by Leito, Chad
The exercises made Asa feel like a fool who has been given a placebo. He didn’t feel any different. The more Asa learned about Roxanne’s ability, the more he wanted to have it.
Roxanne and Bruce had both learned Morse Code, and Roxanne could pulsate with electricity and send Bruce messages without anyone else knowing that they had communicated. She told Asa that he would be able to learn this too. She tapped out S.O.S. on the coffee table, and made him repeat it.
It wasn’t until the division championship that Asa was first able to use his new power. The stakes were high; if they won, they would go compete in the league championship against the Wolves, who were still undefeated. Winning the Championship would allow Asa to spend 100 additional points in the Shop, making himself much stronger.
Stan added to Asa’s anxiety. As they lined up on the Starting Platform, he was as white as a sheet. He knew that if the Sharks lost, it would mean Stan’s life. He needed them to win the Winggame championship in order to obtain 1,000 total points and graduate.
Asa attributed the high stakes to Stan’s overwhelmingly odd behavior. Ever since he apologized to Asa, he had been incredibly nice to the whole team. He smiled, was cheerful, and did everything that he could to help his teammates out. Asa believed that this was Stan’s attempt at making the Sharks perform as well as possible, for his own sake.
But the bruises made Asa wonder if maybe something else was going on. In the two weeks since his apology, Stan received a giant gash on his scalp, a bloody lip, and he broke his wrist (which was set and put into a cast by Missus Ida). When questioned about any of these injuries, Stan always came up with some kind of an excuse. “I tripped into the doorknob.” “I was flying, and my hand hit a tree.” As they lined up for the Winggame division championship, Stan’s nose was crooked and there was blood gathering beneath the skin on his cheeks in hideous purple bruises.
The horn sounded, and on either side of the Plaid, the students leapt off the Starting Platforms and began to gather speed. The Sharks had a total of ten students on their team, and the Ducks had thirteen. They moved over the water in a blur of green and blue uniforms.
The Sharks were running a play called “Tables.” This was what Bruce called an “intermediate” play because it wasn’t either too offensive of defensive focused. Three Sharks stayed back to play defense at the goals, two went up to grapple with opponents on the Plaid, and five students shot forward towards the opponent’s goals.
Asa was assigned to the Plaid, which only added to his nervousness. The Ducks were a large, heavy team known for physical play.
Adrenaline coursing through his veins, he landed on the Plaid without much incident. The crowd surrounding him was cheering louder than ever before. Asa believed that ninety percent of the school had turned out to watch. Robert King sat on the first row of the floating bleachers. He wore a thick, mink-skin coat. His eyes were completely covered in black pupils, and he was typing on a small laptop and watching the game at the same time. Graduates in black Academy suits with machine guns flanked The Boss, and stood facing the crowd with their backs to the game.
Bruce landed beside Asa and began to immediately unload his Goo Shooter on the three Ducks that landed opposite them on the Plaid. His first bullet struck a young blond-headed female in the chest and she went tumbling down to the steaming water below, seizing with electricity as she fell. His second electric bullet struck soundly on the neck of the Duck’s only Goo Shooter, Matthew Walton, but not before Matthew got off his own shot. Asa looked over to see Bruce’s eyes widen just before Matthew’s Goo bullet struck him in the face, making him contort in agony and seize with electric pulses. Both Bruce and Matthew fell to the water over one hundred feet below, taking them out of the game.
Asa wasted no time watching them fall. Cameron Finch stood across from him—they were the only two players now on the Plaid, and their fight had the potential of being pivotal in the outcome of the match. Asa was surprised to see that Cameron had even approached the Plaid. He was on of the league’s best flyers. He was tall, blond, beautiful, and terribly fast. All week, Bruce had been telling the Sharks to expect Cameron to go straight towards the goal. Now, Asa stood across from him with a chance of taking out the best player on the Ducks.
