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Control
Maria Nanami, 26
March 25, 05:23 MST
Lea was right; it was about control.
Maria rubbed her eyes as she stared at the screens. Ian had woken them a little while ago because Kenji and Florence were getting closer to a few of the other contestants, and they would want to be awake in case something happened. But so far, they hadn't actually found anyone yet. It was still dark, and without her hearing, Florence's senses weren't a match for what Emery's would have been – not with the recent storm playing havoc with the smells. But once dawn came, it would only be a matter of time before they found someone.
Someone. But not necessarily the person the were looking for. Seb had been slowly making his way in the opposite direction, and they had no way of knowing exactly where the dog had come from. Iola, Kiara, and Fae were in the same general area, and the house where Jaime and Kylena were still resting wasn't too far away.
Part of her couldn't help wondering whether Lea and Elio were right, whether maybe they'd been right all along. While they were both getting frustrated that they didn't seem to be accomplishing anything, they were both alive, they had supplies, and they were in relatively good shape. That was certainly more than some of the contestants could say – especially the thirteen of them who were already dead.
Thirteen. That was almost half. Maybe the Games weren't moving as quickly as last year, but there was no doubt now that they were moving, and several of the groups were actively hunting for the other contestants. Florence and Kenji were looking for Seb. Liv, Lee, and Elena were heading towards Savannah. Iola, Kiara, and Fae had been looking for Manaka before the storm had hit, while Florence, Emery, and Kenji had been chasing Frederick. And it hadn't taken Jaime and Kylena long after receiving their map to decide to go after Seb and Alphonso.
Maybe Elio and Lea had the right idea – trying to get as far away from everyone else as possible. It certainly seemed to be working for them. But Marcus and Manaka had tried exactly the same thing, with disastrous results. Maybe Lea and Elio were just delaying the inevitable, and the same thing would happen to them once the hit the border.
At the rate the were moving, however, that would take quite a while. A week, perhaps – maybe more than that. By that point, how many of the other contestants would be left? If they could manage to keep up their pace, stay away from everyone else, and keep providing for themselves with the fish and water they found, there was a real chance they could simply outlast everyone else. What would the MAAB do then?
What could they do? As much as they wanted to control the contestants, part of that control hinged on the contestants acknowledging that they were in control and going along with what they were told to do. If enough of them had refused…
Maria shook her head. It was too late for that – too late for all of them to follow Elio and Lea's lead. But maybe that was for the best. Getting enough of the other contestants to go along with their plan had never been particularly realistic. But there had been several contestants last year who had done their best to stay away from everyone else and avoid having to fight.
And now they were dead.
But they were dead because the others had found them, because the island had been small and, eventually, had started to break apart. This year, they had more room to spread out, and now that Liv, Lee, and Elena had decided to head towards Savannah instead, there was no one anywhere near Elio and Lea.
And there was nothing the MAAB could do about it – not really. Oh, they could turn on their collars, but the two of them weren't really using their powers much at the moment anyway. Elio was using his to catch fish and to get some sense of whether they were going in the right direction, but they would still be able to survive perfectly well if the MAAB decided the best way to deal with them was to prevent them from using their powers. And what else could they do?
Maybe they didn't have as much control as they thought.
Elena Burleigh, 21
Maybe this wasn't as good an idea as they'd thought.
Elena glanced from Lee to Liv and back again as the group continued on in the moonlight. It was bright enough to see by, even now that the lightning had died down. But that was exactly the problem: the lightning had died down. Every now and then, there was a flicker in the distance, but that was only visible because it was still pretty dark out. Once there was daylight again, would they even be able to tell whether they were heading in the right direction?
Of course, they had a general idea of which way they were going. They were headed north, according to their compass. They could keep heading north during the day fairly easily. But as far as anything more specific than that, they would have to wait until they got closer, and that depended on whoever was shooting the lightning off staying in the same place during the day, and then continuing to shoot off lightning the next night. That seemed like a long shot, now that she actually thought about it.
But maybe that was a good thing. She wasn't at all certain that she would be immune to the lightning, and neither of the others had seemed entirely sure, either. Maybe it had just been a good excuse – an excuse to turn around and head back in the direction where most of the contestants probably were. Even if they didn't find the person who was shooting lightning, they had a better chance of finding someone if they headed back towards the center where they'd started than if they kept trying to find the group they'd been tailing the other day.
Because that group could be pretty much anywhere by now. If they'd kept moving the day before, they could have put quite a bit of distance between them and anyone else. And if they had been moving, they seemed to have used that time to move farther away, rather than moving closer. Whoever the other group was, they didn't seem interested in attacking the three of them.
Come to think of it, no one had seemed particularly interested in attacking them – not since the start, anyways. There had been a bit of fighting when people had been grabbing different bags, but aside from that, there hadn't really been any sign that any of the others were fighting each other, either. Ansel had left, and they'd assumed he was dead, but what if he'd just … left? What if no one was actually fighting or killing each other?
Elena adjusted her backpack as they kept walking. That was probably just wishful thinking, but it was a nice thought. Maybe the other groups had been doing the same thing they'd done – picked a direction and just kept going. Maybe that was the real reason the weather had been so bad; maybe whoever was causing it had just wanted to keep people away.
Now that she thought about it, that seemed like a better reason than the only one they'd been able to come up with – that the weather was designed to make them all miserable. If whoever was at the center of the storms had just wanted people to leave them alone, a storm seemed like a pretty good way to drive people away rather than draw them in. Maybe they hadn't meant for the storm to get so large, so out of hand. Maybe they'd meant to leave people a direction to run towards. Maybe…
Stop it. That wasn't helping. None of them wanted to fight, but the three of them had accepted from the start that it was going to be necessary. They'd all agreed that they were willing to do what had to be done. She couldn't back out now – not when Lee and Liv were relying on her. Even if she didn't particularly want to fight, she could do it to protect them, to help them. The three of them were still alive because they'd helped each other, kept each other safe from the storm, made their decisions as a group. It had worked so far.
