We start the day moving quite quickly; Aaron and I take the front, Kate and the quiet kid follow close behind and Eve brings up the rear. We move at a quick pace, jogging in a tight-knit group and keeping close to the trees so we are not in open view. None of us speak about what we are going to do when and if we catch someone. None of us want to face up to the reality of it all. I guess only time will tell, we will find out in the heat of the moment.
Aaron doesn’t speak as we move alongside each other. I can tell he is nervous. Nervous, not scared. Does he have it in him to torture someone? Enough to have them begging for death. That’s basically what it is. Torture until they give in their letter, which leads to their death. It’s a lose, lose situation once you are caught. Death is guaranteed. Unavoidable.
‘’How are we going to do this exactly? Asks Kate as we move, ‘’do we just run in and attack?’’
‘’I haven’t really thought that far ahead yet,’’ admits Aaron, ‘’I’m hoping an opportunity will just present itself to us.’’
‘’What? So we’re just going to go looking for them without a plan of action?’’ asks Eve obnoxiously, ‘’that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!’’
‘’Do you have any better ideas?’’ I question, turning to her and snapping at her.
She actually jumps back in shock. She doesn’t respond.
‘’Thought so.’’
We continue on for another ten or fifteen minutes, and I slowly fall back from Aaron and fall into step with Kate. I can’t take the silence of walking with Aaron. I need to talk. I need to occupy my mind with something.
‘’Sleep well?’’ I ask, trying to kick off the conversation.
‘’Bad dreams,’’ she sighs.
‘’Oh?’’
‘’Yeah,’’ she replies, then her voice drops to a whisper, ‘’I think it was a memory.’’
I don’t mention my dream – or nightmare rather – to her yet. I have to make sure that what she is saying means what I think it does so as I don’t come across as crazy.
‘’I dreamt about being abducted. But it felt so real. It had to be a memory,’’ she continues.
I stare at her wide eyed for a moment.
‘’What?’’ she questions after a few seconds when I stay silent and simply stare at her.
‘’I had a similar one,’’ I explain, ‘’it was definitely a flashback.’’
‘’Really?’’ she asks, ‘’what do you think they mean?’’
‘’Well I’m sure we weren’t brought here voluntarily. It was abduction,’’ I begin, she nods her head as I speak, ‘’they lied to us in the letters.’’
‘’They brought us here for a death match,’’ she adds, hearing it aloud really makes the fact hit home, ‘’this isn’t a game show.’’
‘’There’s no money. We’re not fighting for a prize. We’re fighting for a lives.’’
We walk on in silence for quite some time. I don’t like being left alone with my thoughts. My overly acted and quite pessimistic imagination runs through endless scenarios with me – none very appealing and all ending with my death.
‘’Where were you then?’’ I ask.
‘’Huh?’’ she asks in confusion.
‘’When you were taken,’’ I say, rephrasing slightly.
‘’I was out with friends, on the way back from a night out,’’ she begins, ‘’they left me literally at the end of my street. I was approached from behind, gagged, blindfolded and tossed in a van.’’
‘’Oh God,’’ I mutter, as she explains it, I relive the feelings I felt when myself and Niamh were attacked.
‘’Yeah,’’ she sighs, I gasp before she can saying anything else.
‘’Niamh!’’ I gasp, only now remembering that she too was taken on that night.
‘’What?’’ questions Kate.
Aaron turns around to face me, he looks concerned. The rest of the group stop and stare at me. My sudden outburst has worried them all.
‘’What’s wrong?’’ asks Aaron.
‘’Niamh!’’ I repeat, ‘’she’s here too! My friend, she’s here too!’’
‘’What?’’ questions Kate in confusion.
‘’My dream! The abduction. My friend was taken too. She’s here.’’ I explain again in one enormous breath, beginning to hyperventilate.
‘’She’s here?’’ repeats Kate.
I nod.
‘’She’s on the other team...’’ says Aaron as he realises why I am freaking out.
I nod my head frantically. A situation I thought could get no worse has just gone from bad to ugly. This can’t be happening. If she is here, then they are going to make us fight each other. It may not necessarily be me against her, but it is effectively my team against hers.
