Submit (Book 1, The Karyln Trials)

Chapter Fifteen

     I peel the sweat-soaked tank away from my torso and my face folds in disgust. Today's been one of the most taxing days of training so far. Hours upon hours filled with exertion to our body's breaking point. I let go of the poor material and it snaps back to my skin with a small crack sound. The feel of the wet cloth rubbing against my skin sends chills down my spine, a very long shower is more than needed.

Bodies shift around me until our whole sector is a mob around our instructors. August stands next to me and sees the fatigue painted across my face. "We're almost done, we can get through this." He sets a hot, clammy hand on my shoulder, our sweat mixing in a way that churns my stomach.

"All right you smelly mutts!" Officer Camilla, a competitor in last year's Trial, climbs up the artificial climbing wall to gain a better vantage point. "This is the last rotation of the day! You will be climbing both sides of the wall for time today!

"You will each take turns climbing up the wall. Boys will climb the artificial wall first then followed by the girls. By the time the girls have finished, you all should've had enough time to rest and then we'll go in the same order up the realistic wall.

"When you reach the top of either side, you will reach your hand up and wave your chipped wrist over the sensor to stop the timer." Camilla looks over our group and speaks again. "Any questions? No? Good." She doesn't wait for anyone to speak up, she just assumes nobody has any questions then jumps from the wall, her safety harness taking her safely to the floor.

The muscles in my shoulders bunch between the blades and I can feel my sweaty tank move across my skin as I try to shake away the tension. I reach for August's hand as the crowd shifts, allowing the males to get in line in front of Camilla and another instructor that walked over during her speech.

"I have to go." August squeezes my hand and looks into my eyes. The past few days since Johns' warning, I've been tweaking my medication with Dr. Turner's help to fix my absentness. Due to the changes, my anxiety has been all over the board. Stars, it's even been off the board.

My emotions dip and turn one-hundred-eighty degrees and I'm flooded with confidence. "Today's the day." Johns says that I need to prove that I'm not to be messed with, and I will do just that.

August must see something in my eyes because his expression drops. "Don't do it!" His hand is ripped from mine when the mass of people pulls him forward and me back. "Whatever you're planning, Adaline, don't do it!" His voice is soon smothered by the frantic voices around me.

Someone grabs my shoulder and pulls me closer. I crane my neck to see Eve pulling me out of the mass of bodies and close to the front of the crowd to have a clear view of the wall. I extract myself from her grasp and rub at my tattooed wrist.

Eve and I watch in awed silence as boy after boy ascends the wall. The higher ranks who never had to do much around the sector are fast at the start then slow due to the lack of endurance and end up with slow times. About rank fifteen is when the times start to drop by whole seconds.

I start to recognize some of the boys from around the sector. Charlie, a sixteenth who helps his father with offloading supplies for the local builders. Sam, a twentieth who has been tutoring Andrew in golf after his own practices. And then, of course, there was August, a twenty-second who's been with his brother, lifting weights for years.

The harder-worked boys of the sector are mesmerizing to watch on the wall. Where their ranks lack, their muscles and skill more than compensate. As they ascend, it almost looks like the harness keeping them from falling is pulling them up the wall. The way they move between hand and foot holds is absolutely awe-inducing.