Chapter 12, Fighting through the obstacle course

As Sergeant Boone's whistle blew, Frank fought to keep himself from throwing up.

He'd barely managed to stay aware of his surroundings with his migraine all morning, only remembering pieces of the day outside of the throbbing pain that surrounded his brain on all sides.

He remembered Joe finding a way to make him eat, failing to find their two friends anywhere they went, and Sergeant Boone's words…

'Winner gets phone privileges.'

Phone privileges. Something they needed more than anything else right now. To be able to talk to their dad every night and get information from him as well, could be priceless.

It was worth enough that Frank fought against his migraine even more to be present in his surroundings. The icy cold flakes of snow that fell in his hair and eyelashes helped that as well. The biting cold sending shockwaves to his system.

His stomach turned with nausea as he glanced over at Joe and John. They both wore the same look of exhausted determination as soon as those words left Boone's mouth.

All three of them, worn down but not beaten yet.

Sergeant Boone's shrill whistle sent stabs of agony through Frank's skull, he almost bent over and threw up on the spot.

But the others, all rushing forward around him, had him swallowing down the bile.

It was like a stampede of angry, desperate bulls. Boys kicking up the grass and dirt on all sides of Frank in their intense rush forward to the obstacle course. Frank was in a tunnel of pain and a slightly blurry vision, watching the boys rush forward like he was in a slow motion movie.

Stunned by pain, it wasn't until he felt Joe's hand tug softly on his arm, that he blinked and looked into his little brother's worried, desperate, icy blue eyes.

"Frank you ok?" He rushed out, the worry thick in his voice.

Frank felt awful, both physically and emotionally. But especially awful with how worried he was making Joe. He took some deep breaths.

"Yeah I-"

"Hurry up!" Some random snowflake yelled at the two of them with anger in his voice, "We're going to lose because of you two!"

The brothers rushed forward, standing by John's side even as he glared daggers at the rude snowflake, shutting him up instantly.

"We have the safety for now of the wooden wall." Another snowflake explained, "But after we get over this wall, we'll be on the same side as the seniors. And they're going to be ruthless…" He gulped in fear.

"Who cares?!" Another snowflake growled, "I want those phone privileges, maybe if I have my phone I can finally convince my cousin to get me out of this hell hole. We get up and over this damn wall, and then everyone over that finish line, if it's the last thing we do!"

The boys all cheered and whooped. Finally, finally all united in a common goal, not one group against another, or everyone keeping their distance from the brothers and their friends.

Finally, they had no choice but to work together.

"Enough talk." John yelled over the cheers. "Quit celebrating! The seniors are already halfway over the wall!"

The snowflakes, eyes wide, looked over to see John was right. Over at the adjacent wall, the seniors were climbing on each other's shoulders and pulling each other up, and over the tall wall. After the two walls, the course converged into one. As one snowflake said, this was their only safe area on the entire course.

Briefly, very briefly, Frank made eye contact with the green clothed leader of the seniors, who was being lifted by the others over the wall. He didn't even need to put in any effort like the others had. It was as if the other seniors were working for him, a wave in an ocean lifting and moving a boat with no effort from the boat itself.

When they met eyes Frank felt suddenly more awake. He'd never seen such darkness in anyone's eyes before. It was like a window into a cold-hearted soul, making Frank almost unnaturally afraid.

He shook himself off and spoke up as a leader through his pain.

"We need to do what they're doing." His voice was shaky but strong, and he saw Joe's surprise in seeing him step up when he'd been so out of it the rest of the morning. "We need to lift one of our strongest to the top first, and leave the other strongest boys on the bottom until the end. So we can have one person help lift, and the others support from the bottom."

To his surprise, no one argued with him. But to his chagrin, it was Madson that was chosen to be lifted up first since he was broad and strong.

Frank hated the bully for hurting his little brother still, even if that black eye he'd given Joe was starting to heal with several ugly colors surrounding his eye in deep colored bruises.

They all lifted Madson with effort, Frank knowing he wouldn't soon forget the smell of sweat and unshowered stink that came from the boy as he did his part in lifting, blinking through the pain throbbing behind his eyes.

Once Madson was at the top, they quickly helped lift and hoist other boys up, who would grab onto Madson's hands and use their feet to try and scramble up the side even as the others pushed them.

