5 days in Hell (part 1)

Day 2

The tree ahead of us caught fire. Everyone around me panicked. I couldn't see Alex, but I could imagine his face. He would be completely terrified. Despite his aggression, David was still afraid. You could see it in his eyes. I looked at Kayla, who was also afraid, and comforted her.

"Don't worry, Kayla. It's just one tree. How bad can it be?" I assured her.

"Alex is up there!" She cried

"No he isn't. If he was I would climb." I confirmed

The look in her eyes reminded me of Terra. She looked at me with sad eyes. I turned away. Terra looked at me that same way last year. Last year was before Terra's birthday. So we were in the same testing. This year is one week after her birthday. If one of us dies...

The fire grew. Ironically, I didn't knock on wood. So now the wood knocks on me. What I'm trying to say here is the tree fell over. It hit Alex's tree. "No!" Alex was still getting down the tree. He fell off the tree. I ran over to him, but I was too late. The group joined me. Orion and David grabbed our stuff. Kayla sat by Alex and did CPR on him.

"Did you check for a pulse?" I questioned.

"There is a faint pulse." She answered.

Orion stood there looking up. You could here a faint "oh my god" Not the "oh no" kind, more like the "come on" kind. He was stepping his foot on the ground. I looked at him with an angry look. Orion gets on my nerves. Fire appeared behind him. As much as I wanted to push him in, it wouldn't prove anything. He looked at me with a smirk. I turned away quickly. "What do we do now? I mean, we can't leave him here. There is still a fire spreading!" I yelled in anger. Kayla looked up at me again. I could hear as much as I could see, and I could see it in her eyes. She had that "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." look. I nodded.

"Alex is dead?" David asked. I looked at the young, friendly face. My tongue was sore after.

"We can carry him." Lucas suggested. It seemed useless to carry a dead corpse, but that corpse was my friend. I grabbed his body and lifted it on my shoulder. The armor made him heavy.

"Alex was like a younger brother to me. The fall wasn't too high, there was a pulse, and this armor isn't torn. I believe in Alex." They looked at me in approval.

David took Alex from me. "Don't forget about comas. He could still be alive." David agreed with me. Everyone carried our supplies. We ran as fast as we could. The fire was surrounding us, but we found a way. Every time we thought we outran the fire, it caught up. This clearly wasn't natural. How could there be one strike? This test tricks your mind. You think it is the pocket-world doing this, but it really is made to do this. We were very fast, but the fire was faster. Not just the forest fire was after us, something else was. When we were running from the burning trees, I saw something or someone. I don't know what it was, but it looked angry. Fear can really get your adrenal glands working.

The sky started to turn grey. I looked ahead to see open land. It was a beach, but a small one. "Beach up ahead!" I yelled. We all sprinted over there. Before the sun could touch our cold skin, two trees fell in front of us. "Oh crap" Lucas said. I looked behind us. The creature was nowhere to be found. David found a way around. We all followed him.

Right as we got out I regretted it. The sand was hot. "Ow, F-" David stopped himself. Swearing was not allowed in Alex's vocabulary. Saying a swear word is rude, but saying it with Alex like this is like spitting in the coffin at a funeral. "Need water!" David said, running to the ocean. We all looked over there. When we looked back at the forest, it was gone. Not only did the forest disappear, it made me notice how small this island was. David swallowed some water. We looked at him, waiting for results. He started coughing. I turned to the others "So it's salt water. Don't drink it."

My arms fell off and my armor flashed yellow. Sorry, the armor for my arms fell off. Same with everyone else. Each challenge gets harder and makes you have less armor. Yellow means level 2. Level 3 is orange, Level 4 is red, Level 5 is pink, and Level 6 is Magenta. You can only get to Level 5 in all the tests, except the last test. If you get Magenta on the last test, then you pass. Anything below is a fail. We all knew what the color meant. David returned to the group.

"Alright group, we need shelter. Any ideas?" He asked.

"Get wet sand for an area we can put wood on." Lucas replied. I already see where he is going with this. "There is only one coconut tree, we need to get coconuts and plant some."

"Lucas, we won't be staying here long." David pointed out.

"You don't know that. We might have to stay here for a short time or a long time." I commented. Lucas was on the right path. "That wet spot we will have should be watered everyday. We should build a floor there too, so we can sleep."

"All these ideas are good, but still how long do you think this is going to be?" David asked me.

This is just Day 2. Second day of the whole month. Back there was a starting challenge, just a warm up. It's going to be a while." I wish I was wrong, but I was right. We are in the deep end now. No one can save us. Now, it's up to us. How are we going to survive? I asked myself that question so many times last year. What kept me going last year is why do we need to survive. Terra, my mom, and my friends are my reasons. The test narrows it down to my mom. My friends can die in this test, but my mom can't. Still, she is sick. It worries me that she might not live soon. What else do I have to live for then?

Nothing

If you liked this chapter, feel free to vote, comment, or follow for more! Your votes and comments tell me that people read the book, which makes me want to write more. :)