Chapter 14 #4
In a flash, two stones shot out from the wall, much faster than any of the others had, and I had to drop backward onto my ass to avoid getting smacked in the face.
What the hell was that? Why had the stones moved so quickly all of a sudden? Why did their speed change?
I glanced back at Parker through a small gap in the stones, and her wide eyes met mine. It looked like she’d narrowly avoided a collision herself.
“I thought you said they moved slowly,” Parker said. “Why are they so fast?”
“They were slow before,” I replied. “I’m not sure what changed, but we need to get through this as fast as we can.”
Parker nodded, and as soon as the stones retreated back into the wall, we were on our feet and running as quickly as we could.
The rumbling started up again, and a few stones slowly moved into place. We both quickly ducked into the large gaps, but I kept my eyes warily on the wall. Sure enough, a moment later, several other stones launched out, and I had to simultaneously jump up and duck my head to avoid the collision.
Behind me, I heard a scream as Parker got shoved by one and slid over the edge. She gripped the platform for dear life, but its surface was too smooth to gain any traction. She had seconds at most.
I twisted around the stones and lunged forward to grab her, and I gripped onto her wrists just as she lost her hold on the platform.
I was fairly jammed in between a few of the stones, but that turned out to be a good thing because they kept me steady as I hoisted her up.
As soon as Parker got her feet steady on the platform, the stones retreated once more, and we were able to breathe again. We didn’t waste any time as we launched ourselves forward and sprinted the rest of the way.
The moment we reached Sadie’s platform, Parker collapsed to the ground to catch her breath.
“Oh, my god, are you guys okay?” Sadie gasped, and she crouched down to check on Parker. “Why were the stones suddenly so fast?”
“Because the aliens are dicks,” I grumbled. “I think the obstacles are programmed to get more difficult the longer we’re on them. We’re lucky it didn’t happen sooner.”
While Sadie checked on Parker, I glanced at the other contestants again.
Tyler and Claire had made it through, and they looked like they were catching their breath on the platform, but Kyle and Clarisse were still in the thick of things, and it looked like they had the same difficulty increase that we’d had.
Kyle dodged out of the way just in time, and he narrowly avoided getting thrown off the platform by one of the particularly fast stones.
Clarisse wasn’t so lucky.
One of the stones slammed into her gut and propelled her backward off the platform. She was able to catch herself similar to how Parker had, but without help, she wouldn’t be able to maintain her grip.
“Kyle!” she screamed. “Kyle, help!”
The stones began to retract, and I watched in horror as Kyle glanced back at the struggling woman, before he turned and sprinted away to safety.
A few seconds later, Clarisse lost her grip, and her scream echoed around the obstacle course as she fell into the water.
“Don’t look,” I said quickly as I moved to Sadie and Parker.
I grabbed both of their arms and turned them to face me, so they wouldn’t witness the horror of what happened next.
The moment Clarisse’s body broke the surface of the water, the sharks were there thrashing and tearing at her. She fought to keep from being pulled under, and every time she broke the surface, I could hear her piercing screams.
But they didn’t last long. The surrounding water quickly turned a bright, gruesome red, and eventually, the surface calmed as the sharks returned to their slow circling.
Nothing of Clarisse surfaced, and I knew the sharks had devoured everything.
When I finally released the two women, they both had horrified looks on their pale faces, and Sadie looked like she was close to tears. I’d prevented them from seeing what happened to Clarisse, but there was nothing I could do to keep them from hearing her final moments.
“Are you both alright?” I asked.
“Y-Yes,” they both said in unison, and their voices were quiet and somber.
I glanced over at the other contestants, and it looked like Tyler was also in the process of trying to comfort Claire after what they’d both witnessed.
Kyle didn’t even have the decency to look sad, even though it was his fault Clarisse was dead. Her death had been completely preventable, and he’d had plenty of time to save her.
But instead, he chose to let her die in favor of saving himself.
The selfish bastard, and he didn’t even look back once.
I glanced up at the holographic screen, and the timer said we had less than twenty minutes left.
Damn, what had happened to the time?
“It looks like we have one more obstacle,” I announced. “We need to keep going, okay?”
I’d love nothing more than to let the women have a moment to process, and shit, I needed a moment myself. It wasn’t easy to witness someone’s death. Especially a death so horrible.
I tried not to think of Martin’s final moments.
But I also knew we were running out of time, and we needed to keep going if we didn’t want to end up in the same position as Clarisse.
“Okay,” Parker whispered, and Sadie nodded.
Every time I saw these two women in a difficult situation, I was impressed with them all over again. I’d never met a woman with so much determination, bravery, and willpower, and yet here were two right in front of me.
I turned my attention to the final obstacle.
Similar to the dart one, this obstacle was just a simple pathway between the two platforms, but I knew there had to be more to it than that. This obstacle felt different, and I was sure it probably had some sort of invisible trap.
I didn’t have to tell Parker and Sadie to hang back this time, they instinctively knew to give me space while I figured out the next danger.
I was grateful for their willingness to cooperate because I knew I’d think much more clearly if I didn’t have to worry about them.
I glanced around the walkway, but it truly just looked like a simple, straight, raised platform. That didn’t mean it was safe, though, because the darts had been completely invisible before being fired.
I moved closer to the edge of the platform, and I carefully stepped down on the walkway before I jerked my foot back and prepared to dodge out of the way.
But nothing happened.
What the hell?
I glanced back at Sadie and Parker, but they looked just as bewildered as I felt. And when I looked over at the other contestants, they were all watching me, like they were waiting to see what I’d do.
Great.
I carefully moved my foot back to the platform again, but before I jerked it away, I made sure to put more pressure in my step. I wanted to make sure the platform registered it.
But still, nothing happened.
Normally, I’d be relieved that nothing happened, because it would mean this path didn’t have any obstacles, but I knew better than that.
The lack of immediate danger made me even more nervous, because how was I supposed to find a safe way through if I didn’t know what sort of hazards we were facing?
I set my foot on the platform again, and I held it there for a little longer.
Still nothing.
I fully set both my feet on the platform, and for a few seconds, nothing happened.
But when I dared another step further, the platform began to move.
The end where I stood slowly began to dip down, while the end near the other platform began to raise up. It was as if the center of the platform was balanced on the tip of a knife.
I quickly stumbled off before the end dipped too low, and the platform leveled back into place.
It hadn’t started lowering until my full weight had been on the platform for a few seconds, and it lowered slowly, so that could help buy us some time.
I didn’t want to separate, but I didn’t see how Parker, Sadie, and I could reasonably do this obstacle together because our combined weight would only make the platform tip faster.
I also didn’t see a way to think around this one, and it looked like we’d just have to rely on being quick enough.
I didn’t like it, but I didn’t see any other option.
“For this one, I think we might just have to run,” I said. “And the faster we move, the less danger we’ll be in. But we have to be fast, and we have to do it one at a time.”
“Because our combined weight will make it sink faster,” Sadie finished for me.
“Exactly,” I said with a nod. “I’ll go first, just to make sure my theory is actually correct, and if it is, as soon as the platform levels out again, one of you will have to go next.”
“Okay,” the women agreed.
I gave them both a tight smile, and it was the best I could do with how nervous I was about our current predicament.
I walked toward the back of the platform and away from the obstacle so I could get a running start. If speed was the only way to survive, I didn’t want to waste a moment trying to build up momentum.
I took a few deep breaths as I bounced on the balls of my feet, and then I rushed forward.