Leftovers: Part 1
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The dust from the near miss caught him in the face, forcing a flinch that sent his return shot off target. The grit in his eyes forced him back around the corner, and Jezzi took his place, sending shots down range. The world was a blurry mess and he cursed his goggles being broken the moment the “Game” started.
“They’re flanking us,” Jezzi yelled.
She’d been forced onto the team only a few games prior. “The Outcasts” was the name their “manager” had given them. Fresh meat for whatever grinder he wanted to put them in. Unlike some of the other teams- there wasn’t shit for medical relief, and damned sure no coming back from those REALLY nasty injuries. Being traded or killed were the only ways out of The Outcasts.
“Well, don’t let them,” Jake replied as he desperately tried to get whatever was in his eyes out.
We are so screwed.
“There are too many,” she yelled over her own return fire. “We have to pull back.”
Back. Where is “back?”
They were hemmed into a corner of the arena. Behind them roughly fifty meters was “The Wall” and beyond that the Arena Security that would kill them just as sure as the aliens advancing on their position. Worse, as far as he could figure, the rest of the twenty or so Outcasts that had entered the Arena were likely already dead.
Death Ground. I’m in Death Ground.
A hand grabbed his shoulder- feminine yet strong. Jezzi pulled on him. His eyes cleared for a second and he saw the look of terror on her face that bordered on maddened. Her mind was almost to its breaking point. The “SNAP!” of the alien rifles sharp as a knife cut through and he willed his eyes open. Wrapping his left arm about her waste, he lifted her to his shoulder, and bounded back toward the corner and The Wall. As he ran, he heard her rifle barking at something- maybe nothing.
It didn’t matter. All that mattered was the slim hope that lay toward The Wall. There was always a small place to sneak, or hide at the edges. Every “Contestant” knew it. Unfortunately, they were hard to find and sometimes were traps of their own. There was nothing they could do- try and evade and out maneuver- or die in place.
Jake wasn’t about to surrender just yet. He still had charges for his rifle. A spare grenade, and his knife. There was still the means to resist.
Carrying Jezzi he leapt over a small barricade and the two crashed together to the ground. His left shoulder popped uncomfortably, and no sooner had they landed then the barricade was hammered by enemy fire. Jezzi was still near maddened.
Must be why she was traded- breaks down when things go south.
She dropped her rifle, and grabbed her face, whimpering to herself.
Crap. This is most definitely not good.
Instinct more than all the leadership training he’d ever received took over, and he slapped her across the face.
“Will you shut up and focus you stupid brat! Get your weapon off the ground, and prepare to move!”
For a second her whimpering disappeared, and a shocked confused look crossed her face.
<three or four impacts on the barricade>
Her demeanor changed to one of anger.
“Stupid brat?!”
<Two more impacts>
“Yes, if you just sit there whimpering like one!”
<Two more impacts- some inarticulate alien yells>
“If we survive this, I’ll show you how stupid and bratty I can be,” she retorted picking up her rifle.
<The shooting stopped- just alien yells>
“I look forward to it- NOW FOLLOW ME!”
