Explorer X Alpha (12 page)

“So be it. I'll take Aadi out and meet you at the Communication Center,” Tacitus said as he turned to Damien and gave Damien a slight smile.

“I think I am going to like you being my partner, Tacitus. Let's go,” Damien said as he started to run in the direction of Eirena and Aadi. Tacitus ran in the opposite direction of Damien in order to catch them by surprise by hitting them on both ends.

Aadi took the supply pack chain and put it on his wrist. It was a rectangular metal box that could be put in his hand rather easily. He swung the chain up and caught the box in his hand. He turned to see how Eirena was doing, only to find Damien running at top speed toward her. Aadi wondered why Damien attacked Eirena first. He wanted Damien for himself.

“Eirena! Damien's coming at you! Turn around! Now!” Aadi warned as he turned in her direction and started running out of the water to try to help her.

“Oh, no you don't!” Aadi heard Tacitus calmly state before he felt the tight grip of a lasso yoke him and then jerking him back into the water. He let out a grunt as the suffocating rope tightened on his throat. Aadi fought to think clearly.
I have to get this rope off my neck.
He let the metal box fall, and the chain was still wrapped around his wrist. He struggled to fight to keep his balance. Then, he wormed his fingers between the rope and his neck and started to stand up as Tacitus stood behind him. Tacitus jerked the rope to force him back down onto his back.

Frustration filled him, and Aadi suddenly got angry. He quickly stood, twisted around, grabbed, and then pulled the rope. It jerked Tacitus within punching distance. He swung the metal box up into his hands against Tacitus's arm with all his might. Tacitus lost the tight grip he had on the rope and Aadi. Without thought beyond the anger and determination he felt, he pulled the rope out of Tacitus's hand. Aadi wanted this off his neck. He put his hands through the loop and yanked the rope from his neck while he held the other end of the lasso in order to use it on Tacitus. Tacitus quickly recovered, and before Aadi could swing the lasso at him, he punched Aadi in the chest. Aadi went into flight and fell on his back in the water.

Aadi felt the cold water splash around his form-fitting helmet, and the sharpness of the impact caused him to see light between his eyes. He fought through the sensation and quickly jumped up to a squat. Determination hit him as the tingling sensation of adrenaline pumped through his blood. He felt a surge of anger as he jumped up to a fighting stance with the metal box in one hand and the rope in another. Aadi thought,
I've got to bring him down.
He knew that Tacitus wouldn't let up, but neither would he.

Aadi then whipped the rope around to land a smack to Tacitus's face and ran to slide across the water to build momentum to land a blow to Tacitus's nose with his hand holding the metal box. He didn't think but felt the rush of adrenaline before he delivered a failing blow to Tacitus's nose. Tacitus's head jerked back with a sharp turn to the side, only to snap back in place as he landed a blow to Aadi's chest. A large gust of air burst from Aadi's lungs with the blow as he slid back a few feet from where Tacitus stood. He was too focused on winning to let the sharp, piercing pain of the blow falter him. He wrapped the rope securely around his hand and swung the lasso with precision.

The lasso flew at Tacitus and snaked around his neck. Aadi charged at Tacitus, and with his hand wrapped around the metal box, he punched Tacitus with all the strength that the adrenaline rush gave him. It bought Tacitus to his knees, and Aadi sighed relief as Tacitus was a hard fighter - much harder than he would have ever anticipated.

Tacitus slowly turned his face toward Aadi. Aadi started to prepare to land the fatal blow. Then, Tacitus lifted his hand to catch Aadi's hand that held the metal supply pack and said “Fun is over… this is mine.”

Tacitus jerked the rope that Aadi held with his left hand and pulled the metal supply pack off Aadi's other hand, holding it firmly in his hand and with the metal box firmly in place. Tacitus returned Aadi's look of frustration with a grin and used the metal box to land the fatal blow to his jaw.

Aadi thought,
Duck, duck!
But it was too late, as he saw darkness and felt a piercing pain on the left side of his head.

Aadi woke up to someone calling his name. “Aadi! Aadi!” Scott said as he shook Aadi's arm. “Aadi, wake up! Wake up!”

“Ugh, man, my head hurts… bad!” Aadi said. He sat up and bent his knees, then put his hand to his head.

