"GET HIM!"
The shout ripped through the arena.
Alexander didn't waste even a second to stick around and find out who shouted that. His body decided what he had to do.
There was no time to think. All he had time for was running. Thirty seconds. He had to survive thirty seconds without getting caught.
His trainers exploded off the floor and launched him forward, tightly gripping the vaccine in his right fist.
Where was he running to?
Alexander didn't know. Wherever there was free space, that's where he was heading.
The section he was in was mostly open. The floor was padded, with some trampolines spaced out. He had to make sure he watched his step so as not to break his momentum by accidentally stepping on a trampoline.
Fortunately for him, the area he was in wasn't that populated. Due to the elimination, teams were sticking together. Leaving only a few roamers like Dillon and Gabriel.
Speaking of Gabriel, he reacted the quickest. He sprinted as soon as he saw Alexander take off.
Gabriel was rapid. A natural-born athlete, so he was confident with this chase. On a straight sprint, he was catching up to Alexander easily.
Meanwhile, Dillon properly sat up and watched as more and more people ran, chasing Alexander.
"Fuck that," he laughed, hauling himself to his feet and grabbing the climbing rope instead. "Now I'll be able to climb this. I've got no distraction."
Even after admitting he was too big for it, seeing the place empty out and leaving him by himself gave him the idea that he could do it.
Back to Alexander, he kept carving into open space. All his pursuers were emerging from behind or the side. He kept an eagle eye on his path ahead and made sure no one was in front of him.
To be honest, he still hadn't fully wrapped his head around what was happening or why this was happening. All he knew was he had to run. The whys and whats could come after the thirty seconds.
Alexander took a glance over his shoulder to assess the situation behind him. He quickly whipped his head back and shifted up a gear he didn't know he had.
That glance told him everything he needed to know. He saw a wall of people charging at him. All the noise crashed into his ears. After seeing what was after him, he could clearly hear what they were saying.
Before, he was too focused and deep inside his own head to notice. The noise around wasn't getting through his ears. But what he saw was like a zombie movie.
"This is bad."
Running in a straight line was only favouring the faster people chasing him. Alexander was fast, but there were definitely more than a handful of people faster than him.
He could feel people closing in on him. He could feel the steps. At this point, he didn't know if he was going fast anymore. It felt like he was slowing down. Overthinking was confusing his senses of everything.
Alexander lifted his head and quickly scanned in front. He had to make a quick decision. He didn't like any of the options, as all of them seemed like they would get him caught, but he had to take one.
Cutting hard right, he threw himself into the inflatable section.
His pace was immediately hindered by soft, spongy flooring. Each step sinking half a foot before rebounding. He adjusted to it quickly and continued straight on route.
This inflatable section was the biggest inflatable section in the whole arena, so it had a variety of inflatables everywhere. There was one particular part of this section that Alexander was going to put to use and abuse to wring a few seconds. The part that would hopefully get him out of sight.
He took another sharp right and jumped in between a cluster of inflatable pillars that swallowed him up.
Inflatable pillars surrounded and towered over Alexander. He was basically inside an inflatable cornfield. Perfect for getting out of sight.
He kept his legs pumping straight through, chopping inflatable pillars left and right as he passed. Everything was a blur of colour to him, but he was confident he was safe and bought himself a few precious seconds.
Tug!
Alexander's eyes shot wide open as he staggered half a step. He felt someone tug on his sweater.
He risked a look back. He had to check how close this person was. Through the gaps in the pillars, a face came into focus.
Gabriel.
He was close enough that Alexander couldn't see who was beyond him. He didn't know if there were more people or if everyone else had fallen behind.
"I need to lose him."
Alexander wove in and out of the inflatable pillars until he emerged from the jungle and back into open space. His eyes darted, searching for anything that could create separation.
He refused to look back. If he looked back and saw more people, that would only make him uneasy. His body would feel everything ten times.
Then he saw it. Straight ahead.
A watchtower. One of the tallest inflatable structures in the area.
Alexander put his head down and charged at it, blocking out everything once again.
He reached the base of the tower, planted a foot against the first hold and began climbing. The path up was a simple, steep ladder. Each step felt easier and easier as he climbed up. Momentum carried him to the top like wind was pushing his sails.
Alexander swung himself over the lip of the platform and immediately turned around to look beneath him. It was also a chance for his body to catch a breath and put the vaccine he had in his fist into his pocket.
His heart jumped seeing how close Gabriel was. Gabriel was almost within arm's reach. One bad step on the ladder and Alexander would've been caught.
