Across the Wildlands (Book One: The Wildlands)

Episode Twenty- The Obstacle Course

On a morning much like every other, Alex trudged into the training room mentally preparing herself for whatever the others had in mind for her that day. Eyes tiredly focused on an array of shapes that hadn't been there before. She lifted her hands and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, thinking for a moment that she wasn't fully awake. 

The shapes didn't disappear from sight. It was clear that they were, in fact, real.

Whose idea was this?

An assortment of obstacles had been set up in the room. Some were so elaborate they had to have been raised from hidden compartments in the floor. The entire back wall had turned into a rock wall with large, blue mats at the bottom.

There was a raised platform and a straight wall leading up to it with nothing but a rope dangling from the ledge. The platform itself was at least fifteen feet high. Alex gulped loudly at the idea of having to climb it. She shuddered just thinking about the rock wall on the other side.

Closer to where they stood appeared to be simpler obstacles. A row of tires, a low tunnel to crawl through, a narrow beam barely four inches wide, and a rope wall that spanned from the floor to the ceiling.

Alex glanced over to her left and right, noting everyone was wearing the same uncomfortably tight outfit she had on, which had been left in her room the previous night. She'd been wondering why it was left for her to wear, thinking maybe Rollo had left it for her.

Not quite it seems. I should have known this tacky red and black wasn't up to Rollo's standards.

"You'd think there would be a little more room in these things," Ace said from Alex's left. 

Ace squatted down and kicked out one of his legs in an attempt to loosen the material, but it was to no avail. Instead, he stood back up and yanked the jumpsuit down from his thighs.

"Maybe you should just wear skin tight clothes more. Get used to it, you know?" Alex joked.

"Ah, you just like the view, huh?" Ace retorted with a smile, the dimples in his cheeks deepening in spite toward her comment.

Alex blew air through her nostrils and distracted herself by tightening her ponytail. Ace could be quite annoying at times. She didn't have much time to ponder over another response.

Edric walked across the room from two, large swinging doors. He was not dressed in a jumpsuit, but was donned in something similar to what he always wore.

Did he even change his clothes? Alex thought with a quick glance over him. He certainly wore the same leather jacket.

"Hey, what gives with these outfits?" Jonathon asked the question everyone else had to be wondering.

"Wouldn't want you falling in water in normal clothes, would we?" Edric replied matter-of-factly.

"Huh?" Alex managed out, before realizing the blue mats in front of the rock wall had been covering a lap pool conveniently placed near it. "Are you kidding me?" she muttered as a couple guys pulled the mats away.

"This place was designed to train soldiers as well, it's only fitting that we use what they worked so hard to build," Edric continued. "You all seemed to be working so hard on training that I figured we could use a little break."

A groan passed around the room. For once, Alex wasn't the only one lazy enough to pass up what others referred to as 'fun'.

"Aren't you going to join us?" Ace questioned with a tone in his voice that made Alex giggle at his words. It was as if he was goading Edric to join them in his own game.

Edric's eyebrow flicked upward in a small sign of consideration, and in a surprising twist, he unzipped his leather jacket and folded it neatly on the ground away from them. He carefully took off his old cowboy hat as well, and placed it on top of the jacket.

"Only because you asked so nicely," Edric said coolly. "The game is simple. Go through the obstacles as they appear in order. There's a buzzer at the top of the rock wall on the other end. The first Keeper and Designation team that make it to the end win, but Keepers aren't allowed to help their teammates." His eyes flickered over to Brin. "Brin and I will count as a team. Make sense?"

"Do the obstacles alone, ring the buzzer, and win?" Gianna questioned.

"Sounds simple enough," Jonathon stated. He took a look around the room, clearly trying to think of a strategy to get through every obstacle.

"The catch is this—the team that places last has to help the cleaning crew for the next week, and must spend a minimum of five extra hours training in that week," Edric said, looking around the room with a smile.

Everyone's eyes widened simultaneously, and Alex could feel Cicero's gaze drift to her from where he stood to her right. She withheld a side comment to his action, and instead elbowed him in the side for doubting her.

Alex had been training with everyone long enough to not feel as helpless as she did before arriving at the safe house. Even if it was only a couple weeks of training.

Cicero laughed softly at her reaction and shifted his gaze back to Edric. It wasn't like Cicero was the most highly trained Keeper in the room, but he could be rather competitive. Especially when his abilities as a Keeper were called into play.

"Since everyone seems to understand the rules of the game, we'll begin when I count down to zero," Edric said. He took a step back to line himself up with the others, wedging between Rollo and Gianna.

"Ten, nine, eight."

A shuffling of footsteps drew Alex's gaze away from the row of tires, and she noticed a group of people making their way to the other side of the tires. She had seen them training before—they were field soldiers for the Code. And they were good fighters. Greg and Daniel were amongst them, too.

"Seven, six, five."

The soldiers readied themselves on the other side. There were two opponents for each of them, their places directly in front so that there was no way around them once they passed over the tires.

"Four, three, two."

Alex tried to run through a game plan, thinking over everything Rollo had taught her in their hand-to-hand combat training. 

What would Rollo go for first? Neck? Leg?

"One... go!" Edric shouted.