"Alright let's make this clear, if ya'll hear anyone cry for help from a distance. Ignore it at all costs!" Nicodemus exclaimed to everyone. He grabs Clarice by the shoulders and asks
June rubs her neck while she's sweating bullets, all the while the girls are visibly huffing their chests, along with Donovan biting his nails
Nicodemus holds both of Clarice's hands as he says "Tell me, what exactly happened there?"
Clarice gagged "She *gag* saw you in the *gag* mud and-"
Nicodemus pats her on the back while she exclaims "Hey hey! Breathe, take it slow now"
She kept huffing and gagging until her breaths progressively got slower, Nicodemus reaching his hands out from the girls on Justine's team as he shouted "Water! Water! Water!" Then one of them hands out a bottle of water as Clarice snatches it from the girl's hand and frantically chugs from it while drops of it drip down from the side of her mouth.
After sighing sharply she exclaims "The Echosaurus used you as bait" she said as she pointed at Nicodemus "From the looks, down to the vocal chords, the monster's bait was a 1 to 1 copy of you!
We thought you'd be in trouble since you weren't in the tent!"
Nicodemus said while massaging her shoulders "Since it was cold outside, I had to take a leak, but since the Echosaurus' attacks, I went on a lookout whether it'll lure any of us, but I never expected it to copy me"
One of the girls asks "That sounds terrifying, but what happened to Justine?"
Clarice's lower lip begins trembling then she covers her face with her hands as she bursts into tears she yells "I'M SORRY! I couldn't save her! The beast broke the stick that was holding her up! It ate her alive!"
Justine's team began bawling their eyes out as they had a mass seizure while some of them hugged each other.
June shouted "Hey! Guys! Let's calm down, alright? We've still got 1 more day to finish the loop, but as for you guys" She says as she stares at Justine's team "You guys can stay for the night, you can leave by morning, if guys want to stay with us, just stay out of our way; understood?!"
The team nods in agreement, Nicodemus followed with "That settles it, though, to avoid attention during the night we need to put out the campfire"
As the rain begins to subside, the freezing night unfurls. Fog within the thicket engulfs the forest; moisturising everything. Spider webs glisten under the moonlight as it collects droplets, residual rain sheds down from the leaves- to the soil.
With the fire out, everyone sleeping became restless. Some started rolling on the bed while some straight up started shivering. Their teeth gnashing under the cold moonlight beaming from the forest's bald spots.
[Day 3]
Nicodemus and Clarice's team packed everything back up; Justine's remaining team packs up as well, but their expressions are visibly in disdain; the middle of their eyebrows raised, their mouths frowned, and their eyes stuck to the ground. Once the other team was done while Justine's wasn't they couldn't help but stare agonizingly.
As soon as they were done, they lined up perpendicularly, whilst they held their bags below their waists. They all bowed in unison while saying
"Thank you for everything!" Then they just walked away.
While they were walking away, Clarice couldn't help but express a sudden frown, then June taps on her on the shoulder saying "Hey, Princess, everything's gonna be okay"
Then Donovan taps her on the opposite shoulder and says "Yeah, look on the bright side, at least we made it! Let's leave the traumatic events and focus on finishing the loop."
Nicodemus looks back while he walks forward "Yeah, and I think we're pretty close at this point, the forest is thinning again so hopefully we get to the desert near the entrance of the city- then boom loop finished!"
Like he said, the forest began to thin. The thicket became thinner as trees and bushes became less frequent, the moisture of the soil became dryer the further they trek the biome. Through empty spots in the forest the sand slashed winds can be felt once more. Donovan each gives them pieces of cloth while he said "Winds are getting harsher, use these on your faces."
Finally arriving at the edge of the forest, towering dunes of sand spanned miles away while the wind tries to blow them back. All of their clothes and ghillie suits flapping along the wind while they inch closer to the end of the loop, suddenly Clarice drops down as half of her body is below the sand.
The gang helps her up by grabbing onto her arms, lifting her by the shoulders, as they tug to pull her out, they notice a hum across the distance.
Behind the dune a sand buggy pops from behind as they hear the passengers yelling as they drop down to the base of the dune.
The buggy drops on its back.
