A/N: CHAPTER THIRTEEEEN!

Too my re-readers from the first draft.... your favourite duo is finally making their appearanceeee!!!

Wow this is actually a longer chapter than usual.

Please comment below and give me your thoughts on the new version or what you are thinking! I would love to hear from everybody!!!

Chapter  Thirteen:

Surprisingly, the room was cool. Covered with air conditioners within its large space, a shiver crawled through me as bumps covered my skin. Each corner of the room was spotted with white boxes blowing out air and I sighed taking a few steps inside.

The Weights Room was not as big as the Gym Hall, only about a quarter of the large hall I had just left. Instead of walls surrounding the gym, stood large mirrors making the place seemingly bigger than what it was. Weights aligned the room, the left side focused upon free and fixed weights, a large aisle of bench presses and a small section in the back right where hydraulic machines, bikes and treadmills sat.

Taking a deep breath, I cringed at the smell of sweat and odour filling the air. Grunts echoed simultaneously from all around, many men training and playing around with the equipment that were set up.

Looking around the room searching for Carter, I rid the image of shirtless men around me, sweat gleaming their skin, following trails within the ripples of muscle. Before finally spotting him in the left corner where the weights were.

Approaching him, I passed through the multiple people working out, occasionally seeing a female amongst the mix and reached Carter when I noticed two men I did not see before.

Carter was spotting and counting for a male below him on the bench, grunting as he held his hands high, bench pressing the numerous weights above him. I was in awe at just how much weight he could hold.

There was no denying he was attractive, his arms rippling with every motion he made. Sweat glistened on his caramel tanned skin and his brown hair stuck plastered to his forehead. He took deep grunting breaths.

Suddenly, he let out a curse and Carter and the other mysterious male grabbed the pole and placed it back on the bar. The other male was different compared to the one lying down with light brown curly locks, and placed down the bar with a grunt before swiping a hand across his forehead.

He turned his head and glanced towards me with a curious look. His swirly grey eyes piercing into mine. Raising a brow, a smile rose on his cheek and a dimple appeared on the left side with a splatter of freckles along his nose as he smiled slightly at me.

"Do you need any help?"

All three eyes settled on me and I could not help but feel slightly nervous at the attention. The boy lying down suddenly sat up quickly and I could not help but notice the sweat patch he left behind on the cushioning of the bench. I began to breathe unsteadily, shaking my head frantically. "No, actually I-"

"This is Bryce Henson," Carter cut in. "My partner."

Nodded nervously, I glanced down slightly and watched the man who had been bench pressing with brown hair. His hair turned out to be a brown afro frizz as it shot out in many directions above his head. From under his long eyelashes he glanced up at me, drawing his gaze up and down and rested his eyes on mine smirking before turning to Carter with almost an accusing glare. "You didn't tell me she was pretty."

My eyes widened slightly, my face flushing when a single laugh left my mouth in shock. Carter slapped that back of his head rolling his eyes as the boy winced.

"That was uncalled for," he then turned his head in my direction, staring at me with his dark brown eyes. "Jarvis Key," he held out a hand.

Hesitantly, I reached my hand out to his, "Bryce Henson."

He smirked and I knew I did it again, repeating my name to someone who obviously already knew it. He gestured to the other boy beside him with the cute smile, "This is my partner, Logan Roy."

Logan was shorter than Carter, not by too much but was certainly much taller than me. Logan scowled towards Jarvis before looking at me with a now welcoming smile. "Hi," he smiled, putting his hands behind his back.

I could not help but smile at his shyness and nodded, tightening my hair nervously.

"So," Carter broke the silence. His shirt was darker now and stuck plastered to him no doubt from his workout. "What are you doing here?" He didn't ask rudely, but more curiously.

My brows screwed in confusion, "You said one hour, lunch?"

He processed for a moment thinking before nodding suddenly as if realisation dawned on him. "Yes right, I completely forgot."

