Eight of Hearts: The Vision - Book 2

Chapter 13

Rhea Sydney cursed under her breath as she stalked through the dark hallway, looking for clues of either monsters or her fellow contestants. The yellowed walls appeared hewn from stone, stretching up a mere 10 meters before curving to form the arched ceiling. Circé's intention was obvious: remove Mr. Smiley's advantage of flight to give Chad the edge needed to bump them out this round. It was also likely the monsters had been strategically placed to make things as hard as possible on the newcomers.

She also cursed her luck that they had chosen a hunting showdown the moment Nani Summers was out of commission. No doubt that was intentional, but she had already known Circé would try to stack the odds against her no matter who was participating. That was the way it had been five years ago in her first tournament.

Regardless of her circumstances, this round was only a minor obstacle for her; that third and final round would be the true test. For that purpose, she had taken the gamble of leaving her team behind and facing this round alone. If she failed, at least the rest of her team had a chance to move on. But if she won, it would guarantee she had a better chance at beating Chad with almost her full team to back her. That would be doubly true if she could also ensure Captain and his team also made it through.

Their talk this morning had gone well enough, but it would be meaningless if she couldn't join up with him before Chad found them. But with each split in the path, and each corner she turned, she became more and more disoriented. As she came near a four-way split, she stopped, catching a whiff of something foul ahead. She drew the small knife from the belt of her tunic and held it ready as she silently crept forward.

Suddenly a scorpion burst from the path to the right and charged at her, its black carapace chittering angrily as it ran. Rhea cursed again, dropping low to avoid the poisoned barbed tail as it slashed by her head. She dove forward, passing just over the grasping claws of the beast as she struck the base of the still extended tail with her knife. Her attack glanced harmlessly off the armored shell, but she rebounded off the tunnel floor with her free hand and landed smoothly in the tunnel fork the creature had come from. She spun around to face the creature again, bracing for its next attack, throwing a quick glance down the other paths to make sure they were clear.

Now that she got a good look at it, she recognized the scorpion as a type of heterometrus that had been developed by the American Military Research Department. Its stinger produced a paralytic that would incapacitate a human if struck, and its armor could withstand bullets. It wasn't a naturally occurring monster, so Rhea had to wonder how Circé had gotten her hands on one. At any rate, she knew her knife was useless against such a beast.

"Hey! There she is!" a voice called from behind her, causing her to cast a glance back over her shoulder.

She barely had a chance to catch a glimpse of Captain hurrying her way when the scorpion charged again. Again she barely managed to dodge the tip of the stinger, but this time when she lunged forward, she grabbed onto the tail and wrapped both her knees around it close to the base. Using her momentum, she twisted and pushed against the body of the scorpion with her feet, pulling sharply on the tail as she did. The tail came free with a sickening pop, and the poor beast let out a squeal of anguish.

As the creature convulsed, she leapt on its back, bringing the sharp point of its own tail down hard on its head. The point managed to pierce the armor, and a single well-aimed blow with the back of her heel finished the job, sending the deadly point through the creature's head.

Bryce stumbled into the fork of the tunnel just in time to witness Rhea's victory. The sight of the massive scorpion, nearly two meters wide, left him stunned. Rhea stepped off the scorpion and walked over to him, slapping him hard on the back with a broad grin on her face.