micah was painfully aware of his pulse as it began to beat powerfully but ever slower.

In...hold...out...In...hold...out...

The smell turned acrid and smokey and he moved his hand away from the tree, a handprint was scorched into the bark surface. His heartbeat was shallower and slow now, it felt as if he couldn't get a full breath. He moved on unsteady legs in the opposite direction of his brother's voice before slowly working his way into a run. Each footstep sending a cascade of vibrations through the forest.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The silence was quickly replaced with the sudden but fairly meek sound of human sinus rhythm. Kai's head moved in the direction of the motion and he calmly made his way toward the sound. He didn't commit until he was truly sure it was making its way away from him. His pace slowly picking up into a run as well once he was sure that he was locked on. The need for stealth was over, it was a full out chase now. A roar of rustling low branches echoed out as Kai passed with the force of a bullet train barreling through the dense forest. Despite the startlingly loud sound, the heartbeat didn't change. He didn't know whether to be impressed or concerned as he made his way closer. The sound only getting closer and stronger as he made his way toward the source. He came to an abrupt stop as he approached the source of the beat. He slowly scanned over the dimly lit area, the orange and pink light of the setting sun failing to strongly break through the canopy of the trees.

As he approached, he noticed he was hearing not a single beat but multiple rhythms had begun all around him. Each rhythm had a similar tempo but they were slightly off sync with one another. Kai smiled as he made his way to one of the rhythms. As he scanned for where it could be, his attention was brought to a nearby pale barked tree; a burn mark on its surface. Just below it lied a small speaker, a small flickering blue light indicator on its unpolished surface flickered with each thump.

"Woah, you fell for that?" Micah's raspy voice echoed from all around with a muffled bassy tone, each a fraction of a second off from another. He let out an artificial sigh, "I guess being valedictorian isn't everything," his smug tone was more irritating in surround sound.

"Alright, I'll admit it's impressive, Mikey. A little OD for a game of manhunt though" Kai remarked out loud as his attention was pulled from spot to spot, the sounds causing his attention to bounce about in a constant rhythm. The emitted sound waves were too similar to isolate from each other but the way Micah had set them up in a relay instead of from a single source created a progressively larger delay. "you waste your allowance on these speakers?"

"Naw, dad made 'em, he wanted me to test the prototype. Something about how I radiate low-level radio waves or something, I'm not even recording anything, I just turn them on and boom, I got my own station."

"Not scared dad's gonna try to track your every move and word?" Kai suggested it playfully but there was a hint of genuine concern.

"You assume he doesn't already?" Micah chuckled through his words. "Besides, even if he did, I feel like he'd be too busy making some new super countermeasure and containment device to be concerned about asking something like 'Whose that young lady you've been talking to at school, lately?'

"You talkin' to girls now? Kai quickly interjected as he made his way around the area. He dug the heel of his white tennis shoe into the dirt once he reached a speaker that was significantly delayed. The pulse quickened in response to his question.


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:51 pm 
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Despite the excitement of his discovery of his super powers the rest week dragged on for far to long in Carlton's opinion. The high points being going to church on Sunday and drill at the fire department on Tuesday nothing happened to lift his feelings of social isolation. The sensations of water around him were still heavy on his mind and he glad that they hadn't needed to flow water at drill dreading sheer abuse of water forcing it through a pump and shooting away. He dared not talk openly about his new found abilities for fear of further alienation from his few reliable social connections and the possibility of being put on a government list disclosed to members of the public. Given the general disdain and even hostility by some radical groups.

Carlton's prospects for finding work outside the fire department seemed to coincidentally dry up with his discovery of his powers. He was getting desperate and he didn't really care what he had to do to make money but he would not turn to crime. He was able to sustain himself with what he had but the slim margin between the money he had with his retirement checks and the cost of living in his apartment left much to be desired. With all other possibilities exhausted and applied for the strange posting came to his attention and it read "Wanted: Special game hunters. Testing every Saturday at ten in the morning in our office." Carlton filled the short form reserving the last seat for the next testing session paying a small fee that would be reimbursed should he pass the test. With the futile tasks of the day completed even in token Carlton continued his idle experimentation with his powers as he watched his favorite political commentary channel till the sun went down.

Carlton rubbed the sleep from his eyes despite driving for almost two hours he was hardly awake. Now he was driving down a rural highway to a small forest town that the "testing center" was located at. His cell phone in a mount giving him GPS guidance occasionally interrupting his favorite songs as he drove along. Several miles past the town Carlton came to a compound with old stone walls and a cast iron gate that was open. The compound was a collection of run down portable buildings of various shapes and sizes with an old house in the southwestern corner. The south east corner of the compound was a small graveyard populated by very plain concrete crosses with a single empty grave. Around the compound seemed to be laborers standing around or mindlessly performing some menial task. Regardless of the compound's oddity it was the address on the website and there were several cars and trucks parked next to a building that was designated as an office. Carlton had a sense of unease getting out of his car and he swore the laborers were watching him but none of them were looking in his direction as he walked up to the door.

"You must be Carlton. You aren't late but we started without you since everyone else arrived early. Find an empty desk and get started on the test using the resources provided. Hand in your test when you are finished, there is no time limit and cheating is forbidden." A voice greeted him as he entered a room set up like a classroom with ten small tables and nine men taking tests at their own tables. Carlton sat down at the only empty table and looked over the test examining it. The test consisted of images and descriptions of various game and asked for them to be described or named via multiple choice. The resources provided consisted of three books, one was a text book of game, one was a hunting guide for the pacific northwest and the last one seemed to be some unofficial book on cryptozoology also based in the pacific northwest. Carlton's attention was drawn to the last book out of wild curiosity and at any other time he would be all over reading it for his entertainment but he set it to the side doubting its relevance. He looked around and from what he could see the other test takers had done the same. Carlton noticed the proctor's attention was on him and he quickly got started on his test to avoid.

The test was strange and Carlton didn't get far very quickly. In the blurry pictures printed on the test the animals depicted seemed normal but had one or two details wrong like a deer with the eyes of a goat or hoof prints that did not match the official information. Nothing added up between cross referencing the first two books and the test. Carlton scratched his head and turned his attention to the third book and scanned through it finding the answers that had alluded him in minor details. The third book had no pictures but explained the incorrect aspects of the images on the test as rare specimens of hybrid animals. The other test takers began handing their tests in as Carlton reached the final page catching up to most of the group. Carlton lied to himself pretending that hearing other people finish before him didn't stress him out but he didn't let those feelings of being behind the curve make him miss any small detail as he finished up.

Carlton sat down after handing his test in and there was one thing left to do wait. The proctor was grading the tests handed and waiting for the last test taker to pass his test in. Before long all the tests were in and the proctor had graded them all. The proctor sat up and said, "I will call out your names, if your name is called you can leave and you will not be advancing to the next stage in the hiring process. Please leave." The proctor read of names one by one until Carlton remained alone in the room with the proctor. After a short awkward silence Carlton spoke up, "What happens now sir?" The proctor curtly replies, "I will have to ask you some questions and then you will receive my conditional offer."


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