Farmer and Horse

The second day was worse than the first. I woke up early that morning, unable to sleep after Medusa had cast her spell on me. When I'd told Connor and Kamil about what had happened in the doctor's room, I didn't recieve a reaction I expected.

"So the big bad boss lady is a big bad boss lady?" Kamil asked laughing.

I looked over to him, stunned at his ease with the situation. "Kamil," I inquired, "you do understand that she's willing to kill us right?"

"She didn't say that though," he stated as a-matter-of-factly. "And," he added before I could rebut, "If she didn't say it, there has to be a reason. Maybe she actually is scared." He sat down on his bed and stared at the cieling, smiling and deep in thought.

"I don't know," Connor jumped in, "I think this lady is something we have to be careful with. I mean, you guys saw those kids that fell in, like, that was a long drop, there was no way that would happen unless she were serious."

"As a kid," Kamil continued, "there was always a big bad bully taking power, there was always someone who we were told had all the power and that they could do whatever they wanted. But somehow," he said flicking his fingers, "they fell out. One way or another. There is always someone they fear, there is always someone they follow. No one leads alone..." he concluded.

"But if she doesn't lead alone," Connor slowly asked, "shouldn't we be more afraid of the person who leads with her? We don't know them but they have control over us. That's even worse for us."

"My mother told me a story once," Kamil interjected, "A story of a farmer who bred horses. He bred them to make them taller, hoping that the longer the legs, the faster they'd run on the track. He began with an average horse and raced on it to learn how fast it could go. As time progressed, and years went by, the newly bred horses became taller and taller, and everytime he rode another horse he would be further from the ground. The farmer was fearful of hights, but it gave him speed. Eventually, the farmer made a horse that stood 10 feet off the ground. One day, the farmer was racing this horse around his track. Turning a corner, the farmer fell off the horse and onto a rock. This same rock he had fallen on when he fell off his first horse, but this time, after having fallen 10 feet, he hit his head and died. The more speed the farmer had, the higher the fall, and this time, it was too much for him."

Kamil took a deep breath after having said that, looked up at Connor, and said, "And her horse, my friend, is pretty tall."

"You're telling me that you're not scared of what might happen to us, like at all?" Connor asked.

"No," Kamil clarified, "I'm saying that she's human. She has fears and plans. She said what she said to you Kane because she's scared that something might mess up her pretty little tests."

"I've been through some stuff too," Connor added, "some people are just crazy and will kill to make a point. We have to be careful not to get her mad, who knows what she'll do. She sounds like the type to flood our rooms while we sleep. Who knows? This is her place, and we don't have an advantage."

Kamil chuckled, "It was the horse that made the farmer fast, he himself was slow. Dr. Berryman is just a woman, only with power because everyone gives her that credit. We need to remove the horse from the rider, or knock the rider off."

Connor stood up and looked from Kamil to me. He eyed us carefully, making some judgments as to what may happen with the rest of his, possibly short life. I was sitting next to my luggage, again, as the morning before, messing around with my blade and listening in. My legs were sore from all of the training the day before and they had a burning sensation. My eyes were probably red from another night without much sleep. I looked down at my shirt, a new blue one I had picked out from my luggage the night before. It had a stain on it, although I was not sure from what. It may have been some drink that I spilled back at home, or maybe some food that I dropped. It was on the bottom right of my shirt, creating a dark patch.

"And you Kane?" asked Connor, looking at me, "what do you think?" He looked exhausted. His eyes were red from being awake like the rest of us and his cheeks were flushed naturally, but his posture sold him out. Connor usually had a good posture, his back being upright, probably taught to him from a young age. He was slouching, and his legs shook with the slightest movements. His facial expression was one of determination, but behind that facade one could see his fear. He didn't know what he was doing. He wanted to be a good friend and he wanted to lead if he could. Here was a boy, who had lost everyone he knew, in a world he didn't know, with people he had just met, shaking. But he wanted to be strong, and so, I obliged.

I reached out my arm to him, and gave him a smile. He extended himself to me and pulled me with a grunt. I looked over to Kamil, still laying in bed, "I think it's about time that we grow some of our own horses, don't you think, Kamil?"

He sat upright, looked at us, and nodded. The passion in that man's eyes was unlike any I had ever seen before. His eyes said it all. There was no way in hell that he wasn't going to make it. He would make sure of it.

The second day went by more as the first, except that no-one fell when the timer went off at the 200 meter race. Everyone made it to the otherside in time. Even Becca, who had now gotten her mojo back, finished in an acceptable 37 seconds. We were all sore from the day before which made running harder, but the fear of falling pulled us through. Z looked more tired as well, I don't think he had gotten much sleep.

