For a moment, she was back in the streets of Reneva, watching her parents burn.

"Asher!" she screamed, but there was no sound beyond the echoing blast. She squinted against the brightness and tried to make out his figure amongst the fire and smoke. "No, Ash, please!"

The old nickname burned like acid on her tongue.

In that moment, she couldn't be certain whether she was mourning the loss of her chance at the presidency or the loss of her best friend. It was all too confusing. All she could feel was a twisting knot of pain and despair in her stomach, so excruciating that she fell to her knees with the pain. Her dreams at the Academy had lasted seven years. Her friendship with Asher had lasted seven years. And somehow, losing him for the second time was even more difficult, even though she knew she was supposed to hate him, even though she was supposed to have forgotten him, even though--

A hand grabbed on to the ledge of the platform.

As the fire faded in the distance, Kalista cried out and crawled forward. "Ash?" she whispered. She felt like she was hallucinating... and then she saw his golden, slightly blackened hair.

"Can't get rid of me that easily," he coughed hoarsely, clutching the ledge for dear life. "A little help here?"

She grabbed his other hand and pulled him up, shaking. "Come on, we have to go."

He seemed unhurt, save for a few burns on his arms that didn't look too serious. He must have leapt at the last second. Without thinking, she made a strange noise and wrapped her arms around him in a brief hug.

Just as quickly, she pulled away.

Oh, God, what had she just done? Her cheeks flamed. This was Asher Wayland. Her enemy. Her betrayer.

Her best friend.

No! No. He had lied. He had buried that knife into her shoulder, and there was no going back. How could there be? Her parents had died at his hands, and no matter what he said with those beautiful lips and the eyes she had known for her whole life... he was a liar. He was dead to her now. He was--

He had saved her life.

But she had saved his right back, hadn't she? This was all a part of Finals, all a part of this power game that she needed to win. She could tolerate him. She could work with him. But she could never, ever, get attached to him. She could never, ever--

Love him.

And that was the moment that she knew she was done for.

Kalista snapped herself out of her traitorous mind and looked away. She couldn't see his reaction, but she could feel the slight warmth of surprise and hope emanating off him. They were still so close together. The platform was so horribly small. She had the sudden urge to touch him, and had to lace her fingers together to resist it. What was she doing? What was going on?

"Wow, thanks," Asher said. She could tell he was trying to make a joke, but his voice shook a little at the end. "Nice to know that I'm still of some value--"

She slapped him. 

Not hard, but hard enough to make her mind stop spinning. "Don't push it."

Even as his cheek began to turn red, a smile emerged like the first peek of daylight from the rising sun: hesitant but hopeful. She would have slapped him again if not for the figure that appeared behind him.

It seemed that Sawyer and the other boy had been left behind. Kalista recognized Alina Rostova's slim figure and long blond hair as she swung from one hoop to the next, eyes narrowed in concentration. There was a giant gap in the course where the grenade had gone off, blowing some of the hoops to pieces, but Alina seemed determined to cross it. Swearing, Kalista pulled Asher to his feet and turned to the last part of the course: the zipline.

And the slip of paper was hanging right in the middle of it.

"You go," she found herself saying.

Asher shook himself, as if he had been in a trance, and frowned. "W-What?"

Her resolve hardened and she slid two knives out of her pockets. "You go get the slip. I'll be right behind you."

The zipline wasn't really a zipline -- just a thin cord that spanned the distance of a large ravine. You were supposed to cup your hand around it and slide across. It gave the worst rope burn, but the sensation was like no other, almost like flying.

It could only hold one person's weight at a time.

Asher blinked and shook his head. "No, no, you go first. I don't even--"

"Just grab the cord loosely and let yourself go," Kalista instructed, and then backtracked. "Well, not literally, don't actually let go... you know what I mean."

"But I can't just leave you here," he protested. "We can deal with her together, and then get the slip."

Kalista shook her head decisively. "That wastes too much time. Only one person can be on the cord at a time, and if you go now, then I can follow as soon as I finish her off. We don't know if there's anyone behind her, and we can't risk anyone else coming in."

"But--"

"No buts." She glared at him. Reluctantly, he wrapped his hand around the cord and opened his mouth to speak again.

With a single push, she sent him flying down the zipline.

His cry of protest faded as he zoomed across the cord. When he neared the slip of paper, Kalista held her breath and then sighed in relief as he managed to grab it with his left hand.

She really hoped it wasn't something stupid, like a nickel.

Grimacing at the possibility, she glanced back toward Alina just in time to see her launch herself from the last remaining hoop all the way to the platform, landing in a crouch just in front of her. "Smooth," Kalista commented before unsheathing her knives and lunging.

Unfortunately, Alina was ready. She had a knife of her own in her hand and swept it in one clean motion toward Kalista's heart. Caught off guard, Kalista twisted herself sideways and teetered on the edge of the platform, then grabbed onto the railing for balance.

