One afternoon, Katherine led us past the training field and the pool towards the obstacle course. The group lit up with excited whispers. Everyone had been wondering when we were going to try it out. The closer we got, the bigger the course seemed to get.

“I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before,” Spaz said, scratching his head.

“Probably, I was inspired by a TV show,” Katherine said. We came to a stop at the beginning of the course. “These obstacles will combine your strength and endurance with skill and technique. Don’t expect to be able to muscle through everything. So, who wants to go first?” Several hands shot into the air. “Kaine.” I groaned internally. I didn’t have my hand raised.

I jumped up the massive stairs to get to the first obstacle. I shook my hands out as I came onto the starting platform. If I fell, the whole team would see it.

The first obstacle was a pool of water. A handful of floating rubber pads formed an unstable path across it. I tried to step onto the first one and my foot sunk into the water. I dashed to the next, hopping my way across to the second platform. By the time I reached it, my feet were soaked.

“Woo! You made it!” someone cheered.

Now in front of me was a long stretch of cement. A perfect replica of a skyscraper’s exterior stood at the end. I estimated that it was at least four stories high. Since it was all smooth glass and steel, there were no places to grab it and climb. Was I supposed to jump?

I stepped back and then ran towards the wall. I fought to gain as much speed as I could. I must’ve hit fifty or sixty miles per hour. The wind roared at me. I jumped, soaring up and up. As the top of the wall approached, I grabbed it and swung my body over.

Suddenly, I shouted as I saw there was no platform to land on. Instead, there was a giant fire pit below. The heat baked my skin as I fell towards the flames. I panicked and reached for the fake skyscraper. My hands just slid over the glass. I tried to break a window to grab onto a steel beam, but I was falling too quickly to be able to grab anything.

“No! No! No!” I cried.

I squeezed my eyes shut and yelled in terror as I fell into the fire. I rolled around in a panic. I waited for the pain to strike, it would hit me any second now. I waited and waited. Shouldn’t it have started to hurt by now? How long did it take to burn?

I put my hand in front of my face and dared to crack open an eye. I thought my fingers were going to look like burnt hot dogs, but they were completely fine. My face contorted with confusion. I sat up and looked around. The flames were rolling over my clothes, but they weren’t burning, and neither was my skin. I pulled off a glove. I ran my hand back and forth through a flame. It felt like a warm silk scarf.

Katherine’s words rang through my mind. Tell me, have you ever been burned a day in your life? She was right! This whole time she was right! I was fireproof. Thankfully, so were my clothes.

“Have you lost your mind?! Why aren’t you trying to get him out?!” Lily yelled. I peered through the flames to see Katherine holding her back as she tried to get to me.

“I’m okay!” I said and got to my feet. I waved and laughed with relief. “I’m alright!” Lily stopped struggling and stared in awe.

I couldn’t resist strutting through the flames to the next platform. The third obstacle looked relatively easy; it was just a crazy set of monkey bars. The gap between each bar was about thirty feet. I had to jump to grab the first bar. I swung back and forth to build momentum, then threw myself towards the next one. As I caught it, I heard some kind of mechanism and the sound of something metal flying through the air.

“ACK!” I felt my arm flare with pain. I looked up to see a throwing star wedged into my forearm. I heard the mechanism again. I didn’t know from which direction I was being shot at. I started to swing to the next bar as another star ripped through part of my shoulder. I tried to grab the third bar, but slipped and fell into the pool of water below.

I climbed out of the cold water, gritting my teeth at the shuriken stuck in my forearm. It was in deep. Blood trickled down my sleeve. I grabbed the star and yelled as I pulled it out. A plume of red escaped. I unraveled the white cloth on my shin and wrapped the wound.

“Aw, tough luck,” Katherine said. “Who wants to go next?”

I wasn’t upset that I didn’t make it far. I was too excited about the fact that I could walk through fire unharmed. Lily came over to me.

“I can’t believe it!”

“I know, pretty cool, huh?” I said.

“See, I told you that you’d figure your powers out.”

Our eyes were drawn back to the course as Wolf started his run. He got past more obstacles than I did, but he was taken out by an unexpected blast of sleeping gas. Hot Stuff had to drag him off of the course. Castile couldn’t get his timing right to go through the swinging car pendulums. One threw him off of the course. There was a creaky floor Kavi wasn’t silent enough to cross. Spaz failed to get up a slide as a jet of water pounded against him. Lily had gotten the farthest. But when she faced the maze of netting and rope, she got tangled in a trap and had to be cut out.

Everyone was bumped and bruised. I’m sure we’d all been embarrassed when we failed. Despite our humiliation, everyone was in a good mood.

“How did you know I was fireproof?” I asked Katherine as we walked back to the training field.

“The ninja have an extensive list on bloodlines that carry the super genes. It’s how I found all of you,” she said. “The list tells us what abilities run in each bloodline so that when commanders assemble their teams, we have an idea of what kind of abilities we’re working with.”

“So you picked me because I’m fire proof?”

“It’s why I picked you off of the list,” she said. “But I chose to train you because you have a good heart.”

