Barcode: Cavern of Youth (17 page)

“Think what you want, but I could probably crush Colt Stone like Angie. I only lost in the finals because I’m slow. Really slow, compared to you. Our people use brute force and big armor to get the job done. I just need to work on my speed. So which one of you is going to train me?”

Carmen raises her hand. “Me!”

Antonio interjects, “It’s not my objective to offend you, but though you are one of the fastest students at the arena, I can guarantee you these two are on another level.”

“I know. I’m clumsy and a bit of an airhead at times, but I still managed to come in third in last semester’s race. Though Seth and Kay have crazy work ethics, I’m the only one that can relate to Richard. I used to be, umm...a little overweight.”

For the first time, I hear Antonio’s computer make beeping sounds. He chuckles and murmurs, “A little?”

Seth hacks into Antonio’s system by commanding, “Freeze data. Transfer to projector.”

Antonio shouts, “Not in front of everyone Seth!”

The projector displays a beastly picture of Carmen nearly four hundred pounds. She shrieks and I hold her tightly while tickling her. She fights me playfully as we all laugh.

Carmen gently punches me in the shoulder and quickly pecks me on the lips. The other two shift in their chairs and look away. Antonio clears his throat.

Eventually, Richard confirms, “Okay. I’ll take Carmen.”

Fourteen

Classes were shifted around to make sure any injured students in Professor Jules’ classroom wouldn’t miss their other periods.

I’m sitting in Gonzales’ wild petting zoo where standing near a cage doesn’t necessarily mean you’re safe. Just last week, one of her more powerful animals managed to break out of their glass chamber and scratch Yukio on the arm. Too bad for the monster, it chose the wrong student to scare. With a quick jab to the center of its forehead, Yukio put the panther-dog that looked like it had rabies to sleep without much effort.

Though I try ignoring the pain in my body, it’s becoming a huge problem. My legs are shaking like I’m holding weights, but I’m not doing anything strenuous. Well, I am sitting down at these awkward desks. I want the normal white tables and chairs back. Whoever is trying to take Seth’s place with upgrades is doing a horrible job.

The current chairs are solid bar stools that emerge from the ground. We can’t even kick our feet under our desks because they’re similar solid blocks. These things hurt my butt.

Gonzales strolls in front of me. She creeps out the rest of the class, but I don’t mind. She’s really cute if you ignore all the scars. Too bad the other students can’t see past them.

“Have I troubled you somehow?” I ask as she lingers over my shoulder.

“Just curious. What do you know about the desolate lands of the East Coast?”

“They’re damn dangerous.”

Gonzales raises her eyebrows, “Really? How would you know that?”

“I’ve visited. I’ve studied.”

“You visited, and survived?”

“I didn’t go deep in, but friends and I needed to complete a few tasks there.”

Angie turns around in her seat to observe me. Her expression isn’t very friendly. Luckily, we sit far away in all of our classes.

Gonzales taps my table twice. “So how would you survive if your plane ever crashed there?”

“You fight in one spot for as long as possible without spilling the blood of any creatures and hope that someone rescues you. Blood attracts more danger.”

“But can you do that? Can you passively fight a creature without drawing blood?”

“Probably not.”

“Let’s find out,” she declares while grabbing my arm and moving me to the back of the classroom. Malik laughs as I stumble over my own feet. “What’s wrong with your legs?”

“It’s a bad day for these bandages. Let’s reschedule this experiment for tomorrow or next year.”

“Nonsense. If your plane were to crash, your legs wouldn’t be too great anyway.” Gonzales pulls a tablet from her pocket and hits a few buttons. A red fox-crocodile stomps out of its cage. It’s big and from the sound of its muscles, too fast to outrun. Though mostly a fox, the skin is that of a croc, and the tail as well.

“This animal is indigenous to Florida. If you were to land there, you’d see many of these near the swamps. I want you to demonstrate how you’d get this animal back in the cage without drawing blood. Mind you, you’re being scored. You’ll receive an F worth five percent of your overall grade if you can’t complete the task.”

The beast stomps towards me. I try walking in his direction, but trip over my own feet. I stand up quickly, but my arms are vibrating wildly.

