Star Runners (13 page)

Sharkey reached into the front pocket of his black pants and pulled out a silver whistle glistening in the sunlight.

"But before we have our first class," he said, placing the whistle to his lips, "we run."

The students looked at each other.

Sharkey blew the whistle. "I said run you worthless sacks! RUN!"

He leaned forward as if to hit someone. Austin flinched, dropped his books and started running. He didn't turn to see if the others followed. He didn't care. He increased his pace as he reached the PT track and left behind the sound of Sharkey's whistle. He missed Skylar.

The other male students fell in behind Austin. They jogged three laps before Sharkey started his whistle blowing once again. Austin glanced over his shoulder. Several students lagged behind the pack. Four laps was a mile, but many students struggled to pass even that milestone.

Skylar's standard afternoon workout was eight laps, but sometimes went for twelve. Austin struggled at the beginning of the semester, but had grown used to the workout. He would have to thank her later.

As the group reached their sixth lap, some students slowed. Connor King bent over at the side of the track and vomited. The acidic smell drifted over Austin as he ran past. The humid breeze coming off the swamp blew the stench away.

Connor wasn't alone. When the eighth lap commenced, half the students barely ran. Most had their hands on their hips and stared into the sky. Sharkey screamed.

"Get up! What do you think this is? Get up, now! Run you worthless sacks of lyker! Run!"

Austin frowned as he wiped the sweat from his brow. He wasn't sure what a "lyker" was or how that was even an insult, but he kept moving forward.

His lungs burned and his thighs ached as he finished lap number twelve.

The whistle sounded once more.

"That's it for today! It is the first day, after all," Sharkey said. "Everyone take a knee over here."

Austin and the other students who had finished the twelve laps moved to where they had left their books. He did a quick count: eight students made the three miles. Austin used his uniform sleeve to dab the sweat from his face. The other six limped and walked along different portions of the track, trying to hurry toward Sharkey's location.

"Nice of you ladies to finally join us," he said when all fourteen male students knelt around him like he was a football coach at the end of practice. "There's no sugar-coating this today, gentlemen. This was a disgrace. Half of you failed to make it twelve laps. Starting tomorrow, we do sixteen. The next day twenty. Then, I want the standard workout to be six miles before we even start the survival class. Understood?"

The group nodded.

"Some of you have kept up with your fitness this semester and you are now being rewarded for your persistence. The rest of you will have to step it up if you want to stay on this campus." He glanced at his watch. "That's it for today. Be ready to run tomorrow. Dismissed."

*****

Warmth touched his face. Austin made fists with his toes and raised his arms over his head, burying them deep into the pillow. As he forced his eyes open, rays of sunlight burst into the room and blinded him. He glanced at the clock: 7 a.m. on a Saturday. He smiled, remembering when being awake at such an hour on the first day of the weekend would have been a crime.

Ignoring the pain in his thighs, Austin shifted his legs out from under the covers and touched the cool tile floor. His muscles ached. He sat forward and the book he had been reading,
Survival in the Woods
, fell from his chest to his lap. He tossed the book to the side and sat at the end of the bed. He stared at the floor.

Every muscle in his body burned after this first week of PT with Sharkey. He tried to study last night but fell asleep. He didn't even remember to shut off his reading light. Sharkey had not lightened up all week. Instead, he intensified the work out regime. At first, Austin had been able to hold his own with the program. Now, as his feet throbbed when they touched the floor, he wondered if he would make it the final four weeks of class.

And the physical aspect wasn't the only thing on his mind.

With the new change in the routine at Tizona came more classes added to the mix. As if the primary classes weren't hard enough, now Sharkey and Nubern taught basic survival skills in the event students were ever stranded or lost in the woods. These afternoon classes were taught in spurts. Some days they ran. Other days they powered through obstacles in the ropes course. While he didn't know if he would ever need it, Austin was interested in learning what plant life and bugs he could eat if he did find himself lost in the woods. Creating a natural compass out of a needle and a pool of water was cool stuff. David Keller and Austin spent hours after the classes talking about going on a cross-country road trip when this was all over. These survival classes would make camping in the wilderness a breeze.

Not all of the students shared their enthusiasm. Connor King was vocal about his displeasure in having the new classes tacked on to his work load.

"God, this is so stupid!" he said more than once after class or while they ran. "When will I ever use this crap?"

Austin ignored him. He didn't know when he would use this information, but he would do whatever it took for him to stay in school and keep the scholarship. He would not return home to tell Mom he quit. And what would Dad have said if that happened?

After the first two days of the new class format, Connor disappeared. Rumor had it the guy was taken from his dorm room in the middle of the night the same as Stetson. Austin shuddered when he thought of Stetson being removed from the room in the middle of the night. Austin figured the rest of the male students knew to keep their mouth shut. Among the remaining thirteen, Austin knew none of them except for David Keller. The others looked familiar, of course, but all the other guys had been quiet during their time at Tizona. All had an icy stare either from determination or fear, possibly a little of both.

The stack of books loomed on his desk. He had a calculus test next week he needed to study for this weekend and plenty of homework including reading in the survival book Sharkey had given them at the end of their PT yesterday.

He put on his dark blue Tizona jump suit and running shoes. The homework could wait until after his morning run.

Wiping his eyes once more and sliding his hand over his short hair, Austin left his dorm room and hustled down the stairs. He never thought he would enjoy it, but somehow Skylar's love of running had grown on him. Now, he wondered how he ever did without it.

He stretched in front of the dormitory. A morning fog lingered over the wet grass in the PT field beyond. The November air carried with it a chill he hadn't noticed this week. Winter would soon be here and, with it, a break from school. He would be able to return home and tell Mom about his new life and, hopefully, what classes he would be taking next semester. He grinned as he leaned on his leg in one final stretch and felt the muscle pull.

