Chapter 62
The Games Begin
As Erin walked through the open door, the first thing that hit her eyes was an incredibly bright light that blinded her for a moment. Once her eyes had adjusted to the sudden brightness, what she saw before her appeared to be a colorful arena in the shape of an octagon. All sides of the arena had a large iron door on them and with the exception of the door that she and the others had walked through were numbered from one to seven. The walls were also incredibly high, to the point it was impossible to climb over them. Despite this, there was still barbed wire placed on top of the walls, just to make sure no one was able to escape.
She hadn’t realized it at first due to the commotion caused by the other participants around her, but Erin soon realized that they were being watched by a live audience, as she could hear people cheering close to them. However, she was unable to see where they were seated at, due to the lighting and the obscuring walls.
Suddenly, a large TV screen was lowered from the ceiling so that all the participants could see it. The screen turned on, revealing none other than Grandall, sitting on a very comfortable couch along with his daughter. His personal assistant, the elf named Driz, was also there, standing behind the gang leader.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to another exciting round of the Laughing Ogre’s popular game show, Prisoner Survivor!” Grandall announced with a big smile, causing his audience to erupt in cheers. “Today we have something very special for you. As you can see, we have a full set of competitors gathered from all sorts of places. We have people who tried to screw over our clan, members of enemy gangs and even plain old servants bought from the market! However, today we have someone participating that I’m sure you all will be happy to see! It’s none other than the “mighty warrior” himself, Durge Knocks!”
The screen suddenly switched to showing Durge, as the audience erupted into boos. The orc was a seriously unpopular person, as there didn’t seem to be anyone rooting for him at all.
“I see that you are quite the fans of him as well! Honestly, I’ve always wanted to have an excuse to throw him in here. Unfortunately, he proved himself quite useful as hired muscle. I honestly thought I’d never see the day that he would screw up so bad that I’d get to throw him here!” the gang leader explained. “That is until a couple of days ago, he decided to try and stab me in the back! Quite surprising coming from an “honorable warrior”, don’t you all agree?”
Laughter erupted in the audience as they were having fun at the orc’s expense. Durge simply rolled his eyes at this, not all too bothered by the mocking.
“Wow, he really has a grudge against you!” Erin whispered to the orc. “What did you do to piss him off so badly?”
“It isn’t me specifically that he has a grudge towards. Rather it’s my tribe,” Durge replied. “Back in the war, my tribe ended up fighting the Laughing Ogre, who were hired by the Five Overlords to fight us, along with several other criminal groups. From what I heard, Grandall lost his family and friends in those battles. He then went on to take over the group through a rather violent negotiation between himself and the previous leader. Since then, he has done all he can to hunt down the survivors of my tribe as a way to get back at us for what he went through.”
“But then how did you end up working for him, if he hated you so much right from the start?” the redhead asked.
“That’s simple. I proved myself to be too valuable to just kill,” the orc replied. “No matter what kind of an organization we are talking about, it will always need skilled and talented people to keep it going. Driz was able to recognize my skills and was able to persuade Grandall into making me into a part of his gang, instead of killing me. The deal was that as long as I proved to be useful, I would get to keep my life and even got a hefty paycheck.”
“I can’t help but feel like that wasn’t easy,” Erin said.
“it sure wasn’t. Not only was Grandall constantly on the lookout for me screwing up even one bit, he was actively trying to get me to mess up just so he could have a reason to get rid of me. Because of that, I ended up building up skills in nearly every possible aspect of the criminal underworld to keep myself from getting killed,” the orc explained. “It didn’t help that almost all the other members of Laughing Ogre had a grudge towards my tribe and wanted to see me mess up and get killed as well.”
The conversation between Erin and Durge was cut short, as Grandall began to speak again.
“I’m sure that he has a lot of friends among the other contestants as well. Let’s all hope that they play nice with each other. Wouldn’t you all agree?” the gang leader said, getting another round of laughter out of the audience. “Now, how about we get this party started? My technicians have just informed me that the preparations are almost fully completed! Once done, we can finally enjoy seeing our “honorable warrior” and his friends go through the special games that we have prepared specially for them!”