Then it rolls around the sand while the passengers are screaming.
Finally the rolling stopped as it finally lay on its back, wheels up.
The passengers crawl out of the vehicle. Each of them exited from each door, as they stood on the sand they looked at Nicodemus and Clarice's team.
They even look behind them as they soon find out there is also a team of students looking over the dune.
Looking back at the buggy crash, she saw a girl in her uniform, but the uniform sleeves seemed torn and the skirt frayed. Her hair was black and bushy and it ran down all the way to her knees. Her stance was firmly squared.
Then she sprinted, so were the people riding along with her.
Clarice and the team looked back at the other opposing team leering at them from the top, they jumped out from the dune then sled down with leaves. Sand trailed behind them as they slide down, you can faintly hear the 'whooos' in the distance
Clarice and the gang noticed that a shadow was looming over them, as they looked up it was also students; flying with a makeshift hang glider. One of them even yells "Up here idiots!" And they just loudly laughed as they literally flew over them
June suddenly taps Clarice on the back while she yells "RUN! RUN!"
Clarice with confusion in her voice "What?"
June yells "GO! NOW!"
Right before Clarice started sprinting, she noticed that Nicodemus and Donovan were already ahead of them.
Both of them booked it - keeping up the pace, their feet kept sinking in the sand, they were panting heavily while the winds pushed them forward, sand blasting against their backs with each step they could feel the particles like needle punctures.
Panting with each step, they saw on their right were the opposing team, the same team with the fluffy black haired girl - they were closing the distance towards them as they were booking it on foot.
The team that sled down the dunes also started to run on foot while some of them even tripped and rolled down the dune, while the ones with gliders managed to crash a mile away, creating a dust cloud.
Once the girl with the fluffy hair got near them, she punched the one that laughed earlier, she used her foot to force the glider out from the students hands, her other team also squabbled with the gliding team, as one of them would not let go, the bushy blacked haired girl kicked the student on the face forcing the student to let go of the glider. They kept using the hang gliders while sprinting as gusts of sand trailed behind them, when the wind was caught under the wings of the glider it pushed them forward mid-air, they sprint again as they land to maintain momentum for flight
The same team that was using the sleds turned the giant leaves into a parachute to propel themselves forward, some of them were having their clothes snagged from the dry branches of bushes and trees.
Clarice and the gang were huffing it as they ran, Nicodemus and Donovan jumped over the students that crashed. While June and Clarice simply ran around them.
Suddenly Clarice noticed the two boys ahead stopped, Clarice stops for a bit, but June stopped on a screeching halt causing her feet to splash the sand forward. Quickly she grabbed Clarice's arm and pulled it while saying "C'mon what're you waiting for? They're waiting for us!"
As soon as they arrived within a short distance between them, the two boys sprinted behind the two girls and pushed them forward as Nicodemus yelled "GO! GO! GO!" as they pressed on they climbed up the dune,then Clarice yelled "Wait! This is a dune?"
Donovan answered "Yes! Just keep pushing forward! Whatever you do wrap yourself in your arms" Clarice immediately wraps her torso with her arms, as she notices that every step they make now has the sand moving backwards.
Clarice looking back while she's being pushed "W- W- WAIT! How high is this dune?!"
Nicodemus yelled his answer "I don't know!"
"WHAT?" both of the girls yelled
As soon as they arrived at the peak… it's so high
Clarice screamed "AAAAAARGH! NICK I SWEAR TO GOD!-"
June yells "Wait guys, when I told you to live life on the edge I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THIS!!!"
While the girls' were resisting the push, the boys were smiling in a shit-eating grin
"WA- WA- WAIT AAAAAAAAA-"
The girls are pushed off the edge while their arms are wrapped around their torso, the boys see them rolling down the sand dune.
Nicodemus pats Donovan on the back while grinning "Your turn Donny boy"
Donovan shook his head as he shouted "Aw hell naw! Darkskins first before lightskin"
Nicodemus giggled "Fuck you mean-" then he pushes off Donovan, but he was laughing while falling.