Gabriel's wasn't looking up, so he didn't know Alexander was staring straight at him. He was so locked in he didn't realise how close he was to the top.
He was in flow state. Everything was going so well for Gabriel until he felt hands on his shoulders. Before he could look up, his balance vanished, and he was hanging in mid-air.
He was airborne.
Falling.
Thump!
The sound of him crashing to the inflatable mat below came out before any sound came out of his mouth. It wasn't only him. Gabriel was a boulder that rolled down, taking down everyone else climbing behind him.
Groans came from the piled bodies. Onlookers clapped their hands over their mouths, seeing that.
Alexander didn't stick around to watch that scene. He was already surveying the scene for other threats. The watchtower was a vantage point, but it was very exposed on all sides. There were four paths to the top. Alexander couldn't stay up there. From the top, he could see people already trying to run around to cut him off.
There was only one move. He knew what he had to do. Alexander didn't hesitate.
He spun around and jumped off the tower on the opposite end. His body dropped several feet before the thick inflatable floor absorbed the impact beneath him. Luckily, the floor wasn't solid. That would've done serious damage to his knees. The floor swallowed his legs before springing him back slightly.
Alexander took half a second to readjust himself before accelerating off again. He had no clue how much time was left. No plan sprang to mind. The only thought was to run. Run was the only thing he could do.
He burst out of the inflatable section and into another open area where rows upon rows of interconnected trampolines stretched across the floor. Bodies leaked into his peripheral vision in all directions. He had to go through this section to avoid all of them.
Trampolines were the one thing his legs wanted to avoid. A single bounce could throw him off course. It was unpredictable.
Alexander slowed as he planted his foot on the first trampoline. His foot sank before firing him up again. Instead of resisting the bounce, Alexander gambled and rode it. His foot landed on the next trampoline.
Then the next.
Then the next.
Every bounce carried him to the next one. His body fell into a smooth rhythm, almost gliding across the trampolines. People behind tried to recreate what he was doing, but that only slowed them down. A few of them got the hang of it, but they had already lost too much ground, and the rest were running across the trampolines, which was the least effective method.
A few people tried to intercept him, but Alexander moved too quickly.
Alexander launched himself off the last trampoline and continued running into the open space in front of him. Not bothering to check what he left behind.
"I miss the earlier rounds," Malakai said with his hands in his pockets, juggling a foam ball with his feet. "I feel like we didn't have enough fun."
"We didn't even drive the carts for that long," William added.
Tanisha looked between the two of them. "What do you mean not enough fun?" she said with an incredulous laugh. "I remember you guys saying you were bored."
"Every guy needs a cooldown," William replied, raising a finger.
Ash burst out laughing. "Tanisha's still mad Malakai pushed her off the slide."
Malakai smirked, remembering.
"I'm going to get you back for that," Tanisha warned, narrowing her eyes at him.
Malakai booted the foam ball away. "You pushed Ray off first," he defended himself. "And Destiny got revenge for you. She pushed me off."
"How'd you let that happen?" Benjamin asked.
"I was going to push everyone off, but the only person in front of me was Maria," Malakai replied. "And I wasn't going to push Maria off because she would've killed me if I did," he pointed at Tanisha.
"You got that right," Tanisha surely said.
The group laughed before a surge of noise interrupted and overpowered their laughs. The laughter died as everyone's attention drifted towards the source of the noise.
Groups of students sprinting past in the distance. And at the very front.
"Alexander's there," William casually said like what he was seeing was normal.
The group wasn't involved in the chase. They were on the other side of the arena when the hit was announced, so they didn't bother.
"Go," Tanisha lightly pushed Malakai's back. "Catch him. Get him out."
Malakai looked at her and then across at his friends.
William grinned.
Ash smirked.
Benjamin nodded.
None of them said a word, but they all simultaneously jetted off.
David watched them run off and join the crowd.
"I'm going to sit this one out," he said, actually taking a seat on the floor. He looked towards Tanisha. "Aren't you going to go? You're quick."
"No way," Tanisha shook her head with a cheeky smile "I'll let those idiots try. Half of the time is already gone. I'm not catching him."
The thirty seconds felt endless. This was the longest thirty seconds of Alexander's life.
His legs kept driving forward, thighs burning, but he felt like he was slowing down with every step. He hadn't looked back since the watchtower.
He rounded a blind corner between two inflatable walls. And on instinct, he veered, just in time to dodge a girl waiting to trip him up.
