Scene 13 — Cal

They exited the restaurant and looked around for their competition.

“There they are!” exclaimed Cal, pointing. The town was slightly elevated above the surrounding fields on a small knoll. Stefan and Annie were traversing the first field headed in the direction of the camp.

Cal and Lindsey looked at each other and had the same revelation: those two had no qualms about getting dirty, they would take the most direct route to camp and they would know the way since that’s how they had gotten to town. This was now a simple race back to the line, no more mental games, this was all about fitness and determination.

“We are not losing to them.” Lindsey stated flatly. Cal could sense the white hot anger burning through her by her tone. The adrenaline of competition mixed with frustration at losing to Annie, who pissed off both of them.

Cal nodded and they took off running down the knoll in pursuit.

The first field they came to had crops that were about knee high, but there was a narrow gap, wide enough for one person to run along between the crops and stone wall at the end of the field. This narrow path was where they had seen Stefan and Annie running initially and it was obvious it was the best option to get across the field quickly.

Lindsey continued to set the pace as they began down the path. The couple they were chasing had moved out of sight into the next field, which was separated by a line of trees. Cal noticed Lindsey’s white pants had dried somewhat but he could still clearly make out her panties. He ordered himself to not to get distracted, he badly wanted to win. Doubly so because he could sense how upset Lindsey was. The path itself was churned to mud, likely the only path used by the farmer and his workers to traverse this area and made worse by the overnight rains. As they ran he noticed little flecks of mud begin to dot the backs of Lindsey’s white pant legs. The mud sucked at his loafers with every step. While they had been serviceable on the harder packed trail, they weren’t going to work for this.

He called for Lindsey to hold up, she turned and saw him kick off his shoes. She seemed to immediately understand his thinking; they were not going to risk losing over a stupid pair of shoes. She likely had been slipping herself as her flats had minimal tread, just a flat bottom. She ripped off her shoes and they continued the chase, now able to more agilely.