The Games Heroes Play

by Joshua DeBenedetto

  Jay wanted to step in and argue with them. They clearly did not know he was listening in, and he was certainly not a part of the conversation, except as a topic, but he still wanted to approach them and defend his team, to tell them that the green team was better than they think, and that they really did stand a chance against the overrated red team. Except he could not. The problem was, he felt like they were right. Jay knew that he may hold more power within him, but without being able to control that power it was far inferior to what Brain had. Brain had a control over his mental abilities like none of the other students, and he was extremely smart as well. Jay believed that it was no contest at all, that Brain was clearly the top student in the games, not just because of his control over his ability, but also because of his renown as a leader. It was also true that the rest of Brain’s team were the best in the school, while Jay’s team consisted mostly of those who weren’t accepted onto other teams.

  Jay lied in bed, trying to think of how they could outsmart Brain. After a few hours, long after the hopes for a good night’s sleep had come and gone, Jay drifted off to sleep to the usual images of the dreams of those who slept around him.

  JAY HAD A moment of peace the next morning before it came back to him what the day had to bring. It was not so much that he remembered as saw the blaring, excited images coming from Duke’s head. Duke was rushing about, trying to get ready as quickly as he could without making too much noise. For a moment Jay thought Duke might be rushing because they were late, but he could see the clock from where he lay, and there was still time to get ready.

  It being a weekend, the only people out of bed at that time were Duke and Jay, and Duke having already taken a shower, Jay had it to himself. He took his time, mostly to avoid seeing Duke running about the way he was. Jay was doing all he could to remain calm, but he could not help but become nervous while watching Duke. It was also nice to get away from the rest of the first years in their room, who were clearly watching Duke and Jay. They remained in bed, but most of them were woken up by Duke’s activities, and the excitement was contagious.

  Jay finished his shower and got dressed. Upon exiting the bathroom, he immediately noticed a tray of food sitting on his bed. Jay could not decide if he was hungry or not, or even if the food would stay down if he did eat. A note was shoved in between the pancakes and ham that read “good luck, -Snake”. Jay looked down at Snake, who was lying on his back relaxing on the lower bunk with his hands up under his head. The only sign that he had been out of bed was the fact that his boots were still on. Michael looked over at Jay with a smile and shrugged.

  “Thanks,” Jay got out. He was immediately embarrassed by the way his voice sounded; it was weak and shaky.

  “No problem bud. Knock them dead out there.” Michael was not sure what else to say, so after a moment he went back to looking at the bottom of the bunk above him.

  Jay decided to eat a little of the food, if only as a courtesy to Michael’s kind gesture. Once he started eating the hunger took over, and it was not long before he finished off the whole tray. Jay realized Duke had already left, so he grabbed the empty tray and made his way out himself. He entered the cafeteria to return the tray, and as he did the noise level decreased to a whisper, and then went out. Jay kept his head down as he walked to the counter and returned the empty tray. He knew everyone there was looking at him, and he had no desire to see this with his eyes. He quickly made his way back out of the cafeteria, and off towards the starting door of the arena.

  HE ARRIVED TO find a few of his teammates already there waiting in silence. There was Duke, Hammer, Hummer, and a few others, all stretching out or moving about to stay loose. It was not long before Hammer noticed he had joined the group, and called him to the side.

  “How are you feeling today?” she asked him with a solemn look. Jay could almost feel her hanging on his response, as if the whole game would be decided then and there.

  “Good…a little nervous,” Jay admitted. His abilities were all intact, but he could not help but dread what would happen if they kicked out again.

  “Ok, I want you fully warmed up in every way. Finish stretching, then grab that backpack over there, put it on and run a few laps through the halls, reading at least one thought from every person you pass along the way. I filled the backpack with sand to make it heavy. Get back here when there are two minutes left until the game starts.”

  Jay wished he did not have to perform this warm up task. It was not that it would be too difficult, on the contrary, as he picked up the bag he realized his strength was doing quite well, and with his blanket reading still working, he would read minds whether he wanted to or not. The problem was that he did not want to read the minds of those he passed because he knew what they would say. Jay started off, and was soon proven right; whenever someone noticed him running by, their thoughts turned to the game, and the odds that the green team could beat the red team. Jay was surprised to find how mixed the thoughts were however. Previously all he could read from people was that the red team would dominate the game hands down, but now he could see many people thinking he, Decathlon, could actually accomplish the feat.

  By the time Jay arrived back at the arena door, the rest of his team were there waiting, and Jay’s confidence had at least risen off the floor from the thoughts of confidence he saw during his run. He took off the backpack and placed it down by the door, and joined the rest of his team in their silent contemplation.

  After a moment, Hammer checked the time and declared, “one minute until we begin. Ok, once the door opens, I will enter first with Decathlon. I don’t want a second lost, so Decathlon, you go grab the instructions off the table and bring it to me, so I can read it as I walk to the table. Actually, just bring the whole table, or whatever the directions and supplies are sitting on, right back to the entrance, so we can all see it as soon as we enter the door. The rest of you line up to enter double file behind us.”

