by Nicol, Andy
I gave a light chuckle as we stood together quietly, hoping for just a few more seconds with each other. But all good things come to an end.
Our companion let out a loud caw. And we turned to see the door slowly swing open. The air got denser and we both drew our weapons, preparing for the worst. We both knew it was the worst we were about to face. Two silhouettes stepped through the open door.
“Now wasn’t that sweet,” said Jekyll, showing us every tooth in his ugly mouth.
I smirked, then cracked my neck.
“Yeah, we should thank you for arguing, otherwise we wouldn’t have thought to look here,” Hyde added. Keeping with the theme of buying time, I spun on my heel and tossed a smoke pellet at them, giving me enough time to grab Soul and hop behind one of the barriers. A desperate attempt to say the least.
“Oh, Vixen … such a shame you fell for such a worthless creature,” Jekyll said.
Soul sneered and looked at me for instruction. I was at a loss until I saw a half-broken bottle nearby, and cut my hand open when I leaned forward to grab it. It radiated pain, but I ignored it as I started to fill the bottle with the smoke pellets from my belt, and glass, keeping my back to the brothers. I could hear their footsteps on the dry sand floor, coming closer and closer. The warehouse was dark; it was hard to see very far and it smelled like must and mould. It was the perfect place to fight them.
“We know that was you that burned your mark into Soul’s chest. Everyone else is afraid of you but we’re not. We’re just going to get rid of you, and then we’re going to find out who Dr. Frankenstein is … unless you want to save yourself the pain and just tell us?” I spoke while working frantically on the bottle, making sure nothing went off.
A hearty laugh rang out. “You hear that, Hyde? They think we’ll tell them.”
“It would be easier to kill them. It just so happens that I have my wire with me now. Shall we get it over and done with?”
“We shall.”
I stood and let out a shout as I threw the makeshift grenade directly at them. I ducked back down as smoke exploded into the area and shrapnel flew out. Those little bombs are just filled with chemicals but they pack a surprising punch. I heard one man cry out in pain, then a thud. I risked a glance from my hiding spot and saw Hyde unconscious on the ground with Jekyll standing over him, shaking him in an attempt to wake up him up. He pulled his hand back and anxiously stared at the blood dripping from it.
Soul and I stood up, pulling our chosen weapons free as the crow started to … almost laugh at Jekyll’s misfortune. He was outnumbered and likely outskilled with the two of us combined. But he wasn’t without his talents, and he had a large hammer, which he was prepared to swing at us should we come any closer.
The beads and crystals on the string hanging from the hilt of my sword hit the blade, creating the only sound in the little warehouse aside from heavy breathing. My steps matched the clangs and I smirked, the wolf gradually getting closer to its prey. Soul’s voice stopped me, though, and I turned to see him seething as he glared daggers at the brothers.
“One, two, skip a few;
three, four, a demon’s roar;
five, six, look at this mix;
seven, eight, it’s too late;
nine, ten, I’m about to sin…”
Soul started to walk, then sprint, then run at Jekyll. He raised his axe and leapt up; then he threw it downwards with all his might, trying to break either the weapon or the resolve of his opponent. Soul was in a rage and I wasn’t about to stop him. Jekyll was able to block Soul’s axe with his hammer, but he grunted under the weight of the two medieval weapons and Soul’s strength and dropped to one knee. I looked for an opening, and Soul jammed his boot into Jekyll’s ribs, causing him to fall back and start gasping for air.
Soul bitterly let him get some of his breath back before narrowly missing a swing and having the hammer smash into his stomach. I watched him fall back and elected to join the battle, swinging my swords at random toward him, from above and the side. Jekyll did his best to dodge and block my moves, but he was nearly backed into a corner.
Pure aggression ran through me as I remembered the day my world ended. I brought both blades down on him, but he blocked, shoving me backwards. I landed on my back in the dirt, gasping for air. I stared death in the eyes with a smug look on my face. Yes, his hammer was directly above my nose, but I had faith in a tiny friend.