The Plaid was slick from fog rising up off the Moat, so Asa kept his wings outstretched as he ran across the checkered solid portions towards Cameron. He scowled, hoping that he would be able to use his reputation as a murderer to his advantage. It didn’t seem to have an effect, though. Cameron scowled right back, lifting his upper lip in anger and showing Asa his perfect white teeth.
They were both moving as fast as possible when they collided. Though Cameron was taller, Asa was heavier and better muscled, and he brought Cameron to the ground.
Asa had his knees on either side of his opponent, pinning him to the mat. If a player was made to tap out, they were removed from the game. Asa’s hand went to Cameron’s throat, where he shoved his thumbs as hard as possible onto Cameron’s windpipe.
Cameron gasped and his eyes flew wide open in surprise. His hands reached up and grasped Asa’s wrists. Cameron pulled and tugged, but Asa was too strong. He continued to choke Cameron in an attempt to make him tap out.
Next, it was Asa’s turn to be surprised. Cameron was able to get his right foot up against the corner of one of the squares on the Plaid. He pushed hard, making both Asa and Cameron do a somersault. When their bodies came to a halt, Cameron was on top of Asa, and his hands were gripped around Asa’s neck.
Asa’s head was hanging off of the Plaid’s platform, and Cameron pushed down with a grunting force, making Asa’s hair dangle in the wind and his neck stretch painfully backwards. Asa kicked and struggled, but it was no use. In his peripheral vision, he could see other players flying below him, but he wasn’t able to concentrate enough to see what any of them were specifically doing. A chortled noise came from Asa’s throat and he reached for Cameron’s face, but only touched air.
His vision tunneled down. The cheering around him began to grow dimmer.
Concentrate, Asa!
He squirmed, but still, Cameron didn’t let up.
Asa knew that if he didn’t tap out that he would pass out soon. At that point, Cameron would either shove Asa into the water below or choke Asa until he was dead (this wasn’t unprecedented in a match, especially one as important as a division championship).
But still, Asa did not tap. He was going to fight for the very end. He knew that Stan’s life might depend upon the outcome of this fight. In a roundabout way, Asa knew that his own life might depend on whether or not he was able to get out of this chokehold and help his team win. The division championship was worth 50 points to each player.
Asa threw his hips up, trying to buck Cameron off of his body, but Cameron remained atop him. Cameron’s grip was stronger than ever. “Tap!” he growled.
Asa’s heart was thudding. He could feel the blood beating in his skull. There was a weird kind of numbness creeping in around his shoulders and he was beginning to wonder if this was what it felt like before you passed out from oxygen deprivation when he remembered what Roxanne had been saying to him during their lessons.
You’ve just got to feel the electricity; it kind of starts up at your shoulders, and then you just thrust it downward.
Asa tasted blood in the back of his mouth, and he grabbed Cameron by the shoulders and smiled. Asa thought that there must have been something telling in his smile, for in the last moment before he was electrocuted, Cameron had a glint of fear in his eyes.
As Asa pushed the tingly feeling towards his hands, it felt like someone hit the back of his elbows with hammers. Lightening exploded out of his palms, temporarily blinding him and shooting Cameron’s limp body far away.
When Asa’s vision returned, he was falling towards the water. The Winggame match was still going, but suddenly, he was too tired to care. He knew that he should now try to fly towards the opposing team’s goals, but the electrici
ty shooting out of his hands had taken absolutely all the energy out of him. He felt that even breathing was too much work.
He shot through the fog and slammed into the water before passing out. He woke up six hours later in Viola’s apartment, and she explained what had happened. Asa shot Cameron into the water. The Sharks won five points to four, and were headed to the Winggame Championship.
Asa felt as though he didn’t have any time to be excited about this new development. He continued on with his electrocution lessons with Bruce and Roxanne, which were as pointless as ever, but more frustrating because Asa now knew that he could really shock someone if he could get over his mental barrier.
Asa spent all of his free time that week studying with Teddy. Teddy was almost always in a bad mood, and his gums were turning a darker shade of black every day. Asa always walked away from the conversations with Teddy feeling emotionally and mentally drained. Not only were they covering difficult subject matter, but Teddy was always trying to convince Asa of something.
