The Mountain

Chapter 8

"My name is Jonathan," the boy tells us as he builds a fire. His dark brown eyes contrast his shock of golden hair. He has an athletic body, evidence of a healthy past life.

"Eloise," the girl says, grabbing water from her pack before sitting down beside me. She helps me clean and wrap my leg in a bandage. I admire her beautiful golden eyes and soft red hair. She has a natural thinness to her and a smile is always etched into her face, except for moments of terror.

I introduce myself and then James who has taken to sitting in the cave alone avoiding us. I was surprised when he walked off, I figured he would want to meet new people. I leave him alone, knowing it's better for him to come out when he's ready, but I still don't know why he's in there. Instead, I tell them how we spotted blood and then heard Eloise's scream.

"The blood wasn't ours," Jonathan says quietly. "We saw it, too, but we don't know who it belongs to."

We tell the stories of how we woke up and found each other. Turns out, the first thing Eloise did was radio and that's how she found Jonathan. They figured out the whole race and test thing out together with the notes. I tell them about my first bear experience which now seems like seeing a puppy compared to a rabid dog.

"I didn't think they would try to kill us until now," Eloise admits. "Putting us out here with this thing." She motions to the area we left the body of the bear.

"They seemed fine with killing us on the course," I shrug. "This whole test and race is built to snuff out the ones who don't live up to their standards. Why, I don't know. But they'll take every chance they can to take us out," I tell her darkly. With my injury, James and I could be slowed down and that's a big white flag for the game directors, except in this case they'll just kill us.

Jonathan's eyes flick to mine and then my leg, seemingly reading my mind. "You'll make it to the end, I'm sure of it. The way you handled that situation back there... anyone who would try to get rid of you is a dumb ass."

I smile, grateful for the compliment but still unsure. I glance back into the cave, wishing I had James here, too. He's been my backbone the whole trip and it doesn't feel completely right without him.

Eloise follows my gaze. "You should go talk to him, you know. He's angry and you should talk him through it."

"Why?" I ask simply.

She raises an eyebrow. "You almost got yourself killed back there. I'd be kinda angry, too. You're his partner, if you die he probably has a slim chance of making it to the end. When we started making camp I asked him and that's what he said."

Anger erupts in me from her words. "If he's only angry that he won't make it to the end because I'm dead then he can sort out his own problems."

Eloise narrows her eyes for a moment until she realizes what I'm saying. She nods and goes quiet. Johnathan doesn't move from his spot, sitting perfectly still and staring into the growing fire.

Frustrated, I stand up, teetering a bit on my bad leg. I grab my journal and gun out of my backpack. "I'm gonna check the area for any more bear monsters. I'll be back in a little bit."

Eloise nods and Johnathan turns his head to watch me go, eyeing my notebook. Neither of them volunteer to go with me or stop me. Good.

The sun is still setting, giving me enough light to walk without having to slow. I trudge through the grass, not bothering to stay quiet to avoid whatever else is out here. The grass is long enough to reach me knees and tickle my wounds. They've scabbed over a little bit, but they won't fully heal over until morning or even later than that. Eloise helped me apply some anti bacterial and gave me some pain medication from a kit she had in her pack. She seems to be the nurse of the group, always knowing what to do. I haven't fully figured out Johnathan yet. He keeps to himself but I can tell when he is listening to conversations. He's like me, trying to take in as many details as possible to squeeze answers out of them.

I find a small ledge raised up over the grass a few feet. I sit down on it, dangling my legs over the edge and taking a breath. The setting sun and view around it is serene and takes away my thoughts of my situation.

Something at the edge of my mind breaks free of the floodgates and a flashback takes a hold of me before I understand what's going on.

I'm older now, maybe twelve or thirteen. I stand in a city square and watch a woman talk to the other people standing around us. I can't hear what she says but she and others are crying as she speaks. I feel a hand on my shoulder and look behind me to see a man smiling down at me with tears in his eyes. I feel myself start to get nervous as I try to understand what's going on with these people. My hand searches the air around me and finds another to cling onto. I don't look up to see who it is but feel reassurance through a small squeeze.

I look back up to stage to see the woman stepping aside and gesturing to the five boys next to her. They wear tight military uniforms and have solemn look on their faces. My eyes are immediately attracted to one of them, and his eyes meet mine. He gives a small wink before looking at the crowd and back at the lady. I examine the others and my eyes flick over each of their faces, not recognizing any of them. They vary in ages, the youngest is my age and the oldest is around 18. The five boys turn and march off stage and into a long black car waiting for them on the side. The crowd weeps and calls after them but they do not turn to look back. Just as the car doors slam, my vision goes blank.

My eyes open back in the grassy field on the ledge. I sit up and rub my head and my eyes. The sun has gone down significantly since when I last saw it and darkness creeps into the sky accompanied by stars and the moon. I replay the flashback in my head as I stand up. I look back at the line up of boys on stage. The one that winked at me must've been one of my brothers, I recognize the nose and eyes that match mine and the other boy whose hand I grabbed.

He's not the only one I recognize. The youngest kid, he was my age and still is. His scrawny body contrasted his now athletic one, but his face is still the exact same. I see the fear in his eyes behind the wall of confidence that resides with even now. It was Johnathan.