Dawn's POV

We were all waiting on the metal platform high about the Crater.

Simply just waiting. 

Most of the trainees had gathered here awhile ago, seeing as we didn't know what to do with ourselves without training.

That morning I had definitely woken up later than normal, I knew because there was a lot more light beaming in through the tiny windows over the two closets in the room. I had crawled out of bed and waited for Lucy to wake up as I sat at the table and tried to entertain myself.

Eventually Lucy had gotten up and I convinced her to quickly get dressed. We went down to the Dining Hall for breakfast, and sat with all the other trainees who looked either scared, lost, or were in a completely passive state.

We were lost without the daily routine we had formed. I started to wonder If they did it on purpose, to mess with our minds and schedules to throw us off. Either way, I knew that everyone was thinking about the exam looming over our heads. Most were quiet as the day went by.

All the trainees showed up to breakfast after awhile. Not knowing what to do after we ate, we made small talk, but not wanting to talk about what was really on our minds. We sat there until every other Midnight Mafia member had cleared out from the room. Even then we sat there until they started preparing for lunch, and only left when the cooks said we were wasting our time and needed to go do something or at least go wait somewhere else.

That's how we got here.

Levi had suggested that we just go wait on the platform outside the door on the 6th floor like we were supposed to. That way none of us would be late, and maybe the exam would even start earlier and we could get it over with sooner.

I wasn't exactly sure if I wanted to take the exam sooner than I had to.

We had been waiting on the platform since then, many now talking about their worries with the exam, while others just watched and listened quietly.

Personally, I thought we had talked about the exam so much I was getting sick of hearing about it. All the discussions were making it almost seem worse, and truthfully I just wanted to get it over with while doing my best and hopefully passing.

Key word hopefully.

Lucy, Xavier, Alyson and Parker had been sitting around me the whole time. We had the comfort of a group, without the necessity of talking.

Levi was kind enough to try and tell everyone a story to take their minds off of how long we were waiting, and what we knew was coming. Standing in front of the metal door where we would file through when it was time wasn't helping him much though.

I was only half listening to Levi, knowing his story wouldn't take my mind off anything. He was a good storyteller though, which was the only reason I was half listening to him. I busied myself with looking at my surroundings. I looked at the design of the staircase that lead up to Kaiden's office, it was almost like a spine that held up the entire building. Examining the stairs always led my eye up to the big window in Kaiden's office. Several times I thought I could see his figure looming in the shadows, but after a blink or two it would always disappear.

The lunch rush had already traveled through awhile ago, giving me at least somewhat of an indicator of how long we had been waiting. Looking up through some of the glass panels in the ceiling, I could see it had to be in the middle of the afternoon.

Hopefully we weren't waiting for too much longer.

Glancing at the trainees around me, I could tell that everyone was getting tired of waiting. As if we had spoken out and been answered, the metal door slowly creaked open, and Max stepped onto the platform with a serious face.

Everyone that had been sitting on the floor quickly jumped up and walked closer to him and the door. Pressed together tightly, we all waited for what would happen next.

Max nodded at us as he put his hands behind his back. "It's time trainees, follow me," he said before he stepped back through the door. "Last one close the door behind you," he added as he started walking down the hallway.

Everyone quickly tried to push their way through the door to follow him. Not wanting to waste my time pushing and shoving, I waited with Lucy for everyone else to go through.

Once the last person stepped through the door, I let Lucy head through first before I stepped into the hallway while swinging the metal door shut behind me.

Watching as the line of trainees slowly walked down the hallway, I quickly followed behind them as I caught back up to Lucy. Passing by the three doors we had originally done special training in, I wondered where Max was taking us.

Peering out to the side around the line of trainees, I looked down to the end of the hall where I could see another metal door at the end. I realized I had never noticed it there in the entire week we had special training.

How observant of me.

Max had set a quicker pace and had gotten to the door in a matter of a minute or two. He twisted the wheel in the middle of the door, and swung it open before stepping inside of a brightly lit room.

One by one, each trainee followed his steps and walked through into the next room. It started to get brighter as I got closer to it, and I was actually quite shocked when I myself stepped inside after the trainees.

We had walked into a large room with an entire ceiling made of glass. On the back wall there were countless sheets of paper covered in writing that were hanging up, and in the middle of the room there was a large table with what seemed to be a map on it.

Feeling the ripples of awe flow through the trainees, I watched as Max walked around to the back of the table where Karla, Jake and Kaiden were already standing with smirks on their faces.

"Welcome trainees," Kaiden announced. "Please gather in a semi circle around the table," he instructed us.

Following his order, we quickly formed a semi circle around the table, waiting for further instructions.

"You all know what today is," Kaiden announced with a smirk. "Tonight you will be performing your final exam."

The way he said "Performing" made me curious, but I didn't let my thoughts wander too far. I didn't want to miss any important information.

Jake stepped forward and placed his hands on the table with an obvious smirk on his face. "You're final exam will be almost like a game trainees, I hope you have the desire to win."

You could feel the levels of uneasiness rise as everyone looked around at each other worriedly. What kind of final exam was a game?

"You will be breaking up into six groups of two," Karla said as she stepped forward and leaned on the table herself on the other side of Jake. "The person you pick will be the person you will be completing the exam with."

This time it was excitement that rippled through the trainees. We could pick the one person they thought would benefit them best in the exam. It made me a bit worried though, why would we be needing partners in the first place?

"Now please look down at the map in front of you trainees," Max said as he stepped forward like the others on the other side of Kaiden. "I'm sure you'll want to pay very close attention to it."

I looked down at the map sitting flat on the table. It looked to be a map of all the streets in Gainsville, except there was an area outlined in blue which I assumed was the Midnight Mafia's territory. Looking closer at all the roads, there were five different colored dots in different places that were also numbered one through five.

Kaiden smirked at us all when we had taken a good look at the map and looked back up at all of the trainers. "What better way to use your new found skills in training than testing them out for real?" he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

There were a few gasps and several other mumbles from the trainees when he said this. Did he mean that we were actually going out of headquarters and into the city?

"If you've looked at the map closely, then I'm sure you've noticed the five colored and lettered dots on various streets," Kaiden continued on while ignoring the noise from the trainees. "These are the five checkpoints you will be stopping at with your partner."

"The way it works is quite simple," Jake said while jumping in. "You and your partner will be heading out into the city to each of these checkpoints. At each checkpoint there will be an item that you will need to collect, whether it be a flag, a letter, supplies etcetera."

Everyone glanced between each other. Would we have to fight it out for the certain items?

"There will be six of each item at every checkpoint," Karla quickly added after Jake was done talking. "So there won't be any need to fight with the other trainees."

Everyone seemed a little more relaxed because of what Karla had said. At least we knew we would get a chance to retrieve what we needed. I started wondering what we would do when we actually went to all the checkpoints.

"Your goal is to collect an item from each checkpoint and bring all of them back to the starting point at HQ as fast as you can," Max said as he finally added to the conversation.

"It doesn't matter who collects all the items first, only who gets back to HQ the fastest," Kaiden said in his famous icy tone. "The last pair to make it back to HQ with all the items will be the ones leaving us at the end of the day."

I felt my heartbeat quicken as the words came out of his mouth. Two more trainees would be leaving at the end of the day. Two more of the people I had gotten at least somewhat close with would be leaving. It made me sad, but I was going to all that I could to make sure that my pair wasn't going to be the one in last place.