  The line had just finished forming when the click of the door unlocking could be heard, and Hammer opened the door.

  Jay ran forward, and quickly found the directions and supplies sitting on a carpet, lying on top of a small dune of sand. He rushed them back to the entrance before the third pair had entered the arena. With his starting responsibility finished, he took a look around. As far as he could see, there was nothing but hills and dunes of sand all around. There was a strong wind blowing, causing dust storms that inhibited their visibility. Jay took stock of the situation, trying to decide whether this would be an ideal place for a Hermes or a nightmare for them. Without obstacles they would have free reign to go as fast as they would like, but the sand was not the best surface to get traction, and the dust storms would leave them running into oblivion.

  While Jay pondered their situation, Hammer had finished reading. “Alright team, looks like we’re dealing with goggles again. Luckily there are enough for all of us this time, and they will certainly help with all this sand blowing about. The point of this game is to capture everyone on the red team before they can capture us. Here are a bunch of devices that we need to use. Apparently we just need to touch the person with this part here, and it will stick to them. The object can detect the movement and sound of the person it is attached to, and neither of these things are allowed. After the third offense, that team will forfeit the match, and the other team will win, so I do not want any of you moving or talking once you are caught, not even once! Once a person is caught, if three different people on their team touch the thumb pad on the outside of the device, it will release its prisoner. So if any of you come across one of our team members captured, give them a thumb print if you can, but watch for traps.” Hammer looked around at the team, clearly trying to think fast for a plan of action. “Everyone grab two of these things, one for each hand. I am not sending scouts; they would be ready for that and we would just lose a few runners. We will split into teams A through E, and loop around from different angles, each moving dune to dune. Decathlon, you will be part
of team B this time, we can’t afford to leave you alone, they will be looking for a chance to catch you. Alright, now move!”

  Jay and his team looped around to the left. He would have preferred a full on assault over the sneaking forward as they were doing. His adrenaline was high, and he wished he could run about to release some energy, but he stuck to his orders and remained with his group. Suddenly Jay heard a commotion from the group next to them. It sounded like they were under attack, so Jay and his group began to move towards the noise in the hopes of catching the attackers off guard. To their surprise, the attacker had stopped the attack, and was now running directly at them. They were all amazed when they realized the attack had not come from a group, but rather from a single person, and Jay was particularly surprised when he realized that the one person was none other than Zahrah. They spread out as quickly as they could in the hopes of surrounding her as she arrived, but she got to them too fast. She reached the side of the group, and quickly leapt sideways to avoid the first two of Jay’s teammates who tried to trap her. As she did a clear shot opened up where she could easily have trapped one of them, but she did not take it. Instead she looked right at Jay and smiled. She ran at him with a device in each hand, dodging the rest of the team as if they weren’t even there. Jay managed to dodge her initial attack, but it did not take him long to realize she was faster than he was. He kept dodging attacks, barely missing each time she thrust one of the devices towards him, so that a few times he was even surprising himself that he did not get caught.

  After a short time Jay managed to catch a break, as Zahrah had to turn her attention to dodge a few attacks herself. Jay tried to take this chance to trap her, but as soon as he got within arm’s reach he found himself the target again, and he was forced to back away. It was not long before Zahrah stopped ignoring Jay’s teammates, and with a quick motion, Jay saw her trap two of his team members, and grab their devices out of their hands. She dodged an attack, then another, but was soon able to trap a third of Jay’s teammates. Jay had to step in now, as there was just himself and one Hermes left among that group. With Jay again within reach, Zahrah turned her attention, running around Jay swiftly to be out of range of the other Hermes. Jay moved to give his teammate a view, but Zahrah kept moving to keep herself on the other side of Jay. Jay could see the determination in Zahrah’s eyes, and he realized he could not beat her like this.

  “Go! Get help for these three! I’ll lead her away!” Jay called to his teammate. Without hesitation Jay’s teammate ran off into the desert. Jay turned and ran with Zahrah close on his heels. Whether or not the conditions were good for a Hermes he still was unsure, however he quickly learned that the conditions were terrible for someone being chased. They were moving too fast for Jay to be able to see where he was going through the blowing sand, but all Zahrah needed to be able to see was him, and as she kept just a few paces behind him, this was not hard for her to do. Jay would have been caught in no time if he was not able to read Zahrah’s mind, but her being a first year played to Jay’s advantage, and whenever she got close enough to get him, her decision to reach out for a trap would show in Jay’s mind and he would cut to the side and avoid it.

  This went on for some time, with the two of them running all over the artificial desert. Sometimes they would come across other people, either trapped or untrapped, but they were moving too fast to have any sort of interaction, and often too fast even to tell which team they were on.

