Chapter Thirty-Four
ANGEL SINCLAIR
“For today’s trial, we’ll be grading you on physical fitness, mental toughness, and mobility, as well as evaluating your problem-solving skills,” Mr. Donovan told us as we sat in Room 101 as part of the briefing before the trial. We were dressed in our usual camouflage outfits, but today we’d been told to bring sunglasses. We’d also been instructed to put on sunblock, which was a strong indicator we’d be outside for the trial.
“The trial will be an obstacle course of sorts. Some are straightforward physical obstacles; others require teamwork and puzzle solving. There will be instructions for what you should do at each obstacle.”
What little breakfast I’d eaten churned in my stomach, ready to come back up. I’d known a physical test of some kind would be coming, but I’d been in denial it would be an entire trial. I’d never pass something like this. I was about to get a giant boot out of the compound.
“The fastest person to finish gets a bonus,” Mr. Donovan explained. “However, everyone fails if even one of you doesn’t finish in the time allotted, which is exactly two hours. Everyone must complete every challenge. No exceptions. Plan your strategy accordingly.”
Well, that totally threw a wrench into things. I considered the implications. If I had to finish for all of us to win, it meant, I would probably get assistance of some kind. That was reassuring, at least to a point.
“One more item,” Mr. Donovan said. “You, as a group, get one question, and one question only. One of you may ask it during the obstacle course, but everyone must agree on the question and who will ask it. I will observe you at each obstacle but will not interfere or speak unless it is in response to your one question.”
“Are there any other rules?” I asked.
He smiled at me. “None, Ms. Sinclair. So, everyone, please follow me to the grassy area in back of the compound, where the obstacle course has been set up. The clock starts in five minutes.”
The minute we arrived at the first obstacle, the clock started. Bo quickly assembled us. It was clear we’d have to work together to help those of us who were physically challenged, myself included, if we were to finish the course as a group.
The October air had a cool tinge to it, but the sun was warm on our head and shoulders. Autumn colors of gold, red, and orange burst from the trees around us. The grassy area had been transformed into an obstacle course as far as the eye could see. Monkey bars, nets, mud pits, the whole thing. Mr. Donovan stood under a tree, his arms crossed against his chest, watching us without expression. My stomach twisted with anxiety, wondering how I would finish this course.
If I failed, everyone failed.
“Okay, everyone, let’s talk about how to do this.”
I glanced over at Wally. He was holding his stomach, his face deathly pale. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. The White Knights were the weak link in this operation, and we could easily take everyone down with us. Somehow, this possibility didn’t occur to Frankie, or if it did, she didn’t seem bothered by it. She chatted animatedly with Mike, appearing not to have a care in the world.
How did she do that?
While everyone was circling around Bo, I studied the first obstacle. It seemed straightforward, not that I thought I had any chance of completing it. Monkey bars over a mud pit.
“Walk in the park, baby,” Mike said, following my gaze. “They don’t call me Mike the Monkey for nothing.”
“They call you the Mike the Monkey?” I asked.
Mike’s cheeks got red. “Well, they did in elementary school. I’ve always been good at jumping, climbing, swinging, the monkey bars—you know, that kind of stuff.” He made a chattering sound like a monkey, and I laughed, easing my anxiety slightly.
Seeing we were all assembled and listening, Bo got started. “My suggestion for this trial is we stick together. We help each other finish, and at the end, we vote which one of us gets to cross first. We all have to help each other or we won’t make it. Agreed?”
We all nodded our heads, so he turned to Mike. “I heard you tell Angel you could cross. You go first. Kira, can you make it across?”
She shielded her eyes and looked at the bars. “Sure. Shouldn’t be a problem for me.”
“Good. You follow Mike.”
“I can do it, too,” Hala said. “I’ll go after Kira.”
“Wally?” Bo looked hopefully at him.
Wally sighed. “The odds that I can cross that without falling into the mud pit are a million to one.”
“I can’t do it, either.” Frankie lifted her hands. “Not without help.”
Bo glanced my way with the unspoken question.