After several of the 'weaker' boys had been lifted up, it was time to start with the stronger bodied boys, and it was quickly determined that Joe would go next.

Joe, who was still shooting Frank worried glances every once in a while, didn't argue when he was pushed forward to go next, and made an obvious choice (at least to Frank) to let others help lift him and try not to let Frank carry too much of his weight.

Normally he'd probably go straight to Frank to help lift him, and usually Frank would be a bit annoyed at Joe's obvious lack of relying on Frank's strength in this situation, but now, his migraine was so bad he couldn't help but be relieved to just have to support Joe's side as a few others hoisted his little brother up.

That is until Madson gripped onto Joe's arms tightly, but didn't make any effort to help lift him up.

"What the hell, Madson?!" Joe cried out, trying to get up the wall without the support of Madson, but failing with how tightly Madson was gripping onto him, keeping him in place.

Frank scowled at the bully, but Madson wasn't even looking in his direction.

"This is for last night, asshole." Madson sneered, then promptly let Joe go, and disappeared over the other side of the wall.

With a yelp, Joe fell, his knees rubbing against the side of the wall roughly, before the other boys, including Frank, scrambled to stop him from falling on his butt entirely.

What did Madson mean about 'this is for last night'?! Frank thought, as he grabbed onto his brother with the others and helped him gain his footing again. He compartmentalized that question to ask Joe later.

Joe had new, nasty looking friction burns on his knees from rubbing them so harshly against the wood, but looked otherwise ok.

"Joe, you ok?" Frank looked over his brother, as other boys cursed and fumbled over Madson's stupidity.

Joe nodded, looking at Frank fondly, but with a new haunted look in his eyes. Just what the heck had happened last night…?

"I'm fine." He assured.

"Come on back up!" One of the boys from the top yelled down to Joe, "A bunch of us will help lift." He pointed to himself and a few other smaller boys.

With no time to worry any longer, they continued, and this time Joe was able to be hoisted up, and began helping others to get up as well.

Frank was one of the next ones up, and John, then finally all of them were up and over…

To see the seniors just standing there waiting for them.

Frank didn't know what he expected, but it definitely wasn't this. Instead of seeing the seniors making their way across the metal monkey bars or even beginning to crawl through the mud pit, he only saw two people on the converged obstacle course.

Madson… and one other senior… who was behind him and rapidly approaching him. Before anyone could yell out a warning, the senior swung himself forward, and instead of grabbing onto another bar, he hurtled himself into Madson! Who cried out in surprise, lost his grip, and sent the both of them flying to the ground in a tumbled mess.

Snowflakes cried out, the seniors sneered wild grins, and that's when Frank saw it.

Leo Adams, amongst the crowd of seniors, the only one not smiling. His eyes looked wild, cloudy.

And then, the seniors were rushing towards them…

"GO, GO! GO!" John cried, as a few snowflakes were tackled to the ground where they stood, stunned.

Before Frank could contemplate further on the seniors obvious attacks or the appearance of Leo Adams he'd been too out of it to notice earlier, Joe was pulling him forward, his own terrified wild eyes urging them forward, up a series of ladders taking them to a platform to start swinging across the wide monkey bars.

With shaky hands, Frank and Joe, and several other stronger snowflakes who'd managed to outrun the senior's attacks, started swinging forward with vigor, grabbing onto bars and propelling themselves forward.

They tried to ignore the cries of snowflakes in wrestling matches or just being beaten up below them, and the other seniors rapidly approaching them from behind.

"What are they playing at?!" John yelled over to them, thankfully also having managed to outrun the seniors, but just barely. "Why aren't they trying to win?"

"These seniors are crazy, man!" A redheaded snowflake yelled, and then in horror, the three friends watched as he was tackled from behind, another senior jumping on his back. He screamed as he fell down with the wicked boy.

Thankfully, the monkey bars weren't terribly high up like the cliffs were, but still, those who were tackled down to the ground from behind looked to be in pain after they fell.

Frank saw the look in Joe's eyes, his huge heart causing him to stop and stare for a second, fear and empathy in his eyes for the boys struggling below them.

"Joe." Frank tried, knowing they had to keep going. "Joey."

