Run Like The Wind

Chapter 3

BOOM!

The gun fired. It was time to run.

Careful not to be trampled by everyone else, I slipped my body through gaps in the crowd, until I couldn't quite move past four boys.

I could tell by the back of their heads none of them were Mason. But what I could tell, is that a few of them were wearing yellow and black. Our team's rival.

They were definitely the most challenging group, but they also had a reputation of being brutal. I heard once that a boy kicked a girl in front of him, while running, which caused her to fall on pavement so hard she cracked her knee.

I hope that's just a rumor.

This route, however, is not pavement. It goes through the woods. I've ran here before. It's a nicely shaded area with trees hovering over the trail, the ground is soft dirt, and for the most part, smooth, but it's narrow and some of the sides are steep.

At least it isn't raining.

"Well, well. If it isn't another Northside." A girl a few steps behind me with short brown hair and a long nose grins as her words slip out in between one breath. She was from our rival team, wearing black and yellow. Northside is the slang term they use for people who live above Columbus, our capital, but I prefer the actual name of our town.

I don't respond, because I need to concentrate on my breathing. We are almost a mile in, and I am trying to prevent side aches. So instead, I speed up so she is a lot further behind. Far enough so I can't hear her. How's that for a Northside?

I need to focus. Running is what I do, it is my life. If I didn't have running, I don't know what I would do. Maybe I would live on the side of a street in a refrigerator box.

I quickly glance behind me. All I can see is that girl with short brown hair. Everyone else must be really far behind. In front of me, I can see two boys, which means I passed the other two.

I'm in first place for girls so far. Not bad.

Now it has been about two miles in. We are running around three miles. I had already started the other loop, since we have to run two laps around the same course.

All of the sudden, a powerful force slammed onto my back and knocked me into the tangle of trees, bushes, branches, and stones. As I fell, I was scraped up by branches and weeds poking out of the ground. I tried to save myself by lodging my arm out from under me, but I ended up landing on it, hitting the ground hard. I looked in front of me. That girl looked over her shoulder and smirked at me.

The bitch shoved me.

I lay, groaning as pain spread of through my arm, causing it to throb, like someone injected poison into your arm as it shot up through your veins. My right knee hurt too, because it bled once I landed on to a large, rough wooden stick. It even might have been a log.

I couldn't get up.