"Now remember trainees," Karla said with her tone becoming extremely serious. "This is out in the real world, the city. There could be other gang members invading our territory, other hostile people roaming the streets, and even hostile animals as well. You all need to be careful."

All the trainers nodded in agreement to what she had said. I guess it was easy to forget what the real world was like when you had been in a safe and somewhat friendly environment.

"That being said, this is still a final exam," Kaiden said as he added on to the nervousness in the air. "Someone will be following you the entire time, shadowing you and scoring you."

"You will be scored on your speed and agility, your skills, and the decisions you make depending on the situation you've come upon," Jake explained further. "This is the time to apply every single thing that you've learned in training."

A few people nodded their heads at him, while others just stared at him with slight fear in their eyes. I was really wondering how this was going to turn out.

"Other than that you are allowed to take any route, and do whatever else you'd like except sabotage the other trainees chances," Max said seriously. "The last thing we need to mention is that you have to carry every item with you once you retrieve it. Also if you drop or forget an item and you come back to HQ without it, you will need to go back and find it before you will be confirmed as finished."

I nodded my head at him along with the others, and I thought about this challenge of an exam we had. I never would've thought it would be like this, even though I could never imagine what it would actually be like.

"Now you have Ten minutes to form your pairs and memorize the map and where the checkpoints are at," Kaiden said with a big smirk on his face. "Knowing where you need to go could determine your life or death to this gang."

Dismissing us from their attention, Kaiden and Jake walked out of the room to who knows where. Max and Karla stayed behind, watching us all.

"Your ten minutes begins now," Max said as he clicked a button on the stopwatch he had pulled out.

The trainees immediately scattered, rushing towards the people they wanted to complete the exam with. Lucy and I quickly came together and we scanned the other groups to see who we'd be up against.

Ashley and Rachel had paired up while Lucas and Landon automatically found each other. Spencer and Margaret paired together, which proved my theory of them having a thing between them. To my surprise Xavier paired up with Alyson. That left Parker to pair up with Levi much to my relief.

I wasn't too worried about any of the other groups being faster or better critical thinkers than Lucy and myself. For the most part everyone was on the same level of knowledge and having two people together evened out the weaknesses of the individuals. The only group that worried me was Xavier and Alyson. I was scared Alyson was going to slow Xavier down too much. That made them the possible group that would end up being last.

Shaking the thought from my head I could only think of myself and Lucy at the moment as much as I was worried about Xavier. Lucy and I quickly claimed the best spot in front of the map and began to examine it more closely.

Looking at the street names, I recognized them all and realized that Lucy and I had a major advantage over ALL the other trainees.

I had lived in the city all my life and knew the Midnight Mafia's territory like the back of my hand.

"Alright," I quietly said to Lucy. "I know all these streets, so just try and memorize what streets the checkpoints are on. I should be able to get us there with no problem."

Lucy smirked at me and nodded as she looked back down at the map. "Luckily they're all at or close to intersections," she whispered quietly.

Nodding I started to examine the map even closer, all the checkpoints and intersections. I noticed that there was a big gap between the fourth and fifth checkpoint. The fifth was the farthest away and I thought of a brilliant plan.

"Five minutes left trainees!" Karla announced over from by the door where she and Max stood.

Lucy and I studied the map until we were slowly reciting the intersections of the checkpoints like a poem we had known all our life. with only a few minutes left, I pulled Lucy away from the table and over to a vacant corner.

"Lucy, I thought of a somewhat genius plan," I started to say as I looked around to make sure no one could hear me. "Why don't we start at the farthest checkpoint? That way we could quickly make our way back to the start. Even if the others get to more checkpoints before us, they still have the farthest to make it back. Plus they'll have all the items and won't be able to head back as fast!"

She nodded her head as she thought about what I had said. "Dawn I think you're a fucking genius! That would work out, and we could separate ourselves from the pack and not go with the original flow."

I smiled at her agreement and added knowledge to my original idea. "I have a good feeling about this Lucy, we just need to stay focused."

She smirked at me and even chuckled a bit. "Dawn I don't think we have anything to worry about. We're confident and determined while the others are fearful of forgetting where the checkpoints are. I know we can do this."

Smiling at her again and nodded. Max and Karla had started to watch us, so I nudged her and we walked over towards the door.

There we waited the last minute until our final exam officially began.

* * * * * * * * * *

The warm breeze rushed around us as we stood on the pavement outside of HQ. You could feel the nervous tension in the air as we waited in silence for Kaiden and Jake to show up once more.

Even though we were just outside of one of the entrances to get into HQ, looking out into the distance at the high rising buildings that were completely abandoned was somewhat worrying.

We were about to run head first into the city, not knowing exactly what would be waiting for us.

Standing next to Lucy, I felt a little better knowing I had her with me, she and I combined definitely had the skills to make it out of this successfully. We made a simple yet clever plan that would hopefully set us apart from the other trainees, and also help us complete the exam as fast as possible.

Looking out at the cracked pavement, I glanced up at the sky to see the sun starting to get lower in the sky. That meant most of us were probably going to be stuck out in the city at night.

The city was definitely not a good place to be at night.

Glancing over at Lucy, she had a look of concentration and desire masked under seriousness. Looking back towards the city I smirked a little knowing we would be going for it and giving it our all.

There was no question about that.

Suddenly there was a bang behind us, causing all the trainees to jump while Max and Karla whipped their head towards HQ. A moment later, Kaiden and Jake walked around the corner of the building, and speedily yet gracefully walked over until they were standing in front of us with their backs to the city.

Kaiden swept his glace across all of our mixed emotion filled faces, before he nodded seriously with his hands behind his back.

"It's time trainees," Kaiden said blankly. "You all know what you are to do."

Staring at his eyes, I could tell there was many emotions flickering through them, ones that he masked professionally while in public. What he was feeling exactly, or what he was even thinking was a complete mystery to me.

"Trainees line up!" Jake shouted as he and Kaiden simultaneously took a step back and he pointed at the ground in front of them.

Scurrying forward, we got in line next to our partners, and stared at them waiting for our next instruction.

"When Mr. Black signals, you all may take off and start gathering your objects from the five checkpoints," Jake said as he walked down the line towards where Max and Karla were standing. "Good luck trainees, and may the best of you win," he finished saying with a smirk.

"Ready," Kaiden said with his hands tightly behind his back.

Everyone slowly stepped a foot back, not sure if it was breaking the normal protocol of standing in line. Being one of the first ones to do it, Lucy and I glanced at each other and nodded before we quickly looked back at Kaiden.

"Set," Kaiden continued as he took a few steps to the left towards the other trainers.

I quickly ran through where all the checkpoints were. Knowing that we were going to be heading a different way than the other trainees, Lucy and I were going to be making a break for the last checkpoint. It was located on Center Avenue, and was actually only a few blocks from my old apartment building.

Luckily for us, I knew exactly where we needed to go.

"GO!" Kaiden shouted at us before he slid out of our way.

Everyone immediately took off running leftwards out of the small covered clearing we had been waiting in, and we all stayed in a pack as we were sprinting down Cedar Avenue. Glancing quickly beside me, Lucy was already watching me and nodded when she caught my eye. Nodding back, I turned around and started to take deeper breaths.

It was going to be one hell of a run.

Staying with the pack for one final turn, our small stampede of trainees rounded a right curve and broke off down the new straight away.

Levi and Parker pushed ahead of me and tried to distance themselves from the pack. Shaking my head a little, I paid attention to the names of the roads we were passing by. Lucy and I would have to turn soon if we wanted to continue on with out plan without wasting any time.