Asa would sometimes get frustrated when working on a difficult math problem. “You know,” Teddy chimed in. “If you would only take some Vipocrit, this would be a lot easier.”
After the fifth time hearing this that day, Asa lost his temper, “I TOLD YOU ALREADY, NO! I’m not getting the drug for me, and I’m not getting it for you!”
They went back to studying, both of them only talking when necessary.
Asa felt as though he did well on all of his finals, but after turning them in, his anxiety was amplified. He knew that the Multiplier attack would come at any day.
On the day before the Winggame Championship, Asa woke up early and went out from Viola’s apartment. The Sharks weren’t going to have a physical practice that day; Bruce said that their bodies needed the rest. Asa flew down to Conway’s, and entered without knocking. Ozzie had grown used to Asa coming and going, and had stopped growling at him. Asa walked down the stairs of the dim basement, and found that Teddy was asleep in his cell.
Pausing on the stairs, Asa looked at his friend for a long time.
Standing there, he thought about different things.
He thought about his father. He thought about the Davids. He thought about the Multipliers lurking on the mountainsides around him. He thought about the upcoming Winggame match. What he spent most of his time thinking about, though, was how thankful he was to have never been bitten by a Multiplier. The Salvaserum that ran through Teddy’s veins was changing him in so many ways. At that moment, he decided that being bitten by a Multiplier was his biggest fear. He had a strange premonition that it would happen to him; that he was going to be bitten; that he was going to change.
Feeling sick, he turned around and walked out.
28
Stan’s Confession
The clouds loomed overhead like it was about to rain as Asa flew over the Moat back towards his dwelling. The sun was partially blocked out, and Asa thought—the forests are so dark that Multipliers could be marching towards the mountains right now. In his mind, he saw ten thousand of the mutated humans, all dripping with Salvaserum as they approached the mountains, lusting over thoughts of biting everyone they found. He thought about it, and came to the conclusion that ten thousand Multipliers wouldn’t be accurate. If they were to attack there would be closer to one hundred thousand Multipliers. Robert King had said there were a quarter of a million Multipliers in the Hive. As Boom Boom had convincingly argued, if the Academy goes down, they’ll most likely take over the world. The Hive probably knows this. Asa looked around at the mountains. They’ll probably do anything they can to bring this place down.
The premonition that a Multiplier would soon bite him was causing his stomach to churn and he felt nauseated. Why is this bothering me so much? he wondered. He knew that it was illogical, but deep within he felt a cold certainty that his fears would come true. He could see it in his mind—a faceless Multiplier with yawning jaws that dripped with thick Salvaserum. He imagined feeling the purulent, thick liquid pump into his neck.
A shiver went over his body.
It’s not real. I’m not going to get bitten. It’s just a silly thought.
He didn’t feel so sure. Carmen the Multiplier Hunter had told him that a group of Multipliers from the Hive would attack at the end of the semester. It will be tomorrow; classes will be over, and so will the Winggame season. And when they pour over the Mountains, I’ll be their first target.
He tried to think of something else. This was difficult, but he forced his thoughts in the direction of the upcoming Winggame Championship.
Asa could see the Wolves flying over the Moat, running different plays and practicing flying drills. Even though the Winggame Championship was tomorrow, they hadn’t taken the day off of physical practice, as the Sharks had. Asa didn’t know anyone, outside of the Sharks, who believed the Sharks would win the championship. The Wolves were undefeated. Even more notably, they had all twenty-five players. The Sharks, like the rest of the teams, had had many players die during this year’s Task. They would be entering the match with only ten competitors versus the Wolves twenty-five.
Asa thought they were going to lose. As a rule, he generally believed that he could overcome adversity, but this was just too much. The Wolves were good before they had more players than any other team; seeing as they outnumbered the Sharks more than two to one, they seemed unbeatable. Asa kept this pessimism to himself; there was no benefit in sharing his negative beliefs with his teammates.
