Chapter 11: (4)The Shuttle
Marlon ran with all his strength toward the edge of the training grounds with the seizing girl on his back. Would he make it? It was too close to call. Marlon closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he stormed through a bush and got whipped in the face with a thorny branch.
But that pain was nothing compared to the frustration in his heart. Was this really gonna be how he was disqualified? Because he went and got soft-hearted all of a sudden?! He cursed himself for not just leaving the stupid girl to die.
Marlon reached the halfway point—and he only had thirty seconds left. He was exhausted, his stamina completely gone. His legs felt like jelly. Forget thirty seconds—Marlon felt like he'd crash to the ground any moment.
Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Marlon squinted one eye open and found Alexandre running beside him and saying, "Come on, it's not over yet."
So Marlon took one more deep breath, drew on the last bit of strength he didn't know he had, and pushed on harder, picking up his pace.
Alexandre was impressed. He'd secretly passed on some of his own energy when he touched Marlon, but this was beyond what Alexandre had expected. It was like he was watching a professional athlete racing beside him. The rest of the candidates had been running the Shuttle exercise for so long they were all on the verge of exhaustion, and they stared in disbelief at Marlon's burst of speed.
"What?" some of them gasped as they staggered along. "That huge guy must weigh 120 kilos and he's carrying a girl on his back, but he's still as fast as Usain Bolt!"
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