I was just hoping that Levi and Parker were going to be able to keep up their pace.

Lucy caught up and fell into step next to me. Signaling her with my right hand, Lucy and I hopped up onto the cracked and weed infested sidewalk. I didn't like running down the middle of the street, completely out in the open.

Slowing down our pace, I tried not to look suspicious as Lucy and I let the other trainees run by ahead of us towards the first checkpoint. Once I could count the 10 figures running ahead of us down the road, I picked our pace back up as we neared Lucy and I's first turn of the night.

Prentice Avenue.

Quickly coming up to the intersection, I turned left onto Prentice Avenue as I followed the rough sidewalk with Lucy in pursuit behind me. Keeping a steady pace with my senses on high alert, we continued down the deserted road.

Running about a half-mile down the road, I started to really look at my surroundings. It was really quiet around here. Nothing but the sound of Lucy and I's footsteps bouncing off of the destroyed buildings lining the street could be heard.

Quickly getting to the next street, we sprinted around to corner on the decaying concrete and took another left onto Platfur Avenue.

Beside me I could hear Lucy breathing heavily. I knew she wasn't tired, we had all obviously been training for this day, but something about it just made me think of how much farther we still had to go before the night was done.

Looking up at the sky, the sun was starting to fall farther towards the ground, meaning that it was going to be dark soon. Everything passing by in a rush as we ran by seemed to have an almost eerie feeling to it. It was starting to make me a bit uncomfortable, and my senses tuned up even higher.

After a few blocks, our next turn was coming up, and we sprinted across the road to the other sidewalk in preparation. Coming to the intersection, Lucy and I hung a quick right onto Adule Street.

Clinging to the ever growing shadows by the building walls, Lucy and I pushed on down the street. Glancing at each other, we exchanged nods as I held up a finger to signal how many more turns we had unit the checkpoint.

We were gaining ground with every step, but also gaining distance between us and Headquarters. I never really knew how big the city was, until I started running around it. Something that used to take a half an hour by car, now took over an hour by foot. It was odd to take it into perspective the first time.

Running down the road five blocks, we came to the next intersection and turned left onto Center Avenue.

The fifth checkpoint was on this road.

Looking at Lucy, she smirked at me a little before she nodded and picked up her pace a bit. Almost shooting ahead of me, I picked up my own pace to match Lucy's, willing my legs to keep up.

Every block we ran, we passed a new road. On the third block we passed Standing Road, which lead to one side of the headquarters however many blocks down. It made me realize that everything in the city was completely connected. You'd be able to find your way from any street if you traveled down it long enough.

Running the last block, we came to Plateau Street. This was where the checkpoint was supposed to be. Looking at Lucy I nodded before signaling the other side of the intersection with my hand. I really had no idea what we the checkpoint was supposed to look like.

"It should be somewhere around here," I said, the first words I had spoken to Lucy all night. "I'll check this side of Plateau and Center. You should go check the other side of the intersection and see what you find."

"What do you think it'll look like?" Lucy asked me quietly.

Glancing around, I shook my head.

"I'm not really sure, but I think we'll know it when we see it," I replied, even though it only somewhat answered her question.

We took a step away from each other, but I stopped Lucy before we got any farther away from each other.

"Lucy," I said quietly to get her attention.

She turned to me with a serious look on her face.

"Remember to be careful, and watch out for trouble," I whispered while looking at our surroundings. "We don't know what's out here."

She nodded at me before quickly jogging to the other side of the intersection. I turned myself and silently ran over to the nearest alley.

Glancing towards the end of the alleyway, I quickly walked in and started looking at the piles of rubble next to the walls.

"Where could it be?" I quietly asked myself.

Walked farther down the alley, I remembered to constantly look behind me to make sure there was no danger present. In the meantime, I started rummaging through the piles of debris.

After looking through the first three or so piles I started to get frustrated because I didn't know what I was looking for. I walked down the the end of the alley, before turning around to face the entrance and look at the bigger picture.

I glanced at all the piles from me to the entrance, and nothing stood out to me. Quietly growling in annoyance, I closed my eyes and put a hand on my forehead.

Did Kaiden say what were looking for?

Squinting my closed eyes tighter, I tried to remember what he had said.

Opening my eyes, I smiled a bit when I remembered it was Jake who had said something about a flag, and a letter as some of the items we would be retrieving. He also mentioned supplies.

Nodding to myself, I walked towards the entrance of the alleyway and a little bit out onto the sidewalk. I had remembered what someone had told me once.

The best place to hide something is in plain sight.

Scanning the objects on the sidewalks and in the streets, I noticed a old rusty car that seemed to be almost out of position when compared to the other cars.

Almost as if someone had moved it or even opened the doors.

Quickly looking down the street on both ends, I jogged over to the rusted car and rubbed one of the windows with my sleeve. Peering inside, I wanted to burst with joy as I saw six small brown packages sitting in on the backseat of the car.

Thinking of the obvious, I pulled on the door's handle. The door popped up a bit, and thinking nothing of it, I started to swing it open.

A moment later a horrifying screeching noise sounded from the door, echoing off the building walls. I immediately let go of the handle and crouched down in fear of accidentally drawing attention from the door.

I waited a second before I popped up again, trying to make sure the coast was clear. Standing up I walked around the car. Looking at the other doors, the handles were all broken off. That was the only door that I'd be able to open without smashing the windows.

Shaking my head, I turned and ran over to the other side of the intersection. I decided that I should probably get Lucy to help me out so we could continue on without making it easier for the other trainees.

After crossing to the other side, I figured Lucy went into the first alley she saw just like I had. Peering around to corner of the nearest alleyway, I saw Lucy rummaging through a pile of rubble.

"Lucy!" I whispered to her as I stepped around the corner.

She looked up at me a jumped a little as she saw me, but played it off as if she was just getting up. She stared at me with wide eyes, prompting me to say something.

"I found it!" I quietly exclaimed as I quickly waved my hand for her to follow me as I stepped back out of the alley.

I started jogging down the sidewalk and across the intersection, hearing Lucy's footsteps working quickly from behind me. I lead her over to the car and pointed to the back door as I grabbed the handle again.

Looking at Lucy I nodded at her as a big smile burst on her face.

"I tried to open the door but it squeaked and echoed off the walls," I explained to her. "I didn't want to draw anymore attention to us, so I figured you could help," I said as she stepped closer to the car. "I'm going to open it a little bit, see if you can reach in there and grab the closest package."

"Let's do it!" Lucy said as she got right next to the car.

Grabbing the handle, I pulled a little and the door popped up from the frame. I slowly opened it to the point where I thought Lucy could grab a package.

"Try grabbing one Lucy!" I said while trying not to move.

Lucy crouched down and stuck her arm in through the small opening of the door. Through the window, I could see her hand just barely brushing the side of a package.

"Dawn you're going to have to open the door just a little bit more," Lucy said as she slid over a little bit closer towards the door. "I'm just barely touching it."

"Okay I'll try," I said as I prepared myself for a possible squeak.

I took a deep breath and leaned back just a little bit, opening the door by just another inch or two. Closing my eyes I was hoping Lucy could grab the package, I didn't know how much longer I'd be able to keep my muscles tensed up to keep them from moving the door anymore.

Lucy slid her arm in farther, this time managing to grab the side of the small package, and just barely sliding it out through the small opening I had made. She moved out of the way, and I quickly shut the door, but gently enough to where it didn't slam shut.

Smiling at each other, Lucy slipped the package into her pocket.