He landed on Mount Two just below Viola’s dwelling and began to trudge up the rock towards the red door. A flock of crows flew overhead, their shadows drifting over the stone. He was glad to see that the birds were returning to the Mountainside. As his mother had told him, they were his guardian angels. But if there is a Multiplier attack, what could the crows realistically do to stop it?
“Asa!”
Asa jumped and was startled out of his daydream. He turned, and saw Charlotte coming out of a dwelling near him. He felt his face flush hot; for a moment it was hard to breathe. “Hi,” he said as pleasantly as he could. He felt nervous. He hadn’t spoken to Charlotte in months. He felt this was not a good time for him to speak with her again. He felt on edge, and worried—like there was a strange electricity floating through the air. He wondered if she could see how jumpy he was, or how his eyes kept involuntarily moving over to the tree line to check for hoards of Multipliers attacking the mountains.
Charlotte looked calm and collected; Asa became concerned that Carmen hadn’t visited her to warn her about the upcoming Multiplier attack. Charlotte was wearing a gray, long sleeve shirt and running shorts. Her wavy dark hair was pulled up in a ponytail and her cheeks were red from the cold. She was smiling, which Asa found incredibly odd—she hadn’t smiled at Asa all semester, ever since he began to ignore her. He had hurt her. He felt an incredible urge to come to her, grab her, and tell her that he stayed away from her not out of dislike for her, but out of love for her. He knew that the Multipliers wanted to kill both Charlotte and him; Asa felt as though when they were together, they were too much of a target. Deciding to not spend time with Charlotte had been agonizing for Asa; he knew how much she cared about him, and her letter earlier in the semester had expressed how much he had devastated her.
But now, she didn’t look devastated at all. She didn’t look like she wanted any comforting from Asa, much less needed it. She looks happy, controlled, and light hearted. It’s as though she has gotten over me. It no longer pains her to see me.
Asa thought that this was good. In the past, it had been tense when they ran into each other and he used to clearly see the hurt on her face when she looked at him. Now, there wasn’t even a trace of distress in her deep blue eyes. This is exactly what I wanted, right? I don’t want to see her in pain, right? Asa felt his throat tighten.
“How are you?” she asked.
Asa then heard himself talk at a pace he thought was too fast. “Good. I’m excited about the Winggame
Championship tomorrow. Are you going? You don’t have to. I was just wondering. Are you going?”
She smiled. “Of course. Everyone is going. I’m happy for you. Are you going to the dance tomorrow?”
Asa nodded. “Yeah. It’ll be fun.” He then tried to smile, but found that he could only halfway do it. He looked at the doorway she had just come out of. “I thought your dwelling was way up at the top.”
“This is where Shashowt lives. I’m over here a lot.”
Asa felt irrational anger boil up in his chest. “Oh. Okay.” Why am I talking like this? Do I always sound this weird and stiff when I talk to people? Can she tell that I’m nervous? Why am I nervous? Why should I be?
Charlotte looked up at the sky. “I hope it doesn’t rain. I’ve wanted to go for a jog out in the woods for some time, but it’s been so cold. Running on the treadmill is fine, but it’s boring.” She looked up at the clouds again. “I think that I’d better go if I want to beat the rain. See you, Asa.”
Asa knew that he should tell her not to go out into the woods, and that Multipliers are out there killing chimps and tying them up by their legs. And they’ll slit your throat too, honey. But he couldn’t find the words. The conversation was paining him, and he wanted to end it as soon as possible. “Have a good run,” he heard himself say.
She smiled at him again before walking down the rock and beginning to jog into the forest where Harold Kensing was buried, where Davids had slit throats and were hung up by their ankles, and where Asa had come across Multipliers at the beginning of the semester.
“I’m glad that she is getting over me,” Asa whispered to himself, but the words tasted funny in his mouth. He looked at Shashowt’s door. Shashowt had always been interested in Charlotte, but Charlotte hadn’t ever seemed taken with Shashowt.