CLOUD 9INE

5

With another flash of red light, the lion-bears were released from their cages, roaring as they began plowing through contestants. Tetra and Lo both attempted to run in opposite directions, causing them to trip and fall. They both blushed and brushed themselves off.

Rob's laugh rang through the loudspeakers as the chaos ensued on the field. Tetra looked and saw Evyn and Ava coordinating their steps to make it towards the bleachers.

"Lo," Tetra grabbed him by the arm. "We have to sync up. You look ahead, I'll look behind."

Lo nodded. "Outside leg on one; inside on two. Ready?" Tetra locked arms with him.

"One..."

Their outside legs went.

"Two..."

Inside legs.

Soon enough, they built up a rhythm and started following Evyn and Ava's lead. Since Tetra was covering the rear, she got to see the destruction that was rampant behind them. The lion-bears seemed more focused on the slower contestants, pouncing at them when given the chance or simply snapping them up in their jaws as they passed by.

"A lot of people getting sent back home," Tetra remarked.

"Heck, they'll be able to try again next Reaping or something," Lo said while dodging the holes in the ground left by the lion-bears scuffing up the grass. "But we can't worry about that, Tet. We're almost to the edge."

Tetra turned forwards and saw the girls waving for them to come and join them on the bleachers. Lo and Tetra kept up their rhythm and were about to reach the girls, but then the bleachers turned into a slope, causing Ava and Evyn to slide to the bottom and roll into them.

Rob's voice squealed to life again. "Don't try escaping the field, we have to have losers after all. Two minutes remain!" The bleachers turned into concrete walls after that.

Tetra helped up the girls while Lo kept watch. "What now?"

Two of the lion-bears set their sights on the four. The adrenaline had distracted Tetra from her angst before, but it finally caught up to her as the two hulking beasts began charging in their direction.

"They're large so they probably can't turn very fast," Lo announced while grabbing onto Tetra's arm. "Split up!"

Ava and Evyn ran to the left while Tetra and Lo split off to the right. The lion-bears attempted to turn and skid into the newly-constructed walls. The rest of the contestants (those who weren't being chased by lion-bears) watched on as Lo led Tetra in a zigzag formation, hoping to make the beasts a bit distracted, but the animals decided to split up as well. One after Tetra and Lo, the other after Ava and Evyn.

Tetra was struggling to keep up with her partner, but she managed as he kept leading her in varying directions, seemingly at random. For some reason though, the world seemed to revolve around him for that moment. The demons and monsters didn't matter. It was just them two.

They came up to a wall. Tetra shook her head and focused back. "Why did we run this way?" Lo pointed behind them and Tetra's gaze followed his finger to the mouth of a lion-bear that had cornered them.

The dirt was too torn up by the chaos prior, so there was nowhere to run. The beast snarled, realizing this as well and taking it slow; inching towards the two. Tetra hugged onto Lo's arm and started hyperventilating. Lo's face remained unchanged, staring at the beast as it decided it got bored and began to charge.

As the lion-bear got closer and closer, Tetra let out a scream, but when the monster was but a few feet away, it turned to dust and disappeared. Tetra looked around as the other three monsters dusted away as well. The ropes undid themselves and disappeared as well.

Rob appeared in a puff of red smoke in front of the two. "Well, wasn't that a close call? Looks like you and your friends get to continue-"

Before Rob could finish taunting them, the unusual sound of Evyn wailing made Tetra push past Rob and run towards her.

Evyn was kneeling over Ava's unconscious form. She was alive, but her left leg was nearly completely missing. Lo came up beside Tetra and the both of them watched as Evyn stood and turned towards Rob. An unusual amount of emotion, albeit normal for most people, was apparent on her face.

"You'd better be grateful that Ava is alive," Evyn seethed. "If she were dead, you would feel true pain. Ava had better not get hurt, ever again."

Rob poofed closer to Evyn. "Sadly, that's something I cannot guarantee."

Evyn picked up the shorter demon by the collar. Her cobalt-colored eyes seemed almost purple in the red light. "Don't do it again."

Rob merely touched her forehead and she crumpled to the ground, asleep. "Now that that's been taken care of, let's begin the next part of the games shall we?"

Tetra and Lo came to Ava's aid as she woke up. Her pupils contracted as the pain began to register, but she seemed to take it well and tried sitting up, which didn't amount to much.

"Why isn't it healing? Injuries always heal here." asked Ava, who had turned her head to stare at Evyn.

"I-I don't know," said Tetra.

Lo hugged Tetra and inspected Ava's leg more closely. "Maybe Cloud 9's rules don't work while Rob is in control. Which means..." They all turned to survey the damage done by the lion-bears.

"They're already in Hell. For good."