Joe's eyes shot to him, unshed tears not falling.

"We have to keep going!" He urged.

In front of them, a few snowflakes made it to the other platform and started descending to the mud crawl, and behind them, seniors were getting closer.

Frank was running on pure adrenaline now, his heart racing along with his throbbing head.

"Come on!" John yelled to them, having made it a bit past them in their halt.

Joe nodded, and they continued. Just as they made it to a platform, they saw snowflakes from the ground, beaten up but standing to try and keep going… and they saw the green clothed leader, surrounded on all sides by others like his bodyguards, casually swinging across the bars towards them.

Some snowflakes on the ground, didn't get up, just laid there unconscious, as the seniors who'd attacked them made their way across the monkey bars now too.

Something was wrong with the seniors. Very, very wrong.

John was right, they were going through the actual course so casually, and spending all their energy on beating up or defeating the snowflakes.

Clearly, it wasn't their objective to actually win. And for the life of him, Frank couldn't figure out why.

Just as they got to the ground and onto their hands and knees to start the mud crawl, John was grabbed from behind by a senior.

Frank and Joe lunged forward, yanking John from the seniors grasp, and they hustled forward as quickly as they could.

Chests, legs and arms pressed into the mud, they scurried forward.

Frank felt the mud enter his mouth, splatter against his face, burn his eyes, but he kept going, unable to keep a great eye on the others as they passed by a few people wrestling in the mud, a few boys choking on the wet filth as they were pushed into the ground.

Above them, the snow fell heavier still.

Finally, Frank got through the mud crawl and furiously wiped the mud from his face and eyes. John was next to him… but Joe…

"Aaah!" Joe cried out, choking and gagging as he wrestled with a bulky senior just at the end of the mud pit.

"JOE!" Frank cried out, and without thinking, went head first in a tackle, throwing himself on the senior holding Joe down.

Shortly after, John joined him too.

There was a few minutes of awkward wrestling before John roared, hit the side of the senior's face with such force that he fell stunned to the side.

Grasping Joe to his chest, Frank hauled the two of them out of the danger zone, and the three friends sat panting together for just a minute, Joe briefly burying his face in Frank's chest in shock as they wheezed, catching their breaths.

"C'mon! C'mon!" John urged after a minute, they looked back and saw the leader of the seniors getting ever closer still, casually crawling through the mud as if it was a walk through the park.

On the sides of the course, the counselors and sergeants laughed.

The three friends scrambled up, running over to the rope climbing structure that had a platform with pull-up bars at the top. Up there, several boys were wrestling over the bars, and a few snowflakes had completed it, making their way down the poles to the final length of the course.

The finish line was in sight, but at this point, Frank had no idea if they would win. Did they all need to cross the finish line? If so, then even with the casual pace of the seniors, they wouldn't win. Several boys were just now stirring from unconsciousness back at the start of the race.

But Sergeant Boone hadn't mentioned the whole team needed to get across… so there was still a chance!

Frank held onto that hope, and the adrenaline and fear of them getting out of this relatively unscathed, to help propel the three of them forward.

They grasped the climbing ropes that went up several feet taller than them with their worn down hands, and used their dwindling strength to climb as quickly as they could.

Thankfully they didn't seem to be the current targets of any close by seniors, most of them had scrambled ahead and were after the snowflakes on the final stretch, or were wrestling with others on ropes nearby.

For just this little stretch of course, they were ok, and scrambled to the top relatively easily, with just a few near slips that had their hearts dropping, but quick saves.

With no one after them for the time being, they took just a few minutes to breathe.

"This is wrong. Something is really wrong here." John gasped in breath. All three of them were hunched over, catching their breaths. "The seniors are going to kill us! They're not even trying to win!"

"Something tells me they have another objective here, entirely." Joe wheezed, grasping onto Frank's arm to help straighten him up. "And… this is just showing me, we're running out of time."

Both Frank and John knew Joe wasn't talking about running out of time to win the obstacle course race.

Now they knew, he was talking about the mystery, the case… the chance of getting them out of here alive.

They were running out of time.

But they couldn't take anymore time to talk, other seniors were starting to get close to the top of the ropes.

A sign next to the pull up bars stated they had to do 20 pullups to be able to move on, and the sergeants watching carefully from below with binoculars, showed they wouldn't be able to get away with not doing just that.