"One down, four to go," she said somewhat cheerfully.

I nodded at her with a smile just as a wave of chills ran down my spine. I suddenly got the feeling that someone was watching us.

Lucy dropped her smile and stared at my weird reaction.

"Do you feel like someone is watching us Lucy?" I quietly whispered as I pointed to the road, trying to act like I was talking about something else.

She shook her head and pointed at the sidewalk, copying my movements as she knew what I was doing.

"Dawn, there's supposed to be someone watching us take the exam," She pointed out.

I shook my head and took a step away from her as I made a bigger gesture at the sidewalk. "I know Lucy, but it doesn't feel right. Almost as if it's someone who shouldn't be watching us?"

Lucy nodded at me before taking a few steps away. "I'm not sure Dawn, but let's get going, we're wasting time."

Knowing she was right, I immediately broke into a jog. Remembering where the next checkpoint was on the map, I turned left onto Plateau Street with Lucy jogging right beside me. Knowing we only had to go two blocks, I picked up our pace until we were both running.

Running the first block, I tried to get my mind off of the bad feeling that there was someone bad following us instead of who was really supposed to be. Wanting to shake it off, I thought of the other trainees. I hoped to avoid them all on the streets, I didn't want them to break my focus or see how many items we had already retrieved.

Quickly taking a break in thought as we passed the first intersection, I glanced around at our surroundings before thinking about the other trainees again. I wondered where everyone else was, and how many checkpoints they had made it to. Looking up at the sky, the sun was getting even lower, the sky now a pale orange with navy blue creeping in from above.

Getting to the intersection of the second block, we took a quick right down Karth Avenue and sped up a little. The fourth checkpoint was only halfway down the first block.

Slowing down as the next intersection started getting closer, Lucy and I came to a stop on the sidewalk. Looking around at our surroundings, we tried to find a spot where the next item could be hidden.

The first thing I noticed about where we were standing, was that Karth Avenue was lined with shops. The oddest thing about them though, was that all their signs seemed to be almost completely intact. Whether there was no scratches or dents in them, or that they seemed like they would suddenly turn on and say open.

Reading the names of the shops, I figured that the next item had to be inside a store considering there were no alleyways on this block.

"It has to be one of the stores in the middle," I said to Lucy as we looked back and forth between the two sides of the road. "That's where the marker was on the map back in HQ."

Lucy nodded slowly. "What about that gun shop over there?" She said as she pointed to the other side of the road. "Guns have a lot to do with gangs right?"

Following her finger, my eyes landed on a black storefront with barred windows. Feeling like a gun wasn't one of the items we would necessarily be supposed to get, I lead the way across the street and over to the front of the shop.

Getting close to the windows, I put my face up the the metal bars and tried to look and see what was inside. Unable to see anything but shadows, I backed away from the window and faced Lucy.

"I don't think they'd have us retrieving guns Lucy," I said hoping I wouldn't offend her. "The things they have us getting seem to be harmless and more practical in the sense of disguise."

She gave me a confused look and I smiled a little at her. "You know, that simple package looks like nothing, but really it could be anything. A grenade for all we know," I explained my thinking to her. "It's like they're hiding important things in or as simple items."

Lucy nodded her head in understanding now. "Yeah that makes a lot of sense Dawn," she said as she turned to look at our surroundings again. "Where else could the next item be?"

I shrugged as I looked around myself and started thinking. Glancing at the names of the stores, nothing on their signs gave any indication of being related to the gang, or even something that we'd be retrieving. I was pretty stumped on this one.

Lucy suddenly started walking away from me, and I watched to see what she was doing. She slowly walked towards the edge of the sidewalk, near a few old cars.

"Didn't they say something about retrieving a letter?" she quietly asked as she turned and looked at me.

Tilting my head a little I nodded. "Yeah, why?"

Lucy looked down at the ground in front of one of the cars, before she squatted down. Not knowing what she was doing, I quickly walked over to her and peered around the side of the car.

She was kneeling beside some sort of blue metal thing. It was an odd oval like shape, and had a few spots where there seemed to be remnants of white paint of some sort on it. There was a small handle on top of it, but most of it was stuck under the car.

Lucy brushed her hand over the handle, before it moved lower down across the blue metal. Her hand slipped under a small indent, where she seemed to grab and pull on the metal. Surprisingly, a small door flew open, but Lucy's hand stopped it before it banged against the other metal.

Turning her head to face me, she smiled with a little laugh. "It's an old postal box," she said while looking back down at it. "I almost didn't recognize it until I got down here and read one of the stickers."

Smiling at her I stepped closer and knelt down beside her. "Lucy, you're a genius."

She shrugged with a smirk as she stuck her hand inside the box through the now open door. "Only if there's six letters in here," she said as she started shifting her hand around inside.

Turning my head, I quickly looked to make sure we were still the only ones around. The shifting suddenly stopped, and when I turned my head back around, Lucy was smiling with a letter firmly in hand.

"Got it," she said happily before quickly shutting the metal door and standing up. "But we need to pick up the pace Dawn. I'm starting to feel a little bit worried about our decision, especially because we don't know where the other pairs are."

Quickly standing up I nodded in agreement. "I'll take the letter if you want, but we do need to get going," I said as I took a step away from the curb.

Lucy nodded in agreement and handed me the letter. I folded it in half and slid it into my front pocket before nodding once at Lucy and taking off back towards Plateau Street.

Visualizing the map in my head again, I knew the route to the third checkpoint was a straight shot up Karth Avenue about eight blocks before a turn on Artesia Avenue. Knowing it was going to be the longest stretch before a checkpoint, I let my mind set for the long haul.

Block by block Lucy and I pushed on. We weren't running as fast anymore, having run so far already I could feel the burn in my calves and an ache in my chest. Around the fourth block, I started to feel like my limbs were a little bit dead.

Lucy breathed in sharply at some point, making me whip my head to face her. At that moment we were getting to the fifth block, and I didn't know if she was okay or not.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" she mumbled out. "I just breathed the wrong way."

Looking at her a moment longer, I shook my head and continued on. I trusted Lucy to know when something was actually wrong.

Staring ahead, it finally got to the point where it felt like were were running on a never ending road. Wanting to change things up, I looked at Lucy and quickly nodded my head to the left before crossing to the other side of the street. She stayed with me, and I was hoping that I could change things up a bit while still making our trip as easy as possible.

Noticing a small gap in the buildings, I figured there was an alleyway that would cut through and get us to Ventus Street where we could run the last three blocks to the checkpoint.

"Alleyway," I quietly said to Lucy as I turned my head towards her.

I barely saw her nod before I turned around and headed into the alley. Our run became a jog, then a walk as we made our way down the ally. It was fairly short, and had a divider at the end, splitting one long alleyway into two impassible ones.

Impassible unless you knew how to get over them that is.

Slowing down to a jog, and then to a walk before completely stopping in front of the divider. Looking to Lucy and then around at the alley, there was nothing in sight to jump up onto, or even climb up onto that would enable us to get over the divider.

"Shit," I mumbled under my breath. "Sorry Lucy, my bad."

Lucy was next to the divider looking up at the top of it. She seemed to be thinking quite hard, so I walked over and stood next to her.

"Boost me up," She said as she turned to face me.

"What?" I questioned.

Lucy shook her head. "Boost me up Dawn. The divider Isn't that tall," she said while wiping off the bottom of her boots. "I can get up there and then pull you up."

Staring at her for a moment, I shrugged and decided to go with it. We were already there and I'd rather cross streets through an empty alleyway than out in the open.

