Chapter 22

I hopped on the tree, wrapped my arms on the trunk, and I pushed on it away not to fall while my feet wearing the belt as support, helped me climb easily without a hitch. In no time, I reached the sturdy branches of the tree and kept myself attached to the tree.

Before I climbed the tree, I purposely let myself be seen by Allen under the moonlight, so he would know where to approach me.

As soon as his eyes fell upon my lit figure, he rushed in my direction with utter frustration and hatred towards me.

"I know you are hiding in there, you fucking wimp!"

Allen jumped with his arms spread out in the shadow, thinking of catching me with both hands but to his surprise when he realized I was not there. Well, that is because I am arduously clinging to a tree trunk.

He was standing right where I wanted him to be, under the moonlight, piercing through the apertures of the leaves.

I was like an owl in the presence of the night, resting on a tree just chilling when a rat suddenly revealed itself in the lack of light, looking for food without knowing it was about to become food to a bloodthirsty predator.

Silently, doing it the usual way, I jumped off the tree, my feet aimed towards Allen, hoping I'd knock him out in an instant.

All is well, but Sean, who had seen me jump off a tree, alerted Allen.

"Behind you, Allen!"

The fucker immediately turned around after the big mouth Sean notified him of my location.

"Huh?"

At first, he thought I was just flanking him, but then he realized I came from above him, thus looking up.

"Ain't you fucking clever, eh, wimp?"

Only his hair was lit up before I jump, but now that he is looking up to me, it is now his fucking wide grin on his face I could see.

"Get him, Allen!"

"Yeah!"

"Beat him to death!"

'Dirty basta—!'

I felt something hard hit me in my face, and I landed horribly on the ground, back flattened on the ground.

"Argh!" I groaned painfully.

"Whoo! That must have hurt!"

I was grunting in pain, my back arching as it aches and in an instant, I lost all hope.

My landing was pretty bad. I could barely move my limbs due to the excruciating pain. And I think my nose is bleeding since I can feel something dripping down my mouth.

"Quite unfortunate, ain't you, eh?"

I heard him chuckle, footsteps nearing where I was lying.

"Dirty fucking bastards! Twat— argh!"

Angrily, Allen tweaked my hair, raising my upper half as he sat on his legs, crouching.

"I can't say I don't admire your braveness, wimp. I'm almost impressed!"

Painstakingly, I clawed on the ground. I felt my fingernails catch some of the dried dirt on them. I clawed and clawed in pain until I had enough dirt with me. A handful of it.

Suddenly, I felt a sting on my cheek. It turns out Allen smitten me, and the trickling blood from my nose splattered on the ground.

"Don't lose consciousness on me now, wimp. You asked for this. I am only giving you what you've asked for."

***

In one particular course, the industrial arts students have united as one and are gradually conquering the special exam using their numbers and all-male large group.

Every group of students they stumbled upon could not escape their grasp and ended up losing their flags. The industrial arts students had amassed a total number of 30 flags and are still counting.

And right now, they are in hot pursuit of Ira, Cristina, and Austin.

"Everyone, floor it! They are getting away?"

"We ain't riding a damn car! What do you mean floor it?!"

"What I mean is faster! Run faster, everyone, or else we will lose them!"

The three floriculture students encountered them while on their way to the west part of the forest.

A large flock of men holding their flashlights that can illuminate a wide area of the forest chased Ira, Cristina, and Austin up west.

"Just surrender your flags to us, so you won't have to waste any more

energy!"

But little did the industrial arts students know that their victims of such a tactic would hunt them down, waiting for them on a much larger scale.

Only if I knew that there would be a special exam and we would be running everywhere, I might not have done some exercise. My legs still hurt from running in the morning. Clause will have to treat me to a lunch tomorrow. This special exam is killing me.

"Those industrial arts students are so persistent! They keep chasing us!"

The only way I have thought of at the moment was to use our flashlight in this dire situation.

You see, the school lends us a zoomable or an adjustable focus flashlight. It will allow us to go to change the beam pattern from a focused beam to a flood beam. With the most adjustable flashlight, you will either move the head forward and back or twist the head forward and back to adjust the angle of the beam.

What I want to do is...

"Ms. Cristina, Austin! Twist the head of the flashlight so it would focus, then point them towards the industrial arts students' eyes! That way, we might be able to slow them down. We might get away if we are lucky!"

If we have to hinder their speed, the three of us will need to do it all at once and flash the beam directly to their visions. However, this plan is not easy to execute, and I don't know if this will actually work.

We might trip or lose balance when we look back and point the light to their eyes. Doing it without looking back at them isn't ideal because they do not have the same height as each other.

"I think that is actually smart, Ira!"

Save your opinion to yourself, damn Austin! I hate the stupid fake smile on your face!

"Let's do it together, you two!"

~