Time passes.

More time passes.

Each day seems to blur into one, and it becomes hard for me to distinguish the past from the present and the present with the future.

Soon it's been almost 4 months since I've arrived and I can't believe I've survived.

But I'm strong, and getting better and better at everything I try.

~

"Let's go down," Abigail says, once all three of us have dressed and gotten ready for the new day.It's become a normal thing for me to sleep with Abigail and Hazel in their hut, instead of with my family. I only see them once or twice a day now, at lunch and dinner.

Although I don't see them much, they do seem happy enough here.

"Ok," I say. We head across the main bridge that links everything to the main platform in the middle of our hideout. We don't go down the stairs though, because a group of people has collected around the door that sits in the tree.

"What's up?" I hear Abigail ask one of the people when we reach the crowd.

"Our trainer has an announcement. We were just waiting for you guys to show up."

Someone tells the trainer, who's stationed at the front of our group, that we've arrived.

"I have a big announcement," He says with a wave of his hand. Everyone focuses their attention on him.

"You may or may not have heard of this yet, but the Belegian army has broken through Landion defenses."

A few gasps echo around the crowd and my stomach drops. Beleg has pushed further into Landion? 

"Landion has officially declared war on Beleg. Do you all know what this means?"

Nobody says anything.

"It means war could be upon us soon, and all of you must be ready. Ready for whatever you must do to prevent the utter destruction of Landion. And it also means training will get tougher. We- the cheif and I- will make cuts to the team we have assembled now. Only the best in the group will continue training, and the rest of you will be assigned to new jobs."

"N- new jobs?" A hesitant voice asks from somewhere in the crowd.

"New jobs," The trainer confirms. "Like hunting for food and getting new supplies. Oh- that reminds me... When we have decided who will be in the new training group, they will be moving away from this camp. So that they can train more and not have to worry about being stuck up in a tree all the time."

My stomach jumps up through my throat. If I could make it into that team... No, I tell myself with conviction. You have to. You will. You will make it on that team.

"Well then," The trainer says. "Let's start today with some fitness tests."

We all pile down through the tree, then to the ground floor.

"Everyone, you must try to keep up with me for as long as possible," The trainer says with a small grin. "If you feel like you can't go any longer, yell out your name and then you may stop. When you've caught your breath try to make your way back to the main tree. Got it?"

Everyone nods and my stomach does a little flip.

Get nervous, Elizabeth, I tell myself. It's the only way you'll be able to keep up longer than everyone else.

The adrenaline.

I take some short, nervous breaths to kickstart my adrenaline, then some long ones to try and fill my lungs up with the air I'm going to need.

"Set," The trainer says. Everyone goes quiet. Even the birds.

"Go!"

We all take off, following the trainer as closely behind as possible. I stay towards the back of the back so that I don't waste any energy. My plan would be simple- stay towards the back and stay consistent- when people start to drop off, still stay towards the back. When there are a few people left- still stay at the back. Then when everyone else is tired from trying to stay at the very front, I'll be able to hang on.

The only sound in the forest now is the monotonous crunching of our feet hitting the leafy ground and our gasping breaths.

I try to relax and shake out my arms, but the pace we're keeping is intense. I know I'm not the only one having a hard time.

Relax. Thump thump. Relax. Deep breaths. Relax.

"Abigail-" I hear Abigail say, barely audible between gasps of breaths. I look over at her from where she's running at my side. Her face is pale and beads of sweat roll down her forehead. She stops running and bends over to catch her breath.

Was she the first one to stop? I wonder. I stare focusedly on the mass of moving legs and feet in front of me and decide it's gotten noticeably smaller since we've started.

You're doing pretty well, Elizabeth, I think with a small smile. But don't get arrogant.... You're really far behind everyone training wise still. Plus, you're already out of breath...

I try to take deeper breaths, but it's getting harder and harder for me to stay relaxed.

Suddenly, the person right in front of me veers off to the right and kneels on the ground. "DC," He says loudly, then puts his hands on the ground and makes some gagging sounds which are soon out of earshot for me.

Now it's just me, the trainer, the oldest johnson boy and some other boy I can't fit a name to. I realize that I've outrun most of the boys and every girl.

Most of the boys and every girl... My heart jumps up into my throat. I can do this! I've already made it this far, why not a few more minutes? These guys ahead of me can't last for much longer, right?

Wrong.

Our pace is increased and I start to struggle to move my legs fast enough to even keep up. My breathing's ragged and there's a huge lump in my stomach that won't go away.

Focus on something happy... Forget the pain.

Happy.

What had made me happy since I've come here?

A faint image of a smiling boy with milky skin and prominent cheek bones comes to mind, but I can't remember the name to go with the face. All I remember is I'm not supposed to be thinking of this person, but I can't remember why.

Who?

I breathe raspingly and can't seem to get enough air, but I try to anyways.

Is?

My lungs burn.

That?

My vision becomes blurrier and blurrier.

