Disclaimer: Janet owns these amazing characters. I make no money, only enjoyment.
The Test
For the last three minutes Stephanie had thunked her head against her desk. The Merry Men in the other cubicles were chuckling. What was she getting herself into now? Finally sighing in a resigned tone, she pushed back from her desk and stood up. Tank had left her a note saying she was due for a meeting in Conference Room C in ten minutes, and that was nine minutes ago. Today might not be a good time to be fashionably late!
Glaring at all the chuckling he-men, she moved down the hall. The door was open, a sign the meeting had not started yet. Sliding in, she noticed Tank with the door in hand, checking his watch. He glared at her and closed the door. Taking a seat with the other attendees, she tried not to fidget. Meetings were not her strong point.
Tank, having closed the door was striding to the front of the room. Quickly glancing around, Stephanie noticed that except for Tank and Bobby, everyone else was a new-hire. There was Eddie and Teddie (twins), Maurice, Terry and herself. She was starting to get a bad feeling. Tank tapped the table, which was quite unnecessary as everyone's eyes were locked on him. He flipped on the projector with his fob. In bold letters were the words, FINAL PROBATIONARY TEST. There were a few groans. Tank grinned an evil grin. Stephanie had only seen it a couple of times in all the time she had been at Rangeman. It usually preceded something he thought was fun. Stephanie had always believed Tank had a warped sense of humor.
Tank cleared his throat. "Men, and Lady, today is your final probationary test. Success will be evaluated on a number of things. Speed is not the only factor. Co-operation, planning, instinct, conditioning, and maybe a bit of luck will decide who continues as a member of Rangeman. Behind you are your packs. They are all identical. Each has your name on it. Everything necessary to successfully navigate the course is included in the pack. I will give the floor to Bobby. He was in charge of planning this little activity. All I can say is, have fun, be safe, and take advantage of all situations." With that, Tank strode to the door and out of the room. They could hear a faint chuckle as he walked away.
Bobby stood up. He was holding folders in his hands. Walking around the room, he handed a folder to each person. Asking them to flip them open, Bobby started. "Inside is a mission statement. Your job is to get from the starting point, collect the information needed at each checkpoint and complete your mission back at Rangeman. Your time-line is three days or less. We will have personnel checking your status at specific points along the route. There are watches in your pack. Everyone must put them on. They are tracker units. I cannot overstate the need for safety. Some of these exercises have an element of danger. You will work as a unit. If you are injured or cause danger to your comrades, you will be removed from the exercise.
This is to test your courage, your strength and your desire. We like to use these kind of exercises as team building training. Most of you have not worked with each other yet as you have been with trainers up until now. I have designed different aspects to accentuate each individual's strengths and to strengthen any weaknesses.
You may use the washrooms on the floor. You have five minutes to change and be back in the room. The time starts NOW!" There was a mad scramble for the backpacks. The first person there, Terry, called a name and tossed the pack. There was a mad rush for the door. Stephanie raced to the washroom and dumped the bag on the floor. Inside was a complete set of combat clothing. It appeared to be in her size. In a small backpack, she threw a compass, map, water bottle on a webbed belt, knife, matches, small first aid kit, lip balm, bug repellent, sunglasses, hair ties, and a baseball cap. Swiftly changing, she dumped her clothing into the big pack and raced back to the classroom. Everyone had changed and were now back in the room.
Bobby checked the time. "Excellent. " He ordered them to put their folders in the small pack on their back and leave the big pack beside them. "Any questions before we start this mission?" Bobby looked around. Nobody said anything. He motioned them to head out of the room and to the elevator. From the control room, there were calls of encouragement and some cat calls. The elevator stood open. They all crowded in and headed for the basement.
Manny, Cal, Hal, Zero and Junior were standing together in the garage. They were holding blindfolds. Bobby looked at the group. "Just to make it more interesting, you will all be blindfolded, and driven to your drop off spot. " With that, a Merry Man each went to one of the participants and proceeded to blindfold them. Junior had the pleasure of blindfolding Stephanie. He whispered that she would be OK and to have fun. They were led to a van and told to get in. The door closed and they were off.
Stephanie tried to concentrate on which way they were travelling. She knew Trenton like the back of her hand and recognized that they turned left out of the garage and right at the new construction. They travelled down the road, then all of a sudden they made a swift left, then another left. She could feel that the driver was changing directions to confuse them. After what felt like ten minutes of circles back and forth, they hit the highway.
By now, Stephanie had curled up into a ball and had fallen asleep. The van slowed and she woke up. It had turned onto a bumpy road and was travelling downhill going over small bridges, hills and around corners. Finally it stopped. The side door opened. Bobby spoke. "OK, take off your blindfolds and come on out." There was a quick pull and the blindfolds were in their hands. They had climbed out and with their packs were standing in a grove of trees. There were no discernible landmarks such as hills, power poles, lakes or roads. It was very quiet. Bobby stood in front of them. "OK, here is where you start. You have three days as I said. Good luck, and have fun!" With a laugh, he climbed back into the truck with Zero driving and drove off.
Everyone looked at each other. There was silence. After what seemed forever, one of the twins, Stephanie had no idea whom, said that they should sit down and process the file before starting. It sounded like a good idea. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Stephanie opened up her file. Inside were basic safety precautions, orders that they not accept rides from strangers or ask for directions. Looking further inside, she found compass co-ordinates, and a plastic pouch. Stephanie had no idea what was going on and looked at the other men. "Okay, it looks like a scavenger hunt with a difference. "