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Bo. I don’t think I can make it without slipping off.”
“Why would they give us a task like this when they know several of us can’t do it?” Frankie wondered aloud.
“Problem solving,” Jax offered. “Strategic planning. Time management. Take your pick.”
Bo blew out a breath. I noticed he hadn’t asked Jax if he could manage it. Guess that meant he could. “Okay, Wally, Frankie, and Angel, if you can’t make it on your own, Jax and I are going to have to help you. We’ll have to partially support your weight, and as Jax and I are the largest, we’ll take turns helping you over. Mike, get going and the rest of you follow.”
Mike scrambled to the bars, jumped up, and started across, his legs swinging. When he got about halfway, Kira started. A minute later, Hala followed her. They made it look easy as they hopped off and waited for us.
Bo dipped his head toward Wally. “All right, you’re first. Let’s go.”
“Me?” Wally said, his face paling further. “What about girls first?”
“Get your butt over there,” Bo said. “Let’s go.”
“Wait.” Wally looked panicked. “How exactly are we going to do this?”
“We’ll go across together.” Bo said, motioning for Wally to come with him to the ladder on the monkey bars. He reached up and grabbed onto the first bar. “Get on my back.”
“You’re going to carry me?” Wally said incredulously. “That can’t be safe.”
“I’m going to partially carry you,” Bo clarified. “You need to help me by holding on to the bars and carrying some of your own weight. Got it?”
“Not really,” Wally started backing up.
“Get on his back, Wally,” Frankie said. “You’ll be fine.”
“I really think we should discuss this further.”
“There will be no more discussion,” Bo said. “If you don’t get on my back, I’ll knock you unconscious and carry you.”
Wally gulped. He may have been the general in the virtual world, but Bo was in charge here. “Fine.” He held up his hands. “No need to go all Halo 5 on me.”
Wally walked up to the monkey bars and jumped, catching the first monkey bar inside Bo’s hands. “There. Satisfied?”
“Not yet. Put your legs around my waist and wait for my command. I’ll tell you when we’re moving to each bar. Ready?”
Wally’s face was ashen. “Not really, but what choice do I have?”
“None. Jax, get moving. You’re next.”
“Yes, sir.” Jax turned to me and Frankie. “Okay, ladies. Who wants to go next?”
Frankie immediately pointed to me. “She does. I’ll watch her and get important tips on what to do.”
I was going to protest, but Jax grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the ladder. “Up you go, Red.”
Bo and Wally were moving slowly across the bars, but they were hanging on. The muscles in Bo’s arms were straining. I couldn’t even imagine how hard it must be for him.
Jax snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Red, are you paying attention? Grab the first rung and get on my back.”
I looked up. He was tall enough to reach the bar and still have his feet on the ladder. “I have to climb on your back?”
Jax studied me from behind his sunglasses. “While it might be a lot more fun if you held on to me from the front, it would be kind of hard to cross the monkey bars like that.”
My cheeks heated. “Fine.” I was too short to reach the first rung, so I’d have to jump. I bent my knees when Jax suddenly realized my problem. Bracing his back against the pole, he put his hands on my waist, lifting me up so I could grab the first bar.
“Thanks,” I said. “Short-person problem.”
“Got it.” He repositioned himself by grabbing the second bar and hanging. “Wrap your legs around my waist and wait for my command to move.”
I could see the corded muscles in his neck and arms. “I’m scared,” I admitted.
“Just get on and trust me, okay?”
“Okay.” I wrapped my legs around his waist and said a prayer that I wouldn’t slip off. My hands were already sweaty from nerves.
“Reach for the next bar…now,” he said.
I reached for the next bar. We were a little off in terms of timing, but he moved on. My hands stayed nestled between his, but after just a few bars, my arms were shaking from the effort of hanging on, and I wasn’t even holding half my weight.
He must have felt me shaking. “Take it easy. Red. Just keep your legs tight. I don’t want them in the way. We need to keep moving as one, okay?”
“Okay.” My face rested slightly against the back of his head.
“Keep going,” he urged me. “One bar at a time.”
