by Cameron Jace
“Not funny,” I fire back. “You can turn around now.”
“As if I’d wait for your permission,” he mumbles, turning around and looking at me. It seems as if something about me amuses him. “Wow. You look good,” he says. Finally, he says something nice to me. “In blood,” he adds. “Here, take this.” He throws a knife at me. It swooshes next to my ear and sticks to the trunk of the tree next to me.
I am not going to question his sanity anymore. I am worried about my family, and I need to stay alive, and maybe downsize the others.
“Do you know what happens to our families when we’re outranked?” I interrupt him.
“All kinds of bad things.” He doesn’t even look at me.
“Are you for real? What are you?” I try to focus. I can’t seem to put the puzzle named Leo together. “Who are you? Why are you even here? Why did you come back? How do you know my name? Why did you have a bomb in your mouth?”
“Xitler wanted me to explode. It’s his way of punishing me for rebelling against the Summit.”
“And why does a Nine rebel against the Summit?”
“Don’t you ever stop asking questions? My grandma talks less than you do. Where is your off-button?” He flips me around like a doll. Is this his excuse to check out my ass?
“That button is definitely not there!” I purse my lips.
“Oh?” His eyebrows furrow. I think that is by far the best reaction I got from him all day. “So you do have an off-button. It just isn’t there.” He smirks and marches on. “Come on. I take it that you can pull the knife out from the tree by yourself.”
Suddenly, I remember why I miss Woo so much.
Before Woo died in the Monster Show, I never complained about being a Seven. All I wanted was to find my place among all the other teenagers, even though there were certain things I could never get and never be. I kept looking at those who were given lesser choices than me, and I was thankful for what I had been destined to have. Like my mother said, I tried so hard not to enjoy to the maximum, not to aspire for more. That way I could finally get what I was promised, what I worked hard for: to be accepted as a Seven.
Look at me now. I made a choice to enter the show and find Woo. If he isn’t alive, or if I don’t find him, I’ll be close to having nothing. Two inches below nothing.
I promise myself I will not die in this game. Not before I find out what happened to him.
I pull the knife out, thinking that I might stick it in Leo’s back eventually. Right now, I have to learn all I can from him. I know that no one has survived this game before. But if Woo did find a way to survive in the Playa, I wouldn’t mind spending the rest of my life here with Woo.
Why am I reminding myself of this? Oh, yes. I am attracted to a jerk called Leo in the middle of a survival game. Shoot me, please, if not for being a Monster, then for being a hapless romantic.
Suddenly, I hear a voice behind me in the bushes. When I turn around, I see a young girl. Once she sees me she runs away immediately. Leo is gone and I don’t want to risk going deeper into the forest after her. Who knows what lurks in there. It might be one of the Summit’s deadly tricks.
Confusion. Confusion. Confusion.
Sometimes I feel that the worst thing in the world is making decisions. Wasn’t it enough that I decided to enter the game to find Woo.
What the heck is wrong with you, Decca. This girl might lead you to Woo. Decisions are not all planned. Sometimes you have to act on a whim. If you really know what you want in your heart, the right decision will come to you.
The girl looked about seven or eight years old, which doesn’t make sense. If Woo and other survivors from the previous games have managed to survive, they would be older than me, not young like her.
I am such a dork. After wasting my time thinking and hesitating about it, I decide to run after her. This could be a way to find Woo. The young girl could be Woo’s friend.
No shit. Told you so about five half a minute ago!
I feel like have this other Decca inside me that knows what to do, but I foolishly manage to suppress repeatedly.
The forest is dense and dark in midday, which also doesn’t make sense. How does the Summit do this? What kind of technology is this?
I call out to the girl, but I get no reply but the echo of my lonely voice. Did I imagine her?
Standing at the forest’s threshold, I realize that I have blown my chance to find her. It still might be some trap or another silly part of the game.
