After finding a way to get the girl, turns out her name was Dawn Rivington, back to her partner, a boy with dark shaggy brown hair, that almost reminded me of Raphael. In looks mostly, but they also held themselves the same way, two boys who knew almost nothing.
Anyways, we left her tied up, and used her bow to fire exploding arrows into the air, her partner would hear them, recognize them, and come for her. So she said anyways.
The days slowly ticked by, but I never let them blur together. My night and day stayed as separate as I could get them, and my reflexes and skills, I tried to keep them at peak. Even though I tried to stay rested (and got the occasional work out from a wild pig, wolf, or an assassin, even an alligator once) I felt my own nutrition levels dropping. I tried to choke down more slugs, or dry fungi, but it didn't help much. The wild pig had run off before I could shoot it, so… NO PORK CHOPS FOR ME!
Gabriel was worse. He was used to having food on demand, I had seen the kitchen at the church, and if that kitchen was on earth, what were the kitchens in heaven like? Just thinking about all that bread made me want to call this thing off and go home. Eat a whole bakery full of freshly baked bread. Still warm, crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. When you bite down, the crust gently scratches the roof of your mouth, the middle of the bread releases the warmth into your mouth, and the taste, it's flavorless, but it's the texture that makes you want more, and more, and more!
When I looked up into the sky, the clouds kind of reminded me of bread, but sometimes they reminded me of mashed potatoes. Oh, potato bread. Hot dog buns made out of potato bread, it's the best thing for a hot dog, ever.
My stomach growled loudly, and I groaned, sitting up, and staring at the white and red wood slowly burning in front of me. Gabriel was passed out next to me, mumbling in his sleep.
"Mary… pizza… hot dog…" Were small pieces I picked up. So he liked Mary? Huh, should have figured. No skin off my nose, he probably only liked good little Christian girls. Ha, like I would ever be in that stereotype.
I heard a rustle in the bushes, and I immediately grabbed a knife, and hurled it at the bush, just crossing my fingers I wouldn't kill anyone who was in there. If I did, I'd just say 'my bad' and face Bruce when I got home. I was in a bad mood, and I didn't care if I killed someone who was trying to kill me in the first place anyways.
I listened, but there was no sound, so I took out a gun, and walked over to the bush, to see a pretty big rabbit, with my knife in it's chest. THANK YOU GOD!
I smirked to myself, dragging the rabbit over to the fire, and quickly taking out the knife, quickly slicing it's back open, and tearing away the fur and skin. Holding the small carcass above the ground, and then using the knife to cut open the stomach muscles, as the organ spilled out. I tried not to pierce any organs, that would smell really bad.
I cut off big portions of meat, from the thighs, arms, and back.
A few thick sticks we had placed next to the fire incase we ever did catch an animal and needed to cook it served as a good way to prop it above the burning remains of the fire. The meat would be ready pretty soon, before Gabriel woke up on his own. It wasn't much, but for now, it would have to be enough.
AT DR:
"Ew." Conan mumbled, grossed out by the rabbit scene.
"I could have brought that back to life, if I was there." Snow said.
"Yeah, but they need to eat it." Kyler dismissed.
"True." Snow compromised.
"How much longer do they have to go?" Raphael asked.
"Tomorrow, they can leave the forest, but that's not gonna be easy." Kyler piped up.
"Why?' Michael asked, "I'm pretty sure surviving in there for three weeks with hardly any food and ninjas after your head would have been the hard part."
Raphael turned his eyes to Kyler, concerned. He had no respect for Kyler whatsoever as team leader, and he was very upset she was in charge while Justin was gone. However, he knew that next to Justin, Kyler was the best hero on this little team of theirs. She was even better than Justin at strategizing, which was pretty much the only thing she did better than Justin.
"What's wrong?' He asked.
"You heard Talia say the rules, at least half of them have to die before they can continue on." Kyler said.
"Yeah, but as long as that's fine, she'll be done, and she'll be here ordering us around like normal by next week, right?" Raphael asked, hoping she'd say yes. The thought of Justin dying didn't appeal to him, and he knew she might die in this contest.
"Talia said she'd keep adding preliminaries if at least half didn't die, that means there's at least one trial after this, not counting preliminaries." Kyler explained.
