The Keeper Exams

Chapter Twenty-Seven - It's For Survival

User: infinitywordlover

Name: Zander

The medics swarm around the room, hustling from one patient to another all the while muttering streams of what seems like unintelligible nonsense but are in reality, important pieces of data. "Lift your arm," a nurse orders and I obey, wincing as my sore muscles groan in protest. She clucks her tongue sympathetically and smooths a handful of bluemist salts over the long cut that slants across my arm. She repeats it on my other arm, and then legs. Gradually, I stop paying attention to the healing and let my eyes wander across the room. It's the same room that we had been in after Stage One, but this time the beds are fewer and farther in between. Quickly, I count them and come up with a grand total of ten. Only ten. My mind reels in shock, and I'm not quite sure how I should feel. A surge of triumph rises within me, but it is quickly replaced by regret, and guilt, and then it's triumph again, then sadness. I know it's not my fault that so many had died but I feel guilty all the same. My eyes instinctively glide along the beds searching for someone... the girl... the girl with violet eyes. I need to know that she is okay. As each bed surrenders to my search and gives up an apprentice that is not her, my heart increases in pace. Panic fills me to the brim to think that she might have felt the pain of death, and that I had been unable to save her.Tears begin to cloud my vision, but then a medic shifts out of the way to grab an instrument revealing a sheet of jet black hair. Her olive toned skin seems to stand out among the pale, snow white sheets, and as she turns her head, her eyes are unmistakable. They catch mine, and and seem to brighten slightly, glinting under the harsh fluorescent light. Her mouth twitches upwards in a grin, and I smile back before the medic moves back into place and she's once more blocked from view.Slowly I close my eyes and whisper a prayer of thanks to the sky. I had never been really religious, but after all I've been through, I want to think that perhaps there's someone up there in the sky who is watching over me. I'm not a fool. I know that half the reason I've made it this far is due to pure dumb luck. How long it will last I'm not sure, but something is telling me that it's not going to be long. "And you're done!" the medic says as she applies the last of the bluemist to the blackening bruise on my shoulder. My eyes jerk open, my senses instantly on alert. I can see the other medics finishing up around me. They shut their kits with ominous clicks of finality and rip off their gloves with crisp snapping noises. It's time. I follow my assigned guarde under the twisting and winding tunnels, not even bothering to keep track of the endless turns. At last he stops and shoves me into a room filled with pearly white gas and I fall unconscious.The first thing I notice when I open my eyes is that I'm alone, utterly and completely alone. Not an enemy in sight, but also not a single friend either. Suddenly a hard pang of loneliness stabs through me as I realize that every alliance, every promise I had ever made and every promise anyone had ever made me is gone now. Whether they are dead or alive, I can no longer trust anyone to not kill me on first sight. At this point in the game, it's everyone against the world.A hollow sort of despair begins to well up inside of me. I can't do this anymore. Never before in my life did I have no one. I had always known that at the day's end I could go home to my family, and they would still care for me and love me all the same, but even they can't help me now.Go ahead. Go ahead and call me a "Mama's boy". I don't care anymore. If they're one thing that this competition has taught me, it's that there are bigger and worse things to worry about. Even in the first two stages I wasn't alone. Sure, in the first stage I was surrounded by enemies, but I least I knew exactly where they were. Somehow, this quiet uncertainty is even worse than the blatant fear of the first stage. Now, I am completely out of control. I stare out around me taking everything in. Deep blue waves lap against the wooden platform I stand on, and the sun shines on everything casting a searing heat on my face and my head. Every second I stand on the platform, the heat increases ten fold until I'm almost hunched over under its oppressive weight. I need shelter I realize, but as I squint out over the flat mirrored surface of the water, I see nothing but blue. I'll have to swim. Cautiously I dip a toe into the waves, and nearly fall backwards in shock. A loud yell of agony is drawn from my lips, and I clutch my toe in pain. Of course the ocean has to be made of acid, because god forbid something actually safe appears in this contest. Once again, it's a choice between two evils, and once again I choose the lesser evil. Either I swim in pain and get shelter and possibly food, or I stay on the platform and die from exposure. Taking a deep breath, I brace myself, and slide into the water.I scream in pain, and my eyes swell with tears. Agony. So much agony. Every inch of me feels like it's being lit on fire, and there seems to be no end to the pain. There's no gradual numbing sensation as my body gets used to the pain. Instead, every