However, I find a thin white plastic ring on the ground. I pick it up. Did the girl leave it behind? Is it a secret message from Woo to me?
When I put the ring on, it feels as if it buzzes slightly. What’s with all those buzzing devices here? But nothing else happens. The ring looks cheap and useless. I might have imagined it buzzing as well.
I rub it with my fingers. “Is that you, Woo?” I whisper to the emptiness surrounding me.
Chapter 11
Shopping
I follow Leo out of the forest, back to where the explosions took place on the main street of the Playa. I try to look away from the dead bodies scattered all over the streets, but I glimpse body parts, which is scarier than a complete corpse.
“What if some of them are still alive?” The thought hits me.
“Four of them were alive when I got you the clothes,” says Leo, searching for any weapons we can use.
“Really?” Making conversation keeps me from panicking. I have to get used to — well, to having dead people all around.
“I finished them off,” Leo says. “I used my hands. Had to spare the ammo in the rifle.”
Who is this guy?
“I killed them so they wouldn’t suffer, you know.” Leo explains. I’d love to believe him.
“I think I saw a young girl back in the forest, but she ran away,” I inform him. “How is that even possible?”
“What do you mean by a young girl? You’re a young girl,” says Leo, still rummaging through the dead people’s pockets.
“A kid. Seven or eight years old,” I reply.
Leo freezes without turning around. “Are you sure?”
“I am not sure how old she was, but I am sure I saw someone hiding there that I haven’t seen before.”
“We could use this info later. Good job. I need you to stay alert and learn things fast.”
I am flattered that he thinks I did a good job. “My name is Decca, by the way.” Even though I know that he knows my name, I introduce myself.
“We will have to change that.” Leo kneels down next to a dead body.
“What do you mean?” I ask. He wants me to change my name?
No reply.
“Hey.” I start to lose my temper. “Who are you?”
“We need to look for anything we can find in the pockets of the dead. Anything we could use,” he mumbles, ignoring my questions.
“Like what?” I comply helplessly.
“Use your head. We’re fighting for our lives here. You think I love searching dead bodies? We’re in the middle of a war. Wake up.”
“Okay.” I am speechless. Maybe I talk too much. My mom said I talk too much, but then she wanted to kill me. Maybe she wanted to kill me because I talked too much.
“Try to get us all the money you can find,” he offers.
I don’t reply. I think he is joking. He is coping with such a crazy world, making silly and dry comments. I think he does it to escape the grim situation we are facing.
“How’d you like your money? Ten-zollar bills or coins?” I mock him as I start looking.
“Now we’re talking,” he says. He likes it when I get his sarcastic look at the world. I like that I am getting used to him being mean. No prejudice or criticism, only survival on our minds.
“I know it is unlikely, but getting our hands on sterilizers or medicine would be really good. Besides, we need to get water.” He mutters the last part.
“We can find a first-aid kit in a bus. School buses sho
uld have those,” I remind him.
“Fascinating.” Leo gazes at the far end before the slope we took down here to the Playa. There is only one school bus left. “ I need you to do exactly as I say.”
“I am listening.” Finally, I feel like I am of use to him.
“Turn off your iAm.”
“Again?”
“I didn’t turn it off the first time. I only muted it.”
“Are you sure this won’t upset Timmy?” I say while turning it off. “I am not sure we’re allowed to do that.”
“We can do whatever we want,” he says. “It’s not like we’re playing capture-the-flag here. They are trying to kill us.” Leo runs toward the bus. I run next to him. He shoots a couple of cameras on the way. His favorite habit. I make a mental note: If you survive this, don’t forget to blow up some of their cameras too. It looks fun.
“Sooner or later, we’ll need to disconnect from the iAm network if we want to survive this,” he says. “You know there is a small device like that bomb receptor installed underneath your left ear? A very small one, the size of a grain of rice. It’s how your iAm tracks you.”
