Gone in an instant

Chapter 17: Monday 3, 7:05 PM

I ran again. I ran from everything. I tried to get the sight out of my head. The image of my Dad. The image of the gun. I ran. I ran until I collapsed. I fell in into the grass of a field behind a church. I had nothing left. No energy. I was exhausted. I closed my eyes. And I fell asleep right there. In the middle of a field.

Asleep

I was running through the forest again. Towards the laughter of my family. I could tell they were just a little bit farther, but with every step they seemed to move farther. I kept running. But I could no longer hear their laughter. The forest suddenly turned dark. Then it was too dark to see. I could hear whispering. It wasn't friendly. It sounded threatening. It was surrounding me. Moving closer and closer. I could hear snippets of what they were saying. “Get him!” “He's over here!” “Get him!” “Run!” “Goodbye!” “Get him!” Then the whispers stopped. And then I felt hands grab me. Several pairs. I got pulled and smothered. They pushed me to the ground.

Awake

I woke up with a gasp. It was early in the morning. I pushed all those awful thoughts and memories out of my head. I looked up at the mountain that I had to climb. I began walking towards it. It seemed to be the tallest in the area. I looked through my back-pack. I noticed a headset that had a microphone and an earpiece. I put it on. “Hello Josh. I see you completed your challenge. Well done. Now make your way up the mountain. You should see at least one or two of the other men. Kill them on sight. They will try to kill you too, so be careful. Good luck!” My grandfathers voice said. “Monster.” I spat at him. I tore off the headset and threw it as far away as I could.

An hour later

I was starting up the mountain. I had found a trail. I began walking. It was really hot, I think I saw on a sign somewhere that it was 100 degrees outside. I began walking up the mountain path, my gun ready. I walked for about an hour with no problems, but now I was entering an area that had some really thick trees. It wasn't a forest or anything, but it was thick with trees that stood only 10-20 feet tall. I kept on the trail where the trees weren't in the way. I had my gun raised now, sweeping back and forth across the landscape, trying to see anything out of the ordinary.

I stopped. I had heard a branch snap. I whipped around, facing towards my left where the sound had come from. I scanned the trees, several times I thought I saw a person but it was just shadows or an arrangement of leaves and my eyes were playing tricks on me. Then there was another branch snapping, this time from behind me. I turned around, and I saw something dart behind a tree. I shot the tree without thinking. I heard a man grunt and a body thud. I had just shot right through the tree.

I heard several gunshots that were far away. The other man was shooting at me. I dropped to the ground. Listening. I could hear his feet break branches as he approached me. Then I heard more gunshots. I shot back randomly in his direction. Missing but I was just trying to scare him. I poked my head up a bit, just above the level of the grasses. I could see him about 50 yards away, slowing moving towards me and up the trail, trying to maybe cut me off. I stood up, crouching, and aimed carefully through my scope, training my red dot on him. I took a deep breath, and fired. I saw his body jolt and he fell to the ground.

I stood up and started running up the trail. I wasn't going to let the weight of what just happened crush me. I ran until I felt better. I looked around at my surroundings. There was a lot of tall, dead grass. A few sage bushes, and a few other shrubs. About 50 feet to my left there was a steep drop off that led to a valley. I continued walking up the trail.

I was close to the top now, I hadn't seen any other people for the rest of the hike. I walked up the trail, wiping the sweat from my forehead. Under normal circumstances I would have slowed down and enjoyed the view, taking in my surroundings. But these weren't normal circumstances. I was itching to see what awaited me at the top, but unfortunately the incline steepened and I couldn't see the top, though it was close. I reached the bottom of the incline and began to hike. It was tough, but I could start to see that there was a Plataea about 200 yards away. I could see 5 men standing on the rim, they all held assault rifles, except for one. He held a sniper rifle. One of the men ran off away from me, I assume he was announcing my arrival.

It was kinda awkward walking up walking up and knowing several people were just watching you. Waiting for your arrival. I finally reached them after what seemed like an eternity. They surrounded me, two in front of me, two behind. I began following them. I could see three helicopters sitting about 300 feet away with about 25-30 men standing around it. We reached them. My Grandpa stood in the middle, 4 guards stood around him. Two men dresses like me were facing him. I was guided next to them and a guard actually pushed me next to them.

My Grandfather spoke, “Congratulations. You have survived the first challenge. The second challenge is simply to test your physical skills. You will be completing an obstacle course that I have set up. You get no hints as to what to do in it, and you don't know where the end is. Josh, you get in helicopter one. James, number two, and Adrian, number three.” He told us, James was the man who stood next to me, his skin was pale and he had long brown hair, he looked threateningly at me, his green eyes seemed to lack color as they glared into mine. He was much older than me. At least 28 or 29. He was led away.

I saw Adrian, he was much younger, he looked to be about 18-20. He had dark skin and very short black hair. He also glared at me. His eyes were completely black. You couldn't tell his pupil from his iris. His glare changed to a more friendly look. A look I could decipher. This man was going to be an ally.