The Race Against Time

Chapter 26

Brooklyn

When I entered the training area all eyes were on me. Almost all of them looked stunned to see me here. My stomach shifts uneasily and I notice that the hands that I am hugging myself with are pinching into my skin. I release my hands but then I can't figure out what to do with them, so instead, they clasp and unclasp each other as if in constant need of touch. I didn't want to be standing here with everyone's eyes glued on me because it's making me quite uncomfortable so I walked away from the door frame and stood next to Xander on the other side of the room.

Everyone stopped staring and paid their attention to Carl when I walked over to Xander. I didn't know what we were going to do now so I did what everyone else did and paid attention to Carl.

"Today we will be training and exploring all the different abilities that everyone has gained to prepare for our second challenge which will be announced tomorrow. You will be assigned partners based on your abilities."

Carl walked around giving everyone a partner. I thought we were going to get paired with someone from our team but it wasn't like that. We were being paired with anyone. They must have been watching everyone the entire time we were in virtual reality or else they wouldn't have known which ability each one of us had. Too disturbing for my liking.

Andrew was paired with Isabelle, Anika with Yori, Hak-Kun with Lucas, Lali with Xiomara, Conner with Xander, and I was left with no one. Since Tyler was gone the numbers were uneven so I didn't get a partner.

I raised my hands and said," I don't have a partner."

"Don't worry about that he'll be here in a minute."

As Carl finished his sentence Tyler came through the door. Everyone gasped. I am positively sure they were confused as to why he was here. Xander's face went red with anger.

"You are not training with him!" he demanded.

I took a good look at Tyler's eyes and I didn't recognize any red thing in his eyes. Tyler looked genuinely confused for a second but it was gone as quick as it came, he masked his confusion with a neutral face.

"Xander it's ok, they've talked to him, I don't think he'll do what he did yesterday."

"You don't know that Brooklyn, you can't see the future."

"I know I can't see the future Xander but just trust me on this one, he won't do anything. I can protect myself."

"If you say so, but if he tries anything funny don't expect me not to throw hands," Xander answered.

Everyone moved around the room to meet their partner I didn't move because Tyler walked over and stood right next to me.

"The men in suits will assist you with your training. Training will begin now and will finish in a few hours. After training, you will be shown to the eating area."

The man who's training us showed us all the equipment that we will be using. He said that we would be working on strength and speed.

"Both of you will be doing some exercises for strength first, you will work out individually with a routine I will provide, and at the end of the routine, you will go against each other. Twenty pull-ups, twenty squats, 20 bench press, and a 1-minute plank"

My jaw was almost touching the floor and my eyes bulged out. I was at a loss for words. I can't even do one push up how am I supposed to do all of this.

"All of the following exercises will be done 3 times. You may begin now I will be inspecting making sure you're doing the right thing. If you need any assistance to say so."

Well, that's it for me I am officially dead. My last words shall be "Wakanda Forever". I walked over to the weight lifting thing. I don't know what you call it so let's call it the weight lifting thing for now. The weights weighed 35 pounds each. I laid on my back on the bench. I breathed in and out making sure I was ready for this. I grabbed the weight, lifted it off the rack, and brought it up and down.

My mind was blown. The weights felt as light as a feather. I added some heavier weights to it and lifted it over and over again until my entire face was covered in sweat. It was remarkable that I could lift this much. I was overly thrilled so in no time I finished all the exercises I had to do but, by the end of it all, I was drained and soaking in sweat. The sweat is a dark and growing map down the front of my lycra top, turning it from a bright pink to magenta.

My skin takes a glossy shine and the salty drops of sweat invade my eyes. My legs are empty and there is a rising feeling of nausea from my stomach. It never ceases to amaze me that these were muscles that were working so hard when I first started struggling to hold my weight.

I always find sweating so gross. It was the dark stain under the pits of old men while they played boules in sun hot enough to drop a cow. To a teenager that's right up there with piss and puke. However, right now I'm pretty sure that I am sweatier than all of those grandpas put together.

We did a few more exercises with speed and Tyler and I also went against each other pushing ourselves to our limits. Tyler and I spoke nothing of the events that occurred the day before we were focused fully on our tasked and I wasn't mad at all, there's enough time when we are finished to discuss what happened. When everyone was finally finished with their exercises there were sweaty bodies everywhere.

Showers were provided for us right after and I was ever so grateful because that heat wasn't it. I took the coldest shower I have ever taken in a long while. When the water droplets beat against my skin it was like heaven.

They provided clothing for everyone to put on, so when everyone had taken a shower and was dressed, we were brought to the eating area. There were two separate tables so Tyler, Yori, Lucas, Xiomara, Xander and I sat on one of the tables and the rest sat on the other table.