“Uh, Aadi? You do know you are out of the simulation?” Scott said, then put a hand on Aadi's shoulder.

“You've got to be kidding me! Who is Eirena in there fighting? Damien and Tacitus both? She'll never survive. They're fighting dirty,” Aadi said and rushed to stand, He took a moment to balance himself on Scott's shoulder.

“Well, it looks like she only has Damien to deal with. Tacitus is moving toward the last supply pack. However, I think she is still in for quite a battle,” Scott said.

“Aw, man! Why did I come out first? I really wanted to bring Damien down,” Aadi said. He finally got his equilibrium back and could stand on his own.

“Because Tacitus just wants to get it over with. Damien, though, just loves to drag out a fight,” Scott said and patted Aadi on the back. They both left the simulation area to view the big screen to watch the rest of the simulation play out.

 

 

Eirena looked on in horror to see Tacitus lasso Aadi to his knees, only to turn around and find that she had very little time to get her bearings straight before Damien came upon her. Eirena loosened up to get ready for the fight she knew would come. She took a deep breath, turned around to face Damien, and then gestured to him to come closer.

“Well, Aadi, you are going to have to handle Tacitus yourself. I got a fish that I have been itching to fry. C'mon, you creep… come a little closer so I can teach you what it feels like to get your butt kicked by a girl,” she said as she grinned to herself and nodded at Damien who came toward her at top speed.

“Eirena, I see you are waiting for the whipping I'm about to give you. I've been waiting three weeks for this. Yummy! Hey, I'll do you a favor and take you out quick. Ha! I lied. I want to drag out this for a slow, painful departure for you to remember,” Damien said as he came to a stop a comfortable fighting distance away.

“Take your best shot, creep. I dare you to make the first move! I know your type. You hate me beating your butt all the time, so you think you got to teach me a lesson. Whatever. You aren't the first boy who I beat up, and you won't be the last one either. So c'mon. What are you going to do about it, punk?” she said as calmness came over her while she tried to goad him into getting angry and sloppy. She shimmied to the side as he lunged forward with his first punch. Damien got frustrated when he missed.

“I am getting a warm feeling inside thinking of how much fun I am going to have bringing you down,” he said with a smile. Then he leaned in and landed a good punch to her right cheek. Eirena felt the sharp blow and shook her head as she recovered.

“That's all you got? I can take a hit, stupid. I got two brothers. You know what? I can give a hit too!” she said. Quickly, she leaned in to punch him and then faked it, only to follow through with a hard roundhouse kick to Damien's jaw. Then, without hesitation, she landed a right cross punch which brought Damien to his knees. He grunted as he fell.

“You… Your but is mine!” he roared.

“Now, here comes the dirty part!” she said, as she straightened her hand and gave Damien a scissor swing to his neck. She knew she had to act quickly and not give him time to recover. Her heart raced from her exertion, and she lifted her leg to land another side kick, hoping it would bring him to his knees.

Damien's head snapped to the side with the impact of her hand connecting with his neck. He shook his head and quickly recovered, seeing her foot coming to follow. He turned to her, smiling. “Oh, this is gonna be fun! Just the pump up I needed. It hurts so good,” he said. Damien saw her leg coming and grabbed it. He used her momentum and her body weight to throw her to the ground. Quickly, he got up to a fighting squat and went in to attack.

Eirena landed on her side and spied Damien on his way to sit on her to make it easy to punch her face. She side-kicked up, and it landed on his nose. Damien fell from his squat to his knees beside her, giving her the leverage she needed to deliver an uppercut to his nose. Damien's fury showed brightly on his face, and he licked the blood from his lip and giggled.

“Is that all you got? I can do this all day long,” Damien said. He steadied himself from the blow to his nose and grabbed her by the neck. She coughed at the strength of the squeeze, but she fought it to focus on the next move that could bring him to the ground. A mischievous smile formed on her face, and she kicked him in his groin and giggled.

“Oh, I'm gonna get you,” Damien choked out, and he grabbed himself to steady through the pain. Eirena knew she had to move fast, so she jumped up to a squat and quickly put some space between her and Damien.

