Suddenly, rampaging clown dolls didn’t seem so bad.
Chunk! Another disk embedded itself in the wall over my head. There was no fooling around. These things were deadly. Veego and LaBerge had upped the stakes. The question now was, what was the game? I kept my back to the wall and squinted to get a look at the room. My eyes had adjusted enough that I could make out some detail. The room was giant. The ceiling was high. You could fit eight basketball courts inside, with room left over for a running track. It wasn’t empty. There looked to be several mountains scattered around. I’m serious. There were craggy mounds all over the place that had to be thirty or forty feet high. They were just as white as the rest of the room, looking like giant icebergs. I could see little glints of silver where the killer disks had embedded themselves at various places. Still, I had no clue as to what the game could be, besides avoiding decapitation, that is.
My eye caught movement. It was dark against all the bright white. It was Challenger Green. He was climbing one of the mounds. If my penalty for losing the clown game was to not learn the rules, that meant Challenger Green did know the rules. I watched him for a clue. He climbed the mound easily. There were several places for foot- and handholds. It looked like climbing was the easy part. The hard part was avoiding the speeding disks. I saw one disk fly toward him and stick into the side of the mound, next to his leg. He never saw it coming, but dove back in surprise when it hit. He nearly fell off the mound. That meant he didn’t know when to expect these things. Which meant I wouldn’t know either. Swell.
The top of this minimountain came to a peak. Challenger Green quickly scampered to the summit, did something I couldn’t see, then hurried back down. Whatever he did up there, I figured I had to do it too. That was the deal. We had to climb these mountains. At least I had a goal now, besides avoiding being sliced in half, that is.
I decided that safety was more important than speed, so I stayed on the floor and crawled along on my belly. My plan was to get to the mountain closest to me. I hadn’t seen any of the disks flying that low, so I figured I’d be okay until I had to climb.
I was wrong.
I had gotten about halfway there when the floor in front of me suddenly moved! A whole section of floor quickly slid to the right, opening up a cavern. It seemed as if the room were built on air! Or at least, over a chasm. The opening was dark, so there was no way to tell how deep it might have been, but I didn’t want to jump down to find out. No way. I caught a glimpse of movement to my left. My bed was hurtling toward me! I quickly realized it wasn’t just the bed, it was the floor below it that was moving. The bed shot across the floor, then suddenly tipped on end and fell into another hole that had opened up in front of it. I quickly crawled over and looked down. The bed was long gone. The chasm below was deep.
I had learned the next wrinkle to this game. The floor was a constantly shifting puzzle. Holes opened up quickly and randomly. If you were in the wrong spot, buh-bye. But you couldn’t stand up and leap from spot to spot or you might get sliced by the flying disks. The trick was to stay alive and get to the top of those mountains to do . . . whatever. At least my penalty had been erased. I understood the game. I kind of wished I didn’t.
I was still looking down into the hole where my bed had disappeared, with my fingers curled over the edge, when a section of floor flew toward me. I saw it coming at the last second and pulled my hands away as the pieces of flooring slammed together with a chunk! The hole had closed so fast and so violently that my fingers would have been crushed for sure.
I scrambled back toward the first mountain. I felt a few disks flying overhead, but I was more worried about the floor suddenly opening up and swallowing me. I reached the base of the mound, took a breath, and quickly climbed. There was no problem getting up, thankfully. At least that gave me a fighting chance to dodge the disks. I leaped up, climbing from ledge to ledge while scanning back and forth for any flashes of silver headed my way. A few stuck into the mound on either side of me, but neither came close enough to be scary. There was one good thing—it didn’t seem like they were being aimed. I wasn’t being shot at. If I got hit by one of those things, it meant I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I reached the pinnacle and saw what I had to do. It was simple. There were six round, flat lights about three inches in diameter that were built into a plateau on top of the mound. Three red, three green. One of the green lights was glowing. I took a guess and touched one of the red lights. It lit up. That was the game. You had to climb three mountains and light all your lights . . . without getting killed, of course.
The race was on. I turned and looked down at the room from a bird’s-eye vantage point. It was so white and the lights were so bright, the whole place glowed. From high up on top, the floor looked like a checkerboard with squares about five feet across. The squares were constantly moving, opening up pieces and filling in others. There didn’t seem to be any pattern to it. That was bad. There was no way to guess where a hole might open up. I also saw the flashes of silver as the sharp disks flew across the room. Winning this game was about being lucky and keeping your head. Literally.
I saw Challenger Green down on the floor, hopping from square to square. He landed on one just as it moved. It was so fast that it threw him off balance. He had to throw himself backward or he would have been dumped into the hole.
