Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men or The Hunger Games.
Note: Happy Thanksgiving (a bit late) to those who celebrate it. And a friendly reminder to vote in the "final ten" poll.
Feeling
Dr. Anita Donohue, 35
March 21st, 13:02 MST
It really was painful to watch.
Anita shook her head, watching Marcus and Manaka's latest attempt to get a fire going. They were going about it all wrong, but what had anyone expected? Most of these kids had probably never started a fire in their life. If they'd fished before, it had probably been with lures and bait. If they'd hunted, it had probably been with rifles. Most of them were completely unprepared to survive in the wilderness.
Elio and Lea had at least managed to get a fire going, but that was only because they'd had a box of matches. It had taken them nearly half the box to get the fire to stay lit, even though there was only a gentle breeze. Emery, Florence, and Kenji hadn't even bothered to cook the fish they'd caught, which meant that most of them had been eaten by the two who could turn into animals. Raw fish wasn't much of a problem for them, but eventually they would have to figure out what to do for Kenji.
Anita glanced up at Judah, who was watching the screens with more or less the same expression on his face. "Maybe some wilderness survival skills next time to go along with the weapons training and the first aid crash course?" she suggested.
Judah nodded. "Seems like that might be in order, yes. We all assumed that most of them would grab more of the supplies at the start. Hell, there are still twelve backpacks of supplies just sitting around in the tunnels. Sure, Rick and Vi know that they're there, and they can go back if they need more, but at this rate, it would take them a while to get back, and no one else stayed in the area."
Anita cocked her head. "Are you really surprised by that? Of course they want to get away from each other."
"Well, yes, but I guess I figured at least some of them would want to stay around the area where they'd started in case they need more supplies."
"Most of them probably weren't thinking that far ahead at the start," Anita pointed out. "If they were paying attention to last year's Games, they probably expected the Games to be over before food became much of an issue. That's why you didn't run into this problem last year, after all." Most of the contestants the year before hadn't even gotten to the point where they'd needed to do a lot of hunting. Once the Games had started, they'd dropped like flies, and they'd been more concerned with fighting to stay alive than just … well, staying alive.
Judah shook his head. "Even if we'd offered it along with the combat and first aid training, how many of them would have taken us up on it? You saw how long it took them to warm up to the idea of doing either of those."
"Maybe we need more than three days of training," Anita suggested. "Especially once the Games aren't a secret anymore. Maybe a week or so, give them time to really prepare and adjust before dumping them into the Games. Expecting them to learn survival skills and first aid and combat basics all while learning how to control their powers well enough to use them in a fight, all in a matter of three days … It just seems a bit rushed, doesn't it?"
"Maybe. But even if we gave them more time, would they really take advantage of it?"
"I think most of them would. Sure, you'd always get a few like Elio and Lea, but most of them were willing to give training a shot, and once they get used to the idea…" She trailed off, almost surprised that the words were coming out of her mouth. Even she was getting used to the idea. The idea that she might fail, that the Games might continue despite her best efforts. In trying to keep up a front of cooperating, of working to make the Games succeed, she'd almost gotten used to the idea that they were forcing children to fight to the death. The idea that anyone could get used to something like that so quickly was horrifying.
But it was also human.
Anita watched silently as Judah turned his attention back to the screens. She'd told Elio on the second day of training that his story about the frog in the pot of boiling water was a load of crap, that people – real people, not lobotomized frogs – would know when to jump out of the pot. She had thought that she would know when to jump out. She had expected…
What? Outrage from the public? Had she been expecting the public to storm into Wyoming and rescue the contestants? Maybe a part of her had. And some people were outraged. The trouble was, they were still expressing it in a way that wasn't going to accomplish anything. They were marching. They were protesting. They were calling their congressmen and posting on social media and writing blog posts and making videos, but no one seemed to know what to do to stop the Games.
She hadn't, either. This had been the only thing she could think of that seemed like it had a chance of working. Any sabotage to the cameras or the collars or the Sentinels would be fixed quickly enough, and she didn't have the technical know-how to pull that off, anyway. She couldn't risk involving anyone else without running the risk of being caught. And if she was caught…
Then what? What would they do? She wasn't sure, and she certainly didn't want to find out. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be good. No, there was nothing more she could do – not now, anyways. All she could do was wait and hope that what people were doing would be enough.
But she already had a feeling it wouldn't be.
Iola Boman, 19
She couldn't shake the feeling that they weren't moving fast enough.
Iola gripped the branch she was using as a staff as she took a few more steps forward, trying to keep up with Kiara and Fae. They were waiting for her, of course. Kiara was only a few steps ahead, while Fae kept drifting farther ahead and then turning back to wait for the others to catch up. Scouting out the area, maybe, or maybe just getting impatient.
Iola could hardly blame her if she was. They certainly weren't making very good time. But every time she tried to move faster, the dizziness got worse. She'd already fallen a few times. Kiara had been quick to help her up and had tried to offer to let Iola lean on her for support, but it wasn't a matter of being able to support her own weight. It was just her damn sense of balance that was off, and there was nothing Kiara could do about that except catch her if she started to sway, and she was doing a good enough job of that with her staff on her own.
Except when she wasn't. Except when she started to move too quickly, or took her eyes off the ground. Every time she looked around, it got worse. How was she supposed to know if anyone was coming if she couldn't hear and couldn't get a good look around without falling over?
Iola gripped the stick even tighter. She would just have to trust that Kiara and Fae would warn her if someone was coming. That they would protect her. She certainly wasn't going to be much help in a fight.
Except she had been. The boy the night before had been on top of Kiara. He would have killed her. But Iola had tackled him. Pinned him. Killed him. She had slid the knife across his throat and watched the life drain from his eyes, blood all over her hands. She'd washed in the lake afterwards, but she still caught herself expecting to see blood when she glanced at her hands.
It felt … strange. But it didn't feel wrong. She'd expected it to, before the Games had started. She'd expected to feel something. Regret. Grief. Reluctance. The other contestants were her fellow mutants, after all. She wouldn't have had any reservations about fighting humans, but other mutants … That was supposed to be different. They were supposed to be fighting a common enemy, not each other.
But the other boy had attacked them. She hadn't been looking for a fight; she had simply fought back. Yes, he'd begged for his life, but only after it had been clear that he certainly would have killed her, given the chance. He hadn't had any qualms about attacking them; he was just upset that he'd been caught, that he'd lost. She had been fighting for her life, for Kiara's life, for Fae's life. That was all that mattered now.
And her life had mattered to them – enough for them to come back for her when it would have been so easy to just run off like Henry had. They had every reason to ditch her and strike out on their own, but they hadn't. They had come back for her. They were still waiting for her. Only two of them could survive, and they'd still come back for someone who could easily be considered the weakest link in their group.
She hadn't expected that. Not really. She'd spent years surrounding herself with a group of mutants because it was easier to survive together, but that was when all of them could survive. She had expected the Games to be different, to feel different. But she already felt almost as close to these two as she had to Compass or Willa or even Ekon.
Iola couldn't help a grunt as her foot caught on another rock and she almost fell. But Kiara was right there to catch her, and this time, when Kiara offered her arm for Iola to steady herself, Iola didn't pull away. Maybe it wouldn't really do much good, but it felt good to have someone close.
Even if it was only for a little while.
Lea Cervantes, 18
It was nice to eat something hot, even if the fish were a little small.
Lea finished off another fish as the small fire they'd built continued to flicker in the chilly air. It had taken a while to get it lit, but now that it was burning, she was reluctant to put it out. They'd managed to get the scales off the fish with the knife from the backpack, and had proceeded to roast them on some of the smaller sticks they'd found. Separating the edible parts from the rest was a long process, but it was nice to eat something that wasn't dry and cold.
Elio piled the last of the wood onto the fire. It had taken them a while to collect enough branches from the few trees around, but at least the wood seemed to have mostly dried out from the day before. That was something, at least. Actually, there seemed to be a lot of 'somethings' so far. The fish. The trees. The fire. Things were actually going pretty well today.