My legs come to a halt before my mind registers what I'm doing.

"E-Elizabeth," I somehow yell out.

I collapse to my knees and put my hands on the soft and earthy ground. Black blotches spot my vision.

My throat has tightened and I have to focus all my energy into breathing.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Shakily, I push myself off the ground and take a few steps in the direction towards the main tree, but I have to stop lean on my knees before I can go any further.

Breathe.

Breathe...

"Elizabeth!" I look up from the leafy ground to see who called my name. "Elizabeth, you did so awesome!"

"Hazel," I say weakly with a small but exhausted grin. "How are you so energetic? You didn't run very hard, did you..?"

"Not really," Hazel says, walking over to me and patting me on the back."I don't really want to go to the training camp. I don't want to leave here."

"What?" I let out a raspy laugh. "Why not?!"

"I don't like violence, and uh..." Hazel looks around nervously to see who's nearby. A small group of guys that had dropped off earlier than I did is walking in our direction. "Um, look, I'll tell you tonight."

I raise an eyebrow but just nod.

~

The boy who I couldn't fit a name to won the race. I figured that out when a few people congratulated him after he outran the trainer, basically.

"Awesome job, Minho!" One of the older boys said when we all met back at the base of the big tree.

"Yeah, yeah! Good job!" Some othe boys join in. A few girls give him a hug in congratulations too.

Instantly, jealousy bubbles up into my stomach.

You should've pushed yourself harder, Elizabeth, I think angrily at myself. I stare down at the toes of my boots, which are scuffed and dirty. I kick my toes against the ground, angry and frustrated with myself.

You're fine now, arent' you? Yeah, you are. You wouldn't be if you pushed yourself hard enough.

Minho just smiles and nods like he knows how awesome he did.

I stare sceptically at him, trying to figure him out. But he's too hard to read so eventually I give up.

"I think you did well anyways," Hazel whispers to me as we start the long climb up the tree. "And Abigail thinks so too, even if she's a bit too jealous to admit it."

I laugh softly. "Thanks, Hazel." Then, trying to lighten the mood between us, I ask curiously, "What do you think we'll have for breakfast?"

"I don't know," Hazel says back, then lowers her voice. "I actually don't think we'll get to eat breakfast today..."

"What!?" I whisper back, trying not to let my voice get too loud. "But I'm starving!"

"I think that's the point," Hazel continues, "We're being tested on how well we'd survive by ourselves. Having food made for us isn't being self reliant."

"Oh. Do you think they'll make us catch it?"

"Who knows?"

"I hope we don't. There aren't really that many rabbits and stuff around here-"

I'm interrupted by the trainer, shushing everyone. "Good job," He says with a smirk. His eyes scour the crowd of sweaty, out of breath, dirty teenagers that stand before him. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I feel his eyes connect with mine for a split second. A jolt of electricity runs down my spine and I can feel the sweat on the back of my neck turn cold.

I shake the chilled feeling off and listen to what the trainer's continuing to say.

"You will not be eating breakfast next, as you may have guessed." A few whimpers and complaints sound from all directions. "Shush!" The trainer says. He holds up a hand. "You will not catch your food. You will just not eat today. This is also part of the test, so prepare yourself."

More boos and awws echo around the group. The crowd goes quiet after a few murmurs go around. Everyone wants to hear what we're doing next.

"You're next test is... Well, a test. It's a timed geography exam. Except you won't be writing anything down."

The atmosphere ripples in a mix of confusion and excitement- what, exactly, did this mean?

"You will be paired up with one other person based on your ability level and will have to complete this task together."

A few hushed voices sound but quickly quiet themselves.

"You will be entering Beleg for this test. You will enter Beleg and map out a small portion of the city with your partner and come back as soon as possible."

"Wh-what?" I can't help the words escaping my mouth. I can't believe how utterly stupid this man is! He wanted us, the rebel forces of Landion, to invade Beleg and put our whole cause at risk?

I feel anger bubbling up in my stomach. Who was he to tell us to do this?

Then all eyes turn towards me- ranging from curious eyes to disbelieving eyes that are asking me how I could question the authority standing in front of me.

I realize that the trainer is expecting me to speak, so I clear my throat and calm my racing heartbeat.

"You're telling us to walk straight into our enemy's city?" I finally manage to say, pleased that my voice doesn't sound as hysterical as I feel.

"Yes," the trainer replies calmly.

"And you have a plan if one of us gets caught?" I question, straightening up to my full height so that I feel more intimidating and confident that I actually am.

The trainer raises an eyebrow. "Are you that doubting of your teammates?" He asks.

"No," I answer confidently, "Just extremely doubting that you throwing us into our enemy's clutches is a good idea. If one person messes up, and you don't have a plan to save them, our whole cause is lost. And that means Beleg wins the war." I raise my eyebrow too and hope that I'm not making a total fool of myself.

The trainer sighs. "Okay. Anyone who has any doubts about getting caught may step forward and you'll automatically reassigned to a job tommorow morning."

