Tempest: The Champion

Phase 13, part 4

He runs towards me, making his way through the crowds. It's like a slow motion. I know I should stay by my friends, but the instincts are too powerful. I run towards him with an outstretched hand.

Almost there.

"Zoya...!" he groans.

His voice is interrupted by an ear-rending crack.

I see a lightning bolt from a Warden's rifle strike him. His eyes become glazed as he stumbles forward and falls on the ground, his arm still outstretched towards me. I scream hysterically as the Warden who shot him runs away like nothing happened.

The electric rifles are designed to be non-lethal. But Isaiah may be a different story.

Ryan boldly leaves the group and rushes towards Isaiah's collapsed body. He tries to find the Champion's pulse, both on his organic wrist and neck. Then, Ryan turns to me with sorrow in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Zoya," he says. "I feel no pulse. He's dead."

My world falls apart. All I can focus on is Isaiah's dead body. My biggest urge to track down the Warden who did it and take my revenge, but he's already long gone. Besides that, he was only doing his job and he didn't even intend to kill him.

I just want to fall on my knees and scream my grief out. But there are still living people who need me.

...

Everything is hazy. I work on some sort of autopilot without really thinking what am I doing. The objective is clear - to get my friends and myself into safety, help as many civilians as possible and knock out the Champions who decided to turn against us.

But in my mind, all I can see is Isaiah's collapsing body.

Fortunately, my brain chose to turn off emotions for now, making me feel completely numb. But it will come later, I'm certain. When I see the aftermath of this brutal attack on TV. I hope nobody will have doubts about its organizer. It's all Nightingale's fault. She killed Isaiah.

Maybe I should find and kill her - after all, she is still probably somewhere around here. But even though my hate is strong, my love still surpasses it. I see Helena, hysterical with fear, clinging to her sister who tries to console her as much as possible. Sotiris defending them with his own life.

However, the Outlaws are closing in, probably because there aren't enough "good" Champions to fight them off. It's touching to see the Healthy trying to use their numerical superiority to fight back, defending their families and friends. However, they don't stand a chance against the prosthetic limbs and superhuman endurance of the Castaways.

A group of Outlaws comes too close. Me, Svetlana and Sotiris can't fight them off fast enough. Ryan curses and Helena screams as the sell-out Champions approach them with menacing smiles.

Then, something flies through the air and knocks them out. What happened? Was it some kind of miracle? No, not at all. I see a blue shock of air belonging to an impish face. "Just a little closer! Go!" Sasha alias Blackjack shouts at me. "I can't hold them off forever. I also have to think about my own ass!"

I nod and rush towards the exit. Blackjack came just in time. Finally, we enter the indoor part of the stadium where the chaos ceases, even though there still are Outlaws on the way and dead bodies on the floor. The Wardens do as much as possible to protect us. The one who shot Isaiah probably thought he's also an Outlaw trying to attack us. Nobody had the time to prove him wrong.

And then, we are out.

It seems that the Outlaw gangs operate only inside since the space around the arena is more peaceful - relatively. People scream, wail over their relatives and friends who didn't make it, gather in small groups, ask themselves what happened and where did it go wrong. It's a heartbreaking sight. Because of one woman, so many people died. Including the one I cared about the most.