Recruits (New Haven Book 1), page 19
“What are those for?” Will asked, standing near the entrance with the orange flag. Lucky guy. He got to go first.
“They unlock these,” SO Martin said, holding up a pair of cuffs. He looked similar to SO Clark in his strong and tough build. The only differences were that he had brown hair, his eyes were a darker shade of blue, and he was cleanly shaven.
“Wait, we have to wear cuffs, too?” Will asked.
“Yes,” SO Martin said, his tone not inviting more questions.
“Once your cuffs are unlocked,” SO Clark said, “remove them, clip them onto your shoulder strap, and return to the surface.”
RL Steven handed out the maps and compasses to the teams who were at the flags.
“There’s one more thing.” SO Clark paused, waiting for everyone’s attention. “Each tank only has thirty minutes of oxygen in them. Although, this time can be lessened if you breathe too fast. Make sure you breathe calmly and evenly, so you may get your full thirty minutes out of it. If at any point you want to remove yourself from the challenge, there’s a red button on the back of your compass. If you press it, it will alert us, and we’ll immediately come get you.”
“Any questions?” SO Martin asked. If anyone had a question, it didn’t matter. The look on his face told us not to ask.
As the first group of teams were looking at their maps, a vehicle pulled up towing a trailer with a few small motorboats on them. It stopped close to the shore.
Six guys, who looked as every bit as intimidating as SO Clark and SO Martin, jumped out, unloaded the boats, and put them on the edge of the lake. Two guys got in the first boat, two in the second, and two in the third. Apparently, they were our search and rescue team.
Luke, Tina, Eric, and I sat on the ground and watched the teams go. After the first group finished, the men out on the boats jumped in the water to replace all the keys. As Will walked past us after he had changed, I stopped him.
“How was it?” I asked Will.
He smiled at me. “Pretty nice, actually. It’s beautiful down there.”
“Was it easy?” Luke asked.
Will shrugged. “If you can memorize the coordinates, you’ll do fine.”
“That seems easier said than done,” Eric said with a small laugh.
“You guys will do great,” Will said. “Good luck!”
I laughed on the inside. “Thanks.” I had a feeling that I needed a lot more than luck.
Theo and Simon went in the second group and ended up having to press their button during the challenge. SO Clark and SO Martin didn’t look too happy about it and neither did Simon when they came back to shore. Theo, of course, still had a smile on his face.
With his shoulders slouched and his face defeated, Simon wandered over to RL Steven and wanted to look over the coordinates again. Even though they couldn't go back out, he wanted to see where he'd gone wrong. Theo stood by him the whole time, giving him words of encouragement and support. It didn't look like Simon noticed, though.
Then it was group three’s turn. Eric and Luke made it in record time. For how much they didn’t like each other, they sure worked well together. Thunder Thighs and Skinny were also in their group. They came out fighting, but they still finished. I caught part of their conversation as they passed by us.
“Did you need to swim so fast?” Skinny asked, tugging at her hair.
Thunder Thighs glared at her. “I had to make up for lost time since you took so long to remember your coordinates! It was only a couple of numbers, Angela!”
“I couldn’t think straight with your piercing gaze on me, Rachel!” Skinny started to hyperventilate.
“I wouldn’t have to look at you like that if you’d just do something right for once!” Thunder Thighs kicked at the pebbles on the ground, sending them flying in the air. A few of them hit Skinny in the legs.
“Ouch!” Skinny shoved Thunder Thighs with all her might, which wasn’t much. It ended up being more of a gentle prod.
Thunder Thighs opened her mouth to say something but then saw RL Steven staring at them. She snapped her mouth shut and walked as far away from Skinny as she could go.
Once group five entered the water, everything started to sink in. I lay down on the ground and closed my eyes, a bunch of questions forming in my head. How were they going to do it? Say I cheated? Would I be able to prove I didn't?
Someone lay down next to me on my right. I turned my head and opened my eyes to see Eric lying beside me.
“How are you doing?” Eric asked, taking my hand.
“Anxious. I just want this over with.” I sighed and tried my best to keep calm.
Tina lay down on the other side of me. “I wish there was something we could do. But what?”
“We could make a big scene and try to get us eliminated, too,” Eric said.
“What’s the point of that?” I asked. “We don’t know what they’re going to do with me. You guys don’t need to be sentenced to a crappy life, too.”
Eric squeezed my hand. “You don’t deserve it either, Emmie.”
“Maybe it won’t be that bad,” Tina said. “Maybe VP Oliver and your mom will be able to help in some way.”
I laughed a little. “Yeah, maybe. But once President Randall has his mind set, there’s no changing it.”
“What are you guys talking about down there?” Luke asked. He stood over us, looking down at us like we were crazy.
“Our dreams in life,” Tina said.
Luke narrowed his eyebrows. “I highly doubt that. Unless you have horrible dreams. You all look like someone died.”
Something could potentially die. My hopes and dreams of one day being in management and trying to fix River Springs. I needed to make sure that didn't happen.
“Group six!” SO Clark shouted. “You’re up!”
