Page 28 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

28

Ready, Set, Go

B laze

Although I didn’t agree with him then, Titan was right when he insisted we go west before we headed north to the flag. I think we’d both be dead by now if we immediately went to the flag. Even so, I imagine the other nine contestants are near our goal, waiting to pick us late arrivals off.

That’s where the rifle will come in handy. Not only did the army teach me how to be a crack shot, but being a sniper means I’ve also learned the value of waiting. I practiced crawling along a gutter in a busy street. It took me three hours to go one city block, but no one spotted me. I just looked like a pile of rags.

I just need to get the lay of the land and find a spot to hide and wait. Then I’ll use the rifle when I have the chance.

I was about to leave my MOS as a sniper because I couldn’t live with the fact I splattered an enemy’s brains from 1200 yards. I’d been trained to shoot. Nothing prepared me to kill.

In The Game , with my opponents coming at me with nothing on their agenda except to take my life? Anything goes. These guys will murder me as quick as look at me. The feeling’s mutual. I don’t think I’ll lose any sleep if I have to kill some of these dudes. Killing Titan, on the other hand? My stomach cramps so bad at that thought I have to relieve myself.

Now that I’m closer to the city, the path we’d been walking has turned into a road. It’s cracked and weathered, but still a road.

Slipping over the side into a three-foot-deep gully, I squat, slip off a pant leg, and do my business. The military taught me how to use leaves for TP. Not the cushiest or even the most effective way to do the job, but when ya gotta go, ya gotta go.

Just as I’m about to pull my pant leg up, something catches my attention. I focus down the road and see four people walking my way.

I may have been a soldier, but sitting here with my ass hanging in the breeze is more than I can tolerate. Still hiding in the gully, I manage to wiggle back into my pants, then focus on the males approaching me. They must know my exact 20. My drone is directly above me.

There’s no benign reason anyone would be out here. Not marching with purposeful strides like these males, or carrying weapons. There are no drones recording their movements. These males have been sent for me.

I’m money in the bank for the network. My death by mayhem at the flag will pull in viewers.

No. If this were up to the network, I’d die differently.

Some entity more powerful than the network has pulled some strings. These males were sent by my most recent owners. The ones who forced me into my last job. The ones who threw me into The Game to penalize me. I guess they don’t want any possibility of me arriving at the flag and spilling the beans about why I was being punished.

I’m a sniper, and I’m in a good position to do what the U.S. Army trained me to do. I think, though, this is a case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If I don’t kill them, I’m dead. I know that as sure as I’m squatting here next to a fragrant pile of my own shit.

If I do kill them, I’m going to be labeled an insurrectionist.

Better the devil you know, I tell myself. If I don’t act fast, I’m going to be a dead woman in another few minutes.

The rifle is already loaded with a battery canister. It has one out of ten bars. “Thanks, network.”

I slip the almost-empty canister out of the weapon, shrug out of my backpack, and pull out a full canister. I realize immediately what those network motherfuckers did. It’s light. Not as heavy as the partially full one I just removed from the rifle. I lift out every other canister, scan it quickly and toss it to the ground as each one reads the same: empty.

It’s a good thing the army taught me to control my temper. If they hadn’t, I would be screaming in rage right now.

My drone has followed me since the moment I burst through the doors of the gymnasium that first night. It’s never left my side. When it leaves me to head toward the city, I feel a hollow cramp at the pit of my stomach. Whoever is behind this ambush doesn’t want it caught on camera.

Swiftly, because those guys are getting closer by the second, I toss the empty cartridge to the ground and jam the original, partially full one back in.

My last owners taught me how to use one of these. I can take it apart and put it together in under one minute. I’ve practiced shooting it and am pretty clear what this much charge will allow me to do.

It will give me two blasts, three at the most. There are four males jogging toward me.

“Run, Red. I don’t want you caught in the crossfire, little guy,” I whisper. I’m glad Titan isn’t here, glad I ran off like a thief in the night. They would have killed us both if he were here, and he doesn’t deserve that. He didn’t double cross the Federation. I did.

Maybe Big Eyes is more sentient than I thought, or maybe he just has a good sense of self preservation, but he skedaddles up the ravine and runs away from the trouble that’s barreling at me in the form of four angry aliens.

I place the end of the barrel on the dirt on top of the ravine, get one of my enemies in my sights, and prepare to pull the trigger. I have no idea how two laser pulses are going to kill four guys, but giving up is not an option.

I give one more thought to Titan. No. In this moment, seconds away from my death, I don’t have to pretend we’re nothing to each other. He’s Xzavic now. I wish I would have kissed him one last time before I left the cave this morning.

I aim, take a deep breath, hold it, and prepare to fire.