‘’You don’t that,’’ assures Aaron, ‘’she may not be, they may not have got her.’’
‘’If she’s not here then she is dead, because they definitely took her,’’ I explain, ‘’perhaps that would even be better! If she was dead, she won’t have to go through all this.’’
‘’Don’t say that!’’ scolds Kate, stamping out my negative attitude before it begins to spread to the rest of my team.
‘’Sorry,’’ I sigh and we continue walking.
The others try to comfort me for a while, but they stop when they see it’s better to leave the subject alone than to keep it in my mind. I pull away from Kate now, walking alone and keeping to myself.
Aaron has his map out; he is the only one that has actually been using it. He is the only one that really knows how to. ‘’I think the red team’s camp is just up here.’
We creep after him, moving silently through the trees, moving closer and closer to the red team. After a few moments, we hear voices. They don’t seem too worried about how loud they are. They are arguing. We edge closer to them, we are about twenty meters from their camp – which is identical to ours. There are four people in the camp; a girl – Anna – and three boys. Alex is among them, as is the boy from yesterday.
‘’Well leave then! Nobody is forcing you to stay here!’’ roars Alex, he is screaming at a boy, they are face to face practically. Alex’s face is bright red from yelling, the boy is pale – he looks as though he is going to throw up.
‘’Calm down Alex,’’ begins Anna calmly, ‘’he’s just scared, that’s all.’’
Alex sighs, ‘’we all are. He doesn’t have to be such a coward about it!’’
‘’Some people are better at handling fear than others,’’ explains Anna.
A few minutes drag by in silence.
‘’So what are we doing then?’’ asks Anna.
‘’Whenever they get back, we will sit down and plan out what we are going to do,’’ he replies, then takes a seat on one of the logs.
We watch in silence as our opponents sit around their fire. It isn’t lit, the pit is charred black – they had a fire last night too. They talk quietly amongst themselves in smaller groups; I cannot decipher what they are saying. After a few moments, two more people join the group. A boy, and a girl I recognise only too well – Niamh.
‘’That’s her,’’ I whisper, ‘’that’s Niamh.’’
Nobody replies. They know there is nothing they can say.
The two are carrying logs, which they dump in a heap beside the fire pit. The girl takes a seat; the boy scuttles off and disappears into the bushes. None of the group question where he has gone, none of them appear to care.
‘’Now’s our chance, he’s broken away from the main group,’’ whispers Aaron, creeping in the direction of the boy, we all follow silently.
We have caught up with the boy within a few moments. We find him standing behind a tree – he is peeing. Aaron presses his index finger to his lips, and with his other hand gestures for us to remain where we are. He then begins to creep forwards, his dagger drawn.
He moves slowly at first, carefully. However, as he draws closer he picks up the pace, eager to reach the boy before he finishes what he is doing. Just as Aaron grabs him, the boy turns around and gasps aloud. Aaron grabs him around the throat and pulls him to his chest, holding the dagger to his throat.
‘’Say a word and I’ll slit your throat,’’ he warns, the boy remains silent.
Next, Aaron instructs for us to join him. Quickly yet quietly, we gather round him and the boy – who looks utterly terrified.
‘’What do we do?’’ I ask.
‘’We have to get him away from here, we can’t risk his team mates catching us, they’ll hear him scream,’’ replies Aaron.
‘’We need to move,’’ adds Kate.
‘’I can’t believe we’re doing this,’’ says Eve in her annoyingly posh voice.
‘’C’mon then,’’ instructs Aaron, he begins to drag the boy away from his camp.
‘’Hey! Mute! You OK?’’ calls a voice from behind us and we all freeze where we are, sadly, I recognise the voice immediately.
As a unit, we all turn to face the voice. As she steps into the small clearing we are in and she sees us gathered around her team mate, she gasps.
‘’Niamh,’’ I mutter.
‘’Alice!?’’ she gasps, ‘’what are you doing here?’’
‘’I was taken too that night, I never got away from them,’’ I explain.
‘’Oh. Well, I’m sorry to have to do this to you,’’ she begins.
I stare at her in confusion, cocking an eyebrow.
‘’What do-‘’ I begin, but she interrupts.
‘’Alex!’’ she roars, ‘’they’re here!’’