“Come and get me then, you punk!” said Eirena. She hopped around in a boxing stance and looked to see what other weak points she could attack next. Although, Damien was hurt, he was too angry to stay focused on it and charged in to land a punch. Eirena saw it coming and did a front kick to Damien's chin that landed with precision.

“Yeah, c'mon, baby!” she said, elated that she had landed her intended blow. She knew he would get angry and would charge her, so she braced herself. Damien fell back, kneeling on the ground with the blow. Eirena knew she didn't have too much time to gloat, so she ran over to him and forced him down with her foot to his neck and her knee in his chest.

“Ugh,” he grunted.

“You ready for me to end this for you, Damien? Just tell me where your supply packs are, and I'll do it real gentle-like, like a girl would,” Eirena said and smiled down at him as she spoke sweetly.

“Screw you!” Damien said, and he grabbed her ankle and threw her off him. Eirena growled in frustration because she was so close to ending this. She hopped up into a squat.

“I'm tired of playing with you now. Time for the butt whipping I promised you!” Damien said while he breathed hard from the exertion. They both moved side-to-side while they sized each other up. Then Damien yelled, charged at Eirena, grabbed her by the neck, and body slammed her to the ground. Eirena's head throbbed, and her lungs burned from the impact. Damien didn't waste any time before he landed the fatal punch to the side of her head, which took her out of the simulation. Eirena saw darkness and felt pain on the side of her head as she tumbled to reality.

“Cough, cough… ugh,” Eirena said. Someone gently moved her face side to side, and she grunted in pain.

“Eirena… wake up! Wake up!” said Aadi. Aadi gave up on her awakening on her own. He lifted her into his arms and carried her over to where the others watched Tacitus and Damien on the screen. Then, he gently put her down as she adjusted her head to get re-oriented to the real world. Aadi spied the angry frown on her face and smiled, thinking
It's just like her to be so competitive.
She stood and walked away from him to turn her frowning face toward the screen to watch Damien shake off her attack.

Damien heaved a sigh, leaned his head to the side, and cracked his neck. “Man, that was fun”, he said while shaking off the attack. He slowly stood up and looked around the rugged terrain to see the sun starting to set.

 

 

“I gotta hustle!” he said, then ran to get his supply packs from their hiding place behind a boulder a few yards from where he attacked Eirena. He picked up the packs, secured them on his body, and took off at high speed to meet Tacitus.

He came upon Tacitus, who pulled out the supply pack when he heard Damien approach. “About time, partner,” Tacitus said in a low, steady voice.

“Well, Eirena proved to be a lot of fun,” Damien said. He bent as he helped Tacitus pull the last pack out of the hard-packed ground.

“I got this,” Tacitus said. Then he swung the pack over his shoulder, and they ran at top speed in the direction of the Communication Center. Damien breathed hard with the exertion, but Tacitus ran with quiet calmness. Damien took notice of the difference in Tacitus and nodded in respect.

“Almost there. Go straight in, no hesitation!” Damien yelled as he picked up the pace. They knew there was little time to spare if they wanted to beat the other teams. They slid to a stop and made it to the Communication Center, which was a glowing white globe. It protruded from the ground with a rounded see-through door. Tacitus quickly put in the code on the door. The door opened, and the voice said, “You are the victor! Congratulations Team Explorer X! You will lead the first adventure! Damien and Tacitus, you will lead the group on our first expedition!”

Damien and Tacitus where thrown into darkness, and Damien stretched his neck and blinked. He opened his eyes to see Mr. Faulkner standing in front of him.

“Congratulations, boys! Not only did you win the simulation, but you also beat the other teams' times in doing so. You especially crushed our top competitors, Team Fire Six. I am proud of you,” Mr. Faulkner said. Then, he reached over and put his hand on their shoulders.

“Thank you, sir,” Tacitus said and bent his head.

“There was no doubt I was going to win,” Damien said, staring directly at Aadi and Eirena. He shrugged Mr. Faulkner's hand off his shoulder arrogantly and walked to his simulation station. He picked up his bag and walked out the door without a backward glance.

They all watched him leave and then turned to Mr. Faulkner.

“Class dismissed. You all may go to your rooms and have the rest of the day off,” he said, then crossed his arms in front of him. He frowned as if in thought, staring at the exit door through which Damien had just left.