Orphan

Chapter 20 - Alex

No!He was alive and crawling. "Why is he not being shot?""Maybe he's a ghost. " Zac moved his fingers up and down. "But..."Alex continued moving. He was slow, but not a single arrow shot out to him. He passed the third flag, then the fourth and finally the Fifth. How did he do it? I wanted to find out. I was so happy that he had made without a single scratch. What was surprising was that he had avoided the traps on the floor. He must have been a lucky boy.We made our way towards him, passing the bunch of teenage girls that were surrounding Dylan giggling and talking to him as if he was a hero. But there was one girl who didn't look happy at all. She had dark black hair, a blood-drenched pink dress and was watching the field."Did you see me?""Yea...""The arrows were too slow; they couldn't even catch me.""You were so fast.""My boy! How did you do that?" Zac grinned and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close. "Get your filthy hands off me, you baboon?" Alex was trying to push against Zac, but he couldn't get out."You know.""Know what?""Can you use your brain, and put it all together before you ask me?""Be more specific?""Uh...why don't we just be friends.""No...!""How come the arrows didn't shoot out at you?" I cut into the conversation, I wanted to know why he had been safe, and why not a single arrow had landed. Looking up, staring from me and then back to Zac, he pushed his hands against Zac and taking in a deep breath."It's not rocket science.""It was easy.""Well, not at the start.""But as more and more of you rushed out.""It all made sense.""The safest places were either in the middle or on the ground." "Each time someone passed a flag, it activates the sensors; this triggered the arrows to be shot out. The system predicts how fast you are running, and then fires accordingly. If you're in the middle, then others will be your shield, as they are closer to where the arrows are being shot out from. And just in case you haven't noticed, none of the kids that have been shot down has received another arrow."I looked back at the field. He was right. Not a single arrow had shot out at any of the kids that been hit."Then why is Augustus not being shot?""That is easy because fat shit over there is walking like a turtle, his confusing the system, never letting it guess correctly to where he is. The arrows will never hit." "Amazing!""More like common sense."Listening to Alex, I felt like I was so stupid. I was just running and desperately trying to survive while he just sat back and watched us. He is able to analyse things and quickly come to a conclusion. I wish I was able to just look around and be able to work out so much. He's smart.We waited for what felt like hours, and finally, Augustus made it past the fifth flag.He was the last one to make it.He was the last one to make it.It was at this moment that Zoe stood up and walked across the field. The arrows must have been turned off. It didn't take long before she arrived.