It was a torture trek, and they all knew it. Inside the forest, the snow was sparse, but what there was of it was slick on the pine-needle floor of the forest, making it almost impossible to get any kind of traction. The nightmare part of the run was going to be the incline. They were going up where it was colder and where there was more snow. Twice, Team Three ran past Spinally, who fell to his knees, losing precious seconds. He never did catch up.

Kayla and Olivia were in the lead, their well-muscled legs pumping furiously. Zoe was even with Sam, who was pacing herself and breathing evenly, a scarf tied around the lower half of her face. Hawkins brought up the rear, but he, too, was pacing himself. Sam knew he had legs like pistons, so she wasn’t worried about him, or any of the others for that matter.

“Don’t waste time talking,” Sam shouted to be heard over the wind and whirling snow. Stamina my ass, she thought as she plowed forward. She knew this was a male/female test. There was no doubt in her mind that Team Three was going to win even though Pappy had not said it was a contest. Well, she knew something the other team didn’t know. Every single member of Team Three had only 3 percent body fat, which definitely gave them the edge. Now if they could all speak six foreign languages fluently, they could conquer the world. The thought was so funny she started to laugh.

“What’s so damn funny, Sam?” Hawkins asked.

Sam broke her own order and explained. “We are so in shape it’s scary. Plus, I know something none of you know. The guy named Lukash has hemorrhoids. I was in the infirmary getting some aspirin the other day when he was talking to the nurse. Bad hemorrhoids. I can feel him chafing as we speak. The tall blonde named Kate has an abscessed tooth. A dentist is coming up today to fix it. Vandameer has flat feet, and Carpenter threw his knee out three days ago.”

“How do you know all this stuff, Sam?” Hawkins gasped as he struggled with his footing.

“I make it my business to know what the other side is up to. It’s called spying. Isn’t that why we’re here? To learn how to spy?”

“This might be a stupid question, but without a leader, how do we know we’re going in the right direction?” Hawkins gasped again, the frigid air frosting his lungs. “We could be going in circles for all we know. Who’s calling the shots here?”

Sam’s mind raced. This place was big on leadership, stamina, improvising, and taking charge. With no leader, that had to mean whoever was in the lead was in charge. Sam picked up speed and ran abreast of Kayla. “Do you know where you’re going?”