Chapter 2
CHAPTER
I shot my elbow backwards, slamming hard against my target, earning a smothered coughing sound out of them. Grabbing my gun, I spun around, pointing it at my target.
My eyes widened in disbelief. “Lionel?”
“Long time no see, Ethalyn,” he smiled back, his impossible light brown eyes glittering, before waving his hands in the air in surrender.
My hand curled into a fist and I struck him in the side of his arm. “Jerk! Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
“Shhh!” he pulled me closer, hiding me from the open room.
I had forgotten there was still another contestant inside. Silence filled the space as I started struggling against his grip. When had he become so strong?
My hand pressed against his chest and finally he let go. “What are you doing here?”
“What, you think I’d let you go become a hero all by yourself?” he smiled until dimples showed.
“And who says I’m not shooting you right here, right now?” I arched a brow at him as I pinned him against the wall with my gun.
“Well, first off—” he started and grabbed his gun, but his eyes were locked on something behind me. A quick lift and he fired. “I just saved you, so there’s that.”
My head turned and met with the man who had scouted the room ahead of us, he had snuck closer in the hopes of taking out the both of us.
“Shit,” he spat, glaring.
“Rules are rules,” Lionel shrugged, but nothing in his expression said he was sorry. The man rubbed his brown hair, putting it back in place, before he came flying at us. Lionel spun us around, as if he intended to take the hit instead of me.
But I hoisted my gun up and sent paint flying all over the sore loser, before shoving Lionel to the side. The man spat, purple covering his face, forcing him to shut his eyes and he crashed right into the stone wall. Slowly, he hunched down and held his head in his hands, cursing low.
“I’d say we’re even,” I muttered, walking into the room.
I heard Lionel chuckle before he took a couple of quick steps and was right next to me again, his hand pulling through his wavy auburn hair as if he had won this entire game already.
“See, we need each other, to win,” he glanced down at me, smiling that wide smile to catch me off guard. “Those pink eyes of yours make you seem so innocent; let’s use that to our advantage!”
“Don’t get in my way,” I mumbled, averting my eyes from him. He snorted in response, like I had hurt his pride.
“You forget who you’re talking to.”
Lionel, he was my closest friend, we had grown up together, his parents taking me in from the streets when I was six years old.
All my good memories involved him and we had trained together for this for a long time.
Well, before he disappeared a year ago, I thought he had already been recruited by then.
The sound of a gunshot echoed, and we both stopped instantly. None of us were hit, but we saw shadows moving in the hallway in front of us.
“Run?” Lionel asked politely, already knowing the answer.
“Never.”
We covered one side each, crouching along some of the rubble in the room, before hurried footsteps sounded, and with them, guns fired like fireworks, spraying the room.
My eyes widened at the figure leaping through the room, the colorful ammunition missing her completely.
It was her again, the bomb girl. She was extraordinary.
I saw how Lionel took aim at her, but I shot a warning bullet in front of his feet.
Confusion spread on his face, but he lowered his weapon all the same, letting her go.
It only took a brief moment before the sound of footsteps closed in from the same direction Bomb Girl had come from.
Lionel gave me a questioning glance, silently asking for approval to attack.
I nodded and we both took aim, listening closely for the sounds.
Five people came into our view, and we didn’t hold back.
We sprayed them until they were covered in purple and blue.
“What the—” The one in the lead gritted his teeth annoyed. “Ambushers…”
I straightened myself and strolled out from my cover, facing them. “I owed her. I consider it repaid now.”
“Walk along boys,” Lionel shot them a smile, putting his gun behind his head, resting his arms around it, looking coy.
The leader’s brown eyes sized me up and down, before they shot a quick glance backward. “Sure.”
His voice was flat, unbothered all of a sudden, as he nodded for his comrades to follow.
“Huh,” Lionel looked baffled. “I thought they’d put up a better fight.”
My eyes followed the group, and I caught the leader looking back at me again, as a smug smile spread on his lips. What?
“Ethalyn!” Lionel shouted, as he came sprinting at me, shoving me aside.
I fell to my ass, preparing for the roof to fall in or something. But a shot rang out and when I looked up I saw Lionel covered in green color along his side. My head jerked to the right, to meet with seemingly black colored eyes.
“Ah, I missed…” The man angled the gun away, looking displeased by the notion that he got Lionel and not me. His free hand scratched the back of his neck, along his black hair. “That’s new.”
I had hesitated for too long, bringing my weapon up to take a risky shot at him, but he sidestepped with ease.
“Not running, then?” he sounded disappointed. “Your funeral.”
He brought his gun back up, aiming at me, but I rolled along the ground, pushing myself up to my feet.
When I turned my aim on him again, we were in a deadlock.
Tension hung in the air, both of us with our index finger on the trigger, ready yet dragging the moment out, waiting for the other to break.
But neither of us did. Instead he started chuckling.
“A brave one, aren’t you?” Instead of circling around each other, he took one long step towards me, closing the distance between. “That kind doesn’t last long here.”
“Ethalyn, get out; I’ll cover you,” Lionel ordered, but I ignored him.
Why was the stranger acting like he knew something I didn’t? He was here for the very same reason, trying to escape starvation. I mimicked him, taking a step forward, and looking him dead in the eyes. “You would know, since you’re stuck here as well.”
His eyes seemed to darken, I saw how his hand shifted slowly. He was preparing to shoot me.
A siren went off, blasting our ears, but we both pulled the trigger and shot each other simultaneously.
The man lowered his gun first, flashing a cocky smile. “I’ll be damned. You’ve got some balls, shooting a Sergeant.”
I froze, shock filled me, as I slowly lowered my weapon. “What?”
“What better way to test recruits than being part of the game?” he looked amused at my reaction. “Name’s Rohan, welcome to the beginning of your end.”
The Sergeant brought us to the meet-up spot, walking through the fences of barbed wire and passing security guards. Not a word was uttered along the way, but Lionel and I kept exchanging glances of confusion.
The trials were held outside of Crowrun, leaving us in the middle of the forest. Or at least that was what we had thought.
Walking out of the perimeter, we were soon met by buildings we had never seen around before.
One looked like a large worn-out warehouse, some windows broken, others covered in dust and dirt.
The building itself was dark grey, hard to miss if you knew where to look for it.
“Where are you taking us?” I broke the silence first.
Rohan didn’t even look back at us, as he waved his hands to the two soldiers standing in front of the door to the building, signaling them to open.
“Did we qualify?” Lionel pushed on, irritation lingering in his voice.
“Just get inside,” Rohan sighed, his brows furrowing in annoyance, as he waited for us to enter first.
I straightened myself and passed him. The light was dim inside, barely illuminating the space. Wooden boxes were piled to the sides, and in the middle was a wide, open space. People stood around, waiting and anxiety hung thick in the air. As we stepped in, heads snapped in our direction.
I heard an echoed snort, my eyes instinctively darted towards the sound and my shoulders sank in disappointment.
Eve was in here too, a part of her chin slightly burnt from our little bomb accident earlier. I guess she successfully removed it before it went off… Too bad. She eyed me up and down, her eyes filled with disgust. The feeling was mutual.
Had we failed then? Surely she wouldn’t have made the cut.
As if she heard me, she stalked a few steps closer to us as we continued towards them. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
“Yeah, I’m disappointed the cat didn’t eat you,” I muttered.
She crossed her arms, placing her weight on one of her feet. “They must be desperate for meat-shields, since they’re recruiting you.”
We hadn’t been crossed off the list? I glanced over at Rohan, who started lighting a cigarette, ignoring us completely.
“Wake up princess. This isn’t playing war anymore; as soon as we get out of here, nobody is going to care about you,” I scoffed, glaring at her.
“Excuse me? Why don’t you get back to your little cottage and eat a rat,” Eve barked, her arms dropping to her side, her hands balled into fists.
Something flared in me, my throat tightened as my skin felt like it was set aflame. My hands tightened and I wanted to snap.
But I couldn’t.
I had to hold back, I had to. My hands trembled, my nails cut into my palm.
A hand landed on my shoulder, and with it a wave of calm washed over me, grounding me once again.
“Stop it Eve,” Lionel’s voice cut through the air.
Her whole posture shifted, from tension and anger into fragile and small. Her eyes softened as she looked at him.
“Oh come on Lionel, I was just on edge because of all the competition,” she pouted with her once again sweetened voice.
Fake.
That was all she was.
“Enough,” Rohan grunted. “This is reality. People are dying out there, and you’re fighting for a spot to become the next corpse?”
I bit the inside of my cheek and all remaining anger slipped out of me.
He was right, yet I wasn’t going to stop fighting for it.
Even if all of us in this room were marching towards our death, it was a chance at a life.
It was a wager to fight and actually survive, instead of rotting away and starving to death in the small villages, because that was all that awaited us back there.
Were the higher-ups simply looking the other way, or merely ignoring the fact of the people suffering?
I let out a long breath, the heat leaving me.
That was too close, I almost let my temper get the better of me. Then all of this would’ve been for naught.
“Since when does Eve listen to you?” I mumbled, brushing Lionel’s hand off my shoulder.
“What?”
“Or rather, when did you become familiar with her?” I cocked a brow at him.
“Oh, is this jealousy?” a teasing smile appeared on his lips.
“No.”
“Why do you two keep fighting anyway?” he asked curiously.
“Because she’s obnoxious.”
“Just tell me when she’s bothering you, I’ll get her off your back,” he smiled, warm and contagious.
I averted my eyes from him.
“I’m serious though, tell me if something is wrong,” Lionel bumped his arm into my shoulder, as if fishing for my attention again.
“And what? You’ll smile the problem away?” I mumbled, trying to avoid the fluttering feeling in my stomach.
He snorted at me, but I had no regrets; he often got away with things because of his looks. I bet he was fully aware of it too.
It wasn’t that I doubted him in any way, that wasn’t the problem. No, the problem was that he kept seeing me as the fragile little girl he met all those years ago who needed protecting. I wanted to prove him wrong, for him to wake up and see me, the way I saw him.
But I wasn’t that special; my dull dark brown hair hung straight around me and my body lacked the beautiful curves some of the other girls had.
A sudden weight was placed on my other shoulder, I jolted in response as my eyes met with icy blue.
“Glad to see you made it.” Bomb Girl smiled mischievously at me. “Name’s Ashley Briarsen.”
“I could say the same about you, I’m Ethalyn Deering,” I flashed her a smile. “This is my friend, Lionel Lambkin.”
“Hello friend,” she waved, eyeing him for a brief second.
“Um, hi?” Lionel looked confused at me.
“We’re going to have so much fun,” Ashley giggled as her eyes stopped on Eve.