They just had to keep relying on each other.
Seb
He just had to keep moving.
Seb rubbed his eyes as he took one step, and then another, the rocks almost freezing cold under his bare feet. Moving was slow and painful with so many aches and bruises from the hail, but staying still would be worse. If he stayed in one place, there was no chance of finding anything useful. Food, water, supplies – none of those would happen unless he kept moving. Supplies weren't just going to fall out of the sky, after all, and he couldn't write himself whatever he wanted anymore.
They'd been spoiled, really, those first few days. He'd never even considered what might happen if he suddenly couldn't write any food or clothes or drinks that he wanted into existence. He and Alphonso had just enjoyed making whatever they'd wanted. During training, too, he hadn't given any thought to being able to find food in the wilderness. Now he wished he'd paid more attention.
Maybe once the sun rose, things would be easier. There had been some trees somewhere; he was pretty sure of that. He wasn't sure what kind of trees, though, or whether there might be any food on them. He hadn't really gotten much of a look at anything in the area the first day before Alphonso had suggested he just make a house, and they hadn't had any reason to leave. He really had no idea at all what to expect out here once the sun rose.
But the sun would rise. That was the important thing. It was another day, and he was still here. Still alive. Maybe he didn't have any idea what was going to come next, but at least he was here to find out. That was more than he could say for Alphonso.
Not for the first time, Seb felt a twinge of guilt at the thought. After the girl had shot him, when he'd been desperately trying to think of something – anything – that might give him a chance to survive, he'd written his own name. Not Alphonso's. He could have written anything. Maybe he could have brought Alphonso back instead. But he'd chosen his own name, chosen to save himself rather than his friend.
If he'd had time, maybe he could have written both. If he'd had time to think of it. But it hadn't even occurred to him to write anything but his own name, to save anyone but himself. And that … well, that scared him. If he was alone out here with no one to help him, maybe it was his own fault. Maybe he had no one to blame but himself.
No. No, that wasn't going to help. Besides, it wasn't even true. Maybe he could have written Alphonso's name instead, but he wouldn't have needed to write anyone's name if he wasn't trapped in a fight to the death in the first place. This wasn't his fault. It wasn't even the other contestants' fault – not even the ones who had killed Alphonso and tried to kill him. They were just trying to survive. It was the MAAB's fault for putting them here in the first place, telling them to kill each other, trapping and collaring and treating them like animals.
And if they treated people like animals long enough, eventually they would start to act like animals. Looking out for themselves first. Not caring about anyone else. Just looking for a scrap of food or a puddle to drink out of. Just like he was doing now.
Except … animals didn't regret. Maybe he had chosen to save himself rather than Alphonso, but the fact that he felt guilty about it – that was human. Maybe it wasn't much, but it was enough to hang onto. It was something. Something that separated what he was from what the MAAB wanted him to be.
Seb took a deep breath. Off to his left, the sun was starting to rise. He could see a little farther into the distance now. Mountains – tall, rocky mountains. That was all that seemed to fill the horizon. Maybe there were trees on some of them, but they seemed so far away. At least there were still plenty of puddles nearby, full of rainwater from the storm. That was something. But eventually he would need something to eat.
One thing at a time. He knelt down at the nearest puddle, cupped his hands, and brought some of the water to his lips. It was cold, but it tasted good. It tasted fresh. It would be enough to keep him going for a little while, at least.
Eventually, though, he would need something more.
Jaime Sanchez, 20
Eventually, they would need to get moving.
Jaime glanced out the window as the sun began to peek over the horizon. Kylena was already packing the supplies they'd found into their bags, getting ready to leave. Maybe she didn't want to stay here any longer than necessary because the house would be too much of a target. Maybe she just wanted to get away from the two bodies that were still on the doorstep. Maybe either one of those was a good enough reason to start moving. Together, they should be more than enough reason.
Still, they had to admit, the idea of staying here in a nice, warm house was appealing. It was comfortable. It was dry. There were beds. Real beds with dry sheets.
But Kylena had already packed up the sheets – along with anything else that might be useful. And she had the right idea. Jaime knew she had the right idea. But it was still so tempting to stay here where things were … well, normal.
But that was exactly what had gotten the other two killed – the boys who had been here. They'd tried to create something normal in the middle of something that was as far from normal as it was possible to be. They'd wanted something human in the middle of the most inhuman game possible. Of course it had gotten them killed.
Jaime's stomach churned. The two of them had died because they'd wanted something nice. They and Kylena had killed them, because they'd been willing to play by the rules of the game – the rules that the other two had been trying to circumvent, or at least trying to avoid. They'd created some weapons for themselves, yes, but they hadn't seemed particularly eager to use them to fight. They'd only intended to use them for defense. And they'd made themselves one guard dog, rather than an army of attack dogs. They hadn't wanted to go out and kill the other contestants. They'd just wanted to be safe.
But they hadn't been safe – not even here. And neither were Jaime and Kylena. They'd gotten lucky enough that nothing had happened during the night; they didn't need to press that luck any farther. "Ready?" Jaime asked, and Kylena immediately nodded. She'd probably been ready for quite a while.
"Which way?" Kylena asked as they stepped out the door.
Jaime shrugged. They'd known the question was coming, but they didn't really have an answer. They'd headed for the house because the coaches had sent them a message, but they hadn't given any indication of what they should do after that. "Let's head that way," Jaime suggested, pointing west. "We've got plenty of supplies for now, so we shouldn't have to head back to the circle for a while. And the lightning was coming from over there last night." They nodded off to the east. "So probably best to avoid that."
Kylena didn't argue. Of course she wouldn't want to go after the girl who could shoot lightning. Yes, they'd agreed to head towards the house, but only when they hadn't really had an idea of whether anyone was still inside. They knew the girl who could shoot lightning was still alive. And neither of their coaches seemed to think this was a good time to send them a message telling them to go after her…
Except … that wasn't what the message about the house had said. In fact, it hadn't said anything. It was just a map. It hadn't really been instructions – just information. They were the ones who had chosen what to do with it. They could have just as easily have used it to avoid the people who were in the house. All their coaches had done was let them know where the house was.