So Joe and John grasped onto the pullup bars, sadly only one wide bar that only fit two of them at a time, and groaned and grunted through pullups. Much slower than they normally would if they hadn't already been through hell on the course up until this point.

Joe glanced over to Frank with concern as he barely managed to get through his 10th pullup.

"Don't worry Joe, I'll go right after you." He said, with the end of the course coming near, his migraine was starting to thoroughly kill him, the nausea in his body burning the back of his throat with bile.

He took this opportunity to try and breathe through the immense pain and sickness he felt. Worse than anything he'd ever felt before.

Breakfast from earlier, having managed to give him enough energy until now, but threatening to come back up.

"Fr-frank." Joe sounded worried for him… no, scared… as he gave into the nausea and threw up all over his shoes.

"Frank!" Joe cried out to him, Frank felt miserable, dizzy, and hot with pain.

"FRANK! LOOK OUT!"

A body, strong but lean, barreled into his side, sending stars through his vision as he fell to the ground of the platform.

Groaning in pain, Frank barely had the time to look up and see the senior's leader smiling maliciously at him, before he was pushed over, and off the side of the high platform.

His eyes shot open wide, and instincts took over, he grasped the side of the platform, just barely managing to grasp onto the sides with one bleeding hand, and one super shaky one.

Bleeding? Oh man, his stitches must've come loose.

He only had a second before the senior leader was prying his fingers off, one by one, ready to let him fall just like Brandon had, so, so far down.

"AARRGGHHH!" Joe screamed, and Frank looked up to see Joe and John, behind a wall of bodyguard seniors stopping them from getting too close.

With Joe's yell, and tears streaming down his face, he tackled two seniors at once, and they got into an intense battle of punches and kicks on the floor.

Frank's eyes slipped back over to his attacker, just as he saw John slipping his way through thanks to Joe's distraction…

But it was too late, despite Frank's best efforts, the senior leader pried his last few fingers off their death grip of the side of the platform, and Frank had a heartstopping moment of fear as he fell…

But then two strong hands grabbed onto him with a grunt, and yanked.

John. He'd lurched forward, grasped onto Frank's arms with both hands, and was quickly sliding forward himself, having nothing else to hold him up.

Frank and John met eyes in fear, as they slipped… feeling this was it, this was going to hurt, a lot.

But out of the corner of his eyes, Frank saw the leader smirk, and slink away, motioning for the others to follow him.

And right as John was about to fall off himself, there was Joe.

All beaten up, crying, but grabbing onto John's legs with strong arms and yanking them back, hard. So hard that John was back into a safe spot, and Joe was able to come help pull Frank up with him.

They pulled Frank up and Joe crashed into Frank with a strong hug, sobs catching his breath as he grappled at Frank's shirt with his hands, full body shaking.

"Joe, Joey, Joe." Frank soothed, "I'm ok, I'm alright."

The leader senior and his bodygaurds slunk away in the shadows, retreating back for some unknown reason.

Again to his surprise, John joined their hug, grasping at them tightly. And the three boys held each other like a lifeline for a few minutes, Joe crying, unable to find words.

They sat there until other snowflakes showed up, supporting each other up the ropes, and yelling at them to keep going.

"The seniors are retreating! They're retreating!" One yelled, not so nicely nudging at them to get up.

"Joey, come on." Frank whispered in his brother's ear, as Joe started to calm down, "We have to keep going."

All three friends were covered in mud, blood, and even to Franks disgust, some of the contents of his stomach, but they got up.

Joe wouldn't look him in the eyes, but he supported Frank as they finished their pullups, slowly with the other boys, some boys even lifting others up and cheating on the pullups.

But no rule stated they couldn't do that.

Finally, as they slid down the pole one by one, and started to make their way hobbling through the tire run, snowflakes supporting snowflakes, as real snow fell heavily now on their sweaty skin, and the seniors strangely stood to the side, watching… just watching…

It all became too much. Frank's vision was so blurry now, and his friend and brother practically dragged him forward as he felt like his feet were made of rubber.

They just crossed the finish line, and heard Sergeant Boone yell out their victory…

When Frank's eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell into unconsciousness.