All was silent except for the whooshing of knives as the two girls swerved around each other, a hundred feet above the ground. Alina was good, Kalista realized. Her reflexes were sharp and her instincts were clever. She didn't seem to have a single weakness, and no matter how hard Kalista pushed her, she was able to counter with the same intensity.

Look harder, she could hear Raphael chiding her. There is always a weakness.

Alina's left side was just as strong as her right, and just as agile too. She could attack from above and below. She could defend from either foot. She could swing from either hand.

But then Kalista caught it: a slight twitch of the eyelid.

Every time Alina swung, she would blink. It was only a small dip, but it was enough; it was everything. Kalista began to duck every time Alina's eyes flickered, giving her a small advantage. When she had finally gained the upper hand, she waited again for that flicker of the eyes before diving under Alina's swing and stabbing her in the chest.

Alina's eyes snapped back open as she fell backwards off the platform.

Breathing heavily, Kalista stumbled back and grabbed onto the railing for balance. Another kill. Another competitor down. Another boost to her ranking.

 But why didn't she feel proud?

Her hands were shaking suddenly and she rubbed them together to make them stop. What was with her today? She had to focus on the big picture. As President, she could save many more lives than she had killed in Finals. She could make up for it. She would.

She had to.

Steadying herself, she cupped her hand around the cord and pushed off the platform.

As the wind flew through her hair and the dark room passed by in a blur, she let out what felt like her first real breath of the day. Up here, it was easy to forget. It was easy to forget that she had killed more than ten people by now, and would need to kill many more. It was easy to forget this strange tension between her and Asher, this strange fire that was supposed to be ice. It was easy to forget--

Well, now she was thinking about it again.

Sighing, she focused back on that feeling of flying for the last few yards before she landed beside Asher on the final platform. The clock stopped with a loud ding and announced their time. "21:06: very slow. Punishment: 40 pushups and 10 more tries."

"Nope, not doing that," Kalista muttered and ran down the stairs that led to the ground. They had to get out of there, fast. That announcement had pretty much notified the entire school of their presence, and soon, the bravest of them would be coming to take a chance at her. She knew she could take them on one by one, but if they all came at once... she wouldn't stand a chance.

Maybe Kaylee would be among them.

Asher followed close behind her as she sprinted towards the door, only to find it locked. "Punishment: 40 pushups and 10 more tries," the voice repeated.

"Oh, shit." The trainers had always made sure that they didn't leave before their punishment, so she had never even tried the doors. Of course they would be locked. Huffing, she pulled out her pistol and shot the lock ten times.

One of the shots went through the door, and from behind it, she heard a cry of pain. 

They were waiting.

Kneeling below the hole in the door where the electronic lock had been, Kalista peeked outside and counted seven. None of them were amazing fighters, but with so many... She breathed a silent breath out and turned so that her back was pressed to the door.

"Our best bet is to wait in here," Asher breathed from beside her. "Hide somewhere and shoot them down then. If we go out there... we'll be surrounded."

Kalista closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. I'll go up there, you find someplace down here. I'll open fire first and jump down before they see me. Hopefully we can sneak out the door while they're heading up toward the platform."

"Got it," he whispered back, and then hesitated. "See you soon."

Kalista grinned at the small sliver of fear in his eyes. "Of course. I still need those ten bucks, after all."

She pushed herself to her feet and ran soundlessly across the room. The obstacle course was one of the biggest rooms in the Academy, and it was also used as a storage room. Numerous boxes of extra weapons, cleaning supplies, uniforms, and training suits lined the walls throughout the whole course. Normally, they were just part of the background, but they also made for great hiding places.

She reached the nearest stack and climbed quickly to the top. This stack was just behind the final platform, which kept her just out of sight from anyone coming in through the door. Her black outfit would make her nearly indetectable. Crouching down, she hoped Asher had found a good spot to hide and waited.

The first two shots would need to be perfect. Her hands were steady on her pistol as she cocked it and pointed it at the door.

For a moment, there was complete silence.

And then they came charging in with knives.

They had obviously expected her to be waiting right by the door. The confusion and fear on their faces made her smile as she readied herself and fired twice.

The two shots went right where she had aimed them: into the two strongest fighters' heads. As they collapsed to the floor, the rest of the group panicked, left without their natural leaders. Just as she predicted, their next reaction was "Up there!"

Heart pounding, she jumped down from the stack of boxes and ran along the left side of the room, keeping her gun ready and her eyes alert. They didn't even see her as they raced up the stairs to the platform and found no one there.

Asher jumped out from his hiding spot behind a pillar and joined her in running for the door. With one last sprint, they burst into the hallway.

Eyes used to the darkness of the obstacle course, the brightness blinded her. At the last second, she saw him...

But there was nothing she could do as Sawyer plunged a knife into her chest.

A/N: Ahh so that's the end of the 8 Chapter Challenge! It was actually so helpful lol or else there would be no way I could get out 8 chapters in a month :) The book is about half finished so make sure to stay tuned! (And thanks for making it so far!)