Chapter 14: Suffer
Finally, night came around and they huddled together as close as physically possibly to help them retain heat during the night as well as to make sure that no one fell asleep during the night as the chance of dying was much higher.
What they didn't know was that normal deserts would never get this cold as Damon had adjusted the temperature to force them to have to rely on each other in order to pass the test.
If Murphy who was currently shaking and suffering knew this, he would cuss Damon out for a week straight.
"Come-o - n Murphy Ca-nt - hand-le a little -co-ld" Raven chattered off as she tried to hug her body as close as possible to the person on both sides of her while looking at Murphy who looked like someone pissed in his cereal.
"F-uck - O-ff" Murphy said with his teeth chattering and the feeling of his body burning as the cold seeped into his skin.
They endured the freezing temperatures for 8 hours before it warmed up and they once again began another trek toward the extraction zone.
But during the night a lot of them had gotten some kind of frostbite on their extremities making it even harder to deal with the pain and suffering as they once again walked another 18 miles.
Finally, six hours later they were already 36 miles into their trek when they stopped for the day.
Plah!
Murphy dropped to his knees and forced himself not to start shedding tears as he curled himself into a ball with the desert sun hovering over him.
Glancing at his hand which was covered in blue bruising and puffiness he forced himself to ignore the pain as he quickly fell asleep from exhaustion.
Once again night came around and they huddled together as they faced the freezing cold temperatures of night once again.
Staying up for hours in the freezing cold while forcing yourself not to fall asleep was beyond miserable and not everyone was able to cope as well as others as their minds broke.
"MM!" Murphy groaned in agony while looking at his hand that was looking gnarly as blue, green, and black spots could be seen covering it and it looked like it was ready to fall off.
Glancing around Murphy saw Raven who slowly stood up along with the rest after a rough night.
"Cara!"
Murphy heard a scream and looked over to see the boy Drew shaking a woman who seemed to have fallen asleep during the night.
"Watch out!" Raven stumbled over to the body of the Woman and checked her vitals while Murphy just prayed that the girl didn't die lest they have to restart once again.
"Her body went into shock, she's in a coma," Raven said and everyone paled as they realized what this meant.
"No way! We are not doing this shit again!" Murphy screamed as quickly walked over to the body of the woman before picking her up and he crouched down.
"Ahhh!" Murphy screamed in pain as he stood up with the woman on his back while he tried to hold her still with his almost dead hand.
"Let's go! We only got 14 miles!" Murphy yelled as the only thing allowing him to continue was the adrenaline flooding his body.
Everyone looked at each other in shock before nodding in respect at Murphy before following behind him.
But it wasn't much longer before Murphy was dragging behind and the adrenaline that had been flooding his body was beginning to wear off and his head began to feel lightheaded.
He only had a few more miles but it might as well have been a whole fucking ocean between him and the extraction point.
"Let us help." A couple of other boys in the group took the woman off of Murphy and laid her in the sand before they each took an arm and started slowly dragging her toward the extraction point.
By this point, they had long run out of water and entire faces were blistered and lips chapped and bleeding.
Before this test, none of them had even realized it was possible to be this uncomfortable.
So uncomfortable and irritable that death almost seemed like a good option.
"Come on! Just a little more." Raven whispered to Murphy as he leaned on her shoulder, and she kept him from falling over.
At this point, Raven didn't even open her eyes anymore as she just walked with her eyes closed and tried not to fall asleep standing up.
She didn't even think of anything as it seemed like her entire brain began to grow foggy and the only thing she did was take one step after another forcing her feet to move.
Swoosh!
The entire group felt their bodies become light like a feather before they found themselves on some weird grass fields.
All of the injuries and the dehydration had completely vanished as their bodies went back to being 100 percent healthy.
Though their minds were still very much fatigued, but they all cheered in joy once they realized they had passed the test.
"Congrats! You're the first group to finish the test. Good work, I'm proud of you guys." Damon smiled and he truly was proud of the tenacity of this group.
"The point of this test was to push your mind past limits you thought weren't even possible. To learn to rely on others and not just yourself. To know what it means to truly be uncomfortable.
The feeling of the sand in every crevice of your body while the hot sun just blasted you relentlessly. This test showed you how the earth can be very unforgiving, and you must never underestimate it."
" For now, you guys can go anywhere you want and do anything you want until the rest of the groups finish. Have fun!" Damon smiled before they all vanished into a white room with a single kiosk.
"Where did that demon send us now?" Murphy said while trying not to fall asleep as he was tired as heck.
"Look at this," Raven said while sliding a screen on a Kiosk with different pictures.
"Woah!" Murphy slapped Raven's hand away from the screen and slid the kiosk back a screen allowing him to see the picture of a modern-day hotel room with a giant bed that looked to be calling his name.
Murphy clicked on it out of curiosity.
Swoosh!
His vision went dark before he found himself in a huge room full of things he hadn't seen before.
Looking behind him he spotted the giant bed and he couldn't help but shed a tear.
"It was all worth it!" Murphy jumped up and dived into the bed which he sunk into and with a smile on his face he fell asleep and had the best rest in his entire life.