“Oh. I knew that everyone in Faya has one. I never knew where exactly. It is installed right after birth. You don’t get a birth certificate without it, and it’s illegal to remove it. Punishment is as harsh as a death sentence. I know everything. Happy now?”
“Good girl. Remind me later that I’m starting to like you.” He stops and squashes a beetle on the ground and then moves on. Boy issues, I guess. “Since we’re already in the game, we could care less about the punishment. To remove the receptor, I’ll need to operate on you. It’s a small surgery, small but dangerous. It’s not like this is my main plan, but it’s a possibility, as plan B.”
“Hmm — so what is plan A?” I wonder, neglecting the fact that a strange boy wants to operate on my brain. Question: If you’re a girl in my situation and a boy offered to remove something from your brain for free, what would you choose?
“Plan A is improvising,” he says.
“What a plan!”
“Are you mocking me?” he wonders, ducking as he runs. I do the same. I don’t know what I’m ducking from. “Never heard Charles Darwin say that ‘in the history of mankind, those who improvised have most effectively prevailed’?”
“Who is Charles Darwin?”
“The only dude who can prove that Prophet Xitler is a monkey.”
It seems like a joke, but I don’t get it. What’s wrong with monkeys? I love monkeys.
We get on the last unexploded bus and start searching for the kit. Leo breaks a window in the bus with the back of the rifle and shoots all nearby screens and cameras. I find the kit. I have no time to check what’s inside. We get off the bus. Leo hides the kit in the bag.
Once I turn the iAm back on, we hear Timmy cursing. He is mad at us for turning off the device. I can’t understand what he is saying though.
I hear a rumble in the distance. It looks like everyone is gathering in the front of that crazy-looking huge glass dome. The one I saw when Leo stole the soldier’s Jeep. Leo and I run toward the others as they signal for us to hurry over.
What’s going on?
“In case you haven’t heard me, you two sweethearts,” Timmy growls in the iAm, “the second round of the game is on!”
Chapter 12
The Breathing Dome
“You can’t do that,” I protest. “Ten hours between the games.” I know he is punishing us for turning off the iAms.
“Not if it’s for your own good,” says Timmy. “All of you need water supply for the rest of the games. The next game will earn you that water supply. In case you’re wondering, I will contaminate any lake or water source available in Dizny Battlefieldz after that.”
I feel angry with myself. This means that there are lakes and other water resources in the battlefields that we don’t know of. Even though the Playa seems infinite, I should have looked. Leo said that we needed water and a place to hide. I didn’t do anything about it but complain.
Now we are going to bargain with our lives for water. It’s too soon. It’s unnecessary. I am anxious to know what sick game we’re going to play now.
In my iAm, I see Timmy standing behind a podium on stage in an opera hall. He is dressed in a tuxedo, wearing joker-like makeup, resting his hands wide on the podium, faking seriousness. “Ladies and gentlemen.” He coughs, covering his mouth with one hand, pretending to have said something wrong. “I mean boys and girls of Faya.”
Timmy’s show gets the audience’s attention. Teens start posting comments and opinions about the game on Zwitter. The channel broadcasting on the iAm shows anticipatory boys and girls sitting in the sky-high Zeppelins, hanging in the air outside the battlefieldz.
I see all kinds of teens from Nines to Fives.
How much did Fives pay for the tickets in the VIP sections to watch the games? Why would they do that? One ticket is worth a waiter’s paycheck for six months. I guess they want to fit in, making sure they belong to the ranked world, and save themselves from the thought of being on the verge of becoming Monsters.
“Viewership dropped to one and a half million in the last hour, but I promise you that this” — Timmy points at a large screen behind him showing the glass dome — “will blow your mind.”
Even though I can see the dome in front of me, I prefer watching it on the iAm. The broadcasting is thoroughly detailed, and the dome looks beautiful. It is made of shiny, transparent glass that covers a huge circle of icy floor beneath, which is a little bigger than an ice-hockey field. The glass looks unbreakable. Footage from earlier on the iAm shows Timmy dressed in French military outfit, imitating Zapoleon, the great French conqueror. He is ordering soldiers to fire a cannon at the dome. The bomb simply glides over the dome like a drop of water. Another one of those silly Instant-CGI effects.
