Chapter 11: Chapter 11 – Flight

Chapter 11

Grayson had already been moving away, but the group of men were gaining on him quickly. They could see where he was walking and follow the same path in relative safety, whereas Grayson had to try to make a path on his own. He decided he needed to retread his steps if he had any chance of survival. There was no real guarantee that something hadn’t hidden where he had passed through earlier, but turning off in some random direction would end up with him killed.

If he could just get back into the sight of the guards he would be safe. He might get punished for not heading farther into the proving grounds, but anything was better than death. Grayson tried to keep his eyes on his path, but he couldn’t help but look back every once in a while to see his pursuers behind him were getting closer and closer.

It was clear to him at this point he had no chance of reaching the guards. They were gaining on him too quickly, and he was already moving far faster than he was comfortable with. He needed to come up with a plan, and quickly.

As he moved onward, something caught his eye in the distance. He set his face in grim determination, he had an idea, he just had to hope it would work. As he made his way forward, he looked on the ground before seeing what he wanted. He reached down and grabbed a handful of gravel, scooping it up quickly so as to not lose much speed.

He looked back to see that the men were right on top of him now, and they were practically running in their eagerness to catch him.

Gritting his teeth, Grayson threw caution to the wind and began sprinting to get away. The men charged after him.

They were close when Grayson reached the place with the antennae of the sand creature. Grayson ran past, careful not to touch any of the stalks. As the men came running after him Grayson span around, hurling his fist of gravel at the stalk closest to the group.

One of the stones must have connected because the same explosion of sand occurred as the first time, and Grayson heard a scream as one of the men following him had been caught in the centipede thing’s jaws. The scream was cut off a few moments later when the man disappeared into the sand with the creature.

Grayson was a little disappointed that the scarred man hadn’t been the one that was taken, but he pleased his plan had worked. He picked up another handful of gravel as he moved. He wasn’t sure if the creature would attack twice in succession, but he had to hope.

The men who had been following looked dumbstruck, but their leader let out a howl of rage, moving toward Grayson looking enraged. Despite that, he wasn’t dumb enough to move close enough to the stalks for Grayson to trigger them with his Gravel. The man was forced to take the long way around, needing to take his time because Grayson hadn’t already passed through the area, proving it was safe.

Not wasting any of the extra time he was given, Grayson moved off farther into the proving grounds in a direction he hadn’t travelled before. He looked around for something that might save him. He decided his best bet was another kelp forest stood not too far away. Grayson moved as fast as he dared toward the kelp, but the men chasing him had found their way around the stalk creature, and were closing in once again.

Grayson was huffing and puffing when he saw the sand shifting in front of him.  He dove to the side, and not a moment too soon, because a giant fish that had been buried under the sand lunged after him. It’s gaping maw created some kind of suction that pulled at him. Fortunately, he had thrown himself away with enough force that the force wasn’t enough to draw him in. Grayson scrambled away, afraid the thing would chase after him, but it seemed content to settle back down where it had been to lay a trap for some other unfortunate being.

Standing back up Grayson was just a few steps away from the kelp now, but the men were right on top of him. Once again Grayson threw caution to the wind and dashed into the kelp forest and immediately changed directions. The kelp was so thick that it completely obscured everything around him which normally would have terrified him, but it was what he needed now. The men behind him had reached the kelp moments after he did, but from the noises of frustration, the were having a hard time seeing where he went.

He quickly moved away from the men, but after a few moments of confusion his pursuers had started moving after him. The sound from his running and panicked breathing must have tipped them off as to where he was going, even through the muffling effect the kelp had.

Grayson slowed his breath and once again changed direction, this time taking slow steady steps. It was a gamble, but if it worked, he would be free of the men for now.

Grayson nearly held his breath despite his lungs burning in his chest. He looked back seeing the ripples flowing through the kelp as the men tore their way through the place he had been seconds before, then moved on in the same direction, passing him by entirely.

Grayson didn’t let the fact that the men had missed him allow him to relax. He carefully moved away from that area, walking in the opposite direction his pursuers had gone. He knew he couldn’t stay in the kelp forever. Brother Capso had mentioned smaller fish that were extremely dangerous in the kelp, so for now Grayson just wanted to move as far away from the men hunting him as he could before leaving its shelter.

He walked calmly through the forest, allowing his heart to calm, but he felt jittery from all the adrenaline his body had pumped into him. He eventually reached the edge of the kelp, standing there for a moment, allowing the kelp to shield him for a little while longer until he felt ready to run some more. He didn’t plan on doing any more running, but it was best to be prepared. He peeked out to make sure nothing dangerous was nearby before taking a deep breath and stepping back out into the open.

The first thing he did was orient himself in the space. He had been running all over the place, and inside the kelp with the erratic turns he had made, he had lost all sense of direction.

Looking up at the sun, he at least knew which way he needed to go to reach the exit to the aquadome. Not sure what to do with himself now, Grayson moved away from the kelp forest, being more careful than ever. He decided to slowly make his way in the direction of the exit while keeping an eye out for more of the dangers in the proving grounds.

As he walked he couldn’t help but appreciate what he was seeing. It was all terrifying and dangerous, but so beautiful at the same time. Seeing creatures swim through air didn’t seem like it would ever get old. Neither would the sight of a crab the size of a horse eating some kelp.

The only thing that truly scared Grayson over the next hour or so was a dark shape making swift cuts through the air with tremendous speed. Grayson only saw it off the distance, but he was pretty sure it was a shark. He was also certain that if he ran into one of them without any kelp nearby, he was dead. He would need to be very careful to always keep some kelp close enough in case something like the shark, or the larger predators he had seen came after him.

