Damage Per Second

CHAPTER V: THE PECULIAR TEST

Winded from the fall, Caroline laid flat on the floor for several moments. The ground beneath her vibrated as the scuffle and screech of shoes against the ground announced that she had drawn attention of others.

"H-Hey," said an adjacent wobbly voice, "you alive?"

"Uhh, I don't think she would answer if she were dead." Said someone else in a gruff tone.

"Oh," said the wobbly voice, "right..."

Caroline closed her eyes and rolled onto her back. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes to see three people standing over her, looking intently.

"She's alive!" Broadcasted the same voice that announced her arrival moments ago. She was a round faced woman with a faint-brown complexion and dark purplish hair. "Come on people," said the woman in a bombastic manner as she hovered over Caroline. "Give her some room to breathe!"

"Hmm," hummed the gruff voiced man, ignoring the purple haired woman's orders. "Need a hand up?"

Caroline let out the breath she was holding in and accepted the man's help to stand. He was a pale skinned hefty bald man, with a large chin that was covered by a thick black beard that even Chuck Norris would be jealous of.

"Glad you aren't dead," said the man with the wobbly voice. He was a little shorter than Caroline, with a head full of wavy black curls, a large flat nose, and sandy skin.

"Thanks, I guess..." Caroline's speech trailed off when she tried to assess her surroundings. "Where are we?" High ceilings that was as black as pitch, a floor of the same ilk, and walls painted in a sparkling array of horizontal vibrantly colored bars.

"In a puzzle," noted a thick framed man touching the walls of the room. He was a tall olive-skinned man in cowboy boot, the man scratched his head of ashen blonde hair inquisitively. Followed close by was a stick of a man with a hint of dark brown curls around his mostly balding crown. "I reckon that once we solve this," he said as he touched a red panel, "we'll be able to get out of here and finish this damn interview."

There was a pattern to the colorful array of vertical bars; grey, yellow, cyan, green, purple, red, and blue. Caroline also noticed that even though the floor and ceiling were a mass of black, there were hints of blue and white cubes peeking out from behind the darkness sporadically. Caroline and five strangers were in a prison of rainbows and darkness.

"Well," said the wafer-thin man as he scratched his chin. "This sure is a pickle."

"I'm guessing you all arrived in the same way I did?" Caroline asked the room in general.

"Yea," said the man in the cowboy boots. "We established that about 20 minutes before you arrived." He was kneeling and rubbing his hands against a smooth red panel before he stood and walked over to Caroline with an outstretched hand, in which Caroline accepted. "I'm Arthur," he said excitedly and motioned with his other hand to the thin man behind him. "And this is Barry."

Barry saluted with two fingers in a casual manner as he smiled a bit.

The purple haired woman tapped Caroline on the shoulder and said "I'm Paria." The husky bearded man introduced himself as Carlos, and the round nose awkward man introduced himself as Zahid.

"Great," said Paria, "now that introductions have been made, how about we figure out a way to get the hell out of here?"

"Oh, good idea," said Arthur sarcastically, "What do you think I've been doing for the last 20 minutes?"

"Wasting time obviously," said Paria in a mocking tone.

"Well, I don't see you coming up with any bright ideas."