Unleashed

Another "Normal" Day

        I gasp for air. My legs are darting forward. Sweat beads trickle along my forehead. The world seems to be spinning around me. My heart provides rhythmically hasty beats.

        "I'm going to be *wheeze* so sore tomorrow," I pant.

       "And, sprint!" I dart towards the black wall, almost hitting into it. My legs quake at the slightest motion. Oh how much I love to hate this feeling.

       I'm at The Academy, an underground gym. I train a lot of things here, climbing, obstacle courses, strength and condition, you name it. Today is the first day here since the global pandemic ended, and as much as I'm happy to be "back", I feel like there's something shifty in the air, like people are waiting for something to happen...

       My friend Ella, out of breath, runs to the wall about 3 seconds behind me. She was training 10 minutes earlier than me, so it makes sense. Her hair is tied up in a ponytail. She has an exhausted grin slathered on.

       "Hard day, huh," she suggests.

       "It's so weird to be opened to the public," I respond, "and all those boys are watching us"

       "Yeah, figured."

       We were secretly training here during the pandemic, but now that it's over we're getting watched by the public eye. Our coach, Janet makes sure that training is twice our skill level.

       "The others should be arriving soon?" I ask coach Janet. She flashes an eager nod.

       Of course, by others, I mean my friends who also train here. We're all a group of friends, and push each other.

       Just as coach Janet nods, the door busts open and James enters. He's your typical player. Styled blonde hair, sage green eyes, and a cute smile. A lot of girls fall in love with him, but I find him as an older brother. 

       He nods hello to me and Ella. Girls watching from the other side of the gym glare at us and start to whisper. I couldn't care less. James points his index finger towards the girls and rolls his eyes in a playful manner.

       While James warms up, another boy walks in. Joshua. Again, a player, but not half as much as James. Joshua sure loves to be at the Academy. Although everyone might not think so, I do have a soft spot for Joshua. I don't know why. I don't know him as well, and with his looks he could choose any girl he wants, but I still have maybe a teeny tiny crush on him. I mean, anyone could get lost in those crystal sky blue eyes and that picture perfect smile-

       Snap out of it. 

       I follow Ella to a room with the vending machine. A while ago, we figured out that if you type in a certain code (it's B6, E1, A7, K9) you get free food. So naturally we took advantage of it, and still do to this day. As I reach under the machine to grab a Gatorade, Nevaeh walks up behind me and goes "Boo!". I let out a small squeak and flinch as Navaeh laughs.

       Navaeh is like the most innocent person in the gym. She's really good at the stuff we do, but she's also really nice, optimistic. She makes me and Ella seem like gang material. 

        As we walk back in the main room, we see everyone left. It was just the 6 of us, me, Ella, Navaeh, Joshua, James, and Coach Janet.

       Coach Janet starts instructing us. "All right, everyone is here so today we're doing upper body circuits." Everyone groans, except Navaeh.

       Upper body is the worst. The. Worst. I repeat. We can all do it, but it's so exhausted and we're left sore for the next 3 days. But today's the day we all die I guess.

       "You wanna leave then?" Coach Janet sternly asks, "go on, the door's that way."

       Everyone stands completely still and straightens themselves.

       "Anyways, we will have 3 stations, and 2 groups rotating around, a group of 2, and a group of 3." Coach Janet announces.

       I eagerly look at Navaeh and Ella and mouth team? They nod. 

       "Our first station is holding lock offs for 30 seconds, 15 pull ups in between. Next is push ups, 20 reps per round." 

       Ugh please no.

       "And the last station is hand weights, do whatever you want there, but don't stop."

       "We call pull ups!" I announce. Ella and Nevaeh shrug. I hear Joshua and James groans and I laugh. I love annoying them

       "Okay, you guys ready?" Coach Janet calls. We all nod. "All right...go!"   

        I sprint to the bars and jump up to grasp one. I am about to lift up my chin when I am whipped off. My heart is starting to hammer. What just happened?! I quickly assume that I slipped off when I turn around and see the entire gym shaking. Everyone's eyes widen.

       "What's happening?" Navaeh quivers. No one answers. No one knows. The floor shakes again as everyone is thrown off balance. My breathing quickens and I feel dizzier than when I was running. Coach Janet is the first one to snap out.

       "Over here!" She motions to the staircase leading up to the surface.

       There is a frenzy for the stairs, everyone is almost tripping one another. The floor is now thrashing even more violently. As I am clinging from the railings, another quake throws me off. I struggle to regain my balance. My stomach flies up to my chest, I feel like I'm about to witness my own death. Suddenly I slip off the stair and spiral down towards the floor. I brace myself and squint my eyes.

       A hand grasps mine and I gasp. I look up to see Joshua looking at me straight in the eye. I feel the blood rushing to my face and mumble a quick "thanks" as he rushes on. 

       I am at the top of the staircase at last. Then realization hits me.

       "Where's Coach Janet?!" I exclaim worried. The others realize it too and nervously clamor. We're all too scared to go down.

       I hear a faint voice.

       "I'm fine!" Coach Janet yells, "Go on! I'll make sure the stuff is safe."

       I glance at Ella. She motions for all of us to leave.

       "Let's go!" James calls.

       We retreat outside, not only with our lives, but with horror on our faces.

       The outside building has spray painted purple graffiti. The words, "It's been unleashed" has been spray painted.

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Hey, sorry this chapter was bad, but I'm building up to the climax so stay tuned lol.