Journey for the Truth

Chapter 3: The Calm Before

This chapter is told by the POV of Antonio

'Hey hey everybody, it's Wednesday so you know what that means. There is going to be a new location today. Meet up at the creek down by Burger King, under the bridge. Everybody must bring one other person to compete, today is a special day. Good luck!!'

Awesome, I have this in the bag. Now let's see, who should I bring? Oh I know, I'll bring Kelly, she would enjoy watching this. I sit in class and day dream about how after school is gonna go. I'm excited. After school I search the school looking for Kelly, we always hangout after school so I know she hasn't left yet.

"Hey, what's up man, you gonna be there today?" Mike asks as I walk past him.

"of course, just gotta find Kelly, see you soon bro" I reply then continue my search for Kelly. Where could she be? I check the cafeteria, not there. I check the gym, not there. I check the weight room

"Not here" Devin yells to me from across the room

"Excuse me?" I ask not sure what he means

"Kelly, your looking for her right? She's up on the balcony of the auditorium" he says going back to the weights he was lifting before I came in. I turn to leave when I here a popping sound and the lights in the entire weight room flicker a few times

"woah shit! what was that?!" I ask Devin

"the outlet over here just blew!" he says pointing right by his bare foot which is right by the outlet "stupid school" he says putting shoes on to come with me to get Kelly and head to the creek.

"Ya, school" I murmur under my breath. I've never seen an outlet just blow like that without being messed with. I bet he did something to it and doesn't want to get caught. Whatever. We leave the weight room and head up to the balcony. Devin is slightly ahead of me and gets to the door before me. He opens the door and is immediately attacked by hugs from Beth causing him to fall back. I stand there and laugh as they attempt to get up then feel arms wrap around my neck from behind.

"Hey cutie" I say to Kelly grabbing her arms. Kelly walks out of the balcony door and looks at me funny. I open my eyes wide in surprise. I look behind me to see who has their arms around my neck

"hi there baby" Steven says when I see him. I laugh then walk over to Kelly and hug her.

"there we go. Now it's the person I want" I say with my arms around her

"ya it better be" she says jokingly "oh hey Jacob" she says waving to Stevens friend Jacob standing in the back quietly on his phone. He waves then goes back to his game.

"are you bringing him today?" Devin asks Steven after finally managing to get up.

"ya, you two bringing the girls?" he asks

"yep, we should get going before the others get there and wonder where we are" I say as I grab Kelly's hand and begin walking out of the school

"onward!" Devin yells as we all go bursting out of the school and running down the street. We get to the creek in twenty minutes and see that everybody is already here. I take a look around and take note of everybody that came. I see Oliver and Milton, Mike and Desmond, Devin and Beth, Steven and Jacob, and me and Kelly. This is going to be good. Devin has everybody sit in a circle then stands in the middle of it.

"Welcome everybody. Today is a very special day. Today is the day that you here, new and old, proves that you can survive. There will be a series of fights, with a different obstacle or handicap in each one. Each of you will fight or you will leave and not come back. If you wish to leave then do so. Nobody is stopping you." he waits for anybody who wants to leave. When nobody goes, he continues "each of you will have three fails before you are pulled out of the challenges. The final three will be crowned the superior class. In each challenge there will be a different way to win. There are no weapons. You must fight without upper body restrictions, so no baggy shirts. If you wear a baggy shirt you will be required to take it off. No killing. All breaking bones will be punished by automatic disqualification. Everything else is allowed unless specified by a challenge. The first fight will be Milton vs Desmond!"