The Mountain

Chapter 16

The space around me is dark and the air is musty. My head hurts and my stomach is nauseous. I'm laying on a hard surface with my feet and arms tied together. I groan as I try to sit up, but fail.

"Well, look who's awake," a female voice says sarcastically.

I turn my bed to see a pair of boots that match my own. My eyes trail up the owners body until I meet blue eyes. The girl smirks and tosses her blonde hair. "I was wondering when you'd wake up, you've been out for hours."

"What the fuck is going on?" I spit. "Who are you?"

"Oh! I'm Ellen," she laughs to herself. "Remember those to people you found at the bottom of that cliff? That was my doing. Well, your friend James helped me, too," she pauses, watching my reaction. "We know that only five people can cross the finish line, right? Well, we have decided to help out the game makers and choose who that will be. James and I have observed everyone on the mountain, and we've made some decisions of our own."

I stare at her in complete shock. "You killed Eloise?" James helped?

She rolls her eyes. "She accepted you and James too quickly. James didn't trust her."

I scoff. "Probably because I saved her and Johnathan."

She stomps her foot, kicking dirt in my face. "You're missing the point. She couldn't be allowed to pass. Neither can you."

My heart almost stops, I can feel my stomach sink with dread. "Me?"

Her eyes light up at my fright. "James said you trusted Johnathan too quickly. You abandoned your own partner to go along with him."

"I- I what? I did not abandon him," I argue.

She shrugs. "I can't help ya there, hon. James' orders."

With that, she pulls out a knife from her belt and steps closer to me. I see something in her eyes, regret, guilt. It shows me behind her facade. I take the moment to act. I sweep my legs under hers, causing her to hit the ground hard. The knife goes flying from her hands and I scramble after it, trying my best to crawl with my binds.

Her hand grabs one of my ankles, pulling me back. "Eloise didn't give me this much trouble." Her act has returned.

I think back to the shoe prints and obvious signs of a scuffle. "We both know that's a lie," I say turning to face her.

Her eyes darken as she pulls me closer to her. I kick my leg up, hitting her square in the chest. I turn back to the knife and eventually grab it. I saw off my binds, letting them fall off my wrists and ankles as I stand up, still woozy. I turn to Ellen.

"Gonna kill me, Adylin?" She asks, sitting up. I have to hold in a laugh when I see the perfect boot mark in he middle of her shirt.

"No, because I haven't fallen for James' words. He tricked you into this hasn't he? Making you kill people like this," I ask.

She looks away, fear in her eyes. "If I don't he'll kill me," she whispers.

"Get away from him," I tell her. "Go on your own, get to the top as fast as you can. Wait for fifteen minutes after I leave. The follow and stay on your guard for the rest of the trip."

I spot my backpack leaning against one of the walls, grabbing it before going back to Ellen.

I kneel down beside her. "But know this," I say lowering my voice. I hear her breath hitch. "If you keep killing people for him, you won't get to the end in time. You have to hurry."

. . .

Outside the small cave, the sun was bright but hung threateningly low in the sky. AKA It would be less than an hour until sunset, and I needed to get moving.

I didn't know where I was and I didn't have time to figure it out. I'll figure out where I am and what to do in the morning. For now just climb, I tell myself. And don't look back.

I follow my own orders, not stopping even with the growing darkness and the biting cold. I trudge up the steep incline I had found myself on when I exited the cave. I tug my jacket tighter around me, but it doesn't do much out here. My head still aches and my body groans along with it. I have never despised this stupid mountain and it's stupid rules so much before this. The more I walked, the more complaints my brain made up, which didn't help my mood. So I thought hard of anything to distract myself, I needed to walk right now but I can't just let my brain wander.

Luckily enough for me, a flashback had me falling down a dark hole...

When will he come to get me? I thought to myself. My little legs dangled off the tall chair I was sitting on. I stared out the window longingly at my dad who was rubbing his head while talking to the nice lady who owned this office I was in. I was inside this nice lady's office because I ran off. Again.

Earlier, the talk of how to multiply fractions bored me. I already knew how to do that, every other second grader here knew how to do that. But no, "we have to stick to protocol" the nice lady told me. So I stared outside as the teacher repeated the steps again and again. People walked hurriedly along the streets with their focus on the job ahead of them, small stray cats and dogs picked at the garbage cans that bordered our school gates, and merchants were dragging their carts and backpacks with them down the sidewalks on their way to the market. I had watched as the people lived their own lives outside of the gates to our school a hundred meters away. I thought of the market square at the moment. It would be bustling and alive with food and small trinkets then. Perfect with a little girl with sneaky hands and quick feet...

"Addy!" A small voice had interrupted my thoughts. "Don't even think about it!" It whisper-shouted.

I turned to pout at the little girl next to me, a girl with straight black hair and a sour face at the moment.

"I double dog dare ya," another voice piped in, saying the key words. The skinny boy with dark skin across from me smiled mischievously, he knew I would never turn down a double dog dare. "Although I bet you won't even make it out of the grounds!"

I had to do it. Last time I ran, I was stopped by the guard at the gate. Now, I had to make it out.

I returned the boys mischievous smile. "Deal," I said.