As Nicodemus was looking below them literally rolling forward, he was suddenly choked from behind, then he was suddenly pulled down. Once his body dropped on the tip of the dune, he soon found out it was the same fluffy haired girl from the buggy team trying to drop down from the dune. Luckily Nicodemus grabs her leg in time, leaving her dangling at the edge of the dune.
Then suddenly she nicks Nicodemus' skin with a glass shank. This left her rolling down the dune, then she jumped.
Nicodemus behind her sprinted towards the edge then uses his legs to slide down the dune.
From Clsrice's perspective, they finally rolled down at the base of the dune, after stopping a dust cloud followed. The 3 of them were lying on the stand as June lifted her upper body with her arms looking at Donovan
"YOU!" immediately bolting towards Donovan as she tugs his collar then she shakes him violently "Never do that again! I swear to-"
Clarice slowly got up from on her feet, but then she sees a shadow from above as she says to herself "Is that… a bird? No… it's… Oh shit!"
Immediately she sprints towards the two, tugging June by the collar, pulling them forward when suddenly
*BOOM* A large dust cloud followed
Nicodemus' voice can be heard from the distance
"Reece! June! Don!"
As soon as the three of them got up, they inhaled some of the sand in the air thus several dry coughs followed. Suddenly June gets grabbed by the waist then thrown behind back to the dune. Donovan gets sucker punched, dropping him on his side as the sand splashes around his body. Clarice gets her hair pulled then kicked to the back, leaving her on all fours on the sand. But she lucky kicked one of the girl's ankles; twisting her ankle forcing her to drop on all fours, but she got away limping in a fast pace.
Then suddenly the same black haired girl from the buggy emerged from the dust cloud sprinting towards the finish line.
As soon as Nicodemus landed near their area he immediately sprints to their aid yet approaches Clarice first. He asked "What happened?"
June answers "If we got sucker punched you dickhead!"
Nicodemus replied "Hey you gotta admit it was a little funn-"
He suddenly got sand on his eyes
June asks "How'd that feel? Fuckin' prick"
Donovan groaned "Aw shit, who the hell was that?"
Nicodemus answers "I think that was Reyna- Reyna Fox"
Clarice asks "You mean this year's triathlon champion?"
Nicodemus answers "Yup, and I'm pretty sure you're sister beat her in every combat sport she participated"
Clarice muttered "That might explain as to why she's got bad blood for me"
Nicodemus shouted "No! She doesn't even know you're her sister!" He said as he pulled her up, he told everyone "Come on faster! We're getting close to solid ground!"
As they did so, their feet kept sinking on the sand yet with each step the sinking became more shallow as they were approaching the dry flats. In the dry flat the sand in the wind was significantly fewer.
Vision became clearer, the dry flat became a lot more visible, there they saw Reyna limping on the edge of the sandy biome, she stomped her heel on the dry flats then immediately sprinting back to normal.
Clarice muttered "What the fuck?" Then she yelled "How did she do that?"
They all shrugged
They notice that the same train station they arrived in was in visible range, as Clarice yells "Guys I see the train station!"
June yells "That means we're close!" But suddenly Clarice sprints even faster as her stride gets wider, and her face up high, panting heavy breaths with each step, the dry dirt's debris flies off the back of her foot. She began using her arms as leverage as the sweat from her arms start splashing on the sand
She starts screaming as the veins on her forehead begin bulging as her speed surpasses the gang as she slowly closes in on Reyna's pace.
Reyna looks to her left, only to find out that Clarice is keeping up with her. Their hairs act like waves of the ocean dancing along the wind, while Reyna's was black curly hair, Clarice's was deep blue with a straight weave. Reyna looks at her and shouts "finally using those lanky-ass legs huh?"
Clarice immediately crashes her shoulder onto Reyna, using her whole body as leverage; right before Reyna could take her next step; with the lack of balance she struck on the lateral side of her foot, the uppers of her shoe gave in.
Right along the stitch lines, the leather tore as the uppers and outsole were split in half, opening a gaping mouth on the shoe - enough for her toes to protrude out of it. This causes her to roll on the ground.
Once she was on all fours on the boiling surface, she saw Clarice already a yard ahead of her. Enraged she slams her fist on the ground. Her calves and hamstrings flexed when suddenly she bolted towards Clarice. While running her right foot has her shoe flapping with each step.