Crouching down slightly, I made my hands into a platform over my knee. "Alright lets go!" I said as I motioned for her to step onto my hands. "Step on and put a hand on my shoulders."

"Alright go!" Lucy said after she was up and balanced.

I pushed against the ground with my legs and stood up, trying to give her the most momentum I could. She leaped out of my hands, and easily caught onto the side of the divider before pulling herself up.

"Okay Dawn," Lucy quietly called as she leaned over the top of the divider. "Jump and grab my hands. Be ready to run up the wall."

Nodding at her I took a deep breath. Jumping as soon as I saw her hands appear, I grabbed her hands and hung on tightly as I landed my feet against the solid concrete. Lucy pulled me as hard as she could while I walked up the wall, and I easily got to the top of the divider.

Sitting on top of the wall for a moment, we took a deep breath before hopping down the the other side of the alley. Getting down first, I watched Lucy hop down and gracefully land. Looking at each other, we nodded before turning around towards the alley's opening to the street. We were about to take off running until there was an angry growl.

Looking in front of us, a massive dog crawled out from a box and turned to face us with dark brown beady eyes. Snarling at us, it's teeth were bared and it took up a wide stance. It's fur was anything but clean, and even though it was a big dog, I could see some parts of its body where bones were somewhat showing.

"Fuck," Lucy muttered as we turned towards each other.

We stared at each other, as if one of us had the immediate answer for this situation.Neither of us moved as the dog growled deeply at us again.

Shaking her head, Lucy turned away from me and kept her eyes on the dog. I watched as she slid over to the side of the alley and picked up a short wooden plank. Lucy started to advance towards the dog as it started to snarl more at her.

Feeling my senses go into overdrive, Iooked around the alleyway to see if there were any other options here. Scanning in front of me, the dog was in the way of anything that would help us. Turning around, I looked at the divider and realized that there was something dead sitting in the corner.

Looking back at the dog, I realized it was staring at me more than it was staring at Lucy even though she was the one slowly creeping closer to it. Turning towards the dead creature again, I realized that the dog was just protecting its food source.

"Lucy!" I whisper shouted at her. "Stop moving!"

Trusting me, Lucy stopped where she was and kept glancing at me, waiting for what I would say next.

"It's just protecting its food source by the base of the divider!" I said as I watched her glance at the wall. "Put the board down and don't attack it. Maybe if we slowly move away from the wall it will leave us alone."

Lucy looked at me through narrowed eyes and shook her head before slowly putting the board down. I slowly started to make my way over to Lucy, when the dog growled again and started running.

"Dawn you dumb-ass!" Lucy shouted as she bolted towards the wall of the alleyway.

I felt my adrenaline start rushing as I did the same and smacked into the side of the wall. Watching the dog, it shot past me and over towards the dead animal where it took up a defensive position and started growling again.

"Go, go, go Lucy!" I said as I slowly backed away from the dog.

I could hear a Lucy do the same, and one we got to the end of the alley and out onto the sidewalk, I broke out into a run turning right out of the alleyway. Shaking my head, I looked back to see Lucy running a little behind me. Turning forward again, Lucy caught up completely and we quickly ran the last two blocks to the third checkpoint because of our rushing adrenaline.

As the intersection of Ventus Street and Atesia Avenue came into view, I could see two other pairs of trainees hovering over by an alleyway in between two tall buildings. Glancing at Lucy, she nodded at me and we ran over towards them.

Neither of us brought up the dog again.

Just as we ran to the alleyway, Spencer and Margaret burst out from in between the buildings, almost knocking Lucy and I over as they rushed by.

Rolling my eyes in annoyance as I looked behind me to see them run away, I ran into someone as I took the first step into the alley.

"Woah!" said a masculine voice slightly above me.

Taking a step back and turning around, I chuckled a little when I saw Landon with a shocked expression on his face as he took a few steps back from me.

"Sorry my bad, I'm in somewhat of a rush here," I said pretty seriously.

Lucas appeared at Landon's side, and he nodded at Lucy and I.

Standing there for a moment, we all stared at each other.

"Want to help each other out?" Lucas asked curiously while crossing his arms.

I raised my eyebrows and glanced at Lucy before answering him. "And how would we do that?"

Lucas and Landon looked at each other before they nodded with a smile.

"It's at the end of the alley. A small medal that looks like this," Landon said as he held up the medal.

"Checkpoint two is a flag that stuffed under some rubble by the barber shop, and One is a knife that's shoved in some old flower boxes on the outside of some abandoned building on the corner," Lucas finished with a nod.

Shocked that they told us such valuable information, I nudged Lucy and quickly mumbled for her to go get the medal while we were standing here. Nodding in agreement she took a step around Lucas and jogged down to the end of the alley.

Staring up at Lucas and Landon, I sighed knowing it was only right to give them some sort of information.

"You're looking for a letter at four and a small brown package at five," I said hoping they wouldn't think I was trying to cheat them. "I can't tell you exactly where because all the other groups will be there with you and I don't want to give them an advantage too," I explained.

At first they looked pissed when I only told them what they were looking for, but after explaining it they seemed to be in understanding of it.

"All I can say is look at your surroundings," I added just as Lucy came back and stood next to me. "The environment is your friend for the last two."

They nodded at Lucy and I before walking past us and onto the sidewalk.

"It's been a pleasure helping out," Landon said with a smirk on his face.

"Agreed," said Lucy with a smirk on her own face.

"See you back at HQ," I said with a serious nod to the two guys. "Let's go we're wasting time," I added talking to Lucy this time.

Nodding at the guys once more, Lucy and I broke into a run as we took a right onto Artesia Avenue. Quickly looking at Lucy, I nodded at her to make sure everything was good. Knowing that the other pairs were already heading towards the fourth checkpoint made me nervous.

Running the first block, I could feel the soreness deep in my legs. I thought about it and I was glad we were heading towards HQ instead of away from it. This was the longest and most exhausting run I'd ever done, and I could only imagine how hard it'd be to run back to HQ this tired, not to mention having all five items to carry.

The other trainees were going to have a hell of a time.

Continuing on, the second block was probably the worst one of the day. For some reason there was actually some other people walking down the sidewalk. Glancing at Lucy I wasn't sure what to do. It was easy to see they weren't from other gangs, as they were covered in dirt and tattered clothes, but I wasn't sure if we should continue to run by, or walk past them like normal.

Getting closer to them, I could see that they weren't even looking up at Lucy and I. They seemed to be in their own little worlds where they were completely oblivious to the actual world around them. Deciding it would be best to get out of there, Lucy and I continued on with our pace and ran past them.

Our next intersection was coming up, and I was completely focused on it until Lucy quietly whispered my name as we crossed the road to the other sidewalk.

"Dawn slow down a little," she whispered quietly from beside me.

I was about to look at here when she quickly whispered no.

"I can feel it now Dawn, someone is watching us," she said said as we took a left onto Triton Avenue. "We need to loose them."

We slowed down just a tad bit more as I stared at the sidewalk ahead of us. If Lucy was feeling uncomfortable about it, then it was something truly serious. Thinking about where we were and where we needed to go to get to the second checkpoint, I formed a plan.

Picking up my speed a little I didn't look at Lucy. "Follow my lead," I whispered to her.

Knowing she understood what that meant, I ran into the second alleyway on my right towards Karth Avenue again. Once off of the sidewalk, I jumped into a sprint to the other end of the alley that was luckily not blocked by a divider.