I pointed at Wolf. “What about that rotten egg? Why’d you pick him?”

She slapped my arm. “Be nice.”

“So my powers have been passed down to me, right?” I asked, and she nodded. “Is there something about my mom you’re not telling me? Has she been a ninja this whole time?”

She laughed. “I doubt that.”

“Well, then where did I get my powers? My grandma hates anything that’s hot and burns herself cooking all the time. Grandpa was a mattress salesman and complained when he had to walk more than two feet,” I said.

“Must’ve been from your father’s side,” she said and raised her hand. The practice sword Spaz was about to hit Castile with hovered just out of his reach. “How many times do I have to tell you? It’s not a toy!”

----------------------------------------

I grunted and squeezed my hand into a tight fist. I marveled at the mounds of muscle in my arm. I flexed my abs and smiled as I could see every tiny cut. I wasn’t as bulky as Castile, but I was definitely more shredded. Someone banged on the bathroom door.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“You’re making me nervous about having to go in there after you, mate!” Hot Stuff said.

“Uh, just a second!” I grabbed my mask from the counter top. My uniform covered me again. When I opened the door, Hot Stuff stood there with her hands on her hips. “Sorry.”

“Just tell me I’m not going to die if I walk in there?”

“You’ll be fine.”

I walked down the hall, passed through two sliding glass doors, and came into the house’s mini movie theater. Three rows of reclining chairs faced the large screen framed in red curtains. Stone slabs covered the other walls. The ceiling mimicked the night sky. Small lights twinkled like stars, and every so often a comet streaked across it.

Spaz played with his chair’s controls. He kept reclining and sitting up. “Can we watch Thor?” he asked.

“No,” Katherine said. She was busy trying to get a remote to work.

“What about after we do whatever you’re gonna do?” “Then it will be time for bed,” she said.

He threw his head back against his seat. “Ugh, you’re just like my mom!”

“And now I understand why she was so eager to ship you off without asking any questions,” Katherine whispered.

“What are we doing down here anyway?” Wolf asked.

“If I could just—” Katherine hit the remote against her hand. The projector came to life, and an image filled the screen. “Ha! Okay, sit down. We’re going to start going over strategy and survival skills.”

Spaz groaned. Lily jabbed his ribs. “Shut up already.”

“So you’re in the wilderness, all alone, with no way to call for help. What should you do next?” Katherine asked.

“You run to the nearest city,” Castile said.

“Oh! My father told me grandmother survived three years in the jungle eating termites and drinking her urine. She had to fight off a Bengal tiger with her bare hands!” Kavi said.

“That’s as ridiculous as your great grandfather designing and building both the Great Wall and the Great Pyramid,” Wolf said.

Kavi jumped to his feet so he could see Wolf over the seats. “Are you calling my father a liar?!”

“I’d be happy to believe what your dear old man said if you could provide even a shred of proof—”

“I told you the evidence was destroyed in a fire! There are no records anymore!”

“That seems convenient.”

Before Kavi could strangle Wolf, Katherine pushed him back into his seat. “You may be able to move faster than someone can blink, but you can only move so fast for a certain distance because you burn a huge number of calories. Plus, don’t forget the danger of dehydration. If you tried running from here to Canada in one go, you’re going to run out of fuel. You might even run yourself to death,” Katherine said. “Just like marathon runners, if you want to go further, you need to take in fuel and water.

“But in this scenario, you have none of those things. So, Kavi’s story may be a bit stretched, but it shows great survival skills.

Eating bugs and drinking urine could buy you another day to live. However…”

Katherine must’ve gone over a thousand deadly plants and insects. When she finished with that, she moved on to building shelters and treating injuries. I tried to remember it all, but it was like trying to gather a bunch of sticks. I could only hold so much before I dropped something.

Lily offered me some paper and a pen. I was able to jot down a couple of points, but I couldn’t write fast enough before Katherine said something else I thought would be useful to add. The pages were filled with one extremely long, scribbled paragraph.

When bedtime rolled around, my brain was worn out. I fought to hang on to the information Katherine had given to us. Daphne berries are fatal. After having a tourniquet on for more than an hour, the blood can become toxic. I worried that by morning it would all be wiped from my memory.

Meanwhile somewhere in Utah…

Camp Fit for Life looked nothing like the pictures on the camp brochures. There was no budget to maintain the once pristine grounds. The cabins’ roofs were worn and wilted. The walking trails were overgrown. Signs were crooked and faded. The gym was an old indoor basketball court with fitness machines from the 1980s. Even the lake had dried up.

Not that it mattered now. The camp was quiet. The last light in the cabins had just turned off. The campers were probably deep into dreaming about sitting on the couch with their computer. The floodlights that kept the darkness from the paths between the cabins seemed to be the only sign that the camp was in use.

Inside the administration building, Bill sat on his squeaky throne, sipping a fresh brew of coffee, and watched the screens in front of him. The three monitors displayed various areas around the camp. He rubbed his burning eyes. He’d gotten stuck with night duty for four days in a row. It was his job to make sure campers were sleeping soundly and that no animals wandered onto the property. Most nights there was nothing to see other than a lone raccoon trying to find a snack.

