25. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Chapter 25
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Raven
Present Day
I ’m so tired of waking up in these fucking games.
This time I was blinded, but this wasn’t our home. It was too cold; the smells were off—acrid and burning, and I wasn’t in bed.
While I had fallen asleep in Jayce’s arms, I had woken up for a brief moment as he tucked me in. The comforting scents of Levi and Jayce swirled together, the warmth of the room, the safety of being in their presence.
It was all absent now, and a full body shiver rolled through me as I tried to realign with the here and now.
“Hello?” I called out. The word echoed a hundred times, but nothing else did.
I was lying face down on a hard, scratchy surface. Repositioning my hands, I pushed myself up a bit, and as I did, they shifted, moving further out. Suddenly I was falling.
A ball of terror hit my stomach when my hands went to empty space and I landed flat on my face, the harsh ground digging into my cheek painfully.
What is this now?
Keeping my torso as still as possible, I carefully used my limbs to outline what I was on. My fingers skirted the edge of concrete. It appeared to be a platform, just large enough to hold my body, but with very minimal space to move.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I discerned it was best not to do anything. I needed to just wait and see what was next.
I waited. And waited. And waited. Endlessly, the dark crept in and tendrils of anxiety wrapped around me as I lay on that platform.
What is happening? Is Jayce okay? What about Levi? Have we been separated again?
Apprehension tugged at my psyche as I attempted to calm my breathing, tried to contain a shiver as it wracked through my body. I was both too hot and ice cold. Clammy and sticky. My mind fought against itself as the time continued to pass.
Just as I decided to try to figure out whatever this was, I heard rustling and assumed the other players were beginning to wake.
“Now that you are all conscious, good evening. Currently there are eight teams and twenty-three players that remain. It is time for your next round to begin.” The words crashed all around me but I could still tell that the voice was off . It wasn’t our Host speaking, but rather a computerized voice without any inflection.
In some ways it was more terrifying.
Where is The Host? What happened to him?
He was always a pivotal part of the games. But maybe that was another way this year was different.
“There is only one rule to remember. Get the other player off.”
What does that even mean?
I was tired, exhausted . My body ached from my time spent here. I was battered, bruised, scarred . But I knew we were nearing the end. It was all I could hold onto. That we would survive this and then we would escape.
We would enact change .
I hadn’t figured out the how yet, but I would. Determination replaced the fear that had settled in my gut, and I allowed it to warm me.
My vision returned as my mask’s eye slits slid up. Sitting up carefully, I realized I was in fact on a platform of some type, near where my feet had been there was a podium.
Swiveling my head on a pivot, I took in my surroundings.
We were all situated in a circle hundreds of feet above the ground in a large glass dome. Sconces eerily lined the glass behind us illuminating all the players in an eerie glow. There were contestants to my left and right, positioned on platforms several feet away. Over forty feet across from me on the other side stood Ivan. He caught my attention and bared his teeth in my direction.
I didn’t want to think about him right now. I would need to deal with him, but not yet.
I had to push him as far into the recesses of my mind as I could or I would lose the last remaining tidbits of my sanity .
My eyes wandered outside the glass dome. It was pitch black outside of it…except there were stars.
Stars?
Mesmerized by the sight, I faltered. The realization that I hadn’t been outside or seen the stars in well over a month pierced through me.
For several minutes, I allowed myself to take in the sky. I tried to see anything else outside, but it was too dark, the moon hidden from view.
Carefully, slowly , I stood to my feet, but I tripped. Stumbling forward, my hands found the podium; I needed it to stay steady. My legs were numb from disuse, and my muscles hadn’t recovered from my activities with Maverick or the game before. And even more notable was my throbbing side. The stitches pulsating to my heartbeat.
In my distraction, I didn’t realize there was a button on the podium. Didn’t realize that I had pressed it until a large siren came from my platform.
“We have our first contestant chosen on their designated team! Now for the rest of you. One person on your team will need to press the button. The first to do so will be the only one to compete in this game.”
All around me, similar sirens sounded as the rest of the players chose.
What have I done? How am I supposed to win this when I can barely stand?
Stabilizing, I turned around and leaned against the podium. I found Jayce staring into me.
It’s okay he mouthed, inclining his head and offering a small smile.
My eyes turned glassy, but I blinked it away.
What if my mistake costs us our lives?
I was going to be playing for our team. I would be going for our round.
Me. Who could barely even stand .
“All the players have now been chosen to represent their teams. We will be doing this match a bit differently.”
That was the only warning I got as my platform shook, and I was lowered along with most of the other players.
Only two platforms remained in the circle above.
Confusion swirled in my gut. I thought touching the button first would make me the first to play, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
Down and down and down and down I went. Until finally, I stopped just a foot above the ground.
The spiked ground.
Sharp metal teeth covered the floor. There wasn’t space for anything else. Even stepping off I wouldn’t be able to escape them.
