My Classified Life

Prologue

Jump.

Left.

Branch!

I thought those words in my head as I sprinted through a jungle somewhere in South America. It was bright daylight outside but in the dense jungle it appeared to be dusk. And that just made this more fun.

Stump, jump!

Right.

Duck.

Armadillo!

It was when I jumped over that armadillo I saw my destination, a large metal door in the entrance to a cave that was slowly closing. And at that moment, I also heard a second pair of feet running through the jungle. I ran faster.

I was about two hundred feet away from the door, ducking under a particularly large tree branch when a third pair of feet joined us. I pushed my aching legs faster and breathed harder as I sprinted towards the door and leaped over a poisonous bush. Tree branches scratched and clawed at me but I kept running.

I was ten feet away from the cave as I realized I would have to slide under the door. I felt my body smack to the ground and slip under the metal door. My left arm clipped the bottom as it shut. Not a second after two people's hands thundered on the door, banging on it in frustration.

"I can't believe she beat us!" a first voice said.

"I know! She must have heard me talking about the secret stone turtle!" a second voice added.

I just chuckled to myself. After all, it is my job to use all my resources.

As I got up and brushed the dirt off myself I was completely calm when the lights came on around me and a voice said "One hour, seven minutes, and thirty-two seconds. That's fast. But not as fast as Montesquieu in '93, sorry Emily."

*Authors Note (April 2020):This story was originally published in 2012 when I was sixteen. It may contain some internalized misogyny and romanticization of toxic traits.