Note: I started this fanfic even before Kara appeared on the Smallville series and I'd like to point out that this is a totally different Kara. Just finishing up on her story before I make another fanfic revealing who this Kara is.
Chapter Twelve
Nicole and her army of skanks lined up the 8 trembling girls. Then she asked them to strip down to their underwear and to take off their shoes. The girls followed swiftly, except for Linda and Lena who were standing next to each other. Their eyes met as if asking each other if they should back out or go with it.
Louise waltz towards them and snapped her fingers, "What's taking so long?"
"N-nothing." Linda answered, as she started taking her clothes off. Lena did the same, against her will.
All 8 girls were stripped down to just their bras and panties in the cold dead of the night. The cheerleaders giggled looking at their new recruits. One of the cheerleaders handed Nicole a can of spray paint.
"Here's what's gonna happen girls…" She started, shaking the red can of paint. "You will all get into the mud pit, using your flashlights you need to find your way around until you reach the other side, where your seniors will be waiting."
Nicole walked towards the first girl on the line up and sprayed a big letter L on her chest. She moved to the second girl and sprayed a capital E, and another E on the third girl. Then Linda was next. Nicole looked at her, head to toes, secretly envious of her perfectly toned figure.
She sprayed her with the big letter S on her chest with a bitchy smile on her face. Lena received the B. She went on spelling the word LEESBURG on the chest of the recruits.
As soon as she's done, she handed Louise the spray paint, took several steps backwards and basked on her "work of art."
"Perfect." She uttered with a smile. The other cheerleaders shared the smile, nodding.
"The first 4 girls who makes it to the other side gets to be a part of the squad." Louise stated, hands on her hip. "Officially."
"But I thought we're already part of the squad and this is just an initiation thing?" One of the newbies complained.
"Sorry, new rule." Nicole said pressing her lips together. "We only need 4."
The rest of the squad ushered the girls into the pit. Lena first thought it wouldn't be half as bad, but as soon as she got into the knee deep mud, she started panicking in her head.
"Goodluck everyone." Louise said, as the cheerleaders walked away, leaving the recruits standing in the mud filled swamp of Forrest Green.
As soon as the seniors were out, some of the new girls hurried towards the forest of dead trees, trying to out run their competition. Linda wasn't bothered and walked at her own pace.
Lena was staggering. She literally had to drag her legs, one after the other, just to move.
"It would be better if you'd try walking, like pulling your leg out of the mud and so on, instead of doing that." Linda suggested when she saw Lena struggling.
She just looked at her coldly, but proceeded as Linda advised. She was right. It was a lot easier.
Deep in the woods, the new recruits decided to go on their separate ways. One of the girls found a less muddy trail, but a much darker path. One of them, decided to climb a tree, high enough so she could see where she needed to go. The other, after only 20 minutes alone, was near to tears, scared that she could be totally lost.
The howling of a lone wolf from a distance made it far more scary for the recruits.
"Damn it." Linda cursed, when she noticed that her flashlight's dying out on her.
She gave it a tap on her palm just to give the remaining battery juice a jumpstart, but she ended up smashing the flashlight's head to bits. She threw it away frustrated.
"Great." She murmured, standing in the middle of nowhere, alone in the dark.
Meanwhile, Lena got tired of "exploring." She found a dead tree lying on it's side and decided to take a break from it all. She sat comfortably, contemplating what has happened to her since she came to Leesburg.
"I need a freakin' smoke." She sighed.
Cora, a recruit sporting the red letter R on her chest, wandered farther into the swamp with a dying flashlight on hand. She had mud all over her back from losing her balance earlier. She even had some stuck on her hair.
"Happy thoughts." She told herself. "Think of happy thoughts."
From the darkness she heard a faint giggle.
"Who's there?" Cora asked.
The eerie laughter echoed again.
"It's not funny! Who's there?" She complained, shining her flashlight frantically everywhere.
No one answered. The other worldly giggle stopped too.
