Chapter Four

" And if my life is like the dust.
Ooh, that hides the flow of a rose.
What good am I?
Heaven only knows."
- Dinah Washington

Calisthenics for training had been excruciating. They had come a long way with Bushido working with them for a week. Huey just wasn't sure if it would be enough. A room full of sponsors and judges would be analyzing their performances. It was their job to predict how each elect would perform in the games.

These scores allowed audience members with VIP access to watch limited footage, giving them an advantage in betting accurately. If they guessed the winner and at least five correct rankings, it would provide the winner and their families with two years' worth of food. It would also give that individual permission to play again for access to programs that allowed citizens to evacuated from the United States. The cost of this access? Two billion dollars.

Two billion dollars was enough to feed several impoverished families across the globe. Huey had seen more food in the past week than he had in nearly four years, and some of those items had been fresh, meaning that access to clean food and water was a possibility. In this arena, it was clear to him that their resources were not as depleted as they'd been led to believe.

Being treated like a racehorse at the Kentucky Derby only fueled the rage inside of him. He tried to remember what Bushido had told him about channeling the rage and how he could release it in more impactful ways. He'd been the harshest with him. Huey had several cuts and bruises on his arms, including a deep gash on the side of his stomach from when the man had lightly struck him with a trident.

"Shido won't gone take it easy on you, Huey! Because there are 49 kids who want to take they asses back home just like you do." Bushido slammed into him. Punching Huey repeatedly in the chest. "You're winded? Too bad. That makes this easy." He brought the Trident down to Huey's side and catapulted it through the boy's skin, ignoring his groan of pain. "They'll kill you."

He was about to bring it forward to scratch Huey's shoulder, but Jazmine jabbed two fingers into the man's neck, paralyzing him quickly enough for her to grab the trident before he came to and kicked her backward. She landed gracefully on one hand, lifting her head to smirk at him as the man's mouth flew open. She focused on his face, flying forward with her leg outstretched, but he only chuckled and grabbed her leg to send her crashing into the nearest wall.

"Acting cute will get you killed." The man tsked. "I am not impressed. Now, come on!"

They groaned, still fighting through the pain as they lifted to defend themselves against him.

"There we go." Bushido nodded. "That's the mentality I always need from you two. Stay vigilant. Now, c'mon! We're just getting started."

Jazmine was doing well. She was flipping over several of the obstacles thanks to her background in gymnastics, and her defense had gotten much better thanks to Bushido and Huey's pointers. She dodged the group of robotic dummies, sending her baton crashing through the metal assailants' chests. She was a fast learner. Her performance was shaking a lot of the girls in the group up, and they were all huddled together, whispering about her. She'd long since gotten Jennifer Harmon down. She had asked to continue just for practice.

They had all agreed to keep her bow and arrow technique a secret. As soon as they got out of the room, their opponents would zero in on every flaw they had. In a week's time, everyone would be even stronger. They didn't have room for error, and with Huey's background in martial arts and their connection to Bushido Brown, it was clear that the Maryland elects were shaping up to be a threat.

The next session was even more intense. Ming and Tasha smiled deviously at one another when Jazmine's leg got stuck into a net that had fallen on the floor. Their satisfaction was short lived. She cut herself free and lifted her sickle. She wasn't even looking at the three newer dummies that were loudly clanging in her direction. She decapitated each one with a clean sweep, causing the entire crowd, even the elects to suck in a breath. "Damnnnnnnn."

She didn't take her eyes off them. Huey and Bushido looked on before glancing at each other and smirking as they fist bumped each other. She had made her point this morning. Jazmine Dubois was not the weakest link. Not by a long shot.

The sponsors applauded loudly, clear admirers of the girl. They watched as the judges scribbled words on a few sheets of paper before whispering to each other eagerly. They ushered her to sit with them so that they could observe the other candidates.

The next few kids were hard to watch. One girl had broken her leg, which meant that they would have to send for a special cream that could rejuvenate the bone in five hours. The medical advancements that had been in the movie were apparently real. Bushido had announced the same to him. That he would allow him to sit with the gash for a few days so he could deal with fighting through the feeling in case nobody cared to sponsor them, but that the arena was filled with medical resources that could heal most of the worst injuries, even someone on the brink of death from internal injuries.

