by Ann Bakshis
Chimes sound over our heads and everyone begins to assemble into their teams.
“Never mind. Just forget I asked.”
Brink and a Nius player by the name of Van join us. The monitors spring to life with Hammond’s face plastered in the center.
“In just a few moments, the first set of teams will enter into the assigned tunnels. Since there are eight teams, there will be a delay of five minutes between each set. Your team color will appear on the screen above your assigned door. See you all on the other side.”
The first four teams are called. Addie is a part of the team with gold stripes. The doors open and they enter the tunnel. As the doors close, the monitors turn back on, showing each group heading down the tunnel to the entrance of the battle floor. The displays change to music videos when the teams get close to exiting. The display above each door changes to a clock, counting down the five minutes until the rest of us go. I sit on one of the couches, my eyes glued to the timers.
“Why did you ask me about the Dead Zone?” Garrett asks, sitting next to me. “Do you think that’s where they’re sending us?”
“No. Something tells me this round is going to be a lot more dangerous.”
“In what way?”
“If I had the answer, Garrett, I would tell you,” I practically snap at him.
Four minutes to go.
“Do you still have the maps on your wristband?” he asks.
“No, and please do thank Lok for me when you see him again. It was so much fun having the Patrician broadcast a nightmare into my mind while I was sleeping.”
“What are you talking about? How would that be possible?”
I tell him about the hidden program and what the Patrician had me experience.
Two minutes to go.
“Did you join the Dracken before or after that?” he asks.
“What does that have to do with anything?!” I shout. “Does it really matter? The Patrician murdered millions of innocent people, and for what? Just because they couldn’t handle a few radicals, doesn’t mean they should annihilate a whole civilization.”
“Then the Patrician showed you the wrong information, Max. They should’ve displayed what the Dracken did to bring that kind of destruction on.”
“I don’t believe this.” I stand since I can’t tolerate sitting next to him any longer. “You actually think this is all okay? If we weren’t on the same team, I would kill you the second we hit the battle floor.”
He stands, folding his thick arms across his chest. “The feeling is mutual.”
One minute to go.
“Will you two stop having your lovers quarrel and get ready?” Van yells at us.
I step past Garrett and cross over to Van. Brink joins us a few seconds later. Garrett doesn’t move from his spot. When the timer reaches zero, the displays show the remaining team colors, and the doors open. The four us enter, Van leading and Garrett at the rear. Our weapons are stationed in the center of the tunnel, instead of at the end. We all find this odd, and a little unsettling. I notice that Van’s weapons are all in a sack that he slings over his shoulder. I give him a quizzical look.
“Detonators.” He opens the bag and removes one of the devices. It’s the size of an apple, round, metallic, and with lights along the top and around the button. “They’re easier to manage than the other types of explosives,” he says.
Garrett places his Dead Mark bow around his arm, flipping it towards his back, next to his quiver loaded with black-shafted arrows. Brink places his Deer Horn knives into a pouch secured to the side of his pants. My Kopis and sheath hang ready on my hip as we begin heading towards the door.
When we’re only a few feet away, the lights in the tunnel shut off, throwing us into complete darkness. A woman screams, piercing the quiet. We can’t tell where the sound is coming from as it appears to be all around us. The tunnel shakes, then violently jerks to the right. We hit the floor, mainly for protection than from the movement. Metal grinding metal takes the place of the woman’s shrieks. My feet begin to slip as the tunnel tilts forward. There isn’t anything to grab onto to prevent our falling. I take out my Kopis and drive it into the wall. Garrett and Van slide towards an opening where the door is supposed to be, and fall through it. Brink grabs my waist as he slips past, pulling me along with him. The wall disappears and the two of us fall into darkness.
Nineteen
My lungs fill with water when I hit the bottom. The others kick and splash around me as I sink. I feel someone grab my collar and pull me up, dragging me onto a muddy bank. I forcefully cough up the water as my head pounds with every inhalation. Garrett lets me go before collapsing onto the ground. Brink and Van each rest against a tree on either side of me.
