𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔

Chapter 3

Just when she thought she couldn't stand one more moment in that room with those officers, a third black-clad Elite swaggered in through the open door. He exchanged some words with Ensei and San while darting quick glances over at Katara. When he finally left, Ensei turned to her with a smile.

She didn't like it.

"Time for your walk," said Ensei.

"Time for you to meet the big dogs," said San.

She rose from her seat and walked until she was just inside the open doorway.

"What's the point of this gauntlet?" she asked.

San guffawed as Ensei looked at her with a friendly gaze that wasn't friendly at all.

"The point? Stay alive." He said.

Katara stared at him. "Just... stay alive?"

Ensei nudged San. "Any other tips, Corporal?"

With a straight face, San said, "Nope. Survival's pretty much it."

"Leave your bag here," Ensei said. "Don't worry, we will look through it."

They really did have big heads, these Elites. Personally, she just wanted out. She just wanted to leave this place and these smart-talking officers and go back home to Kyoshi and the warm sandy beaches.

But she stepped through that doorway, before they could physically push her out. Katara blinked in the harsh sunlight.

Two groups of Elites, maybe about a dozen total, lingered by the door. As soon as Ensei and San came out behind her, they began to group together and advance.

"Directions: You run, we chase." said Ensei easily. "Three... two..."

She lit off down the path and through the barracks complex before he'd finished counting. Katara understood now. It was going to be a gauntlet in the full sense of the word. She didn't stop to see if they were following.

Katara darted around buildings and through groups of other divisions, scattering them all.

" – Hey! Watch where you're – "

" – Fucking Elites! – "

Risking a glance behind her, she noticed that the group of Elites had grown. Other soldiers had peeled off from their various businesses and joined in the traditional chase.

Katara broke out of the Army complex and burst through the West Gate, back into the city, hoping to lose her pursuers in the large crowds. She forcefully pushed aside the people in her way, without bothering to apologize. She didn't care. She used elbows and legs and knees and teeth. There were only two ways to end this so-called gauntlet. Either she got caught, or she lost her pursuers.

She didn't want to know what would happen once she got caught.

Cries of outrage and anger from behind her told her that the Elites on her tail weren't any gentler with the crowd. By the sound of it, they were gaining. Katara tore off down a side alley and followed it until she entered another crowded main street. Shops and people and carts and produce flashed by. Her heart pounded in my chest. She continued to run through the thickest parts of the crowd, using the people as cover.

But it seemed as if word of the gauntlet had spread. As she turned the corner, she found that majority of the people there had already cleared off to the sides, in order to escape being trampled on by a group of bloodthirsty soldiers. Now the Elites had a perfect line of sight straight down the street to her.

"Shit! No! Don't leave!" she yelled out of frustration at the curious bystanders. They didn't do anything, just continued to watch. This probably happened every year, and they already knew what to expect.