Superhuman [Book 1]

18 || Rival

➟ ly
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The arena deteriorated as I fell into Zane's arms. My eyes slid shut, the temperature cooling noticeably. We were no longer on the beach.

"Ly, look out!" I heard Tommy shout, and I ducked suddenly, accidentally pulling Zane with me. A rock skidded across the ground, landing where we'd stood only seconds before.

"Jeez," Zane muttered, untangling his arms from mine. "You sort of saved me."

"You okay?" I asked, standing up.

"Uh, guys, this is cute and all, but we might have bigger problems to deal with," Nia said, gesturing up. My gaze traced her hand, pointing at the slope of the mountain we stood on. Rocks tumbled down the hill, one after another, collecting snow and other boulders.

"Avalanche. That's an avalanche!" Kyle shouted, taking a step back.

"No shit," Tommy shot back, glaring at Kyle. Kyle took another step back nervously, slipping off the ledge.

"Kyle!" Jack cried, grabbing his hand. He took several deep breaths.

"We need to out of here. C'mon," Hazzy said. Zane nodded and began down the path towards the ground, Nia, Hazzy, Tommy, and Sam following suit. I lingered, watching as Jack pulled Kyle off the ledge.

"Kyle. Are you alive?" I asked coldly. Kyle just shook his head. I turned to chase the other members of Alliot, set on finding the door to escape the training. The winding pathway lead on and on, and I felt my lungs growing heavy. "So," I mumbled, running in time with Hazzy, "are you feeling any better?" I said to Hazzy, who smiled weakly.

"A little. My insides aren't spilling out yet, so that's good," she said through huffs of air.

"Just hang on," I heard Zane call back. "We'll break in twenty minutes."

"Twenty m-minutes?" Sam whined. I turned to look at him, and saw him running, out of breath, in the back of the group. "Can we just stop now?"

"Draos won't allow you a break. Be lucky he's giving you one," I said roughly. An attitude like that could get us killed.

"R-Right. Sorry," He said, his pace increasing slightly. Kyle said something to him quietly, jokingly punching him in the arm. I fixed my eyes forward and continued running.

We went on, and night was falling quicker than seemed possible. The mountain itself was winding down, and we were near the ground already. Zane sat down slowly, and I sat next to him.

Looking around the new arena, I saw icy terrain, rough patches of rock, and no trace of life whatsoever. I breathed heavily, watching my breath collide with the air in white puffs. The chill was starting to affect all of us. Zane had his knees pulled to his chest, attempting to conserve body heat.; even Nia was shaking in her boots.

Sam rubbed his hands together, ice forming between his fingers. "G-guys, I hate to sound w-wimpy, b-but I'm freezing my ass off here," he said, tugging at his sleeves. "My element isn't really meant for the cold. Even though I'm ice."

"You did it again." Tommy said, smiling.

"D-did what?" Sam asked.

"Your stutter. For a second there, it was gone."

"Oh."

"What if I started a fire, would that help?" Jack asked, referring to the cold. Sam nodded, reducing to sitting on his freezing hands.

"I don't know, it might attract bears or something," Kyle said, making a face as if he was stating the obvious.

"One of your teammates is about to freeze to death, Kyle James," Hazzy said loudly, narrowing her eyes. She turned to Jack, her tone of voice softening. "Please light a fire, Jack, it would help a lot."