Author's Game Entries

Task 3: What is Your Ideal Weapon?

Whirrr, click. Shhhhh.....

The sound of his platform ascending is such a simple one, yet Ajax finds it much more terrifying than it's simplicity lets on. As it rises he finds heartbeat slowly growing louder than the platform; accelerating and filling his head like the beats of a death row drum.

The boy clenches teeth with a growl, his hands twitching to hold his lighter again, but it had already been confiscated because of it's weaponizable potential. In an attempt to focus on something else, he shifts his gaze down to the floor of the platform. He gasps as what he finds isn't what he expected.

Somehow the small tube he's in is starting to fill up with a dark liquid, moving up and sloshing over his shoes lazily like molasses. Ajax's eyes widen and he feels his adrenaline spike, fear coursing though his veins as his mind races for an escape. It wouldn't take long for it to fill the tube, or for it to--

Shhh... Click.

Ajax blinks as the platform comes slowly to a halt, the simple distraction causing the substance to disappear completely. Breathing out a slow shaky breath of relief, he realizes it had to have been all in his head... Is the serum still affecting him or is he going crazy?

Deciding not to focus on his own traitorous mind, Ajax instead takes a look around at his new surroundings. He's surprised to find he isn't met with the blinding lights of a typical arena, instead finding himself in a large concrete maze as dim as the inside of the tube he'd just been in. The air is so stuffy and muggy that it is almost hard to breathe.

As he glances around, he takes in the locations of the passages leading deeper into the maze and of the positions of his opponents. Along with Ajax's own, there are 24 circular platforms surrounding a large miscellaneous pile of weapons, though only 14 of those platforms are occupied by actual tributes.

Of these tributes, every single one of them is focused on the weapons. Everyone is tense, and there is a long charged moment of silence as they all wait for the signal to go. Ajax feels even his heartbeat quiet.

And then the horn blares. The moment is shattered, everyone is stirred into action as they leap off their platforms. Every single tribute surges towards the weapon pile, clawing at each other to get there first.

Ajax manages to make it to the weapon pile without conflict, and he darts forward to grab the weapon closest to him; a dagger. He grins wickedly as he feels the weight of it in his hand, but his glee is short lived. It's abruptly cut off by someone being shoved into him, causing Ajax to stumble back.

He growls and turns attack at them, but he freezes as he sees the other tribute crumple to the ground. Without someone to support him, Dean Remington lay there convulsing on the concrete floor, trying desperately to reach the throwing knife lodged firmly in the back of his neck.

Blood starts to pool and it isn't long before he goes still, like a puppet whose strings were snapped. His cannon sounds sharply, sending a jolt through Ajax and causing the serum in his system to act up again. His insides suddenly twist and the world around him tilts, twisting and going blurry like he's seeing underwater. His hearing is instantly muffled, the chaotic sounds of the bloodbath fading into a discernable warble.

Ajax's eyes grow wide as he stumbles back, disoriented and shocked. He's seeing everything like a Van Gogh painting, just swirling colors and watery light. He can't seem to make out anything but the blurry figure now approaching him, the person's face just a splotch of green, leaving them unrecognisable.

The long object in their hands glints as they raise it above Ajax to strike, and he instantly recognises their intentions. Ajax bolts forward just as they bring their weapon down, bringing his knife up as his only defense.