Another kid their age had melted down on the floor. It was all too much for him and he flew through the window, sobbing to himself when the guards retrieved him. "Please, let me die." He screamed loudly. "I don't want to do this." He twisted his arms as the men dragged him away. "Please, I'm not ready to die like this. Don't let me die like this!"

Nobody moved to help him.

Cindy and Grits were two of the obvious front runners, neck and neck with Ming and Hiro. They had been so brutal on the equipment that the judges allowed them to spar with each other so long as they didn't kill one other. Everybody watched, fascinated as they went blow for blow. It took almost 45 minutes for Cindy to overpower Ming and for Grits to overpower Hiro. Not good. That meant that Ming would remain on high alert and be even more calculating than she would've been if she'd have lost.

Still, it wasn't all bad. Cindy hadn't realized what most of the other black kids had quickly figured out. Cindy and Grits were strong, vicious players, but they weren't strategic like they were. They could still beat them out. It would just be a lot harder than he'd initially assumed.

Even Kevin and Vince had been surprisingly strong contenders. It was an insane juxtaposition. Just a few moments ago he had silently walked Makayla over to Jazmine, smiling shyly at her. He'd seemed nervous to even make eye contact with her.

But the moment Vince stepped onto the floor with Kevin, he seemed like an entirely different person. He had tossed a five-thousand-pound weight past the boy's head, narrowly missing it by a margin. He even launched another thousand-pound weight directly into Huey's path. Luckily, Huey and Bushido jumped out of the way, looking onward as Kevin crashed into him, overpowering Vince rather quickly. Vince's leg pushed upward, as if ready to kick the boy in his spine, but at the last moment, he relinquished.

"Yeah." Kevin got up, a smirk on his face as he popped the collar of his t-shirt. "That's what I thought."

Huey glanced over at Tasha, instead. At that look on her face. Besides Vince, she and Huey were the only people who had figured it out. Vince had spared Kevin Bryce the embarrassment. He hadn't won a thing. Maybe that's why she was trying to cheer as loudly as she could. She had to keep up appearances. He had a lot of work to do.

It seemed as if it had been enough to fool the judges for today. They murmured amongst themselves, watching as Tasha and Isis went head on. They were both pretty good at hand to hand combat, but their form was a little clumsy. By Huey's standards, they were smart fighters. The girls used their surroundings to heighten their leaps, and they even rigged small booby traps around the arena, something that seemed to peak Jazmine's interest specifically.

Isis was able to overpower Tasha quickly, causing Caesar to smile as the other girl stomped away, grumbling to herself. "Next time, bitch."

Huey slowly made his way over to the floor, pausing when he stood face to face with Michael Caesar. To his surprise, the boy gave him a genuine smile. "It's nothing personal. Do what you gotta do. I'll look out for mine." He let his eyes trail over to Isis. Then their eyes shifted over to Jazmine. "Just like you have to look out for yours."

Before Huey could correct him, Caesar drew his arm back and delivered a sharp blow where Bushido had left a gash. He brought his hands to his stomach and winced, catching himself before he hit the ground. He began swiping at the dread head's feet. He focused on hitting him, making a connection with his punches, but Caesar was dodging every blow he attempted. Huey flipped backwards. Running as fast as he could, he flew forward and wrestled Caesar onto his back. He recovered swiftly, lifting just in time for Huey to kick him back down as his foot harshly collided with the boy's chin. Caesar yanked Huey's leg down and punched him, while Huey held his dreads down so that he could pull him over and restrain him.

Caesar grabbed a spear and aimed it for Huey, but he was able to use his legs to flip Caesar away from him. He grabbed the spear for himself and threw Caesar to the wall, watching as the Chicagoan native passed out. Then he set out to destroy everything. He took the weight that Vince had thrown and held it in his hands. The barbells, the elaborate food scavenger setup, the explosion chamber that they'd seen when they came in. They were all targets of his wrath, now. He was slamming the large weight against everything he could get his hands on.

When the guards came rushing in, he tossed the entire cart of barbells in their direction. Jazmine tried to lurch forward to calm him, but Bushido held her back. "Hold on." Huey ripped up the netting, and then leapt forward near the sponsors, who were sitting in the press box on the 2nd floor. He shoved past them to and immediately threw the trident past none other than Ed Wuncler's head. He climbed inside, glaring at him before wiping the sweat from his brow and leaping out of the box, past the broken glass, and into the center of the floor, his fist up.