“What…the hell…was that?” Brink asks, trying to catch his breath.
I pull myself up onto my knees, still coughing. Van pats me on the back, trying to help free the rest of the water. I plop down next to him, lean my head back, and stare up into a star-filled night sky.
“Where are we?” Van asks, pushing his soaked blond tresses back from his eyes. He’s tall like Garrett, but thinner.
“This is definitely not the Dead Zone,” I comment.
“Do we just sit here until morning, if there is a morning, or do we try and figure out where we need to go?” Garrett asks from his spot on the ground.
“I say we stay here,” Brink says. “If the other teams are around, they’ll be just as disoriented as we are.”
“Except for the four that have a five minute head start,” I add.
“Well, since we can’t see anything, I say we wait until at least daylight begins to show,” Van says. “No need to head out only to be killed seconds later because of some kind of trap we couldn’t see.”
He has a point, so we all agree not to move until first light. I hate waiting unprepared, so I go rooting around the water for my Kopis, which I dropped during the fall. I’m lucky enough to find it a few minutes later, buried in the mud a foot below the surface. I clean it off in the water before retaking my seat next to Van.
“Max,” Brink calls to me, tapping his foot against mine. “Is it true? Are you a Dracken?”
“Yes, she is,” Garrett answers for me.
“Let me see it,” Brink says, smiling wide.
“Fuck off, Brink,” I say, then lean my head back and close my eyes as I’m still exhausted.
“Van, where do you stand?” I hear Brink ask.
“Does it matter?” Van responds.
“Yes, it does,” Garrett says.
I open my eyes and watch Van’s expression change from contemplative to serene.
“I stand with no one but myself. I mean, in the end, only one person is going to walk away from the final event. It’ll be up to that person to decide which side wins this realignment.”
I can see an argument forming in Garrett’s mind, but he bites his lip to keep his mouth closed. I shut my eyes again, feeling myself drift off.
“Max,” I hear my name echoing around me. “Max.”
I open my eyes noticing it’s still dark and the others have fallen asleep.
“Max.”
This time my name washes over the water, stopping at the banks. A light glows in the distance. I stand, hold my weapon down by my side, and walk to the bank. The light sways slightly as if being carried, then stops. My eyes have to adjust in order to make out the figure on the other side. The woman is my height, with long black hair that is streaked with gray. Her face bears a resemblance to mine, but that can’t be possible.
“Hello Max,” the woman says, holding the light up by her shoulder so I can get a better look at her.
“Mom?”
She nods.
“That’s not possible.”
“You’ve gotten quite grown-up since the last time I saw you.”
I close my eyes, count to five, and open them again, but the woman is still there.
“It’s so good to see you,” she says.
; “You’re not real.”
“Why would you say something like that?”
“My mother is dead.”
“As you can see, I’m not.”
“She would’ve called me by my real name, not the one Leader Fallon made up.”
She hesitates in answering. “Why can’t you believe that it’s me?”
“Cross the water?”
The woman vanishes and I’m thrust into darkness, confused as to what that display was all about. What are the Keepers trying to test? Why show me my mother, a woman I don’t remember? An Aedox would’ve been much more preferable. I step backwards, bumping into someone. As I turn around, my nightmare becomes true. The Aedox grabs me by the throat and begins choking me. I can’t call out as my windpipe is closed off. I try to raise my Kopis, but my arms are stuck to my sides, bound by an invisible rope.
This isn’t real. None of this is real.
My vision begins to darken as my hearing fades. I’m on the verge of passing out when an arrow pierces the Aedox’s heart. I drop to the ground when he vanishes. Garrett is beside me checking my throat, which is red and a little swollen. He wakes Brink and Van, having them do a quick sweep of the area around us, but the only thing there are bushes, trees, and mud.
“What happened?” Brink asks, kneeling next to me as I’m still having trouble getting air into my lungs.
