The number of casualties at this year’s assessment day was around the average. That was the conclusion Arthur Cessman reached while watching the final stage of the assessment day, the battle royale, play out on the screens in front of him. The number of casualties seemed to have increased every year recently, perhaps a symptom of graduates’ growing desperation for employment. If you couldn’t get a job this time around then you can at least thin out those who would be competing against you for other jobs, or so their thinking might go. Arthur wondered if he would even survive going up against this set of candidates. Many of them were monsters in their own right before they entered the arena, and some had found that monster inside of them over the course of the battle.

At the sounding of the first tone the candidates had all been dropped from their boxes into the arena. Most years this was the most intense stretch of time in the battle, as candidates usually went straight for each other. Not too surprisingly, Natalie Yamnson swiftly took out the candidates that attacked her from either side: Jeremy Batter and Moe Monett. Moe Monett didn’t even have a chance to fire the rocket launcher had had instead of a left hand. Hugh Jaman had made equally swift, but slightly messier, work of Dale Chipp and Charles Fitzpatrick. Donald Rugg and Millicent Lute dropped into the arena and made no contact with their enemies in that first section. Other exchanges around the arena had been more complex. Ulysses Kovar had come out the victor in a battle involving four candidates. Jamie Kuwick had dropped from the box and did not find a way to break his fall. He was the first candidate to leave the battle royale the hard way. Jack Trader stabbed Julie Summers in the back, quite literally, before being knocked out by Ulysses Kovar. A similar fate to Jamie Kuwick befell Arya Jeking, who spilled a large volume of chemicals when attempting to break her fall from the box and subsequently caught fire. She was also no longer in the running. Norman Pearson and Cyrus Beem clashed and, despite being outmatched, Norman Pearson managed to escape with Cyrus Beem’s tag, sending Cyrus Beem on a fool’s errand to retrieve a pill he thought was a tag. Finally, while they did not initially fight, Katie Rell took Jack Hight out of the running with a well placed shot, then set up a trap to take out another candidate. Natalie Yamnson lay in wait to ambush her and, unbeknownst to her, Hugh Jaman lay in wait to ambush her. This continued until Cyrus Beem came running, looking for his own tag or at least looking for the pill that he thought was his tag. While he fell into Katie Rell’s trap, Katie Rell herself was taken down by Natalie Yamnson, who then fought and defeated Hugh Jaman as well in an intense mano a mano. Meanwhile Norman Pearson, Millicent Lute and Donald Rugg all met and were not openly hostile to one another until Ulysses Kovar arrived and was decapitated mid-speech by Donald Rugg. Norman Pearson and Donald Rugg had instantly began fighting and Donald Rugg would have emerged the victor if Millicent Lute hadn’t intervened. As thanks for saving his life, Norman Pearson pushed Millicent Lute off a bridge. Shortly thereafter he faced Cyrus Beem once again, this time finally defeating him. Over three hours had passed since the battle royale had begun and Natalie Yamnson and Norman Pearson were the only two candidates left. Natalie Yamnson had seven tags, all stored in a hidden pouch near her waist, and Norman Pearson had eight, all but one of which hung from his neck. The remaining two tags were still held by their respective owners but Jamie Kuwick and Arya Jeking weren’t going to be doing anything any time soon.

