The Gamble of The Hunted

8

“Park!”

Kaleb shouted at the man standing in front of him. The two had been arguing about the games for the past hour while the gamblers began placing their final bets.

“Kaleb I am not pulling those girls out of there!”

“Park! Tara, Aaden, Caden, and that Carlie girl are the only ones left in these games! They will not kill each other.”

“I have money on their lives. Tara has no bets. She wont survive. Aaden? She has about 20 bets. Carlie? Nada. Caden? She has 50 bets! Caden is a killer. She will do what she has to do to survive. I’m not pulling them out!”

Kaleb wanted to scream and didn’t know what to do. He began to pace back and forth. He couldn’t believe what he was planning to do was going to hurt his own flesh and blood. Kaleb knew it was the right thing to do and cursed himself for not doing it while the other women were still alive.

“I’m going to go look for women for the next games.”

He lied in a mumble.

“That a boy! That’s the son I raised! Go fetch me some more.”

“At least tell these girls they are the only ones left in the games.”

Park nodded and turned back to the big screen. He watched as Tara shivered by Aaden in the now wintery season while Caden built a fire and Carlie slept. It had been two weeks in the games.

Kaleb exited the building into the nighttime air. He pulled out his black iPhone and opened a picture he took of the envelope that Aaden had addressed to Tara’s parents. He was going to tell them everything. Including where the girls were.

…

Ed and Peter walked into the small pub the woman had told them to meet her at. They looked around until they found the woman wearing a red hat and blue tshirt and began to walk towards her. The men were cut off by a man quickly walking towards the woman wearing all black, including a mask. Pete gasped and pointed at the man.

“ED! THAT’S MARK! THE TATTOO!”

Ed saw the small crescent tattoo on the guy’s neck and began to run but it was too late. He had already stabbed the woman in the back and left. They ran to the woman and tried to help while the bartender called for an ambulance. There was no way she was going to survive this. She managed to speak a few words to Ed,

“T-train…c-coach.”

Her eyes then closed and her breathing stopped.

…

Tara was just about to fall asleep in the comfort of Aaden’s arms and in the warmth of the fire when they were shocked by Park’s voice booming throughout the arena.

“Congratulations ladies! You have made it towards the end of the Survival Games. The last remaining ladies are…Tara, Aaden, Carlie, and Caden!”

All hope in the girls began to rise but fell immediately when they heard,

“Only one will leave alive.”

Caden glanced down at Aaden’s knife and sighed attracting the attention of the other three women.

“I’m sorry for this.”

She whispered before lunging for Aaden with the knife and jabbed it straight into her ribcage. Aaden couldn’t move. Her eyes went wide and Tara screamed in terror. Carlie stood and grabbed Tara as well pushing her behind her.

“Caden don’t!”

She shouted but it was too late. Aaden was lying on the ground coughing and Caden now repeated what she did to Aaden to Carlie and she too fell. It was now Tara and Caden. Tara was terrified and didn’t know what to do. She looked at her friends lying on the ground gasping for air and a newly found rage she had managed to keep in a bottle inside for years was opened. She screamed, this time out of anger instead of fear, and narrowed her eyes as Caden ran towards her. She managed to dodge the stabbing but the knife cut through her sleeve and sliced her arm making her squeal in pain. She thought about her family, and her fans, and about how Caden had nearly killed her friends and knew she had to survive this for them. She grabbed a bow she found on the floor and ran straight towards Caden. The girls both dodged the weapons and dropped them resulting in a one-on-one fist battle. Caden managed to grab her knife and lunged it towards Tara, who was on top of her, but Tara grabbed her wrist and took the knife.

“I’m blonde!”

She shouted and slapped Caden as hard as she could.

“I’m skinny!”

Another slap.

“I’m rich!”

And again.

“And I’m a little bit of a b*tch!”

She screamed (song lyrics) and hurled the knife into Caden’s stomach. The woman gasped before her eyes slowly began to shut. Tara dropped the knife and ran to her friends. They were still alive, but unconscious. Tears were now flowing down her face and she looked straight up.

“CAN YOU LET US OUT? I AM THE ONLY ONE CONCIOUS! PLEASE DON’T LEAVE US IN HERE!”

She screamed hoping for some kind of miracle to work. Despite the cold she pulled off her jacket and tore pieces off of it. She wrapped one piece tightly on Aaden’s wound and another on Carlie’s. Then she sat back against a tree and glanced at the picture Kaleb had given her when she was being put into the games. She had no tears left to cry. She could only feel the years of anger she had let loose on Caden. Tara couldn’t help but feel like crap at the fact she had actually killed someone, but she knew she had acted in self-defense.

…

Park watched in amazement at the screen. He was surprised at Tara’s actions.

“Wow... for such a tiny woman she is a b***h.”

He spoke and turned towards the gamblers who had terrified looks on their faces.

“Park let that girl out of there! And get the other two to a hospital.”

“No, that is against the rules of the game. The two still have a pulse the games are not over.”

He replied to the gambler who had spoken. Another one spoke up this time with force in his voice.

“Park these games were the most intense games you have ever held. Let the girls survive.”

This raised a heavy vote of all the gamblers agreeing to free the women. Park turned back to the screen and growled. He watched as Tara built another fire based on what she had seen the others do.