“An Aedox, but how did he get in here?” Garrett says.
“Illusions,” I finally whisper, followed by a coughing fit.
“That Aedox looked plenty real to me, Max. He almost killed you,” Garrett says.
I crawl back over to my spot under the tree and lay down. My head is pounding and my eyes won’t focus. A scream rips through the night. Garrett readies his bow, swinging it around to follow the motion of the sound. It finally stops, but Garrett doesn’t put his weapon down.
“What are the Keepers up to?” Van asks.
Brink removes his knives and throws one in the direction of Garrett, nicking his arm. Garrett starts yelling at Brink as the Deer Horn Knife hits its intended target. Van trudges through the water, grabs the person who has fallen into the murk, and drags her back with him.
Brink’s aim was very good – the knife is embedded deep into the girl’s chest. Her face is covered in mud. I inch forward and roll her over after Van lets her go. It looks to be a player from the team with navy stripes. I begin to wipe the mud from her face, but when I’m half-way done Van shoves me to the ground, picks up the girl in his arms, and begins to yell.
“What the fuck did you do, Brink?” he screams.
“I saw movement, and I knew I had to protect the group,” Brink responds.
“She’s not the enemy, none of them are,” Van cries. He buries the woman’s face into his shoulder.
“Who is she, Van?” Garrett asks.
“My sister.”
“That’s not possible,” Garrett says. He walks over to Van and sits down next to him. “Siblings aren’t allowed to be in The Litarian Battles at the same time.”
“She wasn’t in The Litarian Battles. She’s been living in Icarian for the last year. How did she get here?”
I expect her body to vanish, but it doesn’t. I spot a mark on her wrist above her wristband, but it looks too dark to be mud. I bend down and wipe away the area, revealing a laurel with an infinity sign in the center.
“Look,” I say, lifting her limp arm up so everyone can see the mark.
“What’s that?” Brink asks.
I wait for someone else to answer, but they all remain silent. “It’s the Patrician symbol,” I tell them.
“She must’ve gotten it when she moved to Icarian,” Van says.
Garrett and Brink take the body and place it several yards away, hiding it under a bush. Brink discreetly removes his knife from her chest while Van isn’t looking. They return a few minutes later, but sit some distance away from Van. I sit next to him, so he’s not alone.
“How did she get here?” he keeps quietly repeating to himself.
“When was the last time you saw her?” I ask.
“The day she packed up and was sent to Icarian.”
“They don’t send you right from the tower?”
He shakes his head. “The winner is given a chance to say goodbye to their family, and take a few belongings with them.”
“How does someone get to Icarian?” Brink asks.
Van and I stare at him.
“I don’t mean by way of The Litarian Battles, but by what kind of transportation is provided? Where is Icarian located in conjunction to Tarsus?”
“No one knows,” Van says, wiping his eyes. “A carriage did come to pick her up, but she let it slip that the carriage was only the first leg of the journey. I don’t think she knew of the other ways.”
We fall silent. I now feel as if we’re to stay in perpetual darkness for this entire round. The only light is from that of the moon, which has joined us. I feel myself dozing off again when the sky to my right ignites from a vast explosion. We all stand as a second round goes off, this one followed by shouts. Tree branches break from an approaching stampede. Van removes a detonator from his pack while the rest of us hold our weapons in front of us.
An arrow strikes Garrett in the shoulder. He tries to fire back, but is hit again, this time in the lower part of his arm. I move in front of him while Brink tends to his injuries. He rips the bottom of his shirt and wraps it around Garrett’s wounds after removing the arrows. Van activates the detonator, throws it, and we duck when it goes off. The explosion doesn’t appear to have harmed anyone, just propelled them forward faster. A group of four contestants jump out at us. I’m tackled to the ground by the only woman in the group. She slashes her weapon at me, but I manage to counter.
“Come on, Max, die with dignity,” the woman says to me.