Raphael was silent, "Couldn't that mean that they count being taken from apprentice to assassin a type of trial, with no danger?"
Kyler looked at him sternly, "That's a fool's wish Hot Shot."
Raphael was silent for a moment, before both of his fists exploded in flames. The water bottle he had been holding melted, and water that didn't escape to the floor vaporized from the intense heat of his hands. He glared at Kyler, who's eyes widened a bit at the sight.
"Don't call me that." he growled out.
Kyler was silent for a full minute, before nodding, "Fine."
The flames immediately blew out, and Raphael continued watching the computer, as if nothing has happened.
Kyler accepted that, and continued, "Anyways, none of the other assassins are going to want to go through another preliminary round, most of them are probably ready for a whole year of rest. They'll be looking for any chance to kill off as many as they can, including the edge of the woods."
Conan's eyes widened, "You mean that they'll-"
"Be waiting outside of the woods to fire arrows, knives, guns, and whatever else they have up their sleeves." Kyler finished.
"You think she'll die?' Raphael asked, boldly.
Kyler shook her head, "If I know Justin, she'll be fine, it's Gabriel I'm worried about."
Mary looked a the screen in concern, watching Gabriel wake up and him and Justin dig into the cooked rabbit, not caring if it was done cooking or not.
"Black Hood won't let him die, will she?" Mary asked, hoping against hope she got the answer she so desperately wanted.
Everyone was silent for a few moments, until Kyler took it upon herself as the leader to answer. "Justin… well, no one knows what goes on inside that girls head, so even I wouldn't know."
Mary looked straight at Kyler, determination in her eye, "Would her father know?"
Something clicked in Kyler's mind, and her eyes widened, "Oh. Mary, if you go knocking at the Red Hood's door, especially during this tournament, he might-"
"Would he know?" Mary asked louder, wanting her answer.
Kyler looked at her for a moment, and then sighed. "I guess he would."
Mary nodded, and turned back to the screen, glaring at Justin's form. "Where is he?"
Kyler glared at her, "I'm not under leave to tell you that."
"Break the rules then!" Mary ordered, standing up and glaring into Kyler's eyes.
Kyler stood up too, "His identity, the whole Bat family's identity, that secret is even more hushed up than the water gate conspiracy, area 51, and the real date of the apocalypse all put together."
Mary refused to back down, "That's my team mate out there! I want to know if the only thing he has to worry about is the assassins he's fighting, or the sorry excuse for a hero he decided to trust!"
Conan nudged Snow, "Five bucks this turns into a fist fight."
Snow nodded, "You're on."
A sudden change washed over Kyler as soon as Mary finished talking. She stood a little taller, and her legs became rigid, as did her arms. She straightened her shoulders, and raised her chin in defiance to Mary, every inch of her body indicating that she was done with this argument and if Mary did not submit now, it was going to get very physical. Her eye brows drew closer together, and Raphael was sure he saw fire blazing in her brown eyes.
"Black Hood is the leader of this team, and she could very well be the finest hero, fighter, assassin, whatever you want to call it, that's in that hell hole they call a forest. Gabriel is a hindrance in that kind of trial, and if any other assassin had Gabriel as a partner, they would have killed him long ago." Kyler's stance didn't change, and for a moment, Conan was sure she saw a younger looking Roy Harper standing in front of her.
"Not only has Justin let him live and continue as a hindrance that threatens her life, she has gone out of her way to try and provide for him, trying to get that deer for food nearly got her killed by Dawn. And if you haven't noticed, she's been giving Gabriel more food than she gets. Now, I suggest you sit down and keep this over protective girlfriend nonsense out of my face, or I will personally escort you to Arkum Asylum and see to it you get prescribed with some type of mental illness which requires you to be kept there until the tournament is over. Am I clear?" Kyler asked, putting force behind each and ever word that came out of her mouth.
Mary held eye contact for a moment, before slowly sitting down.
"Good." Kyler said, and finally relaxed her stance.
WITH JUSTIN AND GABRIEL
Justin slowly crawled across tree limbs, making no noise at all. Sometimes she crawled on her stomach across a long limb, other times she was on her hands and knees, silently climbing through limbs. Gabriel followed suit, not making any noise either.
