31
I sit in the bedroom and shake my head, the latest challenge having just been announced, and all four of us still trying to come to grips with it.
“This sucks,” Evelyn says, breaking the silence.
“It’s unprecedented,” I mutter. “This whole Game is going to shit.”
“I don’t understand,” Thorun shrugs, “a challenge is a challenge. What’s so unusual about this one?”
“Thorun,” Evelyn says in the cool, measured voice that she uses whenever she speaks to the Icelander, “challenges are either group or individual — and either way it’s up to us to decide whether we work with others, make alliances, or choose to operate individually.
This challenge forces us to work with people we may or may not prefer to see live. ”
“But we all share a room,” Thorun replies, her expression confused. “Why wouldn’t you want any of us to live?”
‘I can think of half a hundred reasons. Not the least of which is that Evelyn has a sneaky hidden alliance with the twins from hell, the slutty pom, and the goddamned female version of Steve Irwin. Sona has a voice that would make cats cry, and my fingers itch to strangle her, and you ask more questions than a two-year-old.’
“It doesn’t matter,” I snap, “it doesn’t matter what we want. We’ve been told that we have to operate as a team for this challenge. Every contestant must work only with those they share a room with. And the last room will be eliminated — every competitor in that room.”
“How can we work together when we hardly know one another!” Evelyn shrieks, pulling at her hair like a two-year-old.
‘And I don’t plan on changing that anytime soon.’
“We can fix that,” Thorun says patiently. “I’m an open book, ask me anything.”
I shake my head at her.
“Thorun, that’s not how you last in this kind of game.”
“Well, it is if we’re all a cohesive team.
I think it will be wonderful. Evelyn’s right, we don’t know each other yet.
We just need to learn more about each other, our strengths and weaknesses, and then we can work together.
And the instructions say we’ll have weapons…
.although, I’ll be honest, I don’t think I could hurt anyone, not deliberately. ”
I sigh heavily.
“You know,” Sona says in her usual dreamy voice, “I once knew a man who liked to be ridden like a pony.”
I roll my eyes.
“Don’t they all?” Evelyn snorts.
“Yes, but he had a butt-plug tail and a special bridle made to fit his facial features,” she muses.
“Oh, fuck off,” Evelyn snaps, stalking from the room.
Thorun collapses back onto her bed, giggling.
I drop my face into my hands, my shoulders slumping as I groan.
“We’re all going to die.”