I laugh internally. There was no way I'd step forward. I'm going to the new camp. I will be the one to go to the castle and assasinate the Prince of Beleg. Nobody else.

I see Hazel and a few boys I don't know step forward. Hazel glances at me and ducks her head, smiling, as if to say, good luck, I've got your back. There's an awkward silence that passes through the group like a breeze. We all wait a few seconds and another person steps forward. DC, I think his name is.

"Is that all?" The trainer asks. Nobody replies. "Okay," he says with a smug glance in my direction, "You guys can leave. Go eat breakfast." The group that stepped forward takes a few hesitant steps. I see a few of the boys glance back at us before they disappear into the tree that leads up to our camp.

"Now, the rest of you will be seperated into groups..."

~

I try to resist glaring at my new partner, but it's really hard. Apparently, the trainer assigned us partners based on our scores in the geography class. The higher scores go with the lower scores so the teams are equal. I was the top score, and, Minho was the lowest. It surprises me a bit because he was so fast and I automatically assumed that meant he was smart too.

"What?" Minho asks, looking at me earnestly.

"You're really the bottom of the class in geography?" I ask, rather annoyed.

"No," he says. "I'm pretty average in that class. The kids at the bottom just dropped out from the competition so I got bumped down."

"Oh," I say. A sudden thought crosses my mind and flies out my mouth before I can stop it.

"Hey, do you want to team up?" I bash myself over the head mentally as soon as it's out of my mouth. Now you look like a fool! Why would he team up with you?

"W-what?" He asks, a small smile flitting across his face. "You're joking, right?"

"Well," I say, thinking my way through what I had just said, "We're partners for this, we may as wll cooperate. Not only that, the trainer did say that more than one of us would go to the training camp. If we teamed up, we'd be pretty invincible. It'd be hard not to be the top two in the competition."

Minho mulls that over for a few seconds, then nods. "Sounds pretty good to me," He says.

"Okay then. Deal." We shake hands and exchange grim smiles. I can't help but feeling rather self concious shaking his hand.

He was just so gorgeous, and I was so plain.

But  I don't let that fear show, of course.

The trainer hands out our mapping supplies that we'll need for our test- map paper, a ruler and some nib pens. I'm surprised that we didn't get a pair of binoculars or something, but I figure those would be too bulky to carry around. We also get a small backpack to carry our supplies in, a stopwatch that runs on gears and a knife that fits in our belt perfectly. Just in case.

"Remember to start your watches," the trainer says. "You have three hours to get to Beleg, map out as much of the city as possible, and get back here. Now, is everyone ready?"

I look around at the groups around us and see that we actually have pretty stiff competition. The fact that I'd be the only one with good brains for the terrain makes me slightly uneasy. All the other teams are at more of an advantage because they are at a more equal thinking level.

Minho glances at me and mouths the words, You run, I'll follow. It takes me a few split seconds to realize what he means. Then I feel really stupid.

Of course! The one thing both of us have the other teams don't is our speed! Everyone else dropped out of the endurance test way before we did. Which meant we could get to Beleg a lot faster. Of course, that's assuming we don't get lost in the process. I try to recall in which direction Beleg would be in from the base of our hideout tree. Beleg was west of Landion, and we were South West of Beleg, in the mountains. Which meant we had to go down the mountains and to the North East.

Easy enough.

I glance upwards at the sun and mark which direction north is. I don't let my eyes stay focused in that direction for long, though, just in case some of my competitors noticed. I wouldn't want them getting any ideas.

"Set! Go!" We all start our stopwatches and I take off in and Eastward direction, hoping Minho's somewhere close behind me.

~

After running a few hundred meters east, I start feeling the burn in my legs from my hard effort earlier in the day. I can hear breathing behind me, so I slow down and wait for Minho to catch up.

"Hey," he says as he falls into stride next to me. "Got a plan?"

"Yup," I say, already struggling to keep my breathing even. "We're running East right now to throw whoever's following us off. Then we need to turn North for the same amount of time we went East," Here I take a gasp for breath, trying to keep my voice level, "Then we need to continue North East until we reach Beleg."

"Ok," Minho says.

We turn North after a few minutes after making sure nobody's followed us. The ground drops away into a steep, rocky hill which we jog down controlledly- not so fast that we wouldn't be able to recognize our surroundings- then we switch to a North East direction.

"This is a lot of thinking," Minho finally says once we've turned North East. "It's hard without a compass."

"Yeah," I reply, "But the sun's pretty helpful. But look, we're almost down to the bottom of the mountains." I check the stopwatch which I've held tightly in my hand this whole time. "And it's only been 15 minutes."

"That's pretty good," He says, "But we should probably allow a lot more time to go back up it. Half an hour at least." I nod and stop running.

"We should walk from here on," I say. "So we can map it out and not look so suspicious."

Minho chuckles but agrees. "Yeah, let's not look suspicious."