Game of Life

by BlackSwanGirl

Sophie is surrounded by death. Her friends are gone, some missing, some dead. She feels so alone it's like the world is going to break before her, just like her heart. But then she finds two girls, struggling to stay alive, and together, they play the game of life, and in the end...all they can hope is that they win. Rated T for gorg deaths and blood. It is war, after all.

Death and gore surrounded me. But my friends stood right beside me.

It was the first fight, which seems like a million years ago, now. We were all frightened beyond fear, and now all I could her and feel was my heart beating.

We were at Everglen, discussing war tactics right before they struck us. The Neverseen were cold, hard, and hit us right when we were weakest.

They somehow made it past the gates, and were sneaking around the house. Alden heard the noise first, a misplaced footsteps had hit the floor above us.

He had held his hand up for silence, and we all froze in fear, as there was hushed whispering upstairs we hadn't heard before.

The Neverseen heard our silence, and knew they had been found out. The ceiling shook with dust as they ran down to attack us.

We were ready, and Alden burned the war tactics before they got down the long flight of stairs. I pulled out the dagger I had stored in my boot, and readied my mind for any attacks, from me or toward me.

There were ten black cloaks, suddenly all around us. I believe we outnumbered them: Edaline, Grady, Alden, Della, Kessler, Juline, Bex, Lex, and Rex, Keefe, Fitz, Biana, Dex, me, Tam, and Linh.

But they were strong. We fought bravely. There were no casualties in the first fight, thank god. Just minor scratches. The Neverseen had retreated for the time being.

The second one came in days. Again, we were all together when they struck, minus the triplets. This time there were two more, and again, we fought bravely. This time, we killed a Neverseen member. Again, they retreated.

The first death had settled on everybody. Grady, who had killed the Neverseen member, felt no remorse. Neither did I.

But it was proof that war was coming. Proof that we could not let our minds break. I don't know how Grady didn't break, but I knew that I had to focus on how evil they were if I was ever going to stay sane.

Evil isn't human. Evil isn't elven. Evil is a condition which wraps you up and rips the good out of you, only leaving holes of emptiness and nothing.

Evil is not alive. Evil has no remorse. So why should I?

That is what I told myself every time there was a death from their side. It wasn't a victory, it was just something that had to be done.

Next time, I will tell you how the war really began.