The animal seems confused. I’m probably the easiest prey he’s ever witnessed.

It’s thirty yards away. The only thing between us is Gonzales, and she’s gesturing for her pet to dig in.

I rush towards the animal, an aggressive technique used on foxes when they’re alone.

Gonzales’ eyes widen. She curses under her breath when I trip and fall face first in front of the beast’s opened mouth. The women in the classroom, and Patrick, scream.

As the animal tries to clamp me between his teeth, Gonzales stomps on his mouth. She tells him to walk back to his cage and he obeys. Then, she pulls me from the floor and dusts me off. “Maybe you’re not the man you once were.” Projecting more loudly, she announces, “You’ll receive an F.”

Pulling my arm away roughly, I stroll back to my desk and ask, “Why?”

“Because you didn’t complete the task.”

“You told me to get the animal in the cage without drawing blood.” I spin around, intentionally fall on the ground, roll on my shoulders, and flip into my seat. It hurts my bones and gives me a slight headache, but proves my point. “You didn’t say I couldn’t use you to do it. He’s in the cage, right?”

The bell rings and the students laugh at my manipulation of the rules. As I walk to the exit, Gonzales exclaims, “Kode!” I nearly respond, but continue pressing towards the door. Angie, on the other hand, watches Gonzales desperately. “I’m sorry. I mean Kay. Stay in the classroom. We have a grade to discuss.”

Angie’s the last to leave. Gonzales presses a few buttons on her podium and the entire room shines blue. In awe, I ask, “What did you just do?”

“You seem like a private guy, so I made the room soundproof.”

“Can all the classrooms do this?”

“Yes. They’ll project natural sounds and images for people that love to ear hustle, but you’ll be able to speak freely with
me
.”

“What did you want to talk about? I receive an A, right?”

“Sadly, yes. You followed the rules and intentionally used your bandages to mislead me.” Tilting her head she confesses, “I just wanted to say, I’m glad to have you back.”

“But this is my first time here.”

“You walk and talk like him.”

“Who?”

“Kode Payne. I
heard
him in the hallways numerous times before you appeared, preceding the ceremony where everyone received their bandages.” I grunt, but don’t reply. She openly laughs at my silence. “If that’s the way you want to keep it...Kode was my favorite student. The only one I ever enjoyed.”

“I know who he was, but you said you could hear him. How? He wore Tartarus.”

“It was difficult, but I had an ear transplant. I used an owl liminal being that
passed away
. It was an amazing idea because life never sounded this spectacular.”

“When did you have the surgery?”

“After he beat my second labyrinth. It seemed as though Spencer Colt could hear him, so I tried a few experiments until I could as well. Worked like a charm.”

Chuckling I say, “Well, I hope you get to see him again.” Listening to her eyes, I notice they never turn, but stay focused straight ahead. “I mean, hear him.”

“Just realized I’m blind too?”

Laughing, I clarify, “There’s a difference between having my eyes closed and being blind.”

“Same for me.”

“What’s everything like in your head?”

“Words with detailed descriptions. What’s yours?”

“A fourth dimension. What words do you see for me?”

“That’s the best part. I get to read full tales and prophesies about you. I can’t wait to see the rest.”

Gonzales hits the switch and the walls return to normal. I rush out of the class because I hear Jules telling students to quiet down and prepare for the race.

Once I’m on the battlefield, Jules hits a button on his large tablet that he uses to make himself seem more distinguished. The ground rumbles and all the students step back. I hold the “sh” sound in the only word that comes to mind. Still dragging it out, I walk behind Seth and he quickly blurts, “Shit.”

Our heads are pointed to the sky, and our bodies are motionless. Even the cool kids are amazed.

The sand from the battlefield causes over half the students to cover their faces. Wind not only rips down from the stadium walls, but also from the gigantic obstacle course that Jules has just created with the click of a button.

“Welcome to the future of Colt Arena,” he says with a chuckle. “For years, the Moreno have dominated the technology at this university. But, just this summer, I was given a chance to prove my family’s innovative skills. I’ve updated the school’s classrooms and the battlefield. Behold.”