The both of them are now only a yard away from the train station. Reyna from behind, starts pulling Clarice's hair. She pulls it back herself, but some of the strands are still being pulled by Reyna's grip causing her to scream in pain. So she looks to her rear and attempts to punch Reyna, but she just weaves under it, so she throws a nasty bolo punch right into Clarice's chin which sends her flying.
But because Reyna still has her grip on Clarice's hair, she drops down on the ground with Reyna along with her because the both of them fell off balance. The both of them wrestled each other while rolling on the dry land. They just kept rolling and rolling forward as dust follows; their skin and clothes began to be covered in desert sand, however Reyna managed to sit on top of Clarice's stomach.
She punches her with her full upper body weight, sending Clarice grunting in pain. As she tried to cover her face, Reyna simply swatted it away then punched her on the nose, swatted the other hand then punched her on the eye. Once her whole guard is down she punches her again and again as the blood both from Clarice's face and Reyna's fist splashes on the dry red cracked soil. This goes on as Clarice kept trying to block but Reyna just keeps swatting her guard away, she even starts to throw elbows in the mix.
"Ahem!"
She just keeps beating her up
"AHEM!"
She's showing no signs of stopping
Sister Gertrude blew her whistle as hard as she could as the sound pierced through both of the girls "GIRLS CEASE THIS NONSENSE!"
Reyna stopped
Clarice starts coughing her own blood with a few teeth along the way as she wheezes "Oh god I can't breathe - I feel like my nose caved in" then coughs again.
The rest of Clarice's teammates finally arrive, the closer they get to her, the more they notice how beat up she got, as her body is still slumped over the scorching dry land.
Nicodemus quickly slides down to her aid as he grabs both of her cheeks as he rapidly slaps her softly "Ay! Ay! Mars to Clarice! Are you okay?"
She wheezed "No, I think I can't feel my face"
Then followed Reyna's team fast approaching her, once they came one of them asked "Rey! Are you alright? We saw you twist your ankle on the way down!"
She scoffed "No worries, I just snapped it back into place"
Clarice finally got up as Nicodemus pulled her up by her arms. She keeps snorting in and coughing her own blood. As soon as she wipes the blood on her face, she immediately tackles Reyna, this time pinning her down.
"My turn bitch!" She throws the punches down again and again and again but Reyna blocks all of them, but one of them slipped hitting her right on the nose. Reyna grabs her by the neck, rolling; leaving Clarice on the ground once more, this time Clarice tries to kick her out from getting pinned.
Suddenly sister Gertrude broke up the fight by pushing them aside from one another as she growled "Please get a hold of yourselves! Why are you even fighting in the first place?"
Reyna answered "I was running to the last stretch, but then she caught up to shove me! I MEAN JUST LOOK AT MY SHOE!"
Clarice shot back "No! Don't you even dare! You landed on my team and punched them aside"
Then Reyna said "Okay I gotta admit, that was kinda funny"
Clarice yelled "It's only funny cause you're not the 'punchee'!"
Sister Gertrude yells "Girls! Girls! Girls! What are you even on about, why are all of you running in the first place?"
All of the students looked at each other then Reyna said "Isn't this supposed to be a race?"
Sister Gertrude scoffs as she giggled "Race? What do you mean? I literally told all of you 2 days ago to just finish the 3 day loop without losing any teammates!
I was wondering why you're all rushing about, it hasn't even reached sunset yet! It's 9 AM, you literally still have 15 hours to finish the loop!"
All of the students present in front of her have their jaws dropped, the baffled look on their faces as they look at each other then to sister Gertrude.
Sister Gertrude snickers, then she bursts out laughing. As soon as she started to turn red, her laugh became a cackle. She starts sweating as she starts huffing her chest while saying "Oh my daaaayyysss! *stares at the sky* AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Then she start rolling on the ground still cackling her ass off
"GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" The students just stared at her down, visibly annoyed.
Sister Gertrude sat up and wiped a tear away "Ohohohoho! Oh my days~! I have not laughed like that "I haven't laughed like that since the last batch tried to 'win' the loop in under an hour!