And they already knew where the lightning girl was.
Stop it. Jaime shook the thought from their head. They didn't have to go after someone just because they knew where they were. Besides, just because the lightning had been coming from over there didn't mean the girl was still there. It had been a while since there had been any lightning, and it would be even harder to see during the day. If they headed blindly off in that direction, they could very well stumble into a trap. Again.
Kylena nodded as the two of them headed off the other way. "Yeah, best to head the other way for now."
For now. Jaime raised an eyebrow. Maybe Kylena had been thinking the same thing they had. Maybe she'd wanted to head off in that direction, too. If so, that was quite a change from when Jaime had suggested they head towards the house. It had taken Kylena a while to agree to that. If she was considering going after someone else now…
"For now," Jaime agreed. They could decide what to do about the lightning later.
But at least now they were on the same page.
Kenji Rose, 12
At least now they would be able to see where they were going.
Kenji slowed down a little to get his bearings as the sun began to rise off to their right. He and Florence had been zigzagging back and forth, trying to cover as much ground as possible, but he couldn't be certain that they hadn't missed someone in the dark. Florence's night vision was very good, but at the speed he'd been moving, he wasn't certain she would be able to catch everything, either. It would be good to be able to get a better look around.
As he caught his breath, however, Florence's grip on his shoulder tightened. He glanced over at her, and she pointed up with one of her claws. Something was coming down out of the sky. Kenji braced himself, ready to run, but it didn't look like anything dangerous. In fact, it looked like the same sort of package that they'd gotten outside the cave, the one that had contained the flashlight.
The flashlight. Huh. He hadn't even thought about using that. They'd left it back with the rest of their supplies, back with Emery's body. They'd taken off without thinking of what they should take with them, but it wasn't as if they'd gone that far. They'd been mostly going back and forth; it wouldn't take too long for them to get back to the supplies.
Besides, it was probably just as well that they hadn't used the flashlight. That sort of thing might have drawn attention. People probably hadn't noticed the two of them running in the dark, but a light – a light could be seen from farther away. A few days ago, they might not have even been worried about attracting attention, but now…
Now Emery was dead because she'd attracted the wrong sort of attention. Her howling had been meant to give him a clue about where she was, but she'd accidentally drawn in the dog instead. That was the sort of mistake they didn't want to make again. They were after one person right now – the person who had sent the dog out to kill Emery. They didn't want to draw anyone else's attention.
Kenji caught the package before it could land. Sure enough, it didn't explode or anything. It also wasn't as heavy as the flashlight. In fact, it was just a small box with a lid. Kenji opened the lid and tipped the box over. A small green object fell out into his hand. He turned it over, then handed it to Florence, confused.
It was a game piece, a little green plastic house from a board game. Florence shook her head. "What's this supposed to be?"
Game piece, he signed, and then shrugged.
"Monopoly," Florence agreed. "Maybe it's a clue. What's it mean in the game?" She turned it over. "In order to build houses, you need to own the whole color group – either two or three properties. Rent is higher if a property has more houses. You need four houses before you can build a hotel. Maybe it has something to do with the number four?"
Kenji shook his head. If they'd wanted to say something about the number four, why wouldn't they just send something with a four on it? Why go through all the trouble of assuming that they knew how to play Monopoly? He certainly wouldn't have assumed a hundred-year-old vampire would know all the rules for a children's game. Still, maybe she was on to something. Green? he signed.
Florence nodded. "Maybe you're right. Maybe it's not the game at all. Maybe it's the color. Green means go. Or maybe green could mean food. Or maybe just that we should be on the lookout for something green.
Or a house.
"They wouldn't have chosen this area for the Games if there had been any houses—" Florence stopped halfway through the thought. "Just like they wouldn't have put any dogs in here, either. Whoever made the dog must have made a house, too. We just have to find that. And that'll be easier than looking for people. We'll be able to see a house from farther away."
Kenji nodded. That was good. That was good, right? But whoever was sending them stuff, why did they want them to find the other contestant? The flashlight made sense, after all. It had just helped them see inside the cave. It hadn't really given them an advantage over another contestant in a fight. But this … this seemed almost like cheating. Like someone was trying to stack the deck in their favor.
Or maybe stack it against them.
Savannah Kingston, 19
Everything seemed to be working against her.
Savannah rolled over, frustrated, as the sun finally crept over the horizon. Even now that she'd convinced herself that she didn't care whether anyone found her or not, she still hadn't been able to get to sleep. There was some part of her, however small, however distant, that did care whether someone found her, whether someone killed her. Some part that did care whether she lived or died.
Right now, though, it was hard to hear that part over everything else. Over that part that felt like maybe she deserved it if someone found her. Maybe she deserved to die for what she had done to Coburn. No, she hadn't meant to kill him, but she'd known it was a possibility. She'd known from the start that anyone she was working with would be in danger. She'd hoped that Lilith would be able to contain some of that danger, but once Lilith had died, she should have left. She should have told Coburn to leave.
Except she had told him to leave. Once they'd realized Lilith was going to die, she'd told him that he would have a better chance on his own. He'd decided to stay. She hadn't left him, but he hadn't left her, either. That had been just as much his choice as it had been hers.
But that didn't make it any better. That didn't make it any easier to look at his body – especially now that she could see it better, now that the sun was rising. She had done that. She hadn't meant to, but she had done it. There was nothing she could do to change that. Nothing she could do to make it better. All she could do now was hope that someone would come along and take his revenge for him.
Except…
Except he wouldn't want revenge. And that was the most frustrating thing – knowing that he wouldn't even blame her. He would have been the first to tell her that it wasn't her fault, that he'd known he was taking a risk, that she hadn't meant to do it and shouldn't be blaming herself. That was how much he had cared, and it hadn't mattered. It hadn't saved him. Instead, it had gotten him killed.
It wasn't fair.
