Author's Note:
I am so sorry this took so long and that there isn't much of it, but most of the time, I had no idea what to write. Thanks for reviewing!
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It was time - time for the dreaded obstacle course. It had stopped raining but it was dark, terribly windy and muddy. Temperance was excited though. She was more active of a night and had a lot of energy waiting to be released.
Alex and Spence were equally full of energy. Temperance had shared some of her stock of lollies and they were taking effect. Of course, Temperance kept some for future energy bursts. They still didn't know why Mathew and Glen had to leave, but they were sure that they would find out soon.
When they finally arrived in the usual meeting spot, Mr Mills started counting heads as everyone else aimed not to step in the mud. He stopped then recounted before looking confusedly at the faces that were staring back at him from the dark.
'Where are Franklin and Timothy?' he asked. Everyone looked around, confused looks on their faces.
'Sir...' Hawk came running out of the dark, panting. 'Tim...Timothy and Fred...Franklin, whatever...they are back inside...' He took one last deep breath before straightening up. 'Timothy and Franklin are sick, sir. We think its food poisoning. They both said they ate one of Tim's chocolate, you know the one he brought back from Germany. Fox is taking them to the nearest town for treatment.'
Mr Mills and Hawk continued talking until Wolf, Eagle and Snake appeared. Mr Mills found a tree stump and stood on it.
'Well, it seems as though our group has been reduced quite considerably. We should probably rearrange teams now. And it's only our second day. That is a record. Alex and Tempy, because you one the last challenge, you get to choose the teams; I'll choose the leaders.'
Alex and Temperance put their heads together to choose teams. It wasn't that hard, really. Spence was pleading with his eyes and they couldn't let him down.
'We will have Spence,' Temperance announced. Aaron and Flynn weren't paying attention but Max just shrugged.
'Wolf and Hawk, you have Alex's group, Snake and Eagle, you have the rest.'
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Alex, Spence and Temperance rubbed their hands together to stay warm. They were at the front of the group that was now walking towards the huge lights surrounding the obstacle course. The effect was magical.
'Wow...' Spence whispered.
'Snap!' said Temperance.
Alex just stared. They had to be kidding. It was huge! The first time Alex saw it, it must have been a fraction built because he swore it was never that size.
'Attention!' called Mr Mills. 'Here are some lengths of rope, hand them around...like that. Hands need to be tied together for four people. One person must attach themselves tho this rope and eventually, after you get through the obstacle course, end up with an untwisted amount of rope. Got it?'
'No!' yelled Hawk.
'OK...' Mr Mills closed his eyes and sighed. 'One person will be attached to this hook. That person needs to follow the rope through the obstacle course. The other people in the team will need to have their hands tied together and will help the other attached to the rope...OK?'
Hawk nodded.
'Alright then, choose your team member to be attached.'
Hawk, Wolf, Spence, Alex and Temperance gathered together to choose their member.
'I vote Tempy,' said Spence. 'She can fit.'
'Here, here.'
'Me too.'
'Yeah.'
'Do I have to? It doesn't look too forgiving.'
'Sorry, but we are less likely to survive that!'
Temperance sighed.