Page 27 of Survivor
The quarters were large. A central room that acted as a lounge with bedrooms shooting off from it. Generous. But then, I was about to play prey in his gauntlet.
One day.
I’d be running the gauntlet in a day.
Braker had promised to send me the specs and stats on the other contestants. The contestants that would be trying to kill me.
“We’re clean,” Xavier said. “No eyes or ears in the room aside from our own.”
“Here it is!” Tide was still staring at the screen.
Larcen’s face appeared on the screen, and his voice echoed around the room as Tide turned up the audio feed.
“Patrons, welcome to the fifteenth biannual gauntlet. This year, we’ll be doing things differently. Only six contestants have been handpicked by Braker Rock. Six of the best.”
Pictures flashed up on it. All male. Huge, hulking, crazy, scary-looking creatures. Pincer guy was one of them. Five of them. My picture wasn’t there.
Larcen grinned. “Yes, we seem to be missing a contestant, don’t we? And there’s a reason for that. Our final contestant is a key that unlocks a special prize.”
My picture appeared, and underneath were the words
Bonus 25,000 credits for the kill.
Braker was offering the other contestants 25k just to kill me. So, even if they didn’t win the gauntlet, if they took me out, they still walked with something.
I looked small. I looked insignificant. I looked like easy money.
“Fuck this,” Vex growled.
Tide turned off the sound, his shoulders tense. “Rogue. I don’t like this.”
Neither did I, but it was our only way out of the mess we were in.
“I don’t trust any of this,” Vex said.
I stepped closer to him and touched his arm lightly. “I can do this.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “I need to get some air.” He strode toward the exit, where the doors opened with a swish, and was gone.
We weren’t prisoners.
There was a lift that led out to the main arena. We could still leave. But our problem was there was nowhere to go.
The tablet on the table pinged with a message.
Xavier ran a hand through his hair and then picked it up. “Must be the information on the other contestants.” He swiped right to unlock the screen and opened the message. “Fuck,” he said softly.
I took the pad off him to study it closer, running my gaze over my opponents and their strengths and weaknesses.
Pincer guy had skin as hard as a crustacean, but crustaceans usually had soft gooey insides if you did manage to find a weak spot and get in. There was a leather-skinned dude who secreted a hallucinogen substance from the pads of his fingers. Okay, so I needed to make sure he didn’t touch me. The other two were the same species, and they looked like twins. They had speed and flexibility listed as their strengths, but they were practically deaf. The final guy looked like a gooey blob—apparently, he suffocated his opponents. He also had an incredible sense of smell, but his eyesight was terrible.
This was all good information, and I filed it away neatly for future reference.
“You need to get some rest,” Tide said.
He was right. I needed to recharge and be ready for the gauntlet.
I nodded and then headed for the nearest bedroom.