  Finally Jay realized he needed to shake Zahrah off, or else she would eventually get lucky with one of her trapping attempts and catch him. Jay saw a small valley between two long mounds of sand up ahead, and realized the only way down into the valley was at the very end, with the sides too steep to safely run up or down. Jay ran towards the valley diagonally from it, and at the last second cut sideways, running down the incline and into the valley itself. Jay felt sure he would shake Zahrah with this, and she would have to stop herself and turn around, and by the time she would do that Jay would be too far away for her to find him again. One quick glance into Zahrah’s head showed Jay that his plan had failed however; she had cut in right behind him, and was down in the valley with him, still in pursuit. Jay realized he was now trapped with a wall on either side, so that if she made a move at him now he would not be able to sidestep out of the way. He could see that Zahrah had realized the same thing, and began to push as fast as she could to catch him. It was apparent that Jay’s only hope was to outrun her now, so he too pushed forward with all his speed. He was now moving faster than he had ever moved in his life, but he could still feel her gaining on him. The end of the valley came into sight, and there was another incline at that end that they could run up. Jay pushed for the end, and run up the incline as Zahrah reached out to get him. Jay reached the top before getting caught, but he no longer had time to dodge her, so he did the only other thing he could think of. He jumped.

  With the momentum of a Hermes speed and the strength of a Titan’s legs he launched off the ground, leaving Zahrah far behind. The roof of the arena which had seemed so incredibly high before quickly came to meet him, and being unable to stop himself he closed his eyes and hit the ceiling hard with his left shoulder. The metal frame bent outward slightly, and Jay felt dizzy and disoriented as he began to fall back towards the dunes below. He opened his eyes, and despite the pain and confusion he could not help but think of how nice it was to be above the wind, out of the sandstorms and battling going on below. Jay felt almost at peace as he fell, until he hit ground and lost consciousness completely.

  CHAPTER 14

  WHEN JAY AWOKE, he was lying in the hospital ward, in the largest personal room they had. Despite the size of the room, it was nearly filled up with people, most of whom were on either the red or green team. On one side of his bed stood Brain and Zahrah, and on the other was Michael and Duke, with others crowding around behind them. They all stayed quiet for a while, allowing Jay to wake up fully. Jay could tell he was pretty beaten up; his left arm was being held immobile by bandages, as well as his hips and right leg. Jay did not like laying there feeling the way he did with a sea of sympathetic looks around him, so he decided he would start the conversation himself.

  “So,” he began weakly, “who won?”

  The crowd began to laugh, and amidst the laughter Duke answered. “They did.”

  “Hey now, you can’t just leave it at that,” Zahrah started with a small grin. “Officially we were declared the winners, but technically you guys won. A forfeit is a forfeit.”

  “Hold on, forfeit? What happened?” Jay was a little overwhelmed by all that was going on, but he needed to know how the game had really ended.

  Michael took the lead in explaining “Well, first you hit the ceiling at about 100 miles an hour, then you fell about 15 stories onto a dune of sand…”

  “Don’t exaggerate. And I meant what happened with the forfeit,” Jay asked.

  “That’s what I’m telling you. You fell, and landed not far from where Brain was standing. He ran over to see if you were alright, and when you did not respond he tried to call off the game. When the sands wouldn’t stop he hit himself with the trapping device and moved around to end the game that way. He sent the closest Hermes to get help, and began to take care of you himself. Apparently he knows a good deal of first aid.”

  “Really? Wow, Brain, is there anything you can’t do?” Jay said, trying to keep the mood light in spite of the grim tale being recounted.

  “That’s an odd question, coming from you,” Brain chided back at him.

  “But why was the red team declared the winner if Brain called the game off? Shouldn’t there be a rematch or something?” Despite his injuries, and the overwhelming desire to go back to sleep, Jay wanted to know everything first.

  “Well, I guess they were declared the winners because our whole team was either caught or… unconscious,” Duke explained. “At the time of your accident, the rest of us were already caught. What Brain didn’t realize is that th
e quickest way of ending the game wasn’t to break the rule and forfeit, but rather to have just touched you with the device. It took the administration about a week before officially overturning the results and declaring the red team the winners.”

  “Wait, a week? How long have I been out?” Jay asked, almost in a panic.

  “Calm down Jay. You have been out almost two weeks now. Classes are over, but don’t worry, I talked to your teachers and they all agreed to give you extra time to finish your exams,” Duke assured him.

  Jay looked around, and was a little overwhelmed with the amount of people standing around, listening in on their conversation. “Why are there so many people here?” Jay could not help but ask.

  Michael looked up at Brain, then began to explain. “Apparently, you get your power from being around other powerful people. Brain figured it out a while ago apparently, and when they brought you back here after the game ended, Brain ordered that a group of Titans and Hermes stay by your bed at all times to give you strength. As you can see, there was no lack of volunteers.”

  Jay was not sure what to say to this. He never thought that the source of his abilities could be the people around him, but thinking about when he felt the strongest, the fastest, and read the clearest, it was always when he was around others that could do the same. He looked over at Brain. “Thanks Brain, I guess now that the games are over we can be friends.”