A LEAP OF FAITH

Chapter 3: The start of a long journey.

Mugi stood in the cold hallways of the school. He could tell that everything had grown quieter over the past few days. Not a single soul spoke about the incident, it was too tragic to talk about casually. The school was in the midst of being rebuilt, builders were clearing away the rubble. A lot of students pitched in to help. The hall of elements would've helped, but they were too busy getting ready for their task.

"Is everyone here? Mugi, Sharlet, Ebony, Malcolm, Kiren... and me, yep, that's everyone." Sugar was doing a headcount.

The hall of elements decided that she'd be the leader. They chose her considering Kiren is too careless, Malcolm is too naive and gullible, Sharlet isn't the smartest, Ebony's on the weaker side, and Mugi just wouldn't be a good leader. After all, he hated groups. So, Sugar was the best choice.

"Everyone has their things packed, right? If anyone leaves anything behind, so be it. I'm not going back." She glanced over the five standing in front of her.

A few 'yesses' were heard around the group.

"Good." Sugar gave a soft nod. "Is everyone here mentally?" She chuckled.

"Nope!" Kiren grinned.

"You're never here mentally, Kiren. You're always in lala land," she laughed and fixed the straps on her backpack.

"Erm, it's not 'lala land,' it's super cool land inside of my super cool brain, obviously." He rolled his eyes playfully.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's head out, guys." She motioned for the five to follow her.

Mugi took one last glance at the school before leaving.

"Look on the brightside, we won't have to do schoolwork for like- I don't know, a long time." Sharlet grinned, shrugging her shoulders.

"We won't be able to do schoolwork if we're dead." Ebony glanced at Sharlet.

"Don't say that dude, none of us will die." Sharlet groaned.

The cold breeze brushed against Mugi's exposed skin. The scent of fresh wet grass and flowers filled his nose.

"Says here we have to go this way." Ebony pointed in the southeast direction. She was the map reader considering she was the best at it.

"Alright, if we get lost, it's your fault," Sugar said.

No one could tell if she was joking or being serious.

Ebony smiled sheepishly, "Yes ma'am." She chuckled.

"I'm tired, can we take a break?" Kiren groaned.

"It's been five minutes, Kiren..." Malcolm said softly, looking up at him.

"Five minutes too long, dude!" He grinned.

Malcolm shrugged, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

They continued to walk, and walk, and walk... and walk.

"We are... right here." Ebony pointed at the map; Sugar peeked over her shoulder.

"We're still so far away! It's been three hours; how long will this take?!" She groaned and sat on a nearby stump.

"It's almost lunchtime, I think we should eat." Malcolm looked down at his wristwatch.

"Good idea." Sugar grabbed her backpack and pulled out the pack of food that the principal had supplied them.

"You think all of this will supply us? There's literally no protein in this." Sharlet held up one of the packaged sandwiches.

She wasn't used to eating nothing but processed foods and such. Since she was a swimmer, she had to eat food that would help her stay healthy and strong.