Maybe that helped make up for how badly things had gone the day before. Losing Makenzie. The rest of their group leaving them. Realizing that the rest of the contestants really did intend to fight, to kill each other. Lea scooted a little closer to the fire. Elio did the same, rolling up his sleeves as he got closer to the warmth.
Not for the first time, Lea felt her eyes wandering to the tattoos on his arm. She hadn't noticed them during training; their outfits had been long-sleeved, and it had been chilly enough that they'd never had much reason to roll them up. But she'd noticed the tattoos earlier when he'd taken off his shirt before wading into the lake. Some sort of circles, or something circular-ish, at least, in different colors, running the length of his forearm.
Elio must have noticed that she was staring, because he tilted his arm so she could see better. "They're chakra symbols," he explained, touching the first one. "This one stands for trust." His fingers brushed the next one. "This one symbolizes creativity. This one stands for empowerment, this one for love, this one for truth. This one symbolizes clarity, and the last one is for unity."
Lea nodded. "They're beautiful. I always wanted to get a tattoo, but I didn't think the nuns would approve. And my parents certainly wouldn't."
Elio raised an eyebrow. "Nuns?"
Lea hesitated. She must have mentioned that at some point, hadn't she? Maybe not. Elio hadn't really asked anything about her life back home, and hadn't volunteered many details about his own, either. "Back home, I go to a Catholic boarding school. Well, went there, I guess. They're Franciscans, so they aren't as stuffy or uptight about it as my parents are, but I figured it'd be less drama to just get one on my own once I graduated." She shook her head. "Guess that's not going to happen."
Elio shook his head. "Once we make it out of here, I'm sure you'll be able to find somewhere to get one."
Lea chuckled. "No, I meant … I meant graduating. Silly thing to be thinking about, but it was my senior year. We only had a couple months left, and now…" She trailed off. It wasn't worth getting upset over, really. Not when their lives were at stake. But it wasn't fair. Her life had been pretty normal. It had even been good. Sure, her parents had their heads stuck up their asses, but she'd been about to graduate. She could have gotten away from all of that anyway.
That was why she'd applied to the boarding school in the first place – to get away from her parents. But while the nuns were nice enough, she'd never wanted to spend the rest of her life there. She'd wanted to see the world, to make a difference. She'd wanted to do something bold and new and exciting.
But not something like this. Not something where she might get killed for no other reason than that other people were trying to survive a terrible situation. If the nuns could see her now, what would they say? Would they be proud of the fact that she hadn't killed anyone? Would they be disappointed that she hadn't tried harder to save Makenzie? Would they have wanted her to find a way to keep her group together?
No. No, they would understand. Well, the ones who really cared would understand. Sister Antonia and Sister Natalia and the others she'd actually managed to make friends with over the last couple years. They had always supported her, always tried to help her, always accepted her, even though they hadn't known she was a mutant. She'd always gotten the impression that if they had known, they would have understood.
But she had never been certain – not completely certain. Not certain enough to trust them with the knowledge of what she was. And now it was too late. Now she would never know what they would have said. Well, except Sister Antonia, who had tried to intervene when the Sentinels had come for her. She'd stood up to the man who had come with the Sentinels, and even though it hadn't done any good, Lea certainly felt grateful for that.
At least someone had tried to help her.
Lilith Haywood, 23
They didn't seem to need as much help today.
Lilith glanced from Coburn to Savannah and back again as they kept moving. She was ready to step in if either of them started to lose control, but both of them seemed to be keeping a lid on their powers. Of course, it helped that the weather was nicer today, that they weren't getting pelted with rain or startled by bubbles. That probably made it easier to keep their powers under control, so that was probably part of it.
Part of it, but not all of it. Despite the fact that none of them had gotten much sleep, both Coburn and Savannah seemed more relaxed, more at ease now that they were on their way again. Maybe it just helped to think that they were making some progress, putting some distance between themselves and anyone who happened to be following them. Maybe just having something else to do, something to occupy their attention, meant that they had less energy to spend on worrying about what might happen.
But how long could they keep it up?
Lilith shook the thought from her head as the three of them drew closer to the ridge that had been looming in the distance for a while. It certainly looked larger up close. From farther away, she had assumed they might be able to find a way over it. Instead, it looked like they would have to go around.
"What do you think? Left or right?" Savannah asked.
Lilith shook her head. There was no way to tell – not from here, at least – which way might provide a quicker path either around or over the ridge. "No way to really know which one's better," she reasoned. "If we had a coin, we could flip it."
She'd meant it as a joke, but Coburn reached down, picked up a rock, and held it in his hand as he lit a small fire, scorching one side. "Burned side is left, other side is right?" he suggested.
Lilith couldn't help a smile. It was as good an idea as anything else. "All right by me. Savannah?"
Savannah nodded. "Okay. Give it a toss."
Coburn flipped the rock into the air. It landed burned-side up. "Left it is," Coburn announced, then hesitated a moment, flipping the rock over. "In case anyone else comes along." One burned rock in the middle of nowhere? Might look a bit suspicious."
Savannah cocked her head. "Or maybe not." She reached down and turned the rock back over. "Stand back." Lilith and Coburn took a step back, and lightning shot up into the air. Slowly, deliberately, Savannah directed the lightning lower and lower, finally aiming it at the ground, leaving a pattern that was roughly arrow-shaped, pointing to the left.
Coburn raised an eyebrow. "You're trying to tell them which way we went?"
Savannah shook her head. "No. Think it through. If you were coming this way and saw an arrow in the ground, what would you do? Would you think we went that way, or the other way?"
Understanding dawned on Coburn's face. "I'd think you were trying to make us think you went that way, when you actually went the other way. So if I was trying to catch up to you, I'd go right, because no one would be dumb enough to leave an arrow pointing the way they had gone."
Lilith eyed the arrow skeptically. "Unless they were trying to lead someone into a trap."
Savannah shook her head. "They know we ran away from them earlier. They probably aren't worried about us leading them into a trap."
"If the same people are following us," Coburn reasoned.
Lilith raised an eyebrow. Coburn had no poker face. "What makes you so sure there's someone following us?"
Coburn shifted uneasily. "Just … just a feeling, I guess. And we know there was a group that found us earlier."
"Hours ago," Savannah pointed out. "And we've been moving pretty much ever since, and changing direction a lot. Is there any way they're actually following us?"
Coburn shrugged. "Better safe than sorry, right?"
Lilith shook her head. There was something he wasn't saying. But if he was trying this hard to keep it to himself … well, maybe there was a good reason. "I guess so," she agreed. "Besides, there's probably not really a way to erase that," she added with a meaningful nod at the arrow scorched in the ground.
"So we might as well get going."
Savannah Kingston, 19
"So we might as well get going."
Savannah nodded as the three of them took off, heading in the direction her arrow was pointing. It was a bit of a gamble, maybe, but anyone who came across the arrow would end up playing the same sort of scenarios around in their head. They would know someone had been here – someone strong enough to leave scorch marks on the ground. Whether they decided they wanted to follow or not, they would end up second-guessing themselves. What if it was a trap? What if someone was trying to lead them in the wrong direction? What if someone knew they would assume an arrow meant the right direction, so they actually went that way? They could easily waste a lot of time trying to figure out which way they should really go.
And that was the point, really. It wasn't about the mind games. In the end, anyone following them would end up essentially doing what they had done – flipping a coin and hoping that they'd made the right choice. But the time they might waste second-guessing themselves, or even arguing amongst themselves if there was more than one person, might give her group an edge, or at least some time to get a decent night's sleep.
Savannah fought back a yawn at the thought. She was tired, but she hadn't been able to get much sleep earlier, and neither had either of the others. Maybe Coburn was right about there just being an unshakable feeling that something was about to go wrong, that they were being followed. But if that was what it was, was it really going to be any better at night, when they wouldn't be able to see someone coming? Probably not. But they couldn't just stay awake forever, no matter how paranoid they might be. Eventually, they would have to get some sleep.
But not yet. For now, they could keep going, put as much distance as they could between themselves and anyone who might be following them. Or, for that matter, anyone who wasn't following them. Even if there wasn't anyone in the area, it wouldn't hurt to get farther away from where the others might be fighting.
