"The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?"
"Footsteps".
"Correct. Who completes their job once they're fired?"
"Bullets".
"Correct. What is more useful when it is broken?".
"An egg".
"Correct. What has hands but cannot clap?"
"A clock".
"Correct. Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it, you die. What is it?"
"Nothing".
The masked man picked up the envelope with the number 5 on it. "Don't open this envelope until you reach your car. What's inside may not make sense when you first look at it, but it will make sense when you reach the next location".
Alexander quickly took the letter and walked out of the tent without saying anything; his teammates quietly followed. They completed the challenge in less than 30 seconds; none of his teammates had a chance to think, let alone say anything. Were the riddles easy, or was Alexander that good?
"That was quick", Delilah said while stepping out of the tent, still amazed.
"The guy is in class A. What did you expect?" Ash replied. Alexander was walking ahead of the other three, so he wasn't involved in the conversation. It was clear he was focused on winning and nothing else.
"He's the guy who's most likely going to win the whole thing", Reece said. (You might remember Reece from chapter 20, one of Ryan's friends).
"You don't know that", Delilah replied, thinking he was being dramatic.
"Keep watching him, and you'll understand", Reece said before they reached the car. Reece opened the door, and the three of them got in the back as Alexander was already in the front.
"Is everyone ready?" Nada asked while everyone put on their seatbelts.
"Please drive slower. You don't need to drive fast. We've got a head start now," Ash begged. "No one can catch us".
"It's pointless. She's not going to drive slower", Delilah said. "She's already gotten advice from her sensei; she's not going to go against them", she told him with a weak smile on her face. Delilah was grateful she wasn't one of the people in Malakai's car on that day. It was funny when Malakai mocked Jason in his interview at the time, but Delilah experienced what he went through, not exactly, but close enough. Now she could understand their reactions; she could relate. She even saw Ash and Reece screaming with looks on their faces that thought they were going to die.
Reece sighed, "Alexander, surely you think her driving is dangerous", he said to Alexander as he thought his opinion would impact Nada and make her drive slower.
"Her driving is fine", Reece's plan failed. "If anything, it's good; we got here faster than everyone else. Why should she slow down?" Alexander was in favour of Nada's fast driving. Alexander slightly complimented her. Despite everyone in the back screaming while they went 120 mph, the front of the car was fine; Nada was smiling, while Alexander had a calm expression.
Nada grinned at the comment, "You heard him", she said before putting her foot down.
"Brace yourselves", Delilah said, shaking while holding her seatbelt.
"Lucas, why are you in class C? You're so much better than that", Jessica said, putting a hand on Lucas's right arm.
"Naa, C is good enough for me", Lucas replied, noticing her hand on his bicep.
"But you got one of the riddles right", Jessica tried praising him.
"Elizabeth got the other four. If you want to praise someone, it should be her," Lucas said, glancing at Elizabeth. Elizabeth looked at him and became embarrassed by the compliment and the distance between them.
"I'm just happy to help", Elizabeth shyly replied, looking away from Lucas and diverting her attention to the window. Lucas smiled as he found her reaction cute. Luke looked in the mirror to see Lucas smiling with two girls on either side smiling at him.
"You know we're not doing good. There are two cars ahead of us", Luke scolded Lucas even though he didn't do anything.
Lucas looked at him, "You're the one driving", he said like he was blaming Luke. Jessica giggled at Lucas's response, which boosted his ego a little. "Also, look who we're up against. The guy second on the leaderboard".
"So what? Why are you acting like we've already lost?" Luke questioned, not liking how Lucas was already giving up.
"I'm not; I'm just defending myself," Lucas replied. Being around Malakai helped Lucas learn how to argue better, which is a useful skill for Lucas as his toxic trait was being petty. Marcus stayed quiet; maybe if he were in the back, he would've been hit in the crossfire, but he was sitting comfy in the passenger seat. He didn't want to get involved, so he continued to stare out of his window.
"You don't need to argue", Elizabeth intervened, sensing the team chemistry decreasing. "It's fine if we don't get first place. Having Alexander here does suck, but there's nothing we can do", She said, trying to ease the tension. It worked, and everyone went quiet for a bit.
"How good is he?" Lucas asked, intrigued to know more about him.
"Really good. I haven't spoken to him, but he gets full marks on every test. He also came first in the minigames with ease", Elizabeth answered.
"So what you're saying is no one has a chance against him, and he's already destined to win the whole thing", Luke said, gripping the wheel after hearing her talk about Alexander like he was superhuman.
"It looks likely", Elizabeth replied, looking down. "Unless something happens, I don't see how he can lose", she said, fidgeting with her hands.
Lucas smirked, "I think me and my friends can change that", he said confidently.
"Your friends maybe, but not you", Luke replied.
"What?"
"I don't think you can say that when he's beating you right now", Luke said.
"Tch. Just drive, man".
