by Nicol, Andy
“We are announcing contenders this evening at the city square. Be prepared to attend all interviews — cocktails and other various drinks will be served,” Jeremy added quickly, leaping from his seat in the front row. He’s always been the boss’s favourite lapdog, and he oversaw a lot of public events on Viktor’s behalf.
“Thank the lord …,” our boss muttered under his breath. “And can everyone dress appropriately this year?” Viktor stretched his neck, gripping his podium with white knuckles. “That means you, Franklin. No tuxedo T-shirt this time! Ladies in dresses, gentlemen in suits, jackets, the works.” The boss glared at Frankie, who no doubt would wear the printed shirt — underneath his suit jacket if nothing else.
I dumped the last of the candy into my mouth and felt a nudge from Chrissy. “Do you even own a dress?” she asked.
I thought about it for moment. I might. I hadn’t seen the back of my closet in a long time. For all I knew, there was literally a skeleton in there. It wouldn’t surprise me. I gave a shrug. “I think I have one. If not, do you mind if I steal one of yours?”
“No, but I doubt any would fit you.” She eyed my skinny frame and I scowled at her. She had far more curves than I did and she never failed to remind me. I shot her a flat look. Around us, everyone was standing up and filing out of the room.
“I guess I’ll check out the closet then,” I said, shrugging.
“Why is it,” I muttered to myself as I sprinted across the base, trying to make it to the gala on time, “that everything decides to happen the exact day I wake up from a coma?”
I tripped, of course, laying myself out face first on the dusty ground. The fall wouldn’t have been so bad, except the pain from the bullet wound shot through me, causing me fall into a hysterical sort of laughter that turned quickly into sobs. Pressing my hands down, I sat up, making sure I hadn’t bled through the black fabric. I pushed myself off the ground, dusted myself off as much as I could, and continued on my way as if nothing had happened. I turned the corner and saw Soul and Chrissy. Chrissy turned toward me, raising her eyebrows.
“Shut up,” I said as I made my way to the drink table. Chrissy and Soul both followed quietly.
“What the hell?” She asked.
“I fell,” I said, glancing down at my dusty outfit. I had quickly thrown on the very short high-neck dress that I’d found in the back of my closet.
“It’s not just that. How old is that thing? And, those?” She pointed at my feet, holding in a laugh.
“What?”
“Combat boots? Really? Viktor said to dress appropriately,” she said, not even trying to suppress her giggles now.
I rolled my eyes at Chrissy and crossed my arms again. I looked at Soul, who also seemed to be holding in a laugh. I scowled at both of them and downed the whole drink, pouring the bitter pink liquid down my throat. Whatever it was burned my throat.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen, please give us your attention,” a familiar voice said. I saw Jeremy standing on the stage, looking as tired as ever, and started following my companions to our seats.
“I guess I should be impressed,” Chrissy whispered as we pushed our way through the crowd. “I didn’t know you even owned a dress, Ben.”
“Neither did I.” I shrugged. The three of us began to weave our way through the crowd toward the stage.
Chrissy started to giggle.
Soul rolled his eyes. “Looks nice,” he muttered, more to himself than to me, “ripped or not.”
I froze and looked down. “Ripped?!”
Looking down at my dress, I noticed a massive tear that ran up the side and stopped at my hip. You could clearly see my faded blue boxers. I felt my face go red and I tugged the tear closed. After a quick look around for something to keep it from flying up, I pulled two bobby pins from Chrissy’s hair. I pinned it in place as best I could and held my hand over the rip… Hopefully, no one would notice.
“Lilithia Heights.” Victor’s booming voice echoed through the microphone. “It is a city of warriors, both recognized and not. This year, a change. We will add two players to the qualifying round of the Tournament of Survivors, for a total of six women and six men. Our warriors risk their lives every time they go out and fight, every time they set foot in that arena. No matter what they encounter, they always get back out there. These twelve warriors have shown Lilithia that they have what it takes, and I would be proud to see any one of them represent us this year in Rhys-Mordred. Our first contender embodies these qualities wholly and fervently. I’m pleased to announce that our first selected warrior is” — Viktor paused, and we all sat mentally screaming for him to hurry up — “Benji ‘K9’ Keanin!”