We walked from hall to hall, completing challenge after challenge, yet none of them was "the one" for the day. We did our job, we crawled through the mud, we climbed the rocks, we shot the targets as well as we could and we moved on. We made great time, there wasn't too much chatter as people completed their tasks, as everyone feared that they would start the trial that was going to send someone home or send them falling or whatever it would do. After finishing the target practice though, Z led us down a hallway that we hadn't traveled the day before, as the lights dotting the edges of the walls gave off an unusual faintly red hue, unlike the white everywhere else. We walked down this red hallway with alot of anxiety. Here it was, the test that would break the B goup down some more. Who would leave?

Chatter began to rise up as people began to talk about what it could be. Was it cliff jumping, as we had done the day before and hadn't done yet today? Z could tell that everyone was geeting antsy and he knew he had to start talking. His calm expression also seemed to break as he was reaching the end of the hallway.

"Okay," he said getting to the door at the end of the hallway, "everyone listen up and shut up." He waited a few moments before speaking to look at each one of our faces.

"You have been paired with someone today for today's main challange. When we enter the room, there will be a screen with a number next to your names. Go to that placemat on the ground and we will go from there, sounds good?" Z looked around as if ready to respond to any question, but he was just being curteous, there was no answers he would give, he had recited that line as if he had memorized it. He looked around to no hands being put up, smiled and nodded his head. "In that case," he continued, "Let's get inside."

He opened the door and started letting everyone inside. I was near the back of the group with Kamil, Connor, Becca, and Emma. Emma didn't say much as she let her facial expressiosn do the talking. She was angry and determined. Her face alone could murder someone. That rage in her was good to have today as it turned out. When we finally all made it in I came to see exactly what the challenge was today.

The room was a large rectangular box. Maybe 20 foot high cielings and the room was like 60ft by 100ft. Pretty long, and littered everywhere were placemats placed in a five foot by five foot squares. The walls were painted here. The topside was still white, but as it went down there was a blue gradient that filled in. The floors were made out of large, white, ceramic tiles. On the far end of the room was the screen that Z had mentioned. It was a large projected screen, on which said everyone's number in pairs of two, seemingly randomized. I was paired with B-58 on mat 7. Each dark blue mat was numbered with big, baby blue lettering. As I reached my placemat I noticed that there were splotches on my placemat. I looked around and saw them on some other ones as well. I knelt down for a closer look and realized what the challenge was. We were fighting today. The splotches on the mats was blood from the last group that had come in here.

I looked around to see the other people, as everyone slowly started to realize what we were doing. I saw Kamil, paired up with a frail, ghostly boy who had been pretty fast the day before, but definitely was not in shape for a fight. I looked around for Connor, and finally found him paired with Becca. Connor and Becca were going to have to fight, and honestly, I didn't know who would win. Becca had been a pretty good fighter from what I could remember, but I didn't know how good Connor was. I couldn't imagine what he would fight like either, it would either go really well or really bad. I turned back around to face my partner.

His face was dark and broody. He looked at me like a hunter would look at his prey. He was angry. "What's your name?" I asked him.

"What's it to you?"

"Just figured we'd start this off on the right foot," I said extending my hand and lightly smiling. Maybe I could get him to be nice enough to where I could beat him. "My name is Kane."

He looked at my hand and folded his arms to his chest. "I'm B-58," he replied coldly.

"Yeah, okay." I replied. He was not going to play nice. Great. That plan backfired. He was trying to puff himself up to make me scared of him, this much was obvious. He was definitely strong by looking at his arms and calves, but something about his protruding stomach that had slowed him down the day before to a close finish I recalled, might just give me an edge.

"As you may have noticed," Z began to shout from the end of the room, "today you will be fighting. There is no rules as long as you stay within your square. If you decide to fall outside the square, they," he said pointing to a group of guards, "will make sure you lose the competition."

The guards walked inside, and flanked us from either side until they completely surrounded us. They wore white clothing and had rifles in their hands, held across their chest. They looked straight forward at each station. There was one for each group.

"You will be given two chances," Z continued, "If you fail to win a fight, you will lose. If you win both fights, you will continue fighting until we have a winner. In order to win a fight, you must make the other submit to you and yell, 'I failed.' The only other rule is, if you win, you must stop fighting when they yell the phrase..."

I looked back at B-58. Imagining him yelling that phrase was hard. He looked as stubborn as they came. How far would I have to go to make him yell that? My guard surely understood that, as when he looked from me to B-58, he raised his eyebrows in his surprise of the pairing. He was a bit taller than me, had more body mass, and could pick me like a needle.

