“No use fighting over it, why don’t we both use it. We’ll send one person from each team in at the same time,” I said making both parties whip their heads in my direction. I shoved my hands into my pants pockets, glad I chose something less tailored since it looked as if I was about to get neck deep in mud.
“Fine,” Nat gritted out. “We’ll pair off one teammate at a time. I’m going first.”
Regis took up the spot next to her and dipped down into a crouching position, ready to run.
“First one to make it to the end wins,” he said, determination coating his every fiber.
“Count us off, Killian,” Nat instructed to the guy wearing The Duplicator.
“Oh, uh, yeah okay.” He shrugged as if he couldn’t care less about what we were doing. “3,2,1…. go!”
Both Nat and Regis took off at a sprint while the rest of us looked on. A few others seemed drawn to the commotion and peered over, their curiosity getting the better of them.
Nat was nimble on her feet, stepping over the uneven ground easily. Regis, was not so lucky, stumbling several times. It slowed him down, having Nat reach the wall first.
It was a straight climb up and she lunged for the rope.
Big mistake.
The rope gave way, and her body came crashing down into a heap at the bottom. Her leg jutted out beneath her at an odd angle as she cried out in pain. Regis paid her no mind and stepped over her body, gripping onto a piece of bone to hoist himself up.
“Can we get a mender over here?” Odessa called out.
No one moved though. They just watched as she writhed in pain.
Regis found purchase on the wall and began his assent.
“You. The one with The Mender mask, why don’t you come over here and help?” Odessa asked, striding across the room with purpose. The girl she was speaking to, glanced up, annoyed to be interrupted.
“She’ll be fine,” the girl responded.
“You don’t deserve to have the healing power if you won’t use it to help others,” Odessa spat out loudly. Her anger practically sizzling off her.
She turned on her heel and made it over to her teammate and leaned down.
“Grab my hand,” she told Nat.
The set of Nat’s jaw was tight, clearly experiencing pain as she took Odessa’s extended hand.
Nat’s arms had several cuts along them, superficial ones, but it must have stung. She leaned on Odessa as she hobbled towards the starting line.
Regis, didn’t even look down as he scaled the wall, making it about halfway before he seemed stuck. The next plausible grip seemed right out of reach for him.
“Here, have some water,” I said to Nat as she made it over and collapsed onto the ground. We each had been given some at the beginning of our training session.
Odessa glared at me, but Nat took the small container without question and slugged back the contents.
“Couldn’t be bothered to help before?” Odessa asked, fury sparking in her eyes.
“You seemed to have it handled. Besides, didn’t you tell me to leave you alone?”
She huffed and her dainty nostrils flared. “That doesn’t mean you should stop being a decent person!”
Just as I was going to retort that I was nowhere near decent as I took a step closer to her, Regis fell with a loud crunch. His small mouth screaming out in pain at the top of his lungs.
The other contestants around us barely even batted an eye.
It couldn’t have been more clear that everyone here, was out for themselves.
