Our standing in the Courage Challenge had determined our starting order for the Obstacle Course, but it wasn’t a race. Our goal was the cyphers, not beating each other.
To be honest, nothing about the setup made sense to me. Aside from the mini courses I’d completed during my sessions with Paul and Austin, and the fact that mud was a mixture of earth and water, and therefore used the elements, our training sessions had barely prepared us for what we faced.
But I’d given up on understanding the point of these challenges a while ago.
With my eyes on the prize, I focused on getting through it. Even as other girls passed me, I hustled, not wanting to lose whatever lead I might get when they had to deal with their parents, but I didn’t stress. The sooner I finished, the sooner I had everything I needed to solve my clues, but being safe and strategic meant keeping a steady pace.
My legs burned with every step. I swiped sweat from my brow with a weak forearm. Muscles turning to jelly, I reached the top of the Pyramid Wall and swung my leg over. After climbing down, I glanced at Paul for confirmation, and when he nodded, I dove into the lake.
The cool water didn’t outweigh the exertion of swimming.
Or the fear gripping my throat with every stroke.
I couldn’t watch out for danger in the lake, and I needed my bearings to avoid anything unexpected. The guys hadn’t said it, but they worried about interference.
And since I’d been half-drowned once in this lake already, I wasn’t taking any chances. Each time I lifted my head to breathe, I scanned my surroundings, but when that slowed me down too much, I pushed to the end without stopping.
On the other side, I lugged my body onto the shore on hands and knees. I dragged in deep breaths before I stood.
Up ahead, Tristan stood beside a tall wooden wall. With planks on either side to stabilize it, it stood erect and bare. No footholds. No ropes.
I’d need to make it up and over.
And I did not know how to do that.
But I couldn’t overthink it, because as soon as I got to my feet, a large booming sound came from the woods on my left. Branches jostled. Rustling grew louder as whatever had made that noise grew closer.
I squinted at the tree line.
Large, white teeth dripping with saliva appeared in the leaves, followed by pitch-black eyes I’d seen once before.
“Brutus,” I whispered his name and froze, my mind racing through my options and coming up blank—before I did the one thing Tristan had been teaching menotto do for a week.
Ran.
Sprinting toward the wall, I shot off like a rocket. I faltered once at Brutus’s bark, but I kept going. His paws pounded on the grass behind me. Moist, panting breaths grew louder. And he closed the distance between us far too quickly.
I didn’t look back, and I didn’t look at Tristan.
Eyes trained on the wall, I did what I’d done when this all started. I jumped, reaching for the ledge at the top and sending a thank you up to the patron saint of monumental idiots when I latched onto the top edge with my right hand. I pulled up, kicked my right foot against the wall, and my left on the supportbeam beside it, using the corner of the structure to give me leverage.
As I scraped my feet against the wood, Brutus bounded up and nipped the back of my leggings.
“I yield!” I screamed, right as I swung my left leg over the ledge and pulled up to straddle it.
Panting hard, gasping for breath, I hugged the slice of wood digging into my chest down to my pubic bone.
I shifted and turned my head to peer down.
Brutus sat beneath me, his big paws planted in the grass, and his huge, wrinkly face staring up at me expectantly.
His tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth, and drool dripped onto his paw.
“Brutus, return!” Tristan barked the command, and Brutus bounded up and back over to the woods.
My chest heaved, ragged breaths digging into the wood with each inhale, but with the threat happily trotting back to his starting position, I breathed easier.
“So…I guess, sometimes, running from the bear does work,” Tristan quipped.
