Survival of the Smartest…
Summary: Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) and their differences to the average human psyche in life or death scenarios: A detailed report of an illegal experimentation to discern the differences between sociopaths and the average psyche. Subject 25 – Shawn Spencer, 37, Santa Barbara, California USA. A most unusual Subject indeed. He may yet survive the tests.
Disclaimer: This is a fan-fiction story of the TV show; Psych, and is in no way affiliated with the actual show. All characters and other materials related to the show that are used are not intended to infringe on any Copyrights. Elemental-Zer0 takes sole responsibility for any mistakes or offence that may be taken but truly not meant. However, any characters that are not related to any copyrights are copyrighted to Elemental-Zer0 as is any variations to the plot set out in the show.
Authors Note: Can you guess what I've been reading lately? Yes this is a combined plot idea of The Maze Runner and The Hunger Games with a slight hint of Sherlock (BBC T.V series) if you tilt your head and squint your eyes. I don't lay claim to any of their plots, this story was only inspired by the two series of books and the "High-Functioning Sociopath" references in Sherlock (which many are still stating as untrue for the original Sherlock character – I'm not sure myself but it made a good show regardless). I figured this would be an interesting plot to follow.
Do let me know what you think, but no flames please. If you have any criticism to make please do it politely otherwise I shall ignore your words. (It's happened before, I'm sorry to say, and I hadn't even posted any real chapters…)
Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD)
ASPD is referred to as psychopathy or sociopathy in popular culture. It is one of the most alarming personality disorders because it might lead to crime if it wasn't properly diagnosed and treated. The onset of ASPD could be traced back to early adulthood or adolescence. ASPD can consist of a majority of the following symptoms. It is important to note that not all symptoms may be present in a patient with ASPD.
Symptoms:
Failure to conform to societal norms; people with ASPD challenge the law and tend to get in to trouble often / impulsivity / repeated lying / use of fake aliases / conning others / mild to major aggressiveness / irritability / lack of remorse or empathy / recklessness / disregard for others' feelings and safety / irresponsibility (especially at work)
Prologue: Let the Games begin
In all his impressive thirty-seven years of life, Shawn Spencer had quite honestly never imagined himself to be in this strange predicament.
Ok so 'strange predicament' was a loose and very light term for the situation he found himself in but he'd run out of expletives and obscenities in the first two minutes after he'd woken up in a very dark, very small concrete box. He'd never really been claustrophobic; a good thing too for he'd have never survived the lessons his father had put him through, but this was really beginning to test his previously non-existent fears of small spaces. The room -if you could call it a room- was as wide as his elbow span, as short as his body when folded with his knees to his chest, and as tall as he could crouch on all fours. He couldn't lay flat or even sit up without a concrete wall, floor or ceiling sitting resolutely in the way. It was pitch black too, so he had no idea if there was any handle or niche he could utilise to escape with. He'd already run his hands all over the minuscule space with nothing to find except dust, mildew and patches of dried dirt caked into the concrete surface.
With no other clues to follow, he thought back using his eidetic memory and thought palace to the mad man who'd inflicted this fate upon him and tried to recall what he had explained when Shawn had awoken in a strange and unknown warehouse after having been abducted in the first place before this disaster of a situation. The man had explained that he was testing several candidates using various scenarios to stimulate life or death decisions and the differences between normal ordinary people and high-functioning sociopaths apparently he wanted to know what made the Sociopaths tick and why they were different. He said something about the normal people only being there as a comparative and really doubted any of them would survive at all. Personally, Shawn had never seen himself fall under either category but clearly this man had decided he was worth studying and had warranted enough effort to kidnap and trap inside a maze of challenges and scenes for his 'research'.
The catch however was that the whole affair was a race and that itself was also a life or death scenario; the first to complete the tasks and escape the 'maze' would be rewarded with their life. Those who were left behind, would forfeit their lives. He really didn't want to think about that. He was screwed either way; if he wanted to live, his winning would kill several others who were also fighting tooth and nail to survive. If he wanted a clear conscience, he'd have to choose to die knowing that others were dying with him.
Shawn whimpered in frustration as the enormity of his situation was finally setting in. This was kill or be killed. And he had no idea what he was up against.