Writer Games | Masquerade of Martyrs & Family Ties

Task Five: Moving Day - Males

District One - Cartier Graff

**USED THIRTEEN**

I had been napping on a tombstone when I first felt the rumble.

After exploring  each of the tunnels some one hundred feet each I decided to wait things  out in the Tomb Room, heading out a little farther in the tunnels every  few hours. Better to familiarize yourself with your arena.

The tomb I was resting on split down the middle, caving in so that I fell through. "Oof! That was rude..."

Dirt and grime fell from above, while the rumbling increased. I heard shouts from the North end.

"CAL! Watch out!"

Well that was I voice I hadn't heard in a while..."But it couldn't be..."

For the first  time since the bloodbath I revisited the tomb I had sealed Kimiko in.  Sure I knew it had been opened, Kase was alive after all. But I assumed  Kimiko had at least died, and I had just missed the announcement of her  death.

It was empty.

"Well, this will not do at all." I took off in the direction of the shouts, dodging the springing traps and falling debris.

I crept up  behind the distracted trio- damn. I didn't want to attempt to take on  both Calder and Delta at the same time. Too distracting, the time it  would take to finish them would give Kimi ample time to escape.

I slipped down a  passage that was a direct route to the Eastern stairs, hoping to circle  around to ambush. Imagine my surprise when I found Annalise desperately  looking for a way out of the wreckage.

I reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Come with me!" I shouted over the rumble.

Her head spun around and she tried to wrench free of my grip. "Let me go!" She cried, clawing at my face.

I chuckled, in  spite of the stinging sensation in my face. I briefly recalled the face  in the mirror before shaking those thoughts clear.

"Now now, that  isn't very nice." I purred, walking her back to a chasm that had opened  up. "You have to be careful. You don't want to fall."

"Screw you, creep!" She screamed and kicked me in the shin. I groaned and felt my leg buckle under me.

"What a nasty  little girl." I hissed, grabbing a fist full of her hair and wrenching  it back. She howled in pain, grabbing at my hand. I held her over the  chasm. "I think you need to take a time out."

I shoved her back, and waited to listen to the beautiful sound of her spine breaking when she hit the bottom.

"Annalise? Are  you alive?" I looked down and saw her broken body, and unfortunately for  her, heard her groans of pain. I picked up a rock that had previously  been a step and clicked my tongue distastefully. "Just couldn't die,  could you?"

I threw the rock  down forcefully and watched it land on her head. She stopped moving  then. "Now you stay there and think about what you've done."

I jogged through  the tunnels, whistling a tune. Finally I found the trio I had been  looking for. They were trying to clear a fissure that was beginning to  split a corridor. Delta jumped, then Calder. Kimiko, unfortunately,  tripped on my staff which I had left lying around so carelessly.

"Oops, clumsy  me." I smiled, grabbing her by the scruff of her neck and guiding her  over to a reloading spike trap. Her companions called to her, but by  then the ground had opened up too far for them to jump.