The crow swooped in and flapped his little wings as quickly as he could while he pecked at Jekyll, distracting him enough for me to roll out of the way. He cursed at the bird. Soul stormed towards him, dragging his axe with one hand and holding something in his other. I stayed on my stomach, prepared to leap up again, but Soul dropped the axe and hit Jekyll with a pipe, swinging as hard as he could once, twice, three times before moving behind him and forcing Jekyll to look in my direction.
“Pity the man who has none … fear the man who has but one,” he growled into Jekyll’s ear.
Jekyll shrieked as Soul wrapped the razor wire around his neck and yanked. There was no mercy in his eyes. No mercy for the man who caused us and countless others terror and pain. In this moment, I was more afraid of Soul than the day we met — and also proud.
Jekyll moved to avoid being cut but it didn’t happen. The wire didn’t go too deep. He would be fine, but he was starting to fall unconscious.
“Cross the crow again and see what happens…” Soul tossed the much-larger man to the ground. He flopped down, out cold. Soul kicked him hard in the ribs. “Not done with the gemini yet. They will be humiliated. Fester and then you will see, K9 and Crow are capable of so much more…” Soul stepped over him, the bottom of his coat dragging through the blood and dirt. “Later,” he said. “Later you will hurt.”
I sat in shock at what he just did, not only how composed he managed to stay, but also the brutality. He didn’t kill either of them. That was a huge surprise to me. Though I suppose if he had, then we would have been pulled from the tournament. He was clearly struggling to not finish both brothers off, though; his hands were shaking a great deal and his breathing seemed ragged.
I sat up and he held out his hand. I looked from it to his face and he shook it, urging me to stand up. I nodded and let him help haul me up. Pulling my hair back, I took a deep breath. They were out cold. Soul was staring at the ground.
“How many left?” he asked.
My mouth feeling dry and still struggling to breathe, I shook my head. “There isn’t anyone left… We won! Soul, we beat them all!”
He looked up and grinned. “We did it!”
I threw my arms around his neck, and he gladly returned it by clinging to me and smiling into my hair. I stepped back and held him at arm’s length. “We won!”
I laughed and shouted as I grabbed his hands and leaned back. I’d wanted to do this for a small lifetime, ever since I was a kid. He smiled brightly and stood taller. Then he grabbed my hand and started to drag me out of the warehouse, running as fast as he could. I heard the call of our little friend and stopped long enough for him to soar over and rest on Soul’s shoulder.
“Lock.”
“Lock?” I asked.
Soul pointed to the broken metal on the ground by the door. I smiled and grabbed his hand again, jumping and dancing as we walked. My cuts and bruises were at the back of my mind as I hopped and dashed to keep up with Soul. I did this a few times before I saw the boundary getting rather close. Soul saw it too and smirked.
“Race!” he cried.
“What? No!” I exclaimed.
He started to jog. I quickened my step in an effort to keep up, then tripped, slipping and landing on the ground. I scowled jokingly and pushed myself back to my feet, following him as quickly as I could. Soul reached the gate before I did, barely breaking a sweat. I was extremely out of breath, and feeling like I was about to pass out. Silently, he watched until I caught up, and then held his hands in front of him.
“Y-you’re going to find Jekyll
and Hyde in the abandoned warehouse,” I said to Josh, who waited just outside the concrete barrier that sectioned off the area. He and the medical team were on hand, ready to jump in and pull out the injured contestants. “Just follow this path. And make sure you have a lot of bandages.”
“Yeah, we know,” Josh replied. I furrowed my brow as I watched him and Louis climb into a little cart and drive off. A few moments later, they radioed back and Robert stepped to the microphone.
“Jekyll and Hyde have been eliminated! Your champions and this year’s entrants in the Tournament of Survivors are Benji ‘K9’ Keanin and Soul ‘Crow’ Ravin!”
Chrissy and Matt pushed us onto the stage beside Robert, and he raised our arms into the air. Other fighters either cheered or scowled but the rest of the locals were going crazy. I had forgotten about the security feeds relaying to the main screen and broadcasting to the main station. And the drone cams had been hovering around the area the whole time. I wondered how much they’d seen. I smiled brightly despite my embarrassment, and celebrated with everyone.