“Just marvellous.” Isaac Yamnson had said, after the initial bloodbath, “Can you even believe that job interviews didn’t always involve this?” Now he was less pleased, his plan wasn’t working. Arthur was vaguely aware of the father-daughter agreement between Isaac Yamnson and Natalie Yamnson. As far as he could gather, Natalie Yamnson could work for Extech as a normal employee if she emerged as the victor of the battle royale. If she failed then she would be married off to the son of the acting head of Amazon. A nice and lovely political marriage to allay any worries shareholders might have. It seemed that Natalie Yamnson’s chances of winning were increasing by the moment. While it had been a close call she had dispatched the candidate who posed the biggest threat to her, Hugh Jaman, and now all that stood between her and victory was Norman Pearson who was “a scrawny half robot weakling” according to Isaac Yamnson. Arthur agreed. Norman Pearson was most certainly one of the weakest candidates in the battle royale and yet there he now stood, a finalist. Something about him had given him the edge, something that meant that he was surviving encounters with opponents far more skilled than him. Arthur had a theory as to what that something was and, as he, Isaac Yamnson and Edward Chupton watched Norman Pearson and Natalie Yamnson stare each other down, Norman Pearson’s expression told him he was right. Norman Pearson hated everyone. He hated all his enemies, as they were the ones who stood between him and realising the reason for his existence. He hated everyone else as well, regardless of whether they stood with him or against him, because they were all potential future enemies. He hated the ones who had given him his reason for existing, because they burdened him with a purpose that he broke his body and his spirit to achieve. And most of all he hated himself. He hated the himself who hated everyone else. He hated the himself who was not strong enough to defeat his opponents. He hated the himself who lived for nothing other than to get a job and he hated the himself who had no hope in hell of ever getting a job. And here he was, staring at the final thing he hated. Other candidates may have been fighting for a job, or for ideals, but none of that could stand up to Norman Pearson. Even Natalie Yamnson, who was fighting to achieve her dream and gain her freedom, would pale in comparison to Norman Pearson. For Norman Pearson this wasn’t just fighting for a job, or an ideal, or a dream, or freedom, or another person, or for the world, or even for himself. He was fighting because that was the only way he knew how to exist and here he would keep on fighting until he ceased to exist. He truly was the ideal employee.

“We would be delighted to hire your daughter,” Edward Chupton was saying, completely failing to read the mood, “she would be a valuable asset to our company.”

“Silence.” Isaac Yamnson snapped, “As if I would let my daughter work at a no-name company like this. It would be a disaster. I am second only to openhappiness.exe and I cannot be seen to have so insolent a child.” he glared at the digital display of his daughter on screen. “I need her spirit to be crushed. I need her to try her damnedest to earn her freedom and I need her to fail. I need her to see that she cannot fight against me, that she cannot fight against the world she has been born into.”

On screen the battle had begun, with Natalie Yamnson dashing towards Norman Pearson. Norman Pearson pulled out the modified Protest Suppression Rifle he had stolen from Ulysses Kovar and sprayed the space in front of him with bullets. Natalie Yamnson jumped back to avoid them but, when she saw that they were made of rubber, barrelled on through. Norman Pearson’s expression turned to horror when he saw Natalie Yamnson deflecting bullets with her hands. Natalie Yamnson got in close and Norman Pearson swung at her with his gun. She grabbed the weapon and crushed it with one hand. Norman Pearson would have probably looked more horrified if he didn’t seem to be more intent on putting distance between him and his opponent. Natalie Yamnson dived in, her hand reaching for Norman Pearson’s neck.

She knows Arthur realised. She had worked out where Norman Pearson had hidden his tags and was trying to snatch them away. Norman Pearson kicked out in response, forcing Natalie Yamnson to pull back from her bid for the tags. The expression on Norman Pearson’s face was a mess. In just a few moments he had confirmed that he was up against a true monster, a candidate of skill and power far beyond that of any of the opponents he had faced so far. In such a situation Norman Pearson did the only thing he could. He turned and ran.

“And it’s over.” Isaac Yamnson declared. Natalie Yamnson gave chase and caught up immediately, she was a faster sprinter by far. From the looks of things Norman Pearson had expected this however, and he span round, drawing the baton he’d taken from Cyrus Beem and extending it. He struck Natalie Yamnson with it, who grabbed onto it with one hand as she had done with the Protest Suppression Rifle. “Oh!” Isaac Yamnson exclaimed as he saw his daughter begin convulsing on the digital display. Norman Pearson must have charged the baton and sent electricity coursing through Natalie Yamnson. Rather than letting go however, the shaking Natalie Yamnson struck out with a palm, hitting Norman Pearson in the chest. Norman Pearson was sent flying backwards and let go of the baton. Natalie Yamnson had it now and gave it a tentative twirl as Norman Pearson rolled along the long, branch-like protrusion they were standing on. He didn’t fall off but had to scramble to stay on. He got to his feet, clearly badly hurt by that impact. Natalie Yamnson had proven how deadly her fists were already and the only thing that had saved Norman Pearson from ending up with palm shaped crater in his chest was the fact that Natalie Yamnson had a few thousands volts of electricity running through her. “It’s not enough, it’s not enough.” Arthur heard Isaac Yamnson muttering. Arthur had to agree. Norman Pearson was fighting fiercely but he could not match Natalie Yamnson in terms of power or combat skill. Natalie Yamnson was going to beat him and was going to win the battle royale. That, Arthur mused, was the most likely outcome.