Chapter 14 #2
“O-Okay.” She nodded, and her frightened expression changed into one of determination.
I tensed the muscles in my core to keep myself steady as I began to hoist her up. It was difficult at first, but then she was able to find a foothold on one of the protrusions, and it got much easier.
Once we were both safely back on top of the ball, we allowed a few seconds to catch our breaths.
“Are you guys alright?” Sadie called out to us, and her voice quavered.
I was still panting heavily, so I lifted my arm into the air and gave her a thumbs up.
I could hear her sigh of relief from where we were seated.
Once we’d caught our breaths, I helped Parker to her feet, and then we continued along the obstacles. Thankfully, we didn’t have any other close calls and were able to get back to Sadie safely, who gave both of us a big hug as soon as our feet were solidly on the platform.
“Thank God, you two are alright,” she said after she pulled away. “I thought you both were goners.”
“Can’t get rid of us that easily,” Parker giggled, and I gave Sadie a reassuring smile.
Then it was back to business. The other contestants were already halfway through the next obstacle.
We were falling behind.
I turned my gaze to the next obstacle, which basically was just a narrow strip of metal between us and the next platform. The pathway was about three feet across, which would be fairly simple to balance on.
It looked easy enough.
Except for the sharp blades that swung at intervals across the path like pendulums.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Parker muttered.
Sadie and I both murmured our own sentiments.
I watched the blades carefully. There were six in total, and they were all equally spaced apart with enough distance for us to safely stand between them.
They also all swung at the same time and speed.
I counted silently in my head, and there were about fifteen seconds in between each swing, except for the last two blades, which swung at the faster rate of about ten seconds.
“I’ll go first,” I told the women, and they both nodded wordlessly.
I waited for the blades to do another pass before I sprinted forward, and I didn’t stop until I was sure I’d gotten out of reach of that first blade. Then I turned back to my companions.
“I think it might be better if we all do this one together!” I called back to them. “Wait for my word and then run until you reach me.”
They both nodded again, and I carefully watched for the blades to do another pass.
“Okay, Sadie, get ready,” I said. “Now!”
Sadie ran as soon as the blades had finished their pass, and she ran so fast she nearly stumbled and fell when she reached me, but I caught her and held her up.
Next, it was Parker’s turn.
I waited until the blades had made another pass, and then I instructed her to run. She reached us safely a few seconds later.
We passed through the next three blades using that method, and everything went without incident.
But then we reached the final two.
These blades were nearly five seconds faster than the others, which didn’t seem like much, except it’s a wickedly sharp blade speeding at our bodies as we tried to simultaneously run and keep balance on our skinny platform.
I glanced over at the other contestants again, and Tyler and Claire were still going at the fourth pendulum, while Kyle was at the fifth.
I couldn’t see Clarisse anywhere, but I hadn’t heard any screams, so I assumed she was further back from the group.
I glanced up at the holographic projection, and the timer was down almost thirty minutes. Had it really already been that long? We needed to hurry.
I turned back to the blades, waited for their pass, and ran. I cleared it with a few seconds to spare.
“Okay,” I told the nervous women. “It’s the same as before, but this time, you can’t hesitate before you run, okay? Not even for a moment. Every second counts.”
They both murmured their agreement, and Sadie stepped forward to wait for my mark.
“Go!” I shouted, and Sadie ran past the blade and into my arms.
I made sure she was steady and unharmed before I turned back to Parker. Then I did the same thing. Parker made it safely across, and we were down to the final pendulum.
My heart thundered in my chest wildly from the continuous near-death situations, but I knew we could do this because we’d already done it once before. I tensed my legs, and the moment the blade swung away from the platform we were on, I sprinted forward.
I’d made it, now I just needed to get Parker and Sadie safely across. I turned to face the two women, and I gave Sadie a little nod. She stepped into place and got ready to run on my mark.
The moment I shouted for her to go, she began to sprint. I wasn’t sure if it was nerves or a slight hesitation, but her right foot landed at an odd angle, which caused her to stumble. She was able to correct herself and maintain her balance, but the entire process had lost her precious seconds.
