Victors

Chapter 5

Naomi's POV

"Are you sure she'll be back?" Glitch asked impatiently.

The three of us were sitting on the cold ground in the alleyway. Choco had run off—presumably to her house—and hadn't returned. It had been at least thirty minutes since she left.

Leo nodded. "Just give her time."

"We can't afford to give her time," Glitch muttered. "The bots are gonna find us eventually."

I sighed. "You're right. But we don't exactly have anywhere to go. We can't go to any of our houses, we can't go back to that warehouse, and we can't go anywhere public."

"We need to figure something out," Leo said. He began pacing back and forth.

"I live outside the city. We could try going there," I suggested.

"Does Todd know where you live?" Glitch asked.

"Yes," I answered with a sigh. "So I guess we can't go there, either."

The three of us sat in silence, trying to think of better ideas.

Suddenly, a figure walked into the alley. We jumped up, readying our weapons. But we relaxed as we saw who it was.

"Let's kill Todd," Choco said emotionlessly.

"Where did you go?" I asked.

"Home. They took my brother," she answered, still stone-faced.

I gasped. What did that mean for my sister?

"Damn, that's rough," Glitch said. "We'll rescue him and Rebel once we regroup and figure out a plan."

"But where are we going to do that? We can't stay here forever," I pointed out.

"I believe I can offer a place to stay," a creepy voice came from behind all of us.

The five of us jumped and whirled around, pointing our weapons. The voice came from the side of the alley that didn't lead into the street, which meant whoever it belonged to was there the entire time. It was completely dark where the voice was coming from.

"Show yourself," Leo ordered.

A human figure stepped forward. It was wearing completely black clothing and had a hood up that put its face in shadow.

"The name's Hood."

***

Rebel's POV

I started cracking up. I was laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe. I almost fell out of my chair trying to catch my breath and stop laughing.

"You want me..." I was still laughing, and tears were coming out of my eyes. "To be your cohost? That's ridiculous!" I snorted with laughter.

Todd was staring at me, not a trace of a smile on his face. When I finally composed myself, he spoke. "I'm being serious. The people are getting tired of seeing the same old face hosting the competitions. They need to see someone new and young."

"We're the same age, nerd," I interjected.

"You know what I mean. A new face, by my side, as we host the Games. What do you say?" Todd asked.

"Heck no is what I say," I replied instantly.

Todd sighed. "Did you not hear what I was saying earlier? Don't you want to own a piece of the universe? To control everything that happens? You can basically become God!"