Endless

Chapter 9

The seven of us are frozen in shock. Grayson simply stands still, breathing quietly. The rest of us are holding our breath. The boy's limp body is sprawled over the neon red block after being shaken by the electricity penetrating his body.

Both blues suddenly take off straight ahead. They both begin hurdling over the horizontal blocks as fast as they can. I shout, "Quick, c'mon!" I break out into a sprint and start hopping over the blocks in front of me. Grayson zips off behind me followed by everyone else.

The smaller of the two blues yells, "They're gaining on us!" Both suddenly speed up in fear.

I am almost head-to-head with the two boys now. I hear Grayson's pounding footsteps behind me and his heavy breathing. He is catching up too.

The four of us are all running in a line beside each other now. I'm slowly losing my breath. I can't keep running forever. I notice that the taller blue seems to be feeling the same way because he begins to slow down. He calls over to his teammate, "Just let them go! We'll catch up!"

Then he and his teammate slow to a halt. Grayson and I keep running for the last stretch onto the next base. I hear Brooklyn, Lucia, Roy and Mark following us out of breath as well.

Once we get to the next base, the five of us take a pause to regain our breath and steady our pounding heartbeats. We had all just run through two whole levels.

Brooklyn slumps down onto the base. She pants, "I can't keep doing this." Grayson glares at her with cold eyes. He mumbles, "Why not?" Brooklyn stands up and snaps, "Will was right. We can't do this. We're barely getting by. The individual is powerless. We are only a small group and that's not benefitting us. At all. We almost died before. We need to go back to the way things were. We can't go back in levels to join Will and the team but we can be like the way we used to be within our group right now."

I lower my eyebrows at Brooklyn with a frown, "You can't be serious." I pause, "Brooklyn - we're in the lead. We just passed those blues back there." Grayson nods and joins me by my side. Brooklyn rolls her eyes, "Them? We got lucky, Taya." She flicks a strand of hair off her face and turns around in a huff.

My eyebrows knit together as I continue, "Brooklyn, you followed me here because you believed that Will is an idiot - " Brooklyn flips around and cuts me off, "Well now I realize that we need Will. He was the only thing holding us together and keeping us going. His ways may be different but they're not stupid anymore."

I counter, "How could you say that? You were always brushing him off - you hated him - and now you want to go back to the way things were?"

Brooklyn is now yelling, "Taya, just admit that we need Will. Just do it."

I shout back at her, "I don't need Will, Brooklyn! I don't!"

Brooklyn hollers, "You don't understand because you think you're the one that saved us from those blues back there. Well forget it, Taya. Let's just go back to the way things were."

I explode, "No, you couldn't be farther from the truth. We each got ourselves out. And we helped each other - it wasn't just me."

Brooklyn gives me no time to continue, "That's what I'm saying! You've just proved my point. We helped each other as a team. There's the catch in your plan! We are already back to the way things were - working in a team! In fact, things never changed! All I need is for you to admit it. Admit that we have to do things the way Will does to survive. Then we can keep going."

I purse my lips. I try my best not to hit her. I merely keep my mouth closed. By doing so I passive aggressively act as if I won't speak - let alone admit to her what she wants to hear. I cross my arms over my chest and glare at her with nasty pleasure.

Brooklyn suddenly bellows, "You know what, Taya? We don't need you!"

I sputter, "I never want to see you again anyway."

Brooklyn's mouth drops open. She blinks back tears but is careful not to show it.

Brooklyn spins on her heel and retreats to a corner of the base where she sits down with a thump. Lucia trots after her in a fluster. Roy and Mark slink away to another corner of the base careful not to disturb anyone.

I am left standing in a cloud of frustration. Grayson opens his mouth to speak but I quickly raise my hand to signify stop. I turn away from him and sit down to bring my knees to my chest and huddle myself up in a ball. Grayson stalks away to join Roy and Mark in a forced, awkward conversation about nothing.

The next morning I wake up at sunrise. Grayson is sitting a few feet away from me looking out into the radiating, orange sun. I sit up quickly and look around. No one else is here. It's just me and Grayson.

Grayson turns around from sensing my movement beside him. He forces a small smile.

"Where is everyone?" I ask him while feeling anxiety bubbling up in my stomach.

Grayson bluntly states, "They left."

I pester, "Where?"

He sighs, "Probably twelve levels ahead by now." My heart drops to my feet which creates a heaviness pulling the soles of my shoes down. I'm sinking. I try to find words to say. My mind is buzzing with the sudden information. Finally I manage to ask, "Why aren't you with them?"

He shrugs, "Didn't want to go."

"Why?"

"They're completing the levels ahead the way Will taught them. They asked me to come, but I didn't want to. I didn't want to be pinned down again."

I sigh. They ditched me. And Grayson too. I try to stay calm. I don't need them anyway. In fact, now I can do things the way I originally thought we'd do things - individually. Grayson will have to try and keep up.