On and on we went. It seemed never ending, although Kira, Mike, and Hala had crossed in what seemed like seconds. Every bar we moved, the harsher his breathing became. I couldn’t imagine how Bo had fared with Wally. Bo was bigger than Jax, and he had to lift his own body weight in addition to Wally’s, which was heavier than mine.
At some point, I realized Wally and Bo were already across. They’d made it. If they could do it, so could we.
Finally, we were at the last rung. We crossed in sync, Jax getting his feet onto the ladder and letting out a sigh of relief. I unfastened my legs from his waist, and he helped me down. Once on solid ground, I collapsed. It wasn’t pretty, but I’d made it. One obstacle down and who knew how many more to go.
“Good job, Red.”
I shaded my eyes from the sun as I looked up at Jax. “Thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you.” He flashed a smile and walked away.
Bo had already gone back across the bars for Frankie, who was waiting on the ladder for him. When he got there, she stopped him.
“I have an idea,” she said. “Can you give me a boost up to the first bar?”
Bo obliged and lifted her up. She hung precariously on the rung before starting to swing her legs. To my surprise, she lifted them and hooked them on the next rung. Before I knew it, she’d pulled herself to the top of the monkey bars and started crawling across.
“I think this way will be faster for me,” she called down to Bo.
“Woohoo!” I shouted. “Great idea, Frankie.”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Wally said, lifting his hands.
Bo went across below her, and they made it across at about the same time.
Bo helped her down, and I gave her a hug. “You’re brilliant, Frankie. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”
She whispered in my ear, “I actually thought about it before you went off with Jax, but I bet you enjoyed your way a lot more than mine. You’re welcome.”
I rolled my eyes but was so happy I’d actually made it across that I didn’t say a thing.
“Guys, that ate up seventeen minutes,” Bo said. “Let’s move to the next obstacle.”
We jogged as a group to the next setup.
“It’s called the Zombie Mud Crawl,” Bo read. “The instructions say the wire is live. It won’t shock you if you touch it, but red light and siren will go off and you must crawl out sideways and start over again. We don’t have time to play around, people. Do it right the first time.”
“I’m small, so this should be easy for me,” Hala said. “I’ll go first.” She stopped at the edge of the obstacle. “Whoa, what’s that in the mud?”
Frankie peered over her shoulder. “Worms. Oh, no.”
“Frankie, worms are good for the environment,” I said. “They don’t bite.”
“Nope. Not doing it,” she said.
“We don’t have time to argue,” Bo said. “Hala, go.”
Hala inhaled a deep breath and crawled under the wire. She was small and fast, but when she popped out the other side, she was dripping in mud and slime.
“Ewwww…” she said, shaking her hands.
“Mike, you’re next,” Bo said. “Kira, you’re after him, and then Wally and Jax.”
When Mike started, Bo turned to face us. “Frankie, you’re going to get under that wire.”
“I don’t like worms.”
“I don’t like losing.” He frowned at her. “You’re going to do it.”
“I’m not.”
“Frankie, I’ll go first,” I offered. “I don’t like bugs, either, but I am going to hold my breath, squint my eyes, and just do it. You have to stay calm, because if you jerk up, you’ll set off the wire alarm.
“I don’t think I can be calm.”
“You can. You’re always calm about everything.”
“Except bugs and worms. Will you do it with me?”
I glanced at Bo. “Is there any reason we can’t do it together?”
He shrugged. “None I can think of. But you run the risk of kicking or flicking mud into each other’s face as you squirm. Plus, if the wire lights up, you both must start over. Time is ticking.”
“I’m not going without Angel,” Frankie said.
“Well, that settles it,” I said. “We’re doing it together.”
We walked to the edge of the pit. Frankie, Bo, and I were the last three. So far, everyone else had made it across without tripping the alarm. Even Wally looked triumphant as he dripped disgusting stuff.
I took Frankie’s hand and knelt at the edge of the pit. “Ready?” I gave her hand an encouraging squeeze.
She looked at me uncertainly but nodded. “I’m ready.”