The past week has been tough mentally and physically. That same day I missed the shot I brought the bow home and have made a total of forty-seven arrows. I even set up a makeshift target behind our building which I've spent hours launching arrows at. Lj even had to drag me inside one evening after I collapsed from exhaustion. My goal was always to become a searcher and find my dad, but now that the goal is right in front of me it's never felt any further away. I need to be ready for anything. The second cut is going to be today and the outcome isn't going to be any different from the first. I'm passing no matter what.
"Ejay let's go." Lj says as he knocks on my room door.
"Yeah I'm coming, let me find a shirt."
Mom has been getting more and more concerned with how hard I'm pushing myself. She confronted me one evening when I was out back practicing. She stood behind me and asked...
"Do you want to become a searcher or are you doing it because it was your father's wishes?"
"Does it matter?" I replied while drawing an arrow.
"Of course it does. Why do something your not fully invested in?"
"You think I'd be out here if I wasn't fully invested?"
As the arrow left my fingers and struck the board about thirty feet away a thought entered my head.
"Did dad give you any kind of, hint or clue of where he was going?"
She hesitated before answering a stern "No." She was lying, I could tell.
"Why do you ask?" She added.
"This is the first time you mentioned him in weeks. It's like your not concerned about him at all. Either you know where he is and that's why your not worrying, or you just don't care."
"I care about protecting you right now, I don't want you putting yourself in danger over choices he made!"
"And lying to me is protecting me?!" I asked as I drew another arrow fighting the urge to look at her.
"I haven't lied about anything." She said while holding back tears.
"I'm going to find him." I exclaimed while releasing the arrow and hitting the bullseye. "Whether you help me or not."
She stood there quiet for a few seconds before turning and leaving me alone. Since then she's been fairly distant. I know she's hiding something.
"I'm ready, Lj lets move." I say while walking to open the front door.
I opened the door to be greeted by Khiara. Every morning either she's waiting on us or we're waiting on her. Us three walk to the school together every morning.
"You guys really took your time today." She says with a grin.
"Blame him, he spent twenty minutes looking for a shirt." Lj replied.
"I was contemplating going there bare back today." I replied with a smile.
10 minutes later
"This could front has brought some interesting weather." Khiara says while admiring the fully overcast sky. "I mean we haven't seen hail for several years before earlier this week. Imagine if we have tornadic activity."
"Come to think of it I don't recall the school neither our apartment building having a basement." I added. "I doubt a seriously strong tornado could form in this area though."
"Keep your doubts to yourself." Lj replied as we came up to the school.
"I heard today was the second cut for searchers, good luck." Khiara says as she goes inside.
We head around the back like usual to find that we are kind of early today. The atmosphere feels very tense and serious, everyone is ready for the task that's going to be provided to us. Although no one knows what the actual task is going to be, that just means you have to be ready for anything.
"You really decided to come in this clean white t-shirt today?" Lici asked walking over to us.
"Listen, it was all I had for right now." I responded looking at it." I don't care if it gets dirty, a shirt is replaceable."
Dameer and Liam joined right after. Then after about ten more minutes Alyssa and Miguel followed. We talked and tried to deduce what today's task could be. Before we reached any conclusion, Rodney arrived to explain it for us.
"As fun as it's been seeing some of you guys progression over the past week, today some of you will be removed from this unit. Today you will not only be tested on your speed and agility, but you will also be going head to head against one of your fellow classmates. As you know that building over there is abandoned and isn't in the best of condition. However I've had one of my squad mates place one of the white flags from last week on the roof. Your task is to retrieve the flag before your opponent and bring it back here."
"So a race." Dameer says under his breath.
"The loser will be placed in a loser bracket to have one final chance to prove themselves and also they have to return the flag back to the roof."
"I assume fighting is allowed Sergeant?" Asked Cory.
"Anything you have to do to make it back here with the flag." Rodney replied. "If that's the only question the first match will start now. Ejay and Desmond step up!"
Damn why do I have to be first, and why do I have to go against him? Besides from Lj this guy is probably the most athletic person in the class. 6'4" tall and his has at least thirty pounds of muscle on me. Not to mention he's two years older. Sigh. I couldn't even watch to see what other people's tactics would've been. We have one hundred meter sprint to the building and it looks like there could be multiple ways to get on the roof which was four stories high.
"Let's go we have twenty three of these to get through excluding the losers!" Rodney yelled.
We stood at the start waiting for the signal.
"Don't get yourself hurt kid, I ain't losing." Desmond whispers over to me.
Me neither.
"On go! 3... 2... 1... GO!"
We burst from the start line towards the building. I have the slight edge approaching the building when he decides to run inside. I thought however maybe the fire escape will be faster. I sprint around the side and hustle my way up the escape. The fact that I can't see him worries me. I make it to the top and he isn't there yet. The flag is sitting on an a/c unit. Without hesitating I hastily make a move for it when Desmond burst through the door leading from the indoors staircase to the roof. It didn't phase me though as I went and grabbed the flag. Now I have to somehow get past him and back to the start.
"Drop it and I won't hurt you." Desmond exclaimed.
"Yeah that isn't in my plans, sorry." I replied, pushing the flag in my pocket.