“Here goes nothing,” I said, standing up.
After we changed, Tina and I went to SO Clark to get our breathing equipment on. We both held onto our goggles and flippers, waiting to put them on until right before we entered the water.
“Steven, I need two more tanks,” SO Clark said to him.
RL Steven had to hustle to bring over the tanks. By the look in his eyes, he was trying to impress the men. But by the sweat on his brow and the tightness in his jaw, it was a struggle for him. He handed a tank to SO Clark and he strapped it on Tina’s back. Then RL Steven handed him the other one and SO Clark strapped it to my back. It didn’t feel as uncomfortable as I thought it would.
SO Clark held up the mouthpiece. “This is a mouthpiece. Stick it in your mouth and breathe.” He held up a gauge that was attached to the tank. “This will tell you how much air you have left. As you can see, the arrows are pointed at full. If it gets in the red zone, you only have a few minutes left, so I would suggest getting out of the water.”
After SO Clark’s instructions, RL Steven assigned us to the purple flag. We went over to our flag and waited.
RL Steven finally came over and handed us our map and compass. “Key number one will be for Tina to retrieve and key number two will be for Emmie. Either of you can retrieve the third key, which opens the container. Tina, your key will be purple with a green dot, and Emmie your key will be purple with a blue dot. When you get to the container, you'll notice a keyhole on each side of it. There will be a green dot above one and a blue dot above the other, letting you know which one you need to use. Do you understand your instructions?”
“Yes,” Tina and I both answered.
RL Steven tied a pouch around each of our waists. “Put the artifacts you find in these. Each one should be near a key, so keep your eyes peeled.” He looked at me, his expression serious. “Good luck.”
“Uh, thanks,” I said.
It made me wonder if he knew that this could be my last challenge in Recruitment. I hoped my family and VP Oliver would pull through.
If not, I'd find my own way. I always did.
T ina and I studied our map. I memorized the coordinates to my key and the box and Tina memorized the coordinates to her key and the third key.
“Ready for some flippers and goggles?” Tina asked, holding hers up.
“You know it,” I said, putting my flippers on.
As Tina did the same, I looked over at Eric. He gave me a small smile and a wave. I smiled in return, but my heart hurt. In mere moments I would start my last challenge as a Recruit. Surprisingly, the thought made me sad. It also made me more determined.
A couple of minutes later, SO Clark came over and strapped on our cuffs, and then signaled that we could start. Tina and I put on our goggles, put in our mouthpieces, and entered the water.
As we dove, warm water surrounded me. The crystal-clear water made it easy to see where we were going. Unfortunately, we were wearing cuffs, making it difficult to swim. It was all leg work.
We swam over to the first key. An anchor was propped up against a rock, the key attached with a rope. Tina handed me the compass and pulled at the rope, trying to untie it. As she worked, I searched around for the first artifact. A cluster of rocks sat nearby, so I swam over, moving them around. No luck.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something barely sticking out from the mud below. I dove deeper and dug around the object. It turned out to be an old radio that you would find on a boat. Opening my pouch, I pushed the radio in and sealed it back up.
Tina had finally got the key undone. She held up her purple key with the green dot and gave me a thumbs up.
I used the compass to get us to my key. The anchor lay flat on the ground, so some of the rope was underneath it. I tried to pull the anchor up to make it easier to untie, but it was too heavy. No matter how hard I worked at the rope, it wouldn’t budge. I took out my mouthpiece and used my teeth to loosen it enough for me to use my fingers.
Tina had looked around while I undid the key. When she came back, I couldn't tell what she'd retrieved, but the only thing that mattered to me was that she had it.
With my key in hand, Tina steered us toward the last key. Luckily, this key was tied to an anchor leaning against a rock like Tina’s first one had been. We both took turns working at the rope until it finally broke free. Tina grabbed the key and we searched for another artifact.
Wreckage from a ship sat a few yards away. Tina and I moved the debris around, trying to find our last object. As I pulled up some old, wooden boards, I saw a sextant. Smiling, I picked it up and showed it to Tina. The only reason I even remembered the name of it was because of a boy in my class who kept laughing every time our teacher said the word. Placing it in my bag, we set off for the box.
We were almost to the coordinates when I noticed a ship on the bottom of the lake. From the rust covering the exterior, it had been down there for ages. I pointed at it, trying to indicate to Tina that the box should be inside. She nodded in understanding. As we got to the top of the ship, there was an opening that would take us down inside.
I went through the hole first and followed the stairs down. They led us into a hall. Still using the compass as my guide, I went down the hall, passing a few rooms. When I got to the third door on the left, the coordinates indicated that was the room we needed.
The clear container sat in the middle of the room. A piece of metal lay on top of the container to keep it from floating away.
Rectangular in shape, the metal had an arm on the left and right side of it. The arms connected to the floor of the ship. I examined it and noticed that the arms were being held by a latch. There was a lock inserted through the latch so you couldn’t lift it. The bottom of the lock had a green dot. I pointed at Tina and then pointed at the lock, telling her it was hers.
