Page 74 of Darling Wildfire
“Alright then,” Vyper said. “Anyone object to me taking point?”
No one objected but one look at Vyper and I already knew what kind of person he was and it wasn’t someone I wanted leading me into a war zone. I exchanged discrete looks with Atlas and North and saw we were on the same page. North sat down on his bed and I sat on mine facing him. Atlas joined me at the foot and I leaned in.
“Him as team lead? Really?”
North’s jaw ticked but otherwise he remained emotionless.
“Let’s feel out the first game and see what we’re really getting ourselves into. Then we can formulate a better plan.”
“Maybe the arena is where we can find a way to escape,” Atlas said. “They’re handing us live weapons.”
Before North could answer, Vyper spoke up again. “Alright, let’s talk strategy and then try to get a few hours of sleep. We don’t really know what we’re getting into but we should all be on the same page when we get out there.”
I sighed. It was going to be a long night.
37
THERON
The next morning we were fed breakfast and then cuffed and put into the back of the enclosed van.
I estimated the drive to be about an hour along windy, bumpy dirt and gravel roads. When we finally arrived at our destination, the van opened into a room with seven sets of full tactical gear. Everything from helmets to boots. We were uncuffed, and a message came on over a speaker.
“When these doors open, you’ll be released into the arena. The objective is to bring the target back to your safe zone which is right outside these doors.”
I stripped and started putting on the gear as the others followed suit.
“Along the wall outside, there are comms units to communicate with each other and a map of the arena. There are three other teams of seven you’ll be going against. It’s kill or be killed. A final reminder—if any of you get any rebellious ideas, the tracker we’ve placed in you will detonate. There are cameras recording visual and audio everywhere. Good luck.”
When I was done, I turned to Nyx and tightened his vest, making sure everything was in place, then did the same to Atlas.
“I don’t care what this fucker does—we stick together out there, got it?” I said, my voice low to be heard by only them.
“Copy that, boss,” Nyx said.
Atlas nodded.
“Just another day, boys,” Vyper said eagerly as the doors opened.
We stepped out into the sunlight, and the doors closed ominously behind us. I walked over and grabbed a comms unit. I stuck it in my ear as I surveyed the map crudely scrawled on the wall.
“Comms check,” Vyper said.
The map was a classic city grid but when I turned to look at the actual arena; it looked like a war zone. The buildings were crumbling ruins, many of them looking like they’d been blown up with their entire fronts gaping lettingus see the inside. Others were missing windows and doors or were simply a mess of concrete in the streets. The roads were pocked with craters from explosions and there were even a few burned and gutted vehicles. It looked like a war-torn city—eerie and desolate.
“Looks like we have a sixty-minute countdown,” Vyper said.
I looked over my shoulder at the other side of the door where a red digital clock was set at sixty. A buzzer sounded and Vyper had us move out as the clock began the countdown.
“Phantom, Kraven, Reaper—rear guard. You three—on me,” Vyper said.
We spread out into a formation and quickly made our way down a street in front of us. In the first building we found a few .45s and a handful of grenades but no ammo. We cleared the next few buildings and by the time we were approaching the center of the map, we’d found enough to outfit each of us with a firearm. The only problem was ammo.
“We should split up,” Vyper said. “Kraven, take your team and finish clearing this street. Holler if you find an ammo dump.”
“Copy,” I said.
I gestured to Nyx and Atlas and we took off down the street. I took the lead because I had the only gun with ammo so far—a .45 pistol with a single clip. Nyx also had a .45 and Atlas had an AR but both were empty. I was cautious going into the next building. It was another crumbled ruin with the entire south corner gone revealing a gutted concrete three story. On the second floor Atlas found a loaded sniper rifle, and we found a case of .45 ammo. As we loaded up, I looked around and saw a camera in the room. It wasn’t the first I’d seen. Nearly every spot on the map so far looked covered by a camera. They were watching, and they were listening through our comms.