Savannah shifted the pack on her shoulders. It couldn't be that easy. The Games wouldn't work if everyone could just head in opposite directions indefinitely. Last year's Games had been on an island, but even out here, they had to have some sort of way to contain the contestants, didn't they? Otherwise, how did they expect any of them to fight? Or even find each other?
"They have to have some sort of plan, don't they?" she asked out loud at last. "For how to get us to find each other, how to get us to fight? They're not really just going to leave us out here and hope that enough people who want to play along will really be able to find everyone else in all … this." She gestured to the vast open spaces. "They have to have some sort of plan, right?"
Coburn nodded. "Probably. If they didn't, it would take forever to find even one person. I mean, what do they always tell you to do if you end up stranded in the wilderness?" He waited, as if expecting an answer. When both of the others shrugged, however, he went on. "Stay put. Why?"
"To save energy?" Lilith suggested.
"Well, probably that, too," Coburn admitted. "But also because it's near impossible to find someone if they're on the move. Just think how hard it would be to find someone who's trying not to be found."
"Exactly what I was saying," Savannah agreed. "And that's with all sorts of technology, flying over an area and looking for someone on the ground. If you're actually on the ground, without anything to help you, what are the odds you're going to just … find someone?"
Lilith shrugged. "Pretty small, if we were talking about humans. But we're not. We know there are at least two of the others who can turn into some sort of animal – animals that have better hearing, better senses of smell, even better vision than humans do. We know there are a couple of them who could cover a lot more ground in a short amount of time than we could."
"That's only a few of them," Coburn pointed out hopefully.
"It only has to be a few," Lilith insisted. "How many of the contestants last year do you think actually went looking for a fight? How many of them did any sort of hunting? Probably not very many. Maybe only one or two at the start, maybe a few more as the Games went on. But most of them were probably trying to do exactly what we're doing right now – stay as far away from everyone else and hope that we can outlast them for a bit." She shook her head.
"How many of them are still alive?"
Coburn Hughes, 17
"How many of them are still alive?"
Coburn didn't answer. He didn't need to. They all knew the answer. Two of last year's contestants were still alive, and even though he hadn't paid much attention to last year's Games, he had a hard time imagining Penelope running away from everyone and trying to avoid being found. No, she had probably been one of the people hunting the others. But was that really what Lilith was suggesting?
Maybe. "Are you saying we should turn around?" he asked quietly. "That we should go find the others and just fight rather than trying to run away?"
The look of surprise on Lilith's face told him that wasn't what she'd meant at all, even before she said anything. "No. No, I just meant … I guess I just meant that we can't count on being able to run forever. There are some of the others who could probably track us down if they wanted to, and we can't assume that we're safe just because it would be hard for us to find anyone out here. But as far as attacking … No, I think that can wait a while. We should be able to last a bit longer than some of the others. Between Savannah electrocuting birds out of the air and you being able to keep us warm and dry, we're probably in a better position than some of them. And the more of them we outlast…"
"The less we'll have to fight," Coburn finished.
"Exactly."
Coburn nodded, but he still didn't like it. It felt … wrong, somehow, just waiting around and hoping that the other contestants would kill each other, or starve to death, or die of dehydration or hypothermia or something in the wilderness. At least fighting seemed … well, quicker. Maybe even less painful.
Until he remembered that him fighting someone meant that the other person might end up being burned alive. Compared to some of the other options, that certainly wasn't any less painful. And being electrocuted … well, maybe that was quicker, but the thought still made his stomach churn. It had taken Penelope long enough to convince him and Savannah that it was safe to shoot at her during training, that they wouldn't be able to hurt her. The thought of actually doing that to someone who could be hurt, who could be killed, made him sick.
But the thought of someone else killing him was worse.
That was what the MAAB was counting on, after all. That was why the Games had worked last year, and why they would probably work just as well this year, even if it took some of them a while to find each other out here. Because given the choice between their own life and someone else's, the MAAB knew which one most people would choose, even if they didn't want to admit it to themselves – or anyone else.
And he knew which one he would choose.
Frederick Bouvy, 17
He wished he hadn't had to choose.
Frederick pulled his jacket tighter as the sun sank a bit lower in the sky. It was getting darker already. He wasn't sure what time it was, but it couldn't be that late, could it? Maybe. He'd spent most of the previous day in the house with Seb and Alphonso; they hadn't really paid much attention to what time it had started to get dark outside. And even if they had, they could always have chalked the darkness up to the weather.
Now it was getting darker, and colder, and he was already tired and hungry. Even if he wanted to go back to the others, he had no idea which way to go. He'd thought he was headed back towards where they'd started, but at some point, he'd gotten turned around. Now … now it was all he could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other, hoping to get … Where? Where did he think he was going? And how long did he think he could just keep walking? He would have to stop sometime.
Maybe once he found another lake. It had been a while since he'd had a drink. Yes, that was it. As soon as he found water, he would settle down for the night. There had to be some nearby. There didn't seem to be a shortage of tiny lakes around. Frederick blinked, shielding his eyes from the sun. That meant he was still going west, at least – and had been for some time. Did that mean the others were back east?
Frederick shook the thought from his head. It didn't matter. It didn't matter where Seb and Alphonso were; he couldn't go back. He'd made his choice – a choice he should probably have made at the start of the Games. If he'd known he was going to leave them, he could have tried harder to grab something at the start, rather than immediately picking a fight.
A fight he had lost anyway.
Frederick adjusted his jacket again. At least Seb had been able to make him a new pair of gloves before he'd left. But he couldn't count on that happening again. If he lost these ones … then what? If he found any food, he would be stuck trying to eat without his hands, and he wouldn't be able to lie down for fear of turning the ground into goo if he happened to touch it. Frederick shuddered.
Okay, so just don't lose them. It was that simple. The easiest way to do that, of course, was to just not take them off. But he had to take them off if he wanted to use his power to fight. Without his power, he was just … well, human. He had the pistol in his pocket, but that was only so much good. He only had six shots, so he couldn't waste any of them. He couldn't fire at anything he wasn't certain he could hit.
Which was why he hadn't tried to shoot the few animals he'd seen earlier. Birds, mostly, and at too much of a distance to think he had even a chance of hitting them. He'd thought about it, though. He was hungry. He'd never had to go this long without food before. Even when his parents weren't home, there was always something to eat in the house.
Frederick shook his head. He couldn't keep thinking about food. It would just make him even hungrier. But the trouble is, there wasn't much else to think about, aside from the possibility that he might be dead in a day or two. Or that he might find someone else and have to fight.
He had thought he was ready for that. At the start of the Games, he had been ready to charge in and fight. Hell, he had almost killed one of the girls. Would have killed her, if he'd managed to touch her skin instead of her hair. But he hadn't counted on almost being killed himself. The idea of killing the other contestants … well, it wasn't an appealing thought, but if it was what had to happen in order for him to go home, then that was the way things were. There was nothing he could do about it. But the idea that he might die … It just wasn't fair. He'd never done anything to deserve this.
Most of the others probably hadn't, either. Frederick tugged on his gloves as he staggered forward, exhausted. The others hadn't done anything, either. They were all trapped here in the same lousy situation, except most of the others had someone to work with. Someone to talk to. Someone to keep them company.
Just then, he caught sight of the sunlight reflecting off something in the distance. Water! Frederick grinned as he raced forward, all thought of the other contestants forgotten. It was all he could do to keep from plunging into the water. He hadn't realized just how thirsty he was. He cupped his hands and brought the water to his lips again and again.
Only once he'd drunk his fill did he realize how dangerous of a position he was in. If anyone had been around, they could have come up and stabbed him in the back – or whatever the equivalent was considering their powers – and there wouldn't have been a thing that he could do about it. He wouldn't have had time to reach for his gun or even take off his gloves. Frederick glanced around frantically, but there seemed to be no one nearby. He'd gotten lucky this time.
But he couldn't make the same mistake again.
Seb Krause, 16
They wouldn't make the same mistake again.
