Free Cured by Diana Page A

lion.”
    “That’s about all I know too,” he groaned.
“Why did we never listen?”
    “Because school sucked.”
    “Anyway, Hercules had to do twelve tasks. I
don’t know the details but I can remember the basic idea behind
most of them. The problem is, I have no idea if we are meant to
complete the tasks in the same way Hercules did, or if we are meant
to figure out our own method.”
    “Knowing what the tasks are isn’t going to
help much, Fe. They are going to be impossible for us to complete.
They’re made for Primes and we have no powers.”
    Felix nodded. “I know. The risk is high. The
good news though, is that the first of his tasks was the
lion.”

    I stared my
friend down incredulously. “How on earth is the task of fighting a
lion to the death a good thing, Felix? I’ve never fought, let alone
killed, anything in my life!”
    Felix laughed. “We’re not going up against
the lion, Ave. We’d be dead in seconds. The good news is that the
lions will be placed in their natural habitat. I imagine we will be
stationed be in a jungle…”

    I didn’t
understand. “Why is being deployed to a jungle a good thing for
us?”
    “Because,” Felix continued, “Think of how
many places we can hide in a jungle. Plus there are heaps of
resources to live off. We can use trees for shelter, hunt for food,
streams for water.”
    I couldn’t help but laugh. “Felix. We have
been living the high life all our lives. Our food is served to us,
fully prepared, out of a Wall at the push of a button. There is no
way we can survive in the jungle. Neither of us knows anything
about survival.”
    Felix looked hurt. “I kinda do. I watched a
documentary once.”
    “A documentary is not going to cut it, Fe. It
was a good plan, but they’ll track us down straight away. And even
if they don’t, we will die from starvation or hypothermia or, you
know, death by lion. We can't survive in the jungle,” I said,
crossing my arms to let him know I was serious.
    “ We’re not
going to live in the jungle forever! We will just hide there until
it’s safe. Then we will change our names, change our appearance,
and we will run away.”

    At this point
I was close to tears, feeling stupid for only moments ago having
hope that we might survive. Our nation was small, and security was
meticulous, thanks to my father and the other Alphas. There was
nowhere to run or hide. But looking up at Felix’s face and seeing
how hopeful he was, I decided not to kill his buzz.
    “Why not?” I smiled, with what I hoped was a
bit of confidence. “We might as well see if it works. We have
nothing to lose.”
    Felix turned to my WallScreen and opened the
WallDrobe. He started scrolling through the endless clothing
options until he reached the floor length, pale yellow coloured
gown that I had vetoed the night before.
    “No,” I said.
    “Yes.”
    “No Felix. I am serious. I cannot wear that
to training.”
    “You’re not training, remember,” he smiled
cheekily.
    “But everyone will hate me!”
    “They’re going to hate you anyway, love.” He
patted my hair, and I slumped. This was not going to be fun. I
nodded in resignation and he dashed over to the WallDrobe and
retrieved the gown that the Wall had prepared and discharged. He
threw it in my direction and it landed on my head.
    “Suit up, Ave, I’ll see you down there.” He
turned and left my room.
    After a painfully long hour of primping and
preening to make myself look the part of a spoilt tyrant, I was
finally ready. I had strapped some golden Greek sandals to my feet
and used my hair station to achieve ringlets out of my usually
uncontrollable mane. I took one last look in the mirror, hating
myself for agreeing to Felix’s ridiculous plan, and left for
training.

Chapter 14
     
    When I
arrived at the training arena, everyone else was already there. I
had planned to arrive ten minutes late, to add to my prima donna
character. Every pair of eyes in the room was on me as I