Wind Dancer 02 The Forest
Mrs. Kale and Grey had the kids go up the mountain. They ran, on a runners trail deep in the woods, several miles from the academy.
Kara ran with her group. She tried to study their trajectory. Kara tried to sight-mark anything she could use as a landmark for where they were. She noticed they had set up various obstacles for them to overcome, which kept them distracted and confused. While she ran, she didn't know that she had caught the attention of her peers due to her graceful agility. It looked like she was gliding. A few wondered if she was an enhanced human, bioengineered, or a robot.
Stragglers were gasping for breath as they fanned their faces to cool off. How many times were they going to run? This was the second race; would there be a third? Most of this group were dancers and athletes. Was this some sort of test? Were they trying to tire them out? Or were they improving their agility? Soon, all the dancers, including Kara, were gasping for breath and could no longer follow the group on the trail. Some even dropped to the ground, and the athletes were still running. The group decided to stop; they had just lost sight of Mrs. Kale and Grey.
They sat down in a group, drinking water or having snacks. They chatted with each other. While their eyes looked around the forest for any clues of Mrs. Kale and Grey's whereabouts…. Kara sipped her water. She didn't know how long they would need to run. All the kids looked like her, around thirteen years old. She was four feet slim with a long brown ponytail that was almost black. Her golden olive skin glistened in the sunlight that broke through the dappled trees.
Everyone still had their backpacks on. Most of them had become refugees. The intergalactic war had made them leave their home worlds. Some were once important athletes in their country, a source of pride for their communities. Olympians, runners, gymnasts, figure skaters, soccer players, and famous baseball players and basketball players.
Kara had done gymnastics, but she couldn't keep up with it due to the cost. She was mostly self-taught, and it helped her with her dance routines. She had briefly been part of a cheer squad and later a girl group. However, her group was disbanded due to the intergalactic war. Their group is now nearly forgotten, but for a few favorite songs, still cherished by fans.
This was not normal. They said they were taking them to a safe place, but the safe place was a military camp, which they were going to. Didn't this mean they were joining the military? Did they have a safe haven by the base camp? The RWS, the robotic war suits, was that to fight the interstellar?
They were people from the blue planet known as Earth, but that was aeons ago. Or even longer, Big Blue was considered almost a myth, debated on both sides of its existence, being real and not a fairy tale for small children to give a sense of origin, in this foreign world of planets and satellite planets. No one had been on old blue for centuries, nor did anyone know how to get back. However, some believed the location was hidden by the elite.
Most of the kids came from the outer colonies. Due to their young age, their bodies were thin and lanky. They had muscles, but they weren't very tall. Was the RWS cockpit for the pilot small?
"Not bad, not bad." Mrs. Kale clapped. "You all have done well." She smiled at them. "Now the true test, can you get back to camp!"
I doubt it. Grey mouthed to Mrs. Kale, laughing at the kids. What did they know? They had them run all over the place in the forest. Now, unless they had some training, they were doomed; they would fail this test!
The kids looked at each other, nodding. A tall boy with spiky hair, about five feet, stood up and said he remembered the way. He could get them back.
The others didn't question it, but suddenly, they heard the sound of pursuit. Something was coming for them. Everyone started to scatter. The tall boy whistled, startling everyone. "Come on, let's go!" He had a grey tracksuit and grey eyes. "Everyone, stay with me, don't get distracted."
Mrs. Kale gave Grey a look. He could almost hear her gloating beside him.
He mouthed, "I'll believe it when I see them back at base camp."
Kara debated staying or going on her own. Her instincts told her to stay with the group. She tried to figure out if this was the right choice. When she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Something inside her just shifted. She could hear the wind blowing through the trees. She sensed someone was coming, and they were not friendly. Stay on guard.
The boy that was leading everyone away was named Thomas. His grey eyes grew serious. This wasn't someone from the camp playing enemy. This was an enemy. Thomas met Kara's eyes and nodded. They both realized that they had been changing since they all piled into the yellow school bus. When they gave them the serum to drink, we all thought it was a pre-workout. We drank it without question.
But it wasn't a pre-workout… It had changed them. They were evolving. A small girl beside them had started crying, carrying a stuffed teddy bear. She had pigtails and big waifish eyes. "They're coming." She told them forlornly.
The enemy was in a small group like theirs, but unlike them, they knew what they were doing. They hadn't even put on their uniforms; it was still sealed in my backpack.
"Abby doesn't want to play the game. Abby wants to go home." The girl whispered, and she held the bear tighter. Her pigtails quivered in distress.
That's when they saw the enemy for the first time. The whole group stiffened in disbelief and fear. A horned demon showed up.
"What is that? That's no interstellar!" Someone gasped.
Thomas raised his eyes, "Everyone, run, scatter! Don't stay together! We're too big a target. Good luck," He ran through the woods, and some tried to keep up, but they soon scattered. They couldn't keep up, everyone scattered. We were all changing.
"They all fled. I did not think they would release one of them onto the recruits." Grey said to Mrs. Kale. "This is crazy. They haven't even learned combat."
They had a new sense that nothing was the same again, and there was no going back. They would have to become monsters to fight monsters. Their lives were centered around an ever-present sense of danger. All they could do was adapt, change, and train.
Some regretted that they had no formal training in combat. No one had told them that demons really existed. That they were being trained to fight demons. They told us we were at war with interstellars, now we have to face demons. They would need to know how to hide, fight, and survive. It was instinct. Their will to live. However, some were already used to it, having migrated from other colonies due to the interstellars.
That's a demon, right?! Kara thought to herself. She'd seen a horror novel that depicted what she was seeing before. A demon, that was a demon, alright. Now what… was she supposed to escape from a demon, how? Fight it, how? It was ten feet tall with a horn coming from its forehead with sharp, pointy fangs. It had more muscles than her! Kara felt her arm hair stand up; it was coming.
The forest couldn't hide them from its eyes. Kara thought back to the bus. They had been given a serum, a shot-vaccine for something. Were people turning into demons? What about the interstellars? Did they even exist? Were they fighting two wars, one open and one hidden, secret? What was going on?
She stilled her breath; she knew a few stances, but could that really help her now? Kara felt the wind and melded with a nearby tree.
It… Didn't see her?! How?!
"Welcome, system user!" A cheerful voice shouted in her ear, almost making her scream in fright. "Care to roll the dice? Spin the wheel? Turn, turn, turn, lucky draw! Strike when it's hot!" Kara covered her mouth with her hand. While she looked at a colorful screen, a pink rabbit was hopping around gleefully. Was that the system's avatar? She hit the button for the lucky draw, and five cards fell on the screen, face down.
"Choose?" It cheerfully yelled.
Kara gulped and grabbed a card, a mermaid. Siren?
"Congratulations, host! Your voice is your weapon! Start singing, extra points for originality and rhyme. Good luck! Would you like to spin the wheel?" The pink rabbit asked.
Kara hit the button for yes, SPIN! COME ON!...