“What you see is state of the art, designed by our genius designers. This dome is made of glass, very strong glass. Its circular base is an ice-skating field. We call it the Breathing Dome. Interested?”
They broadcast shows videos of bored housewives, barely interested in what’s on TV. The Breathing Dome isn’t attracting a lot of viewers.
“Not interesting enough?” says Timmy, watching the counter. “I am sure we can work something out.”
Twenty men and woman start entering the dome, wearing black ice skates. They are muscled, huge, looking awful and scary. They look like wrestlers. The men are shirtless and the women — who look like angry men — wear metallic bra armors. The men have big stomachs as if stuffed with giant metal balls, and hairy chests like gorillas. The veins in their necks are visible. Their shoulders look like the curves on top of a mountain. Their wrists are as thick as Leo’s arm. They have implanted horns, sticking out their heads. The men have their heads shaved. The horns make the women look like devils. The horns are implanted into their skulls, not stuck on. All of them wear gas masks with the symbol of fire of the Burning Man on it. It makes them look like stray dogs with reddish noses. The tattoos on their arms belong to Sixes, but there’s an X on top of the Six. I wonder what that means.
And finally, they wear school ties on their bare flesh.
They look weird. I mean, they are intimidating, but they look like they’re showing off in a circus.
“Teenies and weenies, let me present: the Bullies.” Timmy points at the weird men and women.
Still, the crowd isn’t that excited.
“Wow. Look at those armored bras,” Roger This says. How did he survive the School Exploding Bus? No one pays attention to him.
“I think whoever designed those Bullies forgot about the most important thing in the game,” whispers Bellona in my ear.
“What’s that?” I whisper back, not taking my eyes off my iAm. I want to make conversation with her, maybe thank her for saving me earlier. But talking and gossiping would be the old me. The last time I met the old me was this morning, when I still believed that the
re must be some fair and sane people left in Faya. Now, as much as I want to girl-bond with Bellona, I remind myself that I have to keep her on the edge of her seat, in case I need her later. I think I will need her to help me in this round. She is ex-military or something. I will have to ask her about why she has a newer tattoo over the old one later.
If. We. Survive.
“They forgot that this game is about us,” explains Bellona. “They could design the worst villains and never please the audience. If they don’t make it hard for us to survive, send us through the worst hell they can create, the audience won’t be pleased. In other words, those villains will only shine if we suffer.”
I need more time to comprehend Bellona’s philosophy, and let it sink in. But I have no time.
“So what is the damn game about?” someone asks from the audience in the Zeppelins.
“The Breathing Dome has all the water the Monsters need underneath the ice. To get it, they will have to kill the twenty Bullies inside the dome. The catch is that there is no oxygen inside the Breathing Dome.” Timmy laughs. “How ironic. No air in the Breathing Dome.” He claps his hands together, happily. “While fighting in the dome, the only way to breathe air is from within the breathing booths you can see inside the dome.”
He points at tall glass boxes that look like phone booths. There are oxygen inhalers inside the booths. The back of each booth is connected to a large blue tube that supplies it with the oxygen. The tubes, wide enough for someone as tiny as me to crawl inside, run all over the icy ground, already posing an obstacle to the ice skaters. We’ll have to jump over them.
“The Monsters have to survive the Bullies with no air in their lungs. They’re allowed to enter the booths briefly to inhale the oxygen they need, and get back to the killing fields of the Breathing Dome — if the Bullies let them. When the Monsters are in the Breathing Booths, they are immune. I believe this is exceptionally fair.”
The viewers counter is alarming: two and a half million people are watching now.
“Sick lunatic.” Bellona spits on the ground. “I am glad we know how to skate on ice, or we would have lost already.”