Ed stormed into his hotel room and slammed the door shut. He was never one to do well in a frustrating time. He threw his suit jacket across the table at the bar and sat in his black rolling chair by the desk.
“Let’s see what we can find out about these Survival Games.”
He turned on his computer and opened Google. Ed typed in ‘survival games’ and was disappointed at the result which was google telling him there were no results found. He smacked his fists on the desk and put his head in his hands. He didn’t know what to do and was really feeling like he was going to fail these girls.
“No!”
He shouted and snatched a copy he had made of the letter they sent him.
“I cannot give up on these girls! I made a promise and I am going to keep it no matter what.”
He read again the details of the games that the girls knew and a light bulb went on in his head. Ed quickly set the letter down and pulled out the keyboard. He began to type, human hunting games and there it was. The survival games popped up as the first result. Ed perked up a little bit and clicked on the link to open the window. It was a person asking a question about the games. He began to read everything.
Asker: What are the survival games? I keep hearing about them but I can never get a straight, true answer. It is almost as if it is a child’s story that nobody tells the same. Is it real? What is it?
Answer 1: it is not real. It is a story an insane mother told her child
Answer 2: it is very true! The games are not something you wanna f**k with man. Im not kidding either. Forget you ever even heard about those games.
Best Answer: The survival games are where many women, normally ages 13-30, are kidnapped and placed into an arena. Once they are there they get 24 hours to learn survival skills. The next day they are put into elevators and risen into what they call an active arena. It can change anything. It is a building but makes you feel like you are in the wild. It can be any of the four seasons, it will be cold one day and 100 degrees the next. After a few days it can feel like a year. Nobody knows exactly where these games are but me. How? I was in the games and I was the one who survived. These women are gambled. They have 20 men that watch these games on camera and bet on the women’s lives. Only one survivor per games. I survived solely on self-defense. These women will turn to cannibals. These games are real. If you have any questions…email me.
Ed’s jaw was dropped down nearly to his chest when he finished reading the woman’s comment. The date of it was last year. He didn’t know if the person’s email was still the same but decided to try it. He needed more information. He pulled open their profile and searched for the address. Once he found it he opened an email and began to type.
I have friends in trouble. Survival Games. Can you help?
He read it over a few times and clicked send. Standing, he sighed and stretched. He must have been on the computer for a couple of hours. He heard a low gurgling sound before realizing it was his stomach reminding him that he hadn’t eaten that day. Ed walked to the kitchen and opened a box of cold pizza from his refrigerator. He slopped a couple of slices onto a plate and put it in the microwave to heat it up just as his cell phone rang in the pocket of his slacks. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, pressed the little green answer button and put the phone to his ear.
“Hello?”
“Hey Ed its Pete.”
He heard on the other end of the line.
“Hey Pete what you got.”
Ed spoke as he pulled out his freshly microwaved pizza and sat back down into his computer chair.
“Not much. Just a little info on the guys who snatched the girls.”
“Alright tell me.”
“There were three. Two of them arrived first. One has a- dude are you eating?”
He must have heard him chewing his peperoni pizza.
“Yeah man I haven’t eaten today. Continue.”
“One has a tattoo of a crescent on his neck. We did a search on his identity. It is Markieth Andrews.”
Ed choked and coughed on his pizza when hearing the name and put the plate onto the desk.
“Mark? The guy from that missing women case that they couldn’t ever find Mark?”
“Exactly.”
“Well shit.”
He replied and his computer popped up an email notification. He popped up and opened it to see the person on the website had received his email and replied to it.
“Hold on I may have something.”
Ed spoke.
“Whatcha got?”
Pete asked curiously wondering why out of nowhere he suddenly got information.
“A woman who has survived these games just emailed me back. She said she can give me information but not through the internet. She gave me an address to meet at and a time. It is in two hours.”
“Well hell I’ll meet you in your room before it’s time.”
“Uh uh no you won’t.”
“Look you aren’t the only one who made a promise to these girls and are feeling guilty for their disappearance.”
With that Pete hung up the phone and Ed knew there was no way he could talk him out of going with him.
…
Aaden started a fire at dawn and began cooking some fish she managed to catch in a river not too far away. She could still see the sleeping women from the water. Especially her newly found unable to trust ally, Caden. Once the fish was done she set it on a little plastic bowl she found in the bag she retrieved at the tent. Aaden glanced at Tara. She was always an emotional sleeper. Aaden could always tell if she was happy or sad, even angry, in a dream. But it was now that she couldn’t figure out her mood. She wore a blank expression that Aaden hadn’t seen before.
“Guys wake up.”
She nudged each of the three women and watched as they slowly began to wake up and rub their eyes at an attempt to clear the blurriness. She handed each of them a fish and making sure Caden was last. She wasn’t doing it all to be rude, but to make sure the people she cared about most were taken care of first. They had barely finished eating when the sound of quick footsteps in the leaves were surrounding them. Aaden and Caden quickly rose to their feet and drew their weapons. Caden with a bow and arrow while Aaden had a knife.
“Aaden there are people coming all around us. Watch my back and I have yours.”
“Hell no! You tried to kill me twice and stabbed my friend remember? Why should I trust you?”
She shouted back while darting her head in all different directions trying to locate the area of the footsteps. Caden turned her head to the side to see Aaden.
“Dammit Aaden I am not saying to trust me! But you cannot take all these people alone. You want those girls to survive? You can’t survive by running and you can’t take all of them!”
Aaden knew she was right and it killed her to admit it but she nodded where Caden could see. Suddenly a person leaped out of the bushes in front of Caden and she quickly drew an arrow and shot it right through the person’s stomach. The girls didn’t make time to wonder why they heard ‘ooing’ in the distance as another one came rushing out towards Tara who screamed and held onto Carlie tightly.
“To your right!”
Caden shouted and Aaden lunged at the person and jammed the knife into their back. She would normally cry at doing that and wouldn’t know how to live with herself but knew it was no time to feel sorry for the woman who looked as if she was 20. She was now just a dead corpse and Aaden ran back to help Caden brush someone off of Tara who was trying to avoid the blows of the girl’s fists. Caden grabbed a huge rock and brought it down on the girls' head with a force able to crack the skull. The girl instantly fell face down on top of Tara who was now sobbing loudly with her eyes squeezed shut. Caden pulled the dead girl off of Tara and Aaden pulled her into her arms in a tight embrace. Carlie was speechless and staring at the girl.
“She was only a kid.”
She whispered. Caden pulled out a little photo of a baby being held by her parents. On the back was a date and her name. Jamie Crouch – Born March 19th, 1998. She was only 15 years old. Caden cursed the creators of this game.
“We have to find a way to get us all out of here.”
Aaden said while Tara sat in her lap like a child and they both held Carlie’s hand. Caden nodded and glanced at the three women. She thought about her plan to kill the three women once they were the only ones left. There was only one thing holding her back from it now…she would be killing Tara Quinn. A woman who loves the world endlessly and is so innocent, maybe too innocent, to be in any games like this. She couldn’t kill a person who does nothing but spread love. A person who had once inspired her to be herself and embrace life.