There was no stopping my laugh as he looked sheepish, running a hand through his hair almost embarrassed. But it was when I heard the laughter of the two boys, that I was confused. On Logan's credit, he seemed to try to hide it, however, Jarvis had no shame as he laughed.

"Oh Carter, how dare you forget!" Teased Jarvis. "How could you do this to me?"

I rolled my eyes muffling my laughter as Carter turned to Jarvis with an irritated look on his face that managed to make Jarvis laugh even louder.

Although, I tried to hide the pang that it seemed like he was making fun of me.

Turning to Carter, I saw that he was already looking at me but he had a frown on his face. I was confused as to why he was frowning but Carter looked back towards the two boys whispering something I could not hear.

Just before I could ask what it was, Carter walked to me and placed his hand on my hip softly, turning me towards the doors to the building. "We will catch up later," he called over his shoulders and looked at me. "I'm starved."

Quickly, I peered over mine as Logan called out to me. "Nice, meeting you Bryce."

I barely managed to call back you too before we left the Weights Room and made our way to the Main Hall.

. . .

"Come on, you got this. Only three more to go."

I let out a grunt huffing loudly, struggling to breathe before I let my arms hang free and attempted to pull myself upwards. It was much harder doing sit ups when dangling off of the bars on the wall. It was a struggle, but Carter was not letting me stop until I completed my set. After pushing three more times, I finally let out a breath of relief before my legs wobbled and I had to quickly grip the bars above me and let my legs loose. After a moment, I placed them on the floor, dropping myself and almost collapsed if not for Carter's sturdy arms.

Carter and I had decided to start training everyday to prepare ourselves for whatever was coming up. After the last test that would have potentially killed us, we had decided that we honestly had no idea what tests they would give us.

I still doubted that they would give us tests that would injure us, let alone kill us. But I guess it did not hurt to work on my body physically. It has been almost a week since I had left the farm and the first test and I figured I might as well make my time worth the while. Especially when there was no idea when the next test would be.

Carter and I were currently working on our core strength and stamina whilst also focusing on other parts of the body on different days.

"No-" I paused, taking a deep breath, "More." I was bent over, hands on my knees trying to catch my breath.

In response, Carter grabbed my shoulders softly with warm hands and pulled me upwards bringing my hands to the back of my head where I stood straight, upright. "Do this whenever you need to breathe, it helps more."

I nodded, closing my eyes trying to calm my heartbeat and breathe more steadily. After a few more minutes of catching my breath, I could finally breathe steadily and took my arms off my head, turning towards Carter.

"Your turn," I smiled but he shook his head laughing. "Can I even trust you to catch me if I fell?"

I frowned and made a show of contemplating it, "Probably."

"Not reassuring enough."

Still frowning, I feigned hurt before he laughed at my expression and I could not help but join in. Suddenly, we were interrupted by someone calling out Carter's name and turned towards their direction. I smiled at the sight of Jarvis and Logan, wiping at my sweaty forehead and pushing my hair down so it stuck to my head rather than frizzed.

Over the past week, I had grown closer to them. Although in the beginning I was more unwilling towards conversing with them, I now had no problem. They joined us everyday and they told us how they came from Kennedy which was a little south from Redlake, an hour or so away. Kennedy was much larger than Redlake and was where a lot of trade occurred if you were looking for a larger market than what Redlake offered. I have been there a few times and to say that the town is beautiful.

It was nowhere near as rundown as Redlake and had breathable air that was not covered with the soot of smoke and pollution that lingered from the war. Fields of grass covered the outskirts and beautiful buildings that weren't rotting amongst themselves covered the town's square. To say, they were much better off and not as poor as Redlake.

It made me wonder why they had signed up but it was not something I wanted to push to early on. Even though Kennedy was better off from Redlake, it did not mean that they could not be poor or suffering.

"Training so early? Where was the invite?" Frowned Jarvis.

I let out a laugh, "No one wanted you here."