second the pain is fresh, sharp and unrelenting. Tears are pouring down my cheeks in an uncontrollable waterfall. They leak into the ocean, salt water joining salt water, a family reunited. "Have mercy!" I scream into the clear, hot air, and it fades away into the distance swallowed by the empty space. "Stop the pain! Please!" I beg desperately at the world hoping, someone, anyone will listen, but there is nothing. Once again I am brutally reminded of how utterly alone I am. My cries die down slightly, but the pain remains harsh and agonizing. I kick out with my legs and they scream back at me with protest. My chin dips toward the water surface, and I claw out in panic. With every stroke, the pain seems to double, but I grit my teeth and continue. There is only one way to safety, and that is forward. Going back is no longer an option; it hasn't been one for a very, very long time. Even as I surrender myself to the pain and claw myself forward, tears still stream down my cheeks, and I stare at everything through a watery lens. The sun is a fluctuating, wobbling disk, and the sky shifts and swirls. Something about it is familiar, about the way it moves. I stare at it with wide eyes and when it finally clicks I almost laugh in excitement. Of course! My forcefield!It worked for physical attacks so why wouldn't it work in acidic water? Mentally, I kick myself for not thinking of it sooner, and slowly a blue glow flickers into being.Instantly the pain fades. It's still there, but it's tolerable now, as if it is only one bee stinging and not a whole swarm. My arms stroke out stronger now, and I move steadily in the direction of the sun crossing my fingers that I would find something helpful. Then there! A hope beyond, all hope. Dark, furry spikes rise up into the sky on a pale, sandy colored platform. It's an island! I whoop loudly in triumph, and my arms pick up speed. I'm almost there. A silly grin spreads uncontrollably across my face even as I try to force it away. My heart feels like it's soaring in happiness, flitting across the carefree, crystal blue sky. My fingers touch the very first of the rocks, and I laugh breathlessly in relief. My feet scramble gratefully onto solid land, slipping and sliding on the rocks but still determined to make it to shore.At last I sprawl across the warm sand, my breaths coming heavy and fast from exhaustion and relief. But suddenly, a sharp prickling sensation interrupts my celebration- my danger senses. Of course this island would contain immense danger. Well, hey, celebrate whatever you have right?My danger senses spike until they're almost unbearable. The danger is immediate, and according to my danger senses, it's coming from the ocean. I squint out into the distant and I can just make out a sizable wave coming into the surf. It's moving too quickly to be a regular wave, and a chill of panic shivers down my back."Find high ground, find high ground, find high ground!" I mutter to myself as I scramble into a standing position. There's no time to think about where. There's only time to run, and I do. I sprint into the woods scanning around for a cliff, or a hill or even just a large rock. Anything will help, but there's nothing. The land remains as flat as Kansas, and I don't trust the trees to not snap under the weight of the wave.The undergrowth snaps and crackles under my feet as I race inland, and I try not to imagine the horrific creatures that tend to hide under the thick leaves. Suddenly there's a growling noise, from a bush, and I yell in fear. Out of the corner of my eye I can see a humongous orange feline looking creature pounding along behind me, following me in my footsteps. A growing sense of fear rises within me, what had I done to deserve this? My heart is sprinting now, and my breathing is ragged and tired. A strange metallic taste arises in the back of my throat and it takes me a while to realize what it is: blood. It's completely too much. My eyes flick up, down, left, and right yet still I see nothing. My ears can barely concentrate on anything else over the roar of the tsunami and a what exactly? I twist my head just long enough to get a good look at the beast and my jaw drops. Is that? No. Those are extinct. I am just going out of my mind. My feet continue to pound the forest floor each step jolting my bones into protest, and at last I realize, I'm not going to outrun a tiger. I'll have to fight. My feet screech to a stop, and a cloud of dust puffs up beneath me.When I turn, I scream in horror. Not one but THREE beasts meet my gaze, and as I focus on the one in the middle I rub my eyes hastily but the image does not change. "No way," I mutter. Standing in front of me, baring its gigantic fangs at me is a saber tooth tiger, yes, as in the one that lived during the ice age. My brain whirls through the possibilities of it happening and I land on a solution. A mortality hybrid probably brought it back to life, but then I realize a rather more important detail : now it's going to kill me. Thanks a lot. Personally I think, and this is just an opinion, but the thing should have stayed dead if you ask me. It would have made things a WHOLE lot easier for ME, but as I've learned many times, the universe does not like me very much. Well you know what universe? I hate you too. Next to the