"Now," Z concluded, "any questions?"

The person paired with Kamil raised his hand.

Z took to it quite surprised. "Yes?"

The poor boy was shook, "If I lose, will I be paired with another loser?"

"If you lose?" Z asked. Z walked slowly to the boy, making very deliberate movements in his approach. "If you lose?" he asked in the boy's face. "Do you plan on it, boy? Do you plan to lose?"

"Of course not sir!" the boy quickly rebutted. "I was just curious what will happen to my partner," he said with a look of disgust towards Kamil.

"Don't you worry," Z said walking back, "only focus on winning. A true leader never quits. Now, when I say go, you may begin."

I looked at B-58, his eyes closed and preparing for the fight. He knew I was going to be a challenge, I wasn't going to make it easy for him.

"Prepare yourselfs!" Z announced.

I looked up and took a deep breath, cracked my neck sideways and all the way around, shook my shoulders, and planted my feet. I needed to win, I needed to win.

"On your marks."

His right shoulder looked damaged, something was wrong with it and I eyed it. He saw me look at his shoulder and changed his stance to where his left shoulder faced me. I could win, I could. There was the chance.

"Get set."

Time stood, and lady fate brewed yet another one of her potions, but this time, I wouldn't be tempted to luck it out. I needed cunning and speed.

"Fight!"

He immediatly lunged at me with his left shoulder and I managed to quickly bounce to the right and behind him. I threw right elbow back into him and planted it as far as it could go. Not far. I twisted around to the left, but he caught my movement and grabbed my left arm with his left hand and pulled me into him. He hit my head with his right shoulder which shot me backwards and sent jolts of pain throughout my head. I stumbled back and regained my footing. He smiled at the fight so far and ran at me with his right shoulder.

As we were fighting, I heard people begin yelling, and, If I was correct, one of the first was the boy Kamil had to fight. I heard a guard yell, "B-25 takes B-42!" Another yelled,"B-87 takes B-75." The commotion and yelling deafend me and I stopped listening.

B-58 fell back, I had hit him in the shoulder with a left hook. I took the opportunity to pounce on him and attacked his right shoulder throwing as many fists at him as possible, and he fell to the floor from being caught off balance. He threw his hands over his face and pushed them out at me. He curled his feet inwards to me and pushed. Luckily for him, it hit my stomach and threw me back. He slowly got up holding his shoulder, and I was barely standing. The hit to the stomach had sucked the air out of me and I was fighting to breathe. I was angry, I lunged at his face, only for him to dodge my attack to the right and throw his left fist into my face, knocking me down backwards. He tried to jump on me, but the short airtime was just enough for me to roll away from his belly flop. I got up and and took my footing again.

"You're pretty weak," he said picking himself up, confident in his ability to beat me now. He had hit me pretty hard and blood began flowing from my eyebrow. I picked up my hand and wiped the blood off. The noise in the room had grown louder in the wake of people finishing their first fights and guards yelling out winners. I couldn't focus on anyone else though. I was fully entrenched on the big horse of a man in front of me. His breathing was sparratic and scarce and his adrenaline was starting to wear off.

I let him attack me. He used his right side again, but instead of dodging like he'd expect, I lunged forward with all my might, right into his shoulder and threw my arm as his stomach. I hit his shoulder with a large thud and heard some bones crack or pop, I didn't know whose. His round belly took most of the impact, but it was still a good hit. His eyes closed and strained as he tumbled over to my left and tried to regain his footing.

I wouldn't let him. I punched his side from behind him, sending him to his knees as he threw his left elbow back at me. It hit me right in the jaw and I felt a large wincing pain spread itself throughout my head in a large wave. I blindly threw a kick at his back, but he dodged to the side and tried to get up to his feet. I jumped at his torso and pushed. He fell to the ground and he hit his head on the ground painfully. He closed his eyes in pain and threw his arms out at me, trying to hit my face. A few shots landed on me, one of which hit my left eye, causing me to turn my head. I planted my feet however on either side of him as he rolled over to face me. He tried to kick my legs off balance, but it was too late, they were planted and ready for impact. I threw a few punches at him before he was able to grab my hands, throw them to the side, and attempt a headbutt. I moved my head to the left and reached for his head and was able to grab it with both arms. He began punching my arms, sending whirling pain searing through my arms. I did not dare to let go. I held his head and threw my knee at him, hitting him squarely in the jaw as he punched my head from the left. But the damage was done. He began to spit blood as I had fallen to the side from the punch.

