Chapter 15
The familiar humming began in my body, and I quickly shut my eyes.
I was filled with a confusing mix of emotions. The most dominant was relief that we’d survived yet another round of these games from hell. But I was also nervous because we were down to very few contestants, and I wasn’t sure how much more was in store for us.
Or how much more we could take.
I was also exhausted. My body, mind, and senses had all put in overtime the last couple days, and I desperately needed a break.
When I opened my eyes again, we were all back in the transporter room, and when I moved out to the common area, the massive dining table was back.
It looked like the aliens had gone with an Italian theme because there was every type of pasta and sauce pairing imaginable, along with tossed salads, fresh bread, and even authentic pizzas.
Everything looked and smelled so mouthwatering, and we all hurried toward the display to load up our plates. I filled my plate with multiple types of noodles, marinara, and creamy alfredo sauces. Then I added a slice of pizza, some salad, and the bread.
When I moved to sit down, it didn’t escape my notice that the number of chairs around the table had dwindled down to only six.
Sadie sat down at my right side, while Tyler plopped down to my left.
“Hey, man,” he said. “I’m glad you all made it through. I was worried when I realized the obstacles got harder the longer we stayed on them. And I only had to worry about Claire and I, you had three people.”
“We definitely had a few close calls, that’s for sure,” I agreed. “But we made it out okay. I was relieved to see you and Claire on that final platform.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Kyle muttered as he took the seat furthest from everyone. “We all made it, and we’re all happy about it.”
His sarcastic tone made me bristle, and I felt he had some serious audacity to be talking like that after what he’d done on the course less than an hour earlier.
“Almost all of us made it,” I corrected him with a frown, and I heard a few of the others inhale sharply as they waited for Kyle’s response.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Kyle glared at me.
“You know exactly what it means,” I shot back. “Clarisse didn’t have to die like that. You could’ve saved her if you weren’t such a coward.”
Kyle’s face burned red, and he opened his mouth to speak multiple times, but no sound came out.
Instead, he looked more like a gaping fish.
It almost seemed like he was debating standing up and making our argument more physical, but to my surprise, his expression changed to one of regret, and his shoulders sagged down in defeat.
“It wasn’t that simple,” he finally mumbled. “It wasn’t an easy choice.”
I was predisposed to not believe a word that came out of his mouth, but he seemed so sincere, and perhaps he truly was filled with regret over what’d happened to Clarisse.
He also might’ve been putting on an act for sympathy, but I decided to let the subject drop either way.
“How many more trials do you think there will be?” Tyler asked the group. “Each new round seems more dangerous than the last, and I can’t imagine things getting much worse.”
“I don’t know,” Parker replied as she sat down on the other side of Sadie with her plate. “What I really want to know is what the end goal is. How many of us are allowed to win, and what happens when we do?”
“You don’t think the aliens will keep testing us until we all die, do you?” Sadie asked.
We all fell silent as we thought about the implications behind her question, and the atmosphere in the room grew even more tense.
“We won’t know until it happens,” I finally said. “So, we shouldn’t worry or speculate about it. It’ll only add to our stress.”
“Liam’s right,” Tyler said. “Let’s just focus on the moment, and right now, we have great company and delicious food.”
It didn’t quite break the tension, but Tyler’s words at least earned a few half-hearted smiles, which was better than nothing.
I decided to take his advice, turned my attention to the food in front of me, and dug in.
I started with the pastas. Each type of noodle was cooked to perfection, and the marinara tasted robust and savory, while the alfredo had heavier notes of cream.
Similar to all the other times I’d eaten fresh greens on the alien ship, the salad tasted like it’d been picked fresh from the garden, and the dressing was some sort of light, herby oil.
It was amazing.
The pizza had just the right ratio of cheese, sauce, and bread.
The cheese was soft, perfectly melted, and it tasted like something I’d find handcrafted in some small, remote village.
The sauce had a similar, savory flavor to the marinara, and the crust was crispy while still having a soft, chewy texture.
I took a bite of the bread, and it was a similar experience. Its outer crust was crisp to the point it made a light crackling sound when I bit into it, but the inside was warm and pillowy soft.