Seb watched, satisfied, as Frederick set the alarm on the battery-powered clock he'd written into existence a few moments ago. This time, when night came, they wouldn't just fall asleep. One of them would keep watch for a while, and then the other. It was a good plan. It was an obvious plan, really, and what they should have been doing last night.
Now he just had to keep Alphonso from getting drunk.
So far, today had been going better. He'd written some painkillers to deal with their hangovers, which had mostly gone away. They'd had hamburgers for lunch, and they'd just finished off some fried chicken for dinner. Well, almost finished. There were still some scraps around the table, along with what was left of the mashed potatoes, biscuits and gravy, and several bottles of soda. He wondered what would happen if he wrote 'garbage disposal.'
Probably nothing, unless he wrote them some electricity to go with it. Seb had been worried that the smell of food might attract wild animals, but if it was going to, wouldn't it have done that already? And would it really matter whether there was any food left, if it still smelled like food? Besides, what kind of wild animals were even around here? They'd seen a few birds earlier when they'd ventured outside to get some fresh air, but even those had been rather small. There certainly didn't seem to be any bears or mountain lions or … whatever there was supposed to be in the mountains.
Maybe the MAAB was keeping them out somehow. After all, the whole purpose of the Games was for the contestants to kill each other. If they were all attacked by wild animals, it would probably send the wrong message. Unless…
Seb blinked. What if he made some wild animals, and the other contestants got attacked by those? That had to count, right? That would still be the contestants killing each other, albeit rather indirectly. And it wasn't as if the MAAB would be able to do anything about it. Sure, they could turn his collar on, but if they did that after the animals were there, it wouldn't do any good.
Seb reached for another piece of chicken. He couldn't say anything of the sort to Alphonso, because Alphonso would want him to do it right now. And there was no way to guarantee that the animals would attack the other contestants, rather than them. Unless … well, maybe if he tried to write trained animals into existence. Maybe something like attack dogs. Would that even work? As long as he was thinking about it, maybe. He'd just written chicken earlier, and had gotten exactly the sort of fried chicken he wanted. If he wrote dogs, would he get dogs that would obey his commands?
Maybe. Seb took another bite of chicken. A day or two ago, he wouldn't have even considered it. Maybe Alphonso was rubbing off on him. But maybe Alphonso was right. He'd been right about everything else so far. Seb had been worried about the house drawing attention, that maybe someone would come and attack them, but so far, no one had. Maybe Alphonso was right that it was more of a deterrent than a reason to attack.
Or maybe they'd just been lucky so far.
But if it was luck, then they'd been lucky a lot. Lucky that no one had attacked them. Lucky that Frederick had just left rather than finishing them off first. Hell, he was lucky he and Alphonso had decided to work together in the first place. If Alphonso hadn't approached him, then…
What would he be doing? He certainly wouldn't have made a house in the middle of nowhere. He would have been too afraid. But when Alphonso was with him, encouraging him, egging him on, even, it was easier to do something that would have seemed ridiculous if he was on his own. Seb leaned back in his chair, finishing off the piece of chicken. "Thanks, Alphonso."
Alphonso looked up from the clock. "Hmm? For what?"
"For working with me. I know it's not always easy, that I don't always want to … well, do anything that might be dangerous, or might backfire. But thanks for being patient."
Alphonso raised an eyebrow. "Oooo-kay. Where's this coming from?"
Seb shook his head. "I was just thinking. Just wondering what I'd be doing if we weren't working together, and I definitely wouldn't have done any of this." He gestured around the house. "I wouldn't have thought of it on my own. I wouldn't have wanted to attract attention. I never have. But with you, well…" He shook his head.
"I guess attention doesn't seem so bad."
Alphonso Bell-Garcia, 15
"I guess attention doesn't seem so bad."
Alphonso stared, dumbfounded, as Seb twirled the chicken bone in his fingers. This kid had what was probably the coolest power in the Games – maybe even in the world – and he wouldn't have even thought to do anything with it if Alphonso hadn't come along and given him a little nudge. Okay, maybe a big nudge, but it had been for his own good.
Except no, it hadn't. It had been for Alphonso's good. The fact that it had also turned out pretty well for Seb was simply a happy coincidence. But Alphonso couldn't help a feeling of satisfaction at the idea that maybe Seb was beginning to realize exactly what his power could be useful for, exactly how much he could really do.
And now that Frederick was gone, there was no reason not to encourage him. After all, two of them could survive. When Frederick had been with them, he'd been worried that maybe he would try to influence Seb, that the two of them might decide that Alphonso was simply extra baggage, that they didn't really need someone whose power wasn't exactly much good in a fight.
Now that it was just the two of them, though … well, things were different. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was starting to like Seb. There was something almost endearing about his hesitation to do anything that might have even a chance of going wrong. It was … well, it was very different from the sort of people Alphonso was used to hanging out with. It was almost refreshing. Almost as if Seb was as much of an influence on him as the other way around.
Almost. He was still manipulating Seb, after all, even if the other boy didn't realize it. Alphonso rubbed the back of his neck, his fingers brushing up against his collar. What would happen if he stopped? If he let go of his control, would Seb still stay? What other choice did he have? Well, a lot of choices, really. He could go off on his own and probably do just as well. But would he?
Alphonso shook the thought from his head. No. No, he couldn't take that risk. He almost burst out laughing at the irony. Seb was apologizing for not wanting to take risks, and here he was, not willing to run the risk of letting Seb make his own decisions. Once they made it out of the Games, though – once it wouldn't put his life at risk if Seb decided to take off – then he could let go.
Alphonso fought back a twinge of guilt in his stomach. Huh. He'd never really felt guilty about manipulating someone before. Of course, he'd never really kept it up for this long before. He usually gave them enough of a nudge to get them to do what he wanted, and then left. He'd never really had … well, a friend. Not one his own age, certainly. His butler, Rafael, was the closest he came to having someone he really trusted.
Alphonso blinked. He couldn't afford to get sentimental. Not now. Once the Games were over, then he could worry about feeling guilty. Right now, he had to do what he had to do if he wanted to survive.
But did he have to do this?
"You're welcome," Alphonso mumbled, and turned his attention back to the alarm clock. That seemed to satisfy Seb, but if he was being honest, it didn't completely satisfy him. Seb was thanking him for … what? For paying attention to him?
Maybe he didn't have any friends back home either.
Jaime Sanchez, 20
Maybe the others hadn't known which way to go either.
Jaime took a step back as the five of them stared at the arrow that had been scorched into the ground. They'd known, of course, that they were following someone who could manipulate lightning, but this was a precision they wouldn't have expected. When they'd seen the lightning before, shooting at Kylena's bubbles, it had seemed much more erratic. Of course, that could just be because the person shooting had been startled. It was probably easier to aim when they weren't trying to avoid what they had probably thought was some sort of attack. And the daylight probably helped, as well.
Still, it was a bit unnerving to see something as obvious as an arrow leading one way. Evelyn shook her head. "So that has to mean they went the other way, right? South? They're trying to throw us off their trail by leaving a sign pointing in the other direction."
Vi crossed his arms. "I'm not so sure. What if that's what they want us to think? I mean, no one would be stupid enough to just leave a sign pointing the way they had gone, so they'd have to know we would think it meant they went the other way."
"Unless that's what they wanted us to think," Kylena reasoned. "We could keep going back and forth like this all day. That's what they probably wanted – to keep us distracted so we don't follow them."
Rick shook his head. "I think you're all missing the most important question."
Evelyn cocked her head. "What?"
Jaime nodded. "How did they know we were following them?"
"Exactly," Rick agreed.
"The bubbles," Kylena reasoned.
"But that was almost a whole day ago now," Jaime pointed out. "How do they know we're still following them?"
"Maybe they're just being careful," Vi reasoned. "Leaving a sign in case someone is following them."
"Maybe," Jaime agreed. "Or maybe it's a trap. Maybe they want us to follow them."
"Even if they do, we still have the edge," Evelyn pointed out. "They know there were three of us, but they don't know about them." She jerked a thumb towards Rick and Vi. "They probably think we're evenly matched, three to three. We'd still have the edge in a fight, even if they are expecting us."