I had hit him before he hit me so his hit on me was less powerful than it may have been. I quickly threw my hands at his neck, seeing that he wouldn't give in. Each punch saw another body part of his slow its pace. His legs no longer fought with the same ferocity and his arms moved towards a defensive postion blocking the punches I threw. I finally saw blood splatter out of his gritted teeth as he began yelling "I failed" in sparratic fashion.

I let go as the guard watching us called out, "B-24 takes B-58."

I was laying there, on the floor, blood falling sideways, off my face and onto the cool blue mat. My jaw was the first thing to flood with pain, then my arms, and finally, my stomach. My stomach drew my hands to it as he had hit one of my ribs quite hard and I shook from side to side, with my eyes closed grunting. After a few moments I realized that I couldn't hear anything. I opened my eyes and looked around. I wasn't deaf, we were just the last ones to finish fighting.

I looked down at the ground and brought my hands to push as hard as they could off the ground. I put my knees on the ground, then slowly, my feet. As I stood up more and more of my body began clamoring and complaining. My legs had taken the least of the damage with what looked to be a few bruises swelling. I looked down at B-58, who had his face covered and was still wincing and grunting with pain. His hands were bloody. He finally took them off his face to reveal that left side of his jaw was bleeding from the outside in addition to the tooth I think that bled in his mouth. He looked at me with a mixed expression of anger and suprise. My uncle had taught me to fight because he feared I'd get beaten up in school.

"No family member of mine will lose a school fight," he said laughing one time. "I never did." he said. It had paid off, but I don't think this is what he had in mind when he said school fights. I didn't like fighting, and it hurt, it hurt like hell.

I reached my hand down towards B-58, "come on," I said wincing with every word, "get up."

"Screw yourself," he hissed at me and spat blood into my face. He turned to his side and forced his hands to push down and pulled his legs in. He stood up, not as before, strong and proud, but shaking and timid. I was shaking too, but more out of adrenaline.

From across the hall I heard Z speak up, "Alright, listen up. Look at the screen for your next partner. If you've won, congragulations, your safe, if not, this is your last chance to make it. Winner gets paired with winner, and loser," he said eyeballing Kamil's partner, "against loser."

I looked at the board, I had to squint to make out my name. I couldn't see well out of my left eye where he had hit it. I scrolled my eyes up and down the board, until I saw my number, B-24 sitting next to mat 12. I blinked fast to get blood out of my eyes as I dragged myself towards the next competition. My left leg stumbled as I walked and my vision continued to blur in and out. I walked slowly, making careful movements, watching each leg move forward and backward propelling me closer towards my destination.

Once I got to the mat, I quickly sat to rest while everyone else got to their positions. I looked over towards my next competitor. He didn't look fearful in seeing me, in fact, probably relieved. His last fight was alot cleaner than mine, he only had a bruise on his left arm that I could tell from the quick glances. His face seemed spared. He stood pretty firm and his feet were planted well. He looked at me kindly, and reached out his hand to pick me up.

"Come on man," he said, "get up, make this a little more fair."

I wasn't going to take his good nature for granted. He had won his previous fight, and by the looks of it, it was a clean win. I didn't think I could win now, not in this shape at least. With that in mind, I reached my hand out and pulled myself up.

"Thanks," I muttered picking up my head and planting my feet lightly. I wiped the blood away, took a few deep breathes, and looked over to Z. He was ready to count down again.

"Prepare yourselves!" He called again.

At least this guy pitied me, maybe I might have a chance if I could use his niceness agaisnt him. Maybe attack him crazy at the beginning and go for it.

"On your marks!"

B-58 had probably thought the same thing. I was not about to become him. Where was he, speaking of which? I wanted him to win his second fight, I didn't want to be the reason he failed the program.

"Get set."

Nothing could come to mind in the last second. I stood there, trying to come up with a rushed plan, but all I could do, in the pain, was breathe.

"Fight!"

He took his time, he was a lot more eloquent than the other. He walked up and bobbed himself in and out of my range, sending a few punches my way in quick sucession. One, two, three. He was very arithmatic, pacing consistently and taking his time. I didn't have that consistency. his first punched missed but the second landed in my shoulder blade. Painful yes, but it didn't make me fall off balance. He then sidestepped me and threw a lefthook towards the same shoulder, and the combination of that and the shoulderblade hit threw me back a few steps.

I then threw myself at him with all my force, straight for his head. It wasn't expected and I landed a nasty hit to his cheek before he could dodge it. I fell to the side as he dodged it and lost my footing. He came behind me, and as I turned around he threw a punch into my side that felt like shards of glass entering my skin and I collapsed on the floor praying for air.

