Zep Hindle's Test

## History

### Preparation

Several months after the beginning of his series of murders, John Kramer, better known as the Jigsaw Killer, targeted Zep Hindle, an orderly from the Angel of Mercy Hospital, who suffered from a severe inferiority complex. Therefore, one of John's accomplices Dr. Logan Nelson another doctor who worked at the same hospital, abducted Zep and poisoned him, Logan then left him an audio tape, which provided instructions for Zep and told him that in order to get an antidote which could save his life, he had to kidnap Dr. Gordon's wife and daughter, Alison and Diana Gordon, and had to hold them hostage while Gordon was forced to play one of Jigsaw's games on his own. Furthermore, he had to kill Gordon's family if Lawrence didn't pass his test by killing his cellmate, Adam Stanheight, by six o'clock.

### Zep Hindle's Test

At night, Zep invaded Dr. Gordon's apartment and hid in a closet in Diana's bedroom. However, Diana noticed that someone was there and woke up her parents to chase away the invader. Lawrence took her back to her room and comforted her, but was unexpectedly called to the Hotel Barfly by his student, Carla, with whom he had an affair. He left his apartment, telling Diana and Alison that he had to go to work, much to the latter's displeasure. Only mere seconds later, Zep, covered with a bed sheet, left the closet and took Diana and Alison hostage.

After bringing them under his control with his gun, he tied them to a bedpost in Alison and Lawrence's room. As he greatly enjoyed to frighten them, he mentally tortured them. He used a stethoscope to listen to Diana's heart tones. When Alison demanded him to leave Diana alone, he suddenly held his gun to her head and listened how Diana's heartbeat increased. When he was done, he gave Diana her teddy bear and stepped to the window. Unbeknownst to him, he was observed by the discharged homicide detective David Tapp, who had rented a run-down apartment on the opposite site of the street to observe Gordon, who he believed to be the Jigsaw Killer. Meanwhile, the actual killer or one of his accomplices was watching Zep from the street and took a photo of him, which was later used for the game played by Adam Stanheight and Lawrence Gordon. Following his instructions, Zep also took a photo of Gordon's tied up family, which he gave to Jigsaw, as it was going to be used as a clue for Gordon in his game. He also anonymously called Dr. Gordon in Carla's room at the hotel and told him he knew about his affair in order to decoy him out of the motel so he could be abducted.

Afterwards, Zep set up a timer and a monitoring system in Gordon's office to witness the latter's progress in his game. When Gordon and Adam found the camera, which was hidden behind a one-way mirror, and yelled at whoever was behind it, Zep just casually made sport of them, taking pleasure from seeing Gordon suffer. At one point in the game, Dr. Gordon found a cellphone. However, when he tried to call the police, he realized the phone could only receive calls, not make them. Meanwhile, Zep called him and let Diana and Alison speak to him. He forced the latter to tell Gordon not to trust his cellmate, Adam, and that he knew everything about Gordon. After that, he ended the call and put Alison's gag back into her mouth.

### Backup Plan

Shortly afterwards, Adam suddenly found the photo of Zep at Gordon's window. Gordon immediately recognized him, concluding that Zep must be the killer. Moments later, the clock finally strike six. As Gordon still hadn't managed to pass his test, Zep turned off the surveillance system and prepared himself to shoot Diana and Alison. However, before doing so, he called Gordon again and forced Alison to tell him that he had failed. Unbeknownst to him, Alison had secretly managed to get free from the cords restraining her hands and was able to take him by surprise and took his weapon. While holding him at gunpoint, she forced him to shove the phone to her so she could talk to Lawrence. Unfortunately, she was distracted by her daughter, giving Zep the chance to attack her. They engaged in a fight, causing Zep to accidentally trigger several shots. He managed to get his weapon back but was injured when Alison grabbed a pair of scissors from a drawer and stabbed him in the leg, causing him to collapse.

At the same moment, David Tapp, who had heard the gunshots, stormed into the apartment and opened fire on Zep while the hostages escaped the scene. When his magazine was empty, he charged at Zep, who incapacitated him by smashing a glass vase on Tapp's head and fled to go after Gordon. However, Tapp quickly recovered and pursued Zep in his car to what appeared to be an old factory, where Gordon and Adam had to play their game. When he finally outran Zep in an underground hallway, they engaged in another fight. During their scuffle, Tapp was shot in the chest and collapsed and was eventually left for dead by his adversary.

### Culmination

Moments later, the door was opened and Zep Hindle entered the bathroom. Gordon frantically tried to shoot him, even though he had no more bullets. Unimpressed by this, Zep aimed his gun at him and wanted to kill him as he didn't finish his task in time. However, before he could do it, he was attacked by Adam as the bullet had only injured his shoulder. As the two of them lay on the floor and fought with each other, Adam managed to disarm his enemy and smashed his head with the lid of the toilet tank. When Gordon finally convinced him to stop, Adam started to cry due to his pain. Gordon told him that he'd bleed to death if he stayed with him and promised to get help. Despite Adam's desperate attempts to hold him back, the severely injured doctor crawled out of the room.

When he was alone, Adam searched Zep's body for a key to his shackle. To his surprise, he found another tape recorder in his jacket pocket, which contained a message for Zep. The latter had been poisoned by Jigsaw and was forced to abduct Gordon's family and kill them if he failed his test, in order to obtain the antidote. Therefore, Adam realized that Zep was also just another victim of Jigsaw, when the actual killer, John Kramer, got up from the floor and removed his mask. Then, he told Adam that the key to his chain was in the bathtub. As Adam realized that the key had gone down the drain, he aimed Zep's gun at John, who incapacitated him with another electric shock. While Adam lay on the floor shivering, John turned off the light, closed the door and left the screaming young man with the words "Game Over."