Don't Panic

(10) Not even a kiss goodnight? [Edited]

Casey's p.o.v

I walked back to my friends still pumped with adrenaline, Ray walking not too close behind. He went with his friends as I hugged, Nat, Heather, and Bishop. 

"Holy shit! You killed it" Nat said. "I almost puked," I told them.

Ray's p.o.v

I jumped back on the old car I was sitting on with my friends when Sarah said "Found a new chew toy huh?" 

 "Casey?" He asked her. "Just be careful. I hate it when one of the good ones gets broken." 

 "I'll be gentle," He said. She took a sip of her beer, "I don't mean her."

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Sargent Langley's p.o.v

Williams and I were still trying to figure out the encrypted message at the precinct. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine..." Williams counted under his breath. 

"Wait. No, we're combining this. This is a 14" I said pointing to the screen. "So 'N' is Tom... 

"TOM AT TEN" I spoke writing it down on a pad of paper. "It's not a scavenger hunt. It's a start time. Whatever's happening tomorrow at 10:00 is happening at the granary at 10:00." 

"Hang on. This graffiti went up yesterday. Well, it's almost 11:00." Williams voiced. He had realized that the game was going on tonight. "Shit. We gotta go" 

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Casey's p.o.v

"Up next. Dodge Mason!" Summer announced and Diggins repeated it on the loud speaker so everyone could hear. Dodge walked hastily to the water tower, seemingly not afraid. He had climbed pretty quickly and reached the top in no time. 

People were calling out his name and cheering but others were booing. Ray sat with a flashlight in his hands, playing with it and spinning it around before turning it off and telling his friends he needed to use the bathroom and walking off. 

He was a couple feet away and was closer to the towers now. Dodge had begun walking plank, he was straightforward and didn't stop for a second until a light had shined in his eyes making him fall.

Dodge was hanging off the side of the metal plank, holding on with one arm. He stayed there for a second, dangling in the air until he swung himself and grabbed a hold with the other arm too. 

The whole time everybody was watching with scared looks and gasping when the metal creaked. Well, almost everybody, Ray was watching with a smirk. 

I noticed him smirking and holding a flashlight and I knew exactly what happened. Ray felt threatened with the new kid having more points than him so he tried to sabotage him. Was he gonna try and do that to me?

"Oh my God," Natalie whispered. Dodge now had his legs locked around the plank and was facing the sky. 

He used his upper body strength to pull himself up and around so he was lying face down on the metal.

Everyone on the ground sighed with relief knowing he was now safe I had expected him to give up then and there but to my surprise, he got back on his feet and continued going. He finished the challenge with 35 seconds still on the clock.  

"Unbelievable! Un-fucking-believable! Dodge Mason at 55 seconds! He's still in the race! Dodge is still in the game!" Diggins screamed into the loud speaker. Summer was screaming behind him, clapping loudly as people cheered Dodge on.

He jumped down the last few steps on the ladder and marched straight for Ray, Stomping loudly. 

 "Wow, thought we almost lost you there," Ray said sarcastically as Dodge continued walking in his direction. 

When Dodge got to him he pulled him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him into a car. People gasped at the scene, It looked like it hurt. Dodge stayed there for a second, contemplating if Ray was worth it.

Ray had seen the resisting look in his eyes and began smiling and laughing silently as if this was a funny joke. 

Dodge let him go harshly, turned around, and began walking away when Ray asked mockingly "Not even a kiss goodnight?" Dodge stopped walking and spun on his heels, he punched him square in the face before turning back around. 

Ray followed him and grabbed his neck, putting him in a chokehold from behind, and started punching him in the side a bunch of times. A couple of people rushed over to get them away from each other but by this time Dodge had Ray under his arm and was punching him instead. 

Some kids, including Tyler and Adam, tried to pry Dodge off of Ray but it was no use. They would have continued fighting if they didn't hear the sound of police cars. 

About four or five cars had pulled up and officers were running everywhere trying to arrest anyone they could get their hands on. 

As soon as they saw them, the crowd of kids ran in different directions, some running into the woods and some running towards the road where I guessed their cars were.

I got lost in all the commotion when Dodge grabbed my arm "Alright, stay close, okay?" 

"Yeah," I said. He pulled me into a bush behind a piece of electrical equipment. We stayed there for a second and then noticed some kid had pushed Natalie and she was on the ground. 

Dodge ran over to help, me following closely. "My ankle," She said as we helped her up and all three of us started for a gap in the woods, trying to get away from the police.

Sargent Langley had caught Sarah and was cuffing her on the hood of one of the cop cars. "Get the fuck off me bitch. I didn't do anything!" She yelled. Langley ignored her and put her in the back of the same car while she yelled "You motherfucker!"

We were in the middle of nowhere, wandering through the woods not knowing where to go when we found ourselves in a clearing. 

Dodge took Natalie and sat her down on a rock, checking her ankle while I walked away telling them I was going to call Bishop. On the phone call, he told me that he and Heather had gotten away and they would pick us up on the main road. 

I ended the call and sighed a breath of relief. I tried not to think about what had just happened and the challenge but my mind just kept going back to what Ray did. 

If he thinks he can do that to me, he's very much mistaken. I'm not letting anyone or anything ruin my chances at winning Panic. 

This whole thing was scary so I walked back to my friend and the so-called enemy.

It looked like they were having a moment and I didn't want to ruin it so I just kind of stood there awkwardly. After about a minute I trudged over to the two. "We're all good. Bishop and Heather are gonna come back for us." 

 "Okay," Dodge said as he stood up followed by Natalie. We both went to her side, wrapping our arms around her neck and helping her limp to where Bishop and Heather were going to pick us up. 

She kept saying she was okay to walk and that she was fine but neither of us believed her and we continued helping anyways. 

We walked all the way to the main road and a car was there to take us home. I spent the car ride thinking and assessing things over but eventually, I gave up and decided that I could think tomorrow, And this is only the second challenge of the summer. 

Word Count: 1285

The cops are getting quicker which means the judges are going to have to get smarter.