Bill struggled to stay focused. This wasn’t a job for the ordinary camp counselor. He wasn’t like that other guy, Lawrence, who used this time to catch up on sleep. No, he was like a majestic owl, a night hunter, waiting for his prey to make a stupid move.

He stared hard at the screens and finally, he saw something. It looked like a dark blur sweeping around the corner of a cabin. He switched to camera nine’s view. Sure enough, he spotted a kid, dressed in all black with a creepy Halloween mask. He didn’t recognize the mask. It was probably from some new scary movie he hadn’t seen yet.

“Hah, we got a live one folks,” Bill said and jumped out of his seat. He straightened his baseball cap and hiked up his shorts. Oh, man, did Bill live for nights like these when he could bust the troublemakers. It made him feel real powerful and in control.

He jogged out towards cabin three. He circled the building and saw no sign of the perpetrator. He heard shuffling from inside. Trying to sneak back into bed already I bet. The cabin door was cracked open. He shoved it aside and flicked on the light.

“What’s going on in here?!” he said in his most intimidating tone.

The teenager he’d seen on camera froze. Now that they were all in the light, he got a better look at the mischief-maker. The hood on their sweater had fallen back and revealed long blonde hair. He was surprised to see that it was a girl. She huddled over one of the sleeping boys. Bill figured she was trying to scare him.

“You know the rules young lady!” he said, making sure to point his finger at her.

“What the heck?” the sleeping boy said. He rolled over, and his blanket fell from his head. He shook when he saw the girl beside him. The other boys in the cabin woke up and looked around in confusion. Some of them wanted to laugh that a girl had snuck into their cabin, but they were petrified by the mask on her face.

The girl’s body tensed and shook with anger as she looked around. Maybe she’d snuck into the wrong cabin? She stomped towards the door. Bill immediately stood in her way.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

She grabbed his shirt, and Bill was about to boil over with anger. What did this camper think she was doing?! Before he had a chance to speak, he found himself flying into the wall. He hit it with a hard whack and fell to the floor. The boys all screamed while she disappeared outside.

Bill held the back of his head. How’d she do that? Not even a fullgrown man had the strength to fling him around like a toothpick. He was shaking alright, but he gathered his courage. He went outside to confront her again.

When he did, Bill saw that the camp was under attack. There were others like her, dressed all in black with the same terrifying masks, and they were moving through the cabins. He watched in terror as they threw beds and dressers like they weighed nothing. The strangers broke down doors as they searched every inch of the camp. Kids were screaming and running in every direction. Occasionally, one of the intruders would grab a boy and turn him around to see his face.

“What do you people think you’re doing?!” Another counselor yelled. Bill wanted to warn Linda, but it was already too late. One of the masked men punched her hard enough to knock her out cold.

A hand grabbed the back of his neck. Despite the glove on their hand, he could feel their icy fingers. The cold stung his skin. Bill was pushed back towards the side of a cabin, turned around, and pinned there helplessly. Now he could see it was the blonde girl again.

“Who are you people?!” he whimpered.

She ignored him. She reached into her sweater’s front pocket and pulled out a picture. He was too scared to get a good look at it. He just wanted to run and call for help. This must’ve been some terrorist group.

She moved in close. Only a few millimeters separated Bill from that freaky mask. All he could see were two black holes where there should’ve been eyes. Shouldn’t there be eyes? Why aren’t there any eyes?

“Where is he?” She hissed and shoved the picture against his face.

Her voice under any other circumstance might’ve been pleasant, beautiful even, but it was full of anger. It wasn’t like the anger someone got when waiting in line at a grocery store, or when getting cut off in traffic. Bill imagined it was the pure hatred someone felt right before squashing a roach. He got the sense that she would love to snuff out his existence.

“I…I…” He struggled to speak. She waved the picture in front of him. Finally, as he realized his life depended on it, he chose to get a real look at it. It was a chubby teenage boy with glasses. The face wasn’t familiar to him at all. He shook his head. “We don’t have a camper who looks like that here.”

The girl punched a hole through the wall beside Bill’s head, and it splintered to pieces under her strength. He could hear the whole cabin strain to remain standing. “Don’t lie to me!”

“Oh, god! I swear I’m not! That kid isn’t here! Just leave us alone!” he cried.

One of the girl’s buddies came up behind her and waited. She let go of Bill and he sunk to the ground. He hugged his knees as tears fell from his eyes.

“No sign of him,” the man said.

“They must’ve used a decoy. The boy is still with her,” the blonde girl replied.

“We failed.”

“Failure is not an option,” she said in a threatening tone. “We will just have to find another way.”

“How?”

“We will draw them out.” She turned to Bill and crouched down. He shook, silently begging for her to leave him alone. “Starting with this camp.”

“What do you want us to do?”

“Burn it,” she said. Bill was about to protest, but a crushing weight fell on his head.

Everything went dark.