EQAO

Chapter 15 - Even He Didn't Deserve That

"No!"

I tackled Anika, moving her out of the way of the boy coming down on her. The boy, surprised, landed hard on his left arm, and I heard a cracking noise. Trying not to gag, I pulled up a shaking Anika and said,

"Guess we're even now, huh?"

"Yeah." she laughed.

We sprinted towards the others, and together, we made our way along the track, jumping over pits and obstacles, ducking under blades and random tree branches, and defending each other from other competitors. Finally, we were nearing the end, with three other contesters right in front of us. We were all running, adrenaline rushing through our bodies. There were roughly thirty people already at the podium. Some were cheering us - and the ten people behind us - on. We were slowing down, but the people behind us were speeding up. Suddenly, something shot out of the floor to our right, and grabbed onto a guy's leg in front of us, dragging him towards where it came from. He yelled at the girl who had been running beside him, but she was already running away even faster now. I looked at the boy's pleading face, and I knew I couldn't leave him. I rushed forward, and grabbed onto his arm. Michelle, Sameera, Anika, and Kat came beside me to help free him. We finally managed to pull him up.

"T-thanks." he said shakily, "I guess I owe you guys one."

"Not unless we're last!" I responded, running once more to the podium.

"Greg." he said, catching up to me.

"Jessica."

He smiled at me, and I returned it, until I saw that we were in last place. All of us ran past what we thought was possible, but it was no use. The group that was in front of us, reached the podium. Some of my friends slowed down, but I yelled,

"Come on, we've still got to make it there!"

With my last bit of strength, I leapt forward, and landed next to the podium. I looked up, and saw that my friends had also made it. I was confused.

Weren't we in last place?

But then I saw a figure in the distance. He was limping as fast as he could towards us, and I saw him clearer. It was Jacob. He neared us, and leapt to victory. But as soon as his feet left the ground, a wall similar to the starting one sprang up, separating the podium and him. A horrible squelching and cracking noise followed, and I threw up in my mouth a little.

"Jacob..." Kat gasped, "He must've been the last one."

Greg nodded grimly, "No one deserved that."

I looked around at all my friends and realized that that could've been us. We could've been the ones who died right then. I grabbed everyone, and pulled them into a tight hug. Hoping, that I would never have to let go.