“They will be taken to Rhys-Mordred Isle in three days, enough time to speak with friends and family, gather their things, and — ah!” Lock, who was previously sitting atop Soul’s shoulder, jumped onto Robert’s head, then onto my own armour, distracting the announcer.
“Wh-what was I saying?” He shook his head and put his hand on my back. “Good luck in the tournament.”
He walked off and I threw my hands up. Chrissy stood and started shouting our names. I blew her a kiss, which she answered with a true fangirl squeal. I looked out over everyone until I spotted the person I was looking for. A gangly, dark-haired man was clapping proudly, a massive grin spread across his youthful cheeks. I grinned and waved. He waved back, slowly showing the same grin. Soul caught the exchange but avoided me when I looked back at him. He was clearly jealous and making very little effort to hide it.
Eighteen
After the crowd had cleared and we had walked back to the base, we met up with Chrissy, who had bandaged her head tightly, and sat down for a very late dinner.
“So how does it feel to finally come out on top after weeks of being screwed over?” she asked.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am right now! I could scream!” I was bouncing in my seat, barely able to eat — and that’s saying something.
“I need you to win for me, at least knock someone else out of the game for me … please?”
“Chrissy, we’re going to knock them all out.”
She bumped my fist and started to eat as fast as she could. I sat back and looked across the table at Soul. His worried green eyes looked nervously back at me.
“Hey, at least you guys’ll be free of the twins for a while —”
“What did we ever do to them?” Juno and Beanie hopped over, making Soul jump and grind his teeth in annoyance. They sat on either side of him and rested their heads in their hands.
“What’s up, lover boy?”
“Leave them alone, Bean. They forgot the cameras were on them,” Chrissy said, her mouth full of food.
Juno burst into laughter. “If they forgot the cameras were on them I think we would have seen a lot more than that! Or didn’t you see the way he was looking at her?”
The twins hooted and hollered as Soul’s eyes went wide.
“Uh…” he stammered. His cheeks went pink. He slowly got up from his seat and started to walk to the fridge in the back. I sighed at the twins and turned back to Chrissy.
“They didn’t mean anything by it. Aren’t you going to go bring him back?” she asked.
“He’s fine, just went to get a drink.” I watched him as he bumped into Frankie. I doubt they would be too pleased with each other.
“Uh oh…” Bean whispered, making me turn around again. I prepared myself to run over and stop an argument, but Soul stepped back and put his head down. Frankie stayed silent a moment, then held out his hand to a surprised Crow. Soul cautiously shook his hand, and Frankie quietly congratulated him before walking back to Eloise and Jeremy. I kept an eye on him as I started to pay attention to the twins and Chris again. “So … I have to ask,” Juno started. “Was that a publicity stunt? Like, to get the crowd to sympathize with you?”
“Not that I’m aware of?” I scoffed at her, but she seemed honestly intrigued, along with Beanie. After a few moments, I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. “I’m just so confused.”
“So that was real?! He wasn’t faking?”
“Are you kidding me, Beanie? I don’t think he’s even capable of something that cruel,” Chrissy snapped.
“I don’t know … I … What if he was? I hate this, something about it feels wrong,” I said weakly.
“Don’t be scared that you have feelings for him. You are human,” Chrissy said, trying to reassure me. I shook my head and looked down, jumping slightly as Soul sat down beside me. He radiated anxiety.
“M-mad … at the bird?”
Glancing back up at my Crow, I shook my head. “Why would I be mad?”
“Did something … wrong?”
I leaned against his shoulder and looked up to his eyes. “Never.”
He smiled happily and held his hands in his lap.
“So … why, then?” Beanie flicked a grape at Soul, continuing to question us. Soul thought a moment, lightly touching his index finger against his lip before shrugging.
“Can someone give me a hand? Maybe a pellet gun!” a voice suddenly called from behind us.
We all turned to see Matt run in, shouting and waving a net around. The next thing I saw was feathers. Lots and lots of black feathers. I jumped back and grunted as the bird landed on Soul’s shoulder, hitting me with his tail feathers and surprising us all.
