The Race Against Time

Chapter 20

Xander

Snow crushed below me as I stomped my feet into the snow. When Yori and Brooklyn took off, in no time, I watched as two of the people guarding the flag left from where they were to pursue them. There was only one of them left, and he watched around confused as to why two of his teammates ran off like that. I didn't want to cause conflict too easily because then it would be more challenging to get the flag. Why go the hard way when you can go the easy way.

When I made sure that Brooklyn and Yori were a reasonable distance from here, I took off a bit deeper int the forest. The only way that I could get behind...Conner I think was his name, without him noticing is to go deeper into the woods, then go around him. I wouldn't take long before he realizes what we were doing, so I needed to move fast. Even when I got behind him, I still needed to capture their flag, which I didn't even know the location of.

I held the gun securely to my waist, tightening the straps around my shoulder so it wouldn't hold me back in any way. I strutted through the forest, following my intuition on where to go. I could hear footsteps coming from my right. Conner must be coming my way. I was moving too slow, now watch what happened. I needed to hide; I couldn't risk being caught now. That would only hinder my plan.

I ran towards a large tree hiding behind it. The tree was just big enough to make me stay hidden without being caught. I stooped down with my back on the tree and my knees against my chest. I could hear the footsteps getting closer and closer. I shut my mouth tightly, not make a sound.

He was now passing the area I was in. I could hear his footsteps in the back of me. Suddenly he came to a complete stop right in front of the tree I was hiding behind. My heart palpitated in my chest as sweat ran down my face like a waterfall. Dread twisted in my guts as I sat down on the white snow with my back against the tree.

After staying for a few seconds, he retreated, going back in the direction he came from. When I was positive that he left and was a substantial distance away, I let out a sigh of relief. I need to be more careful next time. I can't get myself in this situation again. It could end much worse.

I got up and once again set off to get the flag. The snow crunched below my feet as I walked on the soft snow. I wondered how Yori and Brooklyn were holding up. By now, they had to be quite far away from here. I hope they didn't get caught because it will all depend on me to seize that flag. Not even Tyler or Lucas could help me since they were so far away. If I got shot; its game over for all of us. 

I was now in the back of the area where the three red team members were. So, the flag had to be nearby. I walked around everywhere within the area they were in looking for the flag. I analyzed my surroundings observing all the trees and looking on the snow. I bent down brushing my hands over the snow to see if the flag was under it but it wasn't.

After a while, I started to get frustrated. I searched and searched but there was no sight of the flag anywhere. My nerves were frayed to the quick. In my building anxiety, I constructed elaborate rationalizations for why everything would turn out alright and I would capture the flag, but still, the nagging voice in the back of my mind spoke of nothing but failure ahead. The stress spread through my mind like ink on paper. I took in a deep, ragged breath before placing my finger on my head rubbing my temples to calm me. If I wanted to succeed, I need to calm down and stop stressing or the pressure would corrupt my mind making me unable to think properly.

When I got myself back together, I continued to look for the flag. To my left, I heard the sound of water flowing. I followed the noise and came up to a huge river bank. When did this even get here? On the other side of the river, there was a big red flag stuck between the rocks.

"Finally!"

The river wasn't extremely wide and it wasn't deep, it seemed like it will simply reach my knees therefore I could walk right through the water to reach the flag.

Thump! Thump!

I heard someone coming my way. The sound their shoes made when it hit snow wasn't loud but I could hear it crunch loudly as if my ears were right next to the shoes.

I was so close to getting the flag I couldn't lose my chance now. I stood up straight listening closely to every movement he made. I knew he had his gun in his hand and was going to shoot me so I had to know exactly when I should duck.

From the corner of my eyes I watched his fingers clasp around the gun, he raised it towards me steadily. He placed his index finger on the trigger and pulled it.

The bullet released from the gun and was heading straight for me. It was as if it was going in slow motion. Everything looked slowed down. I dived into the water avoiding the bullet.

The water was freezing cold, it felt like thousands of miniature needles were piercing my skin all at once. Coldwater seeps into my shoes, stealing the heat from my soles just as fast as the wind steals from my face. My face is soaked, the water droplets come together to run into my eyes and drip from my chin. My heat has run to my core to shelter and hoard the warmth that remains

I swam over to the other side of the river freezing. Getting out of the water I quickly grabbed the flag in my hand feeling victorious of what I had accomplished.

The boy looked at me in horror. He was startled that I got a hold of his team flag. I needed to cover for myself before he begins to shoot at me. I quickly raised my gun and began to shoot bullets in his direction while running at the same time.

It flew through the air like a storm. The gunshots came thick like winter hail. The thin projectiles cut through the frozen air, oblivious to their purpose.