Page 29 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

29

I Know Exactly What I’m Seeing

B laze

The four males are coming right toward me. They’re military. They all have swords. I don’t know why they’re not carrying laser weapons. Maybe it’s to make my death look like one of The Game’s contestants killed me.

Someone had the pull to re-call my drone. This is an off-the-books mission. I’m certain the network knows what’s happening. They had to allow it. No one argues with the Galactic Federation, even one of the most powerful entities on the planet like an influential network.

I’m totally expendable to TMN anyway. Especially now that they made millions off Xzavic and me last night. They have to know that’s one-and-done, right?

I wonder how they’re going to explain my death. They’re obviously not going to show the four-against-one scenario. Although they could. They’d turn public opinion against me—the little human who wanted a rifle but didn’t know how to use it. She deserved what she got.

I’m a crack shot from ten football fields away. They’re much closer than that. There’s no reason to hold my fire. It’s just that I’ve only got enough ammo to kill two, maybe three, and I have no idea how to escape after that.

There’s no time like the present, though. I take a deep breath, hold it, and pull the trigger three times in rapid succession. I strike two enemies down. Then the rifle makes a sad, fizzling sound and becomes no more helpful than a baseball bat.

The two remaining males barely give a second look at their fallen comrades. They break into a run, coming at me full blast.

For the briefest moment, I consider clambering up the side of the ravine and surrendering. Not that I think this would make them spare my life. On the contrary, I’d just make a good target. My demise would be swift and efficient.

As much as my rational mind might think this is the best plan of action, I can’t go along with it. I’ve always been a fighter.

I grab a jagged rock. It’s buff-colored like everything else on this shit planet. It fits nicely in my palm and isn’t too heavy to throw. I heave it at the male on the left. If circumstances were different, his derisive laugh as he easily dodges it would hurt my feelings.

We’re on a flat, barren parcel of land. There are no trees or bushes to shelter me. No gullies to hide in other than the one I’m currently crouched in. They have my 20. I can’t run, can’t hide, and have nothing to fight with.

Now that they’re closer, I recognize both these guys as Charthians. I should have killed them instead of the other two. Their skin is a dull gray, and they’re as big as Titan. They have spiney spikes on their foreheads, wrists, and ankles. I’m shit at hand-to-hand on my best day, but fighting against these guys will be impossible. They don’t need the swords they’re carrying. They’re deadly without them.

“Come out,” one of them calls, his voice a commanding bass.

I don’t bother to respond.

“We’re not here to kill you.”

Right. I guess it’s time for tea.

“Come out. Pissing us off more will just make it worse for you.”

These guys clearly don’t know my backstory. I’ve been bullied my whole life in every foster home I lived in. I know bullshit tactics when I hear them.

If I make them come down here and get me, I just might be able to bash one of their brains in. Then at least the odds will be even. I glance at their ugly faces once more, notice all their deadly spikes, and scoff. Not exactly even odds.

One of them comes running at me, leaps the ditch in one bound, and then both of them jump in, one from in front, one from behind. Before I can strike out with the rock in my hand, they’ve got me captured. One is gripping my upper arms so tightly they’re burning in pain, the other has me from behind by my waist.

“Too bad you left the Sunsarian this morning. He would have spared you this,” one of them sneers, then leans in to lick me from jaw to cheekbone. Between his fetid breath and his hideous face, I have to stifle my urge to vomit.

I’m an idiot. I didn’t see this coming. The Feds sent them to kill me. With the drone not recording, they’ve decided to have some fun before they complete their mission.

I may not be good at up-close combat, but that doesn’t mean I’m not trying. As I try to wiggle out of their grip, I kick the male in front of me in the shin. Instead of hurting him, I pierce my own shin with one of his wicked spines.

I let out a piercing scream, half out of pain, half out of anger at myself for being such an idiot.

“It stinks down here,” the one behind me says.

Oh yeah, my shit is less than two yards away.

He grabs me, tosses me onto the ground above the gully, and before I can stagger to my feet, he’s bounded up and caught me again.

I’ve been beaten dozens of times in foster care and juvie. I don’t know how I escaped it, but I’ve never been raped. It looks like I’m about to add that to my resume. It will be inserted just before cause of death.

I struggle for a few more moments, but when the second guy leaps out of the trench and pulls my ankles apart, fear courses through me.

All four limbs are pinned. I can’t fight. Can’t beat them. Can’t win. Back on Earth, in situations not nearly as bad as this, sometimes my smart mouth got me somewhere, but that’s not going to work today.

As a very young girl, I learned how to go to the nowhere place in my head. It’s a nice skill to have when you’re ripped out of a home you like, or when someone is teasing you mercilessly. Not to mention when you’re being pounded by someone older and stronger.

I slip into my mind, push reality into a hazy, dreamy place, and think about something pleasant.

As a kid, the pleasant thoughts were from movies or books. Today, I have something far better to think about. It’s reality. My reality of the past few days. I think of Xzavic. I focus on the affection in his eyes last night as he looked at me. I’ll hold onto that.

Titan

She was right. It’s best we split up from here. We’re both hoping someone will take the other out, so we don’t have to be responsible for it. I don’t want to have to live with the guilt.

I have no doubt she’s not going to last long. All this time I’d thought she knew how to handle a rifle, but when the drones brought it to the cave last night, she didn’t even know how to hold it. Perhaps she’ll teach herself how to use it this morning before she reaches the city.

I shove food into my mouth while I pull on my clothes and fashion a bag out of the ridiculous purple pants the network had me wear last night. I fill it with anything else I might be able to eat later and jam the remaining water bottles into it. At the last moment, I shove the bedspread in, although I don’t know what good it might do.

After grabbing my sword, I leave the cave at a jog.

She made the right move when she left me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t follow her.

As I track her, I wonder what I’ll do if she’s in trouble. The plan, although we never discussed it, was to let someone kill one of us, so we didn’t have to do the deed ourselves. So why, exactly, am I shadowing her?

If she’s in peril, should I step in? Won’t that defeat the purpose?

I don’t know the answers to those questions. I just know I’m going to follow her to the city.

She got a head start, but her legs are short. I follow her trail at a run.

I haven’t been at it for more than half an hour when I spot something up ahead. At first, I can’t make out what I’m seeing. It’s low on the horizon, just a bump that doesn’t have the rough edges of the boulders dotting the landscape. I know it’s out of place, though. I know something’s wrong.

Seconds later, I see two Charthian males—ugly fuckers—on their knees. Then I know exactly what I’m seeing. Rape.