None of it was fair, of course. The Games weren't fair. The fact that any of them were here at all wasn't fair. Hell, the fact that they had been born mutants in the first place wasn't fair – and it certainly hadn't been her choice. Who in their right mind would choose something like this? The deck had been stacked against them from the start.
But what had happened to Coburn – that was a different kind of unfair. To take the fact that he had cared about one of his fellow contestants and turn it against him – that was too cruel a twist of fate. He had died because he had cared about her. So had Lilith. She'd been trying to help the two of them, and she had died for it. Her power alone would never have put her in a position where the other group would have found her and targeted her. She had only died because she had been with them.
Because she had been with her. Savannah had been the one to let off the lightning that had attracted the other group. The others would never have blamed her, but in the end, it all came back to her. Maybe it wasn't bad luck at all. Maybe the Games weren't stacked against all of them.
Maybe it was just her.
That didn't make it any better, of course. It didn't bring Lilith or Coburn back. But it did make things … well, simpler. If things were going to go badly for her anyway, maybe the best thing to do was get it over with quickly. To head back towards the area where the rest of the contestants were and to speed things along, to end the Games – for better or worse. After all, she didn't have anyone else to worry about anymore. No one she had to protect – and no one else who could die trying to protect her. She had nothing to lose.
But by the same token, she also had nothing to gain. Even if she won the Games, even if she somehow managed to survive this, she would have to deal with everything that had happened. She would have to live with the fact that the others had died because of her. That maybe they could have lived, if only she had been the one to die instead. Or if they hadn't decided to try to help her in the first place.
Slowly, Savannah got to her feet, letting off one more burst of lightning that arced across the sky, sending bolts of lightning dancing across the shapes of the mountains in the distance. Later. She could deal with that later, if she actually survived this. With the way things were going, she probably wouldn't, so maybe it was better to just put it off. That way, she probably wouldn't end up having to deal with it at all.
Maybe that would be better.
Elio Haines, 16
Maybe things would be better now.
Elio leaned back against one of their packs as he and Lea watched the sunrise creep over the mountains off to the east. Everything seemed a bit … well, brighter now that they could actually see again. Things looked more hopeful, even if their circumstances were exactly the same as they had been a few hours ago. It was still just the two of them, heading off even farther into the wilderness alone, but it didn't feel quite as lonely now.
Elio shook his head. He had been wrong to doubt – even if it had only been a fleeting thought. Even if they weren't making any tangible sort of progress, even if it didn't seem to an outside eye that they were accomplishing anything significant, the fact that they were doing the right thing – that they were following the right path – was enough. It had always been enough. And the satisfaction of knowing that they had made the right choice – that was enough of a reward.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Elio asked, glancing over at Lea, who was already packing up the food they'd taken out of their backpacks for breakfast. Already in such a hurry to get going, rather than simply enjoying the moment.
Lea nodded. "It's nice, but—"
"But…?"
"But you said we were leaving at sunrise, so…"
Elio nodded. He had said that. And it was safe to leave now, he knew. But just because it was safe to leave didn't mean that they had to leave right this instant. There was no harm in staying here a little longer. It was such a nice view—
Shield yourselves now! The thought hit him like a wave, and he instinctively obeyed, stepping towards Lea and creating a barrier – the same sort he'd been using to push the fish through the water. Almost instantly, something struck the barrier. Something bright and sudden and impossibly loud.
Lightning.
It took Elio a moment to realize that he was on his back. The force of the blow must have knocked him off his feet. Lea was beside him. Shaking him. Elio blinked, shaking his head, trying to clear the ringing in his ears. "I'm all right," he insisted, and was relieved to hear his own voice, even if it was a little faint and dull because of the ringing. That would probably go away soon enough. It was just because the sound had been so loud, and so close.
Too close.
Elio took a deep breath, his lungs aching. The lightning. That was why Lea had wanted to head downhill in the first place. Tall places attracted lightning. Tall places like the top of mountains. But he'd been so certain that it was safe to stay.
No. No, that wasn't quite right. He'd been certain that they should stay. Maybe that wasn't the same thing as it being safe to stay. Maybe this was what was supposed to happen. Elio tried to sit up, chuckling and shaking his head. It was obvious now. So obvious…
"What's so funny?" Lea asked, her voice full of concern.
"Moses."
"Moses is funny?"
"No. Do you know what … Moses did at Meribah?"
Lea shook her head. "Is this really time for a Bible quiz? Shouldn't we get out of here in case there's more lightning—"
"There won't be. This was enough." He shook his head. "At Meribah, God told Moses to speak to a rock, and that water would come out of it. But do you know what he did?"
"He struck the rock with his staff, right?"
"Twice. He disobeyed. He doubted that water would come if he simply spoke to the rock. He doubted God's instructions, and instead did what he thought would work. He doubted. Only for a moment, but … maybe that's all it takes. Because of that moment of weakness, God told him that he would only be allowed to see the Promised Land. He would never set foot in it himself. And he didn't."
"Look, Elio, I don't know what—"
"Last night, while we were talking, I … I had doubts, about what we're doing here, about whether we're accomplishing anything, about what I knew was the right thing to do. This is the result. This is the consequence of that doubt. This is my punishment."
"What are you talking about? You made a force field. You stopped the lightning. You protected us."
"I protected you." He sat up a little, using his arms for support. "The barrier was strong enough for that – but not to stop the lightning entirely." He shook his head.
"I can't move my legs."
Lea Cervantes, 18
"I can't move my legs."
Lea froze. For a moment, she couldn't think of anything to say at all. At last, she shook her head. "You're just in shock. We just need to rest for a while, take it easy, and it'll come back to you. It's probably temporary. It's just—"
"No. It's not."
Lea stared. There it was again – the same sort of certainty that Elio seemed to have about everything else. And the worst part was, he was completely calm, as if he was totally okay with … with whatever this was. A punishment. A consequence. But that was bullshit. He hadn't doubted their plan any more than she had, so why should he be punished?
"So what do we do?" The words slipped from her mouth before she realized they were coming. He had always known what to do before, so—
"Not we. You. You need to keep going. Keep moving forward."