The crowd erupted in cheers. Erin could only wonder just what they would be facing. If Grandall was this ecstatic over what he had planned, she could only worry that they would be going up against trials that were made impossible to win.
“About time we get on with this shit,” Durge grumbled. “I don’t understand why he has to make such a big show of everything. It’s just a waste of time.”
“Isn’t it obvious? Your boss is an egotistical asshole,” Ryle said. “Personally I don’t care what his goons have built, I’ll bust through it no matter what. The only thing I’m concerned with is where Arnie is being held. I’m not leaving without him.”
“I agree with that sentiment, but we have got to focus on what’s ahead,” Erin said. “Arnie can handle himself. He’s surprisingly tough. Right now, we need to think about how we can get through this and-”
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“Guys? I think I know where Arnie is,” Lexton suddenly said while pointing at the TV screen.
The others immediately turned their attention back to the screen and they felt anger course through their veins at what they saw. Grandall’s daughter, Grazia, had brought Arkay with her, but he had been hidden from the camera until now. The gang leader’s daughter had now pulled the cat boy into view by a rope that was attached to a collar that was wrapped around his neck.
“...That bitch is so going to die,” Ryle said as she gritted her teeth and glared at the screen, specifically at Grazia.
“For once, it seems that you and I agree on something,” Durge said with a frown on his face.
Erin and Lexton didn’t say anything, but they also agreed with their blonde friend. They were not going to let Grazia get away with what she had done.
image [https://i.ibb.co/6D50mwd/Ch-62-Pic-1.jpg]
“I’ve just been informed that the preparations are complete! You all know what that means!” Grandall announced with a big smile. “LET THE GAMES BEGIN!”
Once the announcement had been made, the gates surrounding the contestants began to open. Everyone began to run towards the gates like their lives depended on it, except for Erin’s group, as they were unsure as to what they should do.
“Where do we go!? Which gate do we choose!?” Lexton asked in a panic. “They all look similar to me!”
“It doesn’t matter which you choose! All of them have some type of a danger behind them!” Durge shouted as he began to move towards one of them. “Just pick one and go towards it!”
Not wanting their group to get broken up, Erin started to run after the orc, followed by Ryle and Lexton. They were making their way towards one of the gates when one of the other contestants ran into Lexton in the middle of the chaos, knocking him to the floor. Upon realizing what had happened, Erin quickly turned around and went to help her friend.
“I’ll go get him! You guys keep running!” the redhead shouted at Ryle and Durge, who had just realized Lexton’s predicament. “We’ll catch up to you two soon!”
Once Erin had reached the kobold, she noticed that he was having trouble standing up. He had most likely hurt his leg upon getting knocked down.
“Lex, are you okay!?” the redhead asked, worried over his well-being.
“I-I’m fine! I just twisted my ankle a bit. That’s all,” the kobold said in a pained tone. “You go to the others! I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“That’s not happening! I’m not going to leave anybody behind!” Erin said defiantly. She then noticed some armed members of the Laughing Ogre moving on top of the surrounding walls. “Besides, it seems that we’re running out of time.”
Without further words, the redhead put Lexton on her back, carrying him with her. She started to run towards the gate where Ryle and Durge had already gone to, hoping to reunite with them.
“Come on! Get over here already!” Ryle shouted as she waved at her two companions from the gate. “We don’t have all day over here!”
Suddenly, the blonde felt some force pull her from behind and throw her against the floor. She soon realized that it had been Durge and she was about to give him a piece of her mind, when something happened that took all the anger out of her and replaced it with shock and horror.
The gate she and Durge had just gone through closed, leaving Erin and Lexton on the other side.
“...No. No. No! NO!” Ryle yelled as she ran to the gate and started hitting it with her fists. “ERIN! LEX! YOU TWO STILL OUT THERE!? ANSWER ME!”
“Don’t waste your energy! You can’t help them anymore!” Durge shouted. “The gates stay open only for a limited amount of time before closing up. If you haven’t gone through them before that happens, the guards on the walls will shoot you.”