tiger are a wolf, and thank god a NORMAL sized leopard. My forcefield flickers into view surrounding me in a fluctuating blue haze. Glancing back toward the wave, I realize I don't have much time. The beasts seem to realize this as well, and they lunge. The tiger reaches me first, it's ginormous paws eating up the space between us in hardly half a second. I can see the back leg muscles bunching, and it springs into the air twisting, and folding as it goes. There's a strange deadly beauty in it and for a moment I can only watch in awe as it's claws sink towards my chest, but then reality snaps back into place.I imagine my forcefield stretching out to meet the tiger swelling slowly like a bubble and hard as diamond. The tiger crashes down onto it and lets out a small roar of surprise. It scrabbles desperately for a hold on the shield but there's none, and it flops backwards into the mud with a thud. Immediately before it can react, I point to it, and mutter, "Paralysis." The cold yellow eyes, glare forcefully out from the huge fanged face, but not another muscle moves, giving me exactly 30 seconds to take down the other two smaller animals. They attack together, and suddenly I can only see a blur of grey and then a flash of gold. A prickling from my left side, causes me to shift to the left, and my fist crashes into the wolf's jaw. There's a small whimper from he and he backs away to stand by its larger friend.A sharp pain slices across my back, and I whirl around dragging my leg up and around crashing my foot into the side of leopard. He flies backwards, twirling head over tail, but lithely manages to land on his feet. "Blind!" I yell at him and immediately he roars in anger. I kick at him again planning to finish him off but he stumbles away. His ginormous head swings back and forth trying to make sense of his new dark world. Lunging forward, he tries to attack but instead crashes into a tree. "Mroww?" he meows questioningly, and suddenly he roars again but this time it's in panic. Swinging his head violently, he paces in a circle. Quiet noises, whimpers and squeals can be heard now, and that's when I realize that he's scared.As his head swings towards me I can see his eyes clearly for the first time. They're a glittering green color, like emeralds, and sightless as they are, they're filled with an unmistakable emotion, one that I have seen several times within the last few weeks, and probably the same emotion that had been etched on my face a just a few moments before: terror and panic. The pupils are huge, and it's ears are pressed flat against the head, and suddenly a huge wave of guilt wracks through me. There's something too similar in the way he stares at me,and suddenly tears spring to my eyes when an image rises to my mind. When I was nine, my dog died. She was crashed into by a car and died only a few minutes afterwards. She had died in my arms when I had ran to help her. And her eyes, I will never forget them, they were filled with same things as the ones in front of me, terror, panic, and pain. Disgust at myself overwhelms my thoughts, and my forcefield dies down. I had been a fool. I was the monster all along. This leopard had only been acting on instinct, and now because of me it lies whimpering, and shuddering on the ground, terrified and in pain. Another image rises to my head of Hannah walking along the corridors of stage two, her fingers dragging along the wall of the ocean, fish trailing her fingertips. A deep sense of regret echoes through me, she would've known exactly what to do. I decide that I have to try at least. Slowly, I inch forward to the leopard, and place my hand on his head. There's a low growl in his throat but he lies still. Staring into the emeralds, I sink into his brain and immediately an emotion slams into me, hot and fast.Fear. It's a fear that makes me want to run and never ever look back, but I shove it away diving deeper into his brain. I imagine a soft, comforting beach, with only the wind, ocean, and me. A bird streaks across the sky, free and triumphant. A lone sailboat bobs on the waves, peaceful and happy. My mind opens into the mind of the leopard letting the image and its comfort spread across his mind. Slowly under my fingers, the beast relaxes, and his breathing slows. The rapid pulsing heartbeat that had once beat under my fingers reduces to a slow thump. The fear is gone, and a few more seconds later, his vision returns as the spell ends. I tense as I realize this and whip around to the saber tooth tiger. Its spell had ended almost ten seconds ago and yet he still lies a couple yards away, and standing next to him, the wolf stands proud and tall, but still. They understand I mean no harm. A movement under my fingers jolts a feeling of panic into me, would the leopard attack? But the leopard merely yawns hugely, and stands up uncertainly. Barely sparing me a glance, he strolls casually over to the two other animals. I turn to leave when a sudden splattering pain hits my back, and it feels like a thousand needles are stabbing into my skin. I turn to a see the wave barely five yards away from us, the first of its spray close enough to burn. My feet spring into action as adrenaline pulses through me. A blue glow surrounds me once more and the pain dulls. The animals too burst into movement, their