Chrissy started clapping loudly, along with a whole host of Lilithia residents. I sat dumbstruck as Viktor nodded to me, then announced the next two to take part in the tournament. “Chosen for their resilience and impressive skill set, Jekyll and Hyde!”
My face went white as a sheet. I didn’t need to see the video on the big screen to know that. The twins grinned at each other and shook hands as they celebrated, feigning surprise. Chrissy grabbed my hand and gave an anxious look.
“Contender four, chosen for her speed and agility … Carmela ‘Carmel’ McCarthy!”
My pulse quickened; all these people hated me.
“Contenders five and six, for their outstanding … outstandingness … Jeremy ‘Dracula’ Vamp and Frankie ‘Scene Fest’ Gent.” Viktor searched for them and threw his hands up in frustration when he saw Frankie on the screen with a printed T-shirt under his fancy jacket, proudly puffing out his chest.
“Contenders seven and eight … Angel ‘Beauty’ Lannister and Christina ‘Bobkat’ Bokitski!” I squeezed Chrissy’s hand. She practically shook where she stood. “Contenders nine, ten, and eleven are Cindy ‘Sugar’ Candice, Randy ‘the Mummy’ Curio, and Eloise ‘Dolly’ Bentley!”
I dreaded this. Vamp was on Dan’s side; so was the Mummy. Sugar and Carmel have always had a vendetta against me, and Angel was selfish — she wouldn’t hesitate to take me out either. None of that really mattered though, since Jekyll and Hyde would make it their first priority to eliminate me. There was only one spot left. I doubted I was going to be happy to hear the name called, but I had to hope it wasn’t going to be someone else that wanted me dead.
“Our final spot, which is being awarded partially out of punishment and partially out of compensation, will go to our new recruit, Soul ‘Crow’ Ravin!”
I spun to the side at a breakneck speed but Soul didn’t seem to be surprised. He didn’t seem to be fazed in the slightest, but I knew better. I grabbed his slightly shaking hand.
“Just a reminder… From here on in, all fights will be preapproved. No one is allowed to get hurt before then. Is that clear?”
Viktor gave me a level look, then flashed his well-known, charming smile at the crowd and strode off the stage.
Chrissy stood in horror. “We … are going to die…”
I was still holding both Soul’s and Chrissy’s hands when everyone started to move away from the stage.
“I hear music,” I said. “Should we celebrate or something?”
“No! I have to go write my will!” Chrissy said dramatically.
“Oh, come on,” I said, rolling my eyes at her. “You’re overreacting. It’s not all that bad. Frankie and Eloise are in too.”
“Easy for you to say! You brought this down on us in the first place,” she snapped. I jumped back, surprised at the heat in her eyes.
“I have to go,” she said, looking miserable. She dropped my hand and headed to the bar without another word.
I looked back at Soul. What little colour he had had drained from his face.
“B-big mistake… Shouldn’t have … shouldn’t have in-involved the dog…” He started to scratch his head and bite his lip, hard. His voice shook as though he was feeling nauseous.
“One way or another, I was going to get involved, whether you’d let me or not. I’m not
one to let things go so easily.” He whimpered and shook his head violently in protest. “Okay, you need to listen to me, my crow-like friend. Have a little faith in me and stop blaming yourself. I’ve taken care of myself for years. I can handle most of these guys, and I would have taken on the twins at some point anyway.”
“Yes, but —”
“No! This is my war too, and nothing’s going to change the fact that we’re both knee deep in this!”
“K9’s fight too…” He nodded. “K9’s stronger than the crow, fearless.” He perked up a bit and smirked at me. His smile faded into a nervous and uncertain grin as he put his other hand over mine. Slipping my hand behind his head and rubbing the back of his matted hair, I leaned forward and pressed my forehead to his.
“Going to win,” he stated, smiling broadly.
I grinned back and nodded. “We’re going to win.”