Rick shook his head. "We'd have the edge in numbers. But we were counting on having the jump on them. If they know we're coming, they might have enough time to set a trap or something."
Evelyn raised an eyebrow. "With what? There's nothing around to set a trap with. It's just mountains and rocks and a few lakes. There's not even much to hide behind if they wanted to jump out and take us by surprise."
Jaime glanced around suddenly anyway, just in case there was someone around. Just in case they had been waiting, knowing that they would stop here to try to figure out which way to go next. "Whichever way we're going, I think we should make a decision soon," they suggested. "This is probably exactly what they want – to keep us talking, debating the right way to go, while they get farther ahead."
"And the sun's already starting to set," Kylena agreed. "We were going to try to ambush them at sundown, but that'll only work if we catch up to them soon."
"It might already be too late for that," Vi pointed out. "We don't know how long ago they left this, but we do know that we can't see them from here. Unless they stopped for the night, we're probably not going to catch up by sundown."
"And they probably won't stop for the night if they think they're being followed," Rick added.
Jaime shook their head. "They have to stop sometime. Maybe we won't catch up as quickly as we thought, but we won't catch up at all if we stand around here arguing forever."
Evelyn shrugged. "We also won't catch up if we pick the wrong path."
"We could scout out a little ways in both directions, see if we find anything," Rick suggested.
Vi shook his head. "If they were smart enough to leave this as a marker, they're going to be careful not to leave anything else that they don't want us to find. Besides, if they had enough of a head start, they could have gone a little ways in one direction, left a clue, then doubled back and gone the other way. You know, leave a fake trail for us to follow."
"I think we're overthinking this."
Kylena Albright, 16
"I think we're overthinking this."
Kylena almost took a step back as everyone's eyes turned to her. "What do you mean?" Evelyn asked.
Kylena shifted uncomfortably. "I mean, everyone's trying to be a strategist here. Trying to come up with something clever or figure out exactly what the other group was thinking. But we don't need to. We just need to pick a direction and … well, go with it. If we're wrong, we're wrong. Is it really the end of the world if we don't catch up to them tonight?"
Or ever. But she didn't say it out loud, as much as she wanted to. The others had decided that catching up to the other group was a good goal to work towards, and if that kept them moving and gave them something to focus on … well, it was certainly better than sitting around all day. But if they didn't happen to catch up to this particular group, there were other contestants out there. It wasn't as if any of them were going anywhere.
Maybe it was the fact that the only reason they'd teamed up with Rick and Vi was so that they would have an advantage when they caught up to the other group. What were they planning to do after that? Split up? Then it made sense that the others would want to get it over with. But even after they'd found the other group, was there really any harm in keeping Rick and Vi around, assuming they wanted to stay?
Maybe it reminded the others a bit too much of when the six of them had been together at the start. But Rick and Vi weren't Elio and Lea. The two of them were willing to fight. Hell, they had been tracking the other group before the three of them had found them. They were working together now because they had a common goal, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to stay together a bit longer.
Maybe. They would just have to wait and see. And if it took them a while to find the other group … well, that was a little longer they could put off the decision of what to do afterwards. Kylena watched the others' faces as her words sank in. "If we catch them, we catch them," she ventured. "If not, we try again tomorrow. It's not like we're going to run out of time or anything. It's not a race. Like Ian said at the start, it's a marathon, not a sprint. It doesn't matter when we catch up to them, as long as we're ready."
But were they ready? That was the real question. They had a plan, yes, but that didn't mean that they were ready for a fight. The last time they'd fought another group, Makenzie had died, and the only reason she and Evelyn hadn't been right behind her was because the boy who could turn things into goo hadn't called her bluff about how long her bubble would hold. Now Evelyn wanted to go after a group where someone could shoot lightning, and they weren't even sure what the other two could do.
Kylena glanced around at the others. It was too late to just turn back now. If they wanted to be sure of not finding the other group, it would be easy to turn around and just go back. But they'd made a choice to go after the others, and if they turned back now, it would look…
What? Like they'd given up? Why did it matter what it looked like? It wasn't as if the MAAB could do anything about it if they just decided they didn't want to follow the other group anymore. The trouble was, Evelyn definitely did want to follow them. But she didn't have any more idea than the rest of them about which way might actually lead to the other group.
Finally, though, Evelyn nodded. "All right. So we pick a direction and go with it. It's that simple – left or right. So we … what? Flip a coin?"
Vi shrugged. "Anybody got one?"
"Odds and evens?" Kylena suggested.
Jaime raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Odds and evens. Everybody holds out one hand with some of their fingers up. You add them together, and if you get an odd, you go one way. Even, the other. So … Odd we go left, even we go right?"
Everyone nodded their agreement. "On three, then," Kylena instructed. "One, two, three."
They all held out their hands. Four, two, three, three, and five. Kylena nodded. "That's seventeen. So left it is." Nobody seemed to want to argue, so they set out. Kylena breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this was the right way; maybe it wasn't. But they'd managed to make a decision without it resulting in a fight or even too much of an argument, and they hadn't taken too long to do it, either.
Maybe a larger group wasn't such a bad idea, after all.
Henry Helstrom, 14
Maybe being alone wasn't so bad after all.
Henry opened their eyes as the memory of what had happened slowly drifted back. It was almost dark now – or maybe almost light. How long had they been asleep? Asleep or unconscious? They didn't remember falling asleep, and this certainly didn't seem like a position they would have chosen for sleeping. There was a rock positioned uncomfortably under their knee, and their left shoulder felt like it was on fire.
Except that wasn't because of a rock. Oh, yeah. Henry slowly sat up and examined the bandages. It was probably time to change them. Probably past time. How often were bandages supposed to be changed? They weren't sure, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to get the makeshift bandages off and replace them with some of the real ones they'd found in the dead girl's pack.
Right. The dead body. Henry looked away in time to keep from vomiting again. If there was even anything left in their stomach to vomit. Okay. Okay, first things first. They weren't going to be able to do this on their own, but that was what the golem was for. They quickly created a medium-sized one that would be able to reach their shoulder and give them a hand.
A hand. The memory came rushing back. The girl's hand had come off. That was how badly her body had been beaten to a pulp. But she had attacked them first. Hadn't she? Now that they thought about it, Henry wasn't sure exactly who had attacked first. But the other contestant was the one who had chosen to stick around when she'd found someone sleeping rather than just heading off in the other direction.
Except … well, if they were being honest, she had done exactly what Henry might have done in her position. She'd found another contestant – an opponent – in a fairly helpless position and tried to take advantage of what she'd thought would be an easy kill. But hadn't the big rock person been something of a giveaway about what they could do? And all she had been able to do was make their vision a bit fuzzy. What had she thought was going to happen?
Henry took a deep breath, bracing themself as the golem started to undo the bandages. It didn't hurt as much as they'd thought it would. Once the golem was finished, Henry reached for their bag and pulled out the bottle of pills. They certainly looked like painkillers. And the MAAB wouldn't have put them in the backpacks if they were dangerous. The idea was for them to kill each other, after all, not overdose on pills.
And they had killed.
Henry shook the thought from their head. They had killed because they hadn't had a choice. The girl would have killed them. Kill or be killed – that was how the Games worked, after all. Those were the rules. The only rules. It didn't matter that she hadn't really posed much of a threat, that all that she'd had was a knife while Henry had a golem they could manipulate. They hadn't known what else she might be able to do.
Henry popped two of the pills into their mouth and took a long drink of water. Two ought to do it, right? Yeah. Yeah, they needed to ration what was left, in case something else happened. They had no idea how many other contestants were still left, after all, or how many more they might end up having to fight.
Next time, they wouldn't be so careless. Next time, they would make sure the golem finished the job, even if it made things a bit … messier. Henry took another drink of water, not sure they would be able to hold down something to eat even if they tried. Maybe some of the graham crackers. They took out the package and ate one slowly, careful not to look over at the girl's body. They could always go somewhere else, but…
But it was getting dark anyway. It was getting dark, and they were still tired. Well, that meant it had been sunset rather than sunrise, anyway. That was good. And now they knew that the golem would still keep watch even if they went to sleep. That was even better. Yeah, getting stabbed sucked, but overall, maybe it was a good thing the girl had found them.
