A Guide to Surviving Against Monsters

"Again."

For once, our group was actually helping. We were running drills for Michaelson, pushing the students to their limits. Wendy and Miles worked together to help anyone who had already given up from exhaustion and dehydration while the rest of us pushed whoever was left harder and harder. Malekai was the only one who hadn't broken a sweat, the cheeky top student sending me smirks and goofy faces. I nearly laughed, but years of training schooled my features into indifference.

I stood in the center of the obstacle course, watching for a stumble. It was up to Weston and I to catch anyone if they were in a dangerous situation, since some of the pre-made course was tilted or in the air.

Malekai, the brat, bumped shoulders with me whenever he ran by. This time, he winked. "Lighten up," he scolded as he went by, jumping over the hurdle that came up without even having to look. I rolled my eyes, arms crossed as I watched him do his next lap -- which was at least his twentieth. The boy scaled the rope ladder, jumped across the tilting platforms and dodged the swinging pendulums without a hitch. He then got to the board of squares that would retract at random. It was a ten squares long and five across, meaning he had fifty options to choose from. His first three were fine, but it was his fourth that made me tense. The square shuddered as he stepped down, and there was a second of hesitation before it disappeared under his foot and he fell through. Each square was a meter by meter, meaning he fell right through and yelped. Weston was closer, but slower. I reached Malekai at the perfect time, grabbing him by the waist and using his momentum to swing him in a circle. It gave his body enough time to decelerate, and I set him down gently.

"Are you okay?" Weston asked as he ran up. Malekai nodded, and the hunter flashed the all-good signal to the professor.

"I was so close to perfect," Malekai pouted.

I whacked the top of his head. "You're so close to getting yourself hurt, dumbass. Take your time for once."

"You can't do better," he challenged.

My hands curled into fists. Weston looked shocked that Malekai would even try to challenge me. A dark laugh bubbled up from the base of my throat, and I eyed the student who was still slumped on the floor.

"Michaelson!"

The professor sighed from across the gym.

"What?"

"Mind if I go for a spin?" I asked darkly. "I'd appreciate if you added something for me to kill, too."

The man rolled his eyes. In this obstacle course, there was a setting that made targets appear. For extremely hardcore training, people could do both the course and fight off swarms of fake monsters.

"Everyone, off the course! Ms. Foxit wants to test herself."

I smirked, watching Weston help Malekai up. They walked to the side of the gym with everyone else, Weston taking my coat from me. That left me armed with my knives alone. I walked to the beginning of the course, in front of the hurdles.

I nodded to Michaelson, and the obstacle came to life. Hurdles straightened up, and the pendulums began swinging. The second I took my first step, I knew that there would be monsters attacking me from every angle.

With a deranged smile, I shot forward. Daggers were in either hand, the blades slicing through the first target that appeared as I leapt over the first hurdle. I stabbed one dagger in deep, twisting my grip on it and using it to flip myself over the wooden target. Grabbing my dagger from its chest, I continued running, jumping over several smaller wooden creatures that shot out of the floor. The second hurdle was normal, while the third exploded into a group of three targets. These were animatronics, each one with long claws. The first charged straight for my stomach, and I spun to the side to deal with the second. It nearly sliced my arm before I could kick its head off its body. Blocking with my daggers, I shoved the third off with a second of a pause before the first charged once again. I hissed, driving both knives into its shoulder blades. When it tackled me, the thing went rigid, two gaping holes going the length of its torso. The last was easy to kill, since it was the slowest.

The next obstacle was the climbing rope. I was halfway up, my knives back in their sheaths, when a dummy in a harness shot from the ceiling. Eyes widening, I wrapped my thighs tight around the rope and leaned back so that I was upside-down, the body of the dummy shooting past my face. I used my now-free hands to slice through its cord, the monster hitting the floor with a thud.

The tilting platforms were a blissful mercy. I charged across them, the dummies off balance as they tilted and twirled. Four wooden bodies fell to the ground as I stood in front of the swinging pendulums. There were six in total, and I got in between the second and third before I realized I was in a trap.

Cursing, I held my daggers backward along my forearms. Two well-made animatronics had me sanwiched. One stood just before the first pendulum, which were spheres made of tough leather and foam. The other stood between the fourth and fifth.

They're going to close me in, I thought. The only regular path would be straight.

I glanced upward. The pendulums were all attached onto a thick metal bar.

Below me, Malekai snickered.

"Hardcore is too hard even for you, Emmalyn?"

Growling, I went along with the best plan I could think of. I stepped in the path of the pendulum, feet planted and daggers at the ready. Students began to yell for me to move, watching the ball head for my form.

With a cry, I drove my daggers into the surface of the pendulum as it connected with my body. My hands tightened around the hilts, and I found myself swinung upward. There were amazed looks on the others' faces as I panted, trying to calm my pounding heart. Gradually, I gained the courage to swing one hand up, plunging my dagger in a bit higher. I climbed the side of the pendulum, keeping an eye on the animatronics that were getting closer. Once I was on top, I shimmied up the chord connecting the leathery torture ball to the metal bar.

Relieved, I pulled myself up and took a moment to lay on the rounded surface of the bar. After catching my breath, I saw the two animatronics directly below me.

Suckers, I thought.

They got smashed off the platform by the pendulum.

Next was my worst nightmare. The retracting squares.

Kidding. They were easy if you had enough speed. The problem was the dummies constantly trying to kill me as I leapt from square to square.

I got through six, meaning I had four rows to cross before I was free. A dummy in the shape of a bear lunged, knocking me onto a different square. It began to retract, but I had already rolled onto the next. Scrambling to my feet, I leapt into the wooden beast's back and stabbed at the surface of it until the torso began to crack. It stumbled, fortunately falling onto a retracting square. As it plummeted to the ground, I pushed off and landed on the other side of the obstacle.

Finally, there was the leap of faith.

Below the platform was a variety of mats in different colours. Some of them were made of wood while others were cushiony. It was up to me to decide which I would aim for without knowing if it was a cushion or wood.

Thankfully, I had some parkour practice. I ran, jumping for a mat on the edge of the grouping. Michaelson yelled that it was wood, and I grinned.

I hit the mat for a split second on the balls of my feet, pushing forward and rolling. It was originally a summersault, but I let myself barrel roll until I lost momentum, laying on my back.

With a huff, I spread my arms out like I was about to do a snow angel.

"Ta-freaking-da."