The battle of the gravy

After almost a dozen failed attempts to build a raft, we resolved to continue the rest of your trip on foot along the banks of the river. Occasionally we bumped into a lazing croc, but that was all. By afternoon we were running low on supplies, so every bottle of water and every can of food was accounted for. According to Alph, we were expected to reach the camp by sun-down unless we bumped into any trouble. We hunkered down and took a break around half-past two, Alph passed me a can of gravy potatoes with hard brown bread. “And now we are officially out of food”, he exclaimed.

“How long before we reach the camp?”, Dream asked.

“An hour more”, Alph said, “if everything goes perfectly”.

There was a soft noise in the hedges, Suhani looked up at me, “go and check it out”, she said.

I groaned, why couldn’t she send somebody else?, “Alright”, I got up, and walked into the brambles, from where the sound was coming.

There was a small clearing, trees all around me. Nothing else to see, Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.

I turned around- a piercing pain shot up the back of my neck, I sputtered and fell down to my knees.

“Miss me”

I recognised the voice instantly, “Luna”, I rasped.

“AWWW- B-a-r-k-e-r”, she quacked, “it hurts doesn’t it”.

My instincts kicked in, I rolled away just as she swung her rod. She grunted as she pulled it out of the mud, “you pest”, she growled.

I pulled out my gun, but unfortunately, instead of a gun, there was a can of curry in my hands. Oops, I had left my gun. Luna did that thing with her hands, I heard the wailing and felt myself crash into a tree. My left elbow was stung, there was movement and the bushes on the other side of the gathering exploded, and the other four cabin-one kids appeared. Trivium snarled at me, “Bracer Phoenix”, unlike his cabin mates he was wearing a shiny, bronze armour that glinted in the sunlight

His ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of his brown helmet. He brandished a long red rifle, its sharp muzzle flickering with blue light. The others had only the standard-issue swords and rods—not that that made me feel any better, since I knew what Hadard was capable of.

Luna beside me was rambling something about how I looked like a turkey with the head of a monkey. An unexpected wave of confidence surged through me, suddenly I felt a whole lot better and I smashed the curry can- our last one into Luna’s face, she screamed. Tom sprung at me, I ducked under his punches and dug my elbow into his abdomen, he groaned and toppled over. The tall pale guy, whom I knew as Frank, preferred to stand and observe. Still, I punched him in the face, as a precaution. There was an iron grip around my shoulders, luckily my skin was slightly wet with sweat, I managed to slip. I twisted and caught hold of Hadard’s head before he could realise, I dug my knee into his forehead. From my experience, I knew I had managed to buy myself a few minutes maximum before they would come after me.

I made a run for it, an abrupt pain shot up in my head. The insides of my head pulsated, waiting to explode, I stumbled and fell onto the ground. The pain was unendurable. I tried to fight it, but the more I tried the weaker I felt, "stop", I gasped.

All of a sudden the pounding stopped, I felt an uneasy, cold and prickling sensation at the back of my neck. "Going somewhere?", the voice said.

It was Trivium, and I guessed he wasn't holding flowers on my neck.

The sting shot up in my head once again, just for a second and then it died down. I clutched my head, "You cannot stop it Bracer", Trivium hissed, "you know I could do so many things with you, for what you have done to my cabin", he hit the handle of his rifle at the back of my head, "but what is the fun in that. I will defeat you alright- but you and your whole cabin together. Especially that girl". I guessed he was talking about Suhani. Trivium pushed me to the ground, I tasted grass, his hand was grasping my head, which would have bursted had he been holding it any tighter, "go now, Bracer Phoenix, run for your life", he whispered, coldly, "but we will meet again. And the next time, I will not be so generous". A pulse ran through my head, which throbbed and then it vanished.

I spent almost an hour, straying around the woods. I had a faint idea where I had to go, but it wasn't enough. Still, I was thankful for not bumping into any other cabin. Trivium's words had mildly shaken me, but I decided to put the matter off my head, and would think about it when the time comes. Next, I remembered I was strolling past a few trees, when an arrow came out of nowhere and smashed into a tree beside me.

"Where have you been?"

I turned around, "and what is this?", Suhani said, indicating at my wounds.

"Bracer", Alph said, appearing behind Suhani with Dream and Yui beside him, "you okay?"

"Yeah", I mumbled, "I'm okay". I was most certainly not okay, but decided to save the story for another day.

"We should have been back at the cabin by now", Suhani said, obliquely putting all of the blame on me.

"Bracer", Alph said, walking beside me, "what happened?".

"Nothing", I said.

For a second I thought, he was going to push me, "Okay", he said, "for your sake, I hope we make it into the top eight cabins".

A few hours after sundown, the camp came into view. A few teams had already arrived and were seated around the campfire. I caught Trivium glaring at me, we walked past him to Oblin who was lost, in a pressing dialogue with Hatchet.

Hatchet pointed at us, "Oblin".

"Ah", Oblin said looking at us, "just in time", he said, "you have qualified for the next round and have been temporarily promoted to cabin seven", he paused for a while, "that's it, please be seated around the campfire".

Throughout the time, I was sitting around the fire. Luna and Tom strolled past me, trying to catch my gaze, for no apparent reason. Maybe, just to remind me of what was about to happen. I made it a point to look in the exact opposite direction of where they were standing.

It was just a few hours before the next round would begin, till now we had been lucky and I hoped our luck would continue.

“Alright”, Alph said, “for the next forty eight hours, the electric current running through the walls of our cabin will be down. Which means phasers can enter our cabin whenever they feel like”, he stopped to regain his breath, “also, as we know the lock system will be down as well, which means anybody with a card can open our cabins, regardless of which cabin the card belongs”.

“So, do something about it”, Dream said.

Alph looked at her and smiled, “I already have”, he removed the cloth from the device he had placed on the round table, “once I have connected this generator to the internal circuit. The electrical grid will be back online, not at full power of course, but enough to stun the phasers who try to enter. All I need is a small electric pulse”.

“Well”, Suhani said brooding, “I am sure Yui can help you with that”.

“I was thinking the same too”, Alph said.

“What about the entry door?”, I asked, “we can’t be sitting like ducks can we?”.

“According to the rules of the competition”, Alph said explaining, “we are not allowed to tamper with the door”.

“Great!”

“Get to work”, Suhani spoke, “you have two hours- Yui you stay with Alph and do as he says. Dream, you check our supplies, make sure we have everything we need”.

“What about me?”

Suhani gazed at me expressionless, “You still have your rods”, she said.

“I do”, I said fumbling slightly, her iron gaze made me nervous, “I’ll have to look for them”.

“Better hurry up and find them”