The Most Dangerous Game
Judd officially hated Nicolae J. Carpathia. He was all for hunting, even for sport, but what Carpathia did went far beyond hunting. It was just plain wrong. Judd pounded his pillow and recalled his conversations from earlier that day. Hunter vs. the huntee. Care to assist me? I wanted an animal that was cunning, courageous, and above all, had a sense of reason. Surely your years in the war… "Have not made me condone cold-blooded murder." You have a choice. All that Carpathia was doing was beyond wrong, it was evil. So evil, in fact, that Judd had been forced to either be hunted or hunt someone else. Judd was not going to risk the life of any of the… the slaves in the basement. Carpathia had agreed to let Judd try out the game, and one of the men stuck in the basement was to assist him. Judd growled because he knew he couldn't win. Carpathia had dogs, an apprentice, and hundreds of weapons at his disposal. He could kill Judd in the first day. And then Judd realized – Carpathia wanted to hunt a person who could reason, who was intuitive. If Judd broke the laws of reason, then he could potentially win. All those who had faced Carpathia were given a choice: fight-or-flight. Those who fought = dead. Those who ran = dead. If Judd ignored basic human instinct, he could win. Carpathia may want to hunt a being that possesses reason, but he never mentioned that the animal had to be reasonable.
The next morning, Judd was sent off with his a bag of food, a knife, and a pack of clothes. He walked into the forest for an hour, nearly reaching the edge of the island. When he stopped, he chucked his pack of clothes into the forest, save one belt he used to strap the knife to the inside of his thigh. Next, he rummaged through the food and took the nonperishables which solely consisted of packaged jerky. He could survive on one pair of pants, a cotton shirt, and six jerky packages. After he had his supplies, he dove into the ocean and swam. The island was surrounded by water, and if he had almost reached the edge of the island within an hour (he could see it), then logically, he could swim the island in around four hours. Every thirty minutes, he slogged out of the water to throw off his trail. He hiked a mile into the trail, walked backwards to retrace his steps, checked to make sure his food was safely tucked between his shirt and pants and that his knife was still strapped to his inner thigh. Swimming around the island took more than five hours, and even Judd knew that was an understatement. Once Judd reached his destination, he grabbed a large stone and chunked it at Carpathia's mansion, praying it would shatter a window. When it did, Judd climbed to the second story window, ducked through, and jumped to the floor. If he needed to, Judd could survive three weeks without food, and that wouldn't be necessary. Food was not in his supply list at the moment. And he always had his jerky. Judd needed something to light a flare with. A big, massive flame that screamed, "I'm right here. You want reason? I'll show you reason." He didn't know what the most flammable material was, but he also knew cotton was apt to catching on fire. Gas, a match, his shirt, and a tree could start a good fire. Judd needed to also create at least one backfire, and he'd need a shovel for that. In twenty minutes, he had his supplies and the shovel. Judd had to stop by the human head room to get matches, and he still felt sick. Judd looped around the house, dug a trench that he could comfortably lay in, climbed out, and found the tallest tree in the forest. He took off his shirt, doused it in gasoline, poured gasoline around the tree's trunk, and lit the match before tearing to the ditch he'd dug. Once he jumped the ditch, he dropped another match to create the backfire. Fighting fire with fire wasn't exactly foolproof, but it would send his message, loud and clear.
Judd heard the muttering of French as Carpathia walked closer. He didn't know French, but he assumed Carpathia wasn't saying nice things. Before Nicolae reached the door, Judd ran out, headbutted Carpathia, and pointed Carpathia's gun at the ground. Both men were equally strong, but their motives were different: If Judd lost, he would die, and if Carpathia lost, he would lose his pride. Judd figured he just had a tidge more to lose, so he put more effort into keeping that gun down. If Judd thought Carpathia wasn't saying nice things before, then he really wasn't saying nice things now. The mag emptied, and Judd tried a move he'd only seen in movies. With one foot on Carpathia's chest, Judd wrapped his other leg around Carpathia's neck, twisted his back, and leaned towards the ground, knowing gravity would help him out. Carpathia landed hard, and Judd leaned over Carpathia's body, legs still wrapped around Carpathia's neck. He pried the empty gun out of Carpathia's hands, unwrapped his legs, stood, and slammed the butt of the gun against Carpathia's temple. Day 1 was finished.
