11.03: A Testing Time (JP)

Danny's exam took place in an empty office on the ground floor of the main building. The door was left ajar so that Val's assistant could keep watch as the
potential recruits worked at small wooden desks.
Danny had taken exams or practice exams at least, during which he had developed a routine of quickly checking through the entire paper before starting work. This one didn't take a genius to work out that it would take way more than
ninety minutes to complete the whole paper, so he noted the questions offering the highest marks and targeted those first.
Faisal's attitude seemed more relaxed and he drove Danny mad by rustling his paper, humming and drumming his pencil on the desk. After twenty minutes
Danny was starting to wish he had knocked the snot out of him in the dojo.
He finally snapped when Faisal started putting his finger in his mouth making pop noises.
“Will you shut up,” he said, in an angry whisper.
Val's assistant overheard. She came out from behind her desk and stood in the doorway wagging her finger.
“One more sound, young man,” she said to Danny, “I'll take that paper from you and tear it up.”
To make matters worse the lead inside Danny's pencil kept breaking and he had to keep stopping to sharpen the thing. But for all the frustrations, Danny didn't feel he had done too badly when Val came to collect the papers.
The headteacher had entered the office holding a metal cage covered with a checked cloth. Removing it revealed two fluffy white rabbits.
“Meet Duster and Bouncer,” Val said, as she pulled a carrot stick out of her pocket and fed an eager bunny through the bars of the cage. “Aren't they sweet?”
The rabbits were cute and Danny crouched in front of the cage to look at them.
“Can I feed them?” Faisal asked, and Val handed him a carrot stick.
Val spoke as Duster munched his carrot stick. “I’ll just need both of you to kill a bunny by stabbing it through the throat with your pencils and then we can get a spot of lunch.”
Faisal jumped back from the cage as if he had received an electric shock. “Why?” he asked, horrified.
“Well, you eat meat, don't you?” Val said. “Every bit of animal you have ever eaten must have been killed by someone. On your survival training you will have to live off the land. You will have to kill to eat.”
“I... don't like blood,” Faisal said.
Val looked at Danny. “What about you?”
“Sure,” Danny said.
Danny opened the rabbit cage and reached in to grab Duster or possibly Bouncer because it was hard to tell. The rabbit was jittery and tried to escape Danny's
arms, but he calmed the animal with a series of long slow strokes from the top of her head down to her tail.
“Good girl,” Danny said soothingly. With a sudden movement, Danny brought a heavy chop down on the back of the rabbit's head to stun it.
“Shit! Faisal shouted, backing up to the wall as Danny grabbed his pencil and hung the limp animal over the bin by its hind legs. He then trapped the rabbit's head between his knees and jammed the pencil into the main vein running down its throat. The spurt of blood sounded like peeing as it hit the bottom of the bin. After he had got on his nerves all morning, Danny turned slightly and made sure Faisal saw plenty of blood and gore. As Faisal turned green, Val found a tea tray for Danny to place the rabbit on when it had bled out.
“You've done that before,” Val said, clearly impressed.
Danny nodded as he squeezed the rabbit's body to force out the last drops of blood.
“My grandma used to breed and sell rabbits. We were allowed to play with them, but our diet wasn't great so we ate them too. If you give me a sharp knife I can
gut it. I've cured the pelts too. When I was little I had rabbit fur mittens for when it snowed.”
"You have no problem with killing and eating animals?” Val asked.
“I think animals should be well treated while they're alive, but humans come first,” Danny said. “There are many rich people in the world, but billions of people still go hungry.”
Val nodded, then looked at Faisal. “Danny's shown you how it's done. Are you ready to have a go?”
“I just can't,” Faisal said. “That was the horriblest thing I've ever seen.”
“Oh well, Duster,” Val said, as she put the cloth back over the cage. “Looks like you'll live to see another recruitment test. Now, let's get some lunch.”
Danny looked at Faisal and spoke in his politest butter wouldn't melt voice as he followed Val Cooper-Xavier towards the dining-room.
"I wonder if they have stir-fried rabbit on the menu?” he teased. “It's delicious.”