Stranded

My eyes flew open and my hand instinctively reached for the dagger that I placed under my pillow in case of emergencies. Looks like it came in handy sooner than I expected.

I knew I could not trust my fellow competitors to abide by the rules; not when this tournament was filled with assassins, ruffians, and filthy bounty hunters.

I heard shuffling and a muffled scream outside my tent and I immediately moved to the side of the entrance. Just as the person stepped in, I drove my blade for their throat but came to a halt, just inches before slicing their head off when the dim light reflected on the soldier's armor.

That slight hesitation cost me my consciousness.

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Wiggling to get into a more comfortable position, I tried to analyze my surroundings; I was blindfolded and both my feet and hands were tied.

Damn it! I grunted as I crashed into something hard and smelly. Someone was making a fuss and slamming into everything and everyone that were near him.

"Let me out you pathetic fools! I swear I'll make you lot suffer for disturbing me in my slumber! Do you know who you've messed with? I'm the great 'grime robber'! I will snavel you off your life and I'll do it while you're awake! Mark my words!"

I yelped when someone kicked me on the shin.

"Shut your trap! you're giving me a headache." I kicked him back. Why are these men so annoying?

"How dare you touched me?!" I'll ma--mufff!" I sighed in relief as he finally clammed up.

Judging from the way I was bouncing around, it seemed like we were being transported through a wagon and the driver did not seem the least bit happy. After a while, the wagon stopped, looks like we made it to our destination; wherever that might be. We were dragged and thrown on the ground like a sack of spuds.

"I am going to untie you, make one wrong move and the results will not be pretty." A voice boomed in the midst of darkness.

I winced as my blindfold was removed and blinked my eyes several times to adjust them to the sharp rays of the sun. A man in his early thirty's was standing in front of us with authority, his blue eyes pierced through the crowd, daring us to step out of place.

No matter how much I wanted to test my luck, I couldn't, not when there were hundreds of soldiers present. Did I mention that the guy with authority had quite a muscular body? Not that I was planning to fight him...

Although, one lad was dumb enough to attack him with his bare hands, (Our weapons were confiscated) and in a swift swipe his neck was detached from his body and he slumped to the ground. A wave of terror went through me as the muscular guy wiped the blood off his sword and pointed it at us. Someone beside me vomited. Poor guy, I couldn't blame him.

"Now listen up! Let's not waste time on introductions, all that you need to know is that I'm not like other arbitrators as you've all just witnessed. Now let's get to the point, we have moved to the second stage of the competition and so now the real fun begins. If anyone has any problem with the process of the events then keep your whining to yourselves because quite frankly, I couldn't care less. Moving on, your next task is to survive 1 week in this deserted place without the supplies you brought from home that includes food, water, and weapons. You will not be guarded here so whatever happens, we shall not responsible for that. Well then enjoy your time here while you can."

With that, he walked away with the guards, leaving us in this shithole.

I suddenly felt exposed without my weapon. Funny as it might seem, I missed the protection of the guards. But I couldn't just stand here moping, especially when that muscular pig had openly hinted that we could kill each other without any consequences.

I mean I thought they told us to follow the rules or otherwise, we would be disqualified but here we are, hundreds of desperate and dangerous people free to do whatever we want. Great.

Okay, so, first of all, I needed to find something to protect myself with. Sure food and shelter were important but there was no point in being full and comfy, just to get slaughtered in the end. At least I changed my clothes back in the camp (borrowed them from Alex which were pretty big but whatever).

I searched around the ruins, it looked like a battle took place several years ago, everything was wrecked and disintegrated, maybe I could still find something useful. I searched around and found a decent spearhead.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" A sharp voice rang in my ears.

I turned around and saw a guy with mahogany long hair, a sharp jawline, and a cruel-looking scar on his left eye. Everything about this dude screamed danger. I smiled as I slipped the spearhead into my waistband.

"What is a pretty doll like you, doing in a place like this?" He smirked and I fought to hide my disgust.

"I thought of experiencing new stuff, who knows I might actually find something I like." Gosh.

"And did you?" He stepped closer as he eyed me.

"Definitely." I winked and kicked him in the groin. He whimpered and fell to the ground.

"And just to let you know I'm no doll, pretty yes, but not a doll."

"You will regret that doll." He spat

"Oh well, guess it's too late for that, looking forward to meeting you again creep." I knocked him out and moved to my next target which is to find food, after all, I couldn't just ignore my rumbling stomach.