Found (Book 1 of the Haven's Army Trilogy) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 37

Three days passed. James and Katie checked everyone and we were all fine. Only Andrew had reacted. He and Dennis had been discharged from the infirmary not long ago.

"Upper body strength and balance. Exercise four," I whispered to myself the drill instructions as I warmed up that morning, remembering the veteran that always drilled us, testing us one at a time. I stood on my hands on the deck, taking a moment to balance with my legs pointed straight to the unseen sky. "Attempts: fifty-seven. Failures: twenty-nine. Most completed: one hundred and sixty," were my previous statistics. "Attempt number fifty-eight. You may begin." I took a deep breath, staring at the rough wood of the deck. I lowered myself down, concentrating only on my hard-core push-ups.

"Seventy-three," my arms were beginning to tremble. "Ninety-four." Slowly, the numbers ticked up, higher and higher, my ears beginning to ring from the effort. Each push-up was slower, more painful. My arms began to tremble.

Someone crouched next to me but I didn't bother looking at them.

"Are you showing off now?" came the voice. I couldn't tell who it was because of the ringing in my ears. I ignored them and continued.

They bent down, sticking their face in mine. Behind long hair and on pale cheeks were big brown eyes, squinting at me slightly. Nathan.

I paused a moment to catch my breath. "Go away. I'm trying to concentrate." I lowered myself painfully. "One thirty-two."

"We're almost there," he told me, not moving. I ignored him. "I'm talking to you," he said, cocking his head a little, trying to look me in the eyes better.

"One hundred and thirty-five," I continued. He flicked me in the forehead, throwing me off balance. I didn't catch myself. I fell onto my back with a thud. I sat up, rubbing my back.

"Ow," I mumbled. I sat a moment, wondering why that had stopped me. I touched my forehead. It didn't hurt. Then why had I stopped? I could have caught myself.

I prepared to try again. "Upper body strength and balance. Exercise four."

"Did you hear me?" Nathan asked. I ignored him. He sighed. "I know you heard me. Fine, do your little workouts. I won't stop you."

"Attempts: fifty-eight. Failures: twenty-nine. Most completed: one hundred and sixty," I mumbled. "Attempt number fifty-nine. You may be-" The ship jerked and I fell, this time hitting Nathan feet first in the face. I rolled back, standing up like I had meant to do it. I looked at Nathan. His hand had gone to his face.

"Thanks," he said. "I think you may have broken my nose."

"Don't be so dramatic," I told him. "Get up."

"We're here!" the lookout yelled.

"I hadn't noticed!" I yelled back, sarcastically. I walked to the front of the boat, squinting to see through the fog. We had crashed into the stone cliff. Judging by the scraping to the sides of the boat, the other ships were grinding into the sand.

"Drop anchor!" came yells.

I jumped out of the boat, cushioning my fall with air.

"Charlotte!"

I turned to see Nathan jumping down beside me.

"Are you crazy?" he asked. "We're on the Halo. Who knows what's out there? At least let me come with you."

"Okay," I said. I began walking. Our ship hadn't run into a cliff but had instead run into a large boulder on an open beach. Just our luck. Walking around on the beach, we found it was a cove. The water lapped against the shore. No one else got out of the boats.