Seth’s eyes twitch and his face loses color. Judging from his self-defeating personality, he’s probably blaming himself for not finding a cure to his disease.

He removes a new bottle of X-Eyes from his pocket with the X’s whited out on the scratched container. I want to stop him, but I have no clue what’s going on in his head. He takes three sips before putting the drink away.

“The structure is a combination of Colt Stone and Jules Marble. It reaches a height of fifty yards. There are three levels, including an underground area that you may take. Do not assume that because you have to run up to reach the top that you will lose time. There are obstacles on each level that will affect your results accordingly.”

Addison raises his hand and Professor Jules points to him. “How many laps?”

“Great question. Three.”

Patrick asks, “Are we allowed to fight?”

“No. This is purely a race. If you intentionally hinder another student’s progress, I will add time to your results. Though, this is a structurally safe course, you can still fall in many areas. There are no safety nets. All of you are god-level gladiators. I don’t expect fifty yards to kill you, though you may not wake up for some time.” Students laugh, but Jules didn’t intend to make a joke. “If you fall, there are plenty of ropes hanging from the sides of the course. Grab one quickly.”

The structure looks like a maze for the most dangerous track meet ever. Sure, there are tons of ropes to grab from any section of the course, but I don’t imagine everyone will make it out of this safely.

The underground level is simple. It has a basic area to run in a circle, but there are tons of machines down there that breathe fire, create ice, and throw barrels. I’ve played a classic video game like that and I’m not good at it. I’ll stay on the outside.

Next, there’s the ground level with tons of obstacles. I doubt anyone will take that route. There are four walls that must be scaled by fingertips and a long area of tires to hop through.

The second and third levels are very similar, except the highest part has an increased crash risk on the third level. Though it’s possible to jump from the third to second level—risking a broken ankle—the far side of the course has a gap that could provide an awesome ride to the ICU.

The top floor has the longest area to cover, I estimate that one trip around is one mile. The section below it is more closed in and probably has one-fourth less of a distance to travel. The ground level is one-third less than that. The underground has more running space to travel than the top and more obstacles. It’s suicide.

“The first three students to cross the finish line will be allowed to pick their own teams for finals. Anyone not chosen will have their name entered in a computer that automatically suits you with compatible teammates. There’s no guarantee that the top three from this race will win the tournament, but if you choose the strongest warriors, it is likely. Are there any questions?”

Nearly everyone raises their hands. Feeling left out, I decide to throw mine up as well. To that, Jules replies, “Excellent. You may begin.”

Though we managed to lose more students this year, Colt Arena took in a lot more gods. There are also several Apes and demigods that were bumped into god-level classes. Seventy-nine students rush the field and stomp through the structure. I don’t move an inch.

I wait until everyone has entered their areas to determine the best route.

“Are you actually planning on participating?” Jules asks Jamie and me. I hold up my index finger to hush him so I can count the students.

“Twenty-seven tried taking the easy way out underground. Thirty-four didn’t analyze the area ahead of them. That means there’s a race between sixteen of us on the second and third levels.”

“They’re pretty fast and you’re still standing here. That means there are fifteen.”

“Ten of them took the second level, which is a great idea, but Malik’s on the third and I assume he knows something about this course.” Turning to Jamie, I ask, “You coming?”

Shaking her head she replies, “No thanks.”

As I step onto the course, Jules drones, “They have a one-minute lead on you. Just wait here. I’ll only take off five points for your ignorance.”

I finally step across the start line. “Good. Add five more when I win.”

In order to make it to the third level, Professor Jules provided two clear walls that the others squeezed between. Instead of working my tiny little legs up that area, I use the ropes dangling from the side of the first level to swing ahead. After four jungle man leaps, I expel a shock wave force from my feet that boosts me up to the second floor.

Most of my classmates are fighting with some area of the course. Malik, Patrick, Selena, and Angie are on the top levels pushing through a narrow wooden walkway that sounds fragile. Malik doesn’t allow the sound to disturb him. He leaps over the other’s heads and lands in front of Monte. The two smile at each other and bolt around the swinging barricades.