Nobody clapped. The guards didn't touch him, and he walked out, feeling angrier than ever.

"You did good." Bushido was right behind him. "That's exactly what they needed to see. You've established yourself as the front runner, and Jazmine has proved that she could actually make it for almost a week, maybe even to the final four."

Huey glared at him.

"I know that it's not what you want to hear." Bushido nodded back to the room. "But it's better that I tell you now rather than later. The last thing that you want is a meltdown when this is all said and done."

Huey kept walking.

"Come on." Bushido was dragging him back in the other direction before he knew it. "They'll be announcing the scores soon. Your drama king exit will have to wait some other time."

Some other time…that meant….

"You think I can win." Huey stared at him.

Bushido Brown paused, shaking his head. Huey hadn't noticed it before now, but the man had been slurring less. Which meant he hadn't been drinking as much. "Hell yes." The man shook his head. "If you actually listen to reason, you can come out of this alive."

Huey stared down at the floor and shifted.

"Now will you bring your ass on?" Bushido was walking towards the training room. "Don't make me call Michael Caesar and Vince. Since they both came close to whacking your ass good today. I'm sure Jazmine and Vince have gotten pretty cozy by now…"

That did it.

"Alright, fine." He strode slowly towards the room. "I'll go."

"Uh-huh." The man chuckled. "I bet you will."

Huey stood in between Jazmine and Vince, glaring at the boy, but his eyes softened when they fell on Makayla, who shyly waved at him. Her big brown eyes bore into his, and he struggled to tear them away as she slowly walked forward toward the training simulator.

It seemed to be the first thing that the frontrunners of the group silently agreed upon. Even Grits and Cindy seemed disgusted. All of them moved closer together, watching with baited breath as the girl tried to fight against the robotic obstacle course. She was fast. Which gave her a clear advantage, but her defense was severely lacking. Makayla fell, tears coming down her eyes.

"It's okay." Cindy McPhearson kneeled beside her before Jazmine could even do it, shocking all of them. "Get up. Dry it up, and keep going, beautiful. You got it."

The girl nodded and seemed to focus on completing the course. She still stumbled awkwardly, but her speed was nothing to be played with. Huey could work with that. Especially since the other elects didn't seem to want to kill her. Nobody with sense would actually murder an eight-year-old and expect to walk the streets freely after leaving. Not immediately, anyway.

"Don't do it." Bushido's voice was low, gritty. "She's a walking death trap."

Huey ignored him, watching as a familiar face emerged from the shadows, clapping loudly.

"Well." Ed Wuncler stood at the center of all 50 elects, staring at each face. "What an impressive showing we had on today from these brave young men and women." He frowned at a camera before continuing. "It breaks my heart that our beautiful country is in such a devastating state of turmoil, but seeing you all here on today proves that the future is bright."

He snapped his fingers and a legion of men showed up, handing him a few sheets of paper. They were the rankings that Bushido had told them about. As expected, some of the other contestants outside of Maryland and Chicago placed lower than they had. Huey hated to admit it, but he was relieved. His research had proved accurate thus far. Now all that he had to, was hope for the best.

Isis ranked at twelve, which surprised all of them. She'd hadn't been as strong as Ming, but she hadn't been last. Cairo Wright ranked at eleven, due to him burning himself during the explosive test, something no one else had done. Jennifer Harmon, ranked at twelve. Not surprising. Kevin Bryce ranked at eleven. A little surprising. Hiro Otomo ranked at ten. No shock there. Makayla English ranked at nine. Very solid for her age, Huey could work with that. Tasha Fight ranked at eight. Perfect. Vince Steadman ranked at seven. Grits ranked at six. Jazmine Dubois ranked at five. Cindy McPhearson, four. Michael Caesar, three. Ming Lee, two. Huey Freeman, one.

When Wuncler stopped reading the names, he seemed to zero in on Huey. "Of course, I'm not a betting man, but if I were I'd place all bets on Maryland." He chuckled loudly staring into Huey's eyes. "What is it that you kids say? Hardly home, always reppin'!"