I put my feet into her stomach and shove her off. She lands at Brink’s feet, but he’s too busy fighting off his attacker to help. I step backwards, going towards the water. I yell at the others to follow. If the group is an illusion, they won’t come into the water. The four of us stop when the water is up to our thighs. The other group stops at the bank. The fire in the night illuminates their clothing, revealing player uniforms with green stripes.
“Who are you?!” I shout.
“We’re you, Max,” the woman answers. She sounds like me, but doesn’t. “We’re all of you.”
Their faces finally come into focus. The woman is me, including the tattoo. I look between our team and the other one. It’s hard to tell who is who. I can only tell Brink and Garrett apart from the other two because of the ripped shirt and bandages.
Why would the Keepers do this to us? What’s the point of us fighting ourselves?
“They’re not real,” Van says next to me.
“Aren’t we?” Van’s twin says, then they all proceed to step into the water.
Garrett fires an arrow at his twin, but it sails through him. Brink charges his, but his weapon is also useless and he has to quickly retreat back to his spot.
“If we can’t hurt them with our weapons –” Garrett begins.
“Then how do we kill them?” I say, finishing his thought.
“Also, how did Garrett get hit with the arrows if he’s the one shooting them?” Brink asks, pointing to Garrett’s twin.
I have a feeling I know how, but revealing it could cause problems for me.
“Everyone take a different opponent – someone not you – and don’t let them touch your weapons,” I say.
We advance. I take on Brink’s twin, Van attacks Garrett’s, Brink attacks Van’s, and Garrett attacks mine. Since my shield is designed to repel the Deer Horn Knife, I thought taking on Brink’s doppelganger was the obvious choice. I push him back over the bank. He produces his shield, which is made to defend against the Kopis. I loop behind him and ram my blade into his back. He lets out a scream and vanishes, or so I think. When I look back over at the bank, two more have taken the ones place.
>
“Don’t kill them,” I yell at everyone, but Van doesn’t hear me and kills Garrett’s twin, which is instantly replaced by two new ones.
“Shit,” Van says as he battles both of his new opponents.
Van doesn’t have a conventional weapon like the three of us, so he has to use whatever he can get his hands on, which isn’t much. He winds up taking an arrow to the side. I go to him, trying to protect him from the four players now advancing on us.
“What kind of weapon does your shield protect you from?” I ask Garrett.
“Explosives,” he says between grunts of exertion.
If Brink’s works to protect him against a Kopis, and Garrett’s to protect against an explosion, what would happen if Van threw a detonator at Brink and I slashed Garrett?
I grab Van by the hand and loop him out of the water and into one of the trees.
“Stay here. When I give you a signal, throw one of your detonators at Brink.”
“Wait, you want me to do what?”
“Toss the detonator at Brink. The real Brink. I’ll take care of the rest.”
I loop back to the water and try to locate Brink amongst the others. I find him trying to prevent Van’s twin from releasing an explosive that looks to be armed.
God I hope I get this right. Nothing like trying something new in the heat of the moment.
I charge at Brink’s clones, grab them by the arms, and loop, but forward in time. I land us where I think Brink and Van’s clone will be in a matter of seconds. They come into focus just as the real Van sees us appear. Brink kills Van’s clone just as I nod. The real Van launches his explosive. I take the real Brink by the hand and loop just before the detonator hits. The explosion is massive, and kills the Brink clones. I hold my breath while I set us down on the bank. Brink’s clones don’t reappear, however Van’s have now doubled. Garrett’s clones attack the two of us. I yell at Van to stay in the tree since he doesn’t have any combat weapons like the rest of us. He doesn’t argue.
Garrett’s clones are as strong as the original, so both Brink and I struggle to stay on our feet. As we fight along the shore, the ground becomes muddier and more slippery. One of the clones grabs me by the throat and hurls me into the water, then holds me under. I struggle as water and mud fill my lungs. I swing around and ram my Kopis through the clone’s torso. He falls into the water and disappears. I cough as I reach the surface. The clone doesn’t regenerate.