Arena Of Death: The BUS Saga 2

Sacrifices

     The storm was growing more and more intense. By the amount of times the sun had risen and fallen, it was indeed the night of day 10. Its was funny. It seemed as if time flew by. It was a very long treacherous journey, filled with peril. They knew they shouldn't have waited to see if Dallas would have waken up, or wait on their strength to regain. They had but a few hours left.
     The four were all that were left. By now, they figured the rest fought each other to death, died of their own free will, or were in hiding. Dallas, Caleb, Kelsey, and Lexie were all that remained.
     They were all they needed. They stood at the edge of the wall. The reason this place was the one and only chance to cross through was the deterioration and very slight slant of the wall edge. This section seemed weathered and broken, like a giant storm had struck directly onto it and had hacked away at it for years. The wall was basically a mountain. And it was very unstable. What was worse is how impossible to see it was.
     They had flashlights and rope, along with other climbing equipment. Some gathered from the cornucopia day one. The rest came off of Keara, Miranda and Daisy's corpses. They were prepared.
     They all began the climb. But this was already too easy. Daisy never said what killed her. But something prevented her from making it.
     "This is gonna take an eternity to climb across." Dallas said.
     "We don't have that long!" Caleb said.
     "We need to get up top soon. Otherwise we'll die anyways when dawn strikes." Kelsey said.
     "Then come on." Lexie said.
     After a while, a vibration could be felt on the wall. Very faintly. They all began to get worried. And then, a flash of lightning illuminated the wall, and they could see what was coming.
     A rockslide. A big one. And it was heading straight toward them.
     "There's no way to go!" Kelsey yelled.
     "Well, what do we do now?!" Caleb said. "We're too high up to fall without dying! By a long shot!"
     But Dallas had fixated his eyes on something. Everyone stared at what he was looking at. The lightningonce again revealed something else. A hole in the one big and deep enough to take cover in.
     "Well, that's convenient." Lexie said.
     "Not really!" Kelsey said. "How do we get there? It's too far up for us to get there before the rocks do.
     "I have a way, but it is slightly mental." said Dallas.
     "What?" Lexie said.
     "Everyone hold on."
     Everyone grabbed hold of him. He then pulled back on the rope as hard he could. Then, he let go and jumped.
     His feet landes on a giant boulder that fell. He propelled of of it to the next one and the next one. And then one last leap and they all landed in the home in the wall.
     And just in the nick of time. The wave of endless boulders and debris fell like the rain pouring from the sky. But luckily, they were now safe. Everyone was hurting after landing on the rocky wall.
     "D-Dallas....h-how did you do that?" Lexie said.
     "The man's been working out, clearly." Caleb chimed in.
     "But really, that was hard to do, carrying three people with you."
     "Don't ask." Dallas said.
     "But what if I want to?" Lexie said.
     "I just won't say. Let's just say I had training."
     Eventually the rockslide stopped. And they continued the climb. But it was near halfway off when the next problem arrived.
     As Kelsey tried to climb further up, there was no place to hold onto, no place jagged enough for her rope end to stop on. She would have fallen if it wasn't for Caleb quickly being able to catch her.
     "There's nowhere to go!" she said. "It's as smooth as if it was just built."
     Lexie's eyes saw something. The lighting then could see a piece of the wall that was extended , almost like a ledge.
     "There!" she said. "We need to get there!"
     "But how?" Dallas said. "It's far up, and even if I jumped up I wouldn't make it."
     "Is there any other area we could go to?"
     "We're already short on time. Plus, it's too dangerous to go sideways on this thing."
     "Me and Kelsey have a way." Caleb said.
     "But, you might not like it." Kelsey spoke.
     "What is it?" said Lexie.
     "If we push you up as you jump, you may be able to make it to the ledge to continue."
     "But you two will-" Dallas started.
     "It's fine, Dallas." Kelsey said. "We agreed on it. Besides, if you succeed, we'll be returned to the real world too."
     "I hate this." Lexie said. "It's almost as if this place is made so only a group of people working together can make one cross it."
     "Whoever made this place did it on purpose." Said Dallas. "It's a classic trick. That's why Daisy failed. She probably got to here and then fell."
     Dallas felt tears running down his cheeks.
     "Hey, don't you be sad now." Kelsey told him. "Like I said, we'll see you soon anyways."
     Eventually, Dallas nodded his head in agreement to the plan.
     Caleb and Kelsey used themselves to propel Dallas and Lexie high enough to reach it. They both began to fall. Unfortunately, they had pushed themselves too far from the wall to reach it again. They looked up as they fell to their death and they both, despite their voices never going to be able to reach them, whispered:
     "Good Luck."
     Dallas had barely managed to grab the ledge, and grabbed Lexie's hand, and pulled him and her both up onto the small ledge.
     They both couldn't really comprehend what just took place. But they knew, they couldn't make it this far, and stop now. So they continued.
     It was what felt like hours, mainly because it was. Hours of endless climbing, and helping each other up when they began to fall. Nowhere to rest, and nowhere to go but up.
     Until, they had done it.
     The top of the wall. On the other side, they couldn't see anything but black.
     Almost too perfect to be coincidence, the hurricane had finally passed, and the dawn was beginning to peak into view.
     But as Dallas tried to climb onto the top, he felt a burning sensastion. It felt like he was back in the lava. It pushed him immediately off. Lexie barely managed to grab him.
     There was a border. A red border that showed itself when Dallas touched it. It blocked off the exit. The final obstacle. And one he couldn't pass alone.
     "Are you ok?!" Lexie asked.
     "Y-Yeah, I'm alright." he told her. "But, also, kinda not. There's nothing we can do now. I don't know how to cross a stable border like this. We couldn't have cone all this way to be blocked off like this."
     "We weren't." Lexie told him. "We said it earlier. The person on the other side of this made it so only more than one person can make it through. And there's only one way to pass through a border-"
     "You have to be pushed into it until you clip through." Dallas said, finishing her thought. "Just like the games."
     "You know what has to happen."
     "You go. Not me. I'll sacrifice myself."
     Dallas began to feel tears again.
     "Hey, it's okay. You deserve to go, not me. This was your idea. You saved us from the squirrels. You sacrificed yourself earlier to stop Miranda. Please, let me pay you back."
     The sunlight began to shine. They knew this could not be debated any further. They kissed one last, final time, feeling an immense déjà vu.
     "I love you." Dallas told her.
     "I love you too." Lexie said.
     She then pulled himup yo the border. She pushed him into it as hard as she could. The pain he felt was immeasurable. But finally, his hand made it through. He grabbed on to the other side, and tried to pull himself through.
     He then fell through, and Lexie, having lost her grip, fell, not sad, but happy. They had done it. Now, maybe, he could find them a way out.
     Dallas woke up in a giant white void. He stood up, and in front of him was a girl.
     A girl with brown hair and blue eyes that stuck out in the endless white space. She wore a skirt, a button-up shirt, and long socks. She smiled upon seeing Dallas, and said two words to greet him:
     "Hey, Daddy."