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I STOOD NEXT TO THE large window on the tenth floor that they had to remove to make an exit for the building. It was just about level with the water, one more inch and the tenth floor would have been flooded like all the floors beneath it. I was surprised when Max actually steered a small boat up to the window with a bright smile on his face. I had been having serious doubts on whether the mystery boat even existed. Members of the NHRA loaded our boat up with a few guns, some flares, and some food.
"Are you sure you don't want the whole team to come? You have the entire NHRA at your disposal." Max asked.
I shook my head. I didn't think I'd be able to handle it if any more people got hurt on my behalf. I almost lost it when Finn tried to die for me. I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself if someone with a life or a family outside of these city walls never got to go home.
We loaded into the boat and pulled out our map.
"The good news is that having a boat will cut down our travel time. The bad news is that we have no idea what is lurking in these waters. There could be downed power lines, obstacles, or god knows what kind of magical creatures the governors will pay the witches to summon. The other contenders aren't our biggest threat anymore. Now we have to assume that the entire city is working against us." Finn laid his finger on the map. "This is the best shot we have at a quick route."
Max took the wheel of the speedboat and it slowly lurched forward. I held my gun in my hands and sat in the back nervously scanning every building and every window. It was safe to assume that the first phase probably took out one or two contenders, we almost didn't even make it out alive. But there were others still out there, and to them I was just a paycheck. A payday that would set them up for life, no doubt. And in a city where you're oppressed with poverty that was an irresistible offer. I didn't even blame them, after all they were just trying to survive. But so was I, and every day the stakes got higher. Every day more people were counting on me to make it out alive, and the pressure not to let them down got heavier and heavier.
"So, you really invited captain happy to come with?" Drax sat down next to me.
"He kind of invited himself and I just went with it." I shrugged. "What? Do you have a problem with happy people?" I teased between scanning the windows, ready to squeeze the trigger if I had to.
"No, I kind of like it actually. He reminds me of me, before my life went downhill." Drax's eyes looked tired and his face looked pale, paler than usual. He scratched at his arm and he looked more fidgety than normal.
"Are you feeling okay?" I laid my hand on the side of his cheek. His skin was cold and clammy.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's fine." He pulled away from my touch.
Before I could say another word Max yelled "Get down!" I looked up to see a small missile headed straight for the boat. Everyone flung themselves to the floor of the boat and the missile narrowly missed the boat, and crashed into the side of a random building with a loud boom. Rubble and debris flew in all directions as the building crumbled into the water beneath it. The explosion sent a surge of wild waves that shook the boat violently.
"What the hell was that?" I yelled.
I carefully pulled my head up and looked around frantically. The smoke from the explosion made it hard to tell where the missile came from in the first place. The cloud was so thick I could barely see Max standing at the front of the small boat.
"Is everyone okay?" I yelled.
Max, Colt, and Finn all grunted their okay's, but there was radio silence from Drax.
"What about Drax? Is Drax okay?" I can't see him." I searched the back of the boat and he wasn't there. My heart thudded loudly in my chest and I started to panic. All the horrible things that could have happened while I had my back turned and was sheltering myself flashed inside my mind. For all I knew he could have been laying at the bottom on the pit of water by now, blasted out of the boat.
"Here, here he is. I found him!" Max yelled.
Drax lay slumped over the front of the boat, just outside the small windshield. He was on his stomach and a small trickle of blood ran down his forehead. I held my breath while the guys pulled him in, still unresponsive, when a small glimmer from the window of a building across the way caught my eye.
It was so far away that I had to squint to even get a good glimpse at what it was, but when I did my heart dropped.
"Another incoming!" I yelled just as they pulled Drax down into the boat.
I froze and my eyes locked on the small projectile missile headed straight for us, and by the looks of this one whoever it was launching then had been working on their aim. This time they weren't going to miss.
A small drone emerged from behind one of the buildings and its camera locked on to us.
My mind slowed and it felt like time did too. Every second lasted longer than it should have and I felt all of my emotions at once. Sadness, anger, fear, they all played well together in the playground that was my mind. I wanted to move, I needed to move, but I couldn't. All I could think about what the camera that the drone carried. I knew the trials were being live streamed, but up until then we had done a pretty good job at evading them. Now they showed up at the exact moment of our demise, ready to stream my death to the whole world- my mother included.
