Page 44 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

44

A Roll of the Dice

T itan

When I’m on the last flight of stairs approaching ground level, the thought flies through my mind that I could brush my foot on the tripwire on the second step and kill myself, letting Blaze win the competition. I contemplate it for a moment, but shake my head as I decide against it.

I’m selfish. I need to see her again. I must tell her one more time how much I love her, how precious she is, how she needs to go on to live her very best life. I consider for a moment telling her she should find love, but I’m not that unselfish. I couldn’t bear to say that. I can’t even bear to think it.

I walk in the open, though, giving her the opportunity to shoot me. She’s a sniper. I left the gun with her. She’s had a couple hours to think about it. If she were smart, she’d be holed up in an abandoned building, her rifle on a windowsill, and shoot me in the head the moment she spies me.

She doesn’t, though. Instead, the moment she sees me walking up the street, sword in hand, she runs to me.

Perhaps she didn’t have the hardened heart it would take for her to put a laser burst in my brain, but didn’t she consider, even for a moment, that I could have been lying to her this whole time? Pretending I had feelings I didn’t have? That I’m a heartless bastard who is going to slice her head from her shoulders the moment she approaches me?

Evidently not. She speeds toward me, then jumps into my arms.

“You did it? You did it, Xz—” She stops mid-sentence, her eyes fixated over my left shoulder. The drones are now out in force, surrounding us from every angle.

The screens answer for us as Zedd announces, “Monteen is a confirmed kill. Who among us didn’t see this coming? It’s just Slayer and Titan and it must come Down. To. One. Let’s hurry through the next commercial break so we can interview these two star-crossed lovers, shall we?”

Katann Hahn joins her, sliding a chair behind her desk. He looks like he just ate something that had gone bad.

“I wasn’t betting on this. Lost a small fortune. You’re an idiot and she’s… well, look at her.” He haphazardly raises his arm in her direction. “She’s no bigger than a child.”

“Getting down to business,” Zedd interrupts her boss. “As much as we’d like to milk our little endeavor for a few hundred million more credits, our superiors in their infinite wisdom decided we need to wrap this up in two hours.”

She points her immaculately manicured nail at the bottom of our screen and we see a clock running backwards.

“Figure it out,” she says dismissively. “One of you has to die. Make it quick.”

“I have a proposition,” Blaze says.

I’ve known her long enough to know she’s got a plan. Our lives have a very clear expiration date. The clock says we have an hour and 58 minutes. What could she possibly be thinking?

Blaze

I spent the first five minutes after Xzavic left reading the network’s negative smear campaign on me. Brilliant. They’ve accused me of treason. Nice twist!

For the last several hours, though, I’ve been in communication with Altair. I wasn’t shocked when, through secure channels, he divulged he was pretty high in the resistance organization. It was no surprise that a few people at the network were also in the resistance and had been producing and disseminating the Truth videos.

Between us, we came up with a little plan. There are a lot of working parts, all of which have a high likelihood of going south and resulting in our deaths, but there’s a slim hope if everything works out perfectly. Perfection. Isn’t that a funny thing to count on?

“Plan?” Zedd prompts, her nail tapping impatiently on her clear glass desk.

“Just an extra opportunity for you to make a little more money.” I look pointedly at Hahn and say, “I wouldn’t want you to lose too much on this horrible ordeal. I know we’ve put you through so much.”

My voice was dripping with sarcasm, and under different circumstances, he would have shocked the shit out of both Xzavic and my collars for my audacity. But since we’re not hidden away in a cave with only network drones taking video, and the Peackeeper drones are also filming footage, I get the thrill of watching his shaggy blue face turn an ugly blueish gray.

“Your plan, Slayer. Spit it out!”

“Why not let Titan and I fight it out? Why leave this up to chance? Why have one of us kill the other in a back alley where you might wind up getting grainy, poorly directed shots? Give us two hours without cameras to say goodbye. During that time, you get your crack teams of minions to build a raised platform in this commons.

“Charge the crowd to get in. And…” I imagine a drumroll in my head as I make them wait for it, “let the audience decide who wins at one credit a pop.”

I shut up, letting my words echo in their heads. Ahh, the sound of money. Ka-ching.

I’m so focused on their faces, I have no opportunity to even glance at Xzavic. He’s now squeezing my hand so hard I’m forced to look at him. If eyes could throw lightning bolts, that’s what he’s doing.

“Blaze!” he growls. “We are not going to let the audience decide our fate.”

At the same moment he’s ordering me to take back my offer, Hahn gets on the phone with the other network execs.

“The income streams for this are endless…” Drifts to us even though Hahn’s back is to us. “I understand our… backers have already made the choice, but the viewers don’t need to know that.”

A moment later, he hangs up. After whispering to Zedd, she announces, “We love the idea. You have two hours.”

“You’re going to hover us to a nearby suite. It will have no cameras. Once we’re inside, we have two hours. Otherwise, the deal is off and Titan and I settle this in a dark bathroom somewhere and deprive your viewers of the fun they’ve been waiting for.”

Zedd and Hahn argue in whispers for a moment, then agree. I’ve never been a gambler, but I just rolled the dice for our lives.