Or at least, if someone was going to find them, it was a good thing it had been her. A good thing it had been someone who hadn't really stood a chance, someone who had been an easy kill. Henry took another drink of water, trying to ignore the churning feeling in their stomach. No. No, they had to get used to it. They had to get comfortable with the idea of people dying – of them killing. Or if not comfortable, then at least … something. Familiar, maybe. Yes, now the feeling would be familiar if it happened again.
When it happened again.
Kenji Rose, 12
He couldn't let it happen.
Kenji rolled over, eyes closed, trying to fall asleep. They'd settled down for the night near the lake where they'd been fishing, and after they'd kept moving much of the previous night to get away from whoever had been laughing in the distance, he was definitely tired. But if he fell asleep…
"You're worried about what might happen, aren't you."
The voice was Emery's. Kenji opened his eyes and sat up a little. Florence was already sleeping soundly, while Emery was keeping watch. Kenji nodded. "I just … I don't want to accidentally make things worse."
Emery nodded. "So how does it usually work?"
"What?"
"Do you have any sort of control over when you go back to?"
"Kind of. From the times it's happened before, it seems to be whenever I'm thinking of when I fall asleep."
Emery shrugged. "So think about now. Think about sleeping here, by this lake. That way, even if you do go back in time, you'll only go back a minute or two or whatever, and you'll be sleeping. And sleeping won't change anything, because that's what you're doing anyway."
Kenji cocked his head. "You really think that would work?"
Emery shrugged. "You tell me. But you really can't stay awake forever, so you have to try something."
Kenji nodded. He'd been trying to tell himself the same thing ever since last night. "Okay," he agreed. "Can you wake me up in about an hour? Just in case?"
Emery raised an eyebrow. "If you do go back to the wrong time, an hour would probably be long enough to change things anyway, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah."
"So why don't you just get some sleep, and whatever happens, happens?"
Kenji lay back down and closed his eyes. Whatever happens, happens. Except it wouldn't. If he went back and changed things, whatever happened wouldn't happen. New things would happen. New things that could be better, but could also be worse.
Don't think about that. He had to focus on now. Think about sleeping here, under the stars, with his friends. Think about Florence lying beside him, about Emery keeping watch. Think about lying here, using the scarf from their backpack as a pillow. Think about how good it would feel to wake up again, refreshed, the sunlight shining down on the three of them.
And then the sunlight was peeking out over the mountains, breaking through the clouds that had gathered. Kenji sat up slowly and looked around. "Sleep well?" Florence asked, handing him the jar of applesauce.
Kenji nodded and ate a little. It must have worked. He didn't remember falling asleep, but he did feel refreshed. Kenji turned to Emery. "Why didn't you wake me to keep watch?"
Emery raised an eyebrow. "I did. About two hours after you fell asleep. You don't remember?"
Kenji blinked. He didn't remember. Something was wrong.
"Kenji?" The voice was Emery's, but it seemed farther away. Fainter, somehow. As if someone was trying to wake him from—
A dream. Kenji's eyes snapped open. It was still dark, and Emery was shaking him gently. "Sorry," she whispered. "It's just, you said to wake you after an hour. It's been more like two, I think, but I figured I'd give you a little shake to make sure … well, make sure our memories aren't all going to poof into nothingness. And I guess we're still here, but we wouldn't really know if you'd changed anything, would we? I mean, that would just be what we thought had always happened, and … Kenji? Are you all right?"
Kenji blinked. "How long did you say it's been?"
"About two hours." She nodded towards the moon, which was rising in the sky. "I mean, we don't really have a way to keep track of time, but that's my best guess. Why?"
"Just something you said in my dream." But was it just a dream? How could he tell? Nothing seemed to have changed, but it wouldn't, would it? He hadn't gone to the past, so what he had seen wouldn't affect things now. "Except…" He trailed off.
"Except what?"
"I don't think it was a dream."
Emery cocked her head. "Then what was it?"
"I think I went to the future."
Emery Mullins, 15
"I think I went to the future."
Emery watched Kenji silently, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Except it didn't seem to be dropping. She waited another moment. Then another. "And?"
Kenji blinked, as if startled out of his thoughts. "And what?"
"And … what happens? Were we still alive?"
Kenji nodded. "Well, yeah, but I didn't go that far. I'm pretty sure it was just tomorrow morning. I wasn't there very long – just long enough to get the feeling that something was wrong."
"Wrong?"
"Well, I didn't remember any of … this. Any of what happened in between."
Emery shrugged. "Of course not. It hadn't happened for you yet. Hell, this conversation might not even have happened if you hadn't gone to the future. But the important thing is we were alive, right? I mean, we made it through the night."
"Yeah."
"So what's the problem? That's good. And it even solves your other problem. It doesn't matter if you travel forward into the future, because that won't change anything now. It might even give you some inside information about what's going to happen. That's good."
Kenji didn't look convinced, but he did still look tired. "Look, if it happens again, just go with it. See what happens. And if something bad happens in your dream—"
"In the future."
"Right. If something bad happens in the future, maybe that means we can avoid it. If you can change the past, that means we can change the future, right?"
"I don't know," Kenji admitted. "I've never done this before. I promised—"
"You promised not to change the past," Emery pointed out. "This isn't changing the past. This isn't changing anything. This is just getting information – maybe. That has to be good, right?"
Kenji's forehead wrinkled for a moment, thinking it through. Maybe trying to figure out whether this was breaking his promise. But he didn't seem to have much control over it anyway, even if he didn't want to slip through time, and going to the future was certainly better than going to the past. If he went to the past, he was the only one who could change things. But if he went to the future and figured out what was going to happen, they could all work together to change things.
Or to make sure that things turned out the same way. From what he'd said, they all made it through to morning, so as long as they kept doing what they were going to do anyway, at least they didn't have to worry about tonight. "Were we still here by the lake?" she asked.
"Huh?"
"In the morning. Were we still here, or had we moved?"
"We were still here."
Emery shrugged. "Good. So we'll just do that, right? You go back to sleep, I'll wake you in a little while to keep watch, we'll trade off through the night just like we planned, and we're all good to go in the morning. We just need to not change anything from what we were going to do anyway, right?"
"Right." He didn't sound certain. He just sounded tired. Emery stretched her arms as Kenji lay back down to sleep. He still looked worried, but as far as she could see, this wasn't anything to worry about. In fact, for the first time since the Games had started, she actually felt a little safer. They were going to make it to the morning.
That was a good feeling.
Elena Burleigh, 21
It was a strange feeling.
Elena glanced from Liv to Lee and back again as Liv pulled the sleeping bag out of one of the backpacks and Lee packed the food back into the other. The three of them had set up a rotation for keeping watch – Lee first this time, then Liv, then her – but it was still sinking in that it really was just the three of them. They were on their own. Just three. And she couldn't shake the feeling that if she fell asleep again, something might happen to one of the others.
She hadn't been this worried last night. Sure, she had been a little nervous that something might happen, but she had imagined that if something did, it would wake her up. There would be some sort of sound, some sign that something had gone wrong. She'd never imagined that she would just wake up and one of the others would be gone. And if it could happen once…
It wasn't likely to happen again, of course. Liv and Lee weren't going to just disappear. They knew better now than to wander off, certainly. But that didn't mean that something else wouldn't happen. That didn't mean that someone wouldn't find them, and that they might attack before whoever was keeping watch even noticed, or before they had a chance to do anything.
Elena shuddered. The thought terrified her more than she wanted to let on. But what was the alternative? They couldn't just stay awake forever, couldn't keep moving forever. And they had been headed away from the direction where they had heard screaming for a few hours, at least. If there was anyone nearby, they hadn't made a sound.
But. But, but, but. There would always be a 'but.' Elena settled down wordlessly next to Liv as she pulled the sleeping bag over both of them. "Wake us if something happens," Liv reminded Lee for what must have been at least the third or fourth time. Maybe she wasn't sure what else to say. Elena certainly didn't have any better advice.