But what about falling from above?
Bile rose up my throat as I understood what this would be, I swallowed it down as best I could.
Get them off .
Make them fall to their deaths below.
To where we waited.
The nearest players were at least five feet away. All of us spread out across the space in a circle, our platforms held up by a single metal bar below us. Maybe we would get lucky and no one would fall on us.
But what happens if they do?
Where is Levi?
Searching anxiously for him, my eyes bobbed over the players down here, but he wasn’t one of them. Which meant he was one of the two players above. He would be in the first round. To distract myself from that conclusion, I found Maverick and then, shortly thereafter, Enzo. Maverick paid me no mind, his attention snapping from one player to the next. I could practically hear his brain clicking as he computed all the data provided.
Enzo on the other hand wasn’t looking around at all. Instead he sat down, stretching his limbs, paying no mind to his surroundings.
“What is this?” a woman’s familiar voice shouted, coming directly from my right. “How are us girls supposed to win this?”
My attention jumped to her. She stood on the next space over in our circle. It was 32. Our ally. Her team held the only other two remaining women.
The question was understandable, I had the same one myself. How were we supposed to overtake these men that were much larger than us?
The mechanical voice didn’t answer though.
Even as confident as I was in my abilities, it would be hard with the limited space and with how weak my body still was.
“What about the winners of the last round? Who are they and what was their ‘special prize’?” I recognized 197 as he spoke, and my eyes flashed to him.
He stood three players along the circle to my left and was staring at me, dissecting me. His green, haunted eyes swirled in promise as they met mine. He cocked his head as he brought a hand to his lips, blowing me a kiss. My stomach churned uncomfortably as my attention caught on the ink on his arm. The Griffin tattoo that wrapped around his forearm was on full display, a reminder of who he was. My eyes shifted to the man that was next to him in line.
195 was pacing his platform, not paying me any mind at all. Bouncing on the balls of his feet as he swept the perimeter of his space, hopping here and there.
Balancing .
“It will be awarded after this game.” This time, the motorized voice answered. “Now everyone, the first round is about to begin. Remain on your platforms while the round is played out above. The order has been chosen by the Sponsors. Those that have pressed the button first on their team will be the one to play when it is their round.”
A whirring drew my attention upwards. The two platforms that remained above our heads were nearly across from each other, but now they were spinning until they lined up exactly and then extended. They were about forty feet apart, but metal plates were reaching towards each other’s platform creating a terrifying make-shift bridge. I couldn’t see Levi from this angle, but I knew he was up there. Knew that he might very well be down here soon, dead .
I gasped a few times trying to catch my breath as worry sunk into me, I managed to subdue it.
There is no time for weakness. I need to get it together. I can’t break apart every round. I need to think up a plan.
“Once the bridges connect, a siren will sound, and the game will begin. Make sure to follow the rule to win.” The robotic voice paused. “One more item. The fastest to complete this round will be exempt from the next contestant-based game.”
Contestant -based game? What does that mean?
The siren blared, and I had no more time to think anything through.
I held my breath as my heart pounded its way into my ears.
Louder and louder it beat.
Thump .
Stomping above.
Thump. Thump.
Clattering along the metal bridge.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump .
“No!” an unfamiliar man cried from above.
Thump.
“Ahhhhh!” the same man screamed.
Thump. Thump.
A blur of motion from above as a body was thrown over. I shut my eyes, I didn’t want to look. To see who it was. I hoped that it wasn’t Levi. It didn’t sound like him.
Thump.
Blubbering.
Thump.
Wailing.
Thump.
Crash!
“No!” another man screamed from nearby.
My eyes shot open.
I wanted more than anything to not see it, to not look, but there was something magnetic about the knowledge you shouldn’t do it.
It isn’t Levi.
That was all I cared about, but it was followed by a pang of guilt.
I was staring into a disgusting mess of what used to be a human. He was dead, but the spikes had turned him into a grinded mess of meat. Organs slipping out, head pierced through, his clothes shredded.
I couldn’t even see his number.
Finally, I was able to wrench away from the sight before me, only to stumble on the man pleading and begging. He must be the dead man’s teammate.
“Player 182 has won, securing his team’s victory. Please return to your platform and you will be lowered to the ground. ”
The stomping above was matched by a loud thump before me as the man begging went silent and fell face down onto the ground, confirming that we would still die if our teammates did.
Dead.
Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.
Everyone is fucking dead.
I wanted to scream and shout and throw things and let loose the frustrations of watching these horrors play out before me. But I was powerless, a puppet to this fucking game. I couldn’t do anything.
Whirring filled the air again as Levi’s platform lowered down to join us.
Nobody spoke or said a word as we allowed the realization of this round to set in.
Not only would we be killing another team, but we would be watching their corpse decay as the rest of the round played out. Forced to remain eye-to-eye with the cruelties imposed upon us all.
But what choice do we have?