As soon as we got through and onto the sidewalk on Karth Street, I took and immediate right out of the Alley, before taking another immediate left onto Scath Road. Keeping up with the sprint, I was hoping Lucy was right behind me. If she lagged for even a second too long, then my plan wouldn't work.

Sprinting down the road, I didn't even make it onto the sidewalk until I turned left onto Triton Avenue. Hopping back onto the sidewalk I took a left into the first alleyway available.

Quickly looking around for cover, there were sets of large dumpsters on either side of the alleyway. Thankful there was cover, I signaled Lucy to go on one side of the alley, while I sprinted and dove behind two large dumpsters.

Sliding behind the dumpsters farther, I stopped when I could see clearly through a small space between the two bins. Breathing heavily, I tried to calm myself while keeping my breaths as silent as possible.

Across the alley I could just see Lucy behind a set of two dumpsters herself. She was looking through a space just about as big as mine, and just to make sure nothing could go wrong, I put a finger up to my lips to signal her to be silent.

After a few moments I could hear footsteps enter the alleyway. They slowed down as they got farther down the alley, the person was clearly looking for us.

The steps came closer as this person made their way down the alley. They suddenly stopped, making me hold my breath. The person had stopped walking right in front of one of the dumpsters I was hiding behind.

My heart nearly stopped as the dumpster in front of me was opened. Whoever this person was, they were really looking for us. They shut the dumpster quietly, and took a few more steps forward, they were now in my view.

Squinting through the small space between the dumpsters, I could see the person had on a black leather jacket and a midnight blue shirt on.

They were from the Midnight Mafia.

I got a little closer to the small crack, looking up at their face. I was absolutely shocked to see that it was Blake.

Blake was the best of the best in the Midnight Mafia. He was Kaiden's top scout and tracker, and the guy that was in charge of planing many operations. I was confused as to why he would be following Lucy and I.

Speaking of being confused, Blake had a look of complete confusion on his face. He seemed to actually have lost track of us, and It made me wonder if we'd get bonus points for being able to shake off Kaiden's top tracker.

A few moments later, Blake started walking forward towards the other end of the alley. He quickly broke out into a run, and I listened for his steps to fade away in the distance.

I smiled to myself, knowing he was just running back out onto Karth Avenue again.

Feeling good enough about Blake being gone, I quickly slid out from behind the dumpsters and walked over to where Lucy was sliding out. Standing up she stared at me with just as much amazement and shock as I had felt.

"Well we know who's following us if we get that feeling again," I said pointing out the obvious. "Anyways, let's get going."

Lucy just nodded silently at me as we ran the opposite way of Blake out of the alley and back onto Triton Avenue. There was only a block left until we got to the second checkpoint, so Lucy and I booked it heading left down the street.

Making our way to the checkpoint I thought about Blake. Since he lost our trail, the smartest thing for him to do would be to go to the second checkpoint. It'd be the easiest way to find us. Thinking about it, It would be really smart to possible get there before Blake did. Maybe we'd even get more points for it.

With that in mind, I pushed our pace a little bit more as the next intersection started to come into view.

Finally getting to the Triton Avenue and Aloe Street intersection, Lucy and I quickly scanned for a barber shop.

"There!" Lucy quietly exclaimed as she ran across the street.

Quickly following, Lucy and I stopped in front of the big piles of rubble that littered the sidewalk in front of the barber shop.

"Damn," Lucy quietly cursed.

"Let's start digging!" I said as I started to move rubble. "I have a feeling the flag is going to be midnight blue or black."

Working in unison, Lucy and I worked like a machine that was tearing through the rubble. We quickly made our way down to the bottom of the pile, and didn't stop shifting pieces of debris until I stumbled across the soft fabric of a black flag.

"I found it!" I exclaimed as I shoved the last piece of debris off of it.

Picking up the flag, I shook it out and let all the excess dust fall to the ground. Seeing it wasn't that big, I folded it up a few times before lifting up my shirt and wrapping it around my torso and tying its ends at my side.

As I pulled my shirt down, Lucy gave me a weird look. I rolled my eyes at her as I broke out into a jog.

"Don't give me that," I said as we sped up into a run down Aloe Street. "It's so it doesn't slow us down, and so I know I have it."

Lucy just shook her head without questioning me as we continued our run down the road.

After the first block, I could feel a sense of uneasiness coming from Lucy. Turning to look at her, she gave me a worried look in return.

"Lucy what's up?" I asked her feeling slightly worried about her answer.

She sighed, and it took her a moment to respond. "I'm still worried about our choice to go to the farthest checkpoint first. What if some of the pairs are already back at HQ Dawn? What if we're already the last ones?"

I breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't something really serious. "Lucy don't worry! I know no one has passed us! Please trust me on this one," I said while glancing back and forth between her and the road. "We're on the fasted route to the checkpoints and back to HQ. If anything the other pairs are just getting to the last checkpoint, if not they just started to make their way back. That run is a lot farther than we're going to have to go from the first checkpoint."

Quiet for a moment, Lucy eventually replied. "I know you're right Dawn, but I won't stop worrying until we get back to HQ," she said as we got to the right intersection.

Taking a right onto Platfur Avenue, we only had two blocks to go until we got to the first, and technically last checkpoint for us. By this time the sun was fully down and the sky was smothered in blackness and stars. Passing by alleyways, you could see the faint glow of the fires that people in the tent cities had made.

It was the dangerous hour.

Quickly running down the last block, I could finally feel Blake watching us again. I guess he had to follow us a little closer now, considering it was now black outside.

Coming to the last intersection, I felt a new burst of energy as we slowed down to a walk before stopping on the sidewalk.

"Okay Landon said it was in some flower boxes that belonged to a building on the corner," I repeated to myself quietly.

"Over there!" Lucy quietly shouted as she pointed to a building across the street.

Running across the road, we stopped in front of the building, and started searching through the row of hanging flower boxes on either side of the door.

Moving my hand slowly, as to not cut myself if the knife was in the box, I internally cheered as my hand hit something cold and sharp.

"I found it Lucy!" I exclaimed as I pulled it out of the box.

Lucy rushed over with a big smile on her face. "Double check, do we have all of the items?"

I quickly shoved my hand in my pocket and felt the letter rubbing against my hand. Quickly lifting up my shirt the flag was still there, and I quickly slipped the knife into my pocket.

"Do you have the medal and the package?" I ask Lucy as I started to walk away from the building.

"Yes, we have everything!" Lucy exclaimed with the biggest smile on her face. "Let's get back to headquarters."

Taking a quick look around, Lucy and I launched into a run down Platfur Avenue. Our path back to Headquarters was set.Nothing but five and a half blocks stood between us and the finish.

Running down the first two blocks was making me impatient. I decided that we were going to cut through the next alleyway I saw and I even quickly signaled it to Lucy. All I could think about was the finish. What we had worked so hard for, the thing that had been looming over our heads the entire time we were in training was almost over and done with.

We turned into the next alleyway, I was about to sprint through to the other road but I was yanked sideways and dragged down to the ground behind some dumpsters.

I immediately whipped my head around towards Lucy, but all she did was throw her finger up to her lips with wide eyes, as if she was pleading for me not to make a sound.

Making myself breathe quietly, I listened and realized that I could hear voices from the other side of the alley. Being on the edge of the dumpster not by the wall, I quickly glanced at Lucy before peering around the side of the dumpster.

Squinting a little to see in the dark, I made out two figures that were standing together towards the other end on the Cedar Avenue side of the alley. Looking closer, I realized the two figures had leather jackets on as well as fedoras.

