Page 70 of Resist

Ugh…and not just any dinner, but the dinner from hell. I closed my eyes tightly, shaking my head to try and clear the fog, which only made my head worse. I covered my face with my hands. God, I felt gross. I had forgotten about Charles Calvernon losing his shit, and then Wes arguing with him. That was such anightmare. I actually wished it was because as I remembered the dinner fight, I remembered Wes too. I remembered his angered confessions, his hurt, his brokenness. And I remembered the desire to take him in my arms, to tell him everything would be okay, to—

Oh my god.

Mortal dread filled me. I remembered pulling Wes into my bed, my hands on his chest and in his hair. And I remembered lying beside him, my body snug against his as my head rested over his beating heart. The memories filled me with heat, flushing my cheeks and causing my heart to gallop like a wild horse.

Was he…was he stillhere?

Slowly, I turned my head to the right side of my bed, afraid of what I would find…

It was empty.

Wait a minute…did I imagine it?I sat up. Did none of it happen? I rubbed my eyes and then ran my fingers through my hair. I thought it was real, but then again, maybe I was dreaming. But if I dreamed up that entire scene, what didthatmean? Did that mean that I—

I couldn’t finish that thought. No way. I didn’t have time to play games like this. We were two and a half weeks away from the rescue mission, and I still had to deal with the gala before then.

The gala.

I moaned as I remembered that the stupid gala was next week. And, not only was it next week, but that was the argument Charles and Wes had last night. Wes was supposed to propose to me in front of all of these people at the gala.

“Shit,” I grumbled, covering my face with my hands. A part of me thought I could avoid all of it. That none of this would happen before I had the chance to escape. But I was runningout of luck—not that I ever had much of it to begin with—and now I was going to have to get engaged in front of a live studio audience. I shivered. The last thing I wanted was to be proposed to in front of a bunch of randos. It was bad enough that the whole thing was orchestrated, but doing it all publicly just made it so much worse.

The sudden incessant beeping of my alarm startled me. I glared at the clock and smacked it, quieting the device. God, my head was splitting. Training started today. We had to be back at the base in two hours. That didn’t leave me much time, and I felt awful. I crawled off my bed and trudged to the bathroom, looking for pain killers. After throwing two pills back, I took a shower, praying that once the drugs kicked in, I’d be ready to face the nightmare that was going to be today.

***

“Again!” the drill sergeant yelled, blowing his stupid whistle. Ihatedthat whistle. Every time he blew that freaking whistle, my head felt like it was going to cave in.

All six of us were there—Edith, Matias, Calista, Jim, Wes, and me. I focused on my breathing as the burn of another round of thirty push-ups had my muscles aching. I shot a quick look at Wes as I brought my body down toward the ground and then slowly back up in quick, controlled movements, sweat dripping down the side of my face. I thought we would have ridden down to the base together, but when I asked the estate staff, they said he had already left an hour before me. And that left me with so many questions.

Did he stay with me last night, or did I imagine it? And if he did, when did he leave? Was it just until I fell asleep or did he stay the whole night in my room? For some reason, it made a difference to me. It made a difference if he just humored meuntil I passed out or if he chose to stay with me the entire night. But I was too nervous to ask him. Because if I had imagined the whole thing, how big of an idiot was I going to look? BIG.Uh, no thank you.

A part of me was convinced if I could just catch his attention for one minute, all would be revealed. But, as I quickly discovered, once I got to the base, he was avoiding me like the plague. And Blondie, much to my chagrin, was stuck to his side like gum on a shoe.

The whistle blew again. “Nice job, folks. Everyone up.” The sergeant watched us, arms behind his back. “Now listen up. Your mission will require a 250 foot climb up the side of a sheer cliff. At the bottom of those cliffs lies the ocean. But don’t think the water will save your ass if you fall, because lining the coast are jagged rocks that will kill you on impact. And if you somehow miss those rocks, the sheer force of impact could knock you unconscious, and then you’d drown.” The man paced, walking the line that was our team. “You’ll be approaching from the water. The boat will bring you just off the coast. From there, you’ll take a dinghy to an alcove where the sea is calmer. And there, you’ll begin your climb.”

My heart skipped a beat at the thought of climbing hundreds of feet above unrelenting water. I couldn’t swim. And the thought of plummeting off those cliffs into the ocean sent a shiver down my spine.

The sergeant gave us a stern look. “Today, we’re going to work on climbing the wall.” He motioned behind him at a massive structure, easily several stories high. “At the top, there’s a bell. You’re going to climb until one of you can reach the top and ring it. But if you or any of your teammates fall, you all run laps and do push-ups. Then you’ll try again. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” we all chimed in unison.

“Good. Today, I’m going to make sure you all go crying home to your mommies. You’re going to work your body until you can’t so much as lift a fucking napkin at your dinner tonight, and you’re going to do it all with a smile on your face. Let’s do this!” He blew his freaking whistle.

We all moved toward the massive rock-climbing wall in front of us. And we climbed. Oh boy, did we climb. And we fell. We fell, we slipped, we grasped on for dear life, only to fall again. And each time we fell, the effing whistle would blow, and that meant we all had to run a lap and complete fifty more push-ups before going back to the wall. And let me just say, I wasn’t in bad shape at all…not like I was when I first arrived at the Dissenter camp. I had trained the entire summer. I could run with the best of them, shoot a gun at a moving target, and had developed a nasty right hook. But none of it prepared me for a vertical climb like this one. And as if the wall wasn’t bad enough, the bastards upped the challenge by loosening some of the climbing holds. So when you went to grab them, they would spin on you, or they would fall off completely. You couldn’t trust any of them to hold your weight for long. So, we climbed. And then we fell. And then we ran and did push-ups until I thought I was going to vomit stomach acid all over the damn floor. And then we climbed some more.

Hell gameswas right.

By the end of the day, my legs barely supported my body. They wobbled and shook with every step, threatening to buckle underneath me. And my arms…I could barely lift them. Everything ached. Everything burned. Everything felt like it was about to shudder and crumble. It was awful. I panted, and I watched as everyone else did, too. Everyone looked just as terrible and out of breath as I did. I even caught Calista listing sideways for a moment before regaining her balance.

“All right, folks,” the sergeant spoke. “That was pathetic. Not one of you rang that fucking bell. So here’s what’s going to happen. None of you get to go home.”

“What?” Jim barked out.

“You heard me, Harper. Ladies, you’re going to Bunkhouse G, and men, you’re in Bunkhouse H. Enjoy your night, folks.” And without another word, he walked away from us, leaving us all standing with jittery legs and shocked expressions. At least he didn’t blow the stupid whistle.

“Great,” Blondie sneered. “It’s bad enough having to watch the Telvian’s ass all day, but now I’m stuck sleeping with her—”

“Don’t spread your toxic crap over here, Calista,” Edith said. “Last time I checked, you didn’t ring the freaking bell, either.”

---