Judd knew that even if Carpathia had a concussion, he was too prideful to give up. He would claim that Judd had an unfair advantage. Judd also knew that Carpathia's apprentice, whom he assumed was about twenty minutes behind Carpathia, practically worshipped Carpathia, and Carpathia would use that to his advantage. The man was scrawny compared to Carpathia and had long hair, which was to Judd's advantage. Leo Fortunato may have been scrawny, but he wasn't disadvantaged. He could take Judd in a fight, and Judd knew it and expected that Leo knew it as well. Judd needed a weapon, and not a gun without bullets. He needed an unreasonable weapon. He got to work right away.
Judd had fashioned his own bow, but he could only aim straight at his target. Meaning, if he were to use it on Carpathia, he would have to be on the ground facing him instead of in his nest. A dog barked at the tree next to Judd, where he'd planted some of his precious jerky. That dog was Judd's first target, and he thanked his lucky stars that he had placed second in the NCAA javelin throw. Judd held the spear, judging how to throw it, and threw it so well that it would have won him the national title. The dog yelped and went down, as Carpathia and Fortunato both fired in Judd's general direction. Judd let himself fall from the tree and the wind was knocked out of him once he hit the ground. Ignoring his lack of breath, he removed his hidden bow and arrows. Aimed at Carpathia as Fortunato charged. Released the arrow, dropped the bow, turned Fortunato around, grabbed the otherwise unuseful gun, and had it pressing against Fortunato's throat in time to see Carpathia catch the arrow in his hand without so much as blinking. "Okay, I'll admit, that was not quite what I expected to happen," he said as Fortunato flipped Judd over his head. "I didn't see that coming either," he gasped. Judd grabbed his knife and slashed Fortunato's knees. He rolled to the right as his arrow landed where he was less than three seconds ago. Judd grabbed the arrow, stabbed Fortunato in the shoulder, and slit his throat. He ignored Leo's gurgling and stabbed him again in the heart. Judd rushed the stunned Carpathia and knocked him to the ground, stole his gun, shot Carpathia's knee, and hightailed it away from them. Judd expected Carpathia to have an extra gun and ducked behind a tree as the bullet pinged off the tree in front of him. Judd fired again over his shoulder without so much as looking at his target. As he ran away, he heard Carpathia's frustrated screams. Day 2 was also over.
Judd didn't even bother hiding the next day. Carpathia would come back with a vengeance, probably dragging a hostage as a bargaining chip. Judd sat cross-legged ten yards away from a cliff. No weapons, no food, only his clothes with him. And none of those clothes were for defending himself, just to remain halfway modest. When Judd heard the dog bark, he didn't so much as flinch. When Carpathia came into view, he saw he had guessed right. Carpathia's bargaining ship was the redheaded girl that Judd absolutely did not want involved in this mess. The devil's advocate fired in Judd's direction. Judd stood and sprinted hard for the cliff, his heart in his throat. He jumped off the cliff into the water below, assuming the streamline position. Judd braced himself for the impact of the water, sucking in a breath not two and a half seconds before he plunged into the icy waters. And the pain that came with the impact did not put nice words in Judd's mind. Day three was almost over.
Carpathia stepped into his room, muttering obscene words about Judd's jump. The girl had slapped him hard, and now he had to rest up before he hunted her. "So what do I get for winning?" Carpathia whirled around and stared the ghost in the face. "Didn't expect to see me again? I was hoping for the same thing, but you have a friend of mine in custody." "You haven't won yet," Carpathia growled. "Compromise," the hardened young man stepped forward. "Whoever wins in the fight between us two alone decides the fate of everyone left here." "Well, you tried so hard. I'm disappointed that you will lose. You know, I was kind of on your side." Carpathia reached to take his gun out of its holster. "No weapons allowed. I had no weapon on my first day, I gave my weapon up yesterday, and I don't even know where the ones I made are right now. No unfair advantages in this fight." "You gave me a concussion and shot both of my knees. I think that qualifies as unfair." Judd's cold eyes flashed. "You seem to have recovered fine. I wonder what your trick is." He clenched his jaw. "You need a walker? Let me tell you one thing, devil's advocate, the only weapons allowed are our own bodies. If there's no progress, I will only allow the items in this room that are also available to the middle class in my country." "Fair enough." Carpathia lunged, and Judd ducked, knowing that Carpathia would start off sloppy to throw him off. Judd punched Carpathia's gut, and once he was doubled over, Judd's knee made contact with Carpathia's chin around 27 times.
Fighting fire with fire is never foolproof, but he felt as if something bigger was on his side.