Soul began nodding his head in time with the music; his grin stayed in place. I swayed my shoulders as he grabbed my hands and pulled me toward the dance floor under the fairy lights, his grin getting wider and wider as we walked. I recognized the song; it was popular a few years back. It was one of those really high-energy hits; you know, the kind that made you want to bounce around and just dance like crazy… But that might have been the booze. I stopped counting after four.
Soul spun me around and I leaned back against his chest. I could feel him chuckling happily — it almost sounded childlike. I turned to face him again. We both froze on the spot when we saw Frankie throwing his arms up and shaking his hips like it was payday. What made this even better was a very pink-faced Eloise and a very angry Viktor, who stormed across the dance floor, snagged Frankie’s collar, and dragged him off to the side to scold him.
Soul took my hand again, and I put the other on his shoulder. I sang a little and bounced around, and he held me tighter. I couldn’t complain; he was warm and gentle.
The song faded to another just as upbeat as the last, and I noticed Eloise standing awkwardly at the side of the dance floor. I waved to her, and she very elegantly made her way over. Frankie, who had managed to escape Viktor’s fury, proudly followed.
“Was it worth it?” I asked him, waving a hand at his ridiculous T-shirt.
“Every smack!” His pink fluorescent hair was all over the place, though it was previously combed back. Eloise fell into his arms and they danced together, twisting and turning, her long green dress billowing around her as if she were a living fairy tale. I felt Soul wrap his arms across my shoulders and rest his chin down.
“Looks like a princess,” he muttered.
I nodded. She was more beautiful than I could ever hope to be. She was a young warrior, and relatively unmarred. As for me, I was full of imperfections, my life written all over my body in a web of scars.
When I pulled away from Soul, he was still grinning from ear to ear.
“What’s wrong?” he asked gently, searching my face.
I raised my eyebrows. “Nothing. I’m sorry, did it seem like there was?”
He smirked and rested his forehead against mine. “Jealous?” he taunted.
I stepped back and he was grinning mischievously. “Chrissy, how many drinks has he had?”
“Only one, I think.” She went back to her obnoxious dance battle against Juno. I turned back to the crow and eyed him warily. Suddenly, he took my hand and pulled me away from the crowd.
“Watching, waiting, snatching, hating…”
“Who is?” I asked, nervous.
“Worm … waiting for the dog to be alone. Try to…” he stopped himself and swallowed painfully. “Trying to use K9 … again…”
I looked back and, sure enough, Dan was standing and staring at us.
“He wouldn’t dare,” I reassured Soul.
Soul straightened up and played with one sleeve of his blue shirt. “Warning.”
I smiled knowingly. “Thank you.” He nodded, his bottom lip pouting even though he looked pleased with himself.
“Stupid shirt… I swear, one day I’m going to burn the contents of his closet…” Viktor shook his head, his greying ponytail swinging as he moved.
“Frankie’s a little odd, but he isn’t bad at what he does,” I told him.
“I agree wholeheartedly,” Viktor said, grinning. I got the sense that he wasn’t actually that bothered by Frankie’s outfit. Maybe he just didn’t like Frankie because he’s a better warrior than you’d expect. “What about your friend,” Viktor continued. “How has he adjusted to the base?”
I turned to look at Soul, giving him the opportunity to answer for himself.
“O-okay, sir…” Soul dropped his head and played with a button on his shirt, pressing his lips firmly shut as his eyes went wide.
“Respectful, I like that. A lot of other cities have already gotten wind of the situation, and they aren’t as understanding as Lilithia, so if either of you win the tournament, watch your backs. I’ve tried to put a good word in but they just don’t get it.” He took a swig of whatever was in his glass — probably some fancy Scotch that wasn’t available to the likes of us — and sighed. “I don’t know many details, K9, but I’m leaving everything up to you and Dragon.”
“Thank you, and don’t worry. Dan and Soul won’t be going at it until after we find out who wanted everyone gone.”
“Very good. Best of luck in the tournament, you two.” He dismissed us.
“Shall we head out?” I asked, pointing my chin toward the road just outside of the town square. Soul nodded and followed me out, looking around anxiously.