Fedoras only meant one thing, the Blood Diamonds.

Slinking back behind the dumpster just as one of the figures turned around, my eyes widened in shock as I turned to Lucy.

"Diamondbacks," I quietly mouthed to her.

Lucy's eyes got just as wide as mine as her mouth dropped open a bit.

This was definitely not a good situation for us to be stuck in at the moment.

Tapping the side of her ear, Lucy signaled that we should be listening to what they were saying. Nodding in agreement, I turned my ear more towards the two figures and listened closely.

"We can easily plan it from here," said one of the guys in a deep voice. "The headquarters is close enough. We shouldn't have any problems carrying out Mr. Vangraff's orders."

The other one chuckled and I could just imagine the smirk on his face. "The Midnight Mafia will never see it coming. We just have to get things going into motion."

They both stood there for a moment before one of them spoke up again.

"Common, we need to get out of here, it's dangerous for us to be staying in one spot for too long tonight." The deep voice sounded out.

The two of them took off right after, thankfully running out of the alley on the Cedar Avenue side. Looking at Lucy, she had a fearful look on her face.

"We need to get back to Headquarters as soon as possible," She said quickly as she stood up. "Now we have another reason."

Following her lead I quickly stood up and shook my head a few times to try and focus. Knowing that Headquarters was so close I was able to jolt into an immediate sprint in the feeling that I needed to get back as fast as I could.

Sprinting down the alleyway and out onto Cedar Avenue, we took a speedy right and ran down the road like our lives depended on it. Following the sidewalk around the curve, Lucy and I sprinted around the bend and took the sharp right to get to the clearing. Running down the long first straight away, I could see all the trainers lined up waiting, with Kaiden standing in the front.

Finally making it into the clearing, Lucy and I slowed down to a jog, then a walk before completely stopping. We were both gasping for air after that long sprint, and I almost felt like I couldn't breathe properly.

After a good few moments I had my breathing under control. I immediately looked around and started to try and walk towards Kaiden, who was already staring at me, but Max cut me off from the side and held his hand out for me to stop.

"Welcome back trainees," Max said formally. "Do you have all of the items?"

Nodding our heads, Lucy and I started to take out everything.

I firstly took out the letter and Knife and give it to Max. Lucy was trying to get out the Medal and the Package as I lifted up my shirt and started to untie the flag.

As Lucy handed Max the package and the medal, I could still feel everyone's eyes on me. Quickly trying to get the flag off of me, I managed to untie and unwrap it from my body and hand it to Max while immediately pulling my shirt back down.

Looking at the items, Max nodded in approval at us. "Congratulations, you two are the first to successfully complete the exam!" he announced to us.

Glancing at Lucy, neither of us could suppress the smile we wanted to hold down, even with our minds preoccupied on other events.

We had done it. Our final exam was over and done with.

"All you have to do now is wait for the other pairs to get back," Max said before he walked away from us and back over to the other trainers and Kaiden.

"Thank you," Lucy and I said together as we watched him walk away from us.

Watching Max join back in with that group, my eyes immediately switched over to Kaiden, he was already staring at me. I quickly turned to Lucy wondering when we should tell Kaiden about our encounter with the two guys from the Blood Diamonds.

Lucy gave a knowing look as she shook her head. "Dawn I don't think this is a good time," she said while glancing over at Kaiden. "Wait until all the trainees are back and we've been dismissed? That way they don't have to worry about having inexperienced trainees stuck out in the city with a threat like that."

Still not sure what to do, I tended to look at Kaiden again who this time was looking at me with more of a worried and interested look on his face.

Looking back to Lucy I just gave her a small shrug. "I'm not so sure Lucy. I just...... I feel like it's too important to wait?" I said while closing my eyes for a moment. "What if something major is about to happen, and we're the only ones that can warn the gang about it?" I asked her as I opened my eyes and shook my head.

Staring at Lucy, it took her a minute before she started to slowly nod her head at me and sigh. "I guess you're right Dawn, they need to know."

Nodding at her, I turned towards the group and started to walk directly towards Kaiden, watching him stare at me in the process.

Not even taking more that a few steps,Kaiden shook his head at me in a way that made me stop walking. Noticing the way he was looking at me, I knew not to try and mess with his command. Especially in public and in front of the other trainers.

Turning to Lucy, she was looking at me in a way where I knew she had seen Kaiden's signal too. "We can just wait until after then," I said quietly, just as another pair of trainees ran into the clearing.

Looking towards the entrance, Lucy and I watched as Parker and Levi handed their items over to Max. After a moment they were luckily cleared, and they immediately made their way over towards Lucy and I.

"Dawn! Lucy!" Parker exclaimed as he ran over to us and gave us a joint hug. "I'm so glad you two made it!"

Lucy and I chuckled at Parker's reaction, Levi was laughing himself as he joined the group.

"I was wondering what happened to you two," Levi said with a smirk as he motioned to Lucy and I. "After we passed you two on the first straight away you disappeared from the pack!"

Lucy and I chuckled with smirks as we glanced at each other.

"We don't like to follow the pack," Lucy said as she nudged Levi's shoulder. "We like to make our own path."

Laughing at Lucy's explanation I smiled at them. "I guess you really missed us then," I said jokingly towards Levi. "If you noticed that we weren't following you the whole time."

Levi rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "I only noticed when everyone broke away from each other at the third checkpoint," Levi explained while trying to defend himself. "You guys didn't show up."

Parker broke out in laughter for some reason, and when he didn't stop when we asked him what was so funny we all just joined in and laughed together.

Eventually we all calmed down and realized that people were still in the middle of their final exam, running their hearts out until they made it back, whether they made it back in time or in last.

"Who's still out there?" Lucy asked once we had all taken a moment of silence to calm down.

"Uhh... Ashley and Rachel, Xavier and Alyson, Spencer and Margaret...." Levi started to list off names.

"Look!" Parker quietly exclaimed as he cut Levi off from the last of the names.

We all turned towards the entrance to the clearing, and could see Lucas and Landon running down the long last stretch, right up to Max who was waiting for them.

Waiting in silence as we watched them get checked in by Max, you could see the look of relief as they were finally approved and ran over to our growing group.

Nodding as they both jogged over, Lucas and Landon were both still out of breath after the long run. Knowing exactly how they felt, I didn't blame them at all.

Listening as Parker started to tell the story of his and Levi's run, I stared at the entrance wondering about Xavier and Alyson.

I was starting to get worried about them, knowing how Alyson wasn't anywhere near the top of her game, and that Xavier was going to have to carry all the extra weight she wasn't able to handle herself. There were still two other pairs out there that they could beat, but I had no idea where they were at or what condition they were even in.

"I don't know about you guys, but we had the hardest time finding the letter," Parker said as he looked around the group. "I literally fell over that blue box and that's how we found it."

Zoning back into the group as I joined in with the few chuckles that broke out, I was quickly distracted again as Landon pointed towards the entrance this time.

With everyone's heads turning towards the entrance again, running down the long stretch was Spencer and Margaret. They both looked exhausted as the finally stopped in front of Max, Margaret had to lean on Spencer so she wouldn't fall over.

Waiting patiently for them, Spencer and Margaret handed over the collected items and eventually made their way over to us.

Sliding in between Landon and Lucas, the two guys were sweet as Landon took Margaret from Spencer and helped hold her up, while Lucas made sure Spencer had his own support as he recovered.