He made quick work to attack the same place in my side, sending jolt after jolt of lightning coursing through my body. I felt like I would die here. My arms stopped flailing and my legs slowed down. I scrunched up and yealled the phrase.

"I failed." I faintly said.

The punching stopped and I heard the guard call out, "B-66 takes B-24!"

"I failed," I muttered again quietly.

He pulled me up off the ground and to my feet. "Should've done that sooner dude," he said calmly. "You were in no shape to fight."

I nodded as I regained my balance. Its okay, I made it past the challenge, now all I had to do was wait for everyone else to finish.

I looked around to look for Connor and Kamil. Kamil was already finished and looked at me with a smile, as his competitor stood clutching his own waist with both arms. No doubt Kamil had won both of his fights, and he looked well too. He had a bruise underneath his left eye where someone had missed their shot. He was fast and strong, a powerful combination. I continued my search around and caught eye of Emma standing, she was bruised all over and had blood running down her leg. Her face was intact though, and those green eyes, looked with rage at her opponent, who was sitting on the ground, sitting on some hair that Emma had ripped out.

Everyone began to quiet down when some grunting behind me caught my attention and I turned to see Becca fighting another girl, both on the ground sprawled and throwing every limb in every direction at once. There was blood, but I didn't know who's, it could've come from either of them. Becca yelled as as she dug her fingers into the girl's face and began to clench it down. The girl screamed and she wacked Becca from behind her head, sending her forward over the girl. The girl was too slow to capitalize on it though, and Becca stood up and jumped on the girl who was still attempting to kick Becca down. She landed right on the girl's face, hitting it with a thunderous clap, and rolling off to see her knocked out. She looked up and at the guard, who only looked back, and said, "she hasn't called it out."

Becca's face filled with horror, she looked back to the girl on the floor who had stopped moving. She threw a light punch to see if she would move, but nothing. She looked back at the guard, "She's knocked out!"

"Continue," the guard coldy instructed.

Becca knew she had to do it. She couldn't stop, I had told her what would happen if she disobeyed Dr. Berryman. She looked around, examining everyone until she saw me. She looked me in my eyes, begging for an answer. She didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do. I looked back, still breathing hard from my fight, shook my head and raised my shoulders. I didn't know.

She looked back at the girl, and began throwing punches at her legs, the place where she was least hurt. She threw them lightly, significant enough to be called a punch, but not to where it would be severe. The girl was still breathing. Becca stood up and began kicking, each one getting more intense than the last. The guard only stood there and shook his head at her. She got mad and threw a hard kick to the side, shaking the body of the poor girl. She continued to work around the body, throwing more and more kicks. A little more and this girl would never wake again. Becca was enraged though, mad at herself for knocking the girl out, and she threw another kick into her side, again, hitting harder than the time before. I watched in bewilderment and surprise, like everyone else. She was the only one fighting left. Every one else was done and watching her, watching her kick a seemingly lifeless body. Over, and over, and over again she whacked it.

"That's enough!" Z called from the other side of the room after some time. I could tell he couldn't bear to see it anymore either.

Becca stopped and began to tear up, the girl was barely breathing.

"Back to the auditorium," Z yelled, "we're done here!"

Everyone quietly, through some bleeding and wincing, walked out of the room and started down the hallway with a few guards that led them.

I walked over to Becca, who threw herself into my chest crying. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach from my bruised bones, but I hugged her nonetheless.

"It's okay, it's okay," I said, "It wasn't your fault."

"I thought she would dodge me," she cried.

Connor walked over to us, leaning on Emma's shoulder. He had beaten Becca but lost his second fight badly. I slowly started forward as Kamil joined us. Becca let go and walked a little in front of us, by herself.

"Why would they tell her to keep going?" Connor asked.

"They wanted to see if she would listen," Kamil answered. "They wanted to see how far she would go after what happened yesterday. She barely made it out and she shouldn't have, so they no doubt wanted to test her. She definitely impressed them," he said nudging us over to a few guards talking on the side while looking over at us.

It was true, everyone was whispering about her and making eyes at her. As we began to exit the doors, guards went and took every person that had lost twice and dragged them out of the line. One by one they stopped us and asked for our names. They checked the scores and cleared us through. As I passed through the door, I saw B-58 standing with those that had lost both rounds. He looked at me, saddened and no longer angry. He was dissapointed with himself, and I felt bad. I looked back once we were all in the hallway, B-58 looked at me and nodded his acceptance. The doors closed.