"Mind if I join you?"

Austin turned around. Skylar, dressed in her Tizona blue leggings and a sweat shirt, stood on the gravel path.

"Man, it's good to see you." He rushed over and hugged her. "Happy Saturday to you."

"What a greeting," she said with a smile. "I should get up early on Saturday more often."

The blood rushed to his face. "Yeah, I thought I'd go for a run to start the day. I'm buried in homework I don't feel like doing. Luckily, PT is homework now."

"Let's go."

Three miles went by much faster than they did back when Austin first arrived at Tizona. Skylar motioned toward the bench along the edge of the campus. She stretched in silence and faced the dense woods leading to the swamp beyond.

"I wrote Mom today," she said, pulling her left leg toward her. "I didn't know what to say. Miami's a long ways from here."

"What do you mean?"

Skylar shrugged and rubbed her nose. "They're always asking about the classes and what we're doing. It's hard to explain this is a military school without the military."

Austin paced in front of the bench. "I hadn't thought of it that way."

She pointed to his shaved head. "No?"

He laughed and slid his hand over the top of his head. "I guess you're right. How are things with the girls?"

"We've been running like crazy. A female security guard, Jenalee Donadio, has been taking over our PT in the afternoon. She's a hard ass. Really likes yelling at all of us."

"That seems to be going around. Did you write your Dad, too?"

She shook her head. "What's the point?"

Austin knelt to tie his shoe and avoided eye contact. Skylar had only mentioned her Dad once at lunch a few weeks ago. He had been fired for stealing from his job when she was in high school. After serving time in prison and getting a divorce, her father had been out of the picture. Skylar only mentioned it with an empty stare when she spoke of him. Austin had tried bringing it up again, but never pushed the issue. If Skylar wanted to talk about it, she would.

Skylar rolled her shoulders to loosen up. "Then we've been discussing survival techniques," she continued as if Austin hadn't asked about her dad, "how to eat bugs if we're starving, really fun stuff that just makes you want to go camping, you know what I mean?"

She took in a deep breath and turned back toward the Terminus Building. Rolling plumes of fog lifted from the wet grasses as the sunlight illuminated the campus. "So why didn't you ever tell me?"

Austin frowned. "Tell you about what?"

"About being the legendary Rock; the guy who took down the Scorpion."

His eyebrows raised. Ever since Nubern called him by his online alter ego earlier that week, none of the other guys said anything. "I thought you had forgotten about that."

"No way." She turned to face him. "You're not the only one who plays
Star Runners
. It's not just for guys, you know. Some of the girls in PT were talking about it after one of our runs."

"I know," he said with a smile. "I guess I didn't want to come off as a nerd. It's not something you spout off to people when you first meet them. At least, I don't."

Skylar shook her head and made a clicking sound with her tongue against her teeth. "You should know by now you can talk to me about anything. I've been wanting to ask the famous Rock this since I saw it on the leader boards: How did you do it?"

Austin sighed and gestured to start walking down the path before they continued their run. "It happened before I really knew what I had done. Between you and me, I think it must have been dumb luck."

Skylar whistled. "That's some pretty awesome dumb luck."

"So what about you? How long you been playing?"

"Ever since the game came out. I've been on the elite server for a while now. I love that game."

"Have you been able to try out the new rec room?"

"Hardly," she said as they picked up the pace, increasing from walking to jogging. "You?"

"No. Too much studying to do. Maybe we should go this afternoon?"

"Maybe so."

They finished another three miles. By this time, the sun had warmed the campus. The swamp insects buzzed around and infiltrated their eyes and mouth. Walking back toward the dormitories, Skylar slapped Austin on the shoulder.

"Thanks for the run."

"Thanks for joining me. We should do this more often on the weekends now that we have to train separately in the afternoons."

"Sounds good to me."

They sat on the cool grass and looked back toward the PT field. Sweat dripped down his back and he thought about taking a shower.

"What are you going to do after all this?" Skylar asked.

"You mean school? I don't know. Kind of want to make sure I stay first. We only have a month left." Austin blinked. "Did you hear about Connor King?"

She nodded. "Another middle of the night disappearance. Fun stuff. Heard he was being a moron in class.”

"Yeah."

She bit her lip. "What do you think about the Gauntlet?"

Austin shrugged. "Probably a ropes course. Honestly, I'm not worried about it. If they want to put me through all these crazy physical tests and still give me a free ride through school, I'm all for it."

"It's strange, though. I'm nervous and I don't even know what it is."

He tapped her knee. "Don't worry so much. We'll know about it when it gets here. Besides, I won't let you fail."

She looked at him and smiled. "Really?"

"Really." He stared at her.

"Well, I better shower."

He clasped her hand and helped her stand.

As she turned to go, she said, "I hope we're friends forever, Austin. You really meant what you said, didn't you? About not letting me fail."

"Sure. You're not going anywhere."

She grinned and loosened her pony tail. "I'll see you this afternoon in the rec room. Three o'clock good?"

"See you then."

*****

The next two weeks passed filled with intense physical training, long classes, recreational time in the simulation pod playing
Star Runners
, and Chief Sharkey screaming at the guys as they ran PT twice a day. It didn't bother Austin in the afternoons, but the high-pitched wailing from that man in the mornings really grated on him. Since the time change, the morning runs took place in complete darkness. Three guys dropped out each week, bringing the total number to seven. Skylar said five of the girls had dropped out; two in the middle of the night after snapping back at the instructor and three more because they just couldn't take the new schedule. It wasn't a shock when he realized only ten students remained in his class.