Lee nodded. "We'll be fine." But he sounded like he was trying to convince himself. He was probably just as worried as she was, just as worried as Liv had to be.
Liv rolled over so that she was facing Lee. "Do you think…?" she started, and then trailed off. Lee waited patiently for the end of the sentence. "Do you think Ansel left because of me?"
Elena held her breath. She'd been wondering the same thing, after all. Liv had been awfully snappy with Ansel before he'd taken off that night. She couldn't imagine what that must feel like – to be wondering whether her words had driven Ansel off, quite probably to his death. For a long moment, Lee didn't answer.
Finally, though, he shook his head. "I think he left because of him. I don't think you said anything to him that he wasn't thinking himself. If you're going to be part of a group, you have to be willing to contribute, and he didn't feel like he was. That's not your fault. Maybe you were a bit short with him, but if he couldn't handle a little grouchiness, there was no way he was going to be able to handle the Games."
Elena looked away. If Ansel hadn't been able to handle the Games, what made her think that she could? What made her any stronger, any tougher, any more capable than him? Lee laid a hand on her shoulder, as if he could tell what she was thinking. "Hey. You're not him. You're still here. The three of us are still here. We can handle this – together."
She just hoped he was right.
Vi Voclain, 18
He just hoped they'd made the right choice.
Vi glanced over at Rick as the five of them made their way forward, the girl called Evelyn leading the way. He was more than happy to let her. The five of them were making good time, but it was darker now, and if someone was going to trip over a rock or accidentally plummet down a cliff, he was happy it wasn't going to be him.
Not that that was likely to happen. They were still following the ridge to the north, but it went up, not down. Still, that was exactly the sort of wildly unlucky thing that would probably have happened, if his collar wasn't on. But it was still on. At least, nothing had gone horribly wrong yet, so he assumed it was. He'd just assumed that he would know if they turned it off. But he'd been doing his best not to give them a reason to.
Did that mean they were going the right way? Would the MAAB have turned it off if they got too far away from the other group? Maybe. He had no way of knowing what they might do. And that was the worst part. They hadn't exactly given him any clear conditions – and even if they had, there was nothing to stop them from going back on their word. They held all the cards. He was just one of the pieces on the board.
And now there were five of them. Well, not exactly five of them. The two groups were still very distinct. The other three were leading the way; he and Rick were following. They hadn't merged into one group; they just happened to have a common goal right now. As soon as they took care of the other group…
Then what? Would they be able to split up peacefully? Maybe. He certainly didn't want to test his luck in a fight against the other three. Yes, he and Rick were armed, but Kylena's bubbles could probably stop a knife. And he didn't relish the idea of any pain they inflicted being reflected right back at them by Jaime. No, it would be good to split up without a fight if they could.
If they were still alive.
If they managed to take out the other group.
Vi shook his head. That was a lot of 'if.' Which meant there was a good chance he wouldn't actually have to worry about whether the group would break apart peacefully. Whatever was going to happen, it would probably happen pretty quickly after they found the other group. There wouldn't be a lot of time to think.
Just like there hadn't been in the tunnels.
Vi's hand closed around the knife in his pocket. He'd mostly managed to avoid thinking about what had happened in the tunnels. He'd done what he'd had to do. That was all. That was all.
Except it wasn't.
The girl in the tunnel had never stood a chance. But more than that, she'd never had a choice. The MAAB had picked her, just liked they'd picked all of the others. He was the only one who had chosen to be here, who had chosen to play the Games. Even if he hadn't known exactly what he was signing up for at the time, he had at least had the chance to make his own choice.
And because of that choice, a little girl was dead. And the little boy Rick had killed, as well. There was no way Rick would have come back to the tunnels on his own. He wouldn't have thought of it. He wouldn't have gone through with it even if he had thought of it.
Not a few days ago, at least.
Now … well, now Rick seemed just as determined as any of them to catch up to the other group. Maybe he was just putting on a show because he knew how important it was to Vi to keep his collar turned on. But he had been the one to suggest that heading directly towards the lightning wouldn't be good enough. He had woken Vi up when the other group had changed course, even though he could have simply let him sleep and kept going on a wild goose chase for days.
Maybe Rick really did understand how to play this game, even if he didn't like it. He, too, seemed content to hang back a little and let the other three charge on ahead first. Finally, Vi caught his eye in the moonlight, and Rick nodded. Maybe the five of them were working together, but he and Rick were a team. The others were handy, but they were expendable.
The two of them would keep each other alive.
Marcus Del Rio, 19
"Think we should keep going?"
Marcus shook his head as he looked around in the moonlight. They'd turned west a while ago, when their path north had taken them directly towards a mountain range. Now they were heading north again, and there seemed to be a narrower, flatter path between two ridges heading northeast. "I think that can wait until morning," Marcus suggested. "We don't know where the next lake might be. This way, we can rest up tonight, and fill our water bottles again in the morning before we leave. That should last us a while even if there isn't any water nearby."
Manaka nodded, and Marcus was pretty sure he saw relief pass over the younger boy's face. He didn't mention the other reason for stopping – because that meant they wouldn't be as tired, and that hopefully they would be able to keep watch without one of them falling asleep this time. But he didn't say that, because that would only make Manaka feel guilty. That was one thing neither of them needed.
They just needed to be more careful. And they had been so far. They'd taken breaks, they were rationing their supplies, and they'd even managed to get a bit of a fire going and cook the rodent they'd caught. It hadn't been much meat, once they'd gotten rid of the fur and the bones, but it was a start. It meant they wouldn't just have to rely on what was in their packs.
And they would get better at it. It was only the second day of the Games, after all. They still had plenty of food left, which meant they would have time to figure out the whole hunting thing without having to worry that they might starve if they didn't catch something soon. All in all, things were going pretty well.
So why couldn't he shake the feeling that the other shoe was about to drop?
"I can take the first watch," Manaka offered. When Marcus didn't immediately say anything, he added, "I promise not to fall asleep this time."
Marcus nodded. "Of course. I was just thinking."
"About what?"
Shit. "About what my mom might be doing," he lied. It was a safe lie. It made sense that he would be thinking about how she was doing back home. Just because that hadn't been what he was thinking about right at that moment didn't mean he hadn't been thinking about her, after all.
"Is it just the two of you?" Manaka asked.
Marcus nodded. "Yeah. How about you?"
Manaka looked away. "My family's back in Japan. I haven't seen them for more than a year."
Marcus shook his head. "I'm sorry." He couldn't imagine going that long without seeing his mother. "What happened?"
Manaka shrugged. "My mutation happened."
"They kicked you out?"
"I ran away. They never even found out, except my sister, Noriko. She was being bullied by these older kids, and I stepped in to stop them. I just wanted them to stop. I didn't mean to…"
Marcus nodded. "Wasn't much of a fight, was it."
Manaka blinked. "What?"
"You beat them up, right?"
"I … yeah. How'd you know?"
"That's what I would have done, if I hadn't been so scared of getting caught."
"You?"
"Yeah. Before I knew I was a mutant, I just thought I was … well, different. I talked faster than the other kids. I couldn't sit still. The doctors thought it was ADHD. The other kids just thought it was annoying."
"What happened?"
"This guy came to speak at our school one day. A professional baseball player named Eddie Cruz. He saw me running away from some older kids who were giving me a hard time, and he figured out what I was, because he was a mutant, too, except his thing was enhanced strength. I'd never met anyone like me before. He helped me find another doctor – a specialist who was used to working with mutants. And Eddie was the one who gave me the idea to go out for sports. I was good. Really good. It wasn't long before the bullying stopped. Things were good."
Marcus sighed. "Then they found out Eddie was a mutant. They called him a cheater, even though the Halls of Fame are probably chock full of mutants who just didn't realize that was why they were so good. Once they figured out Eddie had been working with the doctor he took me to, they went through his files and found out about me."
Manaka shook his head. "That's terrible. What happened?"
