Kidnapped

ZAP!

    The next day was a little better. Liam and Marisa had to run five miles in the burning sun, Harry had to hang upside down for half an hour and then spin in circles, which was kind of funny, and I had to stay in a fake jungle and try not to die.
          The next was worse. “Okay, guys this is called Partner Challenge. Liam and Marisa and Harry and Kayla. Marisa, you have to answer questions and when you get one wrong Liam gets electrocuted, but this time I checked it so it actually hurts. Harry and Kayla you have to do the same thing but Harry will be answering the questions because we were told that Kayla wasn’t the sharpest and we don’t want Harry dead.”
          “HEY!” I screamed.
          “Okay, let’s go.” I stood standing with a bunch of wires attached to me and Harry sat in a chair facing me. “First question,” Raven said. Liam and Marisa were next, so they got to watch. “What’s the capital of Argentina?”
          Harry looked blank.
          “Oh, shit,” I said.
          “Um…Washington?”
          My whole body buzzed and pain that was almost as bad as getting whipped soared through me. I collapsed to the ground and pulled my knees to my chest.
          “Shit, Kayla, I’m sorry,” Harry said. I stood, and shook my body, trying to get the pain away. “Yeah, just try to answer the next question right, okay?”
          Raven, looking smug, said, “What is the population of Denver?” Zap. “Who was the fifth president?” Zap. “Name a famous mathematician.” Zap. 
          By that zap I couldn’t get back up. I just sat there, knees close and eyes closed and waited.
          I heard Harry desperately answering with wrong answers and apologizing to me every time. “Shit why don’t you let me go with Marisa and Liam with Kayla!? They’re both smarter!”
          “I thought that you were smart, Harry.” Raven said.
          “With like…battle stuff! Not books!”
          “Oh, well…” Raven said.
          Zap.
          I groaned.
          I heard Harry take a deep breath.
          “Name an author.”
          “What?” Harry asked.
          “Name an author.”
          “Michael Grant.”
          No zap.
          I opened my eyes. “Oh, thank god.” I said.
          Five questions later I had only been zapped three times, but I still found it hard to move. The electricity ran through my veins and made it hard to control anything, even the tears that began to run down my cheeks.
          “Okay, we’re done!” Harry screamed.
          “One more question.”
          “No!”
          “Yes.” Raven asked him a question that I couldn’t hear and I felt no zap, so I assumed that he answering right. I didn’t open my eyes but I felt Harry gently place his hands on me. “You okay?”
          “Do I look okay?” I mumbled and he laughed softly.
          “Get her out of here. It’s time for Liam and Marisa.”
          With a little help from Harry I managed to get to the sidelines to sit, still in pain, and watch Liam and Marisa.
 
 
 
           After watching Kayla get zapped like a million times and Harry struggle to answer the questions, I wasn’t looking forward to this. Liam stood next to the zapper and gave me a look and said, “Don’t worry.”
          “Um, yeah, you should worry,” Kayla said. “It’s painful.”
          “Uggggg,” Liam groaned.
          “Okay,” Raven started. “First question: how big is the Pacific Ocean?”
          “Um……big?”
          “I need specifics.”
          “Um…. two feet? Wait- no!”
          I watched as Liam got zapped. Not fun to watch.
          “Sorry,” I said to him.
          He cringed. “It’s okay.”
          “Question two,” Raven said. “What’s the capitol of Texas?”
          I was just about to say Houston, and then I bit my tongue. I had to think about this. Dallas? No…
          “Austin?” I said.
          I waited for the sound of the zapping but it never came.
          “Next one,” Raven said. “What’s the color blue?”
          I looked at him weirdly. “Wait- the color.....blue…what is it? Is this a trick question?”
          “What is the color blue?” He said again.
          “Um…..a color? Named blue?”
          No zap.
          “What the heck?” Kayla said. “This isn’t cool!”
          Harry looked like he thought he was stupid.
          “How many layers are in the earth’s crust? And name them.”
          “Crust, mantle, core. Three.”
          “What are the three types of volcanoes?”
          God, I hated science. I had to think. “Shield, cinder cone, composite.”
          “Two more,” He said.
          “THIS IS SO UNFAIR! SHE’S SMART! ZAP HIM!!!” Kayla screamed.
          “I don’t need comments from the peanut gallery,” Raven said.
          “Peanut gallery? What the fudge? Are you like 80 years old?”
          “Noo…” He said. “Next question.  What does landlocked mean?”
          “When you are completely surrounded by land with no access to water.”
“I guess,” He sighed. “Last one. If you start with five, add seven, subtract twelve, multiply it by two, add one hundred, divide by five, and then subtract by twenty what do you have?”
Um…..I tried to remember everything in my head. “Um…. Zero?”
          “Um, yeah? Geez.”
          “Dannn,” Kayla said.
          “Dan?” Raven asked.
          “Yeah, I’m trying not to swear, it’s not working very well.”
          “Okay, well….you guys are done. Tomorrow is level 5. Oh, and yeah it’s really bad. Just saying.”