The Camp

Chapter 11

I stood in our lodge with my feet apart and my back straight, I was desperate to get in some stretches before we had the physical exhaustion of running for miles on end and the worst part was not knowing how far we would have to go. Emily was sat above me, legs dangling from the top of the ladder and swinging gently as she watched. "How far do you think it will be?" She asked and I frowned, righting myself so that I was stood up with my hands resting firmly on my hips. "I don't think we will have to run a marathon if that's what your asking..." I lifted a foot up and held it behind my back, pulling at my muscles in an attempt to loosen them up. Emily sat in a pondering silence, she was watching me and a few other girls who had decided to stretch. I knew that the run wouldn't be easy and that there would probably be a few obstacles to tackle along the way and still I remained optimistic that perhaps I could make it over the finish line above the red line.

"Are you ready?" I asked as I secured the rope around my hair again, it was starting to fray at the edges, but I was still able to use it. "As ready as I'll ever be." She chimed as her small body slid forward off of the top bunk, landing with a gentle squat she bounced back up and looked at me with determination. "Are you ready?" I was sat tying my shoelaces into a double knot so that they didn't drag along the floor, if I was to trip on one then it could be fatal. "Sure." I mumbled as my aching legs dragged me to my feet. Running with blisters was hard enough but running in boots that were uncomfortable and heavy would be the biggest challenge.

Exiting the lodge, I stumbled in the transition from smooth wood to hard gravel but soon managed to gain stability. There was already a steady stream of girls making their way down to the field and we joined the side with as much enthusiasm as we could muster. The gravel path carried us so far and then the soft, tufted grass took over from there. My eyes immediately went to the obstacle course which was strangely missing, and I wondered if they had taken it down during the night. The large steel structure was hard too miss and must've been even harder to remove without making a sound. However, everything else was the same and as I joined the flock of girls by the stage, I realised how much smaller it had gotten since the last time we were here. People were missing, the number of candidates per state had begun to average out at three rather than four and there was overall a lot more space to stand.

With each passing minute the dwindling feeling of terror was growing in the pit of my stomach, threatening to break out at any second. We were now amongst what I'd call the elite, with the weak gone we were among the prey.

Looking up to the stage I caught a glance of the celebrities, sitting neatly on their thrones with smug grins. Jack was sat between Finn and Jaeden, his designated place as number two. He had dark rims beneath his eyes and drawn cheeks. He looked hungry but his stubbornness and will to be normal like us was what was holding him back from devouring everything they had to offer. His eyes were darting about the crowd from person to person until they settled on me and his slight look of panic transcended. Rachel appeared from somewhere behind the stage and strode out into the centre of the platform carrying a long, pointed stick and her regular mic. For a few seconds I wondered if that stick was to keep us at bay but as the large screens beside her lit up to show a map, I realised that it was in fact just a non-threatening pointing stick. "Settle down, settle down." She called and the bustle of moving girls became a still, silent clump. "Welcome to the second trial. Today you will take part in a long-distance endurance run, and what better than the hottest day of the year for this event." She raised both hands to the sky and looking up I saw that there were no fluffy, white clouds. We were running in sheer heat with no shade. "For those of you back at home, here is an overview of todays weather." The screen popped up into a colour-fill weather report that simply stated that the sun would not die down until dark. "Now with this new news you might be thinking, oh no, I made the wrong choice when betting, but do not worry your socks off because we now have the option to alter your bets. Say you placed a bet on the scrawny girl from Oklahoma but now your thinking about this little angel right here." Rachel's pointing stick extended into the crowd towards Emily who looked gobsmacked at the thought of being voted for. "Just get down to the local voting station and ask for a change. Its really that simple and if you haven't voted yet then you better get going because we're giving you another look at the celebrity favourites. The screens changed again and this time what I saw caused me to gasp: my very own face was being broadcast to the world. Beside each celebrity's name was a different picture of a girl with their details and mine just happened to appear right next to Jack's name. Emily gave me a smug nudge which I presume meant 'I told you so' and my shock was met with the stares of a few of the girls around me.