A flash of silver sped by me, very close. It got my attention. I had to get moving. I leaped down the mountain faster than I should have. But Green was ahead of me. I needed to make up time. I was lucky I didn’t take a tumble. That would have been weak. When I hit the floor, I crouched down low to make a smaller target and started running for the next closest mountain. I only got a few steps when I saw a silver disk headed for me at head level. I threw myself to the side and it sailed past, but I was falling right toward a section of floor that was opening up! I had to contort my body to change my direction in midfall. I hit the section of floor right next to the new opening. Too close. I rolled to my right just as the section of floor beneath me started to move. It was so fast, it spun me into a barrel roll. I had to fight against my own momentum and stop myself from rolling off the edge. I ended up on my belly, with my left arm dangling over the side of the chasm. I took a second to catch my breath, then realized I was in a bad spot. I quickly pulled my arm out a second before a piece of floor slammed into place, nearly cutting off my limb.
As frantic as I was, I couldn’t stay still. No place was safe. I got on my knees and crawled toward the next mountain. The loud music picked up the pace. I wished it would just stop. It made a difficult game nearly impossible. I made it to the base of the next mound and started my climb when I felt a sharp, hot pain in my right leg. Looking down I saw that a disk had clipped my right thigh. It made a neat cut through my black pants and stuck in the side of the mound. I didn’t want to know how deep the cut was. There was nothing I could do about it anyway. So I climbed. If it hurt, I didn’t know it. My adrenaline was pumping too hard to notice. I got to the top of the mound to see that there were still only one red and one green light lit. I quickly hit the next red light. I was in the lead!
I turned to head down just as a second green light turned on. I looked out over the room to see Challenger Green on top of another mound. It was dead even. I hurried down the mound, even more recklessly than last time. It was going to be close. I hit the floor and scanned to see which mound I should climb next. Challenger Green was doing the same thing. We were maybe twenty yards apart. I saw the mound that was closest to me. Unfortunately, it was the same mound that was closest to Challenger Green. It was decision time. Did I go for the closest mound and possibly have to fight Challenger Green to get to the summit? Or risk running for a mound that was farther away?
The two of us made quick eye contact. We both knew what we had to do. We ran for the same mound. We both chose to fight each other rather than make a suicide run across that deadly, random gauntlet.
I was halfway to the mound whe
n I saw two disks flying at me from different directions. I dove to the ground as they hit above me and shattered. Pieces of metal rained down, nicking my arms like stinging bees. Challenger Green saw this and laughed. My dive cost me precious seconds. Green was almost at the mound. I was going to lose.
That’s when the floor opened up beneath Challenger Green. He fell. Not to the floor—he fell into the hole. He never saw it coming. He screamed, but kept his wits. He caught the edge of the opening with his arms. His arms and shoulders were above the floor, the rest of his body dangled below. But he was trapped. I saw him kicking to try to get a leg up, but he couldn’t get leverage. He wasn’t going to fall, but he wasn’t getting up, either.
I realized with horror that he may not have been in danger of falling, but in seconds he was going to be cut in half. As soon as that piece of floor jammed back into place, he’d be history. It was almost over. I was seconds away from winning the Grand X.
The reality of the situation hit me hard. This guy was about to die. I would be the champion, but at what cost? Another gruesome death? In those few vital seconds I realized there was an opportunity here. Which would have more impact on the people of Quillan? My victory in the Grand X? Or a selfless act that would demonstrate yet again how things were going to be different? I could win the competition and let Challenger Green die, or I could save him and be a hero. Even if I ended up losing the Grand X, I would have made my point. The choice was easy.
I quickly crawled across the floor and grabbed Challenger Green by the arms.
“What are you doing?” he growled.
The floor piece started moving. I pulled back hard, but the guy was heavy. He quickly realized I was trying to save him.
“Pull! Pull!” he commanded.
He got one leg up onto the edge, and had nearly brought up the other when I heard the crunch.
“Ahhhhhh!” he screamed as the flooring slammed home, crushing his foot.
I heard the cracking sound, even above the music. It was horrible. The poor guy lay on his back, his foot jammed between pieces of floor, trapped. I tried to force open the pieces of floor, but they wouldn’t budge. Challenger Green screamed in agony. There was nothing I could do to help him . . . except to win. When the game was over, I had to believe he would be released. It couldn’t have been a better situation. I not only saved his life, but the game was mine to win. I quickly left him and climbed up the mound. The silver disks seemed to be coming from every angle. I didn’t bother ducking or dodging. I was either going to be lucky or I wasn’t. I got to the top of the mound and saw the lights. All I had to do was press the final red light and it would be over. My finger hovered over it. The game was mine. But I didn’t push it. I suddenly remembered what Nevva said. If the competition was tied going into the last round, the final game was always a match to the death. If I pressed that button, the competition would be tied. By saving Challenger Green and winning the game, I might have set myself up to die.
I kind of wished I had remembered that a few seconds before.
I looked down at Challenger Green, who was clutching at his shattered foot. The guy was in a lot of pain. Whatever the next competition was, I was going to have a pretty big advantage. I wondered if I had just saved Challenger Green from a random death, only to be put in a position where I might have to kill him myself? I had never killed anyone in my life and didn’t want to start. Had I made a huge blunder?
There was only one thing to do. I pressed the red light.