His tone was so cheerful that if you hadn't known that Huey was from Chicago, where most of the picks were from, you would've missed the true meaning behind his words. Huey was actually relieved that he had done it. This would get most of them on his side. Maybe even Cairo.

"Shiesty ass nigga."

Or not.

"I'm also very happy to see that Jazmine Dubois scored much higher than expected." Ed Wuncler Senior smiled at all of them. He didn't sound too happy. "She was once my business partner, and one of my main critiques for her at that time was to learn to manage things respectfully. Today, she has managed to do just that. She was graceful, beautiful, talented…"

He trailed off, glaring at Rollo in the background. "I was worried when they called her name. The Dubois' aren't exactly known for their strength." Huey tried to keep his temper down. He could tell that Jazmine was doing the same. She kept her eyes trained on the man, slowly breathing in and out. "Some would even call them punk bitches." He paused, seeming to wait for a response. Nobody gave him one. "But she has displayed a considerable amount of strength on today. My advice ladies and gents? Don't get too comfortable around Ms. Dubois." His eyes suddenly turned menacing when the camera shifted to pan around the room. "If you get the chance, I'd challenge her first."

Bushido was furious. He picked up a bottle from the desk at the front of the room and chugged it down. Everybody in the room shifted uncomfortably. Wuncler's arrogance was making this worst. He was completely unhinged. Maybe even worst than his grandson, and Ed Wuncler III was the actual president.

The man laughed again, slapping his knee. "I'm just messing with ya." He shoved his way between Jazmine and Huey, placing his arms over their shoulders. "Say cheese, elects." When the cameras stopped flashing around them, he wandered over to the sponsors, smiling and laughing.

Jazmine and Huey shrugged and sat on the floor, talking amongst themselves. Everybody else seemed shellshocked. If they hadn't been thinking it before, they were now. Their names had been pulled on purpose, and none of them stood a chance.

They never had.

When Rollo Goodlove walked out, Huey left Jazmine and Makayla alone with Vince, knowing that they were both safe in his care despite their own animosity toward each other.

"Why'd you do it?" Huey's words immediately brought the tension into the air.

He was surprised when Rollo Goodlove's eyes filled with a darkness he had never seen from him before. The man threw his head back and laughed shoving at Huey. "What are you gonna do about it? Report me?"

Huey stared blankly, watching as Rollo shook his head.

"You really don't get it." The man said. "There's levels to this shit, Huey. You disrespected the leader of the free world's power hungry granddady, and you want to come out here and ask me why I did something. I just called the names they put in there."

"Not just me, Rollo." Huey glared. "What about Jazmine?" He could see the man's eyes soften. Everybody had a soft spot for her. "You gonna do this to her? Let them kill her because you couldn't stand up against Wuncler and his crazy mind games?"

"You and her daddy did this to her." Rollo shook his head. "Not me. Her blood is on your hands, not mine!"

The man walked away, rushing to some room far away, breathing heavily.

"Is that what you tell yourself, Rollo?" Huey's words were like bricks, whacking the man in the chest. "When you watch innocent kids who look like me, like Jazmine, like your family…" He paused, staring at the man clutching his chest. "Do you tell yourself that it's all for a bigger purpose? That it's all in God's bigger plan?"

Rollo didn't say anything. He probably couldn't. He seemed to be going into cardiac arrest.

"Well, allow me to speak on his behalf." Huey couldn't hide the satisfaction he felt when the man's eyes widened. He was already walking back toward the room. "It's on your hands, now. Not God. Not mine. Yours." He hit the emergency button, not wanting to be blamed for the man's death. He had elects to help. "You made your choice. Just remember that when you look at those grubby ass hands of yours. You're just as sick and evil as they are."

Huey walked away just in time for a paramedic team nearby to come rescue him. Shoving some sort of concoction down his throat that made him good as new. How sad.

He was the last person who deserved to live.

He re-entered the training room, leaning on the door frame to look for Jazmine and Makayla. They were nowhere to be found. His eyes raced for a moment, until he realized that he could still smell a faint hint of Jazmine's strawberry shampoo. His eyes trailed upward and despite himself, he let out a small smirk.

She was showing Makayla how to hide.

"See?" She whispered quietly. "You're small and flexible, like me. You can flatten yourself and hold your legs like this." She pushed one leg back into the darkness while holding her hands behind her back. "Exactly." Jazmine grinned at the girl when she was able to do the exact same thing. "You've got it."