Lea shook her head. "Not going to happen. Not without you."
"I'm supposed to stay here."
"And die? What happens when you run out of food? There's nothing here!"
"I'll just have to trust that God will provide for me."
"I'm not going to just leave you here. I could carry you."
"Could you?"
"Yes. I've seen someone else do it. That's what I do, remember? Anything I've seen someone else do, my body can copy it. I can carry you. We can head back to the last lake we found, and just … stay there. We're far enough away from everyone else as it is. Staying put will accomplish pretty much the same thing as heading the other way. There's probably no one anywhere near us."
"But I'm supposed to—"
"Die. That's what you're supposed to do? Die because you doubted for one moment? Because that's what'll happen if you stay here on top of this damn mountain."
"Lea, this is my choice."
"But it's a stupid choice."
"It's still my choice."
Lea crossed her arms. "Then it's my choice, too." She sat down on one of the nearby rocks. "You want to stay here and wait until you starve? Fine. I'm staying, too. We have enough food to last us a while, and then we'll both die because you were too stubborn to let me carry you down a mountain. Does that sound like what God wants you to do?"
"No, but—"
"Those are the options, then. We both stay. Or we both go. You pick."
For a moment, Elio was silent. Then he closed his eyes, and his body relaxed. When he opened them again, he nodded. "All right. We both go. But not back to the last lake we were at."
Lea raised an eyebrow. "Then where?"
"That way." He pointed off to the south. "There's a lake at the base of the mountain. That's where we should go."
Lea hesitated. She wanted to argue. But as long as they made it somewhere where they could fish, it didn't really make much of a difference which lake they were at, and pretty much all of the lakes so far had had some fish. Maybe the lake that way was bigger. Maybe it was just farther away from the other contestants. She shrugged, finished packing up the food, and handed Elio the bag. He slung it over his back, and she lifted him onto her back.
He was heavier than she'd thought, but that was probably the weight from the pack. Besides, they were going downhill. All she would have to do was keep her balance, and gravity would do most of the work for them. As long as gravity didn't end up doing all of the work for them. But she had seen someone carry another person on their back before. And she'd always had a good sense of balance. They just had to make it to the bottom of the mountain.
Then they could figure out what to do next.
Vi Voclain, 18
Soon, they would have to figure out what to do next.
Vi stared out at the sunrise, trying not to look at the lightning that was flashing off to the northeast. They weren't going that way. But they had to go somewhere. They couldn't just sit here at the circle – not forever. Yes, there were plenty of supplies here, but they'd already packed their bags full of fresh food and dry clothes, changed into clean outfits, changed their bandages, and eaten their fill. It was only a matter of time before they would have to go somewhere else.
Rick shook his head as he took a seat beside Vi, still avoiding looking at the body of the boy who had found them. "We should probably get out of here soon."
Vi raised an eyebrow. Was Rick eager to get going because he wanted to be somewhere else, or did he just want to get away from the body? Maybe both. Maybe it didn't really matter which it was, because at least they would be moving. "Any idea which way?" Vi asked.
Rick shrugged. "Well, we know what's over there." He nodded towards the lightning. "I'm pretty sure the boy last night came from that way." He pointed off to the northwest. "Maybe that means there are others that way."
Vi nodded. That was as good as any other direction, really. They had no way of knowing where anyone else was now – well, no one except the girl who was shooting lightning. They didn't even have a way of knowing how many people were left. One direction was as good as another, and Rick's gut feelings were probably just as good as his. "Sounds like a plan."
Rick raised an eyebrow, as if he hadn't expected it to be that easy. But he certainly wasn't going to argue – not when Vi had just agreed to exactly what he'd wanted to do. Maybe he'd expected Vi to make an argument for going after the girl with the lightning, but at least he'd known better than to suggest going in the opposite direction. Northwest was close enough to northeast. If they changed their minds later and decided to go after her, at least they wouldn't be too far away.
As long as she didn't move. But if the amount of lightning last night was any indication, she wasn't too worried about being found, which probably meant there would periodically be more lightning. They would be able to tell if she was getting too close, and decide then whether they wanted to let her get closer or whether they should keep putting distance between them. It was as good a plan as any.
Well, not really a plan, but at least it was a direction. It was a start. Vi slung his backpack – now a bit heavier, but not heavy enough to slow them down – over his back. Still a bit careful with his right arm, Rick did the same. Vi smiled. Rick was still being careful not to do too much with the arm, but he'd shrugged earlier without wincing in pain. That meant he was feeling a little better, at least. And the burns didn't look as red as they had before. They would both have some scars – assuming they lasted long enough for the burns to fade to scars – but he was no stranger to scars. All in all, it could have been worse.
But just because it could have been worse didn't mean it was time to press their luck again. If they all lived long enough, eventually they would have to face the girl with the lightning and the boy with the fire again. But maybe if they waited long enough, someone else would decide to do the job for them. The lightning was certainly giving anyone else who wanted it the opportunity to find them. They would just have to hope that someone else would take the bait.
Meanwhile, they could keep doing what they were doing. Between the two of them, they'd killed three contestants. And the last one … well, he'd actually had a power that could have been useful, if Rick hadn't managed to distract him long enough for Vi to catch him off guard. That had been quite the stroke of luck – him being in the tunnel at the right time, and the boy deciding not to kill Rick right away.
Vi was silent as they set out. The boy hadn't killed Rick because he'd wanted to join Rick. But that wouldn't have worked – even if having someone with his skill set might have been useful. If it had occurred to Rick to let him, at least he'd decided not to act on it. Because if Rick had told him that he was already working with someone else…
Then what? Would the boy still have wanted to join them if he'd known there were two of them? Maybe. Maybe not. But teaming up with someone else hadn't worked out very well for the two of them last time. Sooner or later, only two of them could live, and there was no guarantee that they boy wouldn't have decided to just kill them both if he'd known they were both there.
No, he and Rick were better off by themselves.