A funny thing about hunger, true hunger, it makes you more attentive. If you have a full stomach, your more at ease. If your hungry, only going on a few mouthfuls of food a day, your as sharp as a tack, quick to react.
That, Justin noted, Is probably why Gabriel's skills seem more adequate. He's more attentive.
Just hardly looked at the branches she crawled on, she was looking around for witnesses. She knew very well the dangers, and she was not going to risk it. If she was on her own, she might charge out of the forest, throwing explosives and knives, firing bullets and just making the most inhuman screams possible, but Gabriel was with her. Not only that, she wasn't sure she had the strength. Three weeks with barley any food had taken it's toll.
Not only was she malnourished, she had cuts and stitches all over, not to mention her pretty bad black eye.
She saw the edge of the forest up ahead, with two suspicious shadows peaking our from behind the last tree. Trapped. Just like all the other exits they had tried. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep this up, she was tired, and she just wanted to get out of this forest! It had been tree weeks since she had seen a TV or a computer. More than getting out of the forest, she wanted to be back in the Bat cave, using the Bat computer to cheat on her homework.
She looked back at Gabriel, and then back at the trees ahead. She slowly reached her left hand into her jacket, all the way to the back, and pulled out a small handful of little dark grey balls, about the size of her thumb nail, with small black bat symbol on each one.
She passed three back to him, keeping four for herself. She carefully turned to him, rolling around on the branch, and started using what little sign language she had picked up from her Grandmother, who was fluent in it.
Carefully and slowly, she signed, 'Throw them, and then run out of the trees.' She paused, trying to remember what to sign next, 'Do not wait for me, I will come.'
He paused, and then shrugged. He did not know sign language.
Justin nearly tackled him to strangle him. Did he have any other skills besides fighting and using whatever God-given little spells he used?
She carefully mouthed 'Throw these.' She pointed to the balls she had given him, then made a motion that signified they would explode. He nodded, understanding.
'Run!' She mouthed, and pointed at a path he could take around the two people ahead, then shook her head while mouthing 'Don't wait for me." She finished by point to herself.
He nodded, understanding. She promised herself she would teach him sign language if they made it out of this.
She held up her three fingers, counting down, and they both threw them at the tree where the two were hiding, Gabriel took off where Justin had pointed, and Justin jumped up on the branch, running across it, until it ended. She jumped into the air, pulling out two knives, and threw them as the two assassins ran out, towards it.
She fell on them, a foot on each of their shoulders, and buried a knife in each shoulder, and then jumped off, falling on her back while pulling out a gun from both of her combat boots, and shooting the backs of their knees, then the achilles tendon on each ankle. They fell, each trying to draw a knife or gun, but she shot their hands, and then jumped on them, each foot landing on the bottom of their sternum, immediately breaking ribs.
They both cried out, and I jumped off of them, making them groan in pain, and hold various wounded areas. I sprinted out of the forest, into clear, golden sunshine. I was out!
I had no idea I hated the forest so much until right then. Gabriel was right there, waiting for me, standing in front of Talia herself. I jogged over to her, panting. "So, who made it out first?"
"You two," She said, in an incredibly fake happy voice. "Congratulations."
All I heard was, Justin Todd, I will kill you in the most painful way possible.
I smirked, "What was that prize for first place again?"
She kept the sickly sweet smile on her face, "Three days rest with the best medical care, food, and other treatment we have to offer."
"S-W-E-E-T!" I commented. "Are any others close to getting O-U-T?"
She narrowed her eyes at me, "No."
"D-R-A-G." I said, smirking even more.
Gabriel chuckled, and Talia gave him a burning look, making him cringe. She turned back to me, opened her mouth to say something, but then her eyes locked on something behind me. I turned around, to see Dawn walking out of the forest with her partner by her side, a monster of a boy with a huge build, at least seven feet tall. At least. His dirty blonde hair was thin, and ragged. It hung in his eyes, almost hiding them from view.
He looked over at me, glaring, and then turning away. Talia wasn't the only one who wanted to kill me apparently. Ha, let him try.
I was looking foreword to three days off, but not even their best food could compare to Alfred's meatloaf. It was Wednesday, he always made meatloaf on Wednesday. He wraps it on bacon… Great, now I sound like Rango.