Mastim's Curse

Chapter 22

One cameraman pans over the line of caged contestants as they also ready themselves while the other lingers on the four frightened stars on the trailer a moment before going back to Ryan.

"Let the show begin." As his hand drops, a loud horn sounds from the roof of the Clubhouse and workers pull the latches on the cages, releasing the gates.

I burst out of the cage quickly and run as fast as I can toward the trees on the left. I try to control my breathing with deep, deliberate breaths as this becomes a foot race. Curiously, only a few people are taking this shortcut. The reason why presents itself when I pass a small sign that says, 'Danger Ahead'. It has an arrow pointed at the path I'm heading for. Crap, well it's too late to change my plan now without falling way behind, so I run on to the narrow path through the trees and notice that Kyle has fallen in behind me. Great... Now I have to keep my eye on him as I struggle to keep up with the faster runners. To my surprise, one of them is Sharon. She sure is fast.

There is a sudden commotion ahead of me and the person out front yells as the ground beneath him gives way and he drops. His yell is cut short when he disappears from sight. Shit! This path has traps! Crap... I hate this event already. The fallen man's silence brings visions of spikes at the bottom of the pit. People are slowing down now to take extra care of where they put their feet. For a moment, I considering doing the same, but continue to run as fast as I can because it's the only way I have a chance to win this.

With my instincts leading the way, I leave the marked trail and weave my way through the underbrush. A man to my right has something snap around his ankle and he goes down hard. The sound of his screams makes my skin crawl as I move on through the thorny bushes and vines with Kyle still shadowing me. I hate that I'm making this easy for him by showing him a safe path.

Out of the corner of my eye I see movement and glance up to see that it's a drone in the air tracking me. If Dad and Jaidee are watching this, I bet they're pissed because I'm not taking the safe route. Would they understand that I'm trying to save someone? I'm sure they'd rather I save myself, but then what kind of person would I be? I force the image of their concerned faces out of my thoughts as I come out of the trees and find there are still a few people ahead of me. Some of them are heading down the path to the rope bridge, however there are three going for the skywalk and they're almost there. I push myself into a full sprint.

Sharon and two men reach the skywalk before me with Sharon being the first on it. I'm glad for her. She doesn't seem the type that would mistreat someone.

Gasping for breath, I reach the skywalk as the two men are climbing onto the cable that's strung across the gorge. For support, there's only that one rope run across about seven feet over the wire. Having never done this before, I watch Sharon's example as she walks across the taunt cable while using the rope to keep her balance.

I climb up onto the cable behind the two men and find it is thick enough to provide pretty good footing, but the overhead rope is slack and isn't nearly as helpful as I'd imagined it'd be, especially with the others pulling on it to keep their balance. Looking over the edge of the ravine shows that it's a good hundred-foot drop to a dry river bed. I had expected a stream to offer at least a chance of surviving the fall. No such luck.

I take a few deep breaths and steady my thoughts and emotions before moving forward over the edge. Keeping my knees slightly bent for better balance while focusing on the metal cable under my feet rather than the rocks far below helps as I move further out.

Sharon the fleet and nimble is making good time across. The man behind her is more timid and slow. Unfortunately, the short man in front of me is going even slower and is wobbling in a precarious, and potentially deadly way, which is making this much harder for all of us as his off-balance antics begins to affect the entire skywalk. I recognize him from earlier; he's one of the few that seemed glad to be here. He's not glad anymore. His once confident face is covered with sweat and fear.