*ahem* anyway…
Congratulations you're all eligible for next trial"
Nicodemus quickly asked "okay, what is it?"
Sister Gertrude points her finger up as she says "The next trial is… Err… I actually don't know- though, the headmistress has told me that the next trials will be a lot more streamlined. You'll see it soon enough.
For now, the next stop is still within 15 minutes, clean yourselves up before the sub arrives.
Clarice and Reyna's team went on their respective corners, what followed was the same two teams that had hang gliders and leaf sleighs, they arrive at the station, panting - soaked in their own sweat, then Sister Gertrude implies
"Let me guess, you thought this was a race too huh?"
"Err…" the children look at each other with confusion and embarrassment.
In their respective corners Clarice's team and Nicodemus were cleaning themselves up. Nicodemus was wiping off all the dust and debris on his skin, June was fixing up her hair as it's full of sand, she's cleaning it by combing with a brush as each stroke gusts out sand.
Donovan however was tending to Clarice's wounds. Her face full of cuts which jag around her cheeks and eyebrows, he wipes off the blood on her nose, and puts a cooling brick on her right eye, as a massive bruise can be seen peeking under the brick. As she holds the brick, she hisses in pain as Donovan is wiping her cuts with a cotton swab.
"Hold the cooling brick for me" he says as Clarice presses it on her own eye. Then Donovan proceeded to wipe her whole face with a wet towel, for the small cuts on her face, he simply stuck band-aids on it.
"Close your eyes for me princess" Donovan said as he stuck a few bandages on her eyebrow.
Reyna limps towards Clarice's corner as she greets them "*sniffle* Sup- holy crap"
Clarice opens her eyes while she looks behind Donovan then she says "Oh it's you~ what do you want?"
While she was chewing, she handed out a candy bar towards them as she said "Dang I messed you up, but I didn't expect it to be this bad, sorry about that- wanna twinkie?"
Clarice puckers her lips then she leers at Reyna saying
"I'm not hungry"
Reyna shrugs while pouting then she follows with a "A'ight, suit yourself"
"Er, wait!" Donovan stops her right before she left "Can I have that instead"
She looks at the twinkie then to Donovan then shrugs as she gives it to him "Here ya go Donny"
Donovan replies with "Thanks Rey-rey!"
As Donovan faces Clarice back while trying to open the twinkie pack with his teeth, their eyes lock in as Clarice is visible leering Donovan - he asks "What?"
Clarice said snarkily "Rey-rey?"
Donovan replied "Oh we've known each other since kindergarden"
Clarice asks out loud "Do people just know each other in this orphanage?"
Nicodemus answered "We grew up the same way you did Reece"
Clarice asks again "Then how come I don't know a lot of you guys?"
June asks "You don't get out much do you princess?"
An awkward silence follows as both teams look at Clarice.
Suddenly a loud hiss can be heard behind them, as a strong gust of wind followed. It's the super-sub! But there were only a few people inside, with each of them sitting on the corner of each carriage.
The students start frantically packing everything up. First aid kits snapping shut, bags zipped up, while most of them threw wet wipes on the trash bin. They hurried inside, yet it was spacious. They were quick to pick a spot, Clarice's team and Nicodemus sat in the middle part of the carriage, while Reyna's team of 4 sat right in front of them.
Further down the trip back to the orphanage, most of the students fell asleep, however Reyna and Clarice weren't. Clarice is intensely leering over her, while Reyna was doing nothing but enjoy the scenery on her side, as she turned her head, her and Clarice locked eyes to one another, so quickly looked away.
Reyna leans on to her friends shoulder while they were asleep and asks "You're pixie's sister right? I never really got to know your name."
Clarice looks to the side and says "It's Clarice."
Reyna leans forward as she uses her elbows to rest on her thighs as she hunches down "Ah I knew it, I always see you and your sister together - hard to believe you two are twins though, I never got to see her lately, might you know what happened?"
Clarice looks down for few seconds before saying "She's under ICU"
Reyna was shocked as she straightened her back and covered her mouth instinctively while saying with an audibly worried tone while her eyes widened "Oh my god! what happened?"
