Page 42 of Rat Race

I grabbed ahold of the lasso hanging off my pants and ran at them. It worked. They startled, not expectin’ me to jump into action as fast as I did.

I threw the rope at their feet as they stumbled back and pulled, tyin’ them together like I was ropin’ calves. It was enough to force both of them off their feet and to the ground. One of them dropped their bat, but the other was quick to push himself up.

He tried to come at me, but with the other player still attached to him at the ankle, his bat missed my body by a whole foot. I used my chance to grab it and clock him right in the head with it, knockin’ him out.

“Hey, Cam,” the other said fearfully, raising his hand. “I didn’t mean anything?—”

I slammed my body into his, throwing us to the ground.

Elijah was still staring at the scene, unmoving. I met his gaze hard and ready to fight, but a sound called me back to Aubrey.

She’s going to fuckin’ kill her.

"Aubrey, get off her!" I shouted, on top of the larger of the two and forcing his face into the gravel, readyin’ the bat. "We aren't PKers, remember?"

"YOU aren't a PKer," Aubrey corrected, satisfaction washing over her face as the girl grew increasingly purple the longer her hands were wrapped around her throat.

Aubrey was scratched up everywhere—arms and hands, neck and face—anywhere the girl could reach in her increasingly feebler attempts to get her off her. She bucked her hips but didn’t do much more than make my girl adjust.

Ella screamed as Elijah took his chance and chased her around the fountain. He paused when he saw Aubrey, shifting his focus.

Hiram is out in the open.It was a chance that wouldn’t come around again.Priorities.Focus on your people.

A loud crack and a splash.

Fuck. Okay. Priorities shiftin’.

Using the bat, I struck the struggling body underneath me in the temple until he stopped moving, jumping at the body that was trying to pull Aubrey off the girl, the bat clatterin’ down near her knee.

She was screaming so loud it was hard to think, her frustrated noises drawing my attention to how she might sound wrapped around my fingers.

No time, Cam. Focus.

I was so scatterbrained that I hadn’t realized the first player I knocked out was already at my back, wrappin’ his arm around my neck and attemptin’ to put a knife to my throat.

I rolled in the gravel, trying to get the upper hand on my new opponent. Luckily for me, they were drastically outmatched in size, but unluckily for me, I was being too cocky when a knife slashed into my cheek, close enough to my eye to make it water.

Splashes and the sound of struggle followed me as my ears began to ring, grabbin’ the player's arm and forcin’ it under my knee. Giving it as little thought as I could, I braced their hand and elbow, snapping it like a glow stick. He screamed, and I jumped to my feet, adequately convinced he was incapacitated enough for me to try to check on Ella.

Shaking my head to dislodge a bit of the blood that was slicking down my face, I looked at Aubrey, and she was holding her own, so I jogged around the side of the fountain to find Elijah sitting on top of Ella.

My watch buzzed, the lights in the room flickering down into near darkness for a few terrifying seconds as I jumped into the basin of the fountain, the screens flashing red Xs warning that a PK had just happened.

Fuck. Fuck!

I jumped on Elijah’s back, rippin’ him off the body that was no longer struggling under the water.

I pushed away the worry that my family would disown me for my actions.No PK. Help them.

"Ella!" I shouted, turning and struggling to lift her head out of the water as I was being dragged backwards by Elijah, his furious grip trying to stop me from getting to her.

Her dark hair appeared over the water, splutterin’ and coughin’.

Relief. I couldn't have a teammate die on my watch.

Then who…?

"Aubrey!" I shouted, fully engagin’ with Elijah now, grapplin’ with him as he tried to force my head underwater.

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