Location: Just Outside of the Dorm Building

Time: 12:00 PM, 2/14/08

The three of us who were eliminated made our way back to the dorm building. I won’t say the atmosphere was awkward, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable. Kathrin seemed on edge while Olivia seemed nervous.

I mean, I get that the situation was strange. We were all in this together though. The eliminated trio. We’d need to defend each others’ pride after meeting up with everyone after the game. If you ignore Acht and Nuen, we were the first group to get eliminated. I was already preparing myself to be made fun of. Although I suppose something like that is way more embarrassing for someone like Kathrin.

The fact that she had the most serious injury probably made it worse for her as well. My muscles were still sore from Hana’s lightning attack, but Kathrin had a legitimate injury. We bandaged it up back at the house, but there’s no denying the fact that Kathrin had a stab wound.

Either way, we weren’t the only ones who’d been eliminated for long. Only a few minutes after Hana took Kathrin and me out the entirety of team five; Cynthia, Blake, and Nolan, were eliminated in short order.

I’m not sure how deep into the city they set up their base, but they’d meet us at the dorm eventually. If I was lucky I could somehow use this situation to gain support.

Grant ended up getting eliminated only a few moments before we made it back to the dorm. Kathrin seemed a little annoyed about that. I guess she was hoping he’d lead team two to victory. With Hana clearly not interested in actually participating, team two’s chances of victory were pretty much nonexistent.

I guess they still had a chance if everyone tried to fight Hana individually, but considering team four was still completely intact, not even Hana could stand up against them.

The teams weren’t balanced from the start. Still, now it wasn’t even a game. It was just team four cleaning up.

Whatever. It’s not my problem.

As we approached the dorm building Ms. Kaldsen was waiting outside, waving as we approached.

“Congratulations! You’re the first team to make it back?”

Is that really something to be celebrated?

“First? What about the twins?”

Kathrin wasted no time clearing up a misunderstanding I hadn’t even considered.

“Ah, them? I figured they needed some kind of punishment for their actions, so I sent them for a run around the city.”

“The whole thing?”

“Yeah. The whole thing.”

“Is that. . . even possible?”

“It’s probably possible.”

“Probably?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Ahaha, even if it’s not possible, they’ll get it done. That’s what life is about: overcoming anything. Never let anything get in your way!”

[Alert. Participant Jacob Jackson has been eliminated. Bodily stress has surpassed training parameters. Medical evaluation is recommended.]

The four of us were all caught off guard by Jacob’s elimination.

“Huh, I wonder who got him. I should get back to watching the cameras.”

I hadn’t thought about it, but she definitely shouldn’t have stopped watching them in the first place.

Ms. Kaldsen started walking back into the dorm building.

“Karen, ah, no, Ms. Kaldsen.”

But Olivia called out to her.

“Hmm? Yeah?”

Ms. Kaldsen looked back over her shoulder at the motionless Olivia.

“No, it’s, I wanted to. . . Never mind, I’m sorry.”

Unable to return Ms. Kaldsen’s gaze, Olivia looked toward the ground.

Excuse me? What kind of atmosphere was that? Did I miss some kind of development? Olivia never acts that meekly. Anyone who’s ever met the girl before would be able to tell that something was up.

“That’s fine then!”

I'm sorry, anyone that’s ever met her, minus one. Apparently, Ms. Kaldsen didn’t recognize anything about Olivia’s attitude as off. She kept walking into the dorm with Kathrin right behind her. Not wanting to be left behind, I followed behind as well; leaving Olivia to hesitantly bring up the rear.

Without a wasted motion Kathrin’s right hand was ignited into an inferno as it was forced through Ms. Kaldsen’s chest. Then rather than pulling it straight out, Kathrin swung her arm through Ms. Kaldsen’s body; carving out an irreplaceable amount of flesh and organs. The heat from Kathrin’s flames cauterized the massive wound, but even without blood there was no doubting Ms. Kaldsen’s body was completely lifeless by the time it hit the ground.

…

What? Despite understanding each of those words on their own, I couldn’t make sense of them as a whole. My language skills could grasp the situation long before the rest of my mental facilities could catch up.

“Emily, you seem confused, but I don’t think I have any reason to explain myself to you. Though as a friend I still want to help you out.”

Hearing Kathrin talk as if nothing was out of the ordinary was more unnerving than it should have been. In that instant, I would have much rather preferred her laughing maniacally or going on some crazy rant. The fact that she was completely calm showcased how far gone Kathrin Kaldsen was. It wasn’t a trick or a moment of passion. It was just Kathrin.

“Why? How could you do that to your own sister? Didn’t you look up to her?”

Oliva was the one who responded to Kathrin in my place.

“Of course I looked up to her. I look up to Father, Kalder, and Karen more than anyone.”

“Then why? I could never. . .”

“See, that’s the difference between us. Even if we ignore some of the more risque elements of your relationship with your brother, the two of us have a fundamental difference in what it means to look up to our siblings. You seem to be content with always following in his footsteps, always making sure to lift Oliver on a higher and higher pedestal.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“That I don’t see things that way. Just like you see Oliver, I saw Karen as the pinnacle of strength. I wanted to be just like her. But there can only be one person at the top. That’s why I had to get rid of her. To show that I was worthy of standing next to her I had to take her place. Now I’m sure she’d never approve of using a surprise attack like that, but that was her weakness. That’s what made it possible for me to show my worth.”

Yeah, I’ll admit, I’m not exactly the most clever girl around, but even I can tell how twisted that logic is. That’s all the more reason to think there was no reason trying to reason with her. As a person, Kathrin Kaldsen was fundamentally broken.

That’s the problem with augmenteds.

Well, I guess I’m one too.

My personality isn’t that far gone though.

But doesn’t Kathrin think the same thing about herself though?

Everything that just happened was pulling me into a downward spiral, so I decided to stop thinking about it for a moment.

The only thing worth thinking about was what to do in that situation.

Any ideas?