Clarice looked at Reyna for a moment before saying "It's a long story"
Reyna looks at the scenery while she clicks her tongue scoffing "You're really not gonna open up huh? I already said I was sorry"
Clarice just keeps looking at her side of the scenery, refusing to speak with Reyna
Reyna scoffs as she crosses her arms as she said sarcastically "Yeah, cool, good talk"
Reyna looked back at her side of the scenery, she saw a herd of massive sauropods trekking along the desert flats as a handful of dry towering trees surrounded them. While on Clarice's side was nothing but dry cracking flats as the sun shone upon the tinted windows, creating a mirage that resembles water at the horizon.
The both of them fell asleep whilst looking away at each other, they both felt their friends leaning onto their shoulders as soft snores can be heard inside the carriage.
A woman dressed in black felt coat, and fabric enveloping her head said "The lanky one with long black hair. Isn't that Ms. Song's favorite?"
The other dressed in a blue trench coat, and a large brimmed hat answered "Heavens no, I think that's Gertrude's - although she seems beat up. Must've been rough
I don't think she'll be able to handle the next trial"
The woman in black asked "What's the next trial anyway?"
The woman in blue hissed "It's unarmed combat, and I think Gertrude's racehorse here won't be able to handle that"
The woman in black answered "Heh, you'll never know till you see it Sister Anne"
Sunlight pours through the tinted windows in harsh bars, repeatedly interrupted by the trees looming over the magnetic rails. Clarice sits rigid, back straight against the seat while her legs are closed as her hands are on her knees. She smacks her lips as she scooches a little
Across the aisle Reyna slouches low, to the point that her forehead is boring on the seat in front of her, her legs sprawled open while her torn shoe is still hanging on her foot. The carriage was.
The sub chimes followed by the sub's robotic voice "Now arriving at Cavés Avinolia!Please unfasten your seatbelts, and watch your step before unboarding the carriage" As it chimes again and repeats the announcement.
The students stretched themselves awake, a chorus of yaws can be heard.
Clarice smacks her lips and squints her eyes looking around the carriage, June taps her on the shoulder as she says "Yo, we gotta go! The last one to leave the sub gets to cook lunch!" She giggled as she scooched through the students.
Donovan rubs his eyes while hugging his bag, while Nicodemus was pulling his sling bag up. Clarice stood up to check her bags on the top shelf.
Fast forward to Clarice's dorm.
As they entered the room, it was still the same as they left it. They all slid down their bags from their arms as you can hear them thud on the floor one by one.
"Well I was the last one to board off the sub, I guess I'll be cooking then"
He immediately heads to the mini-fridge in the corner of her room.
"We don't really get meat right now, so I was thinking of some marinated tofu steak for lunch. Or maybe some vegan fajitas? Since there's a lot of tortillas here. What do you guys think?"
The moment he looks behind him all of his friends are already dead slumped - one leg up - legs spread like a thanksgiving turkey. They were snoring aggressively. June even has her mouth open.
"Yeah, you know what?"
Donovan just lays down on the floor, he yawns before saying "Maybe a good siesta won't hurt"
[Meanwhile in Cydonia]
In a bustling cafe, clanks of mugs can be heard, the hissing of the espresso machines spread across the cafe as steam follows. The loud whirring of blenders, the murmurs of the crowd can be heard inside; a child can even be heard laughing around the corner.
Within the crowd is a blonde haired woman wearing a cream colored turtle neck sweater, accented with a scarf that runs traditional Serbian embroidery stitched over it. It was Ms. Crowe.
The table was empty as a waiter approached her and asked "Hello ma'am, The place is a little crowded. Is this seat reserved for someone?"
Ms. Crowe answered "Oh yes, I am waiting for someone. I haven't ordered because I'm not sure what they like."
The waiter bowed "Alright ma'am, just call us when you're ready to order!"
She giggled "Gladly"
Minutes passed and her guest still hasn't arrived, however. A man with long wavy hair entered the cafe, she was wearing aviator shades, a grey bomber jacket and a black turtle neck sweater. The man looks at her for a brief moment, right before he asks one of the waiters as he points his thumb jerking at her table.
The waiter nodded yes as the man followed with a bow. The man slowly approaches her to her table. He lays his hand on the table as he says
"Remember me?"