Smiling at the relationship all the trainees had created with each other, I thought about the fact that there was only one spot left for a pair of trainees to claim. Looking at the other trainees, I think they were having the same thoughts as me. Several people began to frown as they looked down at the ground.

"One spot left huh?..." Lucy said quietly as she glanced around at everyone. "We should move right in front of the entrance to see who it is before they get to Max, and so they can see there's only one spot left."

Nodding in unison, our group shuffled it's way over until it was directly in front of the entrance. We were all basically standing a few feet behind where Max stood to wait for the last group to arrive.

Staring down the long stretch between the clearing we were in and the road, I could feel my heart start pumping faster and my stomach start churning.

Xavier and Alyson had to be the ones that made it back in time.

Lucy, Parker and Levi had gathered around me. I could feel the nervous tension going between the four of us, and even a little between the other trainees. We all wanted to see who was going to be the ones to get back first, the ones that were going to stay.

Not being able to look at the empty stretch of concrete in front of me anymore, I closed my eyes until I heard a faint whisper to my right. It was Parker exclaiming a little "yes!".

Quickly opening my eyes, I couldn't even describe the feeling I had when I saw Xavier and Alyson running down the long stretch with no one behind them. I even relaxed a little as they quickly closed the distance between us and them.

Turning and smiling at Parker and Levi, I turned to smile at Lucy but she had nothing but a pale look of horror on her face.

"Oh no," she barely whispered, making me whip back around to see what was happening.

Staring down the stretch at Xavier and Alyson, a few hundred feet behind them Ashley and Rachel had appeared, and they were sprinting as fast as they could to catch up and probably pass Xavier and Alyson.

Quickly looking back at Xavier and Alyson, I could see that Alyson was starting to slow down and fall behind Xavier. Of all the times she chose this one to finally feel the effects of the long run. Having to have seen our bewildered faces, Xavier was constantly looking behind at Alyson, and then at Ashley and Rachel who were quickly gaining ground on them.

Grabbing the side of Levi's arm In the need to do something about the scene unfolding before me, I just couldn't take my eyes away from Xavier and Alyson struggling to stay ahead. Out of the corner of my eye I could even see the other trainers along with Jake and Kaiden staring down the long concrete stretch at them.

I watched Xavier as he fully grasped what was going on. Between each glance backwards, he had the most worried look on his face as he was running forward. Seeing him so worried made me grip Levi's arm tighter, I had no control over the situation and the mixture of emotions it was bringing me was indescribable.

Ashley and Rachel were quickly gaining ground on Xavier and Alyson. In the moment I switched back to looking at Xavier and Alyson, I immediately noticed that Xavier had slowed down a bit and it made me want to scream at him.

That boy better not have given up.

My eyes glued to the pair, I watched as Xavier quickly said something to Alyson before he suddenly lifted her up in his arms and quickly picked up his speed again.

I cannot even explain the exhale of relief I let out when Xavier and Alyson made it to Max just a mere ten to fifteen seconds before Ashley and Rachel did. Xavier had set Alyson down, and everyone waited in silent anticipation as to whether they had successfully brought back all the items.

Xavier handed over the fifth item, and I don't know if Max was purposely dragging it on, but it took him a few moments before he smiled and congratulated them.

The look on Xavier's face was pure relief, and even Alyson who now usually had a somber expression on her face was smiling from ear to ear at their success. It took a lot in me to not scream and cheer as they joined our group. It didn't feel right cheering as Ashley and Rachel stood there with looks of fear and defeat covering their faces.

Max quietly asked for their items even though they were the last group. Slowly handing over the items, I only counted four when Ashley and Rachel started to quickly check all their pockets with bewildered looks.

Clearing his throat, Max shook his head. "Ashley and Rachel, you already know that you two came in last and will be leaving us. If you weren't last however, I'd have to send you back out into the city seeing as you only have four of the five required items."

As Ashley and Rachel dropped their heads in defeat, I felt an odd wave of relief rush over me. However sad I was that the two girls had to leave, Xavier and Alyson would have been safe even if they had come in last.

"Ashley, Rachel," boomed a voice from our right.

Everyone turning to face the source, it was Kaiden standing dominantly in front of the other trainers. His face was void of emotion and his arms were held behind his back.

Karla stepped out from behind Kaiden, and walked over to where Max was standing before Kaiden began to speak again.

"As the last pair of trainees to come back from the final exam, you two must now leave the Midnight Mafia and Gainsville where you are forbidden to ever return," Kaiden commanded with his eyes as cold as stones. "Max and Karla will now lead you out of the city. Follow them now."

Ashley whimpered as Max took the lead and Karla waited until the two began walking. Karla took up the rear as she and Max escorted Rachel and Ashley down the long stretch of concrete and out to the road where they turned right and disappeared from sight.

Everyone was silent as we watched them leave. You could feel the conflict of feelings bouncing around between the remaining trainees. Sadness because Ashley and Rachel were cast out, yet happiness because we had all succeeded.

"Congratulations trainees!" Jake announced as he was the first to break the silence. "Tomorrow your lives in the Midnight Mafia will finally be starting! There will be your job naming ceremony as soon as the sun goes down."

"However, tonight your scores will be carefully evaluated," Kaiden said while cutting Jake off and getting into the more serious matters. "Based on the scores and several other things, you will be given your job depending a lot on what the Midnight Mafia as a whole needs."

Kaiden finished with a nod as he made eye contact with me. Staring right back at him, I couldn't figure out what he was thinking. Nothing in his eyes gave anything away tonight.

"Now you must return to you dorms," Jake said making me break eye contact with Kaiden. "You may not speak with anyone except your room mates, but only once you are in your rooms."

Not saying anything else, Jake and Kaiden stared at us until someone finally made the first move to go back towards HQ.

Walking back towards the massive building with Lucy at my side, I didn't know what I was feeling. The exam had seemingly gone off without a hitch even though it had to be late into the night by now. Looking up at the sky, it was probably one of the blackest skies I had ever seen. The was moon was almost full though, and lit up our path to HQ.

Quickly glancing at Lucy, she seemed to be in deep thought just like I was. It was insane to think that it was finally over. The day I had been waiting and thinking about so often was tomorrow. Glancing around at the other trainees, you could feel the exhaustion surrounding us. It was hard work and dedication that had gotten us all there and it was beyond worth it.

The last piece of business for the night that was on my mind was the two guys from the Blood Diamonds. Kaiden never gave me a chance to talk to him about it, and I didn't know when I ever would be able to tell him.

I just hoped that nothing major happened in the meantime.

Getting to the outside of the building, someone had opened to door and we were filing into the secure walls of our home one by one. Walking up the stairs that lead us back to the inward halls of HQ, the one thing that surprisingly came to my head was the city. It was our big piece of solitude in the now destroyed world around us.

It protected us, it challenged us, it could even kill us.

In truth it acted exactly like what a gang could essentially do to you.

******************

Hello everyone! I know there was so much in this chapter to process, but thank you so much for reading it anyways!

This is by far the longest chapter I've written and I'm really proud that this story has evolved to the point where I can write almost 14,000 words about it in just one chapter! I promise that no other chapter will EVER be this long. Seeing as it was the final exam I just didn't want to break it up into two parts.

Thank you so much again for reading! I know it was A LOT, but I hope you enjoyed it none the less!

Seeing as this chapter is so long and it will take people a bit of time to read, I won't be updating for a few extra days than normal. This also gives me some time to get ahead and continue writing the story beyond the next chapter.

Thanks once again for reading and sticking with me this far!

- Delaney :)