Besides the friends I’d made while here, the food was arguably the best part about being taken by the aliens.
We all ate our meals mostly in silence, and occasionally someone brought up a more pleasant topic from our regular lives. The light banter helped make our situation feel more normal, like we were on a mini vacation rather than captives.
When we finished our meal, the robotic voice made another announcement and told us all to go to bed, and after what we’d experienced, we all readily complied.
When I got into my room, I shut and locked my door before I immediately tapped the side of my collar to check my status screen. I was curious if the last trial had added to any of my skill points, and as soon as the holographic screen popped up, I saw them.
Three, new, glowing skill points. One in each category. I hadn’t earned any other favor points, but I still had yet to use the ones I did have, so that was the least of my worries.
Once I’d finished checking my status screen, I moved into the bathroom to retrieve the strange, metal sphere I’d hidden beneath the cabinet drawer. I carried it back into my bedroom, and then I sat on the bed and fished the piece I’d found today out of my pocket.
I studied the slightly glowing orb and compared it to the random piece I’d found until I discovered the spot they fit together. When I snapped the little piece into place, the dull, blue light glowed brighter in my hands, but once again, nothing else happened.
What the heck was this thing? It looked like there was only one last missing piece, but it still didn’t do anything besides glow.
I was also curious about the bodysuit. When I’d found the metal fragment and put it in my pocket, there hadn’t been any physical sign that it was in there.
How was that possible?
As an experiment, I carefully placed the ball into my pocket, and I could feel the metal ball there, pressed against my leg, but when I looked down, everything looked completely normal and flat. It was as if the ball weren’t there at all.
“What sort of mystical fuckery is this?” I murmured as I moved to the mirror to get a better look.
I looked at myself from every possible angle, but no matter which way I turned, the ball in my pocket remained inconspicuous.
Weird.
I pulled the ball back out and got back on my bed to study it some more, but no matter where I tapped, twisted, and pushed on the thing, it remained a plain, glowing, metal ball.
Pretty soon, my eyes began to droop, and it became much harder to focus. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I should probably put the ball back before I allowed myself to drift off, but I was suddenly so exhausted.
I hadn’t had a decent sleep the previous night, and then we were immediately thrown into the obstacle course right after, so some rest was definitely overdue.
To top it all off, the ball would be too large to fit under the drawer again, so I’d have to find a whole new hiding spot for it.
I shifted my body to lay down in my bed, clutched tightly at the glowing ball, and promised myself I’d find a new hiding spot when I woke up in the morning.
Then I quickly drifted off to sleep.
“The next event will begin in five minutes. Please move to the transporter pad.”
I shot up in bed as soon as I heard the robotic voice’s announcement.
Had it just said five minutes?
I glanced over to my window, and outside I could see bright, blue sky and daylight.
“The next event will begin in four minutes,” the voice repeated. “Please move to the transporter pad.”
Shit.
I launched myself out of bed, and in my haste to get to the door, I knocked something round and metal to the floor.
Double shit.
I’d completely forgotten about the strange orb. I was supposed to hide it this morning, and I certainly wouldn’t have enough time now.
I quickly glanced around my room for a decent hiding spot that would be large enough for the alien tech, but nothing immediately jumped out at me.
“The next event will begin in three minutes,” the disembodied voice spoke again. “Please move to the transporter pad.”
“I know!” I yelled back as I desperately searched for a new hiding spot and tried to fight the steadily growing flustered feeling.
It was no use, there weren’t any decent spots I could think of off the top of my head, and I was out of time. I quickly pocketed the metal orb, checked that the weird magic that made it invisible in my pants was still working, and then ran out of my bedroom.
“The next event will begin in two minutes,” the annoying voice announced as I quickly moved down the hall. “Please move to the transporter pad.”
We seriously weren’t even going to be allowed breakfast first? The least the aliens could do was send us into our near-death experiences after a good meal. I guess after what the aliens had put us through the last few days, I was just lucky they’d allowed us a full night’s sleep.
I hurried across the common area, and when I neared the transporter room, I realized I was the only one not there yet.
“The next event will begin in one minute. Please move to the transporter pad.”