JOURNAL #27
(CONTINUED)
QUILLAN
Fourteen worked to seal up the slice in my leg. The cut was clean, and luckily not very deep. He used a device that spit out a gluelike substance that sealed the wound and deadened it so I felt no pain. I was good to go, but I still didn’t know for what.
We were in the dining hall of the castle. I refused to go back to my room, or anywhere else in the castle. I didn’t want to be surprised by any more trapdoors or falling beds or killer clowns leaping out to bite me. Whatever was going to happen next, I wanted to see it coming.
“You saved Challenger Green,” Fourteen said. “Why? By letting him die you would have won the Grand X.”
“Lots of reasons,” I said. “I think mostly it’s because I’m not cut out for this warrior business.”
“But you are fantastic,” Fourteen said. “I have never seen anyone like you.”
“Thanks. I’ve got the tools, but I don’t have the killer instinct. I don’t even like putting lobsters into boiling water.”
“I do not understand that,” the dado said.
“What I mean is, I’m not cold enough for this.”
Fourteen nodded and said, “You are not like the others. I knew that from the moment I saw you. I believe if there were more like you, Quillan would be a better place.”
“There are more like me,” I said, putting on my pants. “You’re going to see that pretty soon.”
Veego entered the dining hall, followed by two security dados.
“You have succeeded,” she said coldly.
“At what?” I asked. “I thought it was all tied up.”
“You have succeeded in destroying us,” she said bitterly. “Wagering is nonexistent. People are taking to the streets, demonstrating against the games. Against Blok. Crowds have broken into Blok stores to ransack them. Several of our gaming arcades have been overrun and destroyed. You have somehow . . . inspired them to insurrection.”
I sat down on the dining table to get off my leg and said, “This was going to happen whether I was here or not. If it wasn’t me, it would have been somebody else. People can’t live like this. Fear works for only so long. Blok became powerful out of greed, but you can’t build a civilization on that.”
“But they did,” Veego countered.
“No, they didn’t,” I said quickly. “They tried to destroy one. And they almost did. But you can’t crush people’s spirits. At least not forever. It may have taken a long time, but the people of Quillan are going to take back their territory. Ending your games is just the first step.”
Veego shook her head as if she couldn’t believe it could be true. Her world was crumbling.
“It can’t be happening again,” she said. “First Veelox, now here.”
“No, there’s a difference,” I said. “The people of Veelox did it to themselves. Every last one. Nobody forced anyone to stay in Lifelight. But here on Quillan there’s only one enemy. Blok. Blok took control of their lives, and now they’re fighting back.”
“But none of this was our doing!” she said. “We were just doing our job and filling a need.”
“Yeah, well, that need is about to go away,” I said. “And don’t act all innocent. You kidnapped people and set them up to kill one another. For profit. That’s not a job, that’s a crime. It doesn’t matter if it was your idea or not. You made it happen. And you know what else . . . ”
I walked toward her. The two dados straightened up so I didn’t get too close.
“Maybe you didn’t know what you were doing, but taking things from other territories and bringing them here could lead to a catastrophe. You’ve brought in raw materials and animals and ideas that don’t belong here. They’re not natural to this place. I suppose you can’t really be blamed, because you just don’t get it, but trust me, what you’ve done is a crime against humanity. Unless we can figure a way to purge everything you’ve brought here, you might have started a chain reaction that will make what happened on Veelox look like a party.”
Veego looked shaken. I was glad. She was a criminal. So was her goofy brother. I supposed they couldn’t totally be blamed for mingling the territories, because they didn’t know better, but still. When Blok was brought down and these guys put out of business, I sure hoped they would meet some kind of justice.
“LaBerge and I have been called to meet with the trustees first thing tomorrow,” she said. “I have no doubt we will be relieved of our responsibilities and the games taken awa
y.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I don’t think the games are going to be around much longer anyway. You’ll be lucky to get out before it comes down around you, and the people start storming the castle the way they’re tearing apart your arcades.”
Veego shot me a frightened look. She hadn’t thought of that.
“Well,” she said curtly. “At least there is one bit of consolation I can take from all of this.”
“What’s that?” I asked. “Do you get to keep your silly outfits? I’m sure that’s all LaBerge cares about anyway.”
“No,” she said, suddenly sounding cold. “You’re forgetting, Pendragon. The Grand X isn’t over. There’s a tie. And when there’s a tie, we have one last competition.”
“No way,” I said, scoffing. “Challenger Green’s foot was crushed. He’s out of it.”
“But he isn’t,” she said. “He’s quite resilient. He wants one more chance at you, and I’m going to give it to him.”
I didn’t like where this was going.
“We always choose the games,” Veego said, enjoying the moment. “We try to pick competitions that will provide fairly matched and exciting contests. But not in this case. You may have been successful in bringing me down, but at least I can keep you from enjoying your victory. That’s why I picked a game that Challenger Green is most competent in. It plays to every one of his strengths. I have no doubt that he will triumph . . . and you will die.”