“Nervous…”
I turned my head and looked at my companion. “Why?”
“Bad things happen in the dark…”
I looked up at the night sky. “It’s not dark … not here. The stars shine far too bright here for it to get really dark. And we can still see the light from the party.”
I smiled. I really liked being out at night, but most days I was too exhausted to stay out late. Our breath was visible. I had to grab my shoulders as I shuddered. It would be snowing in a few weeks, and despite my complete hatred of hot weather, winter wasn’t exactly my favourite either.
“We have to win,” Soul spoke quietly.
“Heaven help us…” I replied. The world was against us, and it seemed that no matter what we did, we were born to lose. “We will. We have to, if we want to live.”
I followed Soul past the iron gate at the front of the building — a feature that made it look more like an asylum than a … whatever it was before the warrior’s league swept in and took over.
“Training tomorrow?” he asked. I nodded and started to walk away, only to be stopped after three steps when he grabbed my hand.
“Please … p-please stay out of the spotlight…”
“What do you mean?” I asked, looking up at him.
He grimaced, clearly trying find a way of wording what he wanted to say. “N-no one’s explained… They don’t understand why K9’s helping the bird, a-and they don’t want us to win. At all. The boss … he said the crow didn’t do anything he didn’t have to, to survive … b-but there was better ways to handle it…”
“And no one except maybe Chrissy and Matt are willing to believe us?”
He nodded nervously and looked at me for an answer.
“They don’t need to right now. We’ll show them once we know the whole story; we’ll make them confess and then let Mr. Viktor choose their fate, okay?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Okay.” He paused for a moment, searching my face. “K9?”
“Yes?”
“The bird’s not bad … is he? F-for all … all he’s done … you…” — he slowly put his head down — “do you … care about h-him?”
I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. Of course, I cared about him. Of course, I cared about what would happen to him. I nodded. He bit his lip and hunched his shoulders so much he looked as small and scared as he did when we met.
“I care about my Crow, and
I always will. That’s another thing you should never worry about. I’ve got your back.”
I squeezed his arm, then started walking away.
I smiled as I heard him mumble to himself, “My K9…”
Thirteen
By the time I got to the dining hall, I had discovered that I was among those few who didn’t party too hard the night before. Chrissy, on the other hand, had decided to wake me around 8 a.m. with three slow knocks on the bathroom door, asking for some painkillers. Turned out she’d kept the party going on her own once she’d gotten back to her room. She’d been staying in Angel’s room since she got back, and Angel moved in with Ronin.
I grabbed a cheese-filled breakfast sandwich from under a heat lamp and sat down on the cafeteria bench in between Chrissy and Angel.
“How’s your head, Chris?” I asked, a little louder than I needed to. Chrissy groaned and shot me a menacing look.
“Lightweights!” Frankie shouted from behind me, walking up to the table with his own breakfast. He plopped down across from us, apparently no worse for wear even after a night of hard partying.
“Frankie … please…” Eloise said. She had been following him. She sat down beside Frankie, holding her head. “This is worse than your twenty-fifth birthday, Benji.”
To my amusement, most of the room seemed to be hungover. For once, I wasn’t the one suffering the effects of too many shots of tequila. It felt good.
“Where’s that little birdy that usually sits on your shoulder?” Angel asked through gritted teeth.
I rolled my eyes. “He isn’t a pet.”
I slapped Chrissy’s back. “You intend on training anytime soon?”
“Not with you, I don’t.” Her angry glare stung a bit, but I shrugged it off. Chrissy could be pretty emotional at times, and I could tell she was nervous about the qualifier.
Soul stepped over a few moments later, hair still dripping wet and soaking his button-up shirt around his neck, distracting me from my conversation.
I looked at him for the first time in a while; he had the same broad shoulders, the same tired eyes and pouting mouth. He constantly looked curious about something but also like he was about to fall asleep. There was still ink smeared over his arm and cheek that didn’t seem to want to fade, and his hands were very different from the rest of his body. His strong build and height gave him a pretty intimidating look, but his hands were smooth. His fingers always seemed to be typing or tapping, barely noticeable most of the time.