I looked up at Matt, trying and failing to hold in a laugh. “What the heck…?”
“Don’t even ask,” Matt said.
“Can’t be here,” Soul told the bird. He cawed and tilted his little head back and forth. Soul shook his head and lifted him off, setting him on Matt’s shoulder. “Go home, Lock.”
The bird screeched in protest but allowed Matt to take him back outside.
“H-how did he even get in here?” I asked, struggling to breathe properly as I cackled at Matt’s misfortune. Upon seeing his humourless scowl, the twins joined me. I pressed my hands over my face and shook my head. I was exhausted.
“Benji, you feeling okay?”
“I’m so tired, Chris.” I was still laughing slightly and she shook her head.
“I’ll walk you back to our rooms.”
We got up and headed out of the cafeteria and back toward the dorms. She was quiet until we were out of earshot of everyone else.
“So…?” She nudged my arm and grinned ear to ear.
“What?”
“Tell me, what’s going on with you and him?”
My eyes rolled back in my head and a groan escaped me. “Not much.”
I side-eyed her and she gave a wild smile. “Have you kissed him?”
I turned my head fully and scowled. “Really?”
“I was just wondering… Have you ever even kissed anyone?” She pursed her lips and shoved her hands into her pockets.
With a tired sigh of exasperation, I tossed my arms to my sides. “Yes, Chrissy. I have done a lot more than that.”
My scowl decided to remain in place long after a yawn that interrupted my friend’s rambling.
“Okay, but has he?” she asked.
I had to think for a moment. I doubted it, but it was possible. Soul really didn’t seem like he would have recently, but he might have had someone before this whole ordeal.
“I’m not sure,” I responded.
“Maybe you’ll be the first.”
“I don’t see how that would matter. Now please stop telling me things that will keep me up; I really need sleep right now. Good night.”
I pushed my door open and closed it before she could say another word and make things worse.
; I didn’t need that.
I did not sleep at all that night, and it was clear I wasn’t going to sleep for the next couple weeks. The day kept playing out again and again in my head. I couldn’t get the image of that room where Soul had been attacked out of my mind. I had to get up in the middle of the night and go researching, out of curiosity. I trusted Soul to tell me whatever he could, but I also knew what Jekyll and Hyde were capable of, and I wanted to know exactly what happened. All I knew was that they had attacked him with a pipe and razor wire…
I had gotten out of bed around 3 a.m. and sat down at my dusty old desktop. Pulling up the search engine, I started typing in the names of everyone involved with what had happened: Jekyll, Hyde, Dan, and Soul — at the time, Absolom.
I watched old fights of theirs, some of which were brutal. Soul, or Absolom, was a little monster. He was only about twenty-two. He still looked like a kid. He was fast and stealthy, able to go unnoticed until he swung his baseball bat or whatever he could get his grubby hands on. In every video I found, he would make a plan with Dan; then they would go after their opponents. At the end, he would gloat a little bit but still look for Dan’s approval.
It almost made me sad to know how much he would end up hating Dan.
My eyes were starting to water from staring at the screen for so long, but I wasn’t ready to quit. The last video I pulled up was them against Jekyll and Hyde. Dan still had long, greasy, blond hair and barely any scars. Soul had a short mohawk and a terrified look, in contrast to his usual smirk. Dan ruffled his hair and they called for the battle to start.
They were doing so well! I kept thinking there was no way that this was when it happened … and then Soul was knocked to the ground and Jekyll hit him with the pipe. After a blow to the head, Hyde joined his brother, whipping Soul with the razor wire. There was blood everywhere, and Soul desperately tried to claw his way to safety, pinning himself against a barrier. In the corner of the screen Dan was scrambling towards the exit… I knew how it was going to happen but still.
Soul was screaming in agony and fear. He called for Dan as blood ran down his face and neck, staining his shirt and the ground. Kicking at Hyde, he was trying to keep him at a distance. He cried out again as Hyde dragged him away from his hiding spot and into the centre of the warehouse.