Frederick Bouvy, 17
He and Henry were definitely better off together.
Frederick stretched as Henry handed him a package of graham crackers. The two of them had traded shifts throughout the night, and it was the best sleep Frederick had gotten since … well, since the Games started, probably. Knowing that someone was keeping watch – even if he wasn't completely certain he could trust that someone – was a lot better than wondering if someone would find him or if he would freeze to death or pass out from hunger and never wake up again. This wasn't perfect, but it was better. So much better.
Frederick glanced up at the golem that was still holding the piece of metal zipper that Henry had given it last night. "Guess we didn't really need it to do that, huh?"
Henry shrugged. "Better safe than sorry. Maybe it didn't do any good, but it didn't really do any harm, either. It's not as if a golem holding up a zipper is going to attract any more attention than it would on its own."
"Fair enough," Frederick agreed. "Anyone close enough to see it is probably going to run the other way anyway."
Henry cocked their head. "You didn't."
Frederick nodded. He hadn't. He hadn't run. Exactly what had made him stop and talk to Henry rather than running away, he wasn't sure. He'd already been tired from running, yes, but that had been true for hours. That had been true back when he'd passed the boy who had given him some supplies – the boy who had said that he would hold off the werewolf and the vampire. He'd kept running then, and certainly hadn't offered to join up with the boy.
But Henry … well, by the time he'd gotten to Henry, he hadn't heard the werewolf for quite a while. The danger wasn't as immediate. And he'd been tired. And Henry … well, if Frederick was being honest with himself, Henry had seemed more useful than the boy he'd passed before. The boy had practically been begging for his life, whereas Henry had been ready to defend themself if Frederick had decided to attack them.
And Frederick hadn't wanted a fight.
There it was. He hadn't wanted to fight Henry, and that had really been the only other option. If he'd run, the golems could probably have caught up to him. If he'd fought … well, he wasn't entirely sure which way that would have gone, but it probably wouldn't have been good either way. But it wasn't as if he'd been afraid to fight. That hadn't really crossed his mind. He just hadn't wanted to. He'd never wanted to.
Frederick took another bite of his graham cracker, trying to tell himself that he hadn't wanted to fight because he hadn't had a reason to. He and Henry were better off working together; there had been no reason to kill them. If it got to a point where he had to fight – no, when it got to a point where he had to fight – then he would. Anyone would. He'd been willing to fight at the start of the Games, after all.
Well, sort of. He'd thought he was willing to fight, until it had come to an actual fight against someone who had fought back. As soon as the odds had been even, as soon as he hadn't had an advantage, he had run. But he had an advantage now. He had a partner. An ally. Maybe even a friend.
Frederick glanced over at Henry, who was busy shrinking the golems down to a less intimidating size. Now wasn't the time to get carried away. Henry wasn't a friend. Not yet. If they both made it out of the Games, then maybe. Until then, they were a means to an end. They were teammates as long as they could help each other survive.
Frederick cocked his head as the golem got smaller and smaller. "Okay, I'll bite. What're you shrinking them for?"
"It's easier to control more of them if they're small," Henry explained. "I was thinking that before we head out, it might be a good idea to send some of them to scout out the area, see if there's anyone close by. Then you said that anyone who sees one is just going to run the other way, so I figured maybe it's better if they don't see them."
Frederick blinked. He wouldn't have thought of that. "How far away can you control them?"
"I'm not sure," Henry admitted. "I mostly practiced with the big ones during training. Figured those would be the most useful in a fight. These ones … I'll just have to find out, and now's as good a time as any."
"Better, probably," Frederick agreed. "Most people probably haven't started moving yet. If there is anyone around, they probably aren't headed this way yet, at least. So there probably isn't any immediate danger. We can hang out here for a little while and wait for your little friends to come back."
Henry nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking."
Florence Roos, 114
What had he been thinking?
Florence stared in disbelief at the house in the distance. She had thought she'd had a bold plan at the start of the Games, wanting to immediately attack one of the other groups, but this … this was past 'bold' and somewhere on the other side of 'reckless.' The boy who had created the house clearly hadn't been at all worried about being spotted. A house. A dog. There was no telling what else he might have made.
Kenji had stopped, and was also staring at the house. But only for a moment. Soon, he was moving again – but not as quickly. He was being cautious. Maybe it had occurred to him that there could be anything around the house. There might be traps. There could be another dog. There could be—
Blood. There was blood. Some of the smell had been washed away by the rain, but there was definitely blood. Florence tightened her grip on Kenji's shoulder to get his attention and then pointed to the side of the house, where the smell was the strongest. There was something lying on the rocks there.
Two somethings, she realized as they drew closer. Two bodies. And one of them looked like the boy from the talent show – the one who had been writing things into existence. Kenji prodded the bodies with his shoe, but Florence could already tell they were dead. Dead for at least a day, by the smell, although if they'd been out in the rain and hail all this time, that had probably contributed to how bad they looked.
Kenji's hands moved too quickly for her to catch all the words, but the fact that he was heading for the house door made his plan pretty clear. Someone had killed these two. Whoever it was could still be here. Kenji flung the door open and raced through the house at a speed that nearly made Florence lose her grip on his arm. But there was no one home.
Of course there wasn't. Whoever had killed these two obviously had more sense than to stay in a house that was such an obvious target. Kenji headed back outside – back to the bodies – and Florence hopped down from his shoulder and shifted back to human form to examine them. One boy's throat had been cut, and the other had several unmistakable wounds in his chest. "Bullets," she said with absolute certainty. "He was shot."
Kenji's forehead wrinkled for a moment in confusion. "He probably made the gun," Florence explained. "Probably thought it would be enough to protect them. But whoever killed him found a way to get it from him, and … well, that's the result." She nodded at the body. "Without someone to give it instructions, the dog probably ran off and attacked the first people it found, and that just happened to be Emery because she was howling."
Kenji shook his head, fists clenched, frustrated. Florence nodded. She'd been thinking the same thing. She'd thought that if they could find the person responsible for Emery's death and kill him, then Kenji might stop blaming himself for arriving too late, for not being able to save Emery. But someone had beat them to it. There was no one left to take revenge on.