After what felt like an eternity of time inside the aquadome, but was probably only a few hours, Grayson thought he heard something off in the distance. Listening a little closer he felt relief spread across his body. The horn was finally sounding, and he could get out of this place.

More horns took up the call all around, and soon it was easy to hear the sound. Grayson moved a little more quickly, though still warily toward the exit. He didn’t want to survive all this time just to fall just before the finish line.

He was making good progress when something in his path caught his eye. It had been hidden behind a small rise of sand, so it surprised Grayson when it appeared before him. He turned away quickly, not wanting to look at the sight, but it had already seared itself into his mind.

Half the body of one of his fellow prisoners lay there, face forever frozen in a rictus of terror. Grayson had no idea where the other half of the man had gone, and he didn’t really want to know. This was just a reminder not to appreciate this place too much. More than likely Grayson would eventually end up like this man.

Grayson made his way around the body and continued toward the exit. He saw some other prisoners on their way as well, and even though some of them seemed to notice him, none tried to attack him like the others had. Either they were close enough to the exit that they didn’t care to try anything, or they just didn’t care.

Grayson sighed in relief when the guards came into sight. He was almost there, but once again he checked himself before he could become complacent. The moment he stopped being vigilant was the moment he would die. The edges of the aquadome were safer than the center, but as the man who had been killed by the octopus earlier proved, nowhere in the proving grounds was completely safe.

When Grayson finally passed through the break in the wall the weight of the aquadome fell off of him, and he almost felt like crying in relief. He made his way to a palm tree growing by the wall and sat down with his back to the trunk.

One of the guards gave him a look that seemed to say don’t wander off, but Grayson didn’t have any intentions to do so. He simply sat there, grateful to be alive.

Closing his eyes, he just tried to unwind from the experience. Several hours of hypervigilance with near-death experiences mixed in had him tense, even after leaving the place. He didn’t know how long he was lost in his thoughts when a shadow fell over him.

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Looking up, Grayson saw Brother Capso standing over him, a somber look on his face.

“I’m glad you survived,” The man said, taking a seat next to Grayson. “It seems that many died today.”

“Thanks. I’m glad to see you made it too.” Grayson said, looking around at the people who had come out of the aquadome. It looked like out of the twenty or so that had entered, nearly half were missing. Grayson was disappointed to see that the men chasing him had all made it back with the exception of the man who had been grabbed by the sand creature.

If they had given him hateful looks before the experience, they were giving him murderous looks now. It didn’t seem fair to Grayson that they were angry at him because they had failed to kill him. Granted, they had lost one of their members in the attempt. Grayson just shrugged inwardly, because this didn’t really change anything. They would still try to kill him, but he had one less enemy now. He would have to find a way to get rid of the rest of them, likely in a similar fashion to what he had done today.

It was strange to him that he was plotting their deaths. Less than a month in this world and he was already contemplating murder. He wasn’t happy about it, but this was just the hand that life had dealt him. It was him or them, and it certainly wasn’t going to be him.

He had made a promise to himself to survive this place and somehow get his revenge on Velos, and it was a promise that he intended to keep.

Grayson also noticed that General Trest had survived as well. He wouldn’t say he was surprised about that, but it seemed strange that the man seemed so resigned to his fate, just to go through all the trouble to survive once he got here.

Giving the thought a mental shrug, he closed his eyes, and once more began to unwind. He was feeling quite calm by the time the guards rounded them up and started escorting them back to their compound. When they entered the gate, Grayson made his way straight to his bedroll, afraid that if he didn’t get to it immediately it would be destroyed by the thugs who were trying to kill him.

He realized that was probably a mistake though, because he allowed himself to be cornered by the men immediately, in an area that wasn’t easily visible by the guards.

The scarred man came right at him, just like the day before, but this time Grayson was more prepared. He drew himself up to his full height, and didn’t cower back.

“You’re dead!” the man growled at him. “You Valintian bastard your dead!”

Grayson smirked. In a way he was already dead, this man just wanted to make it happen faster. Knowing that he really didn’t have much to lose, he couldn’t help but egg the man on.

“And how did that go for you today?” He asked with a wide smile.

Grayson was surprised when the man drew back is fist clearly intending to attack him. Grayson had figured the threat of punishment would keep him safe, but he probably should have known better. This man was probably a killer. If he was willing to kill outside the island, it made sense he would be willing to do so on the island as well, regardless of the punishment.

Before the man could follow through with his punch though, an arm like iron gripped his wrist. To everyone’s surprise, General Trest was there, having entered unnoticed sometime during the exchange.

The scarred man looked shocked that Trest had arrived, but he wrenched his wrist out of his grasp.

“You’re going to protect him? You of all people you will side with a Valintian?”

“Yes.” General Trest said simply.

The scarred man spat to the side, and after a moment of though seemed to decide now wasn’t the right time to start something, but he leveled a finger at Grayson.

“Two days.”

Before he pushed past General Trest and left.

“You shouldn’t have taunted him.” Trest said, sounding stern. “You created a bigger issue than the one you already had.”

“Yeah, I know.” Grayson said, “Thanks for stopping him.”

A thought occurred to him then.

“Can you train me?”

“Train you in what?” Trest asked, looking confused.

“Fighting.” Grayson said, “So I can protect myself from people like them.”

The general raised a single eyebrow but didn’t reply.

“Look,” Grayson said, trying to harvest some of this newfound confidence he had found. “I know that you want to die, but I don’t. It doesn’t matter if the odds are stacked against me. I don’t care if Velos himself tries to stop me, I’m going to do everything I can to survive.”

General Trest’s stony look slowly fell, leaving the sad and tired expression he often wore when the stony façade fell away. But instead of shutting down like he usually did he locked eyes with Grayson.

“Very well.”

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