“So we’re just going to leave them behind!? That might be easy for you, but those guys are my friends and I’m not leaving without them!” the blonde yelled back at the orc. “Now you can either help me get to them or you can piss off!”
“Get real! Nothing you can do is going to help them! You’ll only put yourself in a worse situation!” Durge said. “Besides, I’m not telling you to abandon them. I’m just saying that you should focus on what you can do right now. If they are any good, they should be able to handle themselves out there. You’ll get your chance to help them later.”
Ryle wanted to continue arguing, but knew that it wasn’t going to change anything. The fact of the matter was that Erin and Lexton were now beyond her help and there was nothing she could do about it. The best she could hope for was that they kept themselves alive long enough for them to meet up later.
Without saying another word, the blonde walked past Durge with a frown on her face. The orc could only sigh as he wondered how he was going to survive this, before following after her.
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While Ryle and Durge were having their argument, Erin and Lexton were stuck at the starting area, as the gate between them and their two companions closed up. The redhead’s lone eye went wide in shock and horror, as she felt her hopes get crushed by the gate closing.
However, she quickly realized that there was no time for her to stand around dumbfounded. She needed to find another gate and go through it before it was too late. Looking around, she noticed that most of the gates were either already closed or in the process of closing. There was only one that seemed to be open enough for them to get through, so Erin did the only thing she could. She began to sprint as fast as she could towards the gate in hopes of making her way through it.
As she was running, Erin saw how the guards on the walls had already started to shoot some of the other participants that had been left behind like herself and Lexton. It was only a matter of seconds before their sights would be turned towards them.
Seeing the last gate slowly closing down caused the redhead to pick up her speed even more. The whole world around her seemed to disappear as she focused only on the gate and nothing else. Once she finally got close enough, she skidded along the floor and barely made it through.
Having pushed her body to its limits, Erin had to take a moment to catch her breath. She could still hear sounds from behind the gate as the guards were shooting the left behind participants, ignoring their pleas for mercy.
“Freaking bastards are enjoying this… How the hell does somebody become this sick and twisted?” Lexton muttered as he got off from the redhead’s back and sat on the floor. “Thanks, Erin. You really saved me back there. And I’m sorry…”
“Sorry for what?” Erin asked. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It was because I screwed up that we got separated from Ryle. Now we won’t be able to help her if she gets into trouble,” the kobold answered. “Not only that, but I doubt I’ll be of much use to you here. Now that I don’t have any equipment, I won’t be able to put up any kind of a fight or help in any other way.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Lex. I’m sure you’ll be able to help me out here, despite how bad the situation might seem right now,” the redhead said with a smile as she stood up. “It’s not just your alchemy and enchantment skills that make you a valuable member of our team. Those are just a bonus. You have knowledge and experience that I lack entirely, and I’m sure those alone will be of great help for me here. So don’t look down on yourself that much!”
“...You seriously never cease to surprise me,” Lexton said with a smile. “Most of the people I’ve known would have abandoned me without a second thought.”
“Well, lucky for you, I am not like most people you’ve known!” Erin said with a bright, encouraging smile. “Also, you should know that Ryle and Arkay are the same. And to be honest, I have this feeling that Durge wouldn’t have left you behind either.”
“Speaking of him, do you think Ryle’s going to be okay working with him?” the kobold asked. “Even if we can trust him like you say, she certainly doesn’t trust him at all. I fear that those two might kill each other before anything here has even a chance to do that.”
“I get what you’re saying, but we can only trust those two to handle themselves. Same with Arnie,” the redhead said. “All of us are survivors, so we should be able to handle whatever is thrown at us. What we can do is push forward and do our part.”
As Erin and Lexton moved forward to take on the challenges of the game ahead of them, the redhead thought about all of her friends that were now spread out. While she believed the words she had just said, she couldn’t help but worry about each member of her group. So far, the main reason they had been able to survive most of the things they had faced was due to their group sticking and fighting together. Now that they were no longer together, would they be able to handle this as well as she hoped?
Still, all Erin could do was move forward, while placing her faith in her companions.