Kenji's hands moved, but she didn't need to be able to catch every word to read the question that was written all over his face. What now? They'd had a goal, a purpose, and now…
Maybe they could go after whoever had killed these two. Her sense of smell wasn't as good as Emery's, but she might be able to pick up the trail. But whoever they were, they had weapons. At least one knife, and at least one gun. Were those really people they wanted to find?
No. No, but they couldn't just stay here, either. The house was a target. Florence took the little green house out of her pocket and turned it over and over in her hands. Whoever had sent it had to have known that these two were dead. But they had sent them here anyway. Why? So that they wouldn't waste any more time looking for someone who was already dead? Maybe. That made sense. But she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to the message.
"Let's head back and get our supplies," Florence suggested. "Then we can figure out our next move."
Kenji nodded, and Florence shifted back to bat form. Soon, Kenji was running again, and she was clinging on tightly, her wings flapping in the … not exactly wind, but it was close enough. The exhilaration, the feeling of freedom – it wasn't quite as strong as if she was flying under her own power, but it was probably the next best thing.
It would have to be good enough for now.
Liv Holle, 18
The fact that they were moving again would have to be good enough for now.
Liv adjusted her backpack as the group kept moving. Ahead, the sky was clear, and it was growing brighter – too bright now to tell exactly where the lightning was coming from, or even if there still was any. She hadn't seen any for quite a while, but would she, in this light? The sun was rising steadily in the sky, and there was no sign of clouds. The air was even getting a bit warmer. All in all, it was shaping up to be a beautiful day.
Except for the fact, of course, that the sunny weather would make it harder to track whoever was shooting lightning. But maybe that didn't matter just yet. As long as they kept moving in more or less the right direction, as long as they kept getting closer, maybe it didn't matter if they couldn't tell exactly where the lightning was coming from. It had been pretty far away, after all. There had never been much of a possibility of catching up to them today. And maybe once night came, they would let off some more.
Maybe. Unless they managed to get their power under control. Or unless someone else found them first. Well, found and killed them, which would be quite an accomplishment for anyone who didn't have a way to deal with the lightning.
Liv glanced over at Elena, who seemed quite happy with the way the weather was going. Liv couldn't really blame her for that. None of them had thought to test during training whether turning into metal would make her immune to lightning. They hadn't known there was someone who could create lightning.
But the coaches had known.
Liv shook the thought from her head. There was nothing they could do about that now. They couldn't change what they'd done during training, or anything else that had happened since then. They couldn't change the fact that they'd headed south – away from, it seemed, pretty much all of the other contestants except the group they'd briefly been following. They certainly couldn't control whether the other contestant decided to shoot off some more lightning, or when. The only thing they could control was what they did now.
Which was why they were moving. Even if they didn't end up finding whoever was shooting off the lightning, at least they were headed towards where most of the other contestants probably were, which meant there was a better chance that they would find someone. Maybe not the someone they were looking for, but maybe that was for the best anyway. She was only guessing that Elena would be immune to the lightning. Did she really want to risk her friend's life based on a guess?
But that was what they would have to do eventually. Yes, they might not end up facing the lightning, depending on whether anyone else found them, but they would eventually have to fight someone. They would eventually be risking their lives based on something. Maybe a guess was as good as anything else.
She wasn't used to that – guessing. She was used to being certain about a decision, used to being able to trust her gut. But her gut had told her a lot of things since the Games had begun, and none of them seemed to have worked.
No. No, none of them seemed to have led to them killing anyone. But that didn't necessarily mean their decisions had been wrong. They were still alive, after all – the three of them. Still alive and in very good shape. They were completely uninjured and had plenty of supplies. Even if they didn't have much to show for the last five days, at least they were still alive to wonder whether they'd made the right choice.
Maybe … maybe that meant it was the right choice. Maybe those were the only types of choices in the Games – right choices, and ones that got you killed. If a choice led to their deaths, it was a bad choice. Anything else…
Anything else, they would just have to live with.
Iola Boman, 19
They would just have to keep going.
Iola leaned a little on Kiara for balance as the three of them set out. They'd decided to keep heading south, just in case they found the boy they'd been looking for before the storm had started. But she wasn't counting on it. It had been more than a day since then. He could be anywhere by now if he'd kept moving during the storm.
If he hadn't, though, there was still a chance they might find him. And, of course, a chance that they might find someone else. And maybe that wasn't as bad a thing as they'd thought. She'd been worried about what might happen if it came to a fight, especially after losing her hearing at the start of the Games, and what it had done to her sense of balance, but now…
Technically, they'd been in three fights so far. They'd survived one, and won the other two. She had killed. Fae had killed. And Kiara had been able to heal almost everything.
Almost. Iola swayed a little and had to catch herself with her stick, but she managed to stay upright. Obviously, the situation wasn't ideal, but maybe it wasn't the death sentence she'd thought. As long as Kiara and Fae were here to help her, maybe it would be okay. Maybe she could actually survive this.
Except Kiara and Fae couldn't help her forever. Eventually, only two people could survive this. But she didn't have to worry about that right now. That was a problem for later – possibly much later. There was no way of knowing how many of the others were left, but from the look of that lightning earlier, at least a few. Technically, that only meant at least one, but someone wouldn't exactly be shooting off lightning at nothing, would they?
Unless they were trying to draw people in.
Iola ignored the thought. It wasn't her problem. The lightning hadn't been anywhere near them, and they were going to keep it that way. Just because they had won a few fights didn't mean it was a good idea to take on someone who could shoot lightning at them. Even Fae making them deaf and screwing with their sense of balance wouldn't do much good if they could just sit in one spot and shoot lightning at anyone who came close. How was anyone supposed to kill someone like that?
Not your problem. Not yet, anyway. Eventually, maybe it would be their problem, if they survived long enough and no one else managed to kill whoever was shooting the lighting, but that was a long way away. Well, it was probably a long way away. She would just have to hope someone else dealt with it before it became her problem.
