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I stood on the edge of the cliff and took in the view, which on any given day could be either magnificent or the equivalent of Dante’s inferno.

Today, while being majestic, it was also like being in hell.

It was day 37.  I didn’t think I’d last the first week, yet here I was, having survived the worst that could be thrown at me.  I was one of six out of the original intake of fifty.

People who were stronger than me, smarter than me, better educated, better physically, full of confidence, and some full of themselves, unexpectedly failed.  As they fell, one by one, all shocked at being cut, and as each day passed, I was always last to go look at the list of survivors.

Every time I expected to see my name and surprised, like many others, that I was not on the list.

They wanted four, there were six of us left.  The odds were not good, not after one of the instructors told me I had to up my game, that I’d barely made the last cut.

“Hell is on earth they said,” a voice in my head, or…

I turned, Kerrilyn O’Connor.

She was my choice to succeed.  I selected her on day one as the most likely to succeed.  She looked ordinary, but under that banal exterior was the fire and brimstone, the guts and determination needed to succeed.

“Been there already, and compared to this place, it was like Shangri-La.  No, it’s what you make it.  I came with no expectations, I’ll leave with no regrets.”

“You sound like you’ve given up?”

“I’ve been paired with Wally in the final test.  We’re the two bottom candidates, and I suspect they want us to fail.”

She smiled.  It was an ongoing subject of discussion, how Wally made it past day one, let alone to the final six.  Popular belief was that he was related to some director. Yes, that was how bad he was.

“You haven’t been to the notice board, have you?”

“Is there any reason to?  I was told yesterday what my fate would be.”

“Then I suggest you pay a visit.  You might be surprised.  I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

There might have been more, but relationships with other candidates were strictly forbidden.  It still didn’t stop the more adventurous from trying, and over the weeks, I guess some didn’t handle the isolation very well, nor the penalty for breaking the rules.

An island you couldn’t get off.  Fifty candidates and twenty staff, and a very long swim if you wanted to escape.  The only communication was a boat, every night at six, to take away the candidates who failed.

Kerrilyn and I had an on-off thing, and if it happened, it happened.  Other than that, I was under no illusion it was anything other than dalliance.  Once she became an agent, there would be no room in her life for relationships.  Mine, either if I managed to get through.

I wasn’t going to look, but something dragged me to the noticeboard, perhaps an unconscious death wish.  It explained the odd look on her face when she said I should.  The pairings had changed, and now I was with her.

I shrugged.  I just hoped I didn’t drag her down with me.

Sitting in the briefing room, once bustling with a lot of eagerness, some over-eager recruits, waiting to learn what the task was for the day or days, there was only silence.  It was not a companionable one. If anyone could read our minds, it would be to learn that we were taking a good, long, hard look at our competition and going over their strengths and weaknesses. We all knew this was it, the end of the line.  Fail this, and you were out

We had been paired with all of them several times, times we had been told if we cared to listen, to learn everything we needed to know about them because one day we would be pitted against each other.

Today was the time to put what we learned from the instructors and what learned about each other into practice.

Three days.  It was going to be the longest test we had participated in.  We would be taken to different parts of the island, and working as a team, we had to capture the other two teams.  By any and all means at our disposal.

One pair would be safe if they fulfilled mission parameters.  It was a big island, and there was not a lot of time, as we were told; in real life, the time we had now was a luxury.

No one asked what would happen if no one succeeded.

We were blindfolded and given noise-cancelling headphones, so trying to determine where we were being taken was almost impossible.

The helicopter landed and we were hustled out, the camp commander jumping out too.  He went with us to the point beyond the rotating propeller, the stop being brief.  We didn’t know if we were first, or last.

He pointed in a particular direction and then had to yell to be heard about the helicopter’s engine.  “One mile in that direction.”

“What’s there?” I asked.

“A boat.  You get on it and don’t look back.”

“Have we washed out, sir?”  Kerrilyn knew the value of respect, unlike some of the others.

“No.  You two are the best recruits we’ve had in years.  The assessment is that you’re ready, so we’re giving you a fortnight to get over whatever it is you’re doing and report to GHQ at 06:00 on the 21st.  Congratulations.”

He shook each of our hands and then went back to the helicopter.   A minute later it was lifting off, and after three more, it was gone.

I looked at her.  “What was that about?”

“You don’t believe him?”

“That we’re the best, yes, that we’re leaving this place, no.”

“A test?”

“After 38 days I think you have the same deep-seated distrust of anyone on this island.  What was the first lesson we learned?”

“Trust no one, and let your paranoia guide you.  He said gut, but to me, it could only be one thing.  The might be a boat waiting, but we have to get to it first, and I suspect four very willing candidates will do nothing to stop us.”

“That’s a bit cynical.  Why?”

“Because they can’t make up their minds who the other two are, and they’ve left it for us.”

She shrugged.  In time she’d come around.  in the meantime, we had a boat to find.  “OK.”

Before we’d taken three steps, four bullets had thwacked into trees near us.  It was clear they’d dropped the other four near our location, and, interesting development, they were using live ammunition.  Clearly, this was a do-or-die mission, a true simulation of what it was like in the field. 

“Bastard,” she muttered.  “But if that’s the way they want to play it, it’s game on.”

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©  Charles Heath 2024

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