Page 42 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

42

Up to Me

B laze

Through my sight, I see an ion cannon leaning against the wall, but where are Trent and Scurge? One of them saunters into the living area of the main room, naked and glistening like he just got out of the shower. How did they wind up in a building with running water?

He’s a Frain, one of those gross cockroach guys I saw in the gymnasium on the first day. Lucky. I think killing him will be easier than a more humanoid foe.

I’ve got a perfect shot. Perfect. The problem is, if I shoot him, his friend will hear it and never come out of hiding. Even though now would be the ideal time to take the shot, it will mess up the plan. We might have to wait until tomorrow, or longer, to get the job done. The network promised to kill Xzavic and me long before then.

I wait. I’ve forbidden myself from glancing at the store with the boot. I will not look at my guy. I will keep my eyes on the target.

Time gets wonky when waiting for a shot. You just put all your attention on your task and stay awake. It’s been maybe forty minutes, maybe two hours, when the other Frain enters the room.

He grabs the cannon and grazes his hand lovingly along its stock. Did these guys just fire into a crowd of civilians and then take nice long showers? Fuckers.

I’ll have to shoot this one first. Although it’s the more difficult shot, if I shoot his friend first, he could have lightning reflexes and be able to blast me before I get off a second shot. He doesn’t need the pinpoint accuracy that I need with my rifle. His cannon is a blunt force instrument.

I aim, hold my breath, and squeeze the trigger. As soon as I know my laser hit the mark, I swivel right, aim, and hit the other male, who was already reaching for the ion cannon that had fallen to the floor. I make sure they’re both down and not moving. If things were different, I would shoot them both again to ensure they’re a confirmed kill, but we have two more enemies out there who could have already sussed out my location.

Xzavic left with everything but my rifle, so I crawl to the door, not wanting anyone to see my movement, race down the steps, and saunter across the street to the boot like I belong here.

As soon as I get close, Xzavic hurries to me and pulls me down an alley and through a maze of buildings until we’re a block away.

We hunker down in an abandoned parking structure. It’s only now, after Xzavic pulls me into his arms and holds me tight, that I take myself off autopilot.

Cockroaches or not, they were sentient. And I killed them. I console myself with the fact that these two had to have killed a lot of people to be two of the last six contestants. After reminding myself that the second guy was already reaching for the cannon and would have killed me without blinking, I order myself to breathe.

“You did what you had to, Blaze. You did, right? You killed them?”

Titan

Jahzara Zedd answers for her. I had been watching our pad on low volume. Zedd is gleefully informing the audience that the two Frains are confirmed kills.

“They would have killed us,” I tell Blaze as I stroke her shoulder. “You saved our lives. It’s like war.”

I pierce her gaze with mine.

“You’re right. It is like war. I need to pull up my big girl panties, take a breath, and move on to the next thing on our list—Drezin.”

“Back to the top story of the hour,” Zedd says, trying to hide her excitement at being able to deliver more salacious information.

“Our news staff did impeccable research so I can be the first to report we’ve confirmed Drezin was the individual who fired two ion cannon shots directly into the crowd of protesters. As stated clearly in our rules, civilians are not to be molested by the players.

“Drezin was terminated two minutes ago. Females and males, you might want to keep your younglings’ eyes averted. What we’re about to show you could give anyone nightmares.”

I press Blaze’s head to my pec so she doesn’t have to watch. One of the Peacekeeper drones outside his window must have recorded it. There’s no sound, but you see him clutching his collar, then the explosion.

“The network cheats, Blaze, and they have all the technology to have staged that. What do you think? Should we go to his address to make sure he’s dead, or assume our eyes just saw the truth?”

“I think we should move on to number four. If we kill him, the network coverage will tell us whether we’re down to three, or down to two. We can always backtrack if that was misinformation.”

We haven’t talked about the down-to-two issue for a while. I don’t think I should tell her my plan to let her win. It would just make her feel guilty. Besides, it might be a moot point. Let’s cross that road when we come to it.

We pore over the map on the pad’s screen, then desperately look at other maps. Each one gives the same information. Now that we’re looking closely, it’s apparent there is no window looking over Monteen’s lair. Blaze has nowhere to snipe from.

“They taught me how to snipe in urban settings, Xzavic. It’s hard, and I’ll have to find something to camouflage myself with. It involves crawling along the gutter, moving only a few feet an hour, but we can get close and then I can pull off a shot.”

I shake my head. “You were in charge of the Earth method, the sniping. Let me be in charge of the gladiator way. We can hurry to this point here, then I can enter the building from here.” I point to an entryway on the building’s schematics.

“Once there, I’ll make my way to his room, barge in, and kill him.”

“Madness!” is all she says, her brown eyes blazing in anger.

“I’m good at what I do.”

“This.” She jabs her finger at the screen. “Is not what you do. You fight in arenas. Let’s face it, you’ve never done anything like this before.”

“I had plenty of time to look all over the Intergalactic Database while you were occupied. Monteen has no laser weapon. He’s not popular, hasn’t accumulated donated credits, and only got to where he is because he’s swift. He got to the flag first and found a spot to hide in. He’s hoping to win by attrition as he watches all his opponents kill each other.

“Look at him.” I pull up pictures the network has provided, along with a description of his background and crimes. “I can take him!”

She pulls the tablet from me and swipes through the map programs again, but there is no way for her to snipe this male. It’s up to me.