The blade was on its way back, and she was still in its path. She tried to move forward again, but there was no way she’d make it in time.
I lunged forward, grabbed her arm, and yanked her toward me. She stumbled into my arms right as the sharp blade wooshed past and missed both of us by a hair. It had been so close I felt a breeze as it swung by.
“Are you alright?” I murmured as I helped steady her.
Sadie’s dark eyes were wide with fright, and her hair was slightly mussed, but she looked completely unharmed.
“Y-Yeah, I’m alright,” she stammered.
I pulled her further away from the blade and onto the next platform. Then I returned to Parker.
“Is she alright?” Parker asked with concern in her voice.
“Yes,” I assured her. “Are you ready?”
Parker got into position before she gave me a determined nod, and I waited for the blade to swing past again.
“Go!” I shouted, and Parker rushed forward.
Thankfully, Parker was able to keep her footing, and before I knew it, she had crossed out of danger and stumbled into my arms.
Safe. We’d all made it safely.
I turned my attention to the next obstacle.
This time, the two platforms were connected by a long pathway, and it was about the same width as the one we’d just been on, but there didn’t seem to be any obvious danger.
It was just an empty walkway.
Surely, there had to be more to it than that.
I glanced at the other contestants, and Tyler and Claire were still at the final pendulum. I could finally see Clarisse, and she was halfway through the pendulum course and doing surprisingly well for working on her own.
Kyle was at the same point we were at, and he’d obviously reached the same conclusion that I had about there being more to the course. He watched me warily and was clearly waiting to see what would happen when I stepped forward.
I guess there wasn’t any other option, except to proceed.
“Stay back, just in case,” I warned the two women behind me, and I didn’t wait to hear their responses before I turned back to the walkway and took a tentative step.
The moment my foot touched the long platform, I was forced to jump back. A dozen or so, tiny darts shot out of nowhere from my left side and breezed right past my face.
What the hell?
That had been close.
I looked around to see where the darts possibly could have come from, but I saw nothing. As an experiment, I carefully stepped forward again, just long enough to step onto the platform, before I quickly moved away again.
Just like before, darts shot across from the same direction as before.
Shit.
How were we supposed to get across?
Were the darts on a timer? If I acted quick enough, could I activate them and then move forward without activating them again?
I tried it out. I stepped forward, and once again the darts flew past me. I jumped back long enough to dodge them before I immediately set my foot back on the walkway.
Another set of darts launched out from the same invisible spot.
So, there was no cool-down timer… how would we be able to pass by?
Could it just be one particular spot that triggered the darts, or was it the entire platform? Perhaps if I stepped somewhere else, I’d be able to move forward without triggering anything.
But I didn’t dare test it, because with my luck, I’d jump forward and get skewered with a whole new round of darts.
What should I do?
I thought about it for a moment before an idea suddenly popped into my head.
“Do either of you have something small and unimportant I could throw?” I asked as I turned back to Parker and Sadie.
“Umm, I have this,” Sadie said as she pointed up at her hair tie. “Will that work?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure,” I admitted. “But it’s worth a shot. Are you sure you’re okay with me using it?”
In answer, Sadie reached up and pulled her hair tie out. Her dark hair fell around her face in long, loose waves, and I’d never seen her look more beautiful.
I was speechless for a moment as I took in her appearance, but I was able to snap back into reality when she stretched her hand out to me and offered me the hair piece.
“Thank you,” I murmured as I accepted it.
The hair tie was made of some sort of thick, elastic material. It wasn’t particularly heavy, but the surface of the platform was smooth, and if I put enough force behind my throw, it should still cover a good amount of distance.
I just hoped the hair tie was heavy enough to register. Otherwise, this would be a complete waste of time.
I crouched down, set the hair tie directly in front of the platform, and launched it as hard and as far as I could. The hair piece slid across the platform at a slight angle, until it eventually fell off the side near the end of the obstacle.
It had been heavy enough to trigger the dart traps, and every foot or so along the platform, clusters of darts shot out.
The space between each dart cluster was too small, and it would be nearly impossible to avoid getting hit, or at least grazed, by the tiny projectiles. Even if we moved fast or jumped.