The lock on the other side had the blue dot. Tina gave me a nod and we both inserted our keys, turning them at the same time.
A metal cuff shot up from the ground and clamped my wrist down. I tried to wriggle my hand through it, but my other cuffs stopped me. I looked over at Tina, trying to tell her with my eyes that we had a problem. She swam over and noticed the metal cuff. She tried to pull my hand out, but the other cuffs stopped me.
Tina surprised me by her quick thinking, giving me another reason I was so grateful I had her as my partner. She immediately removed the lock and lifted the latch. She had already done that on her side, so the piece of metal drifted up, letting her remove the clear container. She grabbed the purple box inside and used the third key to unlock it.
Taking the smaller key, she unlocked my cuffs. I tried again to pull my hand out, but it still wouldn’t fit through. Tina grabbed my arm and yanked, but nothing worked. I motioned for her to give me the key so I could unlock her cuffs.
As I took them off, Tina glanced around the room, trying to find something that could help. The room was empty besides the piece of metal and the container. She motioned for me to stay put and left the room. Sure, I would stay put. It wasn’t like I had a choice. A low throb developed in my wrist from all the pulling.
While I waited for Tina to come back, my chest tightened. My stomach churned and my world closed in on me. Now that I had stopped swimming, claustrophobia set in. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about the fact that water surrounded me, my life out of my control.
A minute later someone’s hand landed on my shoulder. Tina was back in the room and for the first time, panic filled in her eyes. She pointed up and shook her head. She must have noticed the confusion on my face, so she tried to elaborate. She held up her two index fingers and made an outline of a square. Then she took out her mouthpiece and mouthed something to me. It took me a moment before I realized she was saying ‘closed.’ Closed? What was she talking about? A square? Closed? Oh. The entrance that led us down into the ship was closed. We were trapped.
I reached for my gauge to see how much air I had left. My heart sank when I saw it had entered the red zone. Tina came over and looked at my gauge, her eyes widening. When she looked at her own gauge, her eyebrows pulled together in confusion. She held it up for me to see. She still had at least a quarter of a tank in there.
So, I had a couple minutes left of oxygen, I was clamped down by a metal cuff, and the only way out of there was closed, making it so Tina couldn’t leave to get someone.
We were screwed.
A pparently, when your life was on the line, the ability to think logically went out the door. I scolded myself when I finally remembered the red button on the compass. I had let go of it when I went to unlock the latch. It lay on the floor nearby.
With my free hand, I tried to reach out and grab it, but it had floated too far away. Tina saw what I was trying to do and hurried to go get it. She turned it over and pressed down on the red button. She pressed it over and over again, getting more determined with each push. She finally came over and handed it to me. I took it with my free hand and tried to press the button. Nothing happened. The button wouldn’t go in. It must have been stuck. I pressed repeatedly, but it didn't work.
When I went to take my next breath, no air came out of my mouthpiece. All gone. I took out my mouthpiece, signaling to Tina that it was out. She took hers out of her mouth and put it in mine, letting me take a breath. She looked around the room, trying to figure something out. I saw a spark of hope in her eyes as she looked at the wall of the ship. There were a couple of round windows, leading out to the lake. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed them before. She let me take another breath and then she went over to a window. Taking off one of her flippers, she kicked the window continually with her foot, but it didn’t budge.
Tina put her flipper back on, came over to give me another breath, and then went and took hold of one of the metal arms attached to the piece of metal that had held down the container. She pushed the metal square down onto the floor of the ship, held it with her foot and worked one of the arms back and forth. She kept going until finally the arm broke off from the piece of metal. She swam over again, giving me another breath of life.
Watching Tina work, the determination in her eyes, and the ability to act quickly, made me admire her. At that moment, I wished we could’ve talked to each other. Not to make it easier to communicate with her, although that would’ve been helpful, but just so I could tell her how amazing she was. To give her some words of encouragement. If I were the leader of a city, a military unit, or even a precinct, Tina would be the one person I would want by my side.
Tina took the metal arm and thrust it as hard as she could at the window. After a couple of thrusts, a small crack formed. She continued hitting the window, coming over to give me some oxygen now and then.
Finally, the window broke open, leaving a hole big enough for Tina to get through, but only without her equipment on. She unstrapped her tank and brought it over to me. I wrapped my legs around the tank, holding on tight.
Tina took one last breath, hugged me, and then swam out the window. I put her mouthpiece in my mouth and checked her gauge. Her tank had just entered the red zone. All I could do was sit there and hope someone reached me before the air ran out.
The next couple of minutes were the worst minutes of my life. Each breath took me closer to my death. The gauge sat in my free hand, the dial getting lower and lower while I waited around for help. I had never felt so hopeless, so alone. The realization of everything hit me like a huge wave.
I was going to die. Underwater, trapped in an old rusty ship.
I also realized that President Randall and I had two very different ideas of the word eliminated. I thought he was just going to eliminate me from Recruitment. Apparently, he meant he wanted me eliminated from life, and it seemed like he was about to get his wish.