I thought about the pain she would go through having to watch her daughter be blown to pieces on national television. The record of the slaughter would ring throughout history, and be replayed in the trial highlights for years like all the other poor souls who lost their lives in them.
I couldn't let that happen.
Before my mind could realize what was going on my body lunged forward and hit the gas, sending us charging straight toward the missile. The boat was fast, but the missile was faster.
I knew there was no way that we could outrun it, so our only option left was to outsmart it and take out whoever it was that was launching them. The boat sped forward which sent all the guys tumbling backward, spiraling to the floor. They hung on for dear life, clinging to the seats as anchors.
My eyes caught on a large piece of debris in the water in front of us, it looked like a slab of wood or maybe even an entire section of wall from a building. All I knew was that it was at the perfect angle to use as a jump. To be completely honest I didn't even know if it was possible to jump a speedboat but we were about to find out. It was better than just laying down and dying. If I was going to die on national television I was going to do it in a blaze of fury, fighting until the very end. I was going to show my mother that she raised a fighter, just like her.
A smiled at the thought.
And if I was wrong I was going to see my dad again, at that point either one was fine with me.
"Brace yourselves." I screamed.
Colt wrapped his arm around Drax and anchored himself to him. The boat jerked violently as it crashed into the debris. The missile was so close now that I swear I could hear it gliding through the air. I could almost feel the heat radiating off of its blast. The boat soared into the air. I held my breath as we climbed higher and higher, just high enough to jump over the missile just as it lowered into the water where the boat once was. There was a huge splash that sent water projectile firing in all directions. There was a huge explosion behind us but I didn't even care anymore. I pulled my gun and we sped straight in the direction that the missile came from. There was another glint up ahead. I could finally see where it was coming from, one of the top floor windows of an old executive building.
"There you are you bastard." I mumbled before letting go of the gas and pulling the scope up to my eye. I saw the man frantically trying to reload a missile into his launcher. I took a deep breath and tried to slow the jitters I had in my hands from the adrenaline. I remembered what my father had taught me when he was teaching me how to shoot, always line it up and breathe first. If you hold your breath you get sloppy.
I closed the trigger and the bullet struck him. He must have accidentally launched the missile because there was a huge explosion in the building that busted out most of the windows.
The drone above us lowered itself and its camera gleamed.
"Suck on that Governor." I flipped it off before I raise my gun and shot the drone too. I got a sick sense of satisfaction just knowing how much that would get under the governor's skin. I hoped that the entire city saw it, the entire world would have been even better. I wanted every person who supported the games to hear loud and clear that I was there to take them down, and I wasn't going to let anything stop me.
"Scar, we have a problem." Colt said. He stared at the map.
I looked at him and tilted my head.
"We're here".
"What do you mean we're here?"
"That was the opera building." He pointed toward the crumbling executive building. Most of it was under water and what wasn't under water was up in flames."
Fuck.
"Okay. Okay, Okay, Okay." I thought out loud. "Drax is out cold, and he’s really the only one with random knowledge about the outskirts and its abandoned buildings. So, what would he do?"
I grabbed the map and searched it frantically. "Here." I pointed to a point on the map that showed higher ground, a prison. It sat on a large hill just outside of the outskirts. The water probably wasn't high enough to reach it, and it was a good place to regroup and figure out how the hell we were going to hijack a television signal with absolutely no equipment. Plus Drax wasn't looking too good. We needed to get him to some place safe to recover, sitting out on the water like sitting ducks was just going to get us killed. With an explosion that loud every contender was going to gravitate to the area. We had to get out of there and we had to do it fast.
"Hold on everyone." I reached for the steering wheel but I felt Max's hand rest gently on my shoulder.
"Actually, do you mind if I drive?" He smiled awkwardly. "I kind of want us to make it there alive, you know?"
My mouth hung open and Max laughed.
"The nice guy's got jokes." Finn laughed in the background.
I crossed my arms, nursing my bruised ego.
"Can we just go?" I moaned, but deep down I liked that Max was getting more comfortable, maybe he could turn out to be one of the guys after all.