Maybe Henry. There wasn't much that lightning could do to a chunk of rock, after all, and Henry could control the golems from a distance. If Henry was still alive in the first place. She hadn't seen them since the first day of the Games, so she had no more way of knowing if they were alive than anyone else. But they might have a chance against someone who could shoot lightning. If they'd stayed together…
But they hadn't.
But maybe if they found Henry again, they could suggest it.
Iola clenched her fists as she nearly tripped on one of the slipperier rocks. Kiara caught her in time, but it was enough to shake her out of her thoughts. Henry was gone. They had about as much of a chance of finding them as they did of finding anyone else. And if they did happen to stumble across Henry, would they even want to talk?
Maybe. She'd been upset that Henry had run off, of course, but she could understand why they'd done it. She might very well have done the same thing in their position. If they happened to find Henry again, they probably wouldn't be welcomed back with open arms, but the others would probably realize that it might be helpful to have them around.
Of course, that was a big 'if.' Henry could be anywhere by now, just like the rest of the contestants. They might even be dead. Yes, the golems were impressive, but everyone slept sometime, and if Henry was alone, and someone found them while they were asleep…
Just like someone had found the three of them the first night. But Fae had been keeping watch. That seemed like such a long time ago now. How long had it been? A week? It must be close to that by now. The storm certainly made it seem longer. But now the skies were sunny and blue again, not even a little cloud in the sky.
She just hoped it would stay that way for a while.
Dr. Alvin Mendelson, 61
"You were hoping they would stay in the house for a while, weren't you."
Alvin leaned back in his chair, watching Judah, who was drumming his fingers impatiently on the table. "Penelope certainly was," Judah agreed. "It seemed like a pretty reasonable bet, but it looks like Kylena and Jaime have more sense than Seb and Alphonso did. They knew the house was too much of a target, and from the look of it, so did Florence and Kenji." He shook his head. "I was hoping that if we could get them moving in that direction, they might decide to head toward Savannah."
Alvin raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Curiosity, mostly," Judah admitted. "Kenji's the only chronokinetic left, and I was just wondering how fast he really is. Faster than a bullet? Faster than lightning? It would certainly have been an interesting fight either way."
"They might still decide to head that way," Alvin pointed out. "They were just heading back for their supplies."
Judah shook his head. "No, they've had time to cool down now. Time to think. I was hoping to channel some of that anger, but … well, now they'll probably mostly be angry with themselves, unless they happen to stumble across Seb and realize he's still alive."
That certainly wouldn't be a very long fight. Seb seemed to be recovering a bit from the day before, but he still had no food, no supplies, and no powers. If anyone came across him now, it wouldn't be a very long fight at all.
Which was why the coaches hadn't steered anyone in his direction. The fights they had nudged people towards had at least been fair, and nudging Henry and Frederick into teaming up seemed to have been a good move, as well. Well, good for both of them, at least. Not so good for anyone who happened to cross their path. But there wasn't really anyone close to them, as the golems Henry had sent out would quickly find out. Still, it was only a matter of time before they found someone – or before someone found them.
"At least Liv, Elena, and Lee are still headed towards her," Judah sighed. "Maybe we'll find out if Elena really is lightning-proof." He shook his head. "We know Elio certainly isn't."
Alvin cocked his head. "Maybe not, but the fact that his shield was able to stop the lightning even that much … that's pretty impressive. And he knew it was coming, too. You don't have to be faster than lightning if you know where the lightning's going to strike."
Judah shrugged. "Lot of good it did him."
"He's still alive."
"Alive and crippled."
"Piper was blind by the time she won last year. Florence and Iola are both deaf. I wouldn't write him off yet."
Judah raised an eyebrow. "I wrote him off back when he decided he wasn't going to fight. But I guess I shouldn't be too surprised you're rooting for him. You didn't want them to have to fight in the first place."
"It's not about what I want. Never was. It's about how things are bound to turn out, sooner or later. Sooner or later, we'll lose control."
"Of the Games?"
"Of everything." He leaned forward. "It was Mack's idea to send them a game piece instead of a map or something, wasn't it."
Judah nodded. "He thought it would look better for the audience if we didn't send them the exact same message we'd sent someone else, in the exact same way. Didn't think it would take them so long to figure out that the house was … well, a house."
Alvin chuckled. "Exactly."
"Exactly?"
"People are unpredictable like that. They're not game pieces. Game pieces have rules – rules for how they can move, when you use them, what they're going to do. Sometimes they're complicated rules, like those little horse things in chess, but—"
"Knights."
"Yeah, those. The rules might be a little hard to pick up on at first, but at least the rules are the same every time you play."
Judah shook his head. "Rules are the same here, too. Thirty go in. Two come out. Yeah, we changed it from 'one comes out,' but that doesn't change how the game works."
"Broadly, no," Alvin agreed. "But that's like saying you win a game of chess by checkmating your opponent, or you win a game of uno when you're out of cards, or a game of baseball if you have more points than the other team."
"Runs."
"Whatever. My point is, that's how the game ends, but those aren't the only rules. That's the only rule here, which leaves a lot more room for unpredictability."
"That's what makes it interesting."
"Absolutely. And what makes it dangerous."
Judah shrugged. "That's what you said last year. And here we are, a year later, almost half the contestants dead, and the Games chugging along just fine. Out of curiosity, how many years of this would it take for you to admit that maybe you overreacted?"
Alvin chuckled. "Oh, maybe around seventy-five."
Judah rolled his eyes. "Suit yourself. I'm just glad you and Francine didn't manage to convince enough of the others to put a stop to this. As long as you do your job, I don't really give a damn about your predictions of doom."
Alvin nodded. That was the trouble, really. Eventually, things were going to go wrong, but right up until then, it was going to look like everything was gone fine. So until then, the only thing to do was his job. It was only a matter of time before things spiraled out of control, but until then…
Until then, he had a job to do.
"Control yourself … I have no fight with you."