We held a stand off for a few seconds until I made a break for the fire escape. Right before I made it he grabbed my left arm and tossed me closer to the center of the roof. Before I could've gathered myself he ran at me and kicked me onto my back. I rolled away and tried to run for the door but again I was caught and thrown. This time when I got to my feet I was greeted by two punches to my stomach dropping me to my knees.
"Shit!"
"Give it up, you still have a chance in the loser bracket."
I ain't a loser. I glanced behind me at the broken a/c fan and hatched a plan. I got up again and tried to run for the fire escape again, but again I was caught. This time right before he flung me, I grabbed his arm and kicked him in the stomach knocking him to the ground while I fell too. I crawled behind the unit that was next to me while he was getting up. Before I ran again he saw something. A piece of white sticking out from behind the a/c. He ran over grabbing it.
"You dropped the flag dumbass." He said as he pulled out not the flag but my t-shirt. "Wait what!"
While he stood there confused I sprinted out from the opposite side of the unit and leaped off the side of the building. Jumping over a ten foot gap and crashing through the window of the third story in the neighboring building.
"NO!!!" Desmond yelled as he ran for the stairs.
I gathered myself and sprinted for the stairs in this one. I made it out before him and after that, there was no way he was catching me. I had made enough space to make a safe finish.
"Winner of round 1. Ejay Francis." Rodney says as I crossed the line.
As the blood from my cuts leaked down my chest, back and arm, I starred down Desmond.
"My shirt." I said stretching out my hand.
He paused, cracked a half smile and tossed it at me.
"You know your crazy right Ejay." Lici says as her an the others run over to me.
"I did what I had to do to win. I'm gonna expect the same from you guys."
Five races later and next up was Liam who got lucky for a girl to be his matchup. There's more boys than girls so this was bound to happen sooner or later. He won his race without much difficulty.
"Next up. Lem and Cory, take the line."
"Lj and Cory?" Alyssa repeated as they both walked over to the line.
"This is going to be an interesting one." Said Dameer.
I'm expecting Lj to take this, but it isn't going to be easy. Cory doesn't match up athletically but he's very crafty.
"On go gentlemen. 3... 2... 1... GO!!!"
Out of the gate Lj quickly took a sizable lead in the initial sprint. Arriving at the building he went around the side to scale the fire escape. By the time Lj was halfway up Cory was just running through the doors of the first floor. This looks like it's going to be easier than I thought. Lj reaches the roof and grabs the flag with no sign of Cory anywhere close. He runs back to the escape and begins to make his way down swiftly. It's looking like a complete blowout when Cory flies out of the second story window as Lj is running pass. Cory tackles him, with his momentum carrying both of them over the side crashing to the ground. I can't believe the play Cory just made. They're both slow to get up but Cory eventually gets to his feet first. Lj was holding the flag in his hand so he dropped it after falling. Cory stood over him and said something, but I couldn't make it out from where we were. He grabbed the flag and limped a little before attempting to run back. As he hobbled his way over Lj had picked himself up and began to stare down Cory with a cold look in his eyes. He stumbled to his feet and began his pursuit. One hundred meters between them and the finish, and with every passing second Lj was gaining ground. Ninety, eighty, seventy. Neither one of them are limping now, it's a full on sprint. Sixty, fifty, forty. Lj is almost within arms length. Thirty, twenty, ten. Just ten meters away from us Lj tackled Cory to the dirt. Lj leaped on him and swung at his head twice connecting both times. Cory then kicked him off and tried to crawl across the line until Lj grabbed his legs and dragged him back. The flag slipped out of Cory's hand while he was dragged, so Lj then leaped over him to grab it and this time it's Cory's turn to grab his leg. Lj tried to stand, but then Cory wrapped his arms around him and attempted to body slam him. Lj being stronger was able to keep himself grounded and also loose himself. He immediately turned and swung for his head again but this time Cory dodged and tackled him. On top of Lj now Cory unleashed a flurry of punches.
"Sergeant aren't you going to stop this?!"Alyssa yelled. "They aren't even fighting for the flag anymore."
Lj waited for Cory to show an opening before striking him in his belly. He followed it with a hard right cross that knocked blood out of Cory's mouth.
"Alright end it!" Rodney yelled as he ran over to them followed by me, Dameer and Liam.
We pried the two of them off of each other and separated them. Lj pulled himself away from me and calmly walked towards the school. I followed him.
"So... who wins." Miguel asked.
"Neither of them." Rodney replied. "They'll both be sent to the losers bracket."
I followed Lj into the school's bathroom without a word being said. He began to wash the dirt off himself.
"You hardly ever lose your cool like that." I say leaning against the wall. "Was it your competitiveness or something else."
He looked at himself in the glass and remained silent.
"What happened to talking to each other?" I added.
Again, no response. I turned to exit the bathroom, but right before I left...
"He called me orphan boy." Lj finally muttered out.
I stopped and paused for a moment before leaving him. Only one person should've known about his parents besides us.
Back outside, Cory is sitting against a fence holding a piece of cloth up to his mouth.
"Hey Dameer where's Lici and Lyssa?" I ask looking around for them.
"Bro they're racing each other right now." He says pointing towards the flag building.
A grin cracked my face as I turned to see them having a tug of war for the flag. Then everything stopped. A light rumble rolled in from the north followed by the ground shaking. A light but noticeable shaking made everyone stop and look around.
"Earthquake?"