legs faster than mine but still too slow.With each drop of water that lands on them, they cry out in pain, and they falter. Their look of fear and panic is back, and with it, the guilt. The wave is eating up the distance as if it's not even there, and I realize that I can't outrun it. No one can. The animals seem to sense this too and they stop, their eyes filled with an emotion that can only be described as despair, but there is also a spark of nobility, a small inkling of determination to die with honor. In a split second decision, my forcefield swells, and it stretches over first the leopard, and then the wolf, and finally as it feels like it's about to snap, it flows over the tiger. My eyes close tightly, and I brace myself for the onslaught of the waves.It crashes onto the forcefield, and I yell in pain. A thousand tons of acid press in on me, and my forcefield bends and twists under the pressure. Air is sucked out my lungs, and suddenly I can't breathe. Black spots crowd my vision, and suddenly I fall to my knees groaning. The weight is too much. I should just surrender I think.But for some reason I stop myself. Crysalis is still out there somewhere and I have to protect her. I yell again screaming at the world to just...stop, but it keeps turning, and the wave continues to crash and roll over us.But at last, there's a sign of relief. The pain numbs slightly, and my breathing comes easier, but still I lie crouched on the ground screaming for mercy. I hear footsteps, and the three animals approach their eyes unreadable. And then suddenly to my shock, as one, they bow their heads to me shutting their eyes as they do so. It's a clear message: thank you.A quiet surge of strength and determination builds up inside me at the gesture, and my screams die away replaced by pure will. The water rolls and surges up and over, and then finally, it's gone. I sigh in exhaustion, finally being able to breathe again and the blue fades away with a crackle. The three animals straighten and scramble off into the forest, leaving me breathing heavily on the acid soaked ground. After a few minutes, I heave myself onto my feet and fully allow my senses to explore my surroundings. I'm in a thickly foliaged forest and cracks in the ground beneath me spew hot gas and dust into the air that smells strongly of sulfur. The heat that they create, presses hot, heavy, and sticky against my skin until it's almost unbearable and the thickly packed trees around me do nothing to block the heat.My stomach growls slightly and I glare at it. Now I'm hungry....just fantastic. I walk over to the nearest patch of plants and my fingers trail over them searching for something that looks edible. But a sharp prickling sensation flickers in my palm, strengthening each time it passes over a plant. "Dang it," I mutter stomping on one of them. "Of course you have to be poisonous." Maybe I'll just fast for a little while, I think, I mean people do it all the time right? A loud growl erupts from my stomach, more insistently this time. A small burst of hollow pain accompanies the noise, and I wince. So clearly that is NOT an option. I try in vain for another half an hour trying to find plants that are not poisonous, but eventually I have no choice but to realize I have to kill. My stomach twists at the thought,my mind flashing back to the three creatures I had met. "Come on, Zander. Either they die, or you die," I mutter to myself angrily. I had to stop being so weak.My jitters stilled, I creep along the dense undergrowth my senses reaching out for any sign of life. A crackling noise sounds to my left and my head jerks towards it revealing a large chicken- like poultry pecking at the ground for small violet colored seeds. I close my eyes, not trusting myself to chicken out at the last second- no pun intended."Paralysis," I whisper at it. There's a soft thud, and I flinch, but manage to say the next word, "Bleed". A soft liquid spluttering noise is all I can hear now, even though I try not to listen. And then the spluttering turns into oozing, and then finally; silence. I open a single eye cautiously and glance towards the now dead bird. Disgust and sadness erupt within me at the sight of it, and I turn away. Tears roll down my cheeks, and I don't know if I'm crying for the bird or for myself. I remain that way for a couple minutes, but at last I calm down enough to deal with the bird. I tear the feathers off first with a sort of wild panic, and choke down the growing feeling of nausea. It's for survival...it's for survival...it's for survival I tell myself, repeating it in my head again and again as if that will make it easier to believe. I stare at what remains of the bird, and realize that it's much smaller than I had thought. Picking it up by the long, twig-like legs, I hold it over one of the hot gas vents and slowly the bird begins to warm. It's dry and tasteless but I still devour it as if it was cooked at a five-star restaurant. I try to ignore the guilt that has built up inside of me, but everytime I move, I feel like I'm going to throw up in disgust at myself. It's still too hot to need a fire, and I manage to find a comfortable enough tree to curl up in. Closing my eyes, I fall into an uneasy sleep with only misery by my side, and tears in my eyes to keep me company.