"My mommy says I should just close my eyes and pray." The girl said sadly. Huey struggled to keep his eyes forward, his ears trained on their conversation. "That it'll be over quicker if I just ask God to take me." Her eyes bore into Jazmine's. Her voice was so sweet, so innocent that he could tell that she genuinely believed what her mother had said.

"Vince won't let that happen." Jazmine didn't answer her question. "You don't have to worry."

Makayla sniffled. "Will you…" Her voice trailed off. She sniffled some more. "Will you find me? If it gets bad?"

"I promise." Jazmine told the girl quietly. "I promise that I'll find you. I won't leave that arena without knowing you're okay. You have my word."

Bushido Brown was pissed. With the both of them.

"So you two are just the goddamn super niggas, now?" Both of them flopped down on the couch, exhausted. "Get up!" He yanked both of them up to their feet, attacking both of them with everything that he had. "You have so much energy! Come on and fight!"

"Man, stop!" Huey had had enough. "What's wrong with you?"

"You want to save the world?" Bushido kicked Jazmine back onto the floor. "Want to promise that little kid she's going to live?"

Huey kept dodging the man's attacks. "Shido' stop!"

"No, Kami!" Bushido was fighting him harder now, faster. "I won't stop."

"Shido, stop." Huey tried to restrain the man, but he was still too strong, running off a surge of super strength neither of them expected. "It's me, Huey."

"Kami…" The man fell, going off into a dissociative rant. His chest heaved up and down. "I can only take so much. I can't. I can't watch this again. It happens every year."

"It'll be okay." Jazmine's voice was soft. "He'll come out okay."

Huey glared at her, lifting to his feet. "And so will you."

Bushido and Jazmine both stared up at him, unconvinced.

"I know that you think this is going to work." Bushido stood, wiping his mouth as he stumbled around. "And when it comes to this one…" He pinched one of Jazmine's cheeks in amusement. "We'll see."

He glared at both of them.

"But Makayla is a lost cause entirely." He glared at them both. "If you try to save her, you'll just end up in the crossfire. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Jazmine and Huey sat still for a moment, thinking to themselves after he stormed off into his room.

"We're saving her anyways, right?" Jazmine blurted. "Because if you don't, I will. She was scared, Huey. And not like regular, I'm scared because the world is ending scared. We're talking terrorist attack, Level Red, I wouldn't come out of my room scared."

"Not Level Red!" Huey teased. He gasped and placed a hand over his chest, mocking her squeaky voice at the time. "Huey, help! My daddy is missing, and I didn't think to call 911!"

"Hey!" Jazmine shoved him softly. She was laughing. "I was worried!"

"I remember!" He cracked up even harder. "Yo, we didn't even see you for a year. I'd kinda forgotten you even lived there until you popped up again!"

"Shut up!" Jazmine still laughed despite her cheeks flushing. "I was just an annoying little kid. I didn't know any better."

"You didn't." Huey nodded. "And you're still annoying. Your voice is just more bearable, now."

"More bearable?" Jazmine snorted. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means." Huey chuckled as if the answer were obvious. "That your teenaged voice is raspy and tolerable. It's still high pitched when you get excited, but it has definitely deepened over time. It might be the one thing that proves that God exists in this world. He finally did something about all that loud squealing you used to do."

"I screamed in the car." Jazmine pointed out. "Not much has changed."

"You would've cried way more back then in this situation." Huey told her. "In the past few years, I've only heard you cry twice. I only heard you cry like that in the car…and the day before the elects were announced."

"My grandfather died. That's why I was crying." Jazmine winced. "It's messed up, and you know how I felt about Grandpa Sam. He's…he was the best." She squinted, shaking her head sadly. "And the worst part is…I think they killed him."

Huey was silent for a moment. "You're probably right."

"So, Makayla…" Jazmine glanced up at him, her eyes pleading with him. "Are you in or not? Because I plan on doing it with or without you."

"You know the answer to that." Huey wrapped his arm around her, easing the girl into his chest. "You're already teaching her how to hide. She's faster than Usain Bolt. I've been thinking about it myself anyway. We're helping her. End of story."

Funny, how life worked. They were in the worst predicament of their lives, but this was the most peace that he'd felt in a long time.