Alexander stumbled. Catching himself on the floor with one hand before he went down completely. The girl's fingertips brushed against his sleeve as he continued to move.
A near miss. If Alexander didn't catch himself, he would've been caught.
However, the sudden evasive movement cost him.
His rhythm broke.
His speed dropped.
Only for a moment. But the one moment was all the people behind him needed.
"Get him!"
"He's close!"
The voices were closer now. Nearly on top of him.
Alexander did it. He took one sneak peek behind him.
And instantly regretted it.
He didn't expect to see what he saw. A lot of people were chasing him, and they were closer than he would've liked. He even recognised one or two of the faces in the mob.
The gap he worked so hard for was significantly cut by one unexpected trip attempt.
Whack!
A plastic ball bounced off the back of his head.
Swip!
Another ball whistled past him. Then before he knew it, objects were raining from behind.
"What are they doing?" Alexander thought, irritated, gritting his teeth.
Students started lobbing objects at him, doing whatever it takes to slow him down.
Foam balls, cubes, plushies, beanbags. Whatever was throwable was getting thrown.
"Can't be long left," he thought, a little confident and seeing their desperate attempts. "One more stretch."
Alexander risked another glance over his shoulder. It was only for half a second.
Half a second too long.
As he passed an inflatable, a figure exploded into his path. Before Alexander could react, arms wrapped around him and locked him in place. The arms were around his body and not near his wrists.
Alexander thrashed, trying to twist free, shuffling his feet to buy an inch of space. He drove an elbow into the attacker's stomach, catching them off guard just enough to loosen the grip. With that space, he turned his head to look at who had a hold of him.
Ryan had a smug grin on his face.
"Got you."
Alexander's eyebrows knitted seeing that expression. He kept shuffling, trying to get out. Making sure his wrists stayed way out of reach from Ryan's hands. It was pretty easy because Ryan had to use both arms to keep hold of Alexander. If he tried to reach for Alexander's wrist, he'd break free.
Even though Ryan couldn't touch his wrist, Alexander wanted to break free before other people came and had the chance.
Alexander dropped his weight and shifted his hips, searching for enough space to turn into Ryan. His jiu-jitsu experience was coming in clutch. However, he couldn't exactly use any jiu-jitsu because he didn't want to risk putting his wrist anywhere near Ryan's hands.
Ryan's hold was tight. He was basically bear-hugging him and not letting go. No matter which direction Alexander shifted, Ryan seemed to already know what to do.
Alexander covered his wristband with his left hand. He was taking no chances. Ryan noticed, swiftly moved his hand, and yanked Alexander's hand off the wristband.
Alexander didn't expect that. Now his wristband was exposed. Ryan wrapped his left arm around Alexander, trapping his left hand, while his right hand closed in on Alexander's wristband.
Alexander saw everything happen in slow motion.
BEEP!
"The thirty seconds are up. No one managed to touch Alexander's wristband in the thirty seconds. Therefore, he remains in the challenge."
The announcement confirmed it. All the running from everyone came to nothing. Alexander came out on top and survived.
"Get off me," Alexander said, harshly ripping Ryan's arms off him and shoving him.
Ryan took a couple of steps back and brushed himself.
"Lucky you," he said, smug as ever. "Another five seconds and you would've been eliminated."
"As if," Alexander shot back, fixing his hair. "You were getting nowhere near my wrist."
He turned his head and saw all the people who were chasing him staring. All of them were so close. Another five seconds would've been a huge problem, whether or not Ryan touched his wristband.
"You didn't expect that, did you?" Ryan said. "I gotta say I did expect you to be stronger," he said, trying to aggravate him.
"It's easy to be in control and have an advantage when the other person is off guard," Alexander replied, falling for the bait. "You try running from every loser here and not being eliminated. You couldn't," he condescendingly said.
BEEP! BEEP!
"The round is ending in two minutes. Players that are not in their zones by the end of the round will be infected."
Everyone around started scrambling to their zones. No point in sticking around.
"If you want to see that happen, try putting a hit on me," Ryan said, his grin ever growing. "I'm sure a few people would want to do that... Or maybe if they get the chance, they'll pick you again."
Alexander kissed his teeth. "I don't need to put a hit on anyone," he said before walking away, not wanting to entertain him.
As soon as Alexander's back was turnt, Ryan's grin slowly broke. His fists tightened as he watched him leave.
The smug act that was for show was over.
"I could've eliminated Alexander."