29 #2
Sighing heavily, I turn around once more to head back to where I’d got to previously.
I’m . . . upset with you, Ezla. Indignation flares through the bond either accidentally or sent by her on purpose to fire at me, but I need to say this.
We’re together now; we’re in an established relationship.
As I’ve said before, that does change things.
We’re not asking for much, Love, simply better communication and compromise when needed to fit our group as a whole.
You seek to change who I am.
No! Tiger rushes out before I can say it myself. That’s not it at all, Ezzy! It just . . . You still feel . . .
Picking up where he left off when I can tell he’s struggling to find the words, I provide, Distant.
Don’t get me wrong, you’ve been amazing, Love—absolutely incredible.
But I think these are the most important things we need to work on.
We can follow your lead, that’s more than fine with me—you’re perfect in charge and just as you are.
We just want you to spare a second for us to tell us your plans before you do them.
You’re not alone anymore, and that doesn’t mean I expect you to be with us, do everything with us, around the clock—
But that would be great, Havoc.
—but just let us know when you won’t be so we know it was deliberate and that you’re safe, and so if there’s a way we could help you, especially concerning him, then we could talk it out and reach an agreement that we all feel the most comfortable with.
There’s nothing but silence after I’ve finished, and my jaw clenches.
I don’t like feeling as if I’m scolding her, but Ezla needs to hear this, to hear me and my brothers and understand our care for her fully and what it entails.
I know this isn’t supposed to be easy, but I’m fucking traumatised myself from all the shit that’s gone down recently, plagued by images that aren’t so easy to forget.
All we want is to know our Bonded is safe, and I don’t think that’s at all unfair to ask for.
Understood. Ezla’s voice is dead, nothing in it at all. I will leave the bond open for you to communicate; however, I will be closing myself off. I must think over my recent decisions to understand if they are still to my liking.
Shit.
No, Love! Wait! Fuck, I’m sorry!
Ezzy, no! Stay!
What the fuck does that mean, Vengeance?!
Wait! Please, Ezla! Don’t leave me!
You’re not fucking changing your mind about this, Havoc! You’re mine! Ours!
But she’s already gone, fading into the background. The only reassurance is her steady presence, a feeling with something dark and smoky there, letting us know she’s okay like I’d requested, though it’s more than I’d even asked for.
A downpour of guilt pummels me.
Well done, dickhead, Tate seethes.
Shut up, Tate. Don’t blame Scotty. Ezla needed to hear that. Don’t pretend she didn’t. No one is trying to hurt our Bonded, and believe me when I say I don’t like that we clearly have, but even you can’t deny that you agree with what we said.
He growls animalistically but doesn’t respond to that.
Tiger’s abnormally quiet, and Alby doesn’t say a word either.
Not until a panicked, I just saw a green light around the corner, comes through to me.
I pause where I’d just been about to turn one myself. Stay calm, Alby. My grip on my bow tightens. That might be me.
Very slowly, just to be safe in case Alby’s not around the corner and I have someone of my own to deal with, I inch my arrowhead from the arrow knocked on my bow past the edge of the wall.
Can you see that? It’s the tip of my arrow.
A few beats pass by, no one making a sound in the bond. I don’t fail to notice Ezla’s presence seems to be more prominent now, as if she’s on high alert as well.
No.
My heart drops to my stomach in one great woosh.
I can’t see anything—
Panic floods the bond for one heart-stopping moment before it decreases dramatically in the next second, replaced mostly by overwhelming guilt and sadness.
“Player 1: Eliminated.”
Ezla’s back in full force like a hurricane. She barks, What has happened? You have killed? Show me.
An image comes through of a mousy-haired girl a fair distance away down an identical stretch of hall to the one I’m in, an arrow speared through her forehead, dead centre.
She wasn’t even wearing her helmet.
Some don’t always—there’s nothing to say you actually have to; The Council would never enforce a rule like that when they thrive off the chaos and death of the Games—and I don’t know if they simply think they don’t need it, but I can’t comprehend it even if that was the case.
I’ve seen even Iggy without his helmet during one of the Games, and I didn’t think much of it at the time, too focused on the fact he could have just shot my brother but didn’t, but now that I am, I’m really not sure why anyone wouldn’t want to use as much protection as possible—the indestructible taalk they’re made of is our biggest advantage, preventing headshots just like the one before me.
