Chapter 2

Once they got through the desert, and on the brink of the forest the teachers and guards let the students roam around the area a bit. Max suggested they all stayed together. Colten, on the other hand, decided they should run off into the forest for a little bit. He ran into the forest, Aaron ran after him. Tarin shrugged at Max, who then shrugged back and ran into the forest as well. Tarin, as always, ran from behind the group; they were all too fast for him.

Colten stopped at what looked to be an old cave, he looked back at the others and ushered them into the cave.

“Come on. Maybe there’s something cool over here.” Colten said to them, he disappeared into the cave. “Wow! There actually is something cool in here!”

Colten was known to be a liar, but it was better just to check. Tarin, Max, and Aaron all started walking into the cave. When they caught up with Colten, they gasped. There was a glowing plant all along the sides of the caves, and they sent off little wisps. Tarin neared one that was glowing red. Max neared one near him, it glowed blue. Tarin expected that Colten and Aaron did the same. Tarin reached out to the plant, and touched it. He felt a jolt go up his arm, and he pulled his arm back. It hurt, he looked at Max. His was grabbing onto him, he looked at Colten. His was rapping its vines around him. He looked at Aaron, the green wisps were on his skin. They looked like they hurt. Instantly they all backed away from the plants, Tarin turned to his friends.

“Let’s get out of here.” They all ran for the exit of the cave, Tarin got out and looked back. They were really slow, they probably used all their energy running to the cave.

When they got back to the jeeps, the teachers didn’t suspect a thing. Once they all got onto the back of the jeep they all huddled in.

Tarin was extremely scared, “What if they gave us some kind of disease?” he whispered,

Colton shook his head, “Na, plants don’t do that.”

Max stopped both of them, “It doesn’t matter, let’s just relax and explore for a bit.”

For the whole rest of the day they explored all over the reserve, they saw animals, plants, none of the plants that had touched them though. Once they’d gotten to the exit of the reserve, Tarin didn’t even feel worried anymore. He did consider himself a scientist though, so he would run some tests on all of them.

Tarin got everyone together after they got on the bus, “Guys, we have no idea what we were exposed to. I’m going to be running tests on all of you, Ok?”

Colton shook his head, “Na, we’re fine.”

Max nodded, “I think we’re fine, let’s see if anything happens. If something does we tell eachother ok?” Everyone nodded, and they went on with their normal routine.

When Tarin woke up the next day, he didn’t smell breakfast like he usually did. On the weekends Tarin’s mom would always make the best foods, but not today he guessed. He got up, and went through everything he got dressed, brushed his teeth, all of it. He stayed in his room for the morning, and worked on some tech. Specifically the friction resistant rubber, he tried it out on a sander. They worked! Tarin rushed down the stairs to show his mom, just to see she was right outside his room. She looked like she was walking, but something was weird about her. She wasn’t moving, but she looked like she was mid-walking. Something weird was happening, so he decided to stay in his room for a little bit longer.