Jasmine's Choice

Chapter 8

Since chapter 6 was posted 6 days ago, I'll post this one now

Enjoy

————

I turned a little to the right, and took aim again after putting another arrow in. I pulled the trigger for the second time.

This time, I hit the bullseye. The crowd cheered louder this round.

Liz and Bryan did better than last time, as they were part of the majority who hit in between the edge and bullseye. Bryan had a longbow, while Liz had a recurve bow.

The judges took notes again this round, and motioned when they were finished.

"Last round; good luck. Ready your arrow!" The Dictator demanded.

The crowd was silent. The only sound made was the arrows hitting the wood of people's bows, as they prepared to fire one last time.

One person missed their shot, 3 others that included Bryan hit the middle between the edge and bullseye, and the 4 others almost hit the bullseye. Then I was next.

I aimed, remembering last round's spot. I was preparing to pull a fun little stunt. I breathed and steadied my crossbow, and pulled the trigger. Time seemed to slow down as my arrow flew through the air, and reached the bullseye. It sliced through my previous round's arrow, perfectly in half.

The crowd was silent one moment, then cheering their lungs out the next. I smiled, relieved that I had the greatest chance of first place.

The Chosens put their bows back, and walked back to their spots. The judges were taking more notes, and they glanced at me a couple of times.

The Dictator was close to them, watching the words they wrote down. The main judge whispered in his ear, speaking words I couldn't hear.

"We have a guaranteed winner, everyone!" He cheered once the judge was done. He stared directly at me, and I was hesitant at first. What do you mean by "win"? I thought bitterly.

"First place goes to Jasmine!"

I let myself smile enough to show my crooked teeth, as all of the other Chosens lost their confidence. If I was that good, how good were they to the judges?

"To save time, we will reveal the losers," He declared to the crowd. They instantly became silent to listen.

"Last place, goes to Owen." Everyone instantly turned to look at him, as he realized which name was called.

He started to yell, but he was dragged away by escorters. He was kicking and screaming the whole time to wherever he would be going to.

"And the second to last place, goes to..." He purposely paused for the suspense. "Rico."

A gasp escaped the boy's lips, but he uttered nothing as he was also dragged away to his doom. He held his head down and stayed limp.

"And that was our second event; archery! Stay tuned for tomorrow's event, everyone!"

We were again led around by the butler through the twisting hallways. As soon as we came into the hallways with our rooms, we ran past him and straight into our rooms, ignoring the words we knew he was going to say.

I collapsed onto my bed, but I didn't fall asleep immediately. When I didn't, I decided to change into pajamas. I chose a set with snow leopard markings, and decided to rummage through the things I had brought with me.

The knife from my Father was still in the bag somehow, along with everything else. The knife was made of a soft gold, with a few chips here and there. It was made of the same gold my ancestors mined in California during the Gold Rush. It was an heirloom passed down to him, and he gave it to me after my brother died. It wasn't meant to kill or hurt anyone, if that was what you were thinking.

I hid it back in my bag, and decided to prepare for bed. I took a few bites from the mini feast, as I was a little hungry. I had only eaten once here, and that was when I first arrived here.

I jumped back into bed, and this time, I fell asleep quickly.

I had a strange dream this time. I did change during an event, but everyone seemed to be okay with that. They only stared at me in awe, more concerned about the beauty of my form than the realistic fact that I could hurt them in a heartbeat.

They accepted me as a winner, but I didn't want Liz and Bryan to lose. They were real friends to me now, and I didn't want to lose them.

The dream ended abruptly, as someone was knocking on my door loudly. I jumped out of bed, and groggily went over to open the door.

The Chosens were already leaving! I immediately saw what was happening and rushed to the closet to change clothes. I found a pair of clothes with lions, and quickly put that on and darted outside. I closed my door with a loud slam, which alarmed a few people, but they noticed that it was only me.

"The third trial is running. You will be tested on your speed and endurance. Of course, whoever performs the best will win, and the worst will lose. 3 Chosens will be eliminated this round." The butler explained on the way outside. We went through the same hallways and doors that led outside. We were led past the archery field and to a track with bleachers packed with cheering people.

"Welcome to the 3rd event, everyone!" Dictator Albalin's voice boomed out of nowhere. The sudden noise startled most of the Chosens, but I wasn't one of them.

"This event's theme is running! Chosens will be tested on their endurance, speed, and reflexes!"

"Reflexes? That butler guy didn't say anything about that earlier," I wondered out loud. Bryan and Liz were near me, so they heard my words.

"Yeah. I wonder what they will use to test that," Bryan replied, also confused.

"Whatever it is, we can get through it. We've survived this far, we can't lose now." Liz jumped in, surprising me with the confidence I needed so badly. Her chocolate brown eyes shined, something I haven't seen in people for a long time. She must come from a wealthier family; no one is usually happy unless they have money these days.

"We will be using hurdles to test reflexes, as they will come out of the ground unexpectedly. Speed will be tested with short and fast runs, while endurance will be tested by running until the Chosens are physically unable to move. We will test these individually, so you can save yourself if you don't do well in one section." The Dictator explained the concept to the crowd. We also listened for preparation.

"The first section will be speed. Next will be reflexes, then endurance will be last."

Since there were only 8 rows, we could all fit onto the track. Since I was wearing the lion jacket, I was in row 4. Liz had ostriches, so she was right next to me in row 5. Bryan was dressed in crocodiles, so he was row 2. All of the other Chosens had an animal uniform on, so they knew their row automatically.

Jacob, Linsey, Dylan, and Justin were the other ones still alive, other than the three of us. We only needed to beat them to survive this round. We lined up at our spots, leaning down to prepare for the run. This should be my best race, as I've outrun many fights at home.

"Run your heart out," I whispered to Liz, and she only nodded in response.

"On your marks..."

"Get set..."

"Go!"

————

Word count: 1288 words