"Oh, I was off the team the moment they found out. There was even some talk about whether they should retroactively forfeit the championships I'd played in before that. That didn't go anywhere, but … well, let's just say I didn't have many friends my senior year."
"That's not fair."
Marcus studied Manaka's face for a moment. He really believed that. Everyone else – even his mother – had told him that he couldn't really be too upset at people for feeling like he had cheated. He had done things they couldn't, after all. He had an unfair advantage. Manaka was the first person who seemed to see it his way, instead. Marcus cocked his head.
"You really think so?"
Manaka Shizue, 16
"You really think so?"
Manaka nodded without any hesitation. "Yeah. It shouldn't matter whether you're a mutant or not. You were playing the same game everyone else was. It's not your fault you could play it better. I mean, it's not their fault that they couldn't, either. But would anyone tell Michael Jordan he shouldn't play basketball just because he was better? Should Usain Bolt have stopped running just because other people couldn't keep up?"
Marcus' grin was blinding. "Exactly! I was just doing my best. Well, not exactly my best. At my best, I could have run circles around them." He rubbed the back of his nice. "It's nice, with you, not to have to hold back."
Manaka smiled. "Maybe someday, nobody will have to. I mean, there have to be more mutants out there like us, right? Or with super strength or other things that would give them an edge in sports. If we had our own league, just for mutants, that would solve everything. Other people wouldn't accuse us of cheating, and we'd actually have a challenge. Winning would mean something, because we wouldn't have to hold back just to keep things close, or to keep anyone from finding out what we can really do."
"That would be nice," Marcus agreed.
But. The word hung in the air, unspoken. It would be nice, but it would never happen. Not anytime soon, at least. Because in order to create something like that – a Mutant League, maybe – humans would have to agree that mutants deserved it. That they deserved to be able to play the same sports as ordinary humans. That they deserved the same amount of attention, the same amount of praise, the same thrill that came from a victory, the same heartbreak that came from a defeat.
"Is that why we're running?" Manaka asked quietly.
"What?"
"I just meant … Are we holding back? We could have started a fight at the start of the Games. We would probably have won. Instead, we just grabbed some stuff and ran away. I'm not complaining. It's nice not to have to worry about anyone else catching up. We're probably miles away from anyone right now. It just … It just feels like we're running away from a fight because … well, because we know we'd win."
Marcus nodded reluctantly. "And it's hard to shake the feeling that that's not fair, that we have too much of an advantage, even when our lives are on the line."
"Yeah."
"Maybe," Marcus admitted. "But what else are we supposed to do now? It's too late to change what we did at the start, unless you forgot to tell me you could go back in time."
Manaka chuckled. "No. No, I don't think I would've forgotten something like that."
"Then we can't change what's already happened. And like you said, we're probably miles away from anyone else. Even if we wanted to find them right now, we'd have to be going in the right direction, and we have no way of knowing where anyone else is. I get what you're saying, but … well, we made our choice, and I don't think there's anything we can do but stick to it."
"You're probably right. It's just…"
Marcus waited for a moment. "Just…" he prompted.
"Well, they had to have figured we'd do something like this, right? They picked three people who could outrun anyone else in the Games, and it never occurred to them that we might just keep going? That we might not charge in immediately and fight?"
"They couldn't have known we'd be working together," Marcus pointed out. "If we'd picked anyone else to work with, we'd have to move at their speed. We'd have to wait for them. It just so happens that neither of us has to wait for the other. And that's good, but what were the odds we'd end up working together? They probably figured they could ignore the possibility."
Manaka nodded. Marcus was probably right. He was almost certainly right.
But he couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't that simple.
Penelope – 098, 13
It couldn't really be that simple.
Penelope drummed her fingers on the table as Marcus settled down under one of the blankets. Manaka draped the other around his shoulders and sat staring out into the darkness. They were absolutely right; there was no one anywhere near them. They were miles away from the nearest contestants. The MAAB had to have known something like this was possible. They had to have some sort of plan.
Didn't they?
But if they were going to do something, if they did have a way to step in, why hadn't they acted while some of the contestants were still close together? Yes, there were some that were still in the same area, but none that were really close. Evelyn, Kylena, Jaime, Vi, and Rick were still following Lilith, Savannah, and Coburn, but they were still pretty far away. If Liv, Lee, and Elena kept heading southeast, they might eventually bump into Elio and Lea, but only if Elio and Lea stayed in the same spot for a while.
Frederick had been heading more or less towards Florence, Emery, and Kenji, but both groups had stopped for the night, and there was no guarantee they would keep moving in the same directions tomorrow. Frederick's path had been erratic enough. There was no way to tell where he might go next. Seb and Alphonso hadn't moved since settling down in their house. Iola, Kiara, and Fae were heading more or less north, but there was no way they would catch up to anyone else. Henry hadn't budged from where they'd settled down the night before. All in all, the contestants were pretty spread out.
And it had already been two days. By the end of the second day of her Games, more than a third of the contestants had been killed, and the MAAB had sent the rest of them papers claiming that only seven of them were left. Or at least, that was how she had interpreted the vague number seven on the piece of paper. It was only later that she discovered that it had been a lie, that the MAAB had simply been trying to find a way to speed up the Games.
It had worked. It had probably worked better than they'd expected. Penelope had immediately killed her only remaining ally, Monet, and taken off to hunt down the other contestants. Within twenty-four hours, the Games were over, she had killed two more contestants, and the island had been destroyed by her own hand.
Clearly, that wasn't going to happen this year. Maybe they had decided last year's Games had moved too quickly. Maybe that was why they had chosen such an open area in the first place. But she couldn't help wondering whether they might have gone too far in the other direction. How were the contestants supposed to find each other if the nearest groups were still miles apart?
They had to have a plan.
Penelope looked up as Maria gave her shoulder a squeeze. "You all right?"
Penelope nodded. "I'm fine. I tried to tell them that they couldn't just keep running away, but they wouldn't listen, and now they're stuck. They're nowhere near anyone else. No one is. How are they supposed to find anyone?"
Maria shrugged. "That's their problem."
Penelope raised an eyebrow. "Well, yes, but we're their coaches. We're supposed to—"
"Not the contestants. The MAAB. Making sure the Games work, that people have the opportunities to find each other and don't just wander off – that's their problem. Our job is to help our contestants prepare as best we can. That's it. There's nothing more we can do now, one way or another. The MAAB probably have a few tricks up their sleeve; they certainly did last year."
"That's what I'm worried about. One of their little tricks got Monet killed. I thought there were only seven of us left, so I killed them. If I'd known the truth, and if I'd known that two people could survive…"
Maria shook her head. "Hindsight's always twenty-twenty. There's no way you could have known either of those things. Even we didn't know two of you were going to be able to survive, or we would have probably taken some different approaches during training, just like we did this year."
"We tried to, at least," Penelope agreed. "It just seems like quite a few of them didn't listen."
Maria chuckled. "Trust me, most of them listened. It's just that listening and understanding are sometimes two very different things. Some of them are just starting to realize exactly what they're going to need to do in order to survive. For their sakes, it's probably a good thing the Games are moving a bit slower this year. They'll have a little more time to adjust, to figure out what they're doing, before everything starts to come to a head."
"But you still think they will?"
"Yes." Ian's voice behind her caught her by surprise. "The MAAB are a lot of things, but they're not stupid. And they're not as oblivious and aloof as they sometimes want us to think. They had to know this was a possibility. But they don't need everyone to try to find each other. They only need a couple people who are willing to go out of their way to hunt – just like you were. And I think they have a few."
Penelope nodded. Once the group of five caught up to Lilith, Coburn, and Savannah, there would be a fight, and if any of the larger group survived, they could turn their attention to hunting down the other contestants. So far, Emery and Kenji had reserved their hunting skills for the fish they'd caught, but if they ever had a mind to track down the other contestants, it wouldn't take long for Emery to sniff out a trail. And all Marcus and Manaka would need was an idea of where to look, if they ever decided to take the Games into their own hands.
And she had a feeling they were starting to realize that.
"You struggle with the world's problems, and wind up feeling so alone."