"Looks like we didn't get first place", David said, sitting in the passenger side.
"Their team was too good", Sasha replied. "They were always a step ahead of us".
"I don't mind second place", Sydney accepted, despite being 9th on the leaderboards, knowing she was getting kicked out of the top ten. When she saw Alexander on the other team, she expected this outcome. Dillon stayed quiet; he wasn't happy about getting second place. Of course, he cared about the points, but his pride also took a hit. As soon as he saw Alexander was on a different team, he wanted to beat him. He wanted to see the look of defeat on his face. However, it didn't go how he wanted. Dillon couldn't blame anyone; his team played perfectly and made no mistakes. They answered all five riddles correctly, and they answered each riddle in 15 seconds or less, so they didn't waste much time at Location A. When they arrived at location B, Alexander's team was already there, but it didn't faze them. It took them about 10 minutes to find the key, which was quicker than other people's time, but when they found it, Justin told them he saw Alexander's team leave 5 minutes after they went to search. The good news was that only two other teams arrived at Location B when they found the key, so despite not getting first, they looked comfortable in second place. At location C, nothing happened. They climbed up the net and got their code with no problems, but the atmosphere in the group was deflated. Knowing you did nothing wrong and made no mistake and still be beaten just because the opposition was better makes you question, what was the point of trying? Sometimes, there's nothing you can do, and you have to accept it, but it doesn't make losing any better.
"Second place is good", David said, looking towards the backseat, trying to motivate everyone. "We're still getting 800 points; it's a good head start for the rest of the year. Plus, it could've been worse; we could be sixth", David said, trying to lift the mood. He wasn't wrong; it definitely could've been worse.
"You're right. It just sucks because it feels like we did so good", Sydney replied. "Good enough for first place", she bitterly mumbled.
"It is what it is, I guess", David didn't know how to reply, so he used a saying his friends would say. "It does hurt, but it's only the start of the year. A 200-point gap can be closed. On a different day, we would've got first place".
Justin was driving, staring blankly at the road ahead. He was still concentrating on the road, but other thoughts clouded his mind. The car was going at a steady pace of 60 mph; there was no point in zooming ahead. Until a noise caused Justin to blink and eliminate his other thoughts; his teammates also heard the noise. Justin looked in the mirror and saw a car coming closer and closer.
"How?" Justin muttered.
Dillon turned around in his seat to look through the back window and saw the car. "Shit!" He exclaimed; Dillon's second place might turn into third. "Go faster!" he hastily ordered.
Justin did as he was told and put his foot down.
80 mph.
It wasn't quick enough. The car behind was still edging closer.
"QUICKER!" Dillon shouted, leaning forward in his seat.
Justin was hesitant to go faster; he wasn't confident at all. Any quicker, he felt like he would lose control. His mind was telling him no, but his body made his right foot press harder on the accelerator.
85 mph.
Justin didn't commit to it. He couldn't do it.
"They're catching us!" Dillon harshly warned Justin. His voice was clearly pressuring Justin to go faster.
Justin was quietly breathing heavily. David glanced over at him and saw his chest moving up and down, his eyes wide, and his hands gripping the wheel tightly. This wasn't good.
"Justin, calm down", David quietly said to avoid drawing attention from the passengers in the back. The last thing he wanted was for everyone to know that Justin was stressed.
Dillon turned around again to check on the car, and they were closer than before, "Dude, go faster!" Dillon pressured him.
"No!" Justin spoke back. I'm not going that fast; I won't be able to control the car!" His tone of voice made it clear he wasn't comfortable; his voice was shaky.
"Fucking shit!" Dillon tamely raged, scrunching his hands into fists. "Block them off! Go in the left lane!" He ordered. "Make sure they don't overtake us!"
The car behind them was approaching them on the left-hand side of the road, and they were on the right.
Justin took a deep breath, "fine", he submissively agreed. His hands were trembling; the speed was still 85 mph. Justin checked the left mirror and saw the car trailing behind. He slightly turned the wheel to the left. Both hands firmly on the wheel. Everything was fine. No need to worry.
But life sure is weird.
Justin's left arm suddenly twitched. It was one of those movements that can't be explained. That slight twitch caused Justin to turn the car more to the left. He lost control. Lost control of the car and lost control of emotions. In everyone else's perspective, the movement to the left wasn't anything major. Sure, it was sudden and seemed out of control, but everything seemed fine. Not to Justin. The movement to the left looked too much for him due to his heightened stress levels. Due to his emotions and irrational thinking about correct positioning, he steered to the right. A bit too much. Now, the car swerved to the right.
"No no no no no no no no no".
Justin steered to the left. The car swerved to the left. His feet were frozen. What was his body even doing? He didn't know. He steered to the right to stop the car from swerving left. The car swerved to the right. He couldn't control the car. He didn't know what to do. The only thing he did was mumble,
"we're going to crash".