"Yeah, like those old bucket brigades they used for fires," Jan said, spreading out to make the chain from the tower to the barrel. "Don't fill them up so high because it's splashing out."
"Half full," Grace said. "It'll be lighter and easier to carry that way."
She grunted as she took the nearly full bucket from Thompson and passed it to Jan. "Watch it, it's heavy."
"Jeez, Thompson, make it lighter, will ya?" Jan said as water sloshed over the sides of the metal buckets. It took a few tries to get a rhythm going but once they did, Bravo Squad had no trouble making their bucket brigade work.
"We're halfway there," Mo yelled. "Keep 'em coming."
"I can only fill the bucket so fast," Thompson said.
"So what are we supposed to be learning from this?" Jan asked.
"Filling a barrel doesn't seem like a skill I'm going to be needing in the future."
"Well duh-uh," Grace said, handing her a bucket. "Think about it. If we each took turns filling a bucket and hauling it over there, we'd be tired and it'd probably take longer. Remember Carey said teamwork was the key. We're learning teamwork."
"Carey, huh?" Jan said, nudging her with an elbow. "What happened to Queen Bitch from Hell?"
Grace shrugged. "She's been easing up on the bitch lately. Even sat down and played cards with me the other night."
"You let her win, right?"
Grace passed another bucket. "I didn't let her win, she won because she plays gin better than I do."
"Uh-huh," Jan said. "Take my advice, if she asks you to play anything, let her win."
"Why? She's probably not a sore loser.”
"You really wanna take the chance to find out?" Jan shook her head.
"Why didn't they just let us play a game of softball or something? We have a ball field and never get to use it."
"I heard the state took the bats away after one girl cracked another girl's head open arguing balls and strikes," Thompson said. "Therefore we get to fill buckets with water."
"Almost there," Mo yelled. The squad moved faster, hoping each time a bucket was dumped that the water would be high enough to start coming out the hole.
"Get ready to fill your canteens," Grace said, reaching between bucket passes to loosen her belt.
"Clear!"
"Let's go," Jan said, the girls dropped the buckets and raced for the barrel. Water sloshed about as they pushed the canteens underwater and waited for the air bubbles to stop.
"Watch it," Latisha said when someone splashed water on her.
"Don't worry about it," Grace said, bracing her hands on the side of the barrel as the last canteen was filled. "It's so hot you'll dry in no time." Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and dunked her head. Oh that's cold, she thought, staying underwater for several seconds before standing up. "That felt good," she said, running her fingers through her wet blonde hair. She happily let the excess run down her back, soaking her shirt and pants.
"Come on, Grace, let's go," Jan said, waiting for her at the edge of the clearing near the trail.
''I'm coming," she said, running to catch up to the others.
The first obstacle was a pile of logs placed across the trail. It barely slowed them down and soon they were upon the second, and much more challenging, barrier. The squad stopped, unsure of what to do. "How the hell are we supposed to get past this?" Grace asked, staring warily at the wall made of cargo netting.
"Guess we climb," Jan said, grabbing hold and putting her foot on the bottom rung. As soon as she took her weight off the ground, the loose netting began to sway, taking her off balance. "Oh, no way." She jumped off and stood aside as Latisha tried with the same results.
"We have to keep the ropes from moving," Grace said, checking the slack in the netting. "If two of us hold it still, everyone else should be able to go up and over."
"And then what?" Rosetti said. "How are those two gonna get over?"
"Two of the people that make it over hold the net on the other side for them," Grace said.
"Well let's do something," Thompson said. "We're wasting time standing around here."
"Let's go," Grace said, tugging on the cargo netting. Rosetti grabbed the other side, creating the tension needed. There was enough room for two girls to go up at the same time, finding it much easier when the cargo netting didn't move around.
"Go, go," Jan urged, hooking her foot in the net when the first pair was halfway up. "You know they're doing this just to torment us."
"Watch, we'll probably lose by a couple of seconds," Grace said as Jan and Thompson began climbing. Looking further up the trail, she spotted the dark-haired figure leaning against a tree. Brown eyes met her; and Grace swore she saw the barest of smiles directed at her before Carey looked away. "Come on, let's go," she said to her teammates, hoping to raise their enthusiasm. Finally it was she and Rosetti left to conquer the netting. I can do this, she told herself as she grabbed hold. Just don't look down. "You'd better hold it tight, Jan."
"Don't worry, Maribel and I got it," Jan said. "Now climb."
Easy for you to say, she thought as she began to climb. Rosetti was faster than her, over the top and starting to come down the other side by the time Grace was halfway up. Gripping tightly with her hands, she moved her foot and pushed up. The wooden bar that marked the top of the netting wall was getting closer, which meant the ground was getting further away. Don't think about it, just keep climbing.
"Hurry up, Grace," Latisha yelled. "We're losing time."
Grace made the mistake of glancing down at her friend. Oh God, this is really high up. Just keep looking at the bar, she thought, forcing herself to look up. Still, the fear of falling from such a height was too much for her to take a chance, and she continued her slow pace until her hand touched wood. Made it.
“Okay, now-just roll over the bar and scramble down this side," Jan encouraged.
"Come on, Waters, move your ass."
"Bite me, Lopez," Grace snapped, leaning her upper torso over the bar. "I'm working on it." Don't look down. Don't look down. On three just roll over the bar and start going down. One, two...three. Closing her eyes, Grace pushed herself the rest of the way over the bar, then dropped to the ground several feet below, rolling as she landed.
"Jesus, Waters," Rosetti said. "You sure took fucking long enough." Grace stood up, twisting her arm to see the tear in the camouflage shirt and the abrasion on her elbow. "We'd better win," Rosetti said as they headed up the trail. "Or I'll kick your ass."
"Get in line," Grace said, unsnapping the canteen from her belt. "I don't hear them yelling, so it looks like we're running for a while." Grace took several swallows, letting some run down her face and soak her shirt.
"Hey, I hear something," Rosetti said.
"It's them," Grace said. "I hope this is the last obstacle."
"Why? Then we have the dead run to the finish," Rosetti said.
"It's better than climbing that net back there or crawling over logs."
Grace spotted the rest of the squad as soon as they crested the hill.
"Hurry up," Latisha said as the pair approached, the rest of the squad busily scrambling beneath netting staked a few inches off the ground. "Watch your canteens. Everyone's getting stuck by them."
"No problem," Grace said, unsnapping her canteen. "I'll carry it."
She dove to the ground, wiggling her head and arms beneath the netting. I'll bet this one was Carey's idea, she thought as she used her elbows and feet to push herself along. Did it ever occur to them that all this crawling around is going to ruin our clothes? She's gonna kill me already for tearing out the elbow of my camo shirt. She quickly felt to make sure the