The Race

009 | Cami

There were two other people on the plane ride to Australia. Understandable since Australia was mostly an endless jungle where mutated animals ran wild. I didn't want to go myself, but we had to. We needed to find the art gallery in whatever terrible condition it was in to find the next clue.

Landing and hiking went by quickly. We soon found the old art gallery buried under layers and layers of vines and fallen trees.

"What happened? This place is practically flat," Maybelle said, looking around.

"Maybe people were really short in the twenty-first century," Harper joked.

"There must have been some earthquake," Asia said. "Or a bombing. Or a hurricane..."

"Probably," I said. "I really need to find some sort of old school history book. They don't really teach it at school in Canada."

"I learned a lot in Egypt," Naomi said. "But then again, I went to a private school."

"Này! Này! Bạn không nên ở đây!"

I turned to find a woman, very young, wearing a bright red dress that was tight at the top and loose and flowy at the bottom.

"Xin chào. Um... Bạn có nói tiếng Anh không?" Asia asked slowly. "Sorry. I cannot speak Vietnamese very well," she told us.

The woman closed her eyes tightly before opening them again. "I can speak English, but not well."

"That's alright," Aralee said with an encouraging smile.

"So what exactly did she say before?" Maybelle asked.

"She said that we should not be here," Asia explained. "But I do not understand why."

"This a' old place," the woman said slowly. "You can't ruin it's beauty."

Aralee took the hands of the women. "You can trust us. We wouldn't mess anything up."

The woman pressed her lips together and closed her eyes. "Okay," she said, letting out a breath. "Okay, okay, okay. But be careful."

"Chúng tôi sẽ rất cẩn thận," Asia said. "Do not fear."

The women nodded, not smiling but not frowning. She walked away, letting her dress flow in the breeze.

She turned backed suddenly. "Tôi cảnh báo bạn... punishment will happen!" Then she left as quickly as she had come.

"Weird," Maybelle said, her nose upturned. "What did she even say?"

"Her parting words were 'I warn you,'" Asia explained. "And then she said the rest in English."

"We have to be careful not to break anything," I said. I would take her warning seriously. I didn't want to cause unnecessary problems.

Maybelle scoffed. "Who cares about what some skinny woman said! I could knock her over in an instant!"

"No," I said firmly. "We need to be careful!"

"Who died and made you queen?" Harper said with an annoying high-pitch laugh.

"I'm not the queen, idiot. I'm just the only rational one here besides Asia," I said.

"Okay, your highness," Harper said mockingly. "We won't touch a thing besides the clue."

I rolled my eyes. "Just look for the clue," I said.

Harper smiled and flipped backward. She leaped anyway gracefully and annoyingly, barely stopping to look for clues. Meanwhile, everyone else seemed to actually want to find the next clue. Even Aralee, who sat on a rock that Lark set her on.

"Oh!" Aralee squealed. "I think I see a clue! Over there!" she said, pointing toward the east part of the ruined building.

I was farther away, only able to see her pointing in the direction opposite of where I was headed. I turned around and headed that way.

The sound of ripping canvas filled my ears. I rushed up to find Maybelle with a foot stuck in a painting that had somehow made its way onto the ground. Maybelle tried to fling the painting off her foot, but it only made the hole tear wider.

"Shoot," Harper said, watching the scene with obviously fake bug eyes. "The woman is gonna come for us! We better run before she-"

Harper was cut off by a loud cry.

"Tấn công! Bảo vệ! Đi! Đi! Đi!" the women from before shouted, but this time she had many other people with her. They surround us from all sides.

"Tôi cảnh báo bạn," the woman said sadly. Then she whispered it. "Tôi cảnh báo bạn..." She took out a pistol. I froze in fear as the rest of the group took out pistols as well.

"Tấn công!" the woman said, focusing her aim at Maybelle's heart. Maybelle, unlike me, was not frozen in fear. Quickly, she took out her throwing knife and chucked three of them at the woman.

The woman froze as the knife nailed her in the heart. She fell down on the ground, her blood pooling around her lifeless body.

The rest of the group's face was of pure anger. One of the men quickly shot at Harper, but she dodged each bullet. Maybelle quickly took out her throwing knives and threw them madly, attempting to dodge the bullets as well. I, not having much training in weapons, ran back behind the group.

I looked up at the piece of wall that jutted up and outward. I knew I was lean... but was I lean enough? I tested my weight by climbing up a few meters. Stable enough... Making sure no one was aiming at me, I climbed and climbed until I was above the heads of the attackers.

By this point, Aralee had joined the fight using her own gun. I had one knife, and I didn't know how to throw it. I was useless. Useless...

I slid back down the wall. What was I thinking? Did I really think that I could help? All I can do is hack into and out of things.

I squeezed my eyes shut. I would not cry. I hadn't cried since I was four and I wasn't breaking that streak now.

Out of nowhere, I heard a cry for help. I looked around to find Naomi, blindfolded, being dragged away by a man. He quickly gagged her, but it was too late. He was caught.

I rushed over, moving as quickly as I could. The man threw Naomi over his shoulder and rushed away into the jungle. I followed, jumping over roots and avoiding trees and bushes.

Soon, I arrived in a village. The man was nowhere to be found. I ducked down behind a bush. I had to find where Naomi was... before it was too late.