Page 21 of Cut Her Strings (Fractured Puppets #1)

Chapter 20

Game Play

Maverick

T he Host’s rules sloshed around in Maverick’s brain. He ran through them a few times and found discrepancies he cataloged for future use. Next, he surveyed for potential threats in his own zone, and in doing so, he found an ally. 195 was the smallest of 197’s group, but Maverick thought him the most dangerous of the men besides 197. He was grateful Raven had made the alliance. The thought of Raven caused an uncomfortable feeling to float through him, and he shut it down, shifting closer to 195.

“An agreement?” Maverick murmured the words to 195, barely audible.

195 gave an imperceptible nod.

Satisfied, Maverick continued his assessment. Due to his superior height Maverick was able to see the inhabitants that stood on the edges of the trenches. He located his brother first and was frustrated to see the distance between them. Levi was even further away at the very last pit, number nine. Jayce and 197 were only a few spaces away in five.

The rest of 197’s team, 196 and 194, were relatively close as well. They were in pits six and four, respectively. He saw a girl get on someone’s shoulders in pit two and realized it was more of their allies; 32 and 41. Maverick searched but couldn’t find the rest of either of the women’s teams. It was in the middle of his search for 42 —41’s teammate— when he finally found Raven. He attempted to lie to himself that the relief at the sight of her was because they needed to work together. It wasn’t. Raven stood in pit one and their gazes clashed; a pulse of electricity. He kept his expression blank until he saw movement over her shoulder. 189 was prowling behind her, watching the encounter. It caused Maverick to startle and jerk his eyes away.

“Oh, one last thing,” the Host’s echoed voice interrupted Maverick’s critical acumen. “No visible timer on this; the first sound starts it, and the second ends it. Now, good luck, my lovelies.”

A loud beep sounded, and the number six was illuminated. The arrow that lit up pointed backwards, forcing them to go towards hole five. Simultaneously, their collars lit up. The occupants of six ran as quickly as they could towards five. Maverick watched as 196 joined Jayce and 197. 196 wasn’t able to assist due to the rules, but Jayce and 197 worked together to knock whoever they could out. Jayce aimed for their feet, low sweeping as many as he could, and 197 would land a crushing blow to their skull. The others in the sixth pit seemed to have no allies as the contestants in the fifth pit began to follow Jayce and 197’s lead, knocking the intruders unconscious.Thankfully, 196 was able to stay off their radar since he made no attempts to leave pit five.

A garbled scream drew Maverick’s attention to number 190, one of 189’s teammates. 190 held a smaller man, number 110, in his grasp, hands around his throat. The man struggled aggressively but was no match for 190. 190 gave a sinister smile before tightening his grip. He did not let go until the next beep sounded. 190 dropped the dead man, 110, to the ground. Maverick heard a cry to his left in his space and watched as a man in their group fell over dead. 110’s teammate, he assumed.

Returning his gaze to the other pits, he found that three people had made it to pit four, but none had made it to his hole. This was going to be challenging.

Approximately ten minutes passed before it was time for the next round. Five lit up next. The arrow illuminated on the opposite wall pointed in the same direction as the last, forcing them towards pit four. This time, when their collars brightened, only half of the occupants left their hole immediately. Jayce, 190, 196, and 197 were among the others who held back.

Once again, a brawl ensued. Several of the invaders appeared to have allies in the fourth pit, and while many were stopped, none were killed or injured. Maverick found himself moving with 195 to stop the largest man who had made it to their pit three from passing. In his effort, Maverick received a punch to the jaw but managed to jab the man in his throat. This caused enough of a distraction for 195 to land a haymaker, finally knocking the man unconscious.

The ending beep sounded, and Maverick turned his attention. He surveilled the results of the round. He found that 197 and 196 managed to make it to their pit in the chaos, but he could not locate Jayce or 190. Turning his head, he found one man who had made it to the very end. 190. Maverick cursed.

“How the fuck?” he snarled at 197.

197 ignored him. “You good?” he asked 195.

“Yes, I am sticking to your plan, boss ,” 195 grumbled .

196 remained silent, left their side, and began to walk the boundary of their hole.

Seriously concerned when he could still not locate Jayce, Maverick grabbed hold of 197’s shirt. “Where is he?”

197 finally gave Maverick his attention. “I did what I could, but they want her ,” 197 jerked his head in Raven’s direction. “They have allies in every pit. They grabbed him as soon as we made the jump and knocked him unconscious.” Maverick snarled, but 197 continued. “You forget that you are not the only one invested in the outcome. They are not going to kill him; they want her alive ,” 197 hissed the last word.

Maverick knew whatever that meant, it wasn’t good, but maybe that would keep her safe from their wrath, for now. “We need to go towards pit one,” Maverick finally murmured. His brother and Levi were the only ones on the other side, and they were large men who would be targeted. “I will try to signal to the others to stay put and help as defense.”

On that note, he went to the edge of his pit closer to Enzo. He clapped a rhythm his brother would recognize. Enzo appeared out of the group of people, pushing himself to the edge. Their eyes met, and Maverick quickly conveyed the message with his gestures: stay, both of you. Enzo nodded and disappeared again into the bodies to hopefully relay the message to Levi.

Maverick returned to 197 and 195’s sides just as the number seven and an arrow on the opposite wall illuminated. This time, the arrow pointed towards the far pit. He watched with bated breath as everyone slowly left the seventh hole until all but his brother remained. He was so focused that he didn’t realize the brutality the eighth trench showed until contestants in other areas began dropping dead to the ground, their teammates sealing their fates. Despite this, three men and one woman made it to the end before the round ended.

“Why aren’t their teammates being removed?” 195 questioned aloud.

197 cocked his head in contemplation. “Interesting” was all he eventually said.

Maverick realized 195 was correct. When they reached the end, no one was removed. “And what’s more, do you know what a kinkajou is?”

“I’m glad more of you have made it in here. Strength in numbers, am I right?” a woman next to them chimed in, number 33. Maverick vaguely recognized her as someone on 32’s team, meaning an ally. He must have overlooked her in his initial surveillance due to her size. She was much shorter than the others, but even then, she wasn’t as small as Raven.

“That’s right,” 197 confirmed, nodding his head in welcome.

33 smiled and snapped her fingers. “Oh, and to answer your question, a kinkajou? I taught biology in a facility, and if memory serves, it’s a crawling monkey thing. They have weird rotating ankles for climbing forwards and backwards.”

Maverick suddenly realized what had bothered him about the rules. “I have a plan for us all to win this.”