He scoffed but had a mischievous look in his eyes. There was nothing Jarvis liked better than to prod people and joke about anything he could. "No, you just didn't want anyone to see you looking like..." he paused, excruciating me, looking up and down. "Like that."

I crossed my arms with a smile lifting on my face. "That's rich coming from you." He let out a whistle, brown eyes gleaming. "Someone's feisty today."

I watched as his eyes took in my sweaty physique and before I could retort he turned his gaze to Carter. "And what are you doing? Training, or watching her?" He winked, making Logan snicker.

My chest fluttered, a flustered feeling taking over me. Turning to Carter, he frowned at him deeply and punched him in the arm. "Training, idiot." But his dried, sweat-less shirt said otherwise as Jarvis laughed. "If that's what you want to call it."

Logan laughed louder and I narrowed my eyes at him. At the sight of me looking at him, he quickly settled down as he swallowed and gave me an innocent smile. One that I knew was definitely fake, but he was so good at mustering.

"So are we training or what? Get back to it Bryce," I turned to Jarvis who was now smirking. "I know some really good stretches that can help. So turn around, and bend-" I did not hesitate when I punched him in the stomach.

He let out a grunt and kneeled over, sweat appeared on his forehead and everyone began laughing at the curses that began to leave his mouth. Satisfied, I smiled and walked towards one of the treadmills in the back corner, laughter following me.

Picking one that was vacant and isolated in the back, I put it on a minimal pace, mesmerized by the technology before me and turned it on. I was ashamed to admit that a few days back it took me nearly an hour before I figured out how to make the machine turn on.

From the back, I could see everyone around and watched as everyone conversed softly. It was just before lunch so it was not too busy. From beside me, I heard two partners, a girl and boy engaging in their own conversation, but I struggled to pick up on it as my legs moved with the machine.

Carter, Jarvis, and Logan were not that far away and continued to work on the bars. Turning on the machine to a medium rate, I picked up my pace and watched the triad as they began to do pull ups which soon quickly turned into a competition on who could do the quickest.

I had no doubt that it would be Logan who would be able to do the most, and I could not help but let out a laugh and watch Carter's arms begin to spasm near his triceps and let go falling to the ground. He slammed it in annoyance as Logan and Jarvis continued. It was not too long after Carter that Jarvis fell and as expected Logan was still going ahead.

What I was surprised about was the smirk that seemed unnatural on his usually sweet face and he let go, laughing at the two boys on the floor cradling their arms, no doubt grumbling. I swear I could hear exactly what they were saying and the whines that would be leaving their mouths. But it did not take them too long from sulking to finally move on to some other machinery in the Gym Room.

Shaking my head in laughter, I glanced back down to my machine and turned it to the max speed and zoned out. I did not know how long I ran for on the machine, but I kept moving to help improve my stamina and cardiovascular system.

The Gym Room was like the Weights Room. The same set of mirrors circulating the walls and equipment all over the place. It was obvious the gym was bigger, and also reached much higher to accommodate equipment like the bars I had just used. There was a more variety of equipment but had more machinery than weights and even a boxing section further back. Mostly everything was electronic which had been a major struggle in the beginning.

But my biggest concern was when the next test was going to be. It has been a week since the first one. From how quickly that one had occurred, I assumed that we would have to have one soon. I wondered if it would come as much of a surprise as the first test and hit us when we least expected.

I hoped not.

Sighing, my speed picked up along with my heartbeat and I tried to control and regulate my breathing. Just as Daniel had taught me a long time ago.

Quick, in, in, long exhale.

I continued my pattern and found myself wondering about him. I hoped he and my family were okay back on the farm. It had been a week and with my fathers worsening state I hoped nothing drastic had happened. I wondered if Thomas was okay, and how my mother fared. Was she still angry at me? Did she hate me?

She never did say bye to me and rather just left.

I wondered if I would ever get the chance to see her again.