Cora continued braving the muddy pits by herself. She thought if her mom would find out what she's been doing just to get in a cheering squad, she would kill her. She wondered what her little brother Justin's been doing back home.
"Cora." Someone called out from the darkness. "Cora."
It was the same voice that was giggling earlier. It sounded like it was teasing her, making fun of her even.
"You guys I said it's not freaking funny!" She said as she turned around and saw who was standing behind her all along.
Cora wanted to scream but she couldn't. She stood there frozen in utter shock. She dropped her flashlight on the mud as the light slowly died out…
Linda on the other side of the swamp discovered one of the perks of being an alien with super powers. She found out that her eyes adjust easily in the dark and could see much better compared to normal humans. She was able to move around with ease without bumping into a rock or a dead bark of a tree.
As soon as she reached what seems to be the heart of the swamp, she started to feel weak. It was like energy was draining out of her body. She crashed forward, but was able to land on all fours. Linda crawled into the mud slowly, every inch of body aching like hell.
The more she moved forward, the more she felt like her energy's getting sucked out of her. She looked down on her chest and saw the bright red letter S on her chest that Nicole spray painted earlier. She felt utterly weak. She felt like she was dying.
Linda surrendered and lowered one side of her body on the muddy swamp. She no longer cared if mud would get in her face or hair. The pain she was under was too much.
It was only then that she noticed the glowing green rocks that surrounded the area.
"Meteor rocks." She thought to herself, eyes half closed.
She knew she was going to die. Somehow, the same meteor rocks that crashed on Leesburg with her, terribly weakens her, to the point that she could no longer move.
Linda remembered her parents, her mentor Zaltar and apologized to each of them for failing. She apologized for not being able to find her cousin Kal-El. She closed her eyes.
Lena was talking to herself while she was walking. She was calling herself stupid for ever wanting to be part of the squad and for letting Nicole and her skanks do this to her.
She shone her flashlight in front of her, and far ahead she saw a half naked figure of a girl lying on the muddy ground. Immediately she rushed towards the figure, kneeled on the ground, turned the girl and recognized it to be the Danvers girl. She was unconscious.
Lena stood up, tucked her flashlight under her left arm and dragged Linda with both hands towards a muddy clearing in the woods. She wiped the mud on her face and placed her head on a tree root to rest.
"Linda, Linda, " She asked, lightly patting her cheeks with her hand to wake her up. "Are you okay?"
Linda groaned as she slowly fluttered her eyes. She could feel her strength coming back slowly. Next to her she saw Lena Thorul.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Lena asked, concerned.
"I'm okay." She replied, sitting up. "I just probably got tired."
Lena gave her a weird look, "So you decided to take a nap on the ground?"
Linda shrugged, unable to come up with an excuse.
"Ugh!" Lena grunted standing up, looking around the place. "Now because of you, I might not make it to the squad. Your stunt just cost me a few minutes of my time."
Linda rubbed her temples.
"I bet we're the last ones here!" Lena continued bitching. "They're all probably celebrating on the other …"
A strong gust of wind went past both of them, cutting Lena's sentence off as she fell flat on her back on the mud.
"What the hell was that?" Lena inquired, furious. "Did you just push me?"
Linda, still sitting down, looked at her, like a deer in headlights.
"How can I push you when I'm sitting all the way here." She asked.
"I felt someone…something… pushed me." Lena insisted.
Before Linda could reply the gust of wind happened again and Lena found herself flying across the clearing and crashing hard on a tree. She landed on the mud with a thud and became unconscious.
"Lena!" Linda yelled and she struggled to stand up.
The gust of wind passed by her and it stopped. In front of her stood Louise Menken, one of the senior cheerleaders in the squad.
Linda noted blood trickling down Louise's tear ducts and out of her eyes. She furrowed her eyebrows at her, shocked and confused at the same time.
"I guess you won't be making it to the team after all." Louise commented with a sinister grin on her face.