The only thing I can think is they’re either overconfident or they believe they’re already dead when their name’s generated for the Games.
And I’m thinking that’s true for this girl, that maybe she’d just given up, because her helmet’s actually on the floor beside her, I see now.
What’s more, I’m quite certain this is Player 60’s Bonded, the Exot Ezla just killed, so it would make sense for her to feel like she couldn’t go on when she undoubtably felt the bond go dead.
That still doesn’t explain Iggy’s decisions in the past, but I don’t have time to analyse that at the moment, so I store that in my mind for another time in case it does mean something.
On the forearm that’s landed on the dead girl’s middle as she lies motionless on her back, I make out the number ‘1’, and even from here, I can see her eyes are unseeing and glazed over, staring lifelessly up at the starry ceiling of The Dome.
Like most other Players, I struggle to remember the names of those not in my Bonded group, though I never actually learned many in the first place since everyone keeps to themselves and our numbers are all that are on display, but I do remember hers: Mira Flint.
Being Player 1, hers is the first name everyone saw on that big screen on Name Generation Day, so I guess it’s easier to remember—
Scotty, you have just added to your list of punishments.
I jolt forcefully back into myself and my own vision at Ezla’s voice in my mind.
She continues evenly, Alby, I do so appreciate you getting rid of the girl for me, as that would take time I do not have these days to eliminate a person my sensible one seems to believe he could think of—
Both amusement and relief somehow find me after that depressing picture, and I cut in, I wasn’t thinking of her in any way, Love.
I know you don’t experience this, but we feel sadness for lives lost. You have to understand that our feelings surrounding anyone’s death has nothing to do with being interested in them in the way you’re thinking and everything to do with the simple fact that someone’s gone when they shouldn’t be.
Completely ignoring me, Ezla continues, Your aim was truly beautiful, my shy boy. Well done. You will be rewarded very soon.
Sighing, I hold my bow and arrow at the ready, pointing my arrowhead down at the glossy floor reflecting my emerald-adorned image back up at me.
At least Alby’s calmed instantly, though, his mood shooting back up at Ezla’s praise.
She’s really good for him—they’re both amazing for each other—and I can only hope with everything in me that our Bonded’s current behaviour is an indication that my earlier words haven’t ruined things for my brothers and her.
I . . . Thank you, Ezla . . . Alby’s one hundred percent the colour of a plum right now.
You are most welcome. A brief pause before she all but snaps, Now, let’s continue. Cooper, hurry up and get to me.
What do you think I’m bloody trying to do?
In response to Cooper’s passive-aggressive question—or just downright aggressive—Ezla projects a snippet of her slowly peeling the skin from his face to reveal the flesh beneath.
What the fuck?!
I’m not sure what makes me wince more—the volume of Cooper’s horrified exclamation, Tiger’s high-pitched internal screech that also echoes through my head, or the sight itself, which our Bonded thankfully has already taken away.
Your violence is so fucking hot, Havoc, baby. Fuck, still makes my dick so fucking hard without fail. I might cum right here, right now.
Ignoring Tate’s groan and the arousal that seeps from him into her, and unfortunately me as a result, Ezla sends without emotion, I am still quite mad at you, and though not as comfortable as I would prefer, the feeling I gained when I imagined that was not quite as disturbing as it has become as of late.
I would advise you to keep yourselves in check. All of you.
I swallow thickly, a smidge of that guilt coming back again. I hate that I’ve set her off like this when we’ve all been moving so well together, and I’m praying that Cooper and I haven’t set us back a step, possibly several.
I’m sure Cooper’s grinding his teeth when he replies lowly, Yes, Vengeance.
Her mind falls quiet after that, no one adding anything else, maybe sensing it wouldn’t be welcomed.
Blowing out a quiet breath, I shake my head as I round the corner—
“Shit!”
The word isn’t spoken by me, but I do let out a vicious curse of my own as a figure with a shade of green similar to mine on his suit knocks me right off my feet. Lightweight helmet smacking into the taalk with a thud as we land in a heap, the impact is still jarring.