Quest 50 | ONC 2024 HONORABLE MENTION ✨️✨️

Fourteen:

The sunlight had already begun to fade by the time I opened my eyes again. It took a moment to gather myself mentally. The game had ended so swiftly, that I didn't have the time to rush to Damon, I couldn't celebrate my victory. The alien snatched the chance from me before I could.

Pushing myself up on my elbows, I fisted my quilt as I peered at the end of my bed. My vision blurred but when it cleared, I saw him. Damon. He sat on the corner with his shoulders slumped forward and his hands weakly folded in front of him. Realizing I was awake, he slowly looked at me with a weak smile. "I'm going to tally every time you stab me, Nina," he said.

My jaw dropped slightly before I clamped my mouth shut. I fisted my blankets tighter and did it until my fists turned red.

"I'm joking, babe," he whispered as he peered out the window. "Decisions were made for our survival and last night was out of our control. What you did was right."

"I broke your leg," I muttered as I dropped on my bed and stared up at the glowing constellation around my ceiling lamp. They used to give me peace but looking at them now only brought pain. Space and their unknown alien creatures were the torment in our lives. It didn't matter how strong I was or how far I'd come; I didn't want this.

Damon laughed as he fell back beside me. His head landed next to my thigh and he reached up, gently holding me just under my shorts. "Ah, well, you did more than break it," he snickered as he softly kissed my knee, "but that was last night and I'm better today."

I chewed on my bottom lip and shook my head. "How did we do it?" I whispered as I peered down at him. "And you, those guys ran into your house and—"

"And that's why I'm here." He inhaled sharply before pressing his head against my leg. "I can't stay in a house filled with dead bodies," he muttered.

"Dead bodies?" I popped up slightly. "That gunshot I heard—that was you?"

He nodded.

"You shot them?" My eyes widened.

"It was either me or them and shit, I needed to make sure they couldn't get you or come back for us again. It was only four of them, so it wasn't hard."

Four. I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my face. Which one of them did I agree to save?

"Hey, hey." Damon scooted up the bed and crawled on top of me. He balanced himself on one elbow as his other hand brushed at my hair until I moved my hands. Now exposed, he kissed my forehead. "We made it out of there alive," he whispered.

Tears burned in my eyes. "I may have agreed to save them."

"Who?" His brow pinched.

I chewed on the inside of my cheeks. "The other players."

He paused for a moment before kissing my forehead again. "The ones who attacked us are dead, Nina. The others will be grateful that—"

"I agreed to become captain to save everyone, including you." I touched his face. "You couldn't log in last night because they wouldn't let you. They were going to kill you unless I proved you were strong enough to survive. I said... I wouldn't be their war captain without you."

Damon drew in a breath as he tongued his cheek. Emotion passed over his eyes. He tilted his head before letting a deep, painful chuckle slip past his lips. "They were going to kill me," he whispered.

I couldn't hide it anymore; the aliens didn't have our lives in our best interests. We were expendable and they weren't ashamed to act like it. But if they wanted me, I need all of our lives to matter.

Touching Damon's face, I sighed. "I wouldn't let them do that, never," I whispered. "I was going to kill that alien last night. If he didn't agree to bring you into the game, I would've chopped his head off and died with the game."