The Mountain

Chapter 10

We finally get moving after I've convinced James to stay with us. He immediately falls to the back of the pack and Eloise joins him while Johnathan and I take the lead. We've mapped out a plan for the day on the new part of the mountain. We will be leaving the field and a forest will sprout up after it. The walk is slower than our usual pace but I enjoy the calmer feeling.

"So..." I start, looking for a conversation topic. Eloise is charting with James and our silence has become awkward. "James and I have had dreams and memories from our past lives, have you seen anything important?"

I'm hoping if we grew up together, or even just in the same town he might have something that's useful to me.

He shrugs. "Just flashes of people not faces, though. I remember... living in a small town I think. One day, I got this flashback and I was in this new place a... a school of some kind."

"Military academy," I whisper to myself.

Johnathans eyes snap to mine. "What? Military academy? How do you know about it?"

I feel my cheeks go red and try to hide my embarrassment. "I had a flashback, too." I was hoping to avoid this but it might be the only way to get answers. I tell him about my flashback, leaving out the specifics about my family. "And one of the people onstage was you. I recognized you once I woke up."

He goes silent for a minute, thinking about my words. I don't say anything else and wait for him to reply. "I don't remember seeing you. I only remember being at home and then at the academy."

I nod. "It's fine. I just... was hoping you knew something."

He shakes his head. "Not much. I remember hating the academy and... wanting to go home. I'm sure something will pop up soon enough."

"Definitely," I say, my voice comes out hollow.

He looks at me and then reaches into his backpack. He fishes out his radio and then asks for mine. He fiddles with his for a minute before speaking into it. "Can you hear me?"

I hear his voice clearly through mine. "Loud and clear," I reply with the radio.

"Now, if either of us has a flashback or figures something out we will radio alright?" He asks. "So when we have to separate we can keep in touch."

I nod and glance back at James whose eyes are fixed on Eloise. He hasn't seen my new partnership with Johnathan. We quickly put the radios away before he can see. "James won't like that I'm working with you."

Johnathan looks back at him. "He's seems... off."

"He was a great partner at first, but as soon as we met you guys, he's acted differently," I admit.

"He's protective of you," Johnathan explains. "I don't know why, you can obviously handle yourself. But he definitely doesn't like that Eloise and I are hanging around you." He pauses, his face going dark for a moment. "If anything happens, radio us alright? Enough things already want to kill us on this mountain, don't let your partner become a threat, too."

I look at him in shock but nod. James? A threat? Yeah somethings been up with him lately, but he would never hurt me. If Johnathan sees the doubt in my eyes he doesn't say anything. We lap back into our silence, with darker things on our minds.

. . .

"Well, this is it," I say when we pack up the next morning. We reached a campsite in the woods last night and decided to split up this morning. Eloise pulls me into a hug and I give Johnathan a firm handshake. He gives the most subtle of nods and knowledge passes between us.

James and I take a new path to the left while Johnathan and Eloise turn to the right. Neither path leads away from the peak, just away from each other. The farther we go from the others, the happier James gets.

"Can I ask," I start, breaking the silence, "why were you so against Eloise and Johnathan?"

James looks at me and shrugs. His face is calm and he walks with a lighter energy. "I don't trust the other people in this race. I feel like we've all been put against each other and if it comes to it, others might scoop low to get through."

I nod, understanding. "Next time don't make it so obvious."

He laughs and we go on like nothing has happened. Maybe it was the stress or scariness of being with others or the bear attack, but neither of us were ourselves with Eloise and Johnathan. I'm not going to bother him about it because we need to move on and find out next test.

We take a break halfway through the day for food, water, and rest. James and I discuss where we should go and where the next task is most likely at while we eat.

"I feel like they'll probably find a way to give us the task, we don't need to freak out about finding it," James points out. "The game creators I mean."

"Yeah, but I don't want to spend the next week waiting for something to pop up. It'll get nerve wracking waiting for something," I say. "I'd rather at least try to search for something."

I grab the map out of my backpack and survey where we are. I look for any landmarks or special areas that the creators would think of. As I do, a slight humming fills the air. I look up in search of it but see nothing. I go back to the map, assuming it's a fly or some other annoying bug.

"Hey Adylin...?" James says cautiously.

"Yes?" I ask looking up. He doesn't meet my gaze, instead looking at small black dot in the distance.

I watch the dot grow bigger as it nears us. When it gets close enough, I can see that it is a drone. It moves at the same speed and slowly angles down until it lands.

"Hello candidates," a male voice booms from